A Traveller's Research

Category: Safety & Security

Dick Proenneke thriving alone in the wilderness of Alaska

Dick Proenneke in “Alone in the Wilderness” is the story of Dick Proenneke living at Twin Lakes in the Alaska wilderness.

Dick retired at age 50 in 1967 and decided to build his own cabin on the shore of Twin Lakes. He filmed his adventures so he could show his relatives in the lower 48 states what life was like in Alaska, building his cabin, hunting for food, and exploring the area.

Bob Swerer has used some of the footage from Dick’s films and created 4 videos about Dick, “Alone in the Wilderness”, “Alone in the Wilderness part 2”, “Alaska, Silence and Solitude” and “The Frozen North”. They can purchase from Bob Swerer Productions at the DickProenneke.com website.

Below are some excepts from these films.

Continue reading

HS4A » Human Security For All

A global campaign to raise awareness on human security. Human Security depends on the security of all beings and life on the planet. It includes the whole biosphere and all life on earth. The Human Security approach recognizes the interlinkages between peace, development, and human rights, and equally considers civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights.

How to survive in the wilderness

Increasing numbers of people are taking to woodlands and wildernesses to learn ancient survival skills and rekindle a lost connection with the natural world.

BBC »

Human beings are extinct in the wild. The majority of us would be clueless in a true survival situation, having been coddled and cosseted by the comforts of civilisation. Cloistered away in our homes and offices, with fresh water at the turn of a tap, warmth at the touch of a button and food delivered to our doors, we have lost touch with the natural rhythms and resources that keep us alive. The acquisition and practice of survival skills seeks to redress this imbalance, and it has a name: bushcraft.

“With camping, you’re just existing in an outdoor environment,” Prideaux said, as we set off into the woods in search of edible mushrooms. “Bushcraft is about interacting with it in a meaningful way; knowing where your break points are with the environment.”

Video » Is it safe to cycle across Mexico?

In this video Alee lets us in on the precautions he takes when he cycles though dangerous areas.

32-year old Australian Alee Denham has cycled over 120,000km across 100 countries spanning five continents. He has been cycling the Americas since 2017.

Find out more about Alee at his website CyclingAbout.

Travellers from Ontario will want to know that the province is about to scrap out-of-country emergency health care coverage

Carola Vyhnak, writing in the Toronto Star »

The province says it’s cancelling the existing “inefficient” program because of the $2.8-million cost of administering $9 million in emergency medical coverage abroad each year. OHIP’s reimbursements also tended to offset only a fraction of the actual expenses.

Without private insurance, travellers can face “catastrophically large bills” for medical care, warns Ministry of Health spokesperson David Jensen, who “strongly encourages” people to purchase adequate coverage.

Read the whole article at the Toronto Star »

The world’s safest countries to visit

The Gallop organization, a research firm based in the USA, asked citizens of 142 countries about their confidence in local policing, feelings of safety while walking alone and personal experiences of crime.

Gallup interviewed more than 148,000 people for the 2018 report. Gallup’s rankings are based on residents’ own sense of security.

1. Singapore

2. (tied) Finland, Iceland, and Norway

5. (tied) Hong Kong and Uzbekistan

7. (tied) Canada and Switzerland

9. Indonesia

10. (tied) DenmarkSlovenia, Luxembourg, Austria, China, Netherlands, Egypt

More at CNN

Visitors to the U.S.A. Face Social Media Screening

Sewell Chan, The New York Times:

Nearly all applicants for a visa to enter the United States — an estimated 14.7 million people a year — will be asked to submit their social media user names for the past five years, under proposed rules that the State Department issued on Friday.

Last September, the Trump administration announced that applicants for immigrant visas would be asked for social media data, a plan that would affect 710,000 people or so a year. The new proposal would vastly expand that order to cover some 14 million people each year who apply for nonimmigrant visas.

The proposal covers 20 social media platforms. Most of them are based in the United States: Facebook, Flickr, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Myspace, Pinterest, Reddit, Tumblr, Twitter, Vine and YouTube. But several are based overseas: the Chinese sites Douban, QQ, Sina Weibo, Tencent Weibo and Youku; the Russian social network VK; Twoo, which was created in Belgium; and Ask.fm, a question-and-answer platform based in Latvia.

More:

Social media account to get a US visa? No thank you – Arwa Mahdawi, Gulf News

Get schooled in the art of survival on Canada’s Baffin Island

Eva Holland, writing for Outside Magazine:

Students in the Extreme Polar Training course, a two-week freeze-fest held near the Arctic Circle on Canada’s Baffin Island, learn how to live in Earth’s coldest conditions. Still, nothing really prepares you for 72 hours of a sled-pulling, pathfinding ordeal on a skinny pair of skis.

And

As I slogged through deep snow and deeper darkness toward my tent, tripping and scraping my shins on chunks of broken ice concealed by fresh powder, I reminded myself that I had come here intending to suffer.

And

As I settled in for sleep, I felt hope for the first time that there might be more to polar travel than fear and misery. But the night still seemed deadly: The tent thrashed around in a heavy wind, the huskies chained nearby howled, and the ice creaked and boomed as it shifted in the grip of the tide.

And

I tried to focus on the harsh beauty of the ice walls lining the frozen channel we were moving through. I was determined to bury my fears in sheer wonder and suffocate them.

Polar explorer Eric Larsen provides tips on staying warm in extreme cold weather

Katie O’Reilly, writing for Sierra Magazine:

First things first: Make sure your base-layer game is strong.

“What most people don’t realize is that when it’s 30 to 40 degrees below zero, the concern isn’t about getting too cold, but rather getting too hot,” Larsen cautions. “When you sweat, moisture builds up and can replace the layer of air next to your skin.” Hence, the importance of a close-fitting base layer made from moisture-wicking fabric that allows for ventilation. Larsen prefers the wide range of base layers available through Norwegian technical outfitter Helly Hansen. “They make a variety, and I layer up and down depending on the temperature and the activity. For polar expeditions, they have a great line of mountain apparel.”

Get down with down.

Larsen describes a big down jacket as his “last defense against really cold weather—whether you’re in a sub-zero-degree tent or just walking around town.” He explains, “It’s the lightest-weight and warmest of insulators,” and says he relies on Helly Hansen’s shell jackets. “They use Allied Feather & Down, which is sustainably harvested.”

© 2023 Adventure Trend

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