ERADICATING BIKE RIDE THROUGH OVERCROWDED EVEREST

GEOGRAPHICAL
MALARIA TÜRKIYE FEELS THE HEAT

www.geographical.co.uk Magazine of The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) October 2023 • £5.99

THE LAKE THAT’S

RUNNING OUT OF FISH
AND WATER
Tonlé Sap was once Cambodia’s bountiful larder.
Now its residents can barely scrape a living
London.
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 W E LC O M E
Mounting problems GEOGRAPHICAL
Geographical
July 2020
Volume 92 Issue 07

M
ore than 2,000 years of ice formation on Mount Everest’s South
Publisher Graeme Gourlay
Col glacier has been lost in the past 30 years. This year, 17 people [email protected]
died attempting to climb the world’s highest peak – four times the Editor Katie Burton
Design Gordon Beckett
average. Experienced climber and writer Natalie Berry interviewed Staff writer Bryony Cottam
90-year-old Kanchha Sherpa, the last surviving member of the team that first Operations director Simon Simmons
Circulation director Patrick Napier
reached the summit in 1953, and his grandson, Tenzing Chogyal Sherpa, Commercial director Chloe Smith
a glaciologist who’s working to conserve the high Himalaya (Page 28). She Advertising director Elaine Saunders
recounts their fears and hopes for the mountain’s future as it faces dramatic
ADDRESS
climate change and the problems of an ever-growing number of people willing Geographical, Mill Lane House, Mill Lane,
to spend tens of thousands of pounds to scale its heights. Margate, Kent CT9 1LB
Email: [email protected]
Our cover story is a report from Cambodia’s Tonlé Sap lake, which is also
facing a host of modern pressures. The Mekong River, when replete with
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with little option but to go deeper in debt or migrate to city slums. Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 020 3576 1699
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Telephone: 01293 312 001
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The opinions expressed in this magazine are not

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‘This year, we celebrated ‘Packing the right gear is SAFARIS publishers cannot be held responsible for loss of, or
damage to, or the return of unsolicited manuscripts or
the 70th anniversary of an essential part of any Can wildlife survive our photographs.
the first ascent of Mount successful expedition,’ fascination and desire for Published monthly.
Everest. However, the says adventure writer ever-closer encounters?
darker side of Everest also Tristan Kennedy (Page What impact does a
The paper in this magazine originates from timber
grown in sustainable forests, responsibly managed to
made the headlines. With 71). ‘But sometimes global boom in tourists strict environmental, social and economic standards.
the help of local people, it’s hard to know what desperate for bucket-list
climate scientists and a you’re missing until you experiences have on the
climbing guide, I explored need it – by which point, objects of such relentless
how limited regulations, of course, it’s often too attention? Read our in- Cover image: Tommy Trenchard
budget expeditions, late. In my new column, depth report next month.
overcrowding and climate we’ll share not just kit
change are risking lives on recommendations, but
the roof of the world,’ says also cautionary tales and
Natalie Berry (Page hard-earned lessons that The next issue of
28), climber, journalist and illustrate exactly why Geographical is out on
editor of UKClimbing.com. equipment matters.’ Thursday 26 October

4 . GEOGRAPHICAL
 CONTENTS
October 2023 • Volume 95 • Issue 10

20
MALARIA
Can a new gene-editing
technology kickstart the
stalled battle against
one of the world’s
biggest killers?

36 28
EVEREST DEPARTMENTS
Climate change and an ever-growing WORLDWATCH
number of climbers pose serious 6 Living earth
problems for the world’s highest peak 8 Biometric boom
10 Research round-up
A RIDE ACROSS
12 Growing hunger crisis
TÜRKIYE
Julian Sayarer views the WORLDVIEW
changes to his second 15 Tim Marshall on the global
home during an epic bike problem of migration
journey 17 Marco Magrini on whether
the market can take us to

