Tom Avery Lecture: ‘In Search of the Arabian Leopard’

With a speech entitled ‘In search of the Arabian Leopard’ we, The Tom Avery crew, knew this was a lecture not to be missed! This April 26^th lecture was both inspiring and fascinating as we were gripped by James Borrell’s anecdotes on the diverse, challenging, yet unbelievably rewarding experiences from his recent expedition to the Empty Quarter and Dhofar Mountains of Southern Oman.

Conservation and research tales were combined with a slideshow packed full of incredible landscapes and wildlife accumulating to a fantastic lecture. Not only did James’s experiences inspire us to seek such adventures for ourselves, but they also informed us of the necessity of such research projects; not only the conservational gain brought about by them, but very much so in the case of his trip to the Middle East, the political gain.

Speaking on behalf of the British Schools Exploration Society James informed us of how we could get involved and personally take part in such explorations, not only to Oman, but to the Poles, South America and other extreme environments. It was unanimous how inspiring and insightful this lecture was as we queued up to leave contact details at the end. For anyone who missed out I encourage you check out James’s online blog or follow him on twitter @James_Borrell, and, finally, the answer to the question I am sure you are asking, yes he did find one of the fifty remaining, elusive Arabian Leopards.

Georgia Lord (UVI, South)