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.

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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 Expedition

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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 buffets

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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 Site

Expedition website: The Jewel of Arabia Expedition

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From the edge of the Rub’ al Khali Mark tells the story of the ancient lost city of Ubar, the legendary lost city in the largest sand desert on earth. In his previous expedition, The Heart of Arabia, Mark retraced Philby’s effort to find Ubar, which ultimately failed, but considering the significance of the place, the Jewel of Arabia team wanted to visit some of the possible locations.

Possible locations, because Philby wasn’t the only British explorer to have searched for Ubar, T. E Lawrence, Thomas, Thesinger and Ranulph Fiennes have all made efforts to find the Atlantis of the Sands.

It was during Fiennes search that artefacts were discovered, and excavations began. Mark and the team were given a guided tour of the site as it is today from some local guides.

Ubar was significant because it was the last guaranteed watering hole for camels on the trade routes before heading into the Rub al Kahli. But, climate change and human extraction mean that today the well is dry.

The icing on today’s cake though was to meet an old Bedouin friend who had a photograph of himself travelling with Wilfred Thesinger along the same route.

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Today the team passed the Harwheel wind farm, which is Oman’s first wind farm and made up of 13 turbines.

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 inspirational individuals such as Dr Firas Al Abduwani.

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The British explorer, Wilfred Thesiger wrote that it’s impossible to be alone in the Arab world. This is a sentiment echoed by Mark and the team as they have travelled through Oman.

After the toughest day of the expedition so far yesterday, day 20 of the expedition was the complete opposite.

The day started with a walk along a beautiful, deserted beach of white sands and azure, blue water before they arrived at an abandoned fishing village. Before long some other travellers arrived and soon conversation over coffee was in full flow.

Mark describes his love for the hospitality and generosity of the Omani people. Because later in the day they met the fisherman would refuse any money for the fish he insisted the team cook around the campfire that night, the mechanic who helped fix the shredded tyre wanted only a smile and the coffee shop owner who heard the expedition team had arrived at his coffee shop insisted the round of coffees was a gift from him to the team.

Mark reflects on this being one of the many things that makes the country so special for him.

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At the end of a long and tiring day, Mark talks to us from one of his favourite campsites in all of Oman. He is sitting in a cave, ospreys are circling overhead and the team are about to bed down, exhausted.

24 hours ago they were looking at looking at night sky when they noticed the stars disappear and felt the first drop of rain. The rain came and was followed by strong winds which led them to trying to quickly store and protect everything in camp. In the morning the weather had passed over.

Mark had been told about an incredible archaeological site near by that was full of trilith fossils, what they were and what their purpose was is still unclear, but they went up a nearby wadi to find them.

As they continued their journey later in the day the challenges began. A punctured tyre led to a shredded tyre and some route redesigning. But just as they approached their stopover where Mark talks to us from now, they encountered sabkha, which is like slippery, muddy quicksand.

But the team worked incredibly well together again, freeing one of the vehicles and reaching camp to rest after what has been a long and exhausting day.

Expedition website: The Jewel of Arabia Expedition

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The Jewel of Arabia Expedition podcast is produced by Adventurous Audio