52
net zero

REGULARS

42
62 Gallery: Siberia’s
remote coastline
68 Book reviews
ETHIOPIAN 71 Equipment matters
WOLVES 74 Discovering Britain
Stuart Butler on the 76 RGS Archive
TONLÉ SAP 78 In Society. RGS events
trail of one of the
Cambodia’s once-bountiful 80 Crossword
world’s rarest canines
lake is drying up, forcing 81 Where in the world?
many locals to migrate 82 Passport: Zuza Zak

Find out moreFind

about
out more about
the benefits of joining
the benefits ofatjoining
RGS panel www.rgs.org/joinus
at www.rgs.org/joinus

OCTOBER 2023 . 5
 WOR LDWATCH EDITED BY BRYONY COTTAM

INVISIBLE
WORLD
New research reveals
that more than half
the world’s species
live underground

‘P
eople don’t have a planet, home to 56 per cent of all life. He rich groups, the study’s estimate error
particularly intimate explains that what sets this new research ranges are staggeringly large; for bacteria,
relationship with soil,’ apart from the only previous estimate – figures range from as low as 22 per cent
says Mark Anthony. ‘For which he calls a ‘really rapid survey’ – is to as high as 88 per cent. ‘When we put
many, it’s invisible.’ Most a much more comprehensive review all of our estimates together, we get to
of us, when thinking of some of the smallest soil organisms: around 50 per cent,’ says Anthony, ‘but
about hotspots of biodiversity, are likely fungi, bacteria, viruses, protists and with that huge error range, we just have
to picture places such as the Amazon or nematodes. ‘These are the most speciose to accept that we don’t know the exact
a coral reef. In reality, some of the most groups, so it’s critical that we understand number for some really important groups
impressive hotspots can be found beneath their biodiversity distributions.’ right now. It shows a real need for greater
our feet. Until recently, scientists had Of the groups they investigated, research, particularly in the Global South,
estimated that around 25 per cent of the the researchers found that those with but also in deeper soil, where we know
world’s species lived in the soil – we now the largest reliance on soil include the that there are unique species that we’ve
know it’s more than double that figure. Enchytraeidae (a group of pale mini never characterised before.’
Anthony is an ecologist at the Swiss earthworms) – 98.6 per cent of which live This kind of research is essential,
Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and in the soil – and fungi. In comparison, explains Anthony, because these species
Landscape Research and co-author of a just 3.8 per cent of all mammals spend perform important functions – and they
recently published study that reveals soil some of their lives underground. face a growing threat. Since the Green
to be the most biodiverse habitat on the However, for some of the most species- Revolution – a period from the early

6 . GEOGRAPHICAL
 Biometric risks Tim Marshall Going hungry
Invasive data capture The truth on migration Food insecurity is
from those in need politicians ignore a growing issue

A rare centipede from the genus

Eupolybothrus that lives in
the soil. Inset: amoebae, fungi,
microbes and nematodes found in
soil taken from an Australian farm

WILLIAM EDGE & FEDERICO CROVETTO/SHUTTERSTOCK

1900s to the 1980s that saw a significant healthy soil, it becomes increasingly efforts and conservation initiatives tend
increase in agricultural production – soil challenging to grow crops, something to focus on more visible components of
fertility has plummeted, leading to an we’re learning now, because of this ecosystems, leaving soil biodiversity in
increased reliance on fertilisers. This intense agricultural production.’ relative obscurity. ‘That doesn’t mean
overuse of chemical fertilisers, combined Despite this, conservation efforts that we should compare a soil bacterium
with the pollution from fossil fuel largely fail to include soil biodiversity. ‘It’s to an elephant,’ he adds. ‘They both have
combustion, has further damaged soil likely that more than half of life lives in different values. We just need to make
and the organisms in it. Yet it’s this living soil,’ Anthony says, ‘yet these species are room for them all to be important.’
component of soil that drives elemental barely represented on any of the key lists Another likely reason stems from
cycling – the breakdown of organic [such as the IUCN Red List] that are used the simple fact that, for a long time
matter and carbon sequestration – and to inform conservation policy.’ and even today, it can be a challenge
has provided us with sources for new Anthony says that there isn’t a perfectly to detect what’s living in soil. ‘It’s only
antibiotics and other medicines. clear answer as to why soil conservation in the last few decades that we’ve been
‘Soil is critical for our earth system,’ is so limited, although he suspects able to use environmental DNA to more
says Anthony. ‘It holds more carbon that unlike charismatic megafauna comprehensively study the organisms that
than the atmosphere and vegetation that draw attention and funding, the live in soil, so we’re really just beginning
combined, and then doubled. It’s the small scale of soil organisms makes to characterise this biodiversity,’ says
base that supports all of our food them less captivating to the public and Anthony. ‘But it’s now time we make a
and fibre production. Without policymakers. Consequently, research case for its conservation.’ l

