Has anyone heard of Outbac Broga in Malaysia?

I am looking at doing some work in Malaysia for a company called OutBac Broga.

I would like to know if anyone has heard of anything about them?

Kind regards

Luke.

safeluke@live.co.uk

Journey of a Lifetime Award

The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) are offering a 5,000 grant and the chance to record your Journey of a Lifetime for a BBC Radio 4 documentary.

If you have a curiosity about the world and an enthusiasm to share your discoveries with others through the medium of radio, see www.rgs.org/journeyofalifetimeto apply.

The deadline for applications is 4 October 2014. For more information Send A Message using the blue button above

Best Resources to help plan an expedition?

Dear Fellow Explorers Adventurers,

I was hoping you could point me in the right direction for quality resources to help plan and execute a full scale 2-3 week expedition?

A bit vague I know but a steer in the right direction would be much appreciated.

Many Thanks,

Gregor

1000 Mile Unsupported Walk

I want to grab this summer by the nuts.

The plan is to do an unsupported solo walk, the distance of 1000 miles. Ideally the trek would be in a temperate climate. I qualify unsupported as having no direct assistance from start to finish apart from with a water supply.

I imagine pulling a sled with wheels to be the most appropriate means to carry the gear and I hope to raise awareness for a charity during the event. Does anyone have any suggestions, ideas, thoughts or comments?

patrickdavis89@msn.com

Comparison of the Best Camping Mats

A comparison of all the different types of camping mat and sleeping pad: Foam roll mats, self-inflating pads and inflatable mattressesComplete with detailed comparison tables listing the sizes, weights and costs so you can make an informed choice between them all.

http://thenextchallenge.org/camping-mats/

21st Century Altai

As a young adventurer, its easy to become despondent in the belief that everything has been done and that there is nowhere left to explore. At least, that is, without doing something so extreme as to require decades of experience or being extremely dangerous. We set about planning our expedition with an inflatable globe and a pin (used sparingly) with the objective of identifying remote yet accessible mountainous areas of the world. A trip to Stanfords, several reports from the Royal Geographical Society's database and a conversation at the Explore conference later, it became apparent that no one was climbing in the Russian Altai.

With only the aid of a 20-year-old piloting map, we were quickly able to identify un-climbed and accessible mountains. After the best part of year in the planning, I set off with five team mates to climb and explore the Altai Mountains. We succeeded in summiting several Siberian mountains which are all believed to be first British ascents. - EXPEDITION REPORT Abstract A team of six travelled to the Russian Altai mountains, establishing a base camp in the South Kurai Range and successfully climbing to five summits.

All peaks are thought to be first British ascents and it is possible that four of these had not previously been climbed. Some team members also spent a few days in the Northern Chuysky range at the end of the trip. What and Where is Altai? The Altai (or Altay) is both a mountain range and a Republic. The mountains span across quad-border of China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Russia. As we understand, climbing is possible in all four of these countries with Mongolia the most popular and explored; China, perhaps, the least. The Altai Republic is a region of Russia whose people and culture are quite distinct from the rest of the country. (There's also a region called Altai Krai next door but I shouldn't worry about that for now).

Reasons Not to Go to the Altai

In planning this expedition, we received no small amount of negative feedback about the area and timing of the trip. This was to the extent that we considered canning the whole thing on several occasions. We were told that the rivers would be too high, there would be too much snow, the roads would be covered in permafrost and unpassable, the roads would be covered in snow (and unpassable), we would need snowshoes, snow conditions would be bad and so forth. One charming gentleman even replied to our advert for team members with these words: the time for this trip is July! whose bright idea was the timing you suggest and why??? is the timing an indicator for the level of thought you guys have put into the project? now that would be scary. Needless to say, he didn't get an invite. Anyway, two things happened as a result of this: Firstly, we dithered for too long and couldn't get border zone permits to climb near Mongolia where we had hoped. Second, we decided that whilst the information wed received might indicate sub-optimal climbing conditions, this trip was to be about more than pristine snow conditions, it was to be an adventure and those can be had whatever the weather. So, we agreed unanimously to give it a go. You'll get the gist from the rest of the report but we had a fantastic time, the conditions were fine, rivers weren't scary, there was no permafrost or snow on the roads and the snow shoes didn't come out of our bags.

