Two talks coming up this month:
'Film and Photography in the Field' for the UK Polar Network at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, 23rd April 2014. PhD Students only.
'The Kumbh Mela - The Largest Human Gathering (Ever)' for Explorers Connect, Bristol, 1st May 2014. Open to all. Details here: http://www.explorersconnect.com/diary/bristol/expeditions/-/ec-bristol-drinks-with-vjay-and-the-kumbh-mela-1st-may-15967/
In late 2012 as part of our travels through Southern Africa we sneaked onto the 90km Fish River Canyon hike in Namibia.
The hike took us through some of the most spectacular scenery in Africa. Check out the film below. It runs at 9mins 35secs.
The kite festival in Ahmadabad, Gujarat, India is one of the most eagerly anticipated festivals of the year. Millions of kites are flown over the two day festival. This video follows Deepak Banjara, a local kite enthusiast as he celebrates this festival in 2013.
Film:
Ahmadabad, Gujarat, India. Filmed by Vijay Shah
Exciting news! The Kumbh Mela documentary now has subtitles in English, French, Spanish and Italian. Click on the CC button and choose which language you want.
Bonne nouvelles!! Kumbh Mela documentaire a maintenant sous-titres français. Cliquez sur le bouton cc et choisissez française.
Buenas noticias. Kumbh Mela documental cuenta ahora con subtítulos en español. Haga clic en el botón cc y seleccione español.
Buone notizie. Kumbh Mela documentario ha ora sottotitoli in italiano. Fare clic sul pulsante cc e scegli italiano.
It's been an incredible winter here in the UK. It's the wettest winter on record bringing flooding to many parts of southern England. It has also been surprisingly mild (average of 5.2C), making it one of the warmest winters on record. This is in stark contrast with Northern America which has been locked in a polar vortex bringing temperatures down to -40C for extended periods of time. These unprecedented conditions have been linked to climate change.
This reminds me of a video project I conducted a few years ago on our summer expedition to Baffin Island 2010. For us, climate change has always been a 'hot' topic and I took the opportunity on this expedition to ask the members, in the midst of one of the most beautiful places in the world and undoubtedly one of the places most at risk from changes in the climate, about this topic. I asked them 'Why should we care if the climate changes?' And in part two I asked them to discuss 'What needs to happen in order for us as a society to live more sustainably?'
See what the members answered in this video below, now edited for 2014:
I don't normally write about other media on here but sometimes something strikes me so deeply that I have to share it. I saw 'The Act of Killing' by Joshua Oppenheimer last year, a 3.5 hour directors cut, with an interview with Joshua beforehand. He described filming the movie as if "I'd wandered into Germany 40 years after the holocaust, only to find the Nazis still in power."
I have to say I smirked at this description, but for the next 3.5 hours my jaw dropped and my heart contorted into every shape imaginable. He had described it perfectly. This is a story of a revolution and of a genocide. This is a story of the victors relishing in their might and of the rest of the population afraid of their own shadows. This is the story of Indonesia today!
Some might say that they do not wish to hear such sad and horrible stories but this is not some fictional tale. This is history. This is what has happened during many of our lifetimes. We do not have the right to look away. It's our duty to at least know this story and Joshua Oppenheimer describes it ingeniously in this film. This is essential viewing.
Read about the film in Joshua's own words in The Guardian:
“I’d wandered into Germany 40 years after the holocaust, only to find the Nazis still in power.”
In 2013 as I was travelling through India I was invited by a respected holy man to attend the largest human festival that has every occurred.
I spent eight days and nights at the festival which was attended by 100 million people. The experience was one of the most incredible I have ever witnessed.
The world is once again in peril, there is just some extreme mountaineering between paradise and certain Armageddon. Will Good prevail over Evil?
During our Baffin Island 2010 expedition we found some time to create a parody of a film we love to hate, 'Vertical Limits'.
With a very basic script and planning this film was made possible only with the amazing improvisational acting by the actors. The time limits were such that even the bags that they are wearing are about 30kg each... our full expedition weight. The whole sequence was made in less than an hour and then we continued on our way getting in the requisite 15-20km in that we had to walk that day.
