Sophie Ibbotson
Leading trips in:Â Uzbekistan - Indian Himalayas - GeorgiaSophie Ibbotson read Oriental Studies at Clare College, Cambridge, and has a particular interest in Central Asia, where she has worked since 2008. An author or co-author of six Bradt travel guides (Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir; Uzbekistan; Tajikistan;Â Karakalpakstan; Sudan and South Sudan), Sophie has also written for publications such as Newsweek, The Financial Times, The Economist and The Telegraph.
She is also: the co-founder and managing editor of Panorama: The Journal of Intelligent Travel; a consultant for the World Bank; Uzbekistan’s Tourism Ambassador to the UK; a board member of the British Georgian Chamber of Commerce; Chairman of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, and the Director of the Silk Road Literary Festival.
View trips:
Silk Road Secrets of Uzbekistan >>
Himalayan Silk Road >>
Hidden Treasures of Georgia >>
Diana Darke
Leading trip in Eastern TurkeyDiana Darke studied Arabic at Oxford University, before beginning her professional career with the UK's GCHQ as an Arabic linguist. She went on to spend over twenty years working in the intelligence and counter-terrorism world, with both the British government and British industry, whilst living in a range of Arab countries, including Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Oman and Dubai. Along the way she authored 15 detailed guides to the region, including five on Turkey, most recently Bradt’s Oman, Eastern Turkey, North Cyprus and Syria.
Diana first discovered Eastern Turkey from the back door, entering alone via Syria in 1978 in her 2CV, at the end of her Diplomatic Service course to study Arabic in Lebanon. She was hooked by its majestic landscapes and mysterious cultures from the start and has returned regularly over the years to revisit this, her favourite part of the country. She has published several books on Turkey, including the only specialist guide to the east, Bradt's Eastern Turkey.
In 2005 she bought a semi-derelict courtyard house in the Old City of Damascus, restoring it with the help of local craftsmen, a process which enabled her to become deeply embedded in Syrian society, and also led her back into the academic world to study Islamic Art and Architecture. She has since written a number of books giving an insider's view of Syria and she is frequently invited to speak at international events and media such as the BBC, PBS, TRT, Al-Jazeera and France24.
View trip: Treasures of Eastern Turkey >>
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Zara Fleming
Zara is an independent art consultant, lecturer, tour guide and exhibition curator with specialist knowledge of Buddhist art; focusing on the art and culture of Tibet and the Himalayas.ÂLecturing experience includes the Arts Society (formerly NADFAS), the School of African and Oriental Studies, the V&A, Merseyside County Museums, the Oriental Museum in Durham, the Royal Academy, the Brunei Gallery, Asia House and to schools, universities and various study groups. She has also lectured in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Â
Initially based at the Victoria & Albert Museum, with general responsibility for the Tibetan, Himalayan and Burmese Collections (1974-81); Zara was then affiliated with the Central Asian Department at Bonn University cataloguing the Tibetan and Mongolian collections of all UK Museums and private collections, part of a larger cataloguing project throughout Europe (1981-88) and was the Assistant Projects Director in Europe for the Orient Foundation (1984-5). Â
Zara has been travelling in Asia since 1973 and has been the tour guide and guest lecturer on numerous trips to Bhutan, Ladakh, Zanskar, Spiti, Nepal, Mustang, Burma, Tibet ; and led the first British tour to Tibet in 1981.
View trip: Best of Bhutan >>