From reading books in a tiny village to exploring the world afar

Mikael Strandberg, an internationally acclaimed and award-winning Swedish explorer, filmmaker and writer, said he continued to read many books over the years and developed a strong desire to see different parts of the world. He went to England and France as a young boy and enjoyed the attention he received when he told his neighbors about his amazing and adventurous trip to the two countries, which now, he admits, would not attract the same level of interest and excitement.

In an interview with Sunday’s Zaman, Strandberg said the more he saw different places and learned about different cultures the more he aspired to build bridges of understanding between people by writing, taking pictures and giving lectures. As he got older, he decided the best way he could reach a wider audience was if he undertook a major challenge. In 1986, he took his bike and pedaled through the Pan-American Highway, from Chile to Alaska traversing a total distance of 27,500 kilometers on bike. But by the end of his trip, Sandberg said it just “didn’t feel enough,” and so he cycled from Norway to South Africa and them from New Zealand to Cairo over the next seven years, passing through some of the toughest terrain and adverse environmental conditions.

Noting that in the beginning the purpose of his expeditions was mainly to push his physical abilities to the limit but then later evolved into a mission of trying to understand the meaning of life by discovering how people in some of the remotest and most unknown parts of the world lived, Strandberg said: “There are so many fascinating places and so many fascinating people in this world that when you discover them the more fascinated you become and the more you want to learn and explore. Right when you think you’re getting somewhere you realize there is a lot more out there.”

He explained that he prefers to explore places that haven’t been affected by modern life to understand the changes that have taken place in the world and to foster understanding between different people. He noted that one of the most important steps in preparing a successful expedition was to do plenty of research about the area and the people who live in that region. “It’s important to be aware about the culture and try to live the way the locals do. You have to become an expert on reading people and know what to talk about. Otherwise, you can’t build bonds with the people, which you need to do in order for them to help you.”

Among the places Strandberg has explored is Latin America on horseback in 1997, Maasailand in East Africa in 2000, where he met and lived with the Maasai people for one year, and Siberia in 2004, where he explored the Kolyma River in freezing cold temperatures, a journey that has become known as the coldest ever expedition in the history of exploration.

Expedition Arabia to foster understanding between East and West

Now the laid-back and congenial 47-year-old explorer is preparing for his next major undertaking: traversing a total of 12,500 kilometers through 13 Arab countries by camel in two years. He will cross the Sahara and Arabian deserts under the scorching sun and face massive sandstorms. But Strandberg is not worried but rather excited about the challenge that lies ahead.

“I’ve spent more than 2,500 nights in tents, and it’s just such a free life. One reason I want to do this trip on a personal level is that it’s such a fantastic life, a peaceful life. You work all day in the morning and then you rest well at night. You get to do a lot of thinking, and you’re mainly concerned about basic things just like finding food and cooking. It’s a simple life,” he said.

He hopes the expedition will provide a closer look into the life of Arabs and the meaning of life as Arabs see it and foster a global debate between the Arab world and the West. “The story of the Arab world and, of course, Islam is dominating how the situation is globally and occupying the world agenda more than ever now, so I see my mission is to develop a bridge of understanding between the Arab world and the West. There are prejudices on both sides, and it is an almost impossible mission to change that, but one must try,” he said.

Expedition Arabia will cost approximately $1 million, with most of the money going to satellite communication and to the purchase of healthy and strong camels, which can cost as much as $150,000. Strandberg expects there will be 150,000 readers following the expedition daily via his Web page www.mikaelstrandberg.com.

Strandberg has authored several books and produced three documentaries about his Patagonia, Maasailand and Siberia expeditions. Until he sets off for Expedition Arabia, he will be giving lectures in many parts of the world. He was in Turkey to attend an international symposium organized by the Association of Tourism and Environment Journalists (TURÇEV) in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism.