• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Anna S. E. Lundberg

Coach, Speaker, Writer

  • About
  • Work with me
    • Coaching
    • Speaking
    • Writing
  • Contact
  • One Step Outside

Adventure is out there! (+ news about The Adventure Travel Show 2017)

6 January, 2017 By Anna S E Lundberg Leave a Comment

*Make sure you read to the end as there’s a special offer for those of you who are in the London area!*

Desert adventureThere’s something about the idea of adventure. Going off into the unknown, having new experiences, sometimes facing a little bit of risk or danger and always coming away with memorable moments.

When I broke away from my comfortable life in Geneva in 2013, the very first step was an adventure, a sabbatical of three months of solo travel across South America. My slogan I posted everywhere as I headed off was ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE! If you’ve seen Pixar’s film Up (the first five minutes have me in tears every time), you’ll recognise this as the call of the young Carl and Ellie as they dreamed of becoming adventurers, and the inspiration for Carl in his old age to seek out Paradise Falls. Off I went in search of my own Paradise Falls, and I’ve been having new adventures ever since.

Mountain adventureAdventure brings to mind explorers like Ranulph Fiennes getting frostbite as he crossed Antarctica on foot, or Sir Edmund Hillary conquering the summit of Mount Everest; not to mention older legendary figures like Christopher Columbus, Sir Francis Drake and Marco Polo. Today, we have TV personalities like Bear Grylls teaching wilderness survival skills; people like my friend Dave Cornthwaite who leads a community of people who want to Say Yes More to a life of adventure and fulfilment; and, hurrah, more and more women including Anna McNuff who was recently named one of ‘the 50 best travellers of our time’ alongside Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama.

Adventure no longer has to mean the heavily funded expeditions of the past and we’ve now seen the rise of the concept of micro-adventures, with Al Humphreys for example recommending simply taking a bivvy bag and going out onto a nearby hilltop for a little wild sleep, and companies like Secret Adventures cropping up to encourage people to go on a mini-adventure away from the office and the city. There are probably countless other more low-key adventurers who are just quietly getting on with their adventures out there in the world.

Adventure means time away from the daily grind, breathing in the fresh air, getting close to nature; it involves learning more about ourselves and the people we meet along the way; and it often allows for reflecting on what’s really important.

Ocean adventureOf course if you’ve seen the Pixar film Up – and I don’t want to ruin it for you if you haven’t, so go and watch it right now – the ultimate message is that adventures are what make up your life, your good times and your bad, with the people you choose to spend it with. It’s not about the expensive flight ticket to a far-away land or even ticking off those bucket list experiences. Adventure is out there – but it’s up to you to know it when you find it.

If you’re up for an adventurous 2017, I’d recommend you visit the Adventure Travel Show in London. I’ve been attending this for a couple of years now and these days I know a lot of the people on stage, which makes it extra special. Read my posts after attending the last couple of years of the travel show:
Adventure is Out There: Insights from the Adventure Travel Show 2016
Adventure is Out There! Ranulph Fiennes and travel companies galore at the Adventure Travel Show 2015

The Adventure Travel Show
Uncover Your Journey of a Lifetime
21-22 January 2017, Olympia, London

The Adventure Travel Show, celebrating its 21st year, is a world of extraordinary discoveries all under one roof. It is the UK’s leading event for people who like to travel outside the mainstream – whether it be on small-group adventures, exclusive expeditions or epic journeys.

The Adventure Travel Show is packed with inspirational and essential travel advice, specialist seminars and the best adventure speaker line-up of 2017, including explorers, adventurers, tour leaders and guidebook writers who will help you uncover your perfect adventure. Plus, the biggest collection of specialist travel operators all under one roof will be on hand to offer guidance on everything, from walking and trekking to exploratory journeys, safaris, overland trips, life-changing volunteering projects and much, much more.

The Adventure Travel Show – it’s where your adventure begins…

I’m happy to be able to offer you tickets at £6 (that’s £4 off the full door price) with the voucher ONESTEPOUTSIDE when booking tickets online at www.adventureshow.com or when calling 0871 230 7159. (Calls cost 13p per minute plus network extras).

