The Patient

The Patient reveals that in the late 1930s he was exploring a region of the Sahara Desert near the Egyptian-Libyan border. He is in fact Hungarian cartographer Count László de Almásy who was mapping the Sahara as part of a Royal Geographical Society archeological and surveying expedition in Egypt and Libya with a group including his good friend Englishman Peter Madox. Their expedition is joined by a British couple Geoffrey and Katharine Clifton who own a new plane and will contribute with aerial surveys. Almásy is given clues by a local Bedouin man which help the group to discover the location of the Cave of Swimmers an ancient site of cave paintings in the Gilf Kebir. The group begin to document their find during which time Almásy falls in love with Katharine. He writes about her in notes folded into his book which Katharine discovers when Almásy awkwardly accepts her offer of two watercolours she has painted of the cave imagery and asks her to paste them into the book. The two begin an affair on their return to Cairo while the group arranges for more detailed archaeological surveys of the cave and the surrounding area. Almásy buys a silver thimble in the market as a gift to Katharine. Some months later Katharine abruptly ends their affair from fear her husband Geoffrey will discover it. Shortly afterwards the archaeological projects are halted due to the onset of the war. Madox leaves his Tiger Moth aeroplane at Kufra Oasis before his intended return to Britain