I met Christian Bodegren the first time early in 2009. I remember I thought he was a bit of a woof, obviously not the most outgoing human on earth. That time he wanted to cross the Sahara by a camel. Before we met Arita Baaijens, the great Dutch explorer, wrote me the he never thanked her for her help and she was upset. When you put in work, you want people to at least say thank you, she said and I agreed. This guy had a lot to learn. A lot. And 2½ years later, he has. Christian has developed tremendously in every way and become more a social human being, than a self occupied loner. He wrote this great story for me half a year ago about Mohammed Bouazizi. And Christian did a great job trying to cross the Sahara and now he has set off on a new Expedition, by kayak. And he wrote to me about his thoughts before he set off! He is really developing as a human! Travel and exploration makes people better!

The long way down south in a kayak

By

Christian Bodegren

I have quit my work to do a trip, adventure, expedition, journey, or which ever name you glitzhammers prefer to use.

Maybe I’m selfish by doing this for myself, but hopefully I can inspiring somebody else to take a bit in this big tasteful cookie we prefer call earth. If I can inspire one person to do and learn more I have a succeeded. I have never been into thinking about to do things first or on record time which seems to occupied many people out there. In my mind I’m always going to be the first to seeing and feel and getting inspired in my one personal way. And therefore, I have planned to start this journey at the very top off Venezuela where the mighty Orinoco delta reaches  the ocean.

In a kayak this time, against the current. I plan to paddle along the river systems for ten months, heading south. the mission is to see how the people live and how the nature survive along the river systems, in this big and interesting continent. I still have plenty off things to do in Venezuela when I arrive before I can put the kayak in the water. And it  always take some time before you get into the routines and start to relax on a journey like this.

Like for example, getting use to the new sounds in the jungle during the night, which keep you awake or getting used to the new climate which makes your body react in different ways. And I cannot plan for everything, but I am just trying to reduce the bigger mistakes, which could be a danger for your health and life. In some way, that is the way I like my outdoor life. Because we humans always try to bring order and control over everything in our life and our surroundings. The nature has always  a different agenda about this subject . An agenda whiteout perfect corners and straight lines which in our minds it’s not what a controlled surrounding should be. But from the smallest thing to the biggest,  it’s a fascinated system, like a puzzle which its perfectly links together, the ecosystem. And everything have purpose in this chain, which we are constantly trying, and succeeds, to break.

I hope we are finding our way back to the reality and stop fighting against the nature and start to living with it. That is what I’m going to try to do it for the next ten months in a kayak cross the South America.

Please follow my trip and stay updated in www.christianbodegren.com