Look out in particular for the all-female panel, Women at the Edge, which includes Justine Gosling whom I met on one of my paddle adventures on the Thames; one of my favourites of the 2016 show, Sean Conway; and, of course, Yes Man Dave Cornthwaite.

Filed Under: Adventures, Travel Tagged With: adventure, adventure travel show, dave cornthwaite, microadventures, secret adventures

Survival Course in Marin County: Preparing for the zombie apocalypse

27 October, 2015 By Anna S E Lundberg Leave a Comment

So last month I was out on the Mississippi River and I was reminded of how much I’m lacking in the practical skills department. Being the giggly girl who struggles to put up a tent is funny only up to a point! I’ve also realised recently how easy it is to “rewrite” that story that we tell ourselves. I can actually move away from, “oh, I’m really not a practical person” and choose a different story for myself…

The Mississippi trip also brought with it a list of commitments for each member of the group, and I committed first of all to doing a new challenge every month – anything from drumming to dancing to improv – and secondly to filming those challenges, in a move to adding some multimedia excitement to my blog. As a result, I signed up to a survival course with Adventure Out to start building my practical skill set (and prepare for the inevitable zombie apocalypse) and I made a little video to prove it. And, yes, I know I say UM a lot. I decided to go with the first attempt, no retakes, to get a more authentic and raw feeling. And this is definitely raw….!

Now, the rest of this post is going to be mainly passing on the key things that we learned during the course – you can thank me if they come in handy when you find yourself alone out there in the woods one day! We were asked at the end to make sure that we share one of the skills we’d learned with at least one other person; I hope that this post will give you at least something you didn’t know before and so increase your survival chances in the event of that apocalypse…

Our teacher, Mark, told us that there are four basic human needs when we’re out there in the wild. These are, in order of importance: shelter, water, fire, food. The order is based on the “rule of threes”: we can survive for three minutes without air, three hours without shelter (in a harsh environment), three days without water, and three weeks without food. In addition, Mark gave us two overarching principles: conservation of energy, and physical awareness of our surroundings. The most beautiful message of the day, I think, was the idea that we need to get more comfortable with nature, that it’s not Man vs Wild, and this is the first step to surviving in what most of us nowadays see as an unfamiliar environment…

Rescue

First, a note on rescue: the first rule is to stay put – unless you’re on an exposed mountaintop and there’s a storm coming in! The international distress signal is a big X, most visible of course if you use contrasting colours to the background so it’s not brown on brown. If you do have to move, you can add a big arrow in the direction that you’ve travelled. (I read about this recently, in fact, when a British tourist was rescued after getting lost in the Australian bush thanks to writing “Help 2807” (that day’s date) along with an arrow.)

Shelter

The goal of a shelter is to provide protection; essentially, to keep us warm and dry. Our skin offers a first layer, but unfortunately we don’t have fur (well, unless you’re the “Mediterranean type”), as that would be a big help in surviving in the wild!

Debris hut shelter
Here it is, our first attempt at a shelter. It wasn’t too bad but required a lot more insulation on both the inside and the outside. A fun coincidence came in the form of the “smudging” that Mark recommended to smoke out any insects – a Cherokee ritual that I first discovered a few weeks ago on the Mississippi.

The first decision is the location. You want to be high and dry (though steer clear of the top of that mountain again!), as flat as possible, with an abundance of materials so that you conserve your energy as you build your shelter, while avoiding hazards like ants’ nests, hornets, bees, poisonous plants etc. You’ll never find the ideal place so you’ll need to balance the pros and cons.

We were shown how to make a “debris hut”, one of the most versatile types of shelter that can be made using branches and leaves. I won’t go into all the steps here but you can find plenty of information online. The disadvantage I see is that it took us an hour to make one small, incomplete shelter and there were eight of us. That means a whole day for me if I’m by myself and assumes an abundance of this kind of material for building the shelter. But at least I have a good idea of one type of construction that may provide that much-needed protection if I find myself out in the wild!

Fire

Carving my spindle
As it turned out, I was pretty good with a knife. In fact, I enjoyed this part the most and I think I might try a woodcarving class next!

Ah, fire. Something that has always fascinated humankind, from those early days of trying to control it through to roasting marshmallows around a campfire in modern times.

