Sophie Ibbotson, trustee of the Royal Society and author of six Central Asia guidebooks, has been featured in Luxury Wellness this September, spotlighting her work as an explorer, consultant and writer specialising in the region. The Q&A traces her path into adventure travel, from a childhood shaped by a family of explorers to driving an autorickshaw from India to the UK and falling for Central Asia after being snowed in one winter in Kyrgyzstan. It also covers the expedition for which she’s best known: locating the long-disputed source of the River Oxus (now the Amu Darya) in Afghanistan, an achievement now marked by the Ibbotson-Esmaili Glacier. The piece closes with her reflections on travelling through Taliban-ruled Afghanistan as a foreign woman.