Gliding in an overpowered local fishing boat along the coastline, above the tropical blue ocean, I couldn’t help but feel the odds weren’t on our side. With an estimated population of only 50 individuals in an area spanning 99,000 square kilometres; what were the chances of us finding this elusive big cat in a single dry river valley. Lawrence D Ball

Earlier this year, a team of pretty ordinary folk managed to get footage of one of the rarest cats in the world. Not only that, but they collected data on birds, reptiles, insects and a variety of other mammals (including some pretty special ones). They met and worked with some brilliant Omani scientists and rangers, lived in one of the most pristine and beautiful Wadi’s in the whole of Arabia, and made a giant collective leap toward preserving it for the future. James Borrell

The expedition is located on an area of special importance for conservation but it is also an area under great pressure for development and road construction. Wadi Sayq and the surrounding mountains to the east are probably the only intact habitat left for the critically endangered Arabian leopard in the southwestern region of the Dhofar Mountains. Hadi Al Hikmani