Now the method that we were taught is the bow drill method. (Again, if you want to see all the steps for this technique or explore the other techniques then try searching for “primitive fire starting”.) This seems to be a very reliable way of making fire, one of the easiest to master, but again requires a lot of prep work! We first made a spindle (a cylinder with tapering at both ends), then a fireboard with a burned-in impression and a notch; then we were given a bow (a notched stick with string attached) and a handhold (a piece of wood or a rock with an impression already created) – so in the “real world”, we would also first have to create these. We would also need to have a nice knife handy!

Bow by the fire
Sure, I can make one of those!

The sad thing is that I didn’t actually make fire. Sniff. By the time I had made all the parts and mastered the equipment my puny arms were too tired and I eventually gave up. I did make some smoke, though, and I now have a nice-smelling cedar stick!

Water

I felt that we sort of rushed through this piece; I drink many litres of water on a normal day so this one has me worried! Basically you can try to find a water source that doesn’t require purification – rain, snow, a spring* (make sure you melt it first so you don’t waste precious energy in your body) – but failing that you’ll need to boil the water before drinking it.

Wooden bowl
Yep, I can make one of those bowls too. Mmhmm!

Now here is where I feel like we went a bit too quickly! Mark told us that we can use coal burning to make bowls and spoons, and showed us an example of a perfectly carved bowl – easy, right?! That’s definitely an area where I’ll need to explore a bit more!

Top tip, though, if you do manage to make that beautiful bowl, when you come to boiling your water: rocks! You put the rocks into the fire for an hour or more, then put them into the water and tada, you have boiling water! I wouldn’t have thought of that, would you…?

Food

Mark took us through four main sources of plant food, readily available and easy for non-experts to identify. First, pine: chew on the pine needles and spit out the fibre or make tea; find the “cambium”, the layer between the bark and the dead wood; use the pollen to thicken your soup (yes, you can make soup!); and, if you can get there before the squirrels, get the nuts from the pine cones. How do you know if it’s pine? “Two to five to stay alive” – pine needles come in groups, with the five-needle white pines being the most delicious, apparently. Second plant source: grass. Third: cattail (those reed-like plants with sausages on the end). And fourth and finally: acorns. For all of these, the recommendation is to cook them first, just to be on the safe side. Ideally you would also first familiarise yourself with the poisonous plants in your bio-area so that you avoid those!

In terms of animals, we didn’t learn how to make any traps or anything like that but Mark did show us how to make a stick and throw it. Yep, that’s the official technique. Very effective, with a lot of practice I imagine, when targeting small animals like squirrels, groundhogs, rabbits, and birds. Side throw is best and you really only need to knock them out so that you can then “harvest” them in a human way. (Err, sure, I know how to do that…) Of course, you first need to creep up on the animal and with our “modern human” pace and noise level we’re unlikely to be able to do that. So you’ll also need to practice “fox walking” and the art of wide-angle vision…!

So there we have it, a first basic course in survival skills. I do feel fairly confident about being able to make a debris shelter if I get lost in the woods. Other than that, though, I’ve basically realised how much there is I don’t know and I definitely have a lot still to learn if I’m to have any chance of surviving that zombie apocalypse. Although I do now have a stake…

 

 

*A gazillion points to you if you had the same Joey-from-Friends reference in mind as me. “Paper! Snow! A ghost!”

Filed Under: Adventures, North America, Travel, United States Tagged With: adventure out, bow drill, debris hut, fire by friction, monthly challenge, wilderness survival, zombie apocalypse

Packing list for a week on the Mississippi: What to bring on your canoeing trip

20 October, 2015 By Anna S E Lundberg Leave a Comment

Ah yes, one of the most popular topics on my website, the classic packing list post. Who knew that so many people would be interested in how many pairs of socks I bring on my travels…? But then, I have realised myself how helpful it is to get any additional insight at all when you’re planning for a big trip and desperately trying to work out what to jettison so that you can actually close your bag.

Fully laden canoe
The canoes were pretty full with all our gear… Is there space for us in there?!

I find these types of adventures particularly difficult to plan for, as you just don’t know what to expect. We were told to “pack very light” and to “pack for winter and for summer”. Hmm. I should say, though, that we were only responsible for bringing our own personal gear. That meant that Quapaw Canoe Company had everything else like cooking equipment and tents, emergency and first aid kit, life jackets….

