Search Results for: travel writing

Martin Strel looks like your typical middle-aged bloke. He likes a laugh, a drink and the sight of a pretty woman. But put him in water and he turns into a swimming machine.
In April 2007, after 66 days, he became the first person to swim the Amazon, 3,274 miles from the Peruvian Andes to the Atlantic shores of Brazil. On this extraordinary journey he dodged piranhas, sharks and river pirates, met indigenous tribes who either revered him as a god or chased him with machetes, and swam from dawn to dusk for 60 miles every single day. Like pioneers before him who first climbed Everest or explored the poles, Martin shifted the limits of human capability.
His story – of endurance, of determination, of dehydration and exhaustion, of illness and blood pressure that reached heart-attack levels – is an inspiration to people everywhere.

There were five rules of Twitchhiker:
I can only accept offers of travel and accommodation from people on Twitter. I can’t make any travel plans further than three days in advance. I can only spend money on food, drink and anything that might fit in my suitcase. If there is more than one offer, I choose which I take. If there is only one, I have to take it within 48 hours. If I am unable to find a way to move on from a location within 48 hours, the challenge is over and I go home. Bored in the bread aisle of the supermarket one day, Paul Smith wondered how far he could get around the world in 30 days through the goodwill of users of social networking site Twitter. At the mercy of these rules, he set his sights on New Zealand – the opposite point on the planet to his home in Newcastle. All he had to do next was explain the idea to his new wife.
In an adventure wrapped in nonsense and cocooned in daft, he travelled by road, boat, plane and train, slept in five-star luxury and on no-star floors, shmoozed with Hollywood A-listers and was humbled by the generosity of the thousands who followed his journey and determined its course.
@twitchhiker I can send you to Wichita by Greyhound if that’s any good… Sent 10:13 AM Mar 12th
I was more or less in the exact geographical centre of a different continent, and a nameless woman some 4,000 miles east in Dublin was buying me a bus ticket…

It was an empty landscape now with huge horizons in every direction, a compressed, steam-rollered desert where man had no place. We lacked the skills to carry out even basic fixes. If the van stopped working we were really stuck. No one knew where we were and our last mobile phone signal had been 150 miles ago.

Fifty-something and tired of arguing with John Humphrys over the day’s headlines, BBC journalists Geoff and David found themselves eagerly volunteering for redundancy. But rather than easing into retirement with the odd round of golf, they decided to buy a van and drive off to Mongolia. Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time…

In an epic journey through Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Siberia and across the Gobi Desert, they discover more about each other in a few weeks than they did sharing an office for years.
Lying in wait are crooked cops, bent border guards and terrible roads, but also welcoming and curious locals, eager to help the pair on their mission.

 heard the rustle again, too close and too real to ignore.  I clutched the flashlight, stuck my head out of the mosquito net… and found myself face-to-face with a jaguar.
Four travelers meet in Bolivia and set off into the heart of the Amazon rainforest to find a hidden tribe and explore places tourists only dream of seeing.  But what begins as the adventure of a lifetime quickly deteriorates into a dangerous nightmare. 
After weeks of wandering in the dense undergrowth the group splits up after disagreements, and Yossi and his friend try to find their own way back without a guide. When a terrible rafting accident separates him from his partner, Yossi is forced to survive for weeks alone against one of the wildest backdrops on the planet. Stranded without a knife, map, or survival training, he must improvise shelter and forage for wild fruit to survive. As his feet begin to rot during raging storms, as he loses all sense of direction, and as he begins to lose all hope, he wonders whether he will make it out of the jungle alive. 
The basis of an upcoming motion picture starring Daniel Radcliffe,”Lost in the Jungle”is the incredible story of friendship and the teachings of nature, survival and human fortitude and a terrifying true account that you won’t be able to put down.

When three friends – Paul, Johno and Leigh – clicked ‘buy’ on an iconic London cab, little did they know what they were letting themselves in for. Leaving the Big Smoke in their taxi bound for Sydney, the lads began a 43,000-mile trip that would take them off the beaten track to some of the most dangerous and deadly places on earth. By the time they arrived home, they would manage against all the odds to circumnavigate the globe and break two world records.

From altercations with the Iranian secret police to narrowly escaping the Taliban, the trio’s adventure is filled with hair-raising escapades. Feel the fear, revel in the fun and meet some of the hundred passengers the taxi picked up along the way, as the authors take you on their action-packed journey.

THE LAST TIME JOHN HARRISON VENTURED INTO THE JUNGLE A MEMBER OF HIS GROUP DIED.

THIS TIME HE BROUGHT HIS WIFE.

The Tumucumaque Hills on Brazil’s northern frontier are one of the few remaining unexplored regions on earth. Back in 1950, a young French explorer set off into the deepest jungle of that region and was never seen again.

Inspired by that explorer’s diary, John and Heather Harrison paddled their canoe into some of the remotest tributaries of the Amazon, with no TV cameras, sponsors or the slightest chance of being rescued if things went wrong. Lost, and threatened by malaria, snakes, jaguars, piranhas, aggressive wild pigs and flesh-burrowing insects, they slashed a precipitous path over the mountains. 

