What kind of an Expedition can one do, when you feel that you have already done the ultimate Expedition? Like the Siberian Expedition. www.siberia.nu This is how I will go looking for it and prepare for it.
Mikael Strandberg was born in 1962 in Sweden. He started his professional career as an explorer 25 years ago. The multitalented Mikael is currently working as an explorer, a lecturer and a writer.
Can you imagine this scenario? I am visiting La Bombonera, the homeground of Boca Juniors, almost 58 000 visitors, an atmosphere which is unbelievable. They´re playing their worst enemies, River Plate, with an old favorite of mine in midfield, El Burro Ortega, who is meeting Juan Riquelme, in his best moments, propbably the best player in the world. Nobody knows me. Suddenly I guy walks up, and says in English: "I´ve read about you in Justin Marozzis book Faces of Exploration." I did loose my face there, my jaw hanging down in surprise! Turns out to be a friendly Brit, working for the MI 6, who loves travelling. And exploration. He has read about my travels in Geographical as well. Well, such is todays world, you never know what to expect from one moment to the other. Great! Another thing which has evolved after the Siberian Expedition is all, and we´re talking quite a lot, people who wants to travel and explore the Kolyma region. The latest one is Marcin Gienieczco, a young pole, who wants to ski the Kolyma from Seimchan to Cherskiy. He has invitied me early January as a consultant of the Expededition, to visit Gdynia, his hometown, to be part of the offical media presentation of the trip. He sees me as a hero, the poor chap. The good thing with all this, of course, is that all these fellas, yes, they´re all men, are very positive, outgoing and full of life and they inspire! And, there´s always a reason for everything, don´t believe anything else, last night, I went to a meeting for oil prospectors, and they were talking about the sultanate Oman, and there...I just remembered a long forgotten dream to explore the Empty Quarter...well, well, here we go...I have strated to read my old books by Wilfried Thesiger again!
In January this year I had the opportunity to visit Papua New Guinea. It was definitely a highlight of my life. I loved the people. They were unspoilt by life, funny, kind and full of charisma. Whether they were islanders, coastal people, forest dwellers or highlanders. Simon to the far right on the photo is one of the kindest, most impressive people I´ve come across. He´s a coastal man from the Madang district. he was part medicin man, bush expert, ornitologist, teacher and a guide. Spoke excellent english. He was also a genuine story teller. He said he had left the coast twice in his life and that was the scariest experience, so bad that he caught pneumonia and almost froze to death, he said. It was a visit to the western highlands and a town called Mount Hagen. What scared him was the local people, the highlanders. Still warriors and fierce.
"They are so big and muscular and they look at you as they could kill you instantly."
After that comment, I met a lot of people from all over the island, and they all said that the scariest lot of them all, in wars and in a matter of fact meeting, was the Western Highlanders. Now, look at the photo to left, it is me and a Huli namned Paulus, a great guy and typical highlander. Muscular, fierce and with penetrating eyes. I can well understand Simon´s worries. However, even if I am short in a western perspective, I was still bigger then most. At one stage I was joking with Paulus and we were kind of armwrestling and suddenly he said;
"You are abig and muscular guy. Let us stop."
Then he laughed. Then I realised the importance of a strong physical appereance. Even today in modern society. It is such a well built in mechanism in our genes, amongst males, do not ever forget, which far too many people do, we are after all a 150 000 year old product physically, and you don´t change that in a day, so the outer physical appereance, it is still of great importance. Then I realised it was time for me to work the weights again and specialize my preparations for the next Expedition in the gym. It has helped me in many ways, even at the extreme end, when it comes to pure survival, but also, it does appeal to a certain amount of ladies. They seem to think it makes a real man. There´s no harm in that.
I think we all, we folks living in the Western Hemisphere, would be happier, much happier, if we did take some time to think about our genes. Our backgrounds. By far, the happiest time in my life, was those three months of pure survival on hunting and fishing that Johan Ivarsson and I had to do on the Kolyma Expedition. Nature, stillness, instinct and awarness.
I am on my way back to Ecuador again, 22 years after I passed there the first time. On a pushbike going from the southernmost tip of South-America to the northernmost tip of North-America. This time, however, I have a great, but short and very comfortable adventure, coming up. Right now, I am reading a biography about Simón Bolívar, written by John Lynch, and not only does it give me a much better picture of how the modern South-America was liberated and created, after having been dominant by colonial powers, but it also inspires me a lot. Simón Bolívar was, of course, a complex person in many ways, but believed in personal freedom, loved literature and had an enormous vision and will power. But, his fight to liberate his country of birth Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, didn´t come easy and his life was continously a series of tragedies and recoveries. But he never gave up his dream and never left his original trail of sticking to his beliefs. I believe that is of great importance, no matter how much damage you take, never leave your principles and always keep your back straight and proud. This trip of mine now, will be a tour of recovery. I will keep you up dated with insights to how this will be reached and it will, hopefully, give me an idea to a new Expedition.
