The drive behind the Desert Trilogy expeditions was to attract international attention to environments that are now on the brink of habitability. In Part II of the trilogy, Rosie Stancer and her team looked at the challenges faced by communities of the Sinai Peninsula as a result of climate change. In Part I,  Rosie and Pom Oliver crossed one of the world’s newest deserts-the Aral Kum desert – to learn how this emerging man-made desert was impacting local communities.  Since her visit to the Aral Kum in 2021, Kazakhstan has successfully rejuvenated the shrinking Aral Sea and reversed desertification through strategic water management, undoing one of the world’s worst man-made environmental disasters.

Rosie Stancer’s ambitious 2025/26 Anglo-Saudi expedition, following the ancient incense route, has been a remarkable 2,000-kilometre journey on foot, stretching the length of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – tracing the same route along which traders traditionally brought frankincense and myrrh from Southern Arabia to the Mediterranean.

The expedition team, led by Rosie and her deputy Pom Oliver, with Arabella Dorman, Rose Cecil, Lee Watts, and Andrea Tennant, travelled north-west across two deserts (the Empty Quarter and the Nafud), the rugged Sarawat Mountains, and key cultural centres such as Hima, Mecca, and Medina before concluding in NEOM.

This expedition represented the final of a wider “Desert Trilogy” that was specifically designed to examine how climate change is impacting environments already subject to extreme conditions, from water management to community resilience and the ways in which these societies are adapting to shifting weather patterns.

Collaboration was central to the final Incense Route expedition. Rosie and her team aimed to highlight how Saudi Arabia’s vision for a sustainable future is rooted in rich cultural heritage as well as more recent progress and innovation. This includes the evolving role of women in Saudi society. HH Princess Abeer Al Saud, an international development professional, was an important key expedition advisor. Throughout the expedition, the team engaged with a broad spectrum of Saudi women from a variety of backgrounds and walks of life, from Bedouin in the desert to successful business women. This aspect of the expedition gave a refreshing perspective on the more centralised role of women in Saudi’s evolving society.

By retracing the historic Incense Route, the expedition showcased how the Kingdom is drawing on the past to shape its future. A revival of traditional crafts, achieved through the teaching of heritage skills, has created new commercial opportunities. Alongside this, extensive archaeological excavations and restoration projects are breathing new life into important heritage sites.

The journey provided an opportunity to explore Saudi Arabia’s commitment to sustainability. The expedition team learnt first-hand about large-scale developments, such as the renewable energy projects that are underway to promote innovative models for sustainable living. These initiatives support the nation’s transition from an oil-dependent economy to a more environmentally conscious future.

The expedition highlighted Saudi Arabia’s development of heritage sites, promotion of cultural exchange, adoption of innovative technology, and progress in social policies to tackle climate change and build a sustainable future. As a collaborative Anglo-Saudi initiative, the final expedition of the desert trilogy also aspired to strengthen cultural, social, and commercial ties between the UK and Saudi organisations and build foundations for future cooperation.

Rosie Stancer is a well-known and seasoned adventurer who has completed a number of impressive expeditions in some of the toughest environments on the planet, from the North pole to the Wahabi desert. Her joint expedition to the Aralkum with medic and researcher, Pom Oliver, was designed to highlight and record the impact of climate change in this region, alongside environmental mitigation, in advance of the COP 26 summit.

Rosie Stancer said: ’ This was a non-judgemental expedition that made observations on any ongoing positive measures being undertaken to mitigate the effects of desertification.’

The Aralkum, once the seabed of the North and South Aral Seas, was formed in the 1960s when two rivers were diverted by the former Soviet Union to irrigate food crops. Since the 1960s 90% of this region has turned to desert, with pollutants becoming a major issue as the fine particles of the Aral Sands have been found to contain both agricultural chemicals and concentrated salts.

The Kazakhstan government have put in place several measures to mitigate further changes to the local environment. A dike near the North Aral Sea is helping to increase water levels and vegetation in this locale, but despite partial re-flooding of the South Aral Sea, water levels here have continued to drop, and climate change appears to be a major contributory factor.

The expedition took the team across the stark desert-scape once covered by the sea, and along the coastal fringes where small and remote communities remain on the original eastern shoreline.

Stancer and Oliver are the very first team to face the challenging crossing of the Aralkum desert on foot, but emphasised that the expedition was not just about firsts, saying – ‘this is an expedition of its time, promising to be one of the meaningful fact-finding, green expeditions of the year… gaining an .. insight into all the issues (and) the measures being undertaken to restore the environmental balance, health and livelihoods of the communities.’

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