So here’s what I brought, and used, for this weeklong trip on the Mississippi River (plus a couple of days in town at either end):

Bags:
1 x waterproof duffel bag from Aquapac (70l)
1 x waterproof backpack from Aquapac (25l)
2 x sets of pack dividers from Aquapac (to keep everything organised and doubly protected inside the dry bag)
(Yes, now that I’ve purchased the proper kit I’m going to have to go on a lot more wet adventures in the future!)
1 x small, old, cross-body handbag for town

Shoes:
1 x pair of flip-flops
(And in fact I went barefoot all week in the sand! But at other times of the year when the water level is higher, you may have to camp further up and it may also get cold, in which case some old trainers or wetsuit booties are not a bad idea.)

Shorts and trousers:
2 x pairs of shorts (1 x pair denim, 1 x pair board shorts)
1 x pair of capri gym/yoga pants
1 x pair of jeans
1 x pair of sort-of-waterproof trousers
(I actually wish I had brought another pair of more comfortable trousers for the evenings, sitting around the campfire, and saved the jeans for when I was in town.)

Tops:
7 x vest tops
1 x long-sleeved shirt

Underwear and swimwear:
underwear for every day
2 x strapless bras (1 x nude, 1 x black)
1 x sports bra
2 x bikinis
2 x pairs of socks (never worn – might be useful, though, when it gets cold at night and if you’re wearing trainers)

Jumpers and cardigans:
1 x black cardigan
1 x fleece

Outerwear:
1 x light windbreaker
1 x light down jacket
1 x waterproof jacket (never worn, but you never know!)
(Some people also had a hat and gloves for the particularly cold evenings.)

For sleeping:
1 x vest top
1 x pair of shorts
1 x thermal top and bottoms (never used)
1 x sleeping bag
1 x sleeping bag liner
1 x sleeping mat
1 x camping pillow (I finally invested in a new one. Lush!)
1 x eye mask and earplugs (crucial for early sunrises and snoring/sleep-talking tent mates)

Accessories:
2 x pairs of sunglasses (you might lose a pair on the water!)
1 x cowboy hat (oh yeah)
1 x pair of earrings
2 x simple bracelets 

Toiletries:
Biodegradable body wash (Kiss My Face peace soap lavender & mandarin)
Biodegradable shampoo & conditioner (Trek & Travel, from a camping shop)
Tangle Teezer brush
Biodegradable face wipes
Deodorant, perfume
Razor (one of those with a built-in soap bar is pretty practical)
Cotton buds
Toothbrush, toothpaste, floss
Lip gloss with SPF, Vaseline
Sun cream, for face and body
Make-up – mascara, eyeliner, concealer, tinted moisturiser, blusher, lip gloss (not used on the river!)
Hair elastics
Anti-bacterial hand gel
Mosquito repellant and treatment
Tampons
Tissues
Toilet paper

Medication:
Migraine sprays
Anti-histamine tablets

Electronics:
iPhone + charger + waterproof case from Aquapac
DSLR (Nikon D5100) with 18-200mm lens + charger and extra battery
Solar charger
Adapter for the US
LED Head Torch with red light option

Admin:
Passport
American Express, Visa debit card
Dollars in cash
Small wallet

Other bits and bobs:
1 x fast-drying towel
1 x refillable water bottle (Quapaw gave us each a second one, to ensure that we had enough water during the day)
Notebook and paper

Tada! And it only required a little bit of squeezing and sitting on the bag to get it all in…

Packing for a Mississippi canoe trip

Filed Under: Adventures, North America, Planning your trip, Travel, United States Tagged With: canoe trip packing list, female packing list, packing list, paddling on the mississippi

Adventure Is Out There: My week of paddling down the Mississippi

16 October, 2015 By Anna S E Lundberg 3 Comments

“So in two seconds away we went a-sliding down the river, and it DID seem so good to be free again and all by ourselves on the big river, and nobody to bother us. I had to skip around a bit, and jump up and crack my heels a few times – I couldn’t help it.”

