Hisham Nessim, a renowned adventurer, has set a new world record, driving solo across an inhospitable stretch of the Western Desert, called the Great Sand Sea, then up North towards the Siwa oasis in a record five hours and 33 minutes.

After a three-day trip with observers and equipment to the starting point north of El-Gilf El-Kebir area, Nessim began his 700 km journey on March 5 accompanied by navigator Ahmed Barakat and technical assistant Ragab Ghoniem.

The dangerous trek began at 6:45 am with Nessim choosing not to use the four-wheel drive mode of his Toyota FJ Cruiser for the sake of maximum speed on the first leg of his journey.

After facing several obstacles in difficult terrain, bad weather settled in for the last 250 km, reducing his average speed from 140 km/h to 90 km/h.

After having passed the worst of the storm, the journey was completed at 12:18 pm giving Nessim two records: being the first solo driver to complete this trek and being the fastest.