Explorer Mikael Strandberg

In the news in Oman.....the media has been very helpful to promote my vision. This time Muscat Daily. Click on photo to read.

“It is written in the stars, your journey is meant to be!”

A decision has been made!

I have decided to go back to Sweden right now. I feel empty. I won´t get any further at this moment and it seems like I have put all eggs in one basket. Maybe a serious mistake. I just can´t afford to stay in the Gulf anymore and I am forced to relocate to Sweden and kind of start life from scratch again. Build up an economic strong base again. And continue my wait there. And hope that the saga is written in a positive way in the stars. I have heard that phrase so much since I first arrived in Oman.

“It is written in the stars, your journey is meant to be!”

This time I have been a week in Oman, met most of my great friends, and I have had one lecture for the ESO at Crowne Plaza, too early to say how it all went, met a potential backer and finally been able to get a message sent through to the power, which I have worked for since I first came here.

When I arrived to Oman first time in January 2009, I felt like a president. I stayed in luxury hotels, was shipped around in limos, met with the wealthy and powerful and most important, it seemed like everyone I met loved my vision of building a bridge from the Arab World into the West (and the other way around) through an Expedition by camel. The positive atmosphere was electrifying! And I just loved everything which had to do with the country. The people, the Bedu culture underlying everything, the heat, the desert, the food and the dignity that people behaved with. I often get emails from people that think I am naive and say:

“You always love a new country you come to and say it is the best on earth!”

After the lecture at ESO at Crowne Plaza. From left, Marcus Rydbo, Gejrangers GK, Lamees Daar, president of ESO and married to His Higness Sayyid Tarik bin Shabib Al-Said who is next to me. A great couple who makes a major difference on many levels for Oman!

I still feel very strongly for Oman, but I have been here, I think, at least 7 times during a year and the issue have been setting up an expedition, get the needed funds and start working on finding camels and two Bedus too join me. And, to tell you the truth, even though I feel I have done everything in my power, I have invested everything I have, I have had many people like great friends like Talib Omar and Wael Lawati to back the Expedition and promote it, when I think about it, when it comes to the Expedition and getting it on its feet, I am basically at the same stage as a year ago.

What mistakes have I done?

Most likely that I bought all the enthusiasm I received initially as a sign that things would happen fast and easy and fully didn´t realize that things take time in this part of the world. They, the Omanis, really want to know you before they believe in you. I can understand and appreciate that. But it takes time, money and stamina of world class strength. Maybe I didn´t sell my vision good enough. Well, we still don´t know this. But right now, I just feel empty. Like I have walked into a wall. I am totally free of any energy right now. It has been a hard expedition in itself. Coming to Oman with hopes to do my little bit to make life more understandable and peaceful through education and information.

Do I regret anything?

Nothing, absolutely nothing. This time of trying to get an Expedition on its feet has been with the best in my life and I have really already found what I was looking for on a personal level. And most of all, I have learned a lot about this part of the world and fallen in love with it. And I have met some extremely good new friends and I am sure Oman will be a part of my future in one way or the other. But right now, there´s nothing more I can do than wait and see and that is best to do in Sweden. But I do love Oman, see this little slideshow of this spectacular country!

So this is the death of the expedition?

Not at all. Just run out of steam, funds and ideas. I am just at loss of words right now. And I am off to Turkey for a few lectures and a conference on tourism. As my very good friend, whom I will visit, Dogan Tilic says:

“In the East you don´t have to work for anything, it will come to you if you just have the patience to wait.”

Initially it was all like a dream with possibilities in every corner, now it is just a mental void.....the question is, what will happen next?...

Bainu with his wife Sharol and ten months old son having a break and a laugh

Back in Oman, right now in the Indian enclave of Wattaya. There´s a smell of curry over the area, but it is calm and sparsely populated. We are staying with two friends, Bainu and his wife Sharol.

“We are worried. We have left everything behind in India and we have given our hearts to Oman” , Bainu Tomas said whilst we were eating breakfast together in his flat in Wattaya, “But this omanization just puts us in a limbo, not knowing what to do or expect. We accept it, but it is still kind of a shock that it will be implemented so fast. That is why my my wife is still working as a teacher, even though with a newly born child, we would need her at home here.”

Bainu came 6 years ago from the state of Kerala, like many other Indian immigrants working in Oman, on an invitation from the government. Oman needed foreign workers to be able to construct a foundation of a country. Just like their neighbors in Saudi-Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. In Dubai two-thirds of its population is made up by immigrants who are there to keep the country alive. In Oman they´re less, but the country still needs them. But Sultan Qaboos, the beloved ruler, wants Omanis in every position of the society, something I can understand, since I often wonder, what will happen if the poorly treated immigrants in Dubai would revolt against their masters? There is no doubt, that Oman is understanding the issue of keeping its Arab soul better than some of its neighbors. But, the question is, are they ready to run the country by themselves?