-The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Anna on SUP
Yep, just like on the Thames… [Photo credit: Dave Cornthwaite]
I had decided that I’d be going on this particular adventure already back in May when I’d heard about it at a conference in Berlin, and I’ve enjoyed the surprised reaction that has inevitably followed these past months when I’ve told people, “I’m going paddling on the Mississippi.” I’m not sure I really knew what to expect – I’d been paddling down the Thames earlier this summer but I did recognise that this would be something different. I imagined a much wider river (true), with alligators and bears (partly true), and maybe piranhas (definitely not true).

Memphis from the Pyramid
A view of the city from the Memphis Pyramid – enough to make anyone take to the water, to get away from those roads!

As I found out when I arrived in Memphis, from where we’d be starting our journey, the Mississippi River is known locally as a place of great danger. “I know some men who went out there and never came back,” we were told. As a result, we were completely alone out there on the water – except for the long industrial barges that worked their way up and down the river every day. We saw none of that danger (although the first day did see a dramatic flooding of one of our canoes, dealt with valiantly by the three girls who were in it at the time), and as a result simply enjoyed having the river to ourselves all week.

Canoes on truck
All aboard! The adventure started when we got picked up from the hotel and driven down to the river alongside the canoes. [Photo credit: Dave Cornthwaite]
We were in good hands with Quapaw Canoe Company and their founder, the legend that is John “Driftwood” Ruskey. You may have seen him in Episode Three of Stephen Fry in America (where you can spot the coffee pot with a blue handle that we used! A slightly tenuous claim to fame, but it got me excited…). Our transportation for the week came in the form of two beautiful canoes, Grasshopper and Kingfisher, and two stand-up paddleboards (one of which Dave Cornthwaite used when he paddled the length of the river in 2011 and the other used by his support team when he swam the Missouri River in 2012).

Telling stories

As I’ve discovered on each of my adventures these past few years, the people who go on this type of trip are by definition the most warm and open people you will ever meet. No exceptions. You feel like you’ve known each other for years even though you’ve only just met, greeting each other with a big hug and sharing your life stories within minutes. This time we did so literally, as we each took it in turns to tell our own personal stories and why we were there.

Dale Sanders
Another legend of the Misssissippi, 80-year-young Gandalf, I mean, Dale Sanders (well, they do call him the Grey Beard Adventurer!).

In fact, this trip was not “just” an adventure and we had a full programme of workshops and discussions organised by the leaders of the expedition, Dave Cornthwaite, professional adventurer and “yes man”, and Emily Penn, oceans advocate and big thinker extraordinaire. We were also joined by several legendary figures of the Mississippi River, including Dale Sanders – at 80 years of age, he’s just completed a solo Source to Sea paddle in 80 days to raise awareness and money for diabetes on behalf of his niece Anna; Rod Wellington – currently working his way through the Magnificent Seven, a source-to-sea descent of the longest river system of each continent over the next decade or so; and John Ruskey – our leader and the ultimate man of the river.

Emily Penn at Exploring Mindset
Emily holds us spellbound as she tells us what she’s seen on her journeys around the world’s tiniest island nations. Watch her thought-provoking talk at Tedx for an insight into some of the challenges and the big ideas that we discussed. [Photo credit: Dave Cornthwaite]
Our discussions revolved first and foremost around our own life and career choices in the individual sense, and we each came away with a “yes list” of actions to which we were publicly committing. In my case, I’m going to be doing – and filming – monthly challenges going forward, as well as re-launching my website by the end of the year. Watch this space… Beyond our personal choices, though, we zoomed out to take a bigger perspective as we attempted to address some broader questions about society and our planet as a whole.

River time

Mississippi canoe
Just me and my canoe…

We were now on “river time”: hours and minutes didn’t matter, we awoke naturally with the sun (well, some of us did) and we went to bed when we were tired. Our phones were off – except for the occasional selfie – and I had no idea what the “actual” time was; nor did I care.

Away from the city lights, with no one else out paddling on the river and with entire sandbanks to ourselves when we stopped off during the day and at night, we felt like we were alone in the world. In the afternoon, we would tie up our canoes and paddleboards, set up our tents and collect firewood for the night. I haven’t done a full week of camping since I did Duke of Edinburgh at school and that was always in crowded campsites; this was something else.

Tent on the sandbank
What a view! Best room in the house… (And Lillie and I did eventually learn how to put up our tent. Yay us!)