OCTOBER 2023 . 7
 WORLDWATCH
Humanitarian aid

A reliance on biometric
data in the humanitarian
sector is on the rise,
despite growing
evidence of the risks

I
n 2021, as US troops withdrew
from Afghanistan – the
culmination of two decades of
war – they left behind a vast
collection of sensitive data
that swiftly made its way into
the hands of the Taliban. According
to the NGO Human Rights Watch,
this included biometric data such as
iris scans and fingerprints, as well as
photographs, addresses and names
of relatives, possibly endangering
thousands of Afghans around the
country. ‘Some of these people would
have assisted or worked at US embassies
and were likely made promises of
resettlement opportunities in the USA,’
says Quito Tsui, one of the authors of a
new report on the problem.
The practice of collecting biometric
data from vulnerable individuals isn’t
unique to Afghanistan. The report,
written by Tsui and her colleagues at the

AN IDENTITY
Engine Room, a non-profit organisation
with expertise in technology and data,
details several high-profile incidents
of the growing use – and risks – of
biometrics in the humanitarian sector.
According to the UN, an estimated 360
million people worldwide are currently
in need of humanitarian assistance, an
increase of 30 per cent since the start of
2022. Humanitarian organisations are
finding it increasingly challenging to
meet those needs, and biometrics were
first adopted during the early 2000s as
a way of facilitating aid registration and
distribution (many people in need of aid
don’t possess identification documents
such as a passport).
Since then, the use of digital biometric
systems to collect data such as iris,
hand or fingerprint scans has become
normalised and a central part of
humanitarian work. Some organisations
have also been encouraged by donors
that request detailed reports on how
their money has been spent. By the end
of 2020, almost 63.8 million biometric
profiles were registered with the World
Food Programme’s SCOPE database.
However, Tsui explains that while aid
organisations cite the numerous benefits
A registration centre
of using biometric data systems – such in Chad for displaced
as increased efficiency and fraud control people seeking aid
– there’s little in the way of evidence
EUROPEAN UNION/DOMINIQUE CATTON

8 . GEOGRAPHICAL
 TOBIN JONES/AU UN IST PHOTO

IN BRIEF
Stories you may have missed
from around the world

UGANDA
In response to Uganda’s Anti
Homosexuality Act 2023, the
World Bank has suspended all
new loans to the country, arguing
that the new law ‘fundamentally
contradicts’ the bank’s values.
However, critics have pointed
to a lack of consistency when it
comes to the bank’s relationships
with other countries – including
Saudi Arabia and Brunei –
where the death penalty is a
punishment for homosexuality.

CANADA
In August, Meta began blocking
Canadian news content on
its social media platforms,
following a new law requiring
tech companies to pay news
publishers. The decision has
been criticised for causing a
media vacuum during a period
of intense wildfires in Canada’s

CRISIS
Northwest Territories.

