Explorer Mikael Strandberg

Rain is pouring down in the Sultanate. Chaos everywhere, people are dying in tragic accidents when wadis get flooded and in Al Ghubra, the immigrant area where we live, people keep their kids indoors not to drown….it amazes me, because the downpours as they are called are very moderate. We would even call them drizzles back home….In any case, it has made me think about an issue which once up on a time, made me start an Expedition school (Started 1998, ended 2006), namely:

Your tent is your home, your fortress.....

Why do  so many people fail in their hope to reach the goal they´ve set out at accomplishing in their Expeditions?

The reason I set this Expedition School up, was that I realized of those over 100 Expeditions that people asked me for advice, all of them first timers, 90% failed to reach their goal, half of them didn´t make it over three months. The main reason, which is the essential ingredient for the success of an Expedition, were these:

1. How to put up a camp and live in a tent. The two most important things on an Expedition, is to sleep and eat well. Therefore, before leaving on an Expedition/adventure/travel where you live outdoors, you need to spend a lot of time living outdoors in a tent, until the day you sleep well, feel secure and now where to pitch the tent. This is your home, your life, your tent is where you recuperate. Make it comfortable, your fortress against worries and the place of peace. Choose good equipment. I am much more for weight, than slimming it all down to discomfort. But, before leaving, lots of sleeping outdoors.

The knowledge how to cook and good food is vital for success!

2. Learn how to cook good food! You need energy and rest to be able to make the right decisions. So get a good stove, preferable petrol since that works everywhere and than practice doing the same meals that you do back home. There´s not much of a difference! You need variety, if possible, good nutritious meals, full of carbs and fat and tasty one!

3. Motivation and understanding why you want to this expedition! If you handle these two firsts you will make it far, because it is a simple life. You work hard, eat and sleep. It is the greatest and most peaceful of life’s. It is real freedom. But, a the end of the day, when going gets tough, you really need to know why you are doing it.

However, just go…..

To find adventure,you have to look beyond your beak......

I think, throughout the years, I have probably teamed up with at least 25 people who wanted to come with me on an adventure or an Expedition, but who, somewhere along the line, dropped off and decided not go. Not nowadays, but it happened frequently when I first started 25 years ago. When it came to the day of leaving, they decided this was just not their choice of life. They just didn´t have the vision to brake free of what they thought society wanted from them. They didn´t have the guts. They were not ready to sacrifice their comfort level at that precise moment. They didn´t dare to take the step into the unknown…

I am talking the well-to-do-world here, not the developing world, where bare funds and pure survival is an issue every day. But I am still strongly convinced, no matter how complicated your circumstances are, if you want something very much, you go for it and you will eventually get it. But, the reason I highlight this topic, is due to the fact that amongst the thousands of emails I have received since that initial moment of leaving, many simply ask, what does it take to fulfill their dream to do this or that? And, when I think profoundly about the subject, one of most common things said to me after a lecture, when people come up to me for a small chat or posing a question, they say (all men, by the way, older, over 50):

“I would have done exactly the same, if this and that wouldn´t have happened.”

Well, I have spent a lot of time thinking about this. Either you have the urge or not, but if you are right on the border, when it comes to go for it or not, whether it is a big Expedition or a weeks hike through the local mountains or forest, maybe these three tips can help you go for the adventurous choice. Because, there´s no doubt, every little adventure will raise your level of understanding and enjoyment of  life.

Planning is half of the fun, daydreaming a way to relax and once you leave, you will realize that reality is more fantastic than the dream.....

1. Half the fun of any Expedition or adventure, is planning it. Go to the library and get all those books, maps, travel guides, reference bibles and encyclopaedia’s. Start researching and read. And once you have made a picture of what you want to accomplish in front of you, once you have started to realize the dream, I am sure things will get in the way, obstacles such as well meaning family members or the pressures of culture, well, this is the time to leave the books and contact real people. Phone, email or in any good way, get into contact with people who´s been there, who can assist you with realizing your dream and I think there´s very few explorers or adventurers or specialists who wouldn´t help you. If they don´t, I feel genuinely sorry for them. Without these people I wouldn´t have chosen this life for myself. I remember such a decisive moment very clearly up until this day.

Just before leaving on my first big Expedition, the one on a push bike from Chile to Alaska 1986-1088, I went to the local library in Dala-Järna to return the last of the books I had read regarding my trip and met a very good friend there, Gösta Tysk (unfortunately he passed away last year), in those days a globally well known nature photographer, with Alaska as a specialty and we had spent hours together talking about this amazing place. This time, he was together with his wife. She said immediately after I had said that I am ready to roll:

“Do you think you can do it? I think it is impossible.”