Showed the first screening of my Kumbh Mela video this evening in Bristol. After a couple more cuts it'll be up here.
This is the story of my grandmother. A story stretching over three continents - starting afresh each time with nothing more than the family bond to keep going. A story of resilience and stoical acceptance in the face of the winds of change they were subjected to.
But more than just her story this is my parents story and my story too - where I've come from and the values that have been imprinted on me.
Muktanandji is a sadhu (holy man) from Gujarat, India. He has dedicated his life to serving the local community - improving the livelihoods of the impoverished villagers.
He was kind enough to allow me to set up an interview with him. Here he describes his spirituality and his work, where it all began and his vision for the future.
Delighted to have some our Baffin Island footage appearing in Buzzfeed's latests video! I guess I've certainly been to at least one of the most beautiful places in the world!
Really pleased to be part of the polar panel for Antony's South Pole expedition. This is attempting to push the boundaries of interactivity with schools. Not only will school children get the opportunity to ask questions directly to Antony but also to a panel of experts ranging from explorers, scientists to nutritionists.
If any schools want to be involved with this project, visit: http://www.eteteachers.org/
Polar Panel for Antony's south pole expedition
I met this guy a couple of months ago. He holds a group meditation session once a week for vipassana meditators. I've slowly learned about his life which has been far from normal. Having been stricken with Polio at the age of one his world was suddenly rearranged forever. He is now 69 and he's created a website on his autobiography which in his own words is "a peculiar mixture of crime, physics, LSD, travel, secondary school teaching and, very importantly, meditation."
His autobiography is free to download from his website and there is an audio version too.
Go to http://benevolencejwest.weebly.com/
"If you know of anyone working with the blind or partially sighted, please direct them to the site above. Also, anyone with a physical disability might find my story of interest.
For anyone more interested in the meditation aspects, that starts on CD5. "
Yesterday I was invited to the civic send off of Antony Jinman on his solo South Pole bid leaving on Sunday. That will be 730 miles over 60 days, alone on the coldest and windiest continent. Good Luck!
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-11/13/south-pole-expedition-music
Duncan, Antony and Vijay at the civic send off in Plymouth.
A photo from our 2010 Summer Baffin Island Expedition has made it onto this week's top 10 on UKClimbing.com
I'll be giving a talk at Explorer's Connect: Bristol on the 7th November. See link below for more details:
Sorry for all the wait, but there will be a little more waiting as there is so much footage I need to get through. But here's a little snippet of things to come...
The evolution of emotions on the last few days of a trip typically follows the same pattern. It starts of with excitement, following onto the planning stage, then as the flight date moves ever closer, melancholy sets in and finally weariness. The last stage can lead to some rash decisions being made and in these cases, expensive decisions (for which I am far too sensible to do).
It's hard to separate oneself from these emotions and tap into the endless inspiration that they can give to the writer. These emotions are a literary fountain but the plug is often sealed and the writer, weighed down with weariness does not having the strength to pull. I don't have the strength to pull even though this time I told myself it would be different. Alas all I have left is a trickle from this fountain.
I have survived India, pretty much unscathed. I have no terrible stories to tell but hell do I have some exciting ones. I said once that India confused me into silence, that was at the beginning of the trip, the beginning of a journey. This has been a journey of discovery more than of the usual sort; discovering not only my ancestral past, but my own past, answering questions I have had since childhood. And in this respect India does not disappoint. Yet it is not India that has done the work. India is, just as a mountain is. The beauty in the poetry etched out from mountaineers has come from within, squeezed out by their experiences and hardships on the mountain and that is what India does to the traveller. I have expressed some of these profound moments in photos and texts, others remain tucked away in my diary but the vast majority remain within me, dissipating slowly into the ether with time.
Now as I sit in Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi and my laptop battery slowly dies I bid farewell to India and prepare to be transported into a different dimension and time. I hope some of the lessons I have learnt stay with me. Tolerance. Patience. Impermanence.
