While some cities get lost under water, others, like the Lost City of the Kalahari, get lost under sand. Supposedly located somewhere in the 350,000-square-mile Kalahari Desert, the city is a somewhat recently discovered archeological mystery.

The first “sighting” of this lost city was by a magician called the Great Farini in 1885. He claimed that, while crossing a previously unexplored part of the desert, he happened upon rock formations that he believed to be the remains of an ancient civilization. Knowing he’d found something that could bring him fame and fortune, Farini documented the site with photograhs and a poem:

“A relic, may be, of a glorious past,

A city once grand and sublime,

Destroyed by earthquake, defaced by the blast,

Swept away by the hand of time.”

Farini said that part of the city was buried under the sand but the part that was exposed resembled the Great Wall of China.

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Farini’s “discovery” prompted several expeditions intended to locate the ancient city in the heart of the Kalahari. However, in 1964, a professor discovered that Farini had not gone the way explorers had been assuming. With this information in mind, he was able to locate natural rock formations near the area Farini described that resembled buildings and walls.

Did dehydration and heat exhaustion lead Farini to imagine something much grander than a big pile of rocks? Or has the great city now been completely buried in sand, never to be found again?

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