Tuesday, 20 October 2009
www.mikaelstrandberg.com
Sunday, 18 October 2009
Honorary member of La Rahla
Dear Mikael,
We made you a honorary member in La Rahla so that if you need to consult any of our members we can put you in touch with them for information on the regions of the Sahara you intend to cross. We can also facilitate you buying photocopies of maps of the Sahara as we have practically full coverage of this part of the world. We can also help you on historical events which took place in the areas you will be crossing. It will add interest for you and the people you will be describing your expedition to.
We also feel that you are intending to do something particularly difficult physically and near impossible in this day and age with all the red tape problems in crossing borders that we can but admire your optimism on being able to conclude this venture. You are going to cross a part of the world we enjoy so much visiting and reading about. It will be a pleasure for us also to follow your itinerary and telling our members how it is progressing.
Mikael, "La Rahla, Amicale des Sahariens" 116 rue Damrémont 75018 PARIS FRANCE, is an association created over 80 years ago with over 1000 members across the world. Publishing every quarter in french a review of 80 pages on the Sahara excusively, and that this month it has just published as well a booklet of over 128 pages on an epic crossing of the Tenere desert done in 1927- 1928 when this part of the world was just a blank on the map with the title "EXPLORATION DU TENERE à la recherche du Tafassasset avec Ch. Toubeau de Maisonnneuve". To see more about this Association visit their internet site :
http://www.larahla.com
Good luck
Best regards
André Hesse, president
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
Explorer encourages others to "lead from the saddle"
Equestrian Exploration Program Developed Leading Explorer Oversees Historic Effort
Mikael Strandberg isn’t very tall but his name carries a lot of weight in the international exploration community.
He started his professional career as an explorer two decades ago by bicycling 27,500 kilometres from Patagonia to Alaska, via the infamous Darien Gap jungle. Then he pedaled another 90,000 kilometres from New Zealand to Cairo.
After that he parked the bike and explored Latin America on horseback, which won him admittance into the Long Riders’ Guild, the world’s first international association of equestrian explorers. When he hung up his saddle, he spent a year living among the Masai in Kenya.
Then in 2004 Strandberg made an astonishing winter crossing through Siberia. During this five month sledge journey, mainly done in utter darkness, he experienced a terrifying cold with average temperatures around -50°F, day and night. This trip through the coldest inhabited place on earth caused the King of Sweden to award his intrepid subject a silver medal for courage.
Strandberg has produced three internationally renowned television documentaries, written six books, lectured around the world and been deemed “the best contemporary explorer in the world” by the Explorers Club in London.
Now he’s preparing to begin the Great Desert Expedition – a camel journey that will take him from Oman to Morocco.
But before departing on that adventure, the Swedish Long Rider will tackle a unique educational challenge. He has agreed to assume responsibility for developing a new Equestrian Exploration Department for the Long Riders' Guild Academic Foundation.
“With Mongolia having become the fortieth country to field Long Riders and join the Guild, there is ample evidence to demonstrate that interest in equestrian exploration is exploding,” said Basha O’Reilly, one of the Guild’s Founding Members. “Earlier this year an impassioned debate was held regarding the fact that a London-based geographic society hadn’t fielded a single expedition in more than a decade. While other organizations vote themselves into obscurity, the Guild has sponsored, mentored or encouraged more than a hundred equestrian expeditions on every continent except Antarctica in less than ten years.”
Yet while enthusiasm runs high, O’Reilly reported, leaders of the equestrian exploration movement remain concerned that this mounted renaissance must adhere to the highest principled standards. As Director of Exploration for the Guild, Strandberg will help the LRGAF promote and develop ethical, safe and responsible equestrian exploration and long distance travel.
“This is an honour that I accept with dignity. I am looking forward to using my experience in organizing different types of expeditions so as to encourage and educate would-be Long Riders around the world,” Strandberg said.
Skeptics may argue that Strandberg and his fellow Long Riders stand little chance of encouraging a generation to take to the saddle and explore Earth. Yet history demonstrates that one person’s passion for exploration and education can indeed change the course of events. This occurred in the fifteenth century when Prince Henry of Portugal established the world’s first school for explorers. At Sagres, on the southwestern tip of Europe, he brought together geographers, cartographers, instrument-makers, astronomers, and mathematicians. The institute was designed to teach navigation, to collect geographical data, invent seafaring equipment and to sponsor expeditions.
