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 ...
A civic welcome to Salalah and honeybadgers – Expedition Diary Day 30
Mark and the team have arrived at their destination, the 2nd city of Oman, Salalah. The last couple of days have been a whirlwind of visits from students from British School Salalah, joining The British Council hackathon and something very special captured on the daily trail cameras set near their overnight campsites.In amongst all of this, the team were formally received in Salalah by His Highness Sayyid Marwan Al Said, Governor of Dhofar. In front of a local audience, including His Excellency Salim Al Mahrouqi, Minister of Heritage and Tourism and His Excellency Azzan Al Busaidi, Undersecretary Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, Mark talked the guests through the expedition and the remarkable sights and sounds of sustainability and biodiversity the team found in Oman.Expedition website: The Jewel of Arabia ExpeditionFollow the expedition on social media: Instagram and FacebookThe Jewel of Arabia Expedition podcast is produced by Adventurous Audio
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Arabian wolves, Wadi Darbat and leopard reintroductions – Expedition Diary Day 26
On the last walking day of the expedition, the team followed Thomas’s diary notes to trace his route down into Wadi Darbat, Which during the monsoon season becomes raging torrent of a river. Of course, this amount of water brings with it life. So after the team had scrambled and crawled their way down to the wadi bed through thick thorny undergrowth, they were treated with the sight of azure blue river pools that teemed with fish life and so also attracting a huge variety of birdlife too. A very special place to visit as they approach Salalah.Every night Mark has been setting a camera trap. See some of what they have captured on the Expedition Instagram, but last night was very special when the camera caught an Arabian wolf eating some leftover lamb carcass left as bait.In the Dhofar mountains the team are deep in Arabian leopard territory, to round up this episode Mark describes a multinational reintroduction programme for the Arabian leopard.Expedition website: The Jewel of Arabia ExpeditionFollow the expedition on social media: Instagram and FacebookThe Jewel of Arabia Expedition podcast is produced by Adventurous Audio
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Paradise in Southern Arabia – Expedition Diary Day 25
Now in the southern region of Oman, Mark and the Jewel of Arabia team have arrived in the region Bertram Thomas referred to as Arabia Felix. Mark describes this as one of his favourite places in the world.The landscape has changed from rough, rocky and arid desert to rich, lush green, almost tropical looking . The wildlife has changed too, they caught the first bat on their camp trail camera last night. In was a treeless landscape apart from a few acacia and frankincense trees today the team visited the largest living land species in Oman, giant baobab trees at Wadi Hanna. This landscape couldn’t be more different from the sands of The Empty Quarter where the team were just a few days ago.It is very easy to see why Thomas referred to this area of Oman as Arabia Felix.And as the expedition starts to near its end point of Salalah, Marks looks ahead to the welcome and visits planned for the next few days.Expedition website: The Jewel of Arabia ExpeditionFollow the expedition on social media: Instagram and FacebookThe Jewel of Arabia Expedition podcast is produced by Adventurous Audio
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Turning landfill sites into raptor restaurants – Expedition Diary Day 24
Oman lies on a major migratory flyway between Arabia and Asia. It is also blessed with a huge diversity of indigenous birdlife. But for many species over many years, the easiest and most abundant source of food was found at landfill sites.For many reasons this wasn’t ideal. But furthermore as Oman has reduced the amount and type of waste sent to landfill there was a consequential knock on effect to many, some critically endangered, species.The solution has been to develop a series of so called “raptor resturants”. Where food and food industry waste can be set out in secure areas for bird species to come and feed on.The mutual benefits to humans and birdlife is huge as Mark found out when he spoke to Ahmed Al Zubair a Senior Sustainability Strategist behind the birdlife buffetsExpedition website: The Jewel of Arabia ExpeditionFollow the expedition on social media: Instagram and FacebookThe Jewel of Arabia Expedition podcast is produced by Adventurous Audio
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Frankincense at Wadi Dawqah World Heritage Site – Expedition Diary Day 23
Spread across 3,500 acres in Oman’s Dhofar region, Wadi Dawqah is home to the world’s largest protected Boswellia sacra forest, a place where thousands of frankincense trees have flourished over the centuries. This is where the most sustainable, ethical and transparent source of frankincense begins its thousand-year-old journey into the world.After visiting the site, Mark talks to Matt Wright about the vision for the future of sustainable frankincense and creating the world’s first smart forest.The Land of Frankincense World Heritage SiteExpedition website: The Jewel of Arabia ExpeditionFollow the expedition on social media: Instagram and FacebookThe Jewel of Arabia Expedition podcast is produced by Adventurous Audio
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.
From ancient turtle nesting grounds to internationally recognised migration pitstops for thousands of wading birds. From Earthshot prize winning carbon capture innovation to the world’s only non-migratory population of humpbacked whales, from frankincense groves to a future of green hydrogen and amazing raptor restaurants Oman is awash with stories waiting to be told.
https://jewelofarabiaexpedition.com/
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