The expedition team

Having an interest in desert lands from his early years Alan organised his first independent expedition in 1995 and crossed the Western Sahara desert from North to South (via Mauritania and Western Sahara); recruiting a specialised team and purchasing a used Land Rover to accomplish the project.

Since then, and taking advantage of skills learnt as an Intelligence Officer in the Royal Air Force he has organised, independent pathfinding expeditions to cross the Central Sahara desert (Libya and Chad); Karakum desert of Turkmenistan (eastern dune system); AL Rub al Khali Arabian empty quarter (Oman, Saudi, UAE); Kalahari and Namib deserts of Botswana and Angola; Thar desert of Northwest India and the Chihuahuan desert of Mexico; He has also conducted solo expeditions in the Atacama desert in Chile and the Simpson desert in Australia using the Hay river track and taken part in a desert survival programme in Jordan run by the Royal Marines. He has been sponsored by industry to path find routes and water sources throughout the Eastern Sahara and the Central Asian Kyzl Kum. A Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society he has presented at the desert workshop at the Society’s annual Explore congress on a number of occasions.

A biochemist by profession, Alan gained his PhD at York University in England and took up a post-doctoral research post at Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, United States of America. His book, “Desert exploration for the busy professional” that describes expedition planning and implementation specifically in arid areas, is in editorial with Gibson Square Publishing, London. He lives in Southport, England and has a 7 year-old son, Joseph.

Jason is the owner and operator of the widely respected Woodland Ways Bushcraft & Survival, based from the UK with experience that spans the globe.

With 2 decades of teaching Wilderness Living Skills under his belt Jason has formidable experience of self reliance in remote Desert, Bush, Boreal and Jungle environments. His skills base has been called upon on many occasions to work with mainstream media; including the BBC. He has regularly been invited to undertake talks and demonstrations at leading establishments throughout the UK, including The Royal Geographical Society, Universities, the Eden Project and the National Forest, and has given main stage presentations at The Bushcraft Show, The Great Outdoors Show, and many more.

Jason is an expedition medic, Cyber Tracker, brand ambassador for the outdoor clothing company Keela International, and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Garry is a Teaching Fellow at the University of Bath, an archaeologist, author and qualified walking leader. Through Walking Leaders, Garry takes executive teams on hiking trips of self exploration, team development and for creative thinking across the UK, Europe and N Africa. As an archaeologist Garry has been involved in excavations across the UK and Europe but specialised in Maritime Archaeology in the Bronze Age Aegean.

He is especially interested in the ancient trade and migration routes and is keen to investigate and explore this aspect of the expedition into and across the Nefud. Garry is currently researching and writing a book on what he calls Outside Thinking for Bloomsbury Publishing, due to be published in late 2022.

Chris has spent most of his life travelling and has experienced a series of very diverse cultures around the world. Amongst other adventures he has crewed a square-rigged sailing ship from Australia to New Zealand and Vanuatu, been an engineer on a cetacean research expedition vessel and sailed from the Caribbean to Plymouth on a 148ft topsail schooner.

Chris was expedition leader-driver for an overland expedition company, running adventure tours through the Middle East and Asia before spending 18 summers carrying out research on the whale and dolphin populations of the Azores archipelago. More recently as logistics manager for 2 expeditions he travelled to to the jungles of Borneo and drove 3 circumnavigations of Sabah by 4x4. Between 2015 and 2018 he travelled as a logistics specialist/skipper on expedition support to East Greenland, dodging icebergs, tsunamis and polar bears, during 450km open boat voyages.

Becca is the co-Founder and Expedition Leader for Wild Expeditions. She takes people to remote locations across the world to work with local conservationists on meaningful expeditions focused on protecting endangered sites and species.

She previously lived for several years across West Africa, working for large-scale aid donors as a Project Manager where she managed large teams and complex programmes. Travelling extensively throughout her adult life, Becca has amassed an array of skills suitable for expeditions of this kind, such as navigation, logistics and planning, safety and security, and cultural awareness.

Becca is also a Mountain Leader, Wilderness First Responder and a graduate of TrekForce’s Expedition Leadership programme.

Alex is a Documentary Producer-Director who has created content for the BBC, Channel 4 and Vice. Alex specialised in creating powerful people-led documentaries and has experience shooting in many remote and challenging environments around the world.

As a field producer, Alex cut her teeth in the industry filming the extreme overland expeditions of adventure travel company The Adventurists. Whether travelling from London to Mongolia in a Nissan Micra or traversing the Indian Himalayas in a rickshaw – Alex spent two years capturing the highs and lows of individuals undertaking these grand adventures. These expeditions have taken her over the Atlas mountains and across the Eurasian Steppe, through the Gobi desert and the Pamir mountains, across the Indian subcontinent, and into the Himalayas, driving on some of the highest motorable roads in the world. Alex has also worked and lived in Nepal, filming rural communities living in the foothills of the Annapurna mountain range.

Alex is always seeking to find new and usual ways to see the world. She owns a trusty red Honda CB500X and is an advocate of solo overland travel. She's a keen astrophotographer and is captivated by the night sky. Although interested in exploring many topics from behind a camera lens, Alex is an ardent traveller and is fascinated by teamwork and endurance – in particular, capturing life in the extremes