For me, an Expedition is a challenge for at least 8 months, otherwise I see it as an adventure. A walkabout. To do a proper analysis, both when it comes to making an assesment of the area you are exploring and your inner self, you need time. The same applies when getting prepared physically for a real expedition. It takes time. I normally need two years getting into shape. I´ve used all kinds of techniques. But when I was preparing for my first real Expedition, the one on a bicycle from the southernmost tip of South-America to the Northernmost tip of Northamerica, a two year trip, I prepared myself physically by building muscular mass in a gym. It has helped me really throughout all these years of hard Expeditions, because what you do in a gym, if you do it properly, you build up and strengthen every muscle on your body. More or less. So, since I still don´t know where I will end up on my next Expedition, I have once again started going regurlarly to the gym again. And I love it. I think I love this type of training more than any. Most likely because it knackers every single muscle and it feels like I take a good beating. I seem to like, punishing myself...I go to the gym three times a week, train an hour and on Mondays I work on my chest, shoulders and triceps, on Wednesday on my legs and calfs and on Friday, my back and biceps. I work the stomach every time. And after working out regurlarly since March, I am actually in a better shape than I´ve been since 1986, when I set off on that trip! See the photo on the horse, it is taken in March 1986. Northwest of Santiago de Chile in the Andes. On top of the physical training, to gain any results at all, one has to eat properly, a low fat, high protein diet, and that makes you even feel better. But I don´t overdo the training and overexert myself, since I know by experience that this is what you do most of the time on an expedition, so one needs to recover and rest in between the expeditions. Especially when you are 46 years of age as I am. But, having muscles as a male is of great importance in other ways as well. I will tell you more in the next report.
Whatever I do, when trying to find a new idea where to set up my next Expedition, Siberia turns up in my head the most mysterious ways. This morning I receieved a request from a Polish Expedition, who´d like to explore the Kolyma. One of many after Johan and my Expedition along this great river 2004. He´d seen my film, or parts of it, on Yout Tube. It was one of my best friends, Ollie Steeds, who showed me You Tube. He is one of the modern versions of a true explorer, but he is using the new techniques to get his messege across and whilst helping him to do a few slots about the Samí situation, this great Nordic people, when he was doing a job for Al Jazeera, he showed me how to use You Tube. And he said, why not set some Siberia slots up there, for people to view, which I have done. I have, since then, received a lot of response worldwide. It seems like a lifetime ago and I really wonder, what can I find to equal the Kolyma? because, the thing about exploring is of course that for every Expedition, you want it to be the best you´ve ever done. But still today, this hour, the Kolyma seems unreachable. Do see the 7 programmes we did from the Kolyma for a Swedish Television sit com. They´re all in Swedish, but footage should be enough. Just click here.
The Siberian Expedition made headwaves around the world. Still is. This is the latest honor. Book can be bought at http://www.amazon.com/They-Lived-Tell-Tale-Adventure/dp/1592289916
Want a glimpse of the world as few have seen it before? In They Lived to Tell the Tale, members of the world-famous Explorers Club share their spectacular journeys from the depths of the world's oceans to the canopies of the Amazon rainforest to the dark vastness of outer space and all points in between. As we turn the book's pages, we climb the highest mountains, slog through jungle swamps, crawl into spider-infested caves, trek across vast deserts, and gasp in astonishment at the sheer audacity of our guides. All from the comfort of our own living rooms.
These adrenalin-filled moments in the lives of the world's most death-defying scientists, researchers, anthropologists, and explorers redefines any preconceived notions we might have about what exploration is. Captured here is the modern adventurer whose aim has shifted from thrill seeking for his or her own sake to protecting national treasures, preserving the planet, and making discoveries that will benefit the whole of humankind.
These incredible firsthand accounts, ranging from the remarkable to the captivating to the bizarre, are sure to become a memorable part of the exploration lore for generations to come.
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.
