Explorer Mikael Strandberg » national geographic

How important is it to be first and/or unsupported?

mikael — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 17:57:56 +0000

My visit to Ireland last week gave me a lot to think about. How does one define who is an explorer versus adventurer? And who have the right to call themselves explorer? What does it mean being unsupported? And how important is it to be able to have a CV or an Expedition where one can claim to be first in the history of humankind? And, at the end of the day, does it matter if one´s Expedition is unsupported or a first?

I get loads of emails about these issues. It is obviously questions that tends to create debate, opinions and which many in the business talk about right now. In my opinion though, this is kind of an extra class at school, maybe not necessary for most, but important for some. Because I am for all kinds of adventures, no matter what! But since I have received so many emails and thought about it a lot since Ireland, and I have written about it earlier and it is kind of growing by the day on me, well, maybe we in the world of adventure and exploration have to find ways to set up some guidelines to define. It is normal evolution and development. With this article I kind of want to make these issues more clear and possibly more understandable. Let me than first talk about the subject of:

1. Who can call her- or himself an explorer?

The organizers of the 1st Adventure Filmfestival in Killarney made a quite clear distinction between what they see as adventurers and explorers. Basically, if you deal with people, cultures, animals, scientific or un-scientific research and anything else than yourself on an Expedition, you are in the business of exploration. If you, however, either ski to any of the poles or climb a peak like Everest, which basically is a personal thing where the essence of it all is oneself against nature, than you are in the business of adventure. (If you don´t do research in these areas) So, the organizers, the Explore Foundation, wanted to concentrate on what they see as the exploration part and therefore hardly any of the films dealt with mountaineering or polar skiing.

However, everyone seem to start out as adventurer as a youngster, hoping to get into exploration, where the self is less important and the values of the world and life is a greater pull. This applies to me. I saw myself as a new Indiana Jones, but ended up today, wishing I could be Karen Armstrong (See film below) There´s no doubt that age defines. I guess the older you get, the more you understand, the less important one realizes that one is.

How do you define what is an explorer? Anyone seem to get away calling themselves an adventurer, because at the end of the day, that isn´t a chosen title that appeal to the world as much as calling yourself an explorer. Whatever that is. I have seen, especially in Britain, as quick as you have taken the diapers off and start to travel, you call yourself an explorer. It has a grand appeal in Britain especially. Which is fully understandable, since the UK, in my eyes, is still the worlds biggest exporter of adventure and exploration. But also the main part of the exploring world who use the words record breaking, unsupported and being first more than the rest of the globe.

But how do you define what an explorer is? Well, I call myself an explorer, because I have been doing this job since 1986 and I don´t know any other word which summarizes all I do. Soon I will take it away.

However, I have talked to a lot of people involved in this business and it seems like if you are a Fellow of the Explorers Club and the Royal Geographical Society, have featured somehow with National Geographic, have carried the Flag of any of the clubs, you have a reason. But, things have changed lately. To appeal to the Explorers Club, you need to have done years of work and have a scientific base to your explorations/adventures. Makes sense. The RGS seem to have lowered their standards a lot. Being a Fellow there isn´t as much an honor as ten years back. I think it is due to that explorers/adventurers are not wanted as much as geographers. The debate is still going on, see here. Check here what it takes to get in. The word explorer is deleted and the high standards dead. Maybe the president Michael Palin can sort things out.

Others, like for example the important ExplorersWeb, who make a living out of the name explorer, has no clear distinction what defines an explorer, but have set up important guidelines on other important issues which deals with this odd world. They do focus primarily on climbers and polar skiers, though. They also go against the stream and Tom and Tina Sjögren have no interest being part of any clubs I mention in this article. Even if they´re more than qualified.

The Long Riders Guild have a long list of guide lines which has to be met to become a member of their guild. See here!

So, is there a definition? Not really. If you see yourself as an explorer, you are one!

This topic has been discussed and commented in this article, The need for debate on Expedition Arabia. And in CuChullaine O´Reilly´s excellent article on Ethical Exploration! And, of course, Arita Baaijens Exploration, an outdoor activity or not?

2. Unsupported.

I have to admit I had no idea really what it meant, when I planned my Arabian Expedition and I called it unsupported. Mainly because I had the idea, if you don´t have air drops or similar, but do all by yourself, it is unsupported. Than I talked to a legend at the RGS, Shane Winser, and she rightfully said:

“Hogwash! If you carry a satellite phone, how can you call that unsupported?”