With the river unusually low at this time of year, we were able to camp on wide-open sandbanks. We walked barefoot in the sand and made coffee on the open fire for breakfast. We even toasted marshmallows on the last couple of nights. (“We usually only do that for the children,” they said.)

Life on the water

There’s something incredibly peaceful about being on, or by, the water. It’s the fresh air, of course, and being that much closer to nature and that much further away from civilisation; but it’s also the effortless way in which a boat will glide across the surface of the water, the sound of the splashing against the boat and against our paddles, the difference in perspective that you get on the world when you view it from the water. We even did some racing that reminded me of my rowing days at university; feeling the resistance of the water as you pull the blade towards you, the boat propelling forwards as you all row in sync (which did happen once or twice!).

Mississippi canoe group picture
Nothing but smiling faces in this canoe!

It’s not all peace and tranquillity, though. As a lot of people have found out this summer, it’s impossible for me to paddle on the river, any river, without launching into Pocahontas’ Just Around the River Bend at any given moment.

What I love most about rivers is:
You can’t step in the same river twice,
The water’s always changing, always flowing…

Other appropriate songs that we launched into at various moments include, of course, Proud Mary, American Pie and Ol’ Man River and, as John proved, any song you choose as long as you replace a few of the lyrics… (“Oh lord, won’t you buy me a dug-out canoe…”)

Getting dirty

Mississippi sandbanks
Yup, that’s a lot of sand.

As any woman who wears make-up will attest, the best thing about NOT wearing make-up is that you don’t have to take it off in the evening. Pure bliss! More than that, it’s incredibly freeing to not look in a mirror for a whole week and not worry about looking your best and covering up imperfections. (In fact, when I put on make-up again for the first time when we got back, I actually thought I had looked better without! And as I write this at Starbucks I’m mascara free…)

It wasn’t just a week of no make-up. There were also no showers, no toilets… We would go swimming in the river, of course, and I had brought biodegradable soap and shampoo to use every couple of days. You have to wonder how clean you really get, though, when bathing in that muddy Mississippi water!

By the end of the week, we had sand EVERYWHERE. You get fabulous exfoliation of your skin, darling, when you have sand in your moisturiser and in your sunscreen. Some extra crunch in your water? Yum. And a softening mudpack for your feet every time you got in and out of the boats. (Three of us took this to the extreme one day as we covered ourselves in mud from head to toe. All for the sake of art, of course.)

Magic moments

Campfire
I never know where to look at night: into the campfire or up at the stars. I love them both. [Photo credit: Dave Cornthwaite]
Experiences like these tend to blur into one big memory for me, but there are a few moments that stand out. There was the otherworldly Cherokee “smudging” ritual as Chris played the drum “to the beat of the river”. The evening that Zoë sang an a cappella rendition of Down to the River to Pray as we sat around the fire. The five shooting stars that I saw one clear night, the night that we slept without the fly so that we could look up at the universe as we went to bed and watch the sunrise in the morning when we awoke. And the final night when we each shared the things that made the others so brilliant and unique. Just perfect.

Then there were the various times that Mississippi Madness set in, including when we built a water slide on the banks of the river (success!), when Alexis and later Dave C appeared dressed as Batman, and when Dave A spent the night thwacking the water with his paddle in an attempt to wake up the fish. Surreal. But nice. (Name that film!)

Helena, Mississippi
Yup, we’re definitely back in civilisation now. SNIFF.

In fact, a week or so later I wonder if it ever happened. Were we really out there on the river? Camping on the sandbanks? Toasting marshmallows on an open fire?

Luckily I have photographic evidence to reassure me that it was real. I’ve also been left with a new confidence and determination to get things done after the discussions we had together, some of which I’ve already made progress on. And I’ve been left, I hope, with a new set of enduring bonds. Here’s to the next adventure, my friends!

Group photo
Leaving on a jet plane… Final group photo before the parting of the fellowship at the airport. Love you all!

 

Exploring Mindset: This Mississippi adventure was the first of its kind on the river, but Dave and Emily have been running workshops for a while on a 72ft yacht called Sea Dragon. Although they never do the same trip twice, they’ve promised to repeat this one next year – after all, the river is always changing (always flowing!). Find out more on the Exploring Mindset website and check out some more photos from our trip on the Facebook page.

