Explorer Mikael Strandberg

I am 47 years old, divorced since 2006, no kids, still trying to figure out life, as usual. This time on the plains of Minneapolis. I have spent all my grown up life trying to put the puzzle of the meaning of life together. I do feel I am getting a bit closer by the day..... One day I might know....My drive to continue to explore this fantatastic planet of ours and its inhabitants is plain curiosity. Photo Courtesy Allen Brisson-Smith, www.brissonphoto.com

The day I arrived to the small Siberian settlement of Kolymskaya was the happiest moment of my exploring life. It was the end of the most demanding part of my Expedition along the Kolyma River, one of the coldest inhabited places on earth. I had, together with my assistant Johan, spent most of the past 5 months hauling 660 pounds of necessities, mainly in utter darkness, experiencing a terrifying cold with average temperatures around -50°F, day and night.

A reality which made sleep almost impossible, giving us plenty of frostbites on both fingers and cheeks and it ruined most metal parts in our equipment. Like our ski bindings, and therefore, we arrived walking, not skiing, to the village. It seemed like every inhabitant were there to greet us with customary warmth, joy and most of them were dressed in their colourful traditional dress. We saw Chukchis, Even, Yakuts, Yugahirs and Russians. After the traditional welcoming offerings to the spirits, we were brought into the local museum, where more cheerful and hugging villagers awaited us, around a table full of local delicacies. After having survived mainly on moose meat and raw, frozen fish during most of the winter, we nearly cried when we came across big plates of fried reindeer brain and cooked bone marrow. At that stage, I suddenly realized, after spending 23 years of exploring extreme parts of our world and trying to understand the meaning of life, from now on, I’ll stop thinking about the big worrisome issues and simply concentrate on the uncomplicated ones. Like the thought of some more cooked bone marrow.

I was brought up in a working class environment, where the basic values of life was hard physical work, loyalty to your employer, never forget where one came from and stick to your own kind. For this reason, we only had two books at home, The Sea Wolf and White Fang by Jack London. My father had them on loan indefinitely from the local library, for the simple reason to show our neighbours that our family had ambitions beyond the village limit. I wouldn’t have touched those books if I hadn’t caught the measles as a bored ten year old and with plenty of time to kill, I started reading them. I just couldn’t stop.  Once finished, I knew I had discovered an unknown, very exiting and important world. That discovery, in combination with a mother who loved me above all, gave me a self-confidence and a sense of uniqueness, to know that my future lay beyond the limits of the village.

I live a dream. Living with people like these two Yakuts, recording their thoughts and daily lives...that is a real privilage!

Passing through the Sahara with a pushbike 1989....just south of Tamanrasset, Algeria. I will soon be here again...in shallah.

Consequently, as quick as I turned 16, after spending most of my time avoiding the utterly boring knowledge taught in school, I set off for India, prepared to spend a year studying Mahayana Buddhism. Those studies only gave me diarrhoea and gut pains. Instead, I ended up hiking, reading and travelling around. When my money eventually ran out, I returned home with a wish to build bridges of understanding between people by writing, lecturing, filming and through photography. I met a total lack of interest. At that moment I realized, that I had to do something that nobody else had done before. So over the next 7.5 years I cycled from Chile to Alaska, from Norway to South Africa and from New Zealand to Cairo. I pedalled a total distance of 90000 kilometres passing through difficult terrain as the Sahara Desert and the Darien Gap.

Since then, I’ve been privileged to live a dream.

However, since one of the main topics of why I explore, namely the meaning of life, I just realized that I was far off from understanding anything, so I decided to continue. So together with my than wife, Titti, I explored Patagonia by horseback for a year and brought back a wild dog called Sigge to Sweden. One thing of many I learned from that Expedition was that I needed to live with people who were less affected by modern life, to fully grasp the meaning of life, so after that I spend half a year exploring Maasailand, living with the Maasai. Somewhere amongst lions, exploring nailanga, acacias and heat, I became conscious of the fact that in order to understand human beings, which had now become my major interest, I had to live in a surrounding similar to the one I was brought up in. But being an explorer, Scandinavia just wasn’t enough. Only one place remained in my head which had the right appeal. Siberia.

Among the maasai, 2000, cooking.....I just love food! It is one of my major interests in life...eating, cooking and eating again! Therefore I love preparing for Expeditions, since one always have to put on a lot of weight!

Four years have passed by since the Siberian Expedition. Life hasn´t been all that easy during this time. I have passed through heaven and hell at the same time, but suddenly in all existing chaos, there it was, a new vision. To understand, travel through and educate the world about the Arabs and their fantastic ways to be. I have this wish to build a bridge of understanding between the two cultures. I have left everything now, moved to the Gulf to be able to make this vision a reality. A formidable challenge, but I feel just ready.

I often get the question, what is an explorer?

The true explorer is unselfish, curious and ready to sacrifice his life in the quest of discovering unknown areas and human limits. An explorers life is a mission to make this earth of ours a better one to live in. For everybody.

At the end here I would like to thank a lot of people who have been there for me, during times of hardship and heaven, these last few years, people who made a difference, because reality is, without friends, nobody will survive.

My friend Anders Åberg made this film for me http://www.vimeo.com/4312972

Communication between people is the most important issue for the future. I love it. I love talking, love listening more and lecturing as a motivational speaker or as a guide is a true privilage. Here together with a friend, Oablo, at Macchu Picchu.

There´s no specific order, just as they come to my mind:

Folke U. Persson, my brother Kalle and his family, my sister Sarah, my mum, Monica Hjemdahl,Johan Benstorp, Torkel Insulander, Anders Wennersten, Rune Dahlberg, Björn O. Henriksson, Karin Bernesson, Barbara Eklund-Friberg, Barry Moss, Ollie Steeds, Steve Jewell, Marc Freedman, Monica Sparre, Tomas and Tina Sjögren, Fredrik Buch, Fred och Gun Goldberg, Dag Hernried, Linkan, Peter Käck, Lotta Gilliland med familj, Mikael and Jenny Lexhed, Gunnel Angberg, Charlotte Gyllenhammar, Peter and Anna Håkansson-Elam, Cuchullaine and Basha O`Reilly, Johanna St. Clair-Renard, Christer Lindh, Johan Ivarsson, Anders Åberg, Gunnar Brandberg, Talib Omar, Robby George, Marita Werngren, Håkan Ehrenblad, Magnus Nordin, Torgny Wilhelmsson, Gun-Britt and Johnny Larsson, Olle and Anna Widell, Elizabeth de Gaetano, Alicia Stevens, Anna Wincrantz, Lasse Berg, Lars Thorwall, Urban Boväng, Bengt Ohlsson, Lars Wanfors, Geoconda Leon and Pamela Elsafy.