The Jewel of Arabia Expedition

Mark talks to us as the expedition team stop for lunch and to rest the camels on Day 5 of the expedition. The expedition team are settling into a strong routine now. Mark and Amour are walking and riding the camels, Nigel and Ibrahim have got the overnight camps working really well. Dikra is off working with some young Omanis and Ana-Maria is capturing pictures and film that tell the expedition st...

After a cold night in their desert camp the team woke up to a covering of dew on their sleeping bags. Today is the start of their trek into the Sharqiya Sands and the team are joined by students and staff from the British School Muscat for part of their walk. Mark talks to his old friend Jonathan Turner while he walks. Jonathan runs a commercial dive business in Oman and describes the beauty of Om...

After a reception from local leaders at Jalan fort earlier today, Mark and the team made quick progress into the Sharqiya Sands, formerly the Wabhiba Sands, to meet up with a group of students and staff from Outward Bound Oman. The Jewel of Arabia Expedition has strong links with Outward Bound Oman, which since it first opened in 2009 has trained over 30,000 young people. Mark sits down in convers...

Overnight Mark is setting a camera trap to see the wildlife that comes near to the team camp. Despite last night sandstorm, the camera has picked up several different animals in its lens. The wind and driving sand have been the big factors of todays journey, so this update comes from the shelter of one of the expedition Land Rovers. One of which was provided by an expedition sponsor and the other...

Welcome to the start of The Jewel of Arabia Expedition. With the Indian ocean lapping at their feet, Mark and the team have gathered on the very beach that Bertram Thomas landed on at the start of his expedition. After a busy day of logistics and packing yesterday, today is the day the team start their journey, and Mark talks to us just as the sun rises about what lies ahead. Already Oman’s beauti...

Like many explorers Bertram Thomas OBE fell in love with Arabia and its great empty spaces. Awarded the Livingstone Medal by The Royal Scottish Geographical Society and the Founders Medal by the Royal Geographical Society he was the desert explorer that nobody had really heard about. In 1928 Thomas travelled south down the coast of Oman along a route that joined up sites of rich biodiversity and t...

Join expedition leader, Mark Evans at the Royal Geographical Society in London for the launch of The Jewel of Arabia Expedition. In the presence of, and hearing from expedition co- patrons His Royal Highness Sayyid Theyazin bin Haitham, and His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales this 30-day journey on foot, by camel and 4x4 retracing the 1928 journey of British Explorer Bertram Thomas will celebra...

On an extended journey in a remote location food becomes an increasingly important part of each day; for Bertram Thomas in 1928 this included fish-eyes, dates, dried shark, flour and locusts. In this podcast we learn from Omani food expert Dina Macki about the key influences on Oman cuisine today, how that might change as we head southward along the coast of Oman, and, if given the chance, what Om...

A conversation with long-time friend of Oman, the inspirational Nigel Winser. In the mid-1980s, as deputy director of The Royal Geographical Society in London Nigel led The Wahiba Sands Project, a multiyear multidisciplinary study of what are today known as the Sharqiyah Sands in Oman. Expedition website: The Jewel of Arabia Expedition The Jewel of Arabia Expedition podcast is produced by Adventur...

Oman is unique in so many ways. Several decades of research have shown that there is something very different about Oman’s humpback whales, in that they do not migrate from cool to warm waters each year, but instead remain in the Arabian sea where the monsoon moves the cooler waters to them for several months each year. Oman’s coastline was once home to great numbers of whales; records show that i...

Taimur Al Said, wildlife biologist in Oman’s Environment Authority just loves what he does. Armed with a Masters Degree from Durham University, Taimur is Oman’s expert on the endangered Nubian Ibex and likes nothing more than getting down and dusty in the desert, putting out camera traps and radio collars that enable him to monitor the behaviour of this incredible animal from a distance. Expeditio...

One of the most incredible stories of bird migration is that of the Sooty Falcon. Wintering on the island of Madagascar, each spring the falcons make the long journey up the east coast of Africa, then head east along the southern coast of Arabia, settling to breed each summer on the rocky islands off the coast of Oman. Here they’ll probably meet Waheed Al Fazari, an Omani biodiversity researcher w...

Dr Laila Al Harthy is a senior botanist at Oman’s Botanical Gardens, and is the authority on Frankincense, a tree that grows in the mountains of Dhofar in southern Oman. Once upon a time the sap of the Frankincense tree was much sought after; camel trains and dhows would carry the hardened sap to the markets of Damascus, Alexandria and Istanbul. Today is it much sought after by tourists, and a key...

In 2022, Talal Hasan, founder and carbon general of 44:01 was a proud winner of a coveted Earthshot prize. Listen to his story of how an idea born in Oman took shape and grew into a reality that earned global recognition ... another story of innovation from the Sultanate. Expedition website: The Jewel of Arabia Expedition Learn more about 44:01 The Jewel of Arabia Expedition podcast is produced by...

For decades, like many countries in the region the Oman economy has been heavily dependent on income from oil and gas. With a target of achieving net zero by 2050, the transition to a renewable and sustainable future is underway; Oman has set itself the challenge of becoming a global green energy hub, and a regional and world leader in the production of green hydrogen, a journey overseen by inspir...

Come and join explorer and adventurer Mark Evans around the campfire on The Jewel of Arabia Expedition as we follow the route taken by British explorer Bertram Thomas in 1928 from Ras Al Hadd, the most easterly point of the Arab world, along the coast to Salalah, the second largest city in Oman as we meet and talk to the young Omani’s transitioning Oman into a sustainable global green energy hub....