GABON
Taking fingerprints for Soldiers seized power in Gabon
biometric ID cards for
access to aid in Somalia shortly after the national elections,
placing President Ali Bongo under
house arrest. It’s the ninth military
coup in the sub-Saharan region
or research to actually support these huge groups, in a rush, maybe even in since 2020.
claims. Most importantly, says Tsui, the middle of the night,’ she says. ‘That’s
many organisations have failed to review not an environment that’s conducive to AUSTRIA
their use of biometric data in light of the informed consent.’ More often than not, Paying in cash may become a
increased evidence of harm it can cause. the reality is that individuals seeking constitutional right for Austrians
The main issues raised by the new aid are in no position to refuse. ‘When after the country’s far-right party
report include function creep, data we’ve asked aid organisations about what accused the current government
security and the misuse of data. ‘In most happens if people do say no, they’ve of conspiring to ban cash. Austria
situations, the risks that individuals been evasive,’ says Tsui. ‘In reality, there has the highest density of cash
who depend upon humanitarian aid often is no alternative in place.’ machines in the EU, and 54
face when their data is collected are the It may seem as if it’s too late to turn per cent of the population still
same risks that you or I might face,’ says back from the reliance on biometrics, but chooses cash over credit or debit
Tsui. ‘The key difference is that these Belkis Wille, associate director with the cards to pay for groceries.
risks are much more likely to occur.’ Crisis and Conflict division at Human
In 2018, Open Democracy reported Rights Watch, says that the humanitarian EUROPE
that Rohingya refugees at a camp in response to the war in Ukraine suggests A German court has refused
Bangladesh protested against the issue otherwise. Many Ukrainians and the to extradite a man accused of
of smart ID cards after the Bangladeshi smaller, local humanitarian groups drug trafficking to the UK due to
government shared biometric data supporting them didn’t want to share concerns about prison conditions.
with the Myanmar junta, which has their biometric data with international The court stated that the UK had
persecuted the Rohingya people. agencies and, as a result, those agencies failed to guarantee compliance
Tsui says that of all the issues dropped the requirement. ‘Ukraine has with minimum standards in
associated with biometric data collection, certainly made the argument in favour accordance with the European
lack of consent is particularly tricky. of biometric data collection harder to Convention on Human Rights.
‘People fleeing harm often arrive in justify,’ agrees Tsui. l

OCTOBER 2023 . 9
 WORLDWATCH
Research round-up
ALERIO MEI/SHUTTERSTOCK

Rare bears A Marsican brown bear

in Abruzzo, Lazio and
Molise National Park

n Less than two hours’ drive from Rome, bears still roam successfully coexist and where they don’t,’ she says. Mayer
the woods. Known as the Marsican (or Apennine) brown has created maps for a total of 21 municipalities located in
bear, this subspecies of the European brown bear is critically and around the national park. She says she was surprised
endangered – only 70 currently remain in the wild. Their to discover that in some cases, municipalities just a few
continued existence is largely threatened by their close kilometres apart often had different opinions about the
proximity to humans; they’re often killed in vehicle collisions bears. She believes that the cause is probably the spread of false
or die from poisoned bait. information, as well as locals’ reliance on their own agricultural
Despite local authorities’ conservation attempts, not products and whether they earn their living from tourism.
everyone is happy to have the bears around. For this reason, ‘Tourism-reliant municipalities even stand to benefit from
Paula Mayer, a researcher at ETH Zurich, has mapped the the bears, since wildlife tourism is booming in Abruzzo
coexistence of humans and bears in the Abruzzo, Lazio and National Park,’ she adds. The maps will help to identify areas
Molise National Park region. ‘This project is an attempt to and measures that should be prioritised to promote human–
take a rational look at the landscape and figure out where bear coexistence, such as investments to make the local waste
and under what circumstances humans and large carnivores disposal, fruit crops and livestock bear-proof.

SHUTTERSTOCK

A dying forest
n A long-term study by forest scientists at the
University of Freiburg has revealed that climate change
is the key driver of tree mortality in the Black Forest,
a mountainous region in southwest Germany. The 68-
year study, published in Global Change Biology, shows
that increasingly dry, hot summers have led to both
a rise in tree mortality and a reduction in the growth
of spruce, beech and fir trees, which are dominant in
the Black Forest. The drier, warmer climate affects the
physiological processes of trees, such as photosynthesis
and respiration, and makes them more vulnerable to
biotic and abiotic stress factors, including insect and
The warming Black Forest
fungal infestation, frost and drought.

