Heart of Arabia Expedition

Re-join Mark and The Heart of Arabia Expedition Team at the ancient site of Old Diriyah, the birthplace of the first Saudi state, historical crossroads of pilgrims and traders. It is also where Philby left Riyadh behind and followed the Pilgram Road west to Jeddah.

The terrain, climate and geology of the second leg of the expedition are very different to the first leg in the eastern deserts and Empty Quarter and this brings with it...

Just like Philby, the Heart of Arabia Expedition used camels for some of their journey. In the eastern deserts of Saudi Arabia, Mark introduces us to their camels and explores the role the camel has played in Arab history and culture with their guide from the Camel Club of Saudi Arabia.

As the expedition moves west towards their goal of Riyadh in the camel pad prints of Philby’s caravan, Mark considers his life as an explorer and w...

After some time to reflect on the Heart of Arabia Expedition Mark looks back over some of the key moments of the early parts of leg one of the expedition, a place Philby described as being the threshold of Arabia.

Following the celebration of the expedition’s launch, Mark, Reem, Ana-Maria and Alan are leaving Al Uqayr to start retracing Philby’s route across Arabia; they visit the desert oases of Al Ahsa and Al Hofuf, venture into ...

Journey with Purpose. That is expedition leader, Mark Evans’ great ambition for the Heart of Arabia expedition. To inspire others to travel with a reason, to learn, to understand, to appreciate. It’s an attitude that mirrors what Harry. St. John (Abdullah) Philby did when he set off on his own expedition across Arabia.

In this first podcast we’ll meet the expedition team and discover more about Philby from his family. 

The team is ...

In our last update for the time being, Heart of Arabia Expedition leader, Mark Evans looks ahead to how the story of the expedition will now be told around the world. Encouraging us all to Journey with Purpose.

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Expedition website: The Heart of Arabia Expedition

Fol...

48 whirlwind hours after their arrival in Jeddah Mark brings us up to date with the team’s reception on the Red Sea coast. He describes a cultural melting pot of people, sights, sounds and smells that are very different to what the team have been used to and left behind in Al Uqayr on the Arabian Gulf coast.

The expedition team were officially welcomed by dignitaries then later entertained by the British Consul General in Jeddah, w...

Mark meets some pupils from the Jeddah Prep and Grammar School, the oldest British School in Saudi Arabia. Through their conversations Mark hears how the expedition has inspired the pupils to learn more about the history, geography and culture of Saudi Arabia, of Philby, of the current expedition.

Mark’s ambition for the Heart of Arabia Expedition was to inspire young people to journey with purpose. Listen to this podcast to hear e...

After 2 days exploring Taif, Mark and the team, like Philby before them are full of the hustle and bustle of the urban area and are yearning for the open space of the desert again.

Skirting round Mecca, they travel through Wadi Al Laimun, the valley of the lemons. Meeting a local they discover his grandfather met and talked to Philby as he passed through the wadi. Mark compares his own description of the valley to Philby’s writings...

On their arrival at Taif the expedition team visited the Shubra Palace, just as Philby did 106 years ago. Today it’s a heritage site looked after by the Museum Commission of the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Culture.

Mark sits down with Heritage Manager, Hasan Al Noumari to discover the history and heritage of the palace and its significance both locally in Taif, but also in wider Arabian culture.

Expedition website: The Heart of Arabi...

Like Philby 106 years before them, Mark and the team have arrived in Taif on Christmas Day. They first visit the Shubra Palace which today is engulfed by Taif, the 6th largest urban area of Saudi Arabia. This is where Philby first arrived, but then it was still a distance from the town walls.

Philby spent 2 days in Taif. His original plan to return to Riyadh thwarted he feasted and continued to Jeddah. Our expedition team will do t...

A huge sandstorm battered the team yesterday, so Mark is up early this morning to update the podcast. The expedition team are on the brink of Taif and will arrive there later today.

Yesterday’s going got harder and harder underfoot as Mark and Reem cross the crevassed lava fields of harat. Although uncompromising terrain for our expedition team the ground provides protection for wildlife from predators. So listen for the abundance ...

The team leave the Uruq Sabai behind them and make their way to Khurma, a small but historically significant settlement. 

Mark reflects on Philby’s journey all those years ago, when Philby was close to exhaustion after an 11.5 mile hike, eating only rice and dates after his camel went lame.  For both Philby and the Heart of Arabia team there was a welcome feast of camel meat for the first time on the trip.  Camping by the edge of a...

Mark wakes early to the sound of the hoopoe lark then the expedition team set off to cross the Uruq Sabai – an extensive mountain of desert sand stretching some 70 miles in length.   Once they’re all safely across they head north to re-join the Philby line and Mark reflects on how different Phiby’s crossing was to their own.  For Philby the vast expanse meant being exposed both to wolves and then to hostile locals who surrounded th...

Mark and Reem walk across a vast plain of desert before coming to rest before tomorrow’s crossing of the Uruq Subai sand barrier.  It’s a landscape that seems to offer up little, no landmarks, not even a hint of greenery and only a bit of wildlife in the form of some birds when they break for lunch.  Mark reads Philby’s diary, who found it a similarly dry and empty-seeming part of the route.

Mark takes time to reflect on the incred...

After hours searching the team are rewarded with an extraordinary find – several hand axes, hundreds of thousands of years old and invaluable evidence of desert occupation in the distant past. 

Mark then reflects on Philby’s time in the desert highlands to compare with their own experiences of this extraordinary landscape and draws on Philby as saying he left the highlands with “many a knotty problem unattempted, many a hidden myst...