Category Archives: Events

London Meeting Saturday, March 7, 2020

Speaking this month we have:

1st: Kevin Brackley – “It wasn’t my fault”

2nd. John Pilkington – Llamas and Gangsters in Bolivia

Until 20 years ago, trains of fluffy, brightly-tassled llamas would set
out each June on a 300-kilometre, three-week journey over the Andes
using a track dating back to Inca times. Their woven saddlebags were
loaded with blocks carved from the Uyuni salt lake – the biggest and
highest in the world – which the drovers traded in the lowlands for
maize, honey, chillies, and (this being Bolivia) coca leaves. Our
President joined one of the last of the dwindling caravans.

Going back another 100 years, Bolivia was the haunt of two of America’s
most wanted runaways – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. A Bolivian
miner’s wage packet wasn’t great, but there were a great many miners and
they were all paid weekly in cash. The payrolls were taken to each mine
on horseback. It was just too tempting for the ‘Yanqui’ outlaws; but did
Paul Newman and Robert Redford tell us the whole story? Come and hear
what really happened.

Unfortunately Jim Holmes has had to postpone his talk.

Postponed: Jim Holmes – The Altai of Western Mongolia.    

I travelled around Western Mongolia for UNICEF working on a photographic documentary. From remote camel herding communities to vast moon-like landscapes punctuated by shimmering lakes, this is a location for those who love wide open spaces. Subsistence agriculture and few public services make this a tough environment for families. See how UNICEF is supporting schools to make children’s lives and futures stronger.

Jim Holmes is a professional photographer that specialises in worldwide humanitarian issues.

Find out more at:

Admission costs, we charge a small cash fee of £3 for Globetrotters members and £6 for non-members on the door to cover our expenses, tea/coffee and biscuits are included free in the interval between the talks.

You do not need to be a member to attend, and we do not sell advanced tickets, please just come on the day, the doors open at 2:15pm and the program starts around 2:30pm with each talk lasting between 45 – 60 minutes.

London branch meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend.

There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh each September. If you would like to keep up to date with what’s happening at the Globetrotters London meetings and to be sent email reminders prior to the meeting, please sign up here

London Meeting Saturday, April 4, 2020 (POSTPONED)

The meeting for April been postponed to a future date due to the Corona virus and the national guidance on self-isolation and social distancing.

Health advice

We’re asking all members/visitors to follow the national guidance on self-isolation and social distancing. This includes not going out to the pub, the theatre, or to other social activities. You should stay at home if you have either:

  • a high temperature – you feel hot to touch on your chest or back
  • a new, continuous cough – this means you’ve started coughing repeatedly

Do not go to a GP, pharmacy or hospital and please don’t call 111 unless you have to.

If you are unwell, the people who live with you will also need to stay home.

Admission costs, we charge a small cash fee of £3 for Globetrotters members and £6 for non-members on the door to cover our expenses, tea/coffee and biscuits are included free in the interval between the talks.

You do not need to be a member to attend, and we do not sell advanced tickets, please just come on the day, the doors open at 2:15pm and the program starts around 2:30pm with each talk lasting between 45 – 60 minutes.

London branch meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend.

There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh each September. If you would like to keep up to date with what’s happening at the Globetrotters London meetings and to be sent email reminders prior to the meeting, please sign up here

London Meeting Saturday, May 2, 2020 (POSTPONED)

The meeting for May been postponed to a future date due to the Corona virus and the national guidance on self-isolation and social distancing. We are running some online meetings in the meantime.

<strong>The meeting for May been postponed to a future date due to the Corona virus and the national guidance on self-isolation and social distancing. We are running some online meetings in the meantime.

Speaking this month we would have had:

1st. Janet Parsons – Palestine: Beyond the Wall (rescheduled to December 2020)

Palestine is a land of striking contrasts, from its ancient limestone hills crowned with scattered villages and more recently dense clusters of Israeli settlements, to the vast stretches of the Judean desert, rich in remarkable sites and buildings. Very few tours visit places like Mar Saba, Hisham’s Palace and the palm shaded oases of this beautiful landscape.

