Indonesian Digital News Archive

Well heeled travelers looking for an amazing adventure next year need look no further than the new whitewater rafting excursion from Mountain Travel Sobek. Their new Six Continent Whitewater Adventure, which was announced yesterday, promises to take travelers to the ends of the Earth to quench their thirst for adrenaline.

The 25-day, round-the-world expedition runs from May 9 through June 2 of 2013 and begins in California. The 8-12 participants on the trip will get their feet wet, literally and figuratively, with three days of rafting in the Sierra Mountains. From there they'll jet off to Ecuador for two days of rafting before proceed on to Spain to take on the Noguera Pallaresa in the high Pyrenees. Nairobi, Kenya is the next stop on the journey for three days of rafting on the Athi River, which mixes in great wildlife viewing along with Class II and III whitewater. The Tons River in India is the next stop as the lucky travelers take to the water in the Himalaya, not far from the spectacular peak Nanda Devi. Finally, the trip will wrap up on North Johnston river in Australia, one of the more remote and challenging whitewater runs on that continent.

Whew! Sounds like quite a trip and after reading the press release on it yesterday I immediately wished I were going. At $8695 (without airfare!) this is a bit pricey for my blood, but it was too good of an adventure travel opportunity to not share. And if the itinerary wasn't enticing enough on its own, co-founder of Mountain Travel Sobek John Yost, who has led plenty of river expeditions, will be the personal guide on this adventure. Sounds absolutely fantastic and I'm very jealous of those who get to go on this trip.

I haven't posted an update on Jesper Olson and his World Run II expedition since January, which was when he was starting the North American leg of the journey. Now he's nearing the end of that leg and has passed a major milestone along the way.

For those who aren't familiar with Jesper's epic undertaking, back in 2005 he completed the first fully documented run around the world, which for most of us would be enough of a challenge for a single lifetime. But in 2008 he decided to hit the road once again, this time running north to south and back again. He dubbed this second challenge the World Run II and starting from the northernmost point in Finland Jesper started running south. The route took him all the way across Europe, through the Middle East and down down Africa, before reaching the tip of that continent. From there he hopped a flight across the Atlantic and resumed running again, this time heading north through South America and eventually North America as well.

Currently Jesper is running through Maine and quickly approaching the U.S.-Canadian border, where he'll soon cross over and start the final leg of his journey, which will eventually end on Prince Edward Island. He still has a few more weeks of running before he reaches that point, but he is most definitely closing in on the finish line at long last.

A few days ago Jesper crossed a major milestone on World Run II. On May 15 he crossed passed the 35,000km (21,748 mile) mark. Thats an impressive distance to have run and eclipses World Run I by a considerable margin. On his original run around the world, Olson managed to cover 26232km (16,300 miles), but he passed that mark a long time ago and has passed into uncharted territory.

Recently Jesper lost part of his support crew so now he's also being forced to run while carrying a backpack. That added weight has changed his approach some, but he continues moving forward at a surprising pace. On the day that he crossed the 35,000km mark he covered 51km (31 miles), which is very impressive considering he's been running long distance nearly every day for four years.

As always, thanks to Darrell for keeping me updated wit Jesper's progress. It is such an amazing accomplishment that he is closing in on, although it sure makes my nightly five mile runs seem pretty insignificant.

I'm always a sucker for a good long-distance cycling adventure and it seems riders Dom Smith and Andy Robinson are prepping for one of their own. The two men plan to set out in September on a 10,000 mile (16,093km) bike ride from Los Angeles to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Naturally they've called their little expedition the Ride To Rio.

Dom and Andy's journey will take them through 12 countries, including the U.S.; Mexico; Guatemala; Honduras; Nicaragua; Costa Rica; Panama; Colombia; Ecuador; Peru; Bolivia and of course Brazil. They expect it will take roughly six months to complete the ride, which they'll be filming for a documentary that they'll make upon their return.

The duo have just launched their new website, which is a great place to learn about their plans, and they'll be posting updates to Facebook and Twitter in the weeks leading up to their departure and of course on a regular basis while they're actually on their ride. As of today, they're still 133 days from departure, but once they get underway, it should be fun to follow along with their adventures.

Oh, and by the way, neither of the guys speaks much Spanish, which should make for some interesting experiences considering that is the primary language in almost all of the countries they'll be visiting along the way.