The sturdy Swedish explorer is a modern day graduate of that school of thought who has already shared his expertise with the first team of Afghan mountain climbers and a Scandinavian camel expedition crossing the Sahara, not to mention dozens of young adventurers eager for more generalized advice. Strandberg now believes he can help inspire others to explore the world as their forefathers did.
“Although Prince Henry never sailed on any of his expeditions, he is credited with instigating the Age of Discovery. Unlike Henry, who inspired but did not travel, we modern Long Riders’ Guild are determined to lead from the saddle.”
In Strandberg’s case, this means a camel saddle, not an equestrian one.
Though the intrepid Swede has more than twenty years of experience surviving in dangerous places, overcoming tropical diseases, etc., he is about to venture deep into a remote part of the Muslim world on a desert expedition which will certainly require him to deal with cultural and religious challenges, as well as the everyday dangers of trying to survive a trip that would cause Ibn Battuta to have second thoughts.
“I’ve just returned from studying Arabic and Islam in Yemen. The wonderful experiences I enjoyed there have convinced me that this trip will allow me to build a bridge of exploration which runs between the Islamic world and the West,” the enthusiastic explorer explained.
While the Long Riders’ Guild is famous for having protected the ancient art of equestrian travel from going extinct, the organization has spent the last two years quietly working to create a new camel travel division as well. The world’s leading camel travel experts, such as Arita Baaijens who travelled across the Sahara with her dromedary camels and John Hare who journeyed across the Gobi with Bactrian camels, have agreed to lend their academic support to this unique educational effort.
Because of the length and significance of Strandberg’s journey, the Guild has honoured him by presenting the explorer with the first LRG flag to accompany a camel expedition.
“Insh'Allah, we're going to make exploration history of an unexpected and unprecedented nature,” Strandberg said.
When asked to explain what prompted the equestrian organization to include Strandberg and his camels, Basha O’Reilly of the Guild replied, “What we envision is an organization that grows out of the original Long Riders' Guild, and goes on to publish books, sponsor new research, and provide funds and equipment to Long Riders. This is a new type of exploration foundation, one that preserves mankind’s ancient methods of travelling safely and successfully with horses, and now camels. Regardless of what he is riding, Mikael is a perfect example of this blending of mounted courage.”
To learn more about Sweden's most celebrated explorer and Long Rider, please visit Mikael’s exploration blog –
For an interview with Mikael Strandberg regarding his career as an explorer –
Read article in Horsetalk! and in ExplorersWebNews! and in Voices for horses!
Visit the Long Riders Guild!
Equestrian Exploration Program Developed Leading Explorer Oversees Historic Effort
Mikael Strandberg isn’t very tall but his name carries a lot of weight in the international exploration community.
He started his professional career as an explorer two decades ago by bicycling 27,500 kilometres from Patagonia to Alaska, via the infamous Darien Gap jungle. Then he pedaled another 90,000 kilometres from New Zealand to Cairo.
After that he parked the bike and explored Latin America on horseback, which won him admittance into the Long Riders’ Guild, the world’s first international association of equestrian explorers. When he hung up his saddle, he spent a year living among the Masai in Kenya.
Then in 2004 Strandberg made an astonishing winter crossing through Siberia. During this five month sledge journey, mainly done in utter darkness, he experienced a terrifying cold with average temperatures around -50°F, day and night. This trip through the coldest inhabited place on earth caused the King of Sweden to award his intrepid subject a silver medal for courage.
Strandberg has produced three internationally renowned television documentaries, written six books, lectured around the world and been deemed “the best contemporary explorer in the world” by the Explorers Club in London.
Now he’s preparing to begin the Great Desert Expedition – a camel journey that will take him from Oman to Morocco.
But before departing on that adventure, the Swedish Long Rider will tackle a unique educational challenge. He has agreed to assume responsibility for developing a new Equestrian Exploration Department for the Long Riders' Guild Academic Foundation.
“With Mongolia having become the fortieth country to field Long Riders and join the Guild, there is ample evidence to demonstrate that interest in equestrian exploration is exploding,” said Basha O’Reilly, one of the Guild’s Founding Members. “Earlier this year an impassioned debate was held regarding the fact that a London-based geographic society hadn’t fielded a single expedition in more than a decade. While other organizations vote themselves into obscurity, the Guild has sponsored, mentored or encouraged more than a hundred equestrian expeditions on every continent except Antarctica in less than ten years.”