The Team - Tim Moss, Nancy Pickup, Matt Freear, Spike Reid, David Tett, Marc Bullock.

Read more, download the expedition report and see the professional photographs

tim@thenextchallenge.org

Essential Gear for Adventure Cycle Touring

If you're wondering what gear you'll need for an adventurous cycle tour of any length or budget, Essential Gear for Adventure Cycle Touring has got you covered. Written by veteran bicycle adventurer and author Tom Allen and drawing from the experiences of over other 50 long-distance cycle tourers, the 257-page digital guide covers in detail the foundations of equipment choice for a bicycle journey, the six main categories of gear, how and where to buy each item, and common mistakes and myths to watch out for - plus how to get all of this within your budget, no matter how small.

This summer, Explorers Connect members can get a 20% discount on Essential Gear using the promo code EC 2014 at checkout.

The code is valid until July 31st 2014. Read more about the guide and what's inside at http://gearforcycletouring.com.

Norwegian climber - question on mountains

I'm looking for a Norwegian mountaineer familiar with Nansen to lead a first ascent of a famous coastal mountain. as part of a maritime expedition to East Greenland in 2016. It will be filmed for television.

The mountain is bare rock and only about 3,000 feet, but is famous for several reasons. It should be a scrambling proposition rather than a hard technical climb. How do I go about finding one on his site?

jackdgama@hotmail.com

Great locations and local contacts?

I'm running a 12-day charity educational expedition in 2015 for 20-25 year olds that incorporates the following elements. 1) Residential, 2) Adventure, 3) Community. Would like the residential and community phases to be based in huts/cabins/yurts/lavvus and the adventure phase to be a water based journey in Canoes.

Less than a 5 hour direct flight from the UK. Any thoughts or suggestions on specific locations where you could also put me in touch with a local contact and where Canoes can be hired? (I have run this at Destination Setesdal in Norway the last 2 years) Any other countries and suggestions much appreciated!

Thanks,

Scotty

scotty.johnson@me.com

Anybody got a rickshaw/tuk tuk in London

Hi guys,

I'm Ed - running a new startup called world in London, It's all about helping Londoners discover unique experiences from around the world in their own city. www.worldinlondon.co.uk.

I'm looking for an auto rickshaw or bicycle rickshaw for a few events I'm doing. Thought this crowd of people might be able to point me in the direction of someone in London who might have one?

Thanks Ed

edwardjfhewitt@gmail.com

Good portable music device?

Hello! I'm (most probably) off to Antarctica in November this year - if anyone has any general advice or want to meet up - great! But also more specifically, what's the best mobile music device out there for travelling with? iPod Nano, MP3? I'd like to listen to music and audio books as I'm trekking along and ideally want a device that's easy to use and has a good battery life (and can survive the cold).

Any tips greatly appreciated!

Paula

paula@paulareid.com

New to Exploring and I'm still young and wanting to in life get a job from it

Hi there,

I'm Jon. I'm 22 and I'm new to exploring, and adventure, my life isn't going very well at the moment, i have 2 years animal care experience, but there is no jobs around in it, i cant get a customer service job, and I've always been a person who loves to travel and explore, is it possible to maybe in my life to get a job after ALOT OF YEARS training maybe get a job of a explorer or adventurer as it seems such a wonderful thing to do, and i would do anything to archive it, please i need all the help and info i could get, i have no experience but I'm willing to learn, i am wanting and planning to do a antarctic expedition unsupported and unassisted, starting at Hercules in let to south pole then to walk back alone, i'm also willing to do this training to, but a life as a explorer seems better these days and to work in this kind of area I'd dearly love.

j_r_jacques@outlook.com

The Captain Scott Society's Funding Awards

An Open Invitation to Explorers and Adventurers The Captain Scott Society makes its two annual awards in April each year. The Sir Vivian Fuchs's Youth Award of 500 is for 11 to 18 year olds. The Spirit of Adventure Award 2,500 is for 19 year olds upwards. Applicants are encouraged to submit details of their expeditions / projects from January to mid-March each year.

