Young Explorer Program

Explore: young adults can participate in their own exploration with Mike Horn
Learn: with the help of local people and specialists on the terrain
Act: by engaging in clean-up and environmental projects with the PANGAEA (a Pan Global Adventure for Environmental Action)

Of crucial importance to the Pangaea Expedition’s environmental goals will be the participation of young adults. Mike Horn is arguably the most experienced global explorer on the planet. His objective is to pass down his learning’s through exploration, which point to a natural world in peril, and identify areas where people can focus to find solutions for a better world. Explore, Learn, Act will empower future generations to create sustainable solutions between nature and mankind.

The Aim of the Young Explorers Program is:

1.To give young adults the chance to experience nature and discover its beauty
2. Creating a respect for the planet and its resources
3. Engaging in global clean-up projects
4. Creating environmental projects alongside qualified specialists
5. To pass on an important environmental message to their peers and others around them
6. To create a forum where young adults can provide solutions that will be heard

In 2009, young adults, aged 15-20, from every continent, will be invited to join Mike Horn on various stages of his four-year expedition. With specialists from various educational institutions and with the expertise of local guides, the young adults will learn about the flora and fauna and the cultures and traditions of the places they visit. While discovering nature, they will be helped to understand important environmental issues that affect the world today. These young adults will act as ambassadors by sharing and communicating their experience with other young adults. They will be encouraged to bring their new visions, emotions and knowledge and to lobby other young adults throughout the world.

During the project, 8 young adults from each continent will join Mike Horn for a period of 3 weeks days on 12 projects – a total of 144.

Young adults wishing to join the Pangaea Expedition are invited to send their applications online through the Internet, either on the Mike Horn official webpage or through one of the partners’ websites.

Candidates for the Young Explorers Program will be selected from a diverse pool of applicants. It is important that the young adults speak English.

Sixteen young adults will be chosen for the selection phase and will come together in Chateau-d’Oex, Switzerland, where the Mike Horn Expedition Centre is based. At the Selection Camps, these young adults will be accompanied at all times with qualified professionals in the field of outdoor recreation and team-building activities. The candidates will engage in various activities such as survival and first aid, sailing, photography and filming, and will also learn about outdoor equipment and the latest advancements in technology. The camp will be completed with the Pangaea Raid, a two day crtoss country trek in the Swiss Alps. The final candidates who are chosen to join Mike Horn will participate in expeditions, which will give them the tools to further spread the lessons of Pangaea. After completing the expeditions the young explorers will have to complete an expedition debrief detailing their experiences and lessons learned.

Among the projects planned for the Young Explorers Programme are:

1) Discovering the Antarctic Peninsula – October ’09
2) Exploring the ice cut fjords of the South Island – New Zealand – April ‘09
3) Exploring the biodiversity and islands of the Indonesian Seas – July ’09
4) Exchange of cultures and experiences India – Dec ‘09
5) Trekking and cultures of the Himalayas, Nepal – May ‘10
6) Going to the source of the over-irrigated Yellow River, Gobi Desert China – July ’10
7) The Arctic biodiversity, Khatanga, Siberia – Jan’11
8) The last degree to the retracting ice cap, the North Pole – April ‘11
9) Discovering the Inuit culture and their dependence on nature, Nunavut, Canada–Aug ‘11
10) Trekking nature reserves of the USA – Nov ‘11
11) Exploring the flooded and moist forests of the Amazon River basin, Brazil – May ‘12
12) Aiding developing communities, East Africa – June‘12