Two explorers are about to embark on a paddling adventure around Lake Titicaca, the largest lake in South America and widely considered the highest navigable lake in the world. Their expedition is expected to take six weeks to complete and will cover 1100 km (683 miles) as they survey threats to the healthy of the lake, which is located at an altitude of 3812 meters (12,507 ft) in the Peruvian Andes.

Belgian adventurer Louis-Philippe Loncke and his partner Gadiel Sanchez Rivera will launch their kayak journey tomorrow, August 16. The plan is to circumnavigate the shoreline of the lake, taking GPS coordinates and extensive photographs to document the current position of the water, which can then be compared to future readings to determine if Titicaca is shrinking in size due to climate change. As temperatures warm up and glaciers in the Andes retreat, the rivers that feed the lake will provide less flow. That could spell trouble for the ecosystem around Lake Titicaca and the communities that fall on its shores.

Those same communities are already facing issues with water contamination due to chemicals and sewage being deposited directly into the water. The hope is that the expedition will help raise awareness of these threats to the lake and spur those communities to plan for water treatment options before it is too late. While paddling around Titicaca, the two explorers will discuss these issues with the local inhabitants, many of whom are already suffering as a result of pollution in the water.

Neither of these two men are strangers to exploration. Loncke, who is a member of the Explorers Club, once trekked solo and unsupported across the Simpson Desert in Australia and kayaked for 600 km (372 miles) along the waterways of his home country of Belgium. Rivera, who is better known by his nickname of Cho, spent two years walking the Amazon River with Ed Stafford a few years back. LouPhi and Cho have recently become fast friends and are now ready to embark on an adventure of their own.

A paddling expedition around Lake Titicaca sounds like it should be amazing and I'm actually surprised that no one has done it before. Taking GPS readings of the shore line may prove only marginally useful however as GPS readings are only accurate to within a few meters, which isn't necessarily close enough to track retreating water lines on the lake. The photographs they take will help to alleviate this somewhat and should prove useful in creating the first ever extensive inventory of the lake's shore. We'll be able to follow along with the adventure on LouPhi's blog where he will be documenting their findings and posting updates of their progress.

One of my fondest memories from growing up was watching Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom each week on television. For those who aren't familiar with the program, the show initially ran from 1963 to 1988 and featured zoologists Marlin Perkins and Jim Fowler traveling the globe to capture some amazing wildlife encounters on film. As a young boy, the show left quite an impression both in terms of the exotic locations the hosts visited and the wonderful animals that they brought into our homes each week. In 2002, Wild Kingdom returned to television with a new format and began airing on Animal Planet. The new version of the show carries the legacy of the original into the 21st century and certainly the spiritual successor of what Perkins and Fowler created.

2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the Wild Kingdom and to commemorate the series which became an American cultural touchstone, The Explorers Club has created the new Marlin Perkins/Jim Fowler Lifetime Artist-in-Residence Award. This first edition of the award is being given to Anthony J. “Buddy” Obara for his years of work creating bronze wildlife sculptures, particularly for the outstanding St. Louis Zoo. That presentation is being made by the Explorers Club St. Louis chapter on Saturday, May 18 at the zoo, where the EC is also donating a new bronze statue of an emperor penguin that was created by Obara. Jim Fowler will be on hand at the celebration as well.

I'm sure there are more than few readers who are around my age and have fond memories of Wild Kingdom. I discovered quite a few of the classic episodes are actually on YouTube. Like the one below that features Perkins and Fowler reminiscing about some of their more favorite adventures over the years.

There is a new editorial published at Explorers Web this morning that I'm sure many of you will find very interesting. The article is entitled "Exploration Clubs - What Future for a Tradition in Decline" and it is written by CuChullaine O’Reilly, one of the founders of the Long Riders Guild. In the story, CuChullaine takes a good hard look at the current state of exploration and the role that clubs such as the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers Club play in it. What he finds is that these once important institutions have become relics of the past, seemingly more focused on raising funds rather than promoting the importance of exploration in the 21st century.

The editorial offers some scathing commentary not on the current state of exploration itself, but the state of the RGS, EC and similar organizations. O'Reilly says that being a member of those institutions was once a badge of honor that had to be earned, but that now days many people are admitted who have only a superficial connection to true exploration or are simply armchair explorers who want to rub elbows with those who are actually continuing to push the envelope. In contrast, he points to his Long Riders Guild, which has no fancy headquarters, no membership dues and no regular meetings. Members are invited to join after completing a ride of 1000 miles (1600 km) or more and the group stays in touch and organized via the Internet.

Cuchullaine goes on to talk about a new age of "citizen-explorers" who no longer belong to such clubs but instead stay connected, and engage with, like-minded people through a variety of technologies that allow us to collaborate like never before. These tools open up the possibilities for exploration and adventure to everyone, not just a privileged few as in ages past. He sees this movement creating a new renaissance of exploration and I tend to agree with him. We've seen this in action many times in recent years, with men and women organizing small, grassroots expeditions that accomplish amazing things.




O'Reilly was also kind enough to name a few online resources that are helping to promote this movement, citing my blog as one of those resources. He also mentioned ExWeb as well, and if you're a regular reader of this blog you know how much I respect the work they do. Cuchullaine gives a nice tip of the hat to Mikael Strandberg for his efforts in this area as well. Mikael is also someone that I've cited here on numerous occasions and is an explorer that I admire quite a bit. I'm honored to be mentioned with prominently in the story and listed with these others.

The editorial is a good one and I urge everyone to read it. While I'm sure many will see it as a harsh critique of the RGS and Explorers Club, I choose to view it as a recognition of the democratization of exploration. In this new age, anyone with the desire and determination can carry the torch of exploration into the 21st century and beyond, and I think that is a great message to share.

Thanks to Cuchullaine for bringing this message to the community and for mentioning my small role in it.