The other night I went to the monthly lecture at Travellers Club in Stockholm. I try to go there frequently. I like the surroundings at Sällskapet, the atmosphere, the lectures, but most of all the people, the members of the Travellers Club. A great lot of people with the most extra ordinary experiences from all over the world. I also go there to get inspired and maybe find an idea to what my next Expedition will be. This time it was a young fella who lectured, a great guy, very friendly and an interesting lecture. Technically. BUT, I am so fed up the attitude of todays adventurers and so called explorers. They are always the best on earth and they only talk about themselves. Incessently. And it is always the same message:
Everything is possible!
We´ve known this for the last 150 000 years, maybe even 3.2 million years back when Lucy went out for a excursion. I don´t know why it is so popular today to listen to this kind of extremely no-good-for-mankind-talk. And that lecture reminded me of the one I witnessed together with my very good friend, La Contessa here on the photo, in February. Same deal. Then I remembered I did write an article about the same issue two years ago after having had the honour to lecture at Explorers Club in New York. This is what I wrote for Utemagasinet:
”...and then the mountain spoke to me, saying: ´Have faith in me, Ed, and you will reach your final 8,000-meter peak.´ And look, there I am on the mountain top!”
This is, more or less, how the famous American mountaineer Ed Viesturs closed his lecture at the Explorers Club´s 102nd Annual Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. Before him, a young guy named Andy Skurka, elected Man of the Year by Backpacker Magazine, had recounted the story of how he crossed the U.S. by foot from west to east in record time.
”Nothing is impossible! Anyone can do it!” he summarized, displaying a photo of himself posing in the sunset; his gaze fixed beyond the horizon, his muscles flexed and back held straight. An extremely traditional, male image of Adventure and Expeditions. I think I saw Buzz Aldrin, astronaut and second man on the moon, smirk. Woman kosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova simply left when the so-called adventurers entered the stage. Passionately, she had told her own story, filled with fear and amazement at the incomprehensions of life while she, as the first woman ever, rampaged round the moon 48 times.
The Annual Dinner carried the theme ”What´s Left to Explore”. And how this should be brought to an audience. I think very few of the 1,100 spectators enjoyed the adventurers´ talks. One of our neighbours at the table, the editor of a wellknown American outdoor magazine, said:
”Every day, as I receive letters and articles from people making expeditions and wanting to sell their material, I ask myself: ”Hasn´t Adventure come further than this? Is it still just white males with icicles in their beards dishing out the same old silly story?”
The reason why I´m bringing up this very important subject, is that every week I get a number of e-mails from men and women, young and old, who want to take off on an expedition or adventure. The majority want to know three things: ”What kind of equipment should I use?”, ”How do I get sponsors?” and ”How do I get the media interested in me, so I can make a living selling articles and lecturing?”
There is only one answer: Our view of Adventure and Expeditions must be renewed. Firstly, there has to be an interesting story. The times are gone when a spectator finds it interesting to listen to the hackneyed theme of ”anything is possible”; a story centered around dirty underwear, heroic struggle and white men with icicles in their beards who have managed to reach the North Pole, using a shopping cart and an oar as their only means of transport. Secondly, we need more women narrators. We need a female perspective. Men have to start thinking like women. I think this is crucial to whether the public will continue being interested in expeditions at all.
There are still considerable differences in how a story can be told. For example, I was searching the internet for stories about Swedish expeditions in the Himalayas. A couple of men report as follows:
"It´s been tough and troublesome. Our backpacks weigh about 15 kilos, but all has turned out well. Today we struggled for six hours. Tomorrow we will continue, and then we will use our final camp at 7,500 meters. We will rise at about 12 o´clock local time, put our tents up and melt snow for water. We won´t sleep much, but we are feeling all right."
Incredibly boring for everyone except the storyteller´s closest relatives or someone else in the know. To be compared with another account from an expedition on the same mountain, at the same time, written by a woman in the same situation:
"Why am I never satisfied? I´m thinking I should have exercised more. Actually, I´ve been exercising at least five days a week. I think I should have been more mentally prepared. Actually, I´ve been preparing for five years. I don´t think I´m a good enough climber. But that´s the way I am in everyday life as well. I could be better at cooking, decorating, fashion, my job. I could be a better wife, friend, and so on. Maybe I need the inherent power of dissatisfaction to be able to hold on and not give up my dream of climbing an 8,000-meter peak. Because it has been necessary - but now I´m going to give it a try."
