Kolymskaya, Siberia, April 4, 2005 – Swedish explorer Mikael Strandberg, 43, announced today that he and expedition partner Johan Ivarsson have finally reached the Siberian settlement of Kolymskaya on the Kolyma River in the remote north eastern region of Siberia. Strandberg and Ivarsson have travelled nearly 3500kms since July 2004 by canoe, on ski’s and by foot using traditional equipment. They have been following the route of the Kolyma River from South to North in a region of Siberia that is so remote no Western explorers have previously explored it. The expedition is carrying Explorers Club flag No. 95 which Mikael hopes to return to the club’s New York headquarters in person.

The expedition will finish on the Siberian coastline that meets the Arctic Ocean, which is over 3,500kms from where they started from Magadan in the south, situated by the Sea of Okhotsk. The expedition team have been mapping and meeting settlers, natives and have had to endure temperatures down to - 55 degrees Centigrade, a temperature that Strandberg says can ‘freeze the liquid behind your knees and elbows’. He added ‘You can’t imagine the fear when you are that cold’. In addition, the winter conditions have meant travelling in the dark for nearly three months.

‘We are so happy to have finally arrived in Kolymskaya – this expedition has been tougher than I could have ever imagined’ said a tired, frost bitten but happy Strandberg speaking to his wife Titti in Sweden by satellite phone.

The Kolyma region, home of the Chukchis, Even, Evenks, Yakuts and Yugahir peoples, is known as Russia’s Wild West and has only three people per square kilometre. The area is so inhospitable Stalin used it for his notorious gulags or prison camps.

Strandberg’s aim is to document the way the reindeer people live and survive and also to map the area. The two-man team have been carrying 35 kilograms of technical gear including recording equipment, three satellite phones, an emergency beacon and polar gear. They have had to use GPS to notify the Russian authorities of their location at regular intervals. They have also been sending daily dispatches and digital photographs to the expedition website www.siberia.nu and the site has received global attention.

Much has been learned about the local people, all of whom have never seen foreigners. Some groups, such as the Yugahir, are down to less than 300 in numbers. Many of the them believe in the spirits of nature and have been moved by the fact that the two-man expedition team has been consistently followed by two gigantic ravens, which at one point scared a brown bear away from the men.

Mikael Strandberg started the expedition accompanied by his explorer wife Titti. Titti had to return to Sweden for health reasons and has taken on the role of project leader of the expedition. Mikael and Titti are household names in Sweden and they are often invited by the King and Queen to talk of their extraordinary achievements.

A remarkable man in many ways, Strandberg was born in a small village called Särna in a remote corner of northern Sweden near the Norwegian border. The area is home to the Lapps and Strandberg has fished and hunted there all his life. A lover of nature with a startling intellectual curiosity, Strandberg and his wife Titti have devoted their lives to discovering and understanding the world outside their own corner of Sweden. The Strandbergs have explored the planet in the manner of cultural ambassadors and have invoked a deep respect from the peoples they have encountered on their travels.

As of today’s date Strandberg and Ivarsson have another 300km to travel. Both of them are very run down and suffering from the effects of living in the extreme cold, sometimes down to -55 Centigrade. They expect to reach Chersky on the coast by the end of April which will mean they have been in Siberia for exactly a year.

Mikael Strandberg’s journeys have all been remarkable feats of distance and endurance. He has literally cycled the world clocking up 90,000 km:- 27,500km from Chile to Alaska in 1986/7; 33,000km from Norway to South Africa in 1989 and 29,500km from New Zealand to Cairo in 1994/6. In addition to his cycling feats he has travelled 3000km through Patagonia on horseback with his wife Titti in 1997/8 and spent a year with the Maasai documenting tribal life in 2000, also with Titti. Mikael is the author of six books, has made two documentaries and featured in two. He and Titti have undertaken hundreds of speaking engagements in Sweden and abroad.
 

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