10 . GEOGRAPHICAL
Sea change
n Tracking changes in Arctic sea ice is in fine detail. Using a 37.4-kilometre- hours and kilometres – compared to
an important way to understand how long section of cable deployed offshore satellite images, which are updated
climate change is affecting the region; of Oliktok Point, Alaska, Andres Felipe daily and may cover tens to hundreds of
it’s also useful to commercial shipping Peña Castro and colleagues recorded kilometres. In their study, published in the
companies. Since the 1970s, satellites ambient seismic noise related to the Seismic Record, the scientists were able
have been used to monitor sea ice motion of waves on open water and to observe abrupt changes in sea ice extent
growth and retreat, but researchers at the sea ice that suppresses that wave of up to ten kilometres that occurred in
the University of New Mexico have action. The technique offers a way to less than a day. ‘It was definitely surprising
discovered that telecommunications track sea ice with higher spatial and that the sea ice can change so much in a
fibre-optic cables can track these changes temporal resolution – on the scale of few hours,’ says Peña Castro.

Sea ice forming on the

surface of the White Sea

ANDREY POZHARSKIY/SHUTTERSTOCK

Solar savings Climate shocks

n Solar-powered irrigation is a game-changer for small-scale farms in sub- n Among the negative impacts of
Saharan Africa, which represent 80 per cent of all agricultural production in extreme weather events around the
the region, say researchers. In a new study, part of the larger Renewables world is one that most people may not
for African Agriculture project, researchers calculated that an investment of think of – an increase in child marriages.
US$3 billion a year in solar water pumps, batteries and irrigation systems In a review of 20 studies connecting
could generate potential profits of more than US$5 billion a year by droughts, floods and other extreme
increasing yields for smallholder farmers. Rain-fed agriculture in Africa is weather events to increases in child,
hampered by increasingly unpredictable and erratic rainfall patterns, one of early and forced marriages in low- and
the leading causes of the low productivity and food insecurity in the region middle-income countries, researchers at
(along with a low degree of mechanisation). Ohio State University found compelling
evidence of a link between the two.
Fiona Doherty, lead author of the study,
explains that while extreme weather
Historic DNA has no direct effect on child marriages,
n In a first-of-its-kind analysis of efforts to identify the descendants ‘what these disasters do is exacerbate
historical DNA, researchers have of the workers, many of whom were existing problems of gender inequality
identified nearly 42,000 living enslaved, had failed because of scant and poverty that lead families to child
descendants of 27 African American historical records. The work reveals marriage as a coping mechanism’.
people who laboured and were buried how the individuals buried at the Globally, one in five girls is married
at an iron forge in Maryland, USA, iron forge were related to each other, before the age of 18, and in lower- and
from the 1770s. The DNA of the the genetic conditions they may have middle-income countries, that figure
Catoctin Furnace workers was linked had, where in Africa and Europe they rises to 40 per cent. Those numbers may
to that of customers of 23andMe, or their ancestors likely came from, grow as climate change increases the
a personal genomics company that and where in the USA they have frequency of extreme-weather events
distributes ancestry test kits. Previous descendants living today. around the world.

OCTOBER 2023 . 11
 GEO-GRAPHIC

Emerging
hunger
hotspots
When it comes to food insecurity, we often focus on the countries
most affected by hunger, such as Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan
and Yemen. However, for a number of reasons (including the
lasting impacts of the pandemic, conflict, climate change and
economic instability) access to healthy and affordable food is
a growing issue in a number of countries. Over the past year,
local food prices have increased by 15 per cent in 54 countries,
including in three countries where they increased by more than
100 per cent. Here, we take a look at the countries with the
highest annual food inflation rates (up until June 2023) ‒ some
of which are emerging hotspots of food insecurity ‒ and the
factors behind the spiralling cost of food.