Quapaw Canoe Company: This is John Ruskey’s company, highly recommended if you’re ever in Clarksdale, Tennessee!

Allen’s Kayaking Adventures: We were also joined during the week by Allen, who runs his kayaking company out of Memphis.

Zoë Sundra: Find out more about the talented Zoë, she of the soulful rendition of Down to the River to Pray, on her website.

 

Filed Under: Adventures, North America, Travel, United States Tagged With: dale sanders, dave cornthwaite, emily penn, exploring mindset, john ruskey, mississippi river, rod wellington, stephen fry in america, zoe sundra

Adventure is Out There: Beavers and mooses and wolves, oh, my

1 September, 2015 By Anna S E Lundberg Leave a Comment

Another weekend, another wilderness adventure. We were back in Sweden but this time, I was joined by my friend Serena from Geneva and we had chosen this particular adventure for its headlining act: tracking wolves. We’re about to launch an online training business called Wolf Leaders Academy and it felt like the perfect activity both to celebrate the launch and to actually learn more about the behaviour of wolves, on which we had based our concept of leadership. So it was that we flew to Stockholm, rented a nice little Volvo, and drove 2.5 hours west to spend the weekend with a group of strangers in the middle of the forest.

Wood chopping
Practicing the art of wood chopping in the event of a zombie apocalypse. Well, I can’t skin a rabbit so I’d better be good at something…

We were staying in Kolarbyn Eco-Lodge, “Sweden’s most primitive hotel”. There was no electricity or running water, we would be cooking over an open fire, and our accommodation consisted of simple huts with space for two “beds” and a little fireplace. Despite the basic set-up, the level of comfort was far beyond my expectations. I slept incredibly well in our little hut – I was shocked to find that it was 10.30am when I emerged from the darkness on the Saturday morning, and I had a similar lie-in on the Sunday; far better than any sleep I’ve had before while camping – and the group raised the bar for campfire cooking with home-made pancakes and a continuous supply of freshly brewed coffee on the open fire. What an idyllic picture, so far from our day-to-day existence: sleeping out in the forest, picking berries for breakfast, chopping wood for the fire….

Kolarbyn Eco-lodge
The little huts reminded me of old Elsa Beskow stories that were read to me when I was little (Petter, Lotta och kolaren – for the Swedes among you!).

Although Serena and I had come for the wolves, this was actually just a small part of the schedule for the weekend. Our first evening was spent tracking… beavers. My only knowledge of this particular animal came from Mr and Mrs Beaver in the Narnia books, and I was pretty sure that C. S. Lewis had taken some artistic licence in describing these magical creatures who could talk and were obsessed with sewing machines. We drove out to an abandoned manor house (for sale for just 12 million crowns – including 50 bedrooms and a boathouse, in case you’re interested) where we examined the various traces left by the local beavers on land before having dinner out in the grounds. We then headed out onto the water to see if we could get up close and personal with some beavers.

Beaver bite
Looks like someone was hungry!
Cinnamon buns
Luckily we didn’t have to resort to chewing through the trees as we were well fed with wild boar wraps and homemade cinnamon buns. Yum.
Beaver spotting
Serena examining the beaver lodge on the other side of the lake.
Sunset on the lake
We spent several hours travelling silently across the lake (the boats had electric engines) as the sun set behind the trees and an almost-full moon rose up to take its place.
Beaver
Eventually we were rewarded with several sightings of beavers swimming alongside our boats, crawling out onto land and even a couple playing together.

On the second night, we turned our attention to a slightly larger animal, the moose (or is it an elk?). We hiked through the forest as quietly as we could – which, as it turns out, was not very quietly at all, with twigs snapping under our feet and branches scratching across our Gore-Tex jackets. In fact it’s very difficult to spot moose and other wild animals during the day and we started to have better luck as the sun was setting. Markus, our guide, had a clever technique, which was to shine a bright searchlight into the edge of the forest, the eyes of the moose reflecting back the light making them easy to spot. We saw several moose bulls, a cow and a calf, a couple of hares, roe deer and possibly even a lynx.

