One of the biggest honours you can get as an explorer, is of course, being asked by other explorers or explorers-to-be who wants advice regarding their upcoming Expeditions. I have been fortunate to have had many queries throughout the years, maybe 50-60 serious ones, and three times as many not so serious ones. That is why I once upon a time started an expedition school which today has hit the grave, unfortunately. To teach people how to do Expeditions, because it is not an easy topic. Almost 80% of the people who have asked my advice and who have set off have failed to do what they hoped to achieve. Basically due to that they lost their enthusiasm after 3-7 weeks. And they had prepared badly when it came to sleeping in a tent, cooking under difficult circumstances and lacked the proper motivation to, why do I do an Expedition?

Right now I have one guy I´ve assisted, my friend Marcin´s Kolyma Expedition, who has had serious problems with the extreme cold and his equipment braking and he has changed his initial route, ending in Bilibino instead of Chersky. And it seems like he has been backed up by two friends most of the time in a vehicle, I am afraid, due to the cold. Still he is fast! But he is a true explorer, no doubt.
Christian Bodegren (see photo above) however, is planning his first Expedition. Travelling by camel from Egypt to Morocco, a great feat. He came to visit me today, we spread maps on the floor, chatted about oasis, where to start and we´ve been looking at what is waiting for him. Question is, he could do as good with a piece of sand paper. His Expedition though, is of great interest to me, since a crossing of the Sahara is part of my great Arabian project. Christian has dived into pretty much all books on the project and he is well versed of all existing routes through this great desert. As far as we know, the only crossing with camels of the Sahara desert by white people, was done by Michael Asher and Marieanetta Peru in the 80`s, but Christian would then be the third European to cross the lot and the first Swede in history. (There are some amazing ultra runners which have crossed it, supported, a reader told me, for example http://www.runningthesahara.com/ , but I consider this sport, not exploration of another culture. Still, what a feat!) Christian, though, is very eager to do it with 5 camels and wants to leave as soon as possible. His only worries are the visa regulations in countries like Libya and Algeria, stupidities is hindering every explorer worldwide, these ridiculous obstacles making life so much harder for the good of all human beings. Christian is also reasonably ambitious and sees the Sahara as a project of three big challenges in his life, which is a great thought and that makes me believe he will do it. No matter what. He is also very sensible regarding sponsors, one of the most frequent questions I get and I have always answered, first do a big Expedition, then ask for sponsors, when you have a better CV. Christian understands this, even if he comes from the south of Sweden.

However, he didn´t like my moose heart stew today, which makes me wonder how he is going to handle a casserole made up of local intestines mixed with goat testicles….