So right, as always, Shane. ExplorersWeb has set up a great guideline on rules and definitions to be able to claim this and that, see here! It is almost perfect, but again, it deals with people who go for mountains, poles, oceans and nothing with Expeditions dealing with cultures, people and animals first hand. If you do that, it is impossible to call anything unsupported. However, they do think it is ok with a satellite phone and GPS to be able to claim an unsupported. So who is right?

This topic has been discussed in these two articles, Am I a fake and cheat?

3. To claim to be first.

This is a tag that follows many in the field. I have done those mistakes. You think it will give you more attention. You say; This is a first, unsupported and record breaking. Even if your idea is to photograph relatively unknown tribes in Africa or elsewhere, you still throw in those tags because you think it will draw more attention to what you do. Something I fully can understand. But is it needed to get the attention one obviously wants? And can one really claim to be first today in a way that actually makes a difference now when all the major (except the depth of oceans) geographical prizes have been taken?

I think so, if you choose to do something as challenging as Matvey Shparo and Börge Ousland by crossing the whole North Pole from one side to another in winter darkness. I think that is extra ordinary and historical. So is Ed Stafford´s 2 year walk along the Amazon. Otherwise, to claim that you have been where no other white person has been or you have crossed Greenland in a shopping cart, it is just not true. And it isn´t worth trying to claim it. We live in a world of massive information possibilities and if it isn´t true, it will eventually hit back at you. Look at The Long Walk series. And this article I wrote earlier called Fakes and Cheats. And on top of all this, people are exploring and travelling more than ever.

So, do you need to use these massive words like unsupported, record breaking and the first ever to make a living?

Answer:

I hope not. I think that in the future, more interest has to lie in matters dealing with the well being of others, building bridges between cultures and creating understanding globally, and less with being first and unsupported. It has pretty much all been done. However, the world is forever changing, so new knowledge is always needed. And always will be. Do we need self occupied adventurers?

Yes, we do. We all have to be reminded that everything is possible. But, I hope, much less.

Initially, when you start a career in this genre, you do claim this and that, you are so full of yourself, I am talking from my own experience here, and possibly it can be a short time winner, to be able to claim that you have done this unsupported and it is a first. One or two sponsors can buy that. But in the long run, if you need to live on it for the rest of your life, it needs to involve matters how we look upon this world and what we can do to sort out the problems we have created for futures to come. There´s only a few who can live on being the one who did the first. Whether it is true or not. So for most people, there has to be something more.

As an example, I had a general email from SVT (Swedish television) yesterday that they have absolutely no interest in self promoting adventures. They get tons of emails from people all over the world who wants to do firsts and unsupported. It is of no interest to them anymore. Just as an example of the changing winds of society.

Maybe Killarney and Explore Foundation could become a hub of exploration and define?

As a final note, see this extra ordinary TED talk with one of my favorite scholars.

Please visit my sponsors Termo who are making it possible for me to write 2 blog reports per week. Just click the logo to find the best underwear on earth.

Guest writer #11 Baris Koca

mikael — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 17:30:17 +0000

Baris Koca is Turkeys foremost wildlife photographer and his photography is indeed spectacular, but also very important. He is one of few who has dedicated his life to preserving the unique flora and fauna of this giant of a country, Turkey. It met him during my latest visit to Turkey and we spent a few excellent days together. He is a great guy and a very good human, like me trying to figure out life. Read his great article below:

NATURE’S MY PASSION

I remember i used to watch photos in world atlas when i was a little boy. The images of different geographies and extraordinary creatures have always attracted me much. Maybe this is the reason why i continue my life as a natural life photographer.

During high school and university years, i spent some period of my life away from my visual interests because of my parent’s concern about my future and because i was living in a society which is not so aware of this subject. So that, i found myself seized with the developments in the computer’s world after university. But, after a while during a depression period i’d fallen into, I’d realized that empty values had been directing my life and how i’d been away from inner satisfaction. I started to make many searches to make my life more livable. Fortunately, having gone to the nature was the first of them.

I was wandering in the forest in Yedigöller then i saw the mushroom was lighted by the sun on a steep hill so that I could hardly take the shot.

Whenever i was in nature i was feeling in inner peace, indeed. So, to spend more time in nature i joined trekking groups, in the beginning. ?t was feeling good but not satisfying enough. Later, more serious nature sports, like rock climbing, became my next interest. But again i realized that i couldn’t be motivated sufficiently while doing them. ? felt that what i need was something different. In those days photography got into my life in a way. During my development in photography, i chose my subjects so that it was almost the same place as my previous nature experiences. First travelling photos, then nature sports photos. It went on for a while until i’d realized how we really need natural life to be healthy and the dangers it’d involved. When my knowledge about natural life increased, then my interest has just focused on it. We have the richest natural life (flora and fauna) in Europe and Middle East, so I couldn’t spend my time without thinking about how i could be a part of conversation activities. Also, i’ve started to feel an inner satisfaction as i’ve never felt before while i photograph the nature. I didn’t want this feeling to stop what i feel inside me so eventually, i stopped my 10 ten year old career in engineering to become full time nature photographer.