Wonderfully thrilling and dramaturgical! The fact that the men reached the top and not the woman, is utterly unimportant. What is interesting is her story. This is how tomorrow´s adventurers on expedition must think to survive. Even better is to tell a story of someone else but yourself. Which is what I did in New York. When I took the stage after Ed Viesturs, the first thing I talked about was how ridiculous all the clever white males with icicles in their beards are. I continued by informing the audience about the Siberians and their everyday life, which makes a contemporary expedition look like a school outing by comparison. The response was fairly good - a ten-minute standing ovation.
I´ve been asked to be one of World reviewers experts on travel, which of course is a great way to help people make their travel dream come true. Lately I have worked a lot within the Travel industry and finds it very interesting. I am, for example, working as a guide with South America as a speciality. I just love it. It is all I believe in. It is about making a group of people aware of the great world they live in, building a bridge to the culture they visit and making their dream come true. It is also a challenge to myself to in the best possible way present this dream. So, being a expert at World Reviewer also gives a perspective on the rest of the world. I´ve, so far, offered 10 reviews of places to visit on this great globe of ours. See http://www.worldreviewer.com/member/mikael-strandberg/
This is the idea with the award winning World Reviewer:
World Reviewer is all about holiday experiences. We have taken a completely new look at how travel is presented online – starting with what you want to do, rather than where you want to go, and starting with experiences, rather than the products or services.
First we collected the best travel experiences in the world – not according to us, but according to the over 200 travel specialists, experts, scholars and scientists we have assembled to help us. Clearly there is no such thing as the definitive list, which is why the site is open for users to add to, to rate, and to review. You can browse all the experiences we have on the main travel ideas page, and filter by category (what) and location (where).
Next we have linked them with selected holiday products and services, from holidays to hotels to flights to get there, as well as further resources to find out more about the destinations - also ‘what’s nearby’, the weather to expect at certain times of year, local tours, and so on. We still have a way to go here, but we are steadily building sophisticated trip planning tools that will provide you with a range of choices as to how you want to book your holiday – through a tour operator, by putting the trip elements together yourself, or by using the personalised service of a travel expert.
Above all, the experience of finding ideas and planning your holiday online should be fun, which is why we are using the latest technology – thousands of stunning flickr images, the latest google mapping, videos imported from YouTube and Geobeats, and fun tools like our weather map, or our ‘experience of the day’.
Dear Readers, I will on and off publish news from my way to initiating a new Expedition. If there is any news to publish, that is....First out is an article from the Kolyma Expedition which is presently published in the annual book from The Swedish Society for Antropolgy and Geography. It is, of course, an honour having been published in their annual book called Ymer.
SSAG was founded under its present name in 1877, as an extension of the activities of the Association for Anthropology founded in 1873. This was a time of great exploratory expeditions, and the SSAG took a particularly active part in the scientific description of the Arctic region, highlighted by the ‘Vega’ voyage through the passage north of Siberia led by Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld in 1878-1879. The symbol of the Society shows a woman with laurel wreaths, a native with a globe, and the Vega ship at a rocky coast.
The spirit of Nordenskiöld permeated much of SSAG’s activities with lectures and expeditions by geographer Otto Nordenskjöld to Antarctica in 1901-03, anthropologist Erland Nordenskiöld to South America and by explorer Sven Hedin to Central Asia. But SSAG’s activities also included research on Swedish Ethnology (Sigurd Erixon), Baltic urban geography (Sten De Geer) and the beginning of geopolitics (Rudolf Kjellén), to name a few of renowned members during the first fifty years.
In recent years SSAG is more dedicated to the popularization of the three disciplines and to current topics, e.g. environmental degradation, physical planning, political geography and questions of underdevelopment. The gold medalists of later years include Eric Bylund 2000, Sherry B. Ortner 2001, Lonnie G. Thompson 2002, Doreen Massey 2003, Tim Ingold 2004 and Françoise Gasse 2005.
Just a small note to say that life has returned and that I am breathing freedom again. The most magnificent feeling on earth. This is the first time in two years that I have been able to think freely without the deepest worry. It cannot be underestimated what a supreme feeling that is!
However, the past two years 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.
What I have learned more than anything is:
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 in 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. 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. 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. 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.
Mahatma Gandhi is still my hero. Time to look for another Expedition.
Can you imagine this scenario? I am visiting La Bombonera, the homeground of Boca Juniors, almost 58 000 visitors, an atmosphere which is unbelievable. They´re playing their worst enemies, River Plate, with an old favorite of mine in midfield, El Burro Ortega, who is meeting Juan Riquelme, in his best moments, propbably the best player in the world. Nobody knows me. Suddenly I guy walks up, and says in English:
