Y - Issue 246 - November 27, 2012 - Y-oman.com

special feature
November 27, 2012 Issue 246
fieldwork, firstly in the vast deserts of
Rub al Khali, before moving to the Dhofar
Mountains. The Arabian Leopard is the
main focus which is very rarely seen by
human eye. Last year, when the team
arrived to try and capture it on camera
they had a rare treat.
“I remember opening up the camera trap,
it was so exciting when we saw we had
captured pictures of two leopards,” recalls
Soo Redshaw, who will be leading the
2013 expedition.
“It was euphoric we were hugging each
other. It’s like solving a detective story. It is
such an iconic beautiful animal. They are
never far from you at times, a few hundred
metres at most.”
The British Exploring Society was set up
in 1932 by Surgeon Commander George
Murray Levick, a member of Captain
Scott’s final Antarctic expedition, as
a way of encouraging leadership and
team building through exploration. And
the BES is looking for Omanis to join its
next expedition in 2014. You will need
to committo eight weeks of expedition,
looking at Nubian artifacts in the Empty
Quarter before tracking the Arabian
Leopard in the Dhofar Mountains.
It also helps to promote just how tenuous the
Arabian Leopard’s position has become.
The threats to their environment still exist.
Land clearance for livestock grazing is a
major problem, as are poachers. Not those
who hunt the leopard, but those who hunt
what the leopard hunts, like the ibex and
the gazelle.
“The government is creating lots of roads
and infrastructure in remote areas in
Dhofar and that pushes the leopard into
small areas,” explains Al Hikmani.
“They need a large home range and they
might not find a lot of resources. It’s killing
them indirectly and unintentionally.”
But the situation is changing. Money is
being invested and there is, as one of
the scientists on last year’s trip said,
“real hope” that the leopard population
can be saved. But that’s not enough for
The Leopard Man. Hadi al Hikmani is
playing the long game in trying to protect
the only big cat in the Middle East. “We
want to conserve what we have but it’s
also a chance to increase the leopard
population,” he says.
“It could be 500 or more. There are
demands on the land, livestock grazing,
they are all interconnected. When you
solve one problem another presents itself.
But in 50 years time, it might be possible."
For more information on the next expedition
contact Paul McGreavy at Al Takween
by email dhofarexpedition@gmail.com or
by calling 933 63204. You can find out
more about previous expeditions on the
British Exploring Society’s website www.
britishexploring.org
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