A COLOURFUL MIX OF EXPLORERS, ADVENTURERS AND DEDICATED SUPPORT STAFF
All international participants met up at the Meral Crown Hotel in Riyadh where people started to trickle in around February 18-20 depending on flights etc. I flew direct from Frankfurt with Saudia and arrived late at night on February 19th, meeting the first of my team mates the next morning for breakfast. Since there were only 18 of us, we quickly got to know each other and spent the first day chatting, relaxing and shopping for last minute supplies in Riyadh.
The international guests were:
- Alex – from Siberia, Russia
- Anna – lives in Dubai but originally hails from Japan/France
- Conny – from Germany/Canada (that’s me!)
- Emil – from Bergen, Norway
- Goran – from Istria, Croatia
- Igor – lives in Bali but originally hails from Russia/Italy
- Jesús – from Bogota, Colombia
- Joe – from Georgia, US
- Josh – lives in Bali/all over the world, from the US
- Kieran – from Melbourne, Australia
- Maria – lives in Dubai but is originally from Germany
- Michael – lives in Bali/all over the world, from the UK & Singapore
- Musa – a Maori tribal leader from New Zealand
- Nina – lives in Dubai but is originally from Norway
- Salem – from Beirut, Lebanon
- Sebastian – from Mexico City, Mexico
- Steven – lives in Bali but is originally from the US
- Tatiana – lives in Dubai but is originally from Colombia
I could now go into detail about each and every one of the above. Everybody had their own unique background and joined the caravan for a different reason. It was a group of truly special individuals each with their own amazing story to tell, something I won’t even remotely attempt here. A few have written up their experiences with the caravan in blogs and articles – see the list of links here.
Ali
Igor
Habtoor
At this point I also want to highlight our fellow team mates from the Gulf countries including Tariq and Habtoor from Dubai, Mustafa and Sultan from Oman, Abdullah from Kuwait, and several others. The remaining participants were all from Saudi Arabia, but we didn’t meet them until we got to the desert camp at the starting point a couple days later.
Organizing almost everything and taking care of us all, especially the international guests, were first and foremost Ali, a jack of all trades with seemingly boundless energy who runs his own travel business, his right-hand man Dr. Rami, an avid hiker and outdoorsman, and last but not least “The General”, a Saudi army general with extensive hands-on experience in the desert. These individuals worked tirelessly on the planning and execution stages of the project and the success of the caravan is owed to a large degree to their hard work, commitment and enthusiasm. They followed us throughout the journey and were the main points of contact for us if an issue came up or we needed some help. While the General was responsible for safety and logistics, accompanying us with his team in a Land Cruiser, Ali and Dr. Rami actually rode along with us as group leaders on their own camels. Of course there was also a whole team of people working quietly behind the scenes, such as the camel handlers and logistics people including Amr who diligently looked after our flights and hotel arrangements among other things. Our dedicated caravan doctor provided medical care and much-needed encouragement throughout the trip, always smiling and cheering us on along the way. And last but not least the friendly soldiers from the Saudi military who had scouted out the entire route before we even got there and then accompanied us the whole way to ensure we were safe and nobody got lost!
Ali, our guide and leader. [Photo by Abdulrahman]
Selfie with Abdulrahman 🙂