Though conditions are not good in the sector, i feel happy since i could turn my passion to my life style, eventually. It also increased my joy of life to have a chance to pay back my debt to mother nature…

Yerkopru waterfall: A dream like place in south Turkiye (Mut-Mersin). Though its ice cold water swimming feels like heaven.

———————————————

Bar?? Koca

Nature and wildlife photographer

Born in 1975, graduated from electronics engineering dept. in 1998. Between 2004-2008, while he was still working as an engineer, his travelling photo articles published in several magazines and his photographs awarded by several national and international contests. He was chosen as a member of Management Board of a photography association in Ankara, in 2007-2008.

bald ibis: I took photo of these two bald ibis which are the symbol species of conservation in Turkiye, in ?anl?urfa. They live semi-captive. Other breeding colonies are in Syria and Morocco. Bald ibis which have not migrated for years in the colony in Birecik have been let to migrate for last 2 years. Results show that the speices hasn’t lost its migrating instinct.

In 2008, he merged his passion to nature into full time photography and has become professional. Same year, he has been taken over the head of Photography Working Group in TURCEV (Tourism, Environment and Urban Journalists Association). While he started photographing the biodiversity around Lake Mogan, which is one of the most important wetlands in Ankara where he live, one of his photos awarded as highly commended in “Animal behaviours:Birds” category in BBC wildlife Photographer of the Year, the most prestigious wildlife photography contest in the world, and published in 2008 catalogue. Also, some of his photos, from the same work, was published in National Geographic Türkiye July 2009 issue.

In 2009, he volunteerly started photo editoring of Nature Magazine, a periodic publication of Nature Association. His first personal exhibiton that aim conserving and introducing the wildlife in Turkiye, was performed in Harrison Gallery in Seattle/US by “Turkfest” sponsorship. Also, he became the winner of monthly photo contest of Wild Wonders of Europe. Now, he’s been giving a workshop “Introduction to Nature photography” time to time, and preparing a photography project about natural heritage of Anatolia.

See more of his great photos at www.bariskoca.com

white wagtail: Again in Beypazar? in the same hide. They are very common birds can be observed near lakes and streams. You can easily see them shaking their tails while standing.

Dark clouds and Blue Zones, time to reflect

mikael — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:46:30 +0000

23 years ago I met three Americans on a bicycle in Costa Rica. I remember us putting up camp outside a farm and how impressed I was over their equipment which was so much better than mine. I had a 3-speed bike, an old, leaky tent and a thin foam pad to sleep on. They had cycling helmets, which I thought was hilarious, Therm-A-Rests, new modern tents and 18 speed bikes. It was kind of the old World meeting the New. They were heading down to Argentina and came from Alaska. I was going the other way. They were going to do all of it in 10 months, for which I used 1½ year. The group leader wasn´t here, neither his brother. The team leader, Dan Buettner had flown to Cordoba in Spain to meet his first child, a son, arrive in daylight. His brother Steve was waiting in Managua. Since this day I have been in contact with Dan on and off over the years, since he has cycled through Africa, Russia and much more. But it took us 23 years to meet and that at his son, Dan Jrs, 23rd birthday!

In these years Dan has become very successful. He writes for the National Geographic and his latest book The Blue Zones has been a huge success, sold in 250 000 copies and he has been part of all the big talk shows like Oprah Winfrey and more and after reading his book, which I enjoyed a lot, I have realized, once again, that all seems to be meant, maybe, like the Arabs say, it is written in the stars. It was meant to be, him and me meeting. He gave me a nice perspective on certain things regarding the meaning of life. Dan seemed to enjoy every aspect of life, especially having time to be with his extended family. One of the ten commandments of how to get over 100 years old according to Dan and his Blue Zone project!

Visiting the great area where Dan had his mansion, also offered some nice winter days with son and less cold....

