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Horn (right) receiving a souvenir from Masidi
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6th November, 2009
KOTA KINABALU: The Mike Horn Pangaea expedition has chosen Malaysia for its third Young Explorer’s Programme.
The group is currently sailing around Sabah, enjoying the region’s incredible nature, tropical islands and magnificent dive sites.
Members of the group, comprising expedition leader Mike Horn, his wife Kathy, nine young explorers as well as several crew members were met by Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Masidi Manjun at Marina Club Sutera Harbour yesterday.
Horn said Malaysian Borneo had infinite natural beauty. They were delighted to see that so much was being protected and they wanted to help with that, so that the next generation could continue to see it in the same way they did now.
“We have received wonderful support from the Sabah Tourism Ministry, who are helping us celebrate this beautiful region. We choose Sabah because of its rich bio-diversity,” he said.
He said the expedition was a remarkable modern day adventure over sea and land, which would cover all the continents as well as the North and South poles in four years.
South African Horn is acknowledged as one of the world’s greatest modern adventurer-explorers. He has undertaken exceptional feats of endurance, determination and courage which have extended the boundaries of human achievement.
Born in Johannesburg in July 1966, he studied Human Movement Science at Stellenbosch University before moving to Switzerland where he became an instructor for an outdoor company offering extreme activities such as abseiling, hydrospeed, canyoning and rafting.
There he developed a taste for outlandish challenges and shortly afterwards descended the Mont Blanc glacier on hydrospeed, finishing at the French Riviera.
Joining Horn on board in this adventure is a select group of nine young explorers ranging from the ages of 15 to 20 and coming from different locations like South Africa, Brazil, Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, France, South Korea and the United States.
They are selected from the over 300 youngsters from around the world who applied to join the expedition online. Anyone can apply to join the expedition but only the shortlisted few will make it to the programme, where they will conduct practical environmental projects wherever they go.
“We would be privileged to have a Malaysian youngster on board our future projects so that he or she can come back and make a major contribution to conservation in Malaysia, and around the world,” Horn said.
His hope was to show youngsters how beautiful and vulnerable the earth was, and that they would grow up to become its custodians. They were the children of the earth and they needed to be fighting not for their countries, but for their world.
The young explorers on board now were collecting a treasure chest of beautiful experiences and memories, while making a positive contribution to saving nature at the same time.
Pangaea is the name of the 35-metre exploration yacht as well as the super continent that existed 250 million years ago, before it split into parts we know today.
The expedition is trying to reunite the continents again – only this time in the fight for nature. It is made possible by the contributions of various sponsors.
Mercedes-Benz is the project’s title sponsor with Officine Panerai and Geberit as presenting partners.
Pangaea expedition is also grateful to Nespresso and Miauton for support as well as Mumm, Petzl, Wenger, Orangina Schweppes, Kaenon, Slam, K-Way, Honda Marine, Katadyn, Spot Image and the Mayo Clinic.
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