Muttrah by night - climate this time of the year is fantastic!

Since being involved myself in the tourist industry I have seen there´s still a lot of work and acclimatization before Oman can be run by its own people, because the service level amongst them is still low and prices heavily over flated. They still need their ex-pats and immigrants from all over the world. And being a traveller, one always feels like an immigrant, an outsider, so I do well understand them and nothing upsets me like the stories that come out from for example Dubai how badly treated some of the immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India are. But Bainu has been happy during his time here.

“Well, I belong to the educated immigrants who come here, not the laborers, and for this reason life has been good” , he said and smiled as always.

Bainu is religious and spends a fair amount of time in his local church all made up of Indians from Kerala, and he is therefore very easy going and gentle, and doesn´t judge anyone unfairly or complain about his own situation. But he does says he worries. He isn´t ready to return to India yet. Wages are not on the same level there. And he says that when they first came here, they could even save money and send back, but nowadays, even they almost work 6 days a week, long hours, both of them, they just about make it. But they´re doing well, the Tomas Family, there are other immigrants who are suffering. Please read this article about the situation in Dubai. Oman is different. And it feels good being back!

Abdullah - the driver which quit his job for the day to take us on a tour of Muttrah!

Since we stayed outside the more well to do parts of the time, we decided to take the small minibuses to travel around Muscat, when our friends didn´t come and pick us up, and this is really the way to see another, much more interesting part of Muscat and Oman. It is lively, demanding and you get a perspective how things are if you are not well to do in Oman. Everything takes more time and is more demanding. But you meet a lot of great people. One of them was Abdullah, who owns his own mini-taxi and when we met him and said we loved his country, who quit is job and instead took us on a tour of the city. We arrived back at our flat at 2 a.m. People are extraordinary friendly here.

But the reason we have come here this time is two very important lectures which will define the direction of the Expedition. Hold on, you will know in a few days…..this is the most important of all visits i have done to Oman. Judgement day.

This photo was taken in Nairobi 1989. I was really ill in malaria, a disease which would plague my life for the upcoming two years...I still finished my bicycle trip though. But it took me a year to cycle from Nairobi to Cape of Agulhaes. I wouldn´t have made it without the help of one of my best friends, Steve Jewell. Photo taken by Marc Freedman, another of my best friends.

Night has fallen over Al Ghubra. I can see the green blinking sign of Lulu Supermarket through the window of our flat and lots of traffic, as always, is on its way to Father Mammon himself. The air condition is on, I have done another pass at Horizon Gym in Athaiba and I am dreaming about a White Christmas. Five days until Santa is supposed to arrive….Christmas always makes my mood somewhat mellow and philosophical. I have spent most of them away from home, in non-Christian environments. I like Christmas, in the sense that it is a family gathering. I love my family. But for me, Christmas has also always been a time of deep thoughts and reflexions on the year passed by. And thoughts of other people suffering. Because when you are away from your family, you feel vulnerable and weak. Feelings that make you a better human being. And it pains me more than normal, that some people -I should say most- spends most of their life suffering. Basically due to poverty, injustice, race, religion, some tragedy, extreme environment and lots of selfishness. I have been very privileged myself and still is. But, whilst looking back at the passed year I came across some notes I wrote just before starting this blog.

14 and a half months have passed. I was than sitting in a cramped but charming and homely one roomed flat in Stockholm trying to figure out what to do with life. Now in a much bigger flat in Muscat, Oman. I am very content. But my life than was in limbo. Free of direction. Tainted by horror and agony. If somebody thought that the life of a traveler and explorer is always full of joy, forget it. Anyway, that day I wrote these ten tips what to think about when life just goes wrong, when tragedy strikes or hope is gone….they´re still valid!

1. Never, ever underestimate the love of your family. And the importance of having one. The same applies to truly good friends.

2. One can loose nothing by being a true human with all its good and bad sides. The truth is everything, but with some time of thinking before revealing it. Think before talking. Time heals. And wherever you are, no matter what circumstances, stand for who you are. Don´t try to be anyone you can´t be.

3. Never judge and condemn. If you don´t know the true story of what happened. One can have an opinion, but try to put yourself in the other persons place. It makes a difference.

4. Positive thinking always overrules negative. If you have negative people around you, get rid of them until the´ve eaten the humble pie.

5. Take time to be there for other people. You never know when things go wrong.

Santa Claus on ice? Why not? Santa here is one very good friend, Tomas Sjögren who runs Explorers Web together with his great wife Tina, who is in Santas arms here...they will get a white Christmas in Denver, Colorado. And me?