Jan travelled through Palestine in 2017 with the Palestine Exploration Fund, meeting some of the hospitable Palestinian people across the West Bank including Bedouins and the Samaritan community with their ancient customs. We will visit the holy sites in Hebron, a volatile city where tensions run high, Qumran, home to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Temple Mount in Jerusalem – a significant site to the three major world religions. Jan’s talk will also address the impact of the Separation Wall in the context of the more recent history of Palestine.

Jan Parsons was Chairman of Guildford Travel Club from 2013 – 2019. A keen photographer, her particular interest is visiting ancient and remote sites away from the tourist trail where travel, history, culture and archaeology meet.

2nd. Andy Browning – Following in Family Footsteps. (rescheduled to October 2020)

They say a picture paints a thousand words, well not this one.  Having stared at the same unremarkable photo on his grandparent’s wall for years, Andy was surprised to discover not only was this picture taken in Sudan, but also the slightly dusty and angry looking man holding a bicycle was in fact his Great Grandfather – a revelation which could only lead to one thing.

Following in Family Footsteps is the story of how an old sepia photograph inspired a three-month adventure following 80-year-old family footprints through the mountains and deserts of East Africa.  As well as negotiating sandstorms, pool sharks, rogue bus drivers, active volcanoes, and some of the hottest temperatures the planet has to offer, this is also the story of an often-misunderstood corner of Africa through the eyes of two people generations apart.”

Find out more at:

Admission costs, we charge a small cash fee of £3 for Globetrotters members and £6 for non-members on the door to cover our expenses, tea/coffee and biscuits are included free in the interval between the talks.

You do not need to be a member to attend, and we do not sell advanced tickets, please just come on the day, the doors open at 2:15pm and the program starts around 2:30pm with each talk lasting between 45 – 60 minutes.

London branch meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend.

There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh each September. If you would like to keep up to date with what’s happening at the Globetrotters London meetings and to be sent email reminders prior to the meeting, please sign up here

London Meeting Saturday, June 6, 2020 (postponed)

The meeting for May been postponed to a future date due to the Corona virus and the national guidance on self-isolation and social distancing. We are running some online meetings in the meantime.

Speaking this month we have:

1st. Julian Elliott – The eagle hunters of Mongolia

To the outside world we often think that Mongolia and eagle hunters go together. But in reality the eagle hunters we so often associate with the country are in fact of a Kazak origin and live in the west of the country.

Julian’s journey to the west of the country was fraught with troublesome weather but once the epic journey commenced Julian’s was introduced to three different eagle hunter families.

The journey ended at an eagle festival that was held in celebration of the Kazak new year. A festival that was fascinating to behold along with the characters that took part in it.

2nd. Will Batho – Using adventure to inspire change

A former helicopter pilot to the special forces, extreme sports fanatic, educator and coach, Will combines his love of adventure with his experience of personal development in challenging situations. His incredible journey of discovery during Expedition Himalaya with a group of wounded veterans will explore the power of the outdoors and the science driving transformation through adventurous journeys

Admission costs, we charge a small cash fee of £3 for Globetrotters members and £6 for non-members on the door to cover our expenses, tea/coffee and biscuits are included free in the interval between the talks.

You do not need to be a member to attend, and we do not sell advanced tickets, please just come on the day, the doors open at 2:15pm and the program starts around 2:30pm with each talk lasting between 45 – 60 minutes.

London branch meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend.

There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh each September. If you would like to keep up to date with what’s happening at the Globetrotters London meetings and to be sent email reminders prior to the meeting, please sign up here

Online Meeting Saturday, October 3, 2020

This meeting will now be Online

Speaking this month we have: (Get Tickets)

Date And Time: Sat, 3 Oct 2020, 14:00 BST

1st. Michał Siarek  – Macedonia – the land of Alexander

The very first thing Michał Siarek saw in the capital city of Skopje was the construction site of a 25-meter tall figure of a warrior on horseback which – as he found out later – was the statue of Alexander the Great. Nearly 2.500 years after his death, the legacy of the famous conqueror sparks a conflict between two contemporary states – Macedonia and Greece – both claiming his legacy.