ARGENTINA

GHANA 116.9%
54.2% Latin America’s third largest economy
has seen a significant rise in the
number of people who are struggling
to eat. Economic instability and three
Over the last 20 years, Ghana has made progress
consecutive years of droughts have
in reducing both poverty and hunger among its
contributed to rising food prices.
population. However, a continued disparity between
the north and south of the country (largely due to
geographical and climatic differences; the north has
only one rainy season while the south has two) along
with conflict in the neighbouring Sahel region, the
rising price of fertiliser and dwindling crop yields have
led to an increase in food insecurity. EGYPT

65%
The world’s largest importer of wheat
has been badly affected by the war in
Ukraine; more than 80 per cent of its
annual 12,000 MT of wheat products
come from Russia and Ukraine. In
addition to the soaring costs of its staple
foods, chronic water shortages and
unpredictable weather patterns (caused
IRAN
by climate change) are placing additional

42.7%
Data Source: World Bank Food Security stress on the country’s agriculture.
Update July 2023; World Food Programme
Design: Geoff Dahl

12 . GEOGRAPHICAL
 Years of hyperinflation and the depreciation of its national
currency are key contributors to the increased prices of many
goods in Venezuela, including food staples. The increased
frequency and intensity of climate-related disasters such
as floods, drought and landslides have also destroyed
infrastructure and damaged agriculture in the country.

414.1%
VENEZUELA

ANNUAL FOOD LEBANON

279.5%
INFLATION RATE
PER COUNTRY

Lebanon continues to grapple with a financial crisis that

first emerged between October 2019 and April 2022,
when the national currency lost more than 90 per cent of
its value. The situation was exacerbated by the start of the
Covid-19 pandemic and a devastating blast at the capital’s
port in August 2020, which destroyed major grain silos.
The ongoing war in Syria has also placed an additional
strain on existing resources; Lebanon has the world’s
highest per capita refugee presence, estimated at 25 per
cent of the overall population.

TÜRKIYE
LAOS

51.4% 42.7% OCTOBER 2023 . 13

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Migration truths

H
ere’s a familiar beginning are often not developing) is rising
to a migrant/refugee rapidly. Niger has the highest fertility
story, but one that rate in the world at an average seven
ends in a shockingly children per woman. This is one
unfamiliar way. of the factors behind last month’s
Hundreds of desperate coup. Neighbouring Nigeria’s
Africans, fleeing poverty and war, population, currently about 225
had managed to leave their country million, is expected to rise to about
of origin in search of a better life. 400 million by 2050. The number of
They crossed borders and paid Tim Marshall recounts people on the move is likely to rise
people smugglers who put them due to poverty, climate change and
in overcrowded boats to make a
Saudi Arabia’s shocking violence. So is the number killed.
dangerous sea journey. The long ‘solution’ to a refugee Border guards in Europe are
trek was almost over. At last, the influx and argues there is unlikely to resort to measures such
‘promised land’ was in sight, the as those in Saudi Arabia, but the
place where there is no war – one
only one real answer to hardening of attitudes that began
where they could perhaps get jobs this global problem a few years ago appears destined
and begin new lives. to continue. Last month, Italy’s
Then the mortars and rifles prime minister, Giorgia Meloni,
opened fire. As the people scattered, demanded that her government
scrambling for cover, shells and PRESSMASTER/SHUTTERSTOCK improve its response to a surge in
bullets killed and wounded dozens. migrant arrivals. On one Sunday in
Amid the screams of the wounded August alone, 110 boats carrying
and dying, more mortars rained down; 4,200 people arrived on the island
the survivors were showered with of Lampedusa. By ‘improve’ Meloni
fragments of metal and stone. When wasn’t referring to the treatment of
the guns fell silent, the border guards those arriving, but to stopping them
descended to review their work. from arriving. Official Italian figures
The guards were Saudi, the say 113,500 people have come by
migrants/refugees mostly Ethiopian, sea so far this year, compared to
and the border was with Yemen. The about 56,000 in the same period of
story comes from a Human Right 2022. The government increasingly
Watch (HRW) report published last restricts the activities of charity
month that concluded that hundreds, rescue ships and has impounded
possibly thousands of people have several vessels.
been killed in this manner over the ‘Irregular’ migration into the UK is
past few years. After taking the The number of refugees has more also up, but the government admits it
‘Eastern Route’ into Djibouti, across than doubled in the past decade; doesn’t know by exactly how much. In
the Gulf of Aden and into Yemen, in 2022 it stood at 32 million the year ending June 2023, 52,530
people are led in columns across people were recorded entering via an
into Saudi Arabia by members of the sheep, like a house for animals’ and irregular route, 85 per cent of whom
smuggling gangs. denied medical treatment for the arrived in small boats. This is a 17 per
For the survivors of such outrages serious injuries many had suffered. cent rise on the same period for the
as are described above, the ordeal is The Saudi government denies this previous year but the Gov.uk site for
far from over. One told HRW that the and says the killings didn’t take migration says: ‘It is not possible to
guards asked them which of their place. The detail of the HRW know… the total number of people
limbs they would prefer to have shot, investigation suggests otherwise. who enter the UK irregularly.’
and then shot that limb. Another The alleged scale of brutality by This is the reality of the migrant
recalled: ‘The border guards made the Saudi guards is unusual, but crisis and governments should be
us remove our clothes and told us to smaller-scale killings take place honest with voters. They aren’t going
rape the girls. The girls were 15 years elsewhere. For example, Egypt has to ‘stop the small boats’ and migrant
old. One of the men refused. They shot migrants/refugees trying to numbers will continue to rise.
killed him on the spot.’ get into Israel, Syrians attempting to Solutions won’t be found on beaches
They were then taken for processing cross into Türkiye have been killed, in France, Italy or Tunisia, nor in
and deportation, held in conditions as have Bangladeshis approaching shooting people at border crossings.
that make the Bibby Stockholm barge the now almost completely fenced They can only be found in helping to
for asylum seekers in the UK look like border with India. turn the places from which people
a palace. Survivors claim they were Population growth in what are flee into places where there’s hope
taken to a place ‘where they keep called developing countries (which of a better life.