Hearing those words where a shock to me! In a few seconds a lost all confidence and stuttering I tried to find my words, red faced of embarrassment….a fell silent. My good friend moved in and saved me with this words:

“Of course he can do it!”

That was all I needed. A bit of confidence. 2 years later I reached my goal. Thank God I didn´t listen to Göstas wife!

2. Don´t listen to the voices of negativity! I am amazed how many people who actually spend so much time of their possibility to live and enjoy life, to try to ruin the life of others who wants to go beyond the limits of their beaks. It is beyond my concept of understanding! And they´re everywhere. Family, friends, acquaintances, pals at work and school, media…well, everywhere, even amongst other travelers, adventurers and explorers…it is especially hard in the beginning until everybody realizes that you are a lost cause and let you get on with life. After that moment of discovery,  it is only opponents, media and people you have made unhappy along the way who will try to ruin your dreams…;-) As quick as you hear something negative, just turn of f your hearing and smile and say, yes, I will give that a good thought.

People who doesn´t know better, probably thinks this unique marine iguana is dangerous, when in reality it is not only unique, but as kind as an iguana can get.....what if it would have listened to evolution too much, it would have ben gone, long time ago....

3. Buy the ticket! Once you have explained for those you love, why you have to do it, just buy that ticket and get on with it! And remember to enjoy every minute of it, whether it is a few days or many years, because next time around, it all starts from the beginning!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAH, I am really frustrated! We are running out of time!!! The death of an Expedition is getting closer!!!

But, first of all, this has started to happen, I get emails like these:

“Your articles from Yemen where extraordinary exiting! So full of life and joy! What has happened to you, Mikael? If you continue like this you will loose all your readers!”

Yemeni life,full of colors, passion, life and smells!

This is one of quite a few emails I have received since I have arrived to Oman regarding my blog reports. And I agree. I kind of have lost inspiration for the art of writing. There´s a major reason. I kind of have a hang over since Yemen.  Yemen had everything. Passion, life, joy, sorrow, drama, war, hate and love. Oman isn´t like that. Or I should say, Muscat. (Don´t get me wrong, Oman is one of the most fascinating places I have been to, outside of Muscat, see this slide show here!) What you see with your eyes whilst moving around the city and not getting in behind the curtains, is this:

It is kind of dead. Nothing much happening. It is a working city. People go to work, early, and they come back from work, late. But always working. One day off in general, Friday, when it is even more dead. The only places which always teems with people, very orderly though, is the shopping malls. Getting there involves lots of traffic and moving at snails speed. It is an extremely orderly city. Very silent, free of smells and totally void of any signs of disorder. It is safe, clean and modern. People are friendly, smiling and helpful. I have met some of the nicest people in my entire life here. Genuinely good, honest and warm human beings. Both amongst locals and the big immigrant groups like Indians, Filipinos and Pakistanis. But it is a place mainly for work. And that is what we are doing here, working from early morning to early night. Most of the time in front of the computer, writing proposals, phoning potential sponsors, requesting meetings or doing research on the Internet. And since we have to stick to the times of work in Europe and America, we also work Thursday and Friday. And since everyone is working, and due to that we are two and seen as a couple, we get invited much less to local people, compared to when I was solo here. So, really, our life here is work and on and off moving around to meet other Western people or buy food in the malls. So it is not as lively, dramatic and inspiring as Yemen! But than again, it is two very different worlds, even though they are neighbors! But what to do? Right now, not much. Because we are running out of personal funds and because this is a very expensive place to be!

Muscat - a working city.

Are we getting anywhere with getting the Expedition on its feet? Hard to say, people are very helpful, kind, accommodating and interested, but so far, nothing as we would like it. We would like to get going pretty soon, hit the desert, walk next to the camels, feel the spirit of the desert, but is seems further away each day. Soon we just have to move on and try another place, another country and hopefully get people there to fully understand the vision we have. To change the world, YES!

We are not giving up! Neither the issue of writing interesting stories. I will try to penetrate the wall of the Omani World and let you meet some local people and read about their lives! So, no more stories until this, or the Expedition doesn´t totally collapse or we will meet some interesting local people or as interesting immigrants. Thanks readers for the kick in my butt! Well needed! Back to the old craft! To live to its fullest!

Walking through Maasiland in the year of 2000, not donning local gear as usual, but called Olorogwa whether I liked it or not....

