December 2017

Geography Inspiring People Talks: Crossing the Empty Quarter of Arabia

6 Dec 2017

In 1931, Livingstone Medallist, Bertram Thomas became the first westerner to successfully cross The Empty Quarter of Arabia. 85 years later, Mark Evans and his team set out to recreate this historic journey, taking 49 days to cross the largest sand desert in the world from Salalah in Oman, across Saudi Arabia to Doha in Qatar.

Image to accompany Geography Inspiring People Talks: Crossing the Empty Quarter of Arabia event

Freedom Road exhibition

1 Dec 2017 to 30 Mar 2018

This exhibition takes its name from the long, sandy road linking Bechuanaland (now Botswana) to Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), crossing South West Africa (now Namibia) and Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) along the way. It was the road along which refugees travelled to escape from the South African oppression in the 1960s, often helped on their desperate journey by humanitarian organisations or mysterious foreign drivers.