This is travel at its rawest: the incredible story of the Harrison’s struggle to keep their deteriorating sanity and relationship intact in one of the most hostile and unforgiving places in the world.

As Ellie’s fiftieth birthday approaches and her ambitions of a steady income, a successful career and an ascent of Everest seem as far away as ever, she begins to doubt she’s capable of achieving anything at all. So when her best friend Mick suggests a gruelling cycle ride from Land’s End to John o’Groats, she takes up the challenge. They opt for the scenic route which takes them along cycle paths, towpaths and the back roads and byways of Britain, unable to resist sampling local beers in the pubs they pass along the way. But as the pints start to stack up faster than the miles they’re putting under their tyres, Ellie wonders if they’ll ever make it to the finishing line…

‘This is suicide!’ Manuel screamed frantically.
So begins an amazing true story of a journey to Antarctica in a 27-foot sailing boat. After travelling through South America to Tierra del Fuego, the only continent David had never visited beckoned to him across treacherous waters. Ships booked for scientific expeditions wouldn’t take him, and tourist cruises didn’t appeal. Then he saw a little boat in the harbour, its name hand-painted in red on the hull: Berserk.
Together with a ‘crazy Viking’ and a down-on-his-luck Argentinian, the author set sail to follow Shackleton’s voyage with little idea of the tumultuous storms, mishaps and emergencies that loomed on the journey to the world’s coldest and most inaccessible continent. He brilliantly recounts their experience of the huge waves, the bleak darkness and the delicate balance of personalities where a mutiny was always in the air.

Steve and I clutched hands – his right in my left – and then we simultaneously pushed down with our feet. Cogs clicked, wheels turned, and we were on our way. We left Nordkapp within minutes. Cape Town was only 18,000 kilometres away.
Deciding to break away from his comfortable lifestyle in London, Reza and his friend Steven set off from the most northerly point on mainland Europe to cycle the 11,000 miles to the other end of the planet, completely unsupported.
Their expedition becomes a race against the clock, as they attempt to complete the trip in a world record of just 100 days. Battling punishing terrain and primitive roads, harsh and debilitating climates, malaria, food poisoning and heat stroke, their thrilling journey brings them face to face with some of the world’s most stunning, memorable and volatile regions.
This is the intensely personal story of one man’s mission to create a more positive, purposeful life, and the compelling account of the epic journey he took to get there.

4,000 miles of unpredictable ocean.

500 Mars bars.

124 days of physical exertion.

3 Guinness World Records set.

1 incredible journey.

On 1 April 2009, twenty-three-year-old Sarah Outen embarked on an ambitious solo voyage across the Indian Ocean in her rowing boat, Dippers. Powered by the grief of the sudden loss of her father and the determination to live life to the full, Sarah and her tiny boat successfully negotiated wild ocean storms, unexpected encounters with whales and the continuous threat of being capsized by passing container ships. Along the way she broke two oars and lost 20 kg of bodyweight before arriving in Mauritius. 
She became the first woman and the youngest person to row solo across the Indian Ocean. Life-affirming, funny and poignant, Sarah’s salty tale of courage and endurance will inspire the taste of adventure in everyone.

At 2,922 miles, the Congo is the eighth longest river and the deepest in the world, with a flow rate second only to the Amazon. Ex-Marine Phil Harwood embarked on an epic solo journey from the river’s true source in the highlands of Zambia through war-torn Central Africa. With no outside help whatsoever he faced swamps, waterfalls, man-eating crocodiles, hippos, aggressive snakes and spiders’ webs the size of houses. He collapsed from malaria, and was arrested, intimidated and chased. On one stretch, known as ‘The Abattoir’ for its history of cannibalism and reputation for criminal activity, the four brothers he hired as bodyguards were asked by locals, ‘Why haven’t you cut his throat yet?’ But he also received tremendous hospitality from proud and brave people long forgotten by the Western world, especially friendly riverside fishermen who helped wherever they could on Phil’s exhilarating and terrifying five-month journey.

Author’s documentary film of the journey, available on his website ww.canoeingthecongo.com, won several awards and went on tour in North America with the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival.

Could you ski to the South Pole? That was the challenge that British Adventurer, Felicity Aston put to women from around the Commonwealth as she set out to create the most international all-female expedition ever to the South Pole. The team would not be experienced explorers but ‘ordinary’ women who wanted inspire others to follow their dreams or make a change for the better in their lives. She received more than 800 applications and embarked on a three-month journey around the world to interview candidates. ‘What is skiing?’ was the question that greeted her in Ghana.

At the close of 2009, Felicity led a team from places as diverse as Jamaica, India, Singapore and Cyprus – some of whom had never even seen snow or spent the night in a tent before joining the expedition – on a 900 km skiing trek across the Antarctic, one of the toughest and most notoriously hazardous journeys on the planet.

Eighty-mile-an-hour winds ripped through base camp; frostbite and injuries were an everyday occurrence; deadly crevasses emerged from the cracking ice beneath their feet. But they also shared beliefs, ideas, philosophies and laughter, made lasting memories and broke no less than six World Records.