One of the main visions of the Arabian Expedition is to build a bridge of understanding between the West and the Muslim East and within the Arab countries themselves. No matter how one look upon things, this is one of the major problems that the world is facing today. There´s an enormous need for information, education and clear debate on both sides. One of our major hopes regarding this upcoming Expedition, of which 50% is Arab, Salim and Nasr, and the rest made up of me and Pamela, who is Asian-American, is to communicate via the Internet every third day, where debate will be one of the most important issues. We need to communicate. If this is possible, to create a forum for debate just like we wish, we don´t know yet.

The reason I bring this very exiting and important issue up in this report is due to this email that I received yesterday:

Know that the Bani Hasan tribe has been undertaking camel treks out of Yemen across Africa for centuries – guess that’s already been “explored” (without GPS receivers and sat-phones).

I’ve lived in Yemen for a while now and you are like every dick head tourist I’ve seen coming through here, donning local clothes and a jambiya (you know the locals laugh at foreigners doing that, right?), giving yourself a local name (priceless) and blogging about the place like you discovered it.

However, you stand apart in your unfailing ability to aggrandise yourself for doing what is otherwise standard adventure tourism. You’re no more of an explorer than the 1000th Yemeni traveling through Sweden can claim he is exploring stockholm.

Why not explore the mind of the self-important ethnocentric tourist? You’ve got a head start.

amelahodalt (this person did leave his or hers email, but no name)

Me an ethnocentric dick? Possibly....

During my 25 years of exploration, I have never, ever received an email as offensive and full of bitterness, jealousy and hatred as this one. I am sorry to, once again, find out that so many people feel bad in this world of ours and use so much of their joy to live to pour out their hate and bitterness for something they disagree with. I have received tons of letters, emails, phone calls throughout the years and I have been stopped in the street many times by people who disagree with what I do, who I am and how I see life. Of course, I wish everybody would love me, but that is definitely not the case! But I accept all kinds of critique. It is part of any life where you have personal opinions.

However, to be able to have a debate about anything in life, opinions have to be free and many. Within a limit. Offensive emails like this one, based on hatred, jealousy and bitterness, leads nowhere. But there are, after all no smoke without fire, and some of these issues this person highlights comes up a lot in my sphere, what is an explorer and what is true exploration, so I will start a debate by answering this persons accusations. Feel relatively free to come with opinions, but since I moderate everything, because I on and off get these type of emails, I will not allow more emails like this one, which is free of any reason, good research and thought.

About the Beni Hassan tribe, like the more well-known Beni Hilal tribe, and other Arabs who have traveled both ways, to and from Mecca, this is true, but there´s absolutely no written records that a full east to west trip has been done without a prolonged break. Especially not in modern times. However, one of the main ideas with the Expedition, is to highlight the Arabs as great travellers and their amazing journeys. One of them is the well-known Ibn Battuta. And that is why 50% of the members are Arab, so that they can become modern day Ibn Battutas and give the Arab world a voice from the exploration point.

Reality today, in the modern era of exploration,is that this is how most Bedu travel with their camels today...even the famous Al-Mahra tribe.

When it comes to satellite phones and GPS, it shows that you have no idea about my past history of exploration, feel free to read this. I have never, ever used a GPS and never will. However when it comes to satellite phones, I did have it on the Siberian Expedition and will have bring one on the upcoming Expedition. This is due to the need to communicate via Internet. Plus that authorities nowadays won´t let you into the country without one. It is considered another measure of security. But, I will never, ever, use the satellite phone to call for help or assistance. It hasn´t happened and it never will.

When it comes to donning local dress, I agree fully with you. This is the first time in my life, that I have put on local dress, and I agree with your assessment. The reason is as follows: I was given it as a gift from Pamela and our two friends Mohammed and Hussein, to wear for one day. From which all photos are taken. I felt very uncomfortable, but realized that there were many in the souk who actually felt honored and liked it that I wore there local Sanaani dress. But that was the only time. But, it could well happen again in the future. Once again, I wish you would have done your home work better. This is the thing with blind hate, jealousy and bitterness, it works over reason and research. Better to do something with your own life in stead. Enjoy it. Do it in a way you think is appropriate. Write about it. Because communication is the most important issue for a stable future for the globe.

Together with Hussein...yes, we are all laughing!