Yet while enthusiasm runs high, O’Reilly reported, leaders of the equestrian exploration movement remain concerned that this mounted renaissance must adhere to the highest principled standards. As Director of Exploration for the Guild, Strandberg will help the LRGAF promote and develop ethical, safe and responsible equestrian exploration and long distance travel.
“This is an honour that I accept with dignity. I am looking forward to using my experience in organizing different types of expeditions so as to encourage and educate would-be Long Riders around the world,” Strandberg said.
Skeptics may argue that Strandberg and his fellow Long Riders stand little chance of encouraging a generation to take to the saddle and explore Earth. Yet history demonstrates that one person’s passion for exploration and education can indeed change the course of events. This occurred in the fifteenth century when Prince Henry of Portugal established the world’s first school for explorers. At Sagres, on the southwestern tip of Europe, he brought together geographers, cartographers, instrument-makers, astronomers, and mathematicians. The institute was designed to teach navigation, to collect geographical data, invent seafaring equipment and to sponsor expeditions.
The sturdy Swedish explorer is a modern day graduate of that school of thought who has already shared his expertise with the first team of Afghan mountain climbers and a Scandinavian camel expedition crossing the Sahara, not to mention dozens of young adventurers eager for more generalized advice. Strandberg now believes he can help inspire others to explore the world as their forefathers did.
“Although Prince Henry never sailed on any of his expeditions, he is credited with instigating the Age of Discovery. Unlike Henry, who inspired but did not travel, we modern Long Riders’ Guild are determined to lead from the saddle.”
In Strandberg’s case, this means a camel saddle, not an equestrian one.
Though the intrepid Swede has more than twenty years of experience surviving in dangerous places, overcoming tropical diseases, etc., he is about to venture deep into a remote part of the Muslim world on a desert expedition which will certainly require him to deal with cultural and religious challenges, as well as the everyday dangers of trying to survive a trip that would cause Ibn Battuta to have second thoughts.
“I’ve just returned from studying Arabic and Islam in Yemen. The wonderful experiences I enjoyed there have convinced me that this trip will allow me to build a bridge of exploration which runs between the Islamic world and the West,” the enthusiastic explorer explained.
While the Long Riders’ Guild is famous for having protected the ancient art of equestrian travel from going extinct, the organization has spent the last two years quietly working to create a new camel travel division as well. The world’s leading camel travel experts, such as Arita Baaijens who travelled across the Sahara with her dromedary camels and John Hare who journeyed across the Gobi with Bactrian camels, have agreed to lend their academic support to this unique educational effort.
Because of the length and significance of Strandberg’s journey, the Guild has honoured him by presenting the explorer with the first LRG flag to accompany a camel expedition.
“Insh'Allah, we're going to make exploration history of an unexpected and unprecedented nature,” Strandberg said.
When asked to explain what prompted the equestrian organization to include Strandberg and his camels, Basha O’Reilly of the Guild replied, “What we envision is an organization that grows out of the original Long Riders' Guild, and goes on to publish books, sponsor new research, and provide funds and equipment to Long Riders. This is a new type of exploration foundation, one that preserves mankind’s ancient methods of travelling safely and successfully with horses, and now camels. Regardless of what he is riding, Mikael is a perfect example of this blending of mounted courage.”
To learn more about Sweden's most celebrated explorer and Long Rider, please visit Mikael’s exploration blog –
For an interview with Mikael Strandberg regarding his career as an explorer –
Read article in Horsetalk! and in ExplorersWebNews! and in Voices for horses!
Visit the Long Riders Guild!
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
His hair has three different colors....
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!
Friday, 9 October 2009
The real Expedition is a fart compered to this!
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....
Monday, 5 October 2009
"Your life is more interesting and unusal than a science fiction book!"
"I say, go for it! Can´t wait to hear what comes next! Your life is more interesting and unusual than a science fiction book!"
It´s Marc and me on the photo to the top right here. It is taken by our common friend Steve Jewell in Mikumi National Park in Tanzania, I think 1988, when I was cycling from North-Cape in Norway to South-Cape in South-Africa and Marc started his 7 year all around the world cycle tour. The reason we are armed is that earlier that day, whilst walking through the high crass of the park, following a group of baboons and the two female scientists who´d been tracking this especial group and family for a year, suddenly we heard a roar and a female lion stood up in the grass!
