Royal send-off for Beauly-based explorer Mark Evans as he heads for The Heart of Arabia expedition to be tracked on website designed by Kirkhill company, Capercaillie Communications
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A daunting desert expedition led by a Beauly-based explorer to cross the Arabian Peninsula from coast to coast has been launched by Princess Anne.
The Heart of Arabia expedition, led by Mark Evans, will retrace the 813-mile journey taken by the early 20th century explorer Harry St John Philby, from the tiny fishing village of al-Uqair, on the Gulf, all the way across the Arabian plateau to the Red Sea port of Jeddah.
The team will be joined by Philby's Saudi granddaughter, Reem, when it sets off in late-November, exactly 105 years after Philby's own epic trek.
During the launch at The Royal Geographical Society in London by its patron, the Princess Royal, the expedition website was shared with more than 100 guests including UK and Saudi Arabian royalty, ambassadors, UK and Arabic media, and representatives of The Royal Scottish Geographical Society and The Royal Geographical Society.
It has been designed by Capercaillie Communications of Kirkhill.
Using cutting-edge technology provided by mapping experts ZeroSixZero, HeartofArabiaExpedition enables people to follow the team's progress and to learn more about the award-winning explorer Harry St John Philby.
The explorer – who was the father of double agent Kim Philby – made the historic journey in 1917 at the start of the last global pandemic, the Spanish Flu.
He died in Beirut in 1960.
The team setting off next month will travel on foot, camel and 4x4 from Al Uqair in the east, to Jeddah in the west.
In 2016, Mr Evans and a team of Arabs became the first people in 85 years to cross the largest sand desert on earth, the Rub Al Khali, taking 49 days to travel from Salalah in southern Oman, to Doha in Qatar.
Founder of Capercaillie Communications, Hayley Muir, said the opportunity to create the expedition website was an exciting new direction for the business.
"This expedition is a tremendous endeavour for Mark and his team and I’m thrilled to be involved in showcasing their cause to a global audience," she said.
"There is so much to explore within the website, and in a range of engaging formats. I’m pleased to have created such a rich digital landscape to inspire and learn from."
Mr Evans said: "Thanks to BBC World Service, Sky News, The Times and others, our last expedition went out to an estimated 160 million people globally, and I suspect Heart of Arabia will have an even greater outreach.
"For this project we needed someone who could offer a quality, truly bespoke service, and who was open to capturing and developing ever evolving ideas from multiple sources.
"Working with Hayley at Capercaillie has been a seamless and very positive experience."
