Explorer Mikael Strandberg

A wedding procession along the route. The bridegroom and his friends on the way to the bride to be.....

During these three days of Eid Al-Adha we did a tour to the north of the country, passing through a lot of small fishing villages along the coast dominated by a strong smell of dried fish and people on vacation. The villages where teeming with people! We really enjoyed this part of Oman and we realized what a great family gathering this important holiday is. Muscatis leave the capital en masse to visit their birthplace and their parents during Eid Al-Adha. We finally ended up in Sohar, formerly capital of the country and the birth place of two of the globally most famous Omanis, Sinbad the Sailor and Ahmed Ibn Majid. The real Oman is, of course, located outside of Muscat. During our trip we also passed through Sawaidi, the birth place of a famous Omani to be. Talib Omar, one of my best friends. I meet him every Thursday for some of the most enjoyable conversations. Last Thursday we had this talk:

“Yesterday I saw this little ant on my floor and my first thought was to kill it, but than I realized how amazing it was, this little life walking on my floor, with all its legs and body moving forward and I thought, woow, another of his great creations!” Talib said with great joy in his face and continued passionately: “Our prophet said that life is precious and that humankind shouldn´t kill anything. All life has the same value! The prophet Mohammed was fantastic!”

“Oman is mainly Ibadi?” I asked him, my very good friend Tali Omar, during this, one of our many Thursday meetings, when we discuss everything from religion to football.

Talib goes up at 4.30 every morning to go to the mosque an pray....

“I don´t see myself belonging to any specific arm of Islam. I am sunni, shite, ibadi, all. I am a Muslim in all ways. It is simple really, it is just to follow the ten commandments of the Bible. I try to do as good as I can.”

Talib is one of the nicest human beings I have ever met. He has been the big difference in many ways, regarding the success or failure to put the Expedition on it feet and his wisdom is plentiful. And he never talks bad about anyone, doesn´t pass judgement without knowing, he is well read and educated in life, he speaks with a soft voice, always in a non-aggressive way and he is never pushy, but always helpful, very generous and no matter how busy, bogged down with work, he always takes time to listen and help. Lately he has spent hours in his phone trying to help me find my way through the sign-free parts of Muscat. He is a devout Muslim which prays 5 times a day, he listens often to prayers on the radio or TV and he reads a lot on the same subject.

The five pillars of Islam is: Faith or belief in the Oneness of God and the finality of the prophethood of Muhammad; Establishment of the daily prayers; Concern for and almsgiving to the needy; Self-purification through fasting; and The pilgrimage to Mecca for those who are able.

“I prefer to read books by Western scholars when it comes to Islam” , he says, “They go deeper, question and are more neutral, which means you get a broader spectrum of Islam.”

“Why do you think Islam is so misunderstood in the West?”

“Well, it has become to politicized. Really from the beginning with the Ummiyads and up until today it is far to often based on political and not spiritual power. And when two Muslim sides are at war, like Iran or Iraq or like in Somalia, they blame each other for not being true believers. I guess, like Christianity, look at the catholics and protestants in Northern Ireland…..” I chip in with the former republic of Yugoslavia, “….they´re still not getting along even though they should be called educated people. Because one problem for Islam is that in many Muslim countries education is poor and if you get a bad Imam preaching in an uneducated area, we have a situation. Therefore, if it is a poor country with big divisions between rich and poor, than people will join the opposition whether they are fanatics or not! Education and a fair government is vital!”

“One thing I realized during my time in Yemen studying Arabic, was that in reality, like the Talibans in Afghanistan”  , I said, “These geezers don´t even speak or understand Arabic, how than can they than properly understand the Quran? They don´t even know what they are reading.”

“True. I haven´t thought about that.”

“What about the issue of women? I get a lot of questions from my readers about Islam and their views on women and then they, the readers, refer to some horrible article written about lashing or stoning woman. And add that some Muslims say that it is written in the Quran that the beating of women is a right.”

“The situation for women is not good. Indeed it is terrible. But that has to do with the old culture in this area, which was strong far before the arrival of Islam, and this ancient culture has unfortunately been applied to Islam. But that is not good, because it is a fact, that The Prophet loved women and he had some very strong women around himself and if people try to read his first sermon where he specifically said that society has to protect women and give them the same rights. I have a daughter myself, she plays football and I will give her every chance in life to choose what she wants to do in her life. And regarding beating woman, in Oman it is written in the law that it is forbidden, but it is still not easy to implement, because if a woman goes to court, she will pay a social prize of being evicted from the community. So we still have some time before it works perfectly.”