This enables them to report on the detailed aspects of their project and its planning. We do not have a prescribed application form but your proposal should embrace most of the following. 1) A Summary Letter describing The Nature of the Expedition and its objectives. 2) Planning 3) Finance / Funding 4) Logistics 5) Scientific / Community Value 6) Unusual / Firsts 7) Character Building The Expeditions Secretary reads all the applications and draws up a shortlist for final adjudication an Awards Panel in the first week of April.

The winner is notified by mid-April. Applicants are referred to the website www.captainscottsociety.com and the General Conditions associated with the awards. Further clarification can be sought via Jack Wright - Expeditions Secretary contact via029 20754869 and hazejon@talktalk.net "

Istanbul to Japan

After graduating, the call of the wild was too strong to just ignore it. I had to do something, but what?

Thinking about it a lot, I eventually came to an idea : I would travel overland by all means possible except air-planes from Istanbul in Turkey to the country of Japan. On the way, many adventures happened, the wind blew me off my itinerary and I ended up in Bali after crossing Indonesia on a bicycle I had just bought in Kuala Lumpour. Among other things, I hitchhiked my way across Kyrgystan, bought a motorbike in Hanoi for 250$ and crossed Vietnam and Laos before selling it on the border.That may be my first big travel but it didn't stop the fire inside me. Its even stronger, cant help thinking about my next expeditions ... but what ?

 www.marcsurchat.ch

In the cave of the holy mountain - Athos, Greece part 3

In mid-October, 2013 ended the third consecutive expedition. It is managed by V. Gyorev with participants A. Genkov and K. Stoichkov (Bulgaria),I. Agapov, S. Kaminski (Russia), G. Lazaridis, L. Makrostergios, A. Radulesko (Greece), D. Tomich (Serbia). Researchers expanded the perimeter of studies, covering territories around the monasteries Hilendar, Esvigmen, the Great Lavra, the Romanian Skete Timiou Prodromou, Athos summitand the place Virgin Mary (Panagia) below the peak.

There are found and mapped 26 new underground sites (mostly caves), among which is the longest explored cave of the peninsula up to date in Karulya place (length about 130 m). It was explored also the so called Athos Large Cave, which recently is the biggest in volume cave on the Athos peninsula.

They're found and located with GPS receivers, finding 20 more cave entrances but because lack of time they were not surveyed! The total length of the surveyed sites together with the caves which exploration is in progress.

https://sites.google.com/site/athosmistery/home

Mongolia voluntary work

I am looking for information about voluntary work opportunities in Mongolia which would be pertinent for a student group and NOT cost the earth to be involved in!

Any contact links greatly welcomed.

georgia@wilderness-expertise.co.uk

Unknown Profession

My name is Alison and I am a high school student. Realistically I know I would not be able to get my dream job right out of college, but I would like to know the direction in which I should go in. I have always been able to appreciate the outdoors, dessert or jungle, every aspect of this planet has fascinated me in nearly every aspect.

I am not afraid of getting dirty, at all. I guess my real question would be: Which profession should I consider if I want to travel the world, get paid well, do scientific research, and better the world with my discoveries, while loving my job? I'm not a very good writer, nor do I enjoy it, but I will if my profession calls for it with no complaints. I'd also like to know what college, and degree plan would prepare me the best for the profession you would recommend for me?

Sincerely, 

A hopeful future explorer

Google Earth and GPS files: trekking and safari routes in the Sinai

All the main trekking and safari routes in the Sinai have been mapped and can be seen with photos online in Google Maps, or you can download the KML files to see the routes in Google Earth, or download the GPX files with the way-points on a GPS device.

The treks are described in the concise guide titled Sinai Trekking And Safari, but even without the book it is fun to explore the routes on your computer screen. This is the first and only resource to the Sinai that covers all the main routes across the peninsula, from coast to coast and to the southernmost tip.

For more info please visit:www.sinaimaps.com

Changra La from Nirekhi, Khumbu

Hey. has anyone been from Nirekhi peak round to Changra La and down to Gorak Shep in the last few years? I am planning a trip for spring.

I am based in Kathmandu and a also asking locally. I would like info on conditions and route from Nirekhi base camp to the La.

Thanks