It is with mixed emotions that the team approoach Adu Dhabi today.  Relieved, excited and proud to have nearly finished their 1600 km trek, yet melancholy that this once in a lifetime expedition only has 24 hours to run.

The team will be received by expedition sponsors and dignatories on the Corniche beach tomorrow at 2pm. All our welcome to come and join us as Saed, Gafan and Adrain and their six camels take the thier final few steps in the Footsteps of Thesiger.

The party will be on the Abu Dhabi Corniche Beach at 2pm, on the public beach area opposite 30th Street.  Look out for the Bedioun tent – this will mark the official end of the journey…

Wouter Kingma

The Footsteps of Thesiger expedition team will arrive at Al Jahili Fort, Al Ain, this Friday 9th December at 3:00pm.

Al Jahili Fort is open to the public between 3:00pm to 5:00pm .

All members of the public are invited to attend to welcome the expedition team to Al Ain

Come and join us welcoming the team at the home of the Thesiger archives and exhibition

See you there..

Wouter Kingma

The team arrived to edge of Liwa the day before National day and were hosted at the farm of Raschid Al Mansoori. On the 1st of December, the Al Manaseer tribe (Al Mansoori) the biggest tribe in the western region held a national day celebration event in Mizeirah City (Liwa), to which the team were invited and they rode in to the celebrations.

The event was attended by the heads of the tribe and officials from the Western Region Development Council, Western Region Municipality and the Ruler’s Representative Court in the Western Region. The team were invited to celebrate National Day the dignatories and guests and recieved traditionals Arabic hospitality, took part in national dance and listeded to poetry.

On the 2nd December, UAE National Day a celebration was held at the Mizeirah Fort for the explorers.

Under the Patronage of the and Ruler Representative Court in the Western Region and Western Region Development Council, Saed, Gafan and Adrian weere warmly welcomed to the historical “Mizeirah Fort” in Liwa to meet officials from the region. A traditional arabic dinner was served and the officials spoke with the tem about the expedition progress and wished them luck going ahead on their journey to Al Ain.

During the eveninig the team prayed “maghrib” with and were treated to traditional Arabic tea.

Saeed Al Mesafry said “I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our leaders and our people for the UAE 40th National Day, we are proud as Emiratis to be part of this expedition and we are proud to make it all this way to Liwa, it’s great to be in the western region, we have learned a lot by crossing the empty quarter we learned how to be more patient, how simple our grandfathers use to live and the magic and the purity of the desert, I think that the company of the camels for 33 days was great and we learned more about the beautiful customs and traditions of our people and tribes in both Oman and the UAE”

Ghafan Al Jabry added “I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our leaders and our people for the UAE 40th National Day, I am very happy to celebrate this very special occasion with my people here at the western region, our journey is going well and we are feeling tired but full of hope to complete this expedition to offer our beloved country a card of thanks and gratitude, the last 2 days were amazing, we have felt the spirit of the desert talking to us again”

The team are now on their way to Al Ain – 280 km across the desert, the aim to reach Jebel  Hafeet on 8th December.