British reserve and the sense of being completed overwhelmed
by what lay ahead soon broke down into an excited buzz as delegates made new
friends and probed speakers like myself for information. I was at the Royal
Geographical Society’s annual Explore expedition and fieldwork planning weekend
at their London headquarters in Kensington.
Settled into one of the deep black leather armchair-like
seats in the 350 seat Ondaatje Theatre as Explore began on Saturday morning I
had already spoken to several people planning expeditions across the globe,
from Greenland to Papua New Guinea. The Society’s illustrious past members and
fellows, the likes of Livingstone and Shackleton, cast a dark shadow of
expectation over the 200 delegates and 50 or so speakers, as did the
photographs of David Attenborough in the corridor leading to lunch.
Some delegates were
planning expeditions with specific scientific objectives, while others just had
the desire to travel sometime in the future. The weekend quickly brought a dose
of reality to anyone with designs at being the next Michael Palin. Explorer and
television presenter Paul Rose (the Society’s vice president) introduced the
weekend by mentioning just how hard he had had to work to turn his dreams into
reality. It’s easy to panic about the future in such circumstances. Delegates
have to match the desire for exploration with the very real need to earn a
living. Through the morning it became clear that though hard it is definitely possible,
often with just a touch of luck along the way. Luck, we are told again and
again, is a combination of hard work and circumstance.
The talks continued with a mix of reports on completed
expeditions and how to plan future expeditions. Professor David Warrell’s discussion
on health in the field was received well by delegates, combining humour with the
very serious issue of preventing life-threatening disease.
Saturday afternoon saw the first workshops of the weekend,
where delegates divided into smaller groups to discuss issues more relevant to
particular forms of expedition. I joined the vehicle dependent expeditions
workshop, though it was tempting to attend those dealing with cycling, river,
and polar journeys too.
The official part of the first day of Explore ended with a
fantastic hour talk by Ed Stafford. His talk on being the first man to walk the
length of the River Amazon was staggering and inspirational in achievement. Ed,
a former army captain, can be seen as arrogant and immodest, but in fact he was
thoughtful and caring, telling the delegates he wasn’t interested in a bigger
expedition. Instead, he ‘just wanted a family’.
Day two of the weekend saw talks on funding opportunities and
communication, before delegates broke for more workshops. More than once I
heard phrases like ‘it’s great to be among like-minded people, who don’t think
I’m crazy’, as delegates approached others with required expertise. The day
seemed a little calmer and less frantic than day one, perhaps as delegates
began to realise the weekend was not about competing with one another for
funding and publicity, but was a ‘unifying factor’ – a key phrase from the
weekend. A weekend I was happy to be asked to contribute to.
P.S., you can see the remainder of my chosen Encircle Africa
photographs on flickr now: