Arabia: Wrap-up

A great big thank you to all expedition participants from both week 1 and week 2. Biosphere Expeditions and the DDCR are really grateful for the hard work that everyone has put in to collect a lot of good data that will be of long-lasting benefit to the reserve and it wildlife. As well as working hard, I think everyone has really enjoyed their experience here in the Arabian desert.

We had a beautiful misty last morning here in the DDCR, well worth the extra half an hour wait for the tents to dry. Thanks for everyone’s efforts this morning to get the camp packed up.

I have really enjoyed the expedition this year and, as well as the wildlife and the beautiful environment, a big part of that was the great company in both teams. I know that Moayyed and Greg have also really enjoyed having Biosphere Expeditions at the DDCR again this year.

As you know, a lot goes on behind the scenes at the DDCR to keep the place running and all the DDCR staff work very hard. A big thank you to them and we hope you like the T-shirts 😉 I also hope that Greg, Moayyed and Tamer enjoy the diverse selection of slightly sandy tea bags and left-over biscuits I have left for them in the DDCR office kitchen :))

As the group 2 know from this morning’s final de-brief, we were lucky enough to record Gordon’s wildcat on one of our camera traps. This is great news, as the rare feline has not been recorded on the reserve for a couple of years! There are many thousands of camera trap images, which now need to be carefully analysed and Areej, our UAE placement in group 2, has kindly offered to assist Moayyed with this task in the weeks ahead. Areej told me that she has really enjoyed the expedition and it has been a great opportunity for her to get some real field work experience and find out if she enjoys the life of a wildlife conservationist working in the field. I think her expedition journal entry sums up the experience nicely (see below). Thanks also to Elena for her artistic contribution to the expedition journal (also see below) and mammoth effort of desert clean up with Ulrike yesterday.

Thanks again to everyone, you have been amazing! I hope you enjoy the selection of images below from the camera traps and our last days of field work.

Paul Franklin
Expedition leader