The Team

Fay Cox

Fay is Director of Operations and responsible for overseeing all of our Sinai journeys. Her background is in personal development expeditions, having spent many years running expeditions for school groups worldwide, with a particular responsibility establishing project partnerships and ensuring smooth operations in-country. Prior to this she spent several years working at the Royal Geographical Society’s Expedition Advisory Centre (now Geography Outdoors), coordinating training on a range of subjects from funding and logistics to health and safety, environmental issues and field research techniques. Her childhood experiences living in Oman and Qatar gave her a taste for travel and a love of deserts. She has travelled widely in the Middle East, Africa and further afield.

Dr Emma Loveridge

Emma is the founder and a director of Wind Sand & Stars. She set up the company to bring trade to the Bedu tribes of the Sinai where resources are scarce. The relationship with the tribal sheikhs and families now span three generations, giving Wind Sand & Stars an in-depth understanding of the land and its peoples. Emma has a PhD in early Byzantine art and manuscripts, many of which are found at the Monastery of St Catherine in Sinai. She has been ordained in the Anglican Church for the last 10 years, working locally and for the Archbishops. Her specialist knowledge of Sinai and her work with people in remote areas is still her great love.

Dr Rabia Tawfik

Rabia has worked with Wind Sand & Stars since its inception and has been key to the long term and stable relationships which ensure safety as well as the capacity to journey in areas little known to the western world. He originally trained as a doctor, working in hospitals in Cairo, but fell in love with the desert and the Bedu way of life while working in the area one summer nearly 30 years ago. He lives in the Sinai as a director of his own specialist company, and agent for Wind Sand & Stars. Rabia, with his knowledge of different ways of life, is able to give key insights into the desert world and his support team are always generous natured and high quality.

Dr Matt Ladbrook

Matt is a Registrar in General Practice with extensive experience of wilderness medicine. Matt has practiced worldwide, including in the Himalayas, Rockies and the Steppes of Asia. He regularly provides online medical advice to wilderness expeditions and advises on case management and evacuation. Matt has completed Advanced Trauma and Life Support, Advanced Wilderness Life Support, Road Traffic Collision Medical Management and Major Incident Management and Medical Support training.

Richard Mayon-White

Richard is the Commercial Director. He has many years' experience in developing companies and managing teams, in both large organisations and smaller companies. A Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Richard has travelled extensively, including climbing Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua. A commercially endorsed RYA Yachtmaster, he has skippered yachts in the Fastnet Race and Three Peaks Yacht Race. In early 2006 he rowed across the Atlantic with his wife, setting the record time for a couple in the race.

Peter Harvey

As a director of Wind Sand & Stars, Peter brings operational experience to the team, having set up and run a number of travel and personal development companies over the last 15 years. Peter's specialism in risk management has involved him in establishing safety standards, as Co-chair for the creation of the ISO Adventure Tourism standard, and as an active member of the technical committee for the British Standard in Overseas Expeditions (BS8848). Still devoted to having new experiences, Peter travels widely providing practical advice to teams working in remote parts of the world. He thrives on revealing new cultures and environments to individuals through safe and responsible travel.

Website photography by: Peter Bennett, David Beverley, Mike Gerrard, Polly Gothard, Bill Hobdell, Adrian Hyncica, Chris Moat, Mike Pringle, Kevin Richard, Tamsin Sridhara, Amelia Stewart, Marcus Wilson-Smith & Kenneth Wolfe.