6. Accept responsibility and sort out the problem. Then move on.

7. Better give then take. In every aspect of life. One can never be to kind.

8. Be true to yourself. Tragedy strikes when one tries to be something one ain´t.

9. Enjoy every moment of the day, you never know, when it will end. So then, why worry at all?

10. Never, ever complain. There´s always tons of people who are worse off, no matter how bad your situation is. If you have been a good human when everything falls apart, there will be people there fore you. So being good and kind is a winner.

However, my own hell have been very strengthening for my character, I´ve learned a lot and I´ve been eating the humble pie. A visit to hell have been for the better. I come out of it as a better human being. More humble, more understanding, kinder, warmer and ready to live to its fullest limits again!

I still hope for a White Christmas even if it seems impossible! But than again, positive thinking helps! Stay tuned! Nothing is impossible….!

Me, worth 2 000 000 dollars?

“I have put everything on hold” , Nasr told me with sadness, “My father wants me to get married. And since I am the oldest son, I am expected to stay around my family if I get married, so once I am married, I won´t be able to join you. I can´t hold off my father for much longer, I am already 25 years old!”

Another bit of a shocker since we arrived to Oman getting ready to leave in January! Not much has gone our way over here since arrival and I am trying to figure out what direction to take. It is of course just a case of patience and hard work, and since everything here is closed until tomorrow and have been for ten days, I will phone myself hoarse tomorrow…..Anyway, I have just returned back to Muscat after a trip back and forth to Ibra over the day to visit Nasr, one of the two Bedouins (or Bedu as they are called in the Arab World) who is expected to join us for the big overland trip to the Atlantic coast. It was one of the best, most informative and interesting days during this time of mine here in Oman. The reason: Well, just getting close to these great and gracious animals called camels, the flat silent desert and the peace it brings, just made me very happy! It affected all of us three who went there. I have a very good friend visiting me, the legendary coach of Swedens Ice Hockey Team, Bengt “Fisken” Ohlsson. He has done a one months tour of Iran, Dubai, Yemen and now Oman.

“Best day of my trip!” he said, “Fantastic people!”

Eating camel for lunch....From left: Nasr, Abdullah, P and me. Just before the shocking news!

Nasr works for Sultans Royal Guards and was off on leave over Eid and his brother Abdullah was home from his studies in India, which was perfect since his English is excellent. Finally we had the chance to sit down and have a good chat. Nasr is well trained physically, motivated and his family lives in a very nice home in village just outside Ibra. Since they are Bedouin, they’re extra-ordinary generous. We were served tender camel cooked in a hole in the ground for over 24 hours. We ate this great dish together with rice and lots of Arabic coffee and halwa.

“I don´t think we will be able to leave in January” , I told Nasr immediately after arrival whilst he looked at me with respect, “We have run into some problems with time, it just takes an enormous amount of time to get things moving here and we still haven´t found any camels good enough for this trip. So that is one reason we have come to visit you today. I heard your cousin had racing camels?”

“Yes he does” , Abdullah translated, “But they´re very expensive. Like a car. The best cost more than 2 000 000 dollars.”

The Wahiba Bedus way to carry equipment......puuuhh........

The cheapest camels are about 10 000 dollars and that is an extra-ordinary sum, but that is life in the Gulf countries. In Yemen of course, you could get one, as good, for a tenth of that price, but it would be impossible to transport them to Oman, the country where we want to start our journey from. We ain´t changing our plans, yet……but there´s no doubt, I want to leave as soon as possible! But January seems unlikely right now, which means if we don´t get started before the beginning of March, it will be impossible, due to the summer heat, to leave until Mid-August. Another bit of a shocker, realizing this. All of those worries left us, of course, as soon as we made it out in to the desert south of Ibra and meeting Rashad the cousin and his 50 racing camels, beautiful, but a little bit twitchy and nervous, like racing horses. We did a little tour around camp and loved it, but I doubt these can do a long trip.

“My best camel runs 8 km in less than 13 minutes!” Rashad said and than showed me how to pack 60 kg on a camel.

Didn´t look good at all. They don´t know, the Bedus of Oman today, about long distance travel. Rashad showed me a lot of techiques and skills how to take care of camels and I enjoyed his company immensely. Funny, street smart, knowledgeable about the camel, loved them, he had worked camels since he was seven and inspired us a lot. We need at least 1 month, maybe two, to live and train the camels we will bring. A time I look forward to a lot. We could easily have stayed at that camp for two months right now, it was that relaxed, silent and pleasant. And free from email, telephones and worries…..right now, am ready for tomorrow!

By the way, I had an email from a friend who said Geoffrey Moorhouse had died. He did an attempt to cross the Sahara in the 70´s and failed. He wrote a book well worth reading if you want to understand the difficulties and dangers involved in camel travel. I wrote this piece about him earlier http://www.mikaelstrandberg.com/2009/04/01/the-fear-factor/ Another worry for us is the development in the region, see this about Dubai and this about Yemen

Rashad -very helpful camel owner and Bedu

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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.