Online Video Guide

Meet Ahmed, a Bedouin sheep herder who has committed his life to saving the Bald Ibis, a critically endangered bird with a face only a mother could love. The rapid extinction of this rare bird is the result of increasing human population, hunting and land degradation. Ahmed and his small team of fellow Preservationists have made it their mission to save the Bald Ibis, and inextricably, Ahmed's land and culture. Ahmed and the Return of the Arab Phoenix was shot around the Palmyra oasis, Syria, not far from the Euphrates river and the Iraqi border. Despite its dismal reputation in the international press, the Syrian government is very much involved in the effort of protecting its natural heritage. This is the story of a handful of visionary men who are fighting in the desert to protect what is left of the biodiversity of Al Badia, the semi-arid desert steppe stretching from the Iraqi border to almost the Mediterranean coast. Their efforts will be rewarded by the discovery, in a remot