
Why Oman?
WWTW’s sixth expedition will take the team across the deserts of Oman
Every expedition is funded by corporate partners, so the money we raise
goes to our employment, mental health, and care coordination programmes,
transforming lives and communities, reducing reoffending, saving the taxpayer
money, and supporting the NHS.
The Grenadier Walk of Oman Expedition creates a new challenge and will
take the team to a terrain not yet covered by our past expeditions. The epic
adventure will mark our 10th Year Anniversary (although delayed until Autumn
2021). The expedition creates a new platform to raise awareness of the
challenges facing many of those who have served.
We are honoured to be walking across the Omani desert and to be
supported by a country so closely aligned in many ways with the UK,
particularly with our military. The UK supported His Majesty Sultan Qaboos
during the Dhofar Conflict in 1972 and the UK and Omani military continue to
train closely with one another today.
As well as the connections with the Omani military, the Grenadier Walk of Oman is also inspired by the adventures of British Military Officer and Explorer, Wilfred Thesiger, who travelled across vast Arabian Deserts from 1945-49, including the Empty Quarter. Although he was not the first to cross this desert, he was the first to explore it thoroughly, mapping the oasis of Liwa and the quicksand Umm As-Sammim.
“No man can live this life and emerge unchanged. He will carry, however,
faint, the imprint of the desert, the brand which marks the nomad; and he will
have within him the yearning to return, weak or insistent according to his
nature. For this cruel land can cast a spell which no temperate clime can
match.” Wilfred Thesiger (Arabian Sands)
Find out more about the expedition here