OCTOBER 2023 . 15
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 WORLDVIEW: CLIMATEWATCH

Rational selfishness

H
omo economicus, as The several items ‘not on track’
we were dubbed by comprise coal usage, methane
Adam Smith, the father abatement from oil and gas
of economics, can be operations, and gas flaring. Aviation
an amazing species. and shipping are still far from their
As the canny Scottish emissions goals, as are all heavy-
Enlightenment thinker predicted, it emitting industries (aluminum,
seems that people can, en masse, cement, chemicals, steel and paper).
adopt new, radical technologies when Marco Magrini The still unproven carbon capture
they’re sufficiently mature, whenever technology, long promoted by the
it benefits them. It happened in a considers whether fossil fuel industry as a dramatic
snap with the internet, not to mention markets alone can get solution, is probably off track entirely.
the smartphone. It may be happening As a matter of fact, French
again with clean-energy technologies.
us to net zero consultancy Capgemini has outright
In the first half of 2023, ‘investment excluded carbon capture from its
in renewable energy skyrocketed own list of ‘technology quests’ that
to US$358 billion’, according to are needed to reach the fabled
BloombergNEF’s latest report. The Statue of Adam Smith net-zero target. The list is a very
in Edinburgh
International Energy Agency (IEA) detailed inventory of breakthroughs
forecasts that, in 2023, global required to decarbonise Europe’s
renewable capacity will grow by more economy, including (unlike the
than 440 gigawatts, the biggest IEA’s tracker) agriculture and land
increase ever, mostly thanks to use (together responsible for
solar investments (and to China). more than 18 per cent of global
As incredible as it may sound, next emissions). From building a trans-
year, the manufacturing capacity for Mediterranean electric grid powered
photovoltaics production is expected by concentrating solar energy to
to more than double to one terawatt retrofitting existing shipping vessels
(1,000 gigawatts). with ammonia-fuel-cell propulsion
The recent swift adoption of engines, Capgