Episode

181 Miles in the Wrong Direction: Lost in the Sahara | E 241

Podcast: The CRUX: True Survival Stories
Published: Jun 15, 2026
Duration seconds: 2109
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Summary

In 1994, Mauro Prosperi—a 38-year-old Olympic pentathlete and Italian police officer—entered the Marathon des Sables, a 156-mile ultramarathon across the Moroccan Sahara. A sandstorm on day four erased his trail, his map, and any way home. What followed was nine and a half days alone in the desert: bat blood, his own urine, a suicide attempt his body wouldn't allow, and a walk in the wrong direction through one of Earth's harshest places—while search teams looked 170 miles away.