Forest
A real Swedish forest, full of trolls and pixies and, probably, Mumins too.
Wild Sweden guide
I can’t say I’ve ever really engaged on the topic of hunting and wildlife diversity but I found this intricate debate about hunting and breeding and immigration in the animal kingdom very interesting (as well as topical with the recent outrage at the shooting of Cecil the lion, with Markus even drawing parallels to the debate around human immigration). Markus could argue both sides of an argument, highlighting different pros and cons and demonstrating the difficulty of finding a solution that works on every level.
Swedish chef
The real Swedish chef? (You know the one with the chocolate mousse?)

As midnight approached, so too neared the climax of the animal tracking: we would be climbing up into the forest onto a hill under the moon – a full moon, no less – where we would settle down and await the howling of the wolves. As with all wild animals, there was no guarantee that we would hear anything at all; a wolf pack’s territory stretches as far as 10,000 square kilometres, they could have moved since they were last tracked in the area, and they only howl to each other maybe a couple of times in one night, for less than a minute at a time. So there we sat, looking up at the night sky and listening in anticipation for what might never come; two shooting stars made the experience all the more special for me as I waited. But then we heard it: a couple of howls that sounded like they were right next to us in the trees – in fact, it was Markus, who was resorting to calling out to the local wolf pack to see if they would respond – followed by the real thing, a little further off, as the wolf pups and then the alpha male howled back at us. I half expected the werewolves and vampires of Twilight to come bounding out of the forest at any minute.

Full moon
We ended the night with a little campfire under the full moon and, of course, a cheeky little skinny dip in the lake – this is Sweden, after all. (Having said that, it was my first, so I’m pretty proud of having been the pioneer on this occasion!)

It was completely eye opening for me and, at times, hilarious to see this whole experience through the eyes of an Italian. While I was warm, poor Serena was shivering and getting allergic reactions to the mosquitos. For a Swede, who’s spent all her summers in this mild climate, this is as good as it gets: sunshine and a water temperature as high as 20 degrees. For an Italian, used to the Mediterranean heat and a clear blue ocean, I now see that this is not such a typical experience!

Anna paddling
On the third and final day, we took the canoes out onto the lake for a bit of a paddle. Serena and I soon realised that getting back to the starting point would be tough with a strong wind and current working against us so we started back almost as soon as we had reached the other end of the lake; at one point I swear we were just standing still, despite our best efforts at propelling the boat forward!
Floating sauna
When we finally returned and got the canoe back on land, we rewarded ourselves with a couple of rounds of relaxing in the floating sauna alternated with, at least in my case, some swimming in the lake.

For me, this weekend only served to reinforce my love of my native country and contributed another advantage to my list of the pros of living here. Heja Sverige! Well done on another excellent adventure.

 

The practical bit:

Secret Adventures: The whole trip was organised by Madoc of Secret Adventures, who also ran the Arctic trip, the kayaking under Tower Bridge, and the secret island adventure.

Kolarbyn Eco-lodge: “Sweden’s most primitive hotel” offers packages together that include wildlife safaris with Wild Sweden (see below – the two companies were originally one). They also offer romantic stays with cute little picnic baskets and bottles of wine if you want a bit more luxury. Best of all, you can fly to Västerås which, let’s face it, is basically Westeros from Game of Thrones.

Wild Sweden: If you’re interested in exploring the wildlife of Sweden on one of these Nordic safaris, you can choose from beavers, moose and wolves as well as bears and wolverines, and other different types of activities. Make sure you spend a few days here, though, as they can’t guarantee a sighting on one evening so it’s a shame if you’re putting all your eggs in one beaver lodge.

Filed Under: Adventures, Europe, Sweden, Travel Tagged With: beaver safari, kolarbyn eco-lodge, moose safari, secret adventures, wild sweden, wild swimming, wolf tracking

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to Next Page »

More about Anna

Anna Lundberg is a success coach and business strategist who helps experienced corporate professionals reimagine success outside of the 9 to 5.

Find me on social

  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn

Apply for a free ‘one step’ call

Apply for your free ‘one step’ call with Anna, to get you started on the path towards more freedom, flexibility and fufilment, here >>

  • About
  • Media
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact

Copyright © 2021 Anna S. E. Lundberg · Log in

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok