About Us

Simoon Travel is a leading independent tour operator, specialising in cultural and desert travel. With combined experience of over 20 years in the travel industry, Simoon Travel ensures reliability and efficiency without losing the personal touch that only a boutique agency can offer. Whether you want the team to suggest an itinerary, or create a bespoke tour, Simoon Travel can arrange a trip of a lifetime. Simoon’s ethos is to provide tours that reflect the culture and nature of countries, whilst combining adventure and quality service.

Simoon Travel was founded in 2004 as a direct response to the emergence of Libya as a tourist destination. Simoon Travel began by providing an opportunity to explore this diverse and beautiful country as the UK’s only Libyan specialist tour operator and are now constantly seeking out and pioneering new destinations. In 2007 the company expanded to provide tours in Oman and Algeria and since then Iran, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon have been added to the portfolio.

Simoon Travel is ATOL bonded and is carbon balanced by the World Land Trust.

Amelia Stewart

Managing Director

Amelia discovered the delights of the desert in the Sinai in 1994. She was so taken by it that she applied for a job with the company who organized her trip. Amelia continued to lead expeditions to the Sinai and the Western deserts of Egypt and established sustainable tourism programs within Bedouin communities. Her passion for the desert and its people spurred her to found Simoon Travel and she often leads the tours herself. Amelia is also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Clare Dungan

Sales and Marketing Manager

Clare came to Simoon Travel whilst studying for a M.Sc. in Responsible Tourism Management. Clare has travelled extensively and has a ready enthusiasm to explore new destinations. With an emphasis on quality and timely service combined with her natural management style Clare handles the sales and marketing as well as the day to day running of the office.

Guest Lecturers

These specialists accompany select tours and provide additional expert advice and information about sites and cultures visited.

Bruce Wannell

Bruce Wannell read Modern Languages at Oxford, but his travels in Iran and Afghanistan stirred an interest in the Iranian and Islamic world. He regularly leads tour parties to India, Africa and the Middle East and writes knowledgeably on Islamic Mysticism. He is also the co-author of 'Iran Persia : Ancient and Modern' (2005).

William Taylor

William Taylor is Chairman of the Anglican and Eastern Churches Association, and a writer and broadcaster on the Islamic world. He has worked and lived in Jordan, Cairo, and Turkey, served in parishes in England, as a Chaplain in the Middle East, on the ecumenical staff of the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace, and as Dean of an English Cathedral. He has travelled and lectured extensively throughout the Middle East and Central Asia. A linguist by training and inclination, his languages include Syriac, Arabic, and Turkish. Publications include Light from the East, Christians in the Holy Land, Ahl al Dhimmi: A study of minorities in Islam, Christianity in Iraq, and Antioch and Canterbury. He is a Facilitator for the Windsor Leadership Trust, a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, and a Freeman of the City of London. William is completing an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project at SOAS on Syriac Christianity in the Bilad-as-Sham in the late Ottoman period.

Chris Scott

Chris Scott first tasted adventure in the Sahara on an epic motorcycle journey in the early 1980's. Since then he has criss crossed the Sahara countless times both on four wheels and two wheels but latterly has preferred to stride out on foot. He is one of the country's leading Saharan experts and has written the hugely successful Sahara Overland (now in its second print run) - the bible for all desert adventure enthusiasts. Chris has also written about the desert regions for the Rough Guide in Australia and runs his own website (sahara-overland.com). Simoon was lucky enough to have Chris as guide on the 2007 recce tour of the Immidir region in southern Algeria and look forward to working with him again. Chris is currently living in southern France busy writing his next couple of books.

Christopher Bradley

Chris Bradley has led tours for many years in North Africa and the Middle East, and has been helping develop tourism in Libya for almost a decade. He was the author and photographer of the 'Berlitz Guide to Libya' (2006) and lectures on Libya in the UK and overseas.

Dr Hafed Walda

After graduating from university in his native Libya, Hafed, a fluent Arabic speaker, went to the institute of Archaeology in London where he obtained his doctorate in Roman Art and Archaeology. With extensive experience in the latest research and archaeology methods Hafed brings new and exciting expertise to the sites visited.

Dr Philip Kenrick

Philip Kenrick is a founding member of the Society for Libyan Studies and an archaeologist, specialising in the study of Hellenistic and Roman pottery. He completed his doctorate on excavations at Benghazi in Libya; he has been involved in fieldwork at Leptis Magna, Cyrene and in the pre-desert region of Tripolitania, and has been responsible for publishing work by British scholars at Leptis and Sabratha.

Dr Eva Chadwick

Dr Eva Chadwick is Vice-president and co-founder of the Wodaabe-Niger Association and has been investigating the nomadic culture of the Wodaabe in Niger since 2002. She has travelled widely in North Africa and speaks English, French, Spanish and Italian. She has a Phd in Ancient History and Archaeology, has published many books and participated in numerous archaeological excavations and lectures on nomadic desert cultures around the world.

Patricia Aithie

Painter, photographer and writer, Patricia Aithie has twenty five years experience of living and travelling in the Middle and Far East. For eighteen years she has run her own business, an independent photolibrary, supplying pictures to editors around the world - which she has recently given up to spend her time as a full time artist. She has exhibited her photography and painting internationally, often working with artists from different cultures, sometimes writing art catalogues and lecturing extensively.