Unfolding Maps

Imagine you are sitting in a telephone booth-sized bubble hundreds of meters deep in the ocean surrounded by darkness, in an environment where nobody has ever been before. Many of the things you see here no one has ever seen before. Every now and then shining deep sea creatures appear. Most of them are completely new to science. As a deep-sea biologist, this scenario may still be very exciting but...

As a war correspondent for the Daily Telegraph Tim Butcher quickly became obsessed with one of the world’s most war-ravaged countries – the Congo. Its rich and multi-layered history triggered him to dig deeper in his attempt to better understand “the heart of Africa”. After discovering a personal and direct link to a famous historical expedition, Tim took on an adventurous journey and set off down...

To musically capture the essence of a solo journey over around the world is a tremendous creative challenge. Musician, director and photographer Jim Kroft, our guest in this episode, has tackled it. His journey took him through the endless expanses of the Russian winter, but also into the loneliness of Chinese mega-cities. On the way, he saw with his own eyes how people fleeing terror in their hom...

Two friends, two motorcycles and epic adventures all around the world. In episode 4 of Unfolding Maps, Charley Boorman talked about some of his most memorable travel experiences, many of which he has made with his best friend, the actor Ewan McGregor, known from movies such as Star Wars. These trips resulted in two hugely successful TV series: “Long Way Round” in 2004 and “Long Way Down” in 2007....

What is lost when a whole culture disappears? Award-winning journalist Doug Bock Clark has written an epic book about the Lamalerans, a tribe that lives on a remote, eastern Indonesian island. For half a millennium, they have fed themselves by hunting sperm whales, using small, handmade boats and handmade harpoons. And until this day, this is the way they hunt and live. But how much longer? How do...

Being the daughter of one of the Afghanistan’s most influential and prosperous persons, Nahid Shahalimi grew up in the country’s high society. However, the life of her family took a dramatic turn when her father died and Nahid had to flee to Canada with her mother and sisters in the 1980s. Since then, she has lived in Pakistan, India, the USA, Spain and Germany and – and became actively involved i...

Known as 'the flying photographer', George Steinmetz is the natural world’s leading aerial artist, being famous for his trademark low altitude aerial photography, a special technique that he has invented and perfected. He has done much of his work with a foot-launched motorized paraglider, which he pilots while taking pictures, as well as using drones to document climate change and the global food...

Mount Everest in the Himalayas, Mt Vinson in Antarctica - only two of the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. The former VOGUE fashion editor and today's extreme mountaineer Helga Hengge was the first German woman ever to successfully climb them all. She has experienced challenges that could not be more diverse, from the deep silence of Antarctica to the Stone Age of Papua, through...

A passionate adventurer, author and film maker: Alastair Humphreys' explorations of the earth are manifold. He has spent over four years cycling round the world, a journey of 46,000 miles through 60 countries and five continents. He walked across southern India, rowed across the Atlantic Ocean, run six marathons through the Sahara Desert, completed a crossing of Iceland, busked through Spain, part...

A fascinating journey into the power that the cold, deep breathing and commitment can unleash together: Wim Hof is known as the “Iceman”, the reason being that he is able to endure the cold to an extend that was believed to be physically impossible before.   Wim Hof has climbed Mount Everest to an altitude of 7.200 meters, dressed in nothing but shoes and shorts. He ran across the Namibian de...

Adventurer, motorbike enthusiast, travel writer and TV presenter: Charley Boorman has explored the world for the past few decades. It all started in 1997 on a film shoot, when Charley met Ewan McGregor, known from Star Wars, Moulin Rouge, Trainspotting, Doctor Sleep and other films. Resulting from their shared love for motorbikes, they became friends and eventually set off to the first of several...

Laura Dekker is the youngest person ever to sail around the world solo – an impressive success for which she had to overcome many obstacles, at sea and on land.   She has accomplished that some years ago, at the age of 14 to 16. In this episode of Unfolding Maps, Laura looks back to her upbringing, to all the things that let her to the point of feeling ready for such an adventure. She also ta...

In his first book, the now iconic “Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-term World Travel”, Rolf Potts promoted the ethics of independent travel. It was released in 2003 and – after more than 20 editions and many translations worldwide – had a huge impact on the global traveler scene.   In this episode of Unfolding Maps, he talks about how he tried to infiltrate the set of the mo...

Known for the National Geographic cover “the Afghan Girl”, legendary photographer Steve McCurry captures the human element hidden amidst military conflicts, humanitarian crisis, vanishing traditions, as well as contemporary cultures. In this episode of Unfolding Maps, he reveals the story behind the iconic photo, how a chance encounter in Pakistan launched his career, and close-calls from Afghanis...