Established as one of the six socialist republics within the Yugoslav Federation, the modern state of Macedonia first surfaced in 1945, its name derived from one of the three geographical regions named Macedonia – not from the ancient kingdom. Despite peaceful secession from the war-torn Yugoslavia in the 90s, the newly proclaimed republic immediately fell into a dispute with Greece over the name and cultural heritage. In 2009, the Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski announced an architectural scheme titled Skopje 2014. The equestrian figure was the crown jewel of the nation-branding policy, likening the modern day Macedonia to its ancient archetype of Alexander’s Kingdom.

“Alexander” is a multi-platform documentary based the relationship between politics, history and culture, centred around the construction of a national myth in the (Former Yugoslav) Republic of Macedonia – a state with no name, fixated on a dispute about origins so distant that they may have never existed at all.

Michał Siarek (1991) is a Polish documentary photographer working in the nexus of by geopolitics, history and national mythologies, driven by stories with complexities which require slow approach and long-term dedication.

Find out more at:

2nd. Andy Browning – Following in Family Footsteps.

They say a picture paints a thousand words, well not this one.  Having stared at the same unremarkable photo on his grandparent’s wall for years, Andy was surprised to discover not only was this picture taken in Sudan, but also the slightly dusty and angry looking man holding a bicycle was in fact his Great Grandfather – a revelation which could only lead to one thing.

Following in Family Footsteps is the story of how an old sepia photograph inspired a three-month adventure following 80-year-old family footprints through the mountains and deserts of East Africa.  As well as negotiating sandstorms, pool sharks, rogue bus drivers, active volcanoes, and some of the hottest temperatures the planet has to offer, this is also the story of an often-misunderstood corner of Africa through the eyes of two people generations apart.”

Find out more at:

You only need one ticket per screen, not one for each person watching or attending.


Date And Time

Sat, 3 Oct 2020, 14:00 BST

For forthcoming meetings we have

  • a suggested donation £2-3 for members to help with our costs. Members will be emailed a ticket code link allowing access to this option or you can access it from the members area.
  • a donation of £5-6 for non-members, non-members may join the club for £12 per year and get this and future meetings at members rate for £12, members can also watch the 3 previous online talks, members also receive Globe our members magazine and our annual members calendar, why not join and enter your pictures.  
  • a catch up to watch later will be available to members and non-member ticket holders. (Members can also watch the previous online talks)
Get Tickets at Eventbrite

Online Meeting Saturday, November 7, 2020

This meeting will be held online in zoom in line with UK Covid-19 regulations.

This month we have:

AGM: The clubs AGM starts at 12:30 pm (card carrying members only), then at 2.00 pm the meeting begins

Speaking this month at 2pm we have:  (Get Tickets)

1st. Paul Gillingham – Across Spain the Roman Way, At a Snail’s Pace.

“What have the Romans ever done for us?” scoffs John Cleese in Monty Python’s ‘Life of Brian’.

Plenty, discover Paul and his son, who cross Spain along the ancient Roman routes, Via Augusta and Via de la Plata

Their 800 mile bike ride starting from the Roman city of Gades (Cadiz) takes them through Andalusia, Extremadura and Castilla y Leon, provinces where the Romans left their mark with bridges and roads, aqueducts, theatres, circuses and baths.

They then head for the hills of Galicia along the Camino Sanabres, completing their journey at the post-Roman shrine of St James in Santiago de Compostela.