I remember the female scientists had told us before, if this would happen, don´t run! They did! And so did the two armed rangers we had with us, so the only one´s left, glued to the ground like three termite mounds, where Steve, Marc and me. Most likely by pure shock, even though I do seem to remember that Steve, also one of my best friends, afterwards said that he was cool as a postcard and just wanted to study the behavior of the lion...Sure, Steve, I also remember you were having it off with one of the scientists....
I also remember it all happened so fast, and since I am such a coward, I took a step behind Marc, so if the lioness would go for an attack, it wouldn´t be me who got killed. Sorry Marc, I do believe it was all instinct....Anyway, the lioness, as all wild animals, feared us more, and turned around and slowly ran off away from us. That is why we are armed. And that is also the reason we have hair and look young, which is not the case today...
I often get questions what my old partners on route are doing today. Steve, he joined me in Maasailand aswell, where he met his wife Theonestina, with whom he lives in Canada today and have two children. Last time I saw him was 5 years ago and he was extra-ordinary fat. He is still one of the funniest people on earth and i talk to him on Skype irregularly. Marc isn´t to thin either, today, but a successful business man and runs a spa in Williamstown. On and off he´d like to hit the road again and just came back from a tour in Namibia. read about it here! Marc is a very generous, smart, funny and extra-ordinary kind person who right now lives by himself with his love of life, the Golden Dream, his dog. He will in some capacity be involved in the Expedition and my future. He is one of my very best friends. Last time I met him was also years ago, I think 2 years ago, when I visited him in Williamstown for the second time. He was known as Hub Sprockett in Africa. And Steve went under the name of Steve Clitoris. Or at least that is how he was presented at a conference somewhere in Africa. I think it was Mbeya. That time was the funniest in my life. I had ten good laughs a day, African style. An African laughter is different to all others. It begins in your stomach, than kind of rolls all the way up to your mouth where it explodes! Best feeling on earth it is, and it is a long time since I was even close to a laugh like that. I think it was very close in Yemen though.
There´s not a lot to laugh about in Sweden. Maybe life was better before, as the old people tend to say. Nope, from now on, I will find my old habit to laugh! This is my next little personal project, laughter!
Friday, 2 October 2009
Ardi, my 4.4 million old sister turns up, some news from Yemen and a word about a digital explorer
Mankind, or the human being, has fascinated me more than anything the last 10 years of my life. That fascination was the main reason for me going to Maasailand in the year 2000 to get closer to the birth place of us humans. I passed through Olduvai Gorge for example, which is commonly known as the Cradle of Mankind, and there´s definitely a specific feeling of belonging here. And since than, humans more than spectacular scenery, amazing culture or animals, has enlightened my wanderlust. This morning, when I started to read the morning papers, I read that a sister of ours, called Ardi, have been discovered, a vital link between the apes and humans in Afar, the Rift Valley in Ethiopia, of course. 4.4 million years old...now, that gives a lot of perspective on a lot of things! It is, still considered, that we humans as we are today are around 150 000 years old, so it took some time for us to develop to this interesting species that we are today!
But complicated as well, I still follow the developments in Yemen closely everyday. Regarding humans in Yemen, I read this editorial today called Suffering is the rule, not an exception. isn´t it amazing, really, even though we have the resources globally, still, to make everyone relatively content with being alive, we just don´t care, it seems like. This is so hard to understand. However, there´s always exceptions to the rule. everywhere. I am very privileged to know quite a few out of these amazing humans who spend there life's thinking about how to find ways to help others. One of them is Jamie, who fully has understood that education is the only way, really, to give everybody the same opportunity to live.
I met Jamie in London, in the exiting Soho district to discuss how to implement his ideas on the upcoming Expedition. Jamie is a laid-back, intelligent, soft spoken explorer of sorts, who has decided to move the class-room out into the bush! I am mean this is an amazing development of the resources we have today, to build bridges between cultures, educate and create opportunities. It just shows how far we´ve come since Ardi lived on this fantastic globe of ours.
So, my hope is that Jamie will be able to help the expedition with his expertise! Since I know that the potential to make a difference with an Expedition like this, is without limits.
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