The giving of the name Ahmed Al-Hamdani was the same evening. It was Hussein and Mohammed who gave it to me. As a sign of their respect. For what I don´t know. However, many western tourists, adventure travelers and explorers have been given names whether they like it or not. Two well known ones are Wyman Bury and Wilfried Thesiger. I have been given local names, whether I like it or not, meeting other people, tribes, like the maasai. I was throughout my Expedition there called Olorogwa, which means the fiery one. Local names are always given by local people as a sign of respect and appreciation. Maybe that is why you have never experienced this.

When it comes to my love of writing, well, I will always write as I have just discovered a place! For me, I do discover all the time and for me it is a new discovery. It is about loving life. I really love life! And whether you like it or not, I have a following of readers globally who wants me to write the way I do. And its people. If you don´t like my writing, why bother reading it?

That last paragraph reeks of jealousy. I won´t even comment it.

To sum it all up, I see you love Yemen and the Yemenis, which I do as well and you have come across a lot of tourists and travelers that you don´t like. I am sorry to hear that. Why don´t you start a blog and write about your feelings? Find a solution to your anger?

Communication in minus 45 in Siberia......

Yemen was one of the highlights of my life in many ways. See the slide show from there!

Since Pamela and myself together with Salim and Nasr will face the upcoming debate together, Pamela, who is an academic look upon the email like this and will leave her comment as a comment! Start the debate!

The true image of an explorer. Icecicles, extreme cold, male, white, eyes looking into horizon....the image which has to be changed.

I got this email a few days ago. One of many readers asking the same question:

Hello, to wherever you might be at this moment

I stumbled recently on your online blog.. and.. well I know you must have heard this question a thousand times already, but I simply have to ask. How does one becomes a professional traveler? I would consider myself honored if you could drop me a few words about this
Blue skies and many more miles,
Gustáv Kyselica Jr. (a would-be-explorer (at least in heart for sure)

How to become an explorer? What does it take?

It is quite easy to answer. It takes passion, more passion than others, hard work, harder than all the others, a vision, bigger visions than all the others and an enormous amount of curiosity!

Every day I read about people, mainly young men, who do more or less spectacular adventures, get a lot of attention for a few years, they live on lectures and book sales, then they are gone from the scene of exploration. they just didn´t have what it took to stay in the business for a long time. Some of them have great jobs within the adventure industry, others, on paper some of them do “Expeditions” for a few months every five years and get the media with them due to earlier recognition, but they definitely doesn´t make any difference in the main reason to explore as I see it. Open horizons to other worlds, building bridges between cultures, creating a bigger understanding of this magnificent world we live in and explore the meaning of life. To survive as an explorer you need to have a personality which differs, have a clear vision reaching until the end of ones life and never stop exploring and always continue to be curious. On top of that, I think, there´s an issue to it which never can be taught or trained, either you have what it takes or not. And that has nothing to do with background, possibilities or environment. It is just there.

Just as an illustration to what I mean. If you walk up to the top of a building, walk out on to the edge when you reach the top looking down, do you want to jump? I have asked all my friends who are in the same line of work as me and we all say….yes.

How to become an explorer? Enough curiosity makes a difference!

These are earlier entries that I have written on this very important subject:

• http://www.mikaelstrandberg.com/2009/04/18/inspiring-explorers-inspiring-times/
• http://www.mikaelstrandberg.com/2009/04/06/a-note-on-two-explorers-thesiger-and-gienieczko-and-a-word-about-the-theatre-of-dreams/
• http://www.mikaelstrandberg.com/2009/03/21/a-major-reason-to-choose-a-life-as-an-explorer/
• http://www.mikaelstrandberg.com/2008/10/14/what-is-the-reason-to-explore/

…and he will travel the world.

That is what my sister said when she was pushing me around in a stroller 47 years ago, when she met a neighbor and briefly stopped and talked to her. I learned that yesterday when I visited my American sister Sarah and met the neighbor. Since than I have traveled to 113 countries and spent more than 2500 nighs in a tent, many of them in a tent which you see to the right here. Photo is taken in the Sinai desert and this was one of the scariest nights in my life. Soon I will pass here again and I will worry less. Since than I have already met the worst demon of all.

As you can see, if you click on the photo to enlarge it, I have even been able to get my bicycle in, the one I used when I cycled from New Zealand to Cairo 1994-96, The reason was that i had been attacked the night before and was worried beyond belief. And trying to sleep then, isn´t easy. I just lay there in the dark, shivering, frightened, listening to every movement, just in case, somebody had spotted me leaving the main road and hiding behind this set of rocky outcrops, coming there to rob me, kill me…well, that is how the mind goes. Eventually i fell asleep, probably an hour before the arrival of dawn. Suddenly it happened!

Somebody attacked me, hit me hard in the right eye, I screamed and yelled, kicked and fought back against the attacker, and I shouted:

“You shouldn´t have done that!”

The attacker turned out being…..my bike. Strong wind had arrived and the bike just fell over and I got the end of my handlebar in my right eye….I did manage to brake a spoke and make life even more complicated, since I still, after almost 90 000 km:s and 7.5 years on a push bike, I still didn´t know how to adjust a spoke properly.

Another voice from the past also turned up yesterday, Bengt, a guy I worked with 1984-85, when saving money to do my first Expedition, from Chile to Alaska on a push bike, at a workshop manufacturing saw blades. He was my boss than and he´s kept track on me ever since and remembers the day I left for Chile. It was the same day the premier of Sweden, Olof Palme, was executed on a street in Stockholm. He came to honor me, traveled a big distance to do that, and that is such a privilege to experience.

I wish I was in Chile right now, because strong winds, grey sky and damp, bone chilling cold has arrived to Stockholm. I thought about yemen this morning and than thi article by a friend, Tim, showed up. Read it here!

Stockholm early morning, autumn has arrived, it is windy and it has been raining all night, but days are sunny and the autumn colors are fantastic! However, I feel real heavy headed and extremely tired. I just get a few hours of sleep right now. And my mood is swinging from desperation to joy….It is always the same story….time to leave, not knowing when I will return….I am kind of packing everything together, cleaning out the apartment, phoning my friends, saying good bye, storing the extremely few things I have after a disastrous divorce and I am ready to take the big step and leave Sweden for awhile, sweating away for awhile in a desert.

Right now I get many questions from you readers about when is the Expedition taking place, and I answer:

“In shallah, when the time is ready…”

I just don´t know, this Expedition just grows, and is getting quite difficult to handle. I have pretty much worked day and night since the vision arrived. I do need 8 hours to feel human, but 5-6, it is tough, but I am living on all the joy all this gives me! But I am leaving Sweden now, getting ready to leave on The Expedition as soon as I have acquired camels, trained them, set everything up with my partners, Salim and Nasr, and have most permits needed, so if all goes well, between 3-12 months from now…..however, remember Chrsitian Bodegren, the Swede I helped with my experience, he is on his way! Go for it Christian! (See http://www.christianbodegren.com/ ) Even though his English sometimes makes things hard to understand, it is an interesting read from a guy who has put his life at stake and wants to become an explorer!

“And the funding?” people ask. Same answer:

“In shallah, when time is ready, all things will fall in place….”

I have slowly turned my mind into the Arab way of thinking, as you see, all is written in the stars already, so why worry….;-)….So right now, am trying to check out of Sweden, which isn´t all to easy. There´s the Internet company who says I need to pay another three months, the gym wants an additional month and so on…..times are hard, so nobody is really helpful, they want their money, whether they need it or not…hardest is getting the time to meet all my best friends…I will soon say goodbye to my family, which is always a nightmare, but I have done so many times now, so it is part of life….

But, once on the Expedition, all these normal day worries will be gone with the wind!

Just a small report from the flat….

I receive a lot of emails right now about my photos from Yemen.

Justin wrote:

Marianne Ahrne wrote:

I had no idea that you were a world-class photographer as well. Your photos are world class and they really makes me wanna go to Yemen. How long are you staying for?

Lots of praise and, of course, that makes life easier. However, do see the Yemeni photos here!

And I get a fair amount of questions if I have any more slide shows from my travels to show. And I do…..but it was in Yemen were I finally got back to my old passionate photography, which have been on holiday for three years. However, why not have a look at these series of slide shows: (Have in mind though they´re quite crappy in comparison.)

• Oman
• The Galapagos Islands, Peru and Ecuador
• Patagonia
• Rub Al-Khali
• Papua New Guinea

And why not finish off with a little slide show from The Kolyma Expedition in Siberia?

Go here!

PS. Photo from the Maasai Expedition from the year 2000. the year I actually had hair. And a big stomach. DS

http://explorermikaelstrandberg.wordpress.com/

The blog mentioned above here, is the blog to keep track on until the end of September, when I will return back and fill it with all the exiting details of life and the upcoming Expedition!

I am in Yemen at the moment studying Arabic and I am also trying to understand Islam and the Arab world better, not only as preparation for life, but also for the preparation of the Big Expedition! It is slowly coming to life…..