All throughout our conversation his mobile has rung, messages has poured in, it is Eid Al-adha, plus that Talib really never takes a day off work. Suddenly somebody very important calls and our time is up and we return in his Porsche to Al Ghubra where I live. He stops half way at a mosque for midday prayers. For me Talib is a role model of how a human being should be.

The shopping for Eid Al-Adha is hysterical right now!

Some of the most imposing mosques have elaborate design, like the Sultans Mosque in Muscat.....

This is our proposed route and if borders close due to the war in Yemen, the blue, which doesn´appeal at all.

Eid al-Adha , The Festival of Sacrifice, is coming up for all our worlds Muslims, 1.2 billion in total, representing  28% of the worlds population. It marks the end of the pilgrimage to Mecca. In Oman it also means that everybody is taking ten days off work, everything is closed, our work is brought to a total stand still and a lot of locals have rushed to all the malls in Muscat to buy presents. My friend Kamil calls it the Muslim Christmas. He and his family will fly for a short holiday to Bahrain, three days of additional shopping. It is a time you spend together with your family. I will write a blog report about it, once Eid is over. We look forward to it very much. Suddenly something big is happening in town! No matter what, we will still leave Muscat and head for Salalah to meet one of my Bedu friends from the Al-Mahra tribe, Mussalem Bin Hassan and at the same time check our upcoming route through the country.

Since I arrived to Oman I have received a fair amount of requests from people who´d like to join the Expedition, which is an honor, from some really good names with in exploration and adventure and I have received an uncounted number of emails from people, all young men, if I can help them find sponsors or how to go about. And I think throughout these 24 years of travelling, and 1000s of emails, this is the most common question I have received. So, inspired by a Facebook friend, Alistair Humphreys, I have spent a fair amount of my thoughts today, whilst sitting in long queues of traffic, dodging shoppers crossing the road, thinking about the issue. So here we go,  3 tips and thoughts on the subject!

1. Do you really need it? I know many “wannabes” and first timers want sponsors because they think it looks cool, professional and impressive having a lot of logos on yourself and your gear. Travelling like I do, with cultures as the main issue, one doesn´t want to look like a formula one guy. I can understand that climbers, north and south pole skiers…I mean where meeting people and cultures are less important…and so on want to keep a high profile and market their sponsors, but otherwise there are other ways to market your potential sponsors. I have a feeling that potential sponsors in the West understands this, that it is not good to get over exposure, but in this part of the world, it hasn´t hit home yet.

Two of our main sponsors in Siberia......

So my point is, if you have the funds, it is a better choice. Less work, less stress and you run everything the way you want. However, I want to add, I have always had a great partnership with my sponsors and many of them are very good friends today and they have never, ever, had opinions how I use their brand or expose it. However, I have heard other opinions, especially if you involve broadcasting media. (Check the site at www.siberia.nu and the link to partners to see what sponsors I had on the Siberian trip.) I know that Christian Bodegren, who is trying to pass the Sahara Desert, is funding his expedition by himself. I respect that a lot for a first timer.

And, if you haven´t done a serious Expedition before, do one, and than try for sponsors for the second one. Potential sponsors wants to see a track record of what you have done. So better choice is to work and save money!

2. You really have to figure out, what does a potential sponsor want out of it? What can you offer them, which all the others cannot? For example I have a friend who is in charge of Canons sponsorship department and he gets 300 requests for sponsorship per day. He offers sponsorship to ten causes a year, meaning less than 1% of all who asks and almost all of them are well known already. I don´t want to make it look hopeless, just telling you how hard it is. My only advice is, try a new perspective, if you are not famous.

3. Target only the ones which fit your vision and find ones that you will become a pal with. Some people do anything for money, forgetting that the future will judge you by who you cooperated with. After awhile, if you take anything, your vision gets clouded in being looked upon as purely a moneymaker. Many of them in exploration I am afraid. I personally really enjoy working with sponsors. I think it is because I love dealing with people and almost all of them are very good friends to me today, with whom I socialize. Like the legendary Olle Widell at the former Outside Scandinavia. He believed in me from the beginning and sponsored me through many expeditions. I would never deal with a sponsor if I don´t have a personal relationship with them. So find the ones who fit your vision and it will be a great partnership for both!

By the way, have a look at this! (Yeah, I know, it doesn´t have anything to do with sponsorship!)

Satellite equipment sponsored by Tomas and Tina at Explorers Web on the Siberian expedition, they´re two of my best friends today.