Paul taught history in UK, Canada, Tanzania and Hong Kong before becoming a journalist and broadcaster. He began as a TV newsreader in Hong Kong in the 70’s (see Paul Gillingham, HK TV via Google), returning to UK as a TV presenter, and went on to produce travel features from around the world for BBC Radio 4, BBC World Service and Classic FM. He has written many articles on travel and a book, ‘At the Peak: A History of Hong Kong Between the Wars’ (Macmillan, 1983).

The highlights of his career include: a spell in the Swedish Merchant Navy, a month in a Rwandan refugee camp during the genocide, meeting Ginger Rogers on Broadway and interviewing, among others, the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Quentin Crisp, Little Richard and the sons of Martin Luther King and Mussolini.

2nd: Alan Palmer – In Search of ‘Attaland

Travels in The South of Morocco

Morocco first began to capture Alan’s imagination while he was on a fleeting visit to the country in 1979. He returned to complete his first ascent of Jebel Toubkal, the highest mountain in north Africa, in 1986, and has remained a frequent visitor, trekking regularly, ever since. During this time, he has developed a particular fascination for the Berber Aït ‘Atta warrior tribe which valiantly resisted the French occupation of their country, culminating in their honourable surrender at the Battle of Bou Gafer in 1933.  In this talk, Alan describes how and why he has been slowly but inexorably drawn towards the Ait ‘Atta and his exploration of ‘Attaland, their homeland, which stretches from the snowy peaks of Jebel Azourki in the Central High Atlas Mountains, across the barren slopes of Jebel Sahro, to the green oasis of Nekob in Morocco’s deep south.

Alan is Founder and Director of Yak Travel, his company which organises bespoke treks and tours through rarely explored regions of Morocco and North-East India.

He is author of Moroccan Atlas the Trekking Guide (Trailblazer Publications) and has also contributed to three other guide books, Pakistan and The Silk Road (both published by Insight Guides), and the Rough Guide to Morocco. Additionally, he regularly writes articles for travel magazines and travel books and frequently delivers talks and presentations on Morocco, North-East India and Burma (Myanmar) at travel clubs and shows, both in England and in India.

He is:

  • a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS)
  • a member of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs (RSAA)
  • a life member of the British Moroccan Society (BMS)
  • a member of the Pakistan Society
  • Secretary of The 153 Club (Sahara)
  • a member of The Globetrotters Club
  • TripAdvisor Destination Expert (DE) for Morocco

Find out more at:

The talk by Derek Mansfield – Riding the Scythian Empire has had to be postponed.

You only need one ticket per screen, not one for each person watching or attending.


Date And Time

Sat, 7 Nov 2020, AGM 12:30, talks 14:00 GMT (London time)

For forthcoming meetings we have

  • a suggested donation £2-3 for members to help with our costs. Members will be emailed a ticket code link allowing access to this option or you can access it from the members area.
  • a donation of £5-6 for non-members, non-members may join the club for £12 per year and get this and future meetings at members rate for £12, members can also watch the 3 previous online talks, members also receive Globe our members magazine and our annual members calendar, why not join and enter your pictures.
  • a catch up to watch later will be available to members and non-member ticket holders. (Members can also watch the previous online talks)
Get Tickets at Eventbrite

Online Meeting Saturday, December 5, 2020

This meeting will be held online in zoom in line with UK Covid-19 regulations.

Speaking this month we have:

1st. Janet Parsons – Palestine: Beyond the Wall

Palestine is a land of striking contrasts, from its ancient limestone hills crowned with scattered villages and more recently dense clusters of Israeli settlements, to the vast stretches of the Judean desert, rich in remarkable sites and buildings. Very few tours visit places like Mar Saba, Hisham’s Palace and the palm shaded oases of this beautiful landscape.

Jan travelled through Palestine in 2017 with the Palestine Exploration Fund, meeting some of the hospitable Palestinian people across the West Bank including Bedouins and the Samaritan community with their ancient customs. We will visit the holy sites in Hebron, a volatile city where tensions run high, Qumran, home to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Temple Mount in Jerusalem – a significant site to the three major world religions. Jan’s talk will also address the impact of the Separation Wall in the context of the more recent history of Palestine.

Jan Parsons was Chairman of Guildford Travel Club from 2013 – 2019. A keen photographer, her particular interest is visiting ancient and remote sites away from the tourist trail where travel, history, culture and archaeology meet.

2nd Luke Ripley – Nil by Air: London to Sydney without flying

Globetrotters member Luke Ripley will attempt to dispel the myth that intercontinental travel necessitates flying by describing the journey he made last year from London to Sydney, entirely by surface transport. Setting off from London’s St Pancras station, he travelled by rail to China, via the Trans-Siberian Railway, before joining a container ship for the two-week voyage to Brisbane, crossing the Philippine, Solomon and Coral Seas. Once ashore in Australia, he continued by rail to Sydney, with a few stops and side-trips en route. Not an aircraft in sight!

While aviation remains massively dominant in the travel industry, among those seeking to limit the environmental impact of their travels, and for whom the journey is at least as important as the destination, there is perhaps a growing awareness of the land transport alternatives. However, with the almost total demise of “proper” deep-sea passenger shipping, a voyage by freighter is now often the only practical means of crossing oceans for those determined to avoid air-travel, yet remains relatively little-known.

Luke is a railwayman first and foremost, but has considerable experience of cargo-ship travel, having made numerous voyages (inc. trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific, Europe – S. Africa, Europe – E. Africa via Suez, and in the Med). As well as focusing on his own recent journey, his talk will touch on some of the joys, practicalities and obstacles involved in this form of travel more generally.

Luke Ripley - Nil by Air
Luke Ripley - Nil by Air
  • Luke Ripley - Nil by Air
    Luke Ripley – Nil by Air
  • Luke Ripley - Nil by Air
    Luke Ripley – Nil by Air

For forthcoming meetings we have

  • a suggested donation £2-3 for members to help with our costs. Members will be emailed a ticket code link allowing access to this option or you can access it from the members area.
  • We also have a limited number free tickets for members who have been financially affected by Covid-19
  • a donation of £5-6 for non-members, non-members may join the club for £12 per year and get this and future meetings at members rate for £12, members can also watch the 3 previous online talks, members also receive Globe our members magazine and our annual members calendar, why not join and enter your pictures.  
  • a catch up to watch later will be available to members and non-member ticket holders. (Members can also watch the previous online talks)

Brian Andersons’s talk has had to be postponed due to the covid-19 pandemic.

Brad Parsk’s talk has had to be postponed as the expedition was postponed due to the covid-19 pandemic.

This meeting may be postponed to a future date or take place online due to the Corona virus and the national guidance on self-isolation and social distancing.

London Meeting Saturday, January 9, 2021

This meeting will be held online in zoom in line with UK Covid-19 regulations.

Speaking this month starting at 1pm (UK time) we have:

1st.  Som Tamang – Take on Nepal)

Take on Nepal are one of the only trekking companies training and hiring a team of women in Nepal, In the mountain villages of Nepal, opportunities for women are few. Many young girls have little or no education, and marriage at an early age is still common. Take on Nepal and FHC have been working to change this for many years. As Take on Nepal has grown, we’ve begun hiring young women and girls from Batase — first to work as porters and then as guides, roles that up to now have been seen as exclusively male. For young village girls, early exposure to paid work as porters and the experience of interacting with Western women is an eye-opener. It provides them with a glimpse of other possible futures, futures far different from the lives their mothers lived and to the lives they may have thought they were going to live.

2nd. Dan Evans – Simplicity, Serenity and Sincerity across the world

The English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams once referred to the three great ‘S’s’ as Simplicity, Serenity and Sincerity.

However, these principles stretch far beyond the concert hall. In this talk, join me on a journey around the world as I go in search of these three facets of life. I shall showcase the simplicity of life in a Moroccan desert and an Italian harbour.