It was great meeting Dan during the Minneapolis visit. Otherwise a lot of my energy has been trying to figure out how the latest developments in Yemen will affect the Expedition. As it is now, the border between Saudi Arabia and Yemen is closed and I communicate excessively with my friends in this great country. Latest news comes from Brid Beeler, who is more updated than most people regarding the situation in Yemen, that not even the UN are getting through. So far, one of the better articles I have read about the situation comes from The Guardians Brian Whittaker here! This is of course, bad news, very bad news, so the question is, when will the border open up again? And do we need to re-route completely? That means we need more money and more time, which is not easy to acquire in these days of recession. Right now, the situation looks worse than ever and my big worry, is that it will develop even worse, that outside troops will move in and we will have a very serious situation. It smells Afghanistan and Somalia. And all borders will, of course, then be closed to Saudi-Arabia, the country the Expedition really needs and wants to pass through. Not possible, no Expedition. That is reality. We are returning to Oman at the end of the month to continue our work to put the Expedition on its feet. Until than, there are other worries….

And if I haven´t felt the global recession anything earlier, it is moving in everywhere. I get emails from colleagues all over the world who describes the situation more dire than ever. And it easy to see here in the US of A. The recession. It has, so far, been a very important and interesting visit, and the positive aspects of this great country is the multi-cultural society and the positive attitude of most people. I am in Philadelphia right now, and I really like its Afro-American population. On the negative side, this is not a place to be, the US, if things turn bad. No matter how often I have seen homeless people all over the world, it pains to see. I have taken one decision, if I ever, in shallah, become a father, Sweden is the place to be. I have re-evaluated my own country a lot during these last 6 months. I am beginning to feel full proud Swedish again. Especially after meeting all Americans with Swedish back ground in Minneapolis talking about the Old country.

William Penn´s beautiful City Hall in Philadelphia, a very interesting and livly East coast city.

By the way, if you have time to kill, why not come to see the Siberian lecture at Williams College in Williamstown on Friday? See http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=260366986429&index=1

Old contacts, becoming new, creating the most amazing possibilities

admin — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 11:48:00 +0000

I met the Samwells just through a coincidence really, 9 years ago. Chris sent me an email basically saying that I am working on a project for the National Geographic regarding Explorers and are you interested to be part of it? I said yes, of course, and we went through a lot together. A film came out of it and then we lost touch due to a specific obstacle that has and still is making life very difficult.
However,why dwell on obstacles and problems in these dififcult times where other people worry too much?
Anyway, Chris and his family, a tough lot, living out in the sticks in an old farm outside Girona in Spain. It is Chris, his wife and four daughters and a bunch of dogs, ducks and hens. See photo here to the left. Chris is like the rest of his family great personalities. He is a producer of film and documentaries, who has gone through a lot of hardships in life and I respect that a lot. It is, for me, easy to respect people who have gone through a lot and return to life full of possibilities and free of bitterness and hate. If it is one thing I dislike is people in the West who complain about life, simple things, when they have all possibilties most people just dream about. Not an unheard of thing in Europe, complaining and moaning about nothing. And becoming bitter from nothing.
I went to visit Chris because I wanted him to be part of the new set up for the great Arabian project and I also brought a very good friend o f mine, Anders Åberg, who had, as always a bunch of great ideas, and as always -you tend to forget these things with time- we ended up in a roller coaster visit. Chris is not the slimmest person on earth and talks incessently, throws out a hundred ideas per second, phones half the world on one of his 3-7 mobile phones and at the end, you wonder if he heard a thing of what you said, since you never get to finish a sentence and if he will be alive tomorrow. Because it is all based on his great generosity, big heart and plenty of food and booze. Not a dead moment with old Chris.
At the end we signed an agreement with Chris on a handwritten piece of paper and if all gos well, which it at the end always does if you have a positive outlook on life, we will produce a series of six programmes. Great news as you can understand! Expedition Arabia here we come!

Giving a helping hand to a Polish Expedition heading for the Kolyma

admin — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 09:44:00 +0000

I´ve alway felt a bit like an ambassador for the Kolyma Region. Very few people know anything about this the greatest place on earth. And during the years since I returned home from this the most fantastic Expedition of my life, I´ve had a few requests to help travellers who´d like to visit the region. One of them, the most persistent of them all, was from a young pole namned Marcin Gienieczko And he even managed to get me to come over to visit Poland as a special guest during his preparations and during his press conference. He is leaving for the Kolyma, to ski from Seimchan to Ambarchik Bay in three months, mainly by himself. A great feat. He is also one of the foremost young adventurers in Poland with a lot of smaller Expeditions on his back. None as big as the Kolyma, of course. So I went over to this grand country, my first visit ever, for a 5 day visit, which was just what I needed to gain some energy and ideas regarding my next Expedition. I met so many great people. The Poles, a Slavic people like the Russians, are a tremendous lot of people. They´re very generous, friendly, caring, interested, knowledgable and they´ve gone through many hardships in life, which of course makes better human beings. I feel like I have made some very good friends during this time, Grazyna, Daniel, Anja and of course, Marcin. I feel a lot for his Expedition and himself. Unlike far too many self obsessed young western adventurers, I think Sweden and the US are the worst, his own perfect self isn´t the major reason for going to the Kolyma, the people are. Mainly because there were a lot of Polish prisoners in this the worst Gulag area of all Stalins nasty and inhuman workcamps. Anyway, this is the story of my visit:

I immediately recognised the worries, the stress, that comes with just leaving for a big Expedition, when Marcin picked me up at the airport in Gdansk. Winter was here, lot´s of snow and relatively cold. His jeep was full of gear, two dogs, Brenda and Fidel, and I hardly got in myself, we headed immediately, after picking up his girlfriend Anja and a stunner called Grazyna who we also managed to fit in to the car, before continuing for the Polish bush, were we spent a great New Year Eve! An evening with great food, too much vodka and no sleep in a log cabin in the forest belonging to Daniel, a great fella who spent 30 years living in Canada, which he missed a lot. A soul mate, no doubt. I am so priviliged to meet these soul mates all over the world. We cruised a village by foot, full of vodka, meeting laughing and celebrating people everywhere and during the night Daniel lost all his horses in a runaway, due to the fire works. So we spent next day looking for them and didn´t find any, really, but I got to see some of the Polish back country and it reminded me of Russia. A distinct smell of coal, half ruined buildings, flat and undulating fields and a penetrating cold.

From here we travelled for a few hours to a Sports Center, who was sponsoring Marcin with the hotell, preparations and the press conference and we spent many hours pouring over the maps and the equipment he had. And I have a few small worries, because he will be travelling in total darkness, minus 50 degrees temperature and his equipment is quite used from other expeditions, but then again, he is after all Polish, and they´re tougher then other Europeans, and especially Americans. Follow his Expedition on www.zewpolnocy.com

Next day we went through all the equipment again and I felt more tired then in a long time. I could feel Marcin worries. It was like he was draining me of energy and of course, I immediately picked up a nasty polish flu, which bedded me immediately. I had a dream that night, that Marcin lost all his fingers and I was stupid enough to tell him about this, and it made him even more worried. the cold terrifies him, which I can understand. Grazyna seemed to be responsibel for my well being and she took care of me as good as it is possible. And that is my major feeling from this visit, the love of this great people.

The third was the day for the press conference and my lecture. Polish TV, radio, sponsors and others were there, plus a lady, Tatiana, who was born in Zyryanka and had spent a big part of her life in Seimchan along the Kolyma. A real Kolymanian! She told the group of her own experiences living in this coldest inhabited place on earth. Very interesting. She felt like a sister to me. I will tell you in a seperate article about the lecture and the response. Another visitor to the press conference was a famed Polish polar Explorer and a guy writing for National Geographic, Marcin Jamkowski, who just spent a long time in the Sudan desert travelling by camel!

Next day, the fourth, I left with Grazyna, early at 6 a.m, after no sleep at all, to travel by car, train and taxi to the airport. Then back to a grey stockholm, hit badly with the flu, but feeling very inspired indeed and with a great longing to return to the Kolyma area again. Marcin is very priviliged!

New book!

admin — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 07:57:00 +0000

I´ve been honoured to be one of these individuals mentioned below: (Book can be ordered at http://www.amazon.com/Adventurous-Dreams-Lives-Jason-Schoonover/dp/1894765915) In Adventurous Dreams, Adventurous Lives, 120 outstanding individuals representing a who s who of international exploration recall the indelible moment in their youth when the dream that launched their remarkable lives was born. As they recount the turning points to fulfilling those dreams often overcoming enormous physical, emotional or other obstacles we learn how incredibly inspirational their lives are. Included are Meave and Louise Leakey, Buzz Aldrin, Robert Ballard, balloonists Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Lucy discoverer Don Johanson, Jack Horner, Sue Hendrickson, Jean-Michel Cousteau, the Ra s Capt. Norman Baker, George Bass, Eugenie Clark, Richard Fisher, Trieste s Don Walsh and Nobel laureate Charles H. Townes. That 24 of these dynamic individuals are Canadian such as paleontologists Philip Currie and Eva Koppelhus; Survivorman Les Stroud; Sea Hunter Jim Delgado; National Geographic explorer-in-residence Wade Davis; veteran climber Pat Morrow; circumnavigators-by-human-power-alone Colin Angus and Julie Wafaei; photographers Pat and Rosemarie Keough; and naturalist Robert Bateman is testament to Canada s significant contribution to world exploration.