All Episodes

August 4, 2025 30 mins
In this series, we’re going to take you on a journey into the heart of one of the most ancient kingdoms on Earth. Located in the northwestern corner of Saudi Arabia, Alula is an oasis in the desert layered in 200,000 years of human history.  But, until recently, it was closed to outsiders, and to this day only a handful of visitors have ever been.  If you haven’t listened to our three-part on location documentary series, the Elements of Alula, scroll back in the feed and check it out: hot air balloon crashes, stargazing with bedouins, curious camels with a taste for microphones … It's a lot of fun. But today, we’re sharing a special bonus episode from that series. Because AlUla was closed to outsiders for so long, the archeology that’s happening there is unearthing incredible treasures we had no idea even existed. Jonathan Wilson: Arts and Culture Administration Senior Manager at the Royal Commission for AlUla is going to share some of those secrets with us today. And just to set the scene:  we’d just got back from an afternoon riding Arabian horses through the desert. It was an incredible experience, but it was hot - so we stepped inside Jonathan's office where archeologists were working day and night to document the treasures of this lost kingdom of alula … this is the tour he gave us, and the interview we did afterwards.    FIND OUT MORE Our on-location documentaries are designed so that you can experience everything we did in this episode. Find out more at ExperienceAlula.com. Check out @experiencealula on Instagram, Facebook and for more inspiration and ideas.   CONNECT WITH US If you enjoy the show, please subscribe on whatever podcast player you’re reading this on right now. Go on, do it. It means you get to choose what episodes you listen to, rather than the algorithm guess (wrongly) and kick us off your feed.    Following the show on socials will definitely maybe bring you good travel karma! Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast   Armchair Explorer is produced by Armchair Productions. Aaron Millar wrote and presented this episode show, Jason Paton did the audio editing and sound design.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played

Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
The Joe Rogan Experience

The Joe Rogan Experience

The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.

Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.