With words, I shall convey the serenity of the Alaskan wilderness and a twilit UK city. And I shall whisk you to a lakeside property in Brazil where sincerity is most certainly moored. I’ll conclude with some musings on how Simplicity, Serenity, and Sincerity have come to the fore over the past year.

By tradition we follow this meeting with a New Year Party post-meeting – everyone is invited to bring food and wine or soft drinks (we are not allowed beer or spirits) and participate!

For forthcoming meetings we have

  • a suggested donation £2-3 for members to help with our costs. Members will be emailed a ticket code link allowing access to this option or you can access it from the members area.
  • We also have a limited number free tickets for members who have been financially affected by Covid-19
  • a donation of £5-6 for non-members, non-members may join the club for £12 per year and get this and future meetings at members rate for £12, members can also watch the 3 previous online talks, members also receive Globe our members magazine and our annual members calendar, why not join and enter your pictures.  
  • a catch up to watch later will be available to members and non-member ticket holders. (Members can also watch the previous online talks)

Online Meeting Saturday, September 5, 2020

Speaking this month we have:

1st. Jacqui Trotter – The Stans

Jacqui Trotter talks about her journey overland back home from London to Australia via the five stans: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

2nd. Gavin Boyter – Run the orient

Armed with a toilet trowel and a converted Mazda Bongo called Roxy, self-styled ‘ordinary’ ultrarunner, Gavin Boyter, embarks on his latest long-distance challenge: to run the 3400km from Paris to Istanbul along the route of the world’s most illustrious railway journey, the Orient Express.

And, despite work on Roxy having hampered his training programme, Gavin remains undeterred and plans to run through eight countries, to cross 180 rivers and to ascend 16,500 metres, through forests, mountains, plains and major cities – aided all the way by temperamental mapping technology and the ever encouraging support of his girlfriend, Aradhna.

En route, Gavin will pass through urban edgelands and breathtaking scenery, battlefields and private estates, industrial plants and abandoned villages, and on through a drawn-back Iron Curtain where the East meets West. He will encounter packs of snarling, feral dogs, wild boar, menacing cows, and a herd of hundreds of deer. But he will also meet many fascinating characters, including a German, leg-slapping masseuse, music-loving Austrian farmers, middle-class Romanians, itinerant Romanies, stoic soldiers, and boisterous Turks.

However, confined to the cramped conditions of Roxy, and each other’s company, Gavin and Aradhna’s journey is not only a test of the endurance and stamina required to put in the hard miles, but of their relationship, too. After all, if they can survive this challenge, they can survive anything. But will Gavin’s legs make it all the way to Istanbul, where he has planned a special surprise for Aradhna?

Born in Edinburgh in 1970, Gavin Boyter studied Philosophy and English Literature at Edinburgh University. He later studied at Sheffield where he gained a master’s degree in Film and TV Drama. Gavin has been a writer ever since he could hold a pen. In 2015, he wrote and directed the romantic comedy film, Sparks and Embers, starring Kris Marshall and Annelise Hesme.

He has written numerous screenplays, including the psychological thriller Nitrate (with Guy Ducker). He recently completed his first novel, Elena in Exile, a crime story about a Romanian single mother adrift in London’s colourful, and sometimes dangerous, Soho. An occasional runner until his midthirties, Gavin only became serious about covering long distances when he ran his first ever race – the 2005 London Marathon! His first book Downhill From Here: Running From John O’Groats To Land’s End was published in 2017.

3rd. Jon Lord – ‘Africa’s Forgotten Pearl’

What is it we can learn from a blind singer on the River Nile, Coffee with Pygmies or a lion with a limp?  Bumping down the dusty tracks of a remote corner of Uganda in an old 4×4, Jon explores the motivations into why we travel and how our sense of perspective and attitude to risk changes. After lots of unexpected discoveries and near misses with large wildlife, Jon discovers that there is a lot more to Uganda than just its checkered past – truly a hidden gem and one for the bucket list. 

