The Sudan, the largest but perhaps least known country in Africa, is a kaleidoscope of different cultures from the Nubian builders of the wonders of present-day Egypt, the Arab north, to the celebrated tribes and wildlife of the largely inaccessible Sudd swamps in the south. It is also a country of beautiful landscapes, from several mountain ranges set in stunning desert scenery, to the Blue and White Niles meeting in its capital, Khartoum, to its coastline running along the Red Sea.

On 11 May 1989, Mr. Swan became the first person to have walked to both the North and South Poles. He speaks of his record breaking career as an explorer and how it led to him becoming one of the world’s great environmentalists.

Dr Alan Knight has spent nearly 20 years in sustainable development in the fields of retail, global finance and advising government. Not just an environmentalist, Dr. Knight’s specialty is actually to work with businesses and policy makers to be profitable in business, but within our planetary means, which he illustrates in the lecture, particularly through the lens of the use of sustainable consumer products.

The RGS is delighted to welcome Stephen Venables, Britain's greatest active mountaineer. Mr. Venables has done innumerable famous climbs from the Eiger to Everest. He is perhaps most famous for achieving the first ascent of Everest by the Kangshung Face from the Chinese side, which he made without oxygen, reaching the summit alone. Because it was by then afternoon, he had to spend the night alone, just below the summit without a tent, then the highest ever camp, followed by an epic 3-day descent without food. Mr. Venables also has many first ascents of other famous mountains to his name, in five continents. A suave, witty speaker, he frequently appears in documentaries, plus wrote some 15 books, including several best-sellers. He wrote the screen play and appeared in the movie Shackleton.

Dr Schmidt is a climate scientist. Picturing the Science forms the basis for the lecture, which tells the story of climate change in pictures. The lecture follows adventurous scientists through the ice caps at the poles to the coral reefs of the tropical seas. Taking data spanning centuries and continents, the lecture affirms the headlines with recent research and visual records, including contributions from experts on atmospheric science, oceanography, paleoclimatology, technology, politics, and the polar regions.

The Nine Pin Islands are probably the most spectacular development of columnar hexagonal jointing in tuffs in the world, and are reminiscent of the world heritage site of Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland.

Like a story from the 1001 Nights. Tim Severin builds a great Arab ship and sails from Oman to China to investigate the legendary adventures of the most famous mariner of all time. His sponsor is a modern day Arab prince - the Sultan of Oman - and his vessel is named Sohar after the Omani town said to be Sindbad’s birthplace. Not a single nail is used in the building of this remarkable vessel. Instead she is sewn together with 400 miles of coconut twine. With a crew of twenty, Arabs and Westerners, Sohar sets out to re-trace the ancient route of the silk and spice trade across the Arabian Sea to India, and then on to Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Malacca Straits then to China – the maritime “silk road” .

The Waglan Lighthouse commenced operation in 1893 and is the most interesting of the five surviving pre-war lighthouses in Hong Kong.

With her uniquely exciting humanitarian work in war-torn areas and speaking of her experiences in the remote communities of Tibet. Dr Mathieu also shows the extraordinary beauty of the landscape with a selection of photos.

Only a stone's throw away from the Imperial Palace, the Legation Quarter of Peking stood for more than half a century as 'a city apart'. It housed several thousand foreigners who lived in a miniature Europe in the heart of the Chinese capital.

Mr. Zahab speaks evocatively of the expedition, with its highs and lows, camaraderie and solitude, and the natural wonders at every location along the way, which provided their own challenges and held a unique reward for the three explorers and their team.

An excursion to the beautiful and inaccessible northeastern coast and islands of Hong Kong, to examine Jurassic sedimentary and volcanic rocks. Plus Hong Kong’s giant spectacular natural arch which we shall walk through.

This beautifully illustrated lecture provides a comprehensive and insightful virtual tour to the diverse natural history and rich culture of “The Land of Eternal Blue Sky”. Mongolia is a land of amazingly rich history, spectacular geography and hospitable people.

The explorer William Geil was the first man to travel along the whole length of the Ming Great Wall in 1908 and the first to show the world the Wall’s architectural diversity from east to west. Eighty years later in 1987, the ‘second William of the Great Wall’, William Lindesay, trekked solo and on foot for 2,470 km by following the ruins of the Ming Great Wall from its desert origins to its seaside terminus. Mr Lindesay presents his moving photo results showing how the Great Wall has changed in 84 locations in the intervening period.