Join is an Adventure Coach and Co Founder Latitude Adventures Ltd – www.latitude-adventures.com 

The talk by Brian Anderson – Easter Island (Rapa Nui) has been rescheduled to December

You only need one ticket per screen, not one for each person watching or attending.

For forthcoming meetings we have

  • a suggested donation £2 for members to help with our costs. Members will be emailed a ticket code link allowing access to this option or you can access it from the members area.
  • a donation of £5 for non-members, non-members may join the club for £12 per year and get this and future meetings at members rate for £12, members can also watch the 3 previous online talks, members also receive Globe our members magazine and our annual members calendar, why not join and enter your pictures.  
  • a catch up to watch later will be available to members and non-member ticket holders. (Members can also watch the 3 previous online talks)
Get Tickets at Eventbrite

London Meeting, Saturday, December 7th 2019

Speaking this month we have:

1st: Mary Fogarty – Colombia: from the Caribbean to the Magdalena and back again.

A trip full of colour and magic and unexpected challenges.

Mary started in Cartagena, with a rainbow of colours in every street, and then left the Caribbean behind to take the Toto Express – a small dodgy van, which left at 4am – to Mompox, on the magical Magdalena river. The Toto Express trundled along behind endless lines of trucks for hours of dark, but finally the sun came up and a green wonderworld emerged, culminating in Mompox, a fairytale place by the vast Magdalena, where the trees are full of iguanas and dugout boats turn up selling pineapples and papaya.

After hours of dreamy wonder spent by and on this magnificent river, there was another hairy journey back to the Caribbean … this time to Santa Marta, where the beach meets the port, and film crews are recruiting by the water’s edge.

Mary left this edgy city for Tayrona National Park, used by the infamous narcotraffickers for smuggling out their stuff in the 70s and 80s, and now one of the most beautiful natural paradises in the world. Warned to take mosquito cream and lots of water, no-one, however, suggested climbing shoes – and the route she was to take up the mountain to find an old indigenous site involved some HUGE rocks, where the only way up was to use the ropes – in Clarks sandals this proved to be quite the challenge, but she got there!

2nd: Andy Skillen – Walking with bears: on foot adventures with polars and grizzlies

Andy has spent much of his career flat on his face in the mud, snow, water and, well anything else that happens to be there, to bring the world unique images of grizzly and polar bears…on foot. As one of just 4 photographers worldwide to take people to se​e arctic giants on their terms, as well as frequenting a whole host of ‘off the beaten track’ brown bear locations, Andy has a unique take on what it is to work with and photograph these icons of the wilderness. Join us in the auditorium and hear of some of the more hair-raising encounters that Andy has gone through in his pursuit of recording ursine behaviour…

Biography:

Andy Skillen is a multi-award-winning wildlife photographer who has documented the natural world for 25 years. Published on a global basis, much of his workload is on specific projects for the world’s leading organisations. In addition, Andy supplies a limited edition, fine art collection with his work is exhibited in galleries in the UK and overseas and also undertakes private commissions for collectors worldwide. As well as the artistic side, Andy also leads groups on specialist photographic adventures in Africa, South America and the Arctic, and is one of only four photographers worldwide to lead polar bear safaris on foot.  Andy is also on the judging panel for a number of photo competitions and a regular speaker and panelist for National Geographic Traveller in the UK, as well as being a fixture on the speaking and after-dinner circuit.

For Andy, the power of photography has also been about the communication of the conservation message, and his collections are inspired by that rationale. 

Find out more at:

Admission costs, we charge a small cash fee of £3 for Globetrotters members and £6 for non-members on the door to cover our expenses, tea/coffee and biscuits are included free in the interval between the talks.

You do not need to be a member to attend, and we do not sell advanced tickets, please just come on the day, the doors open at 2:15pm and the program starts around 2:30pm with each talk lasting between 45 – 60 minutes.

London branch meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend.

There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh each September. If you would like to keep up to date with what’s happening at the Globetrotters London meetings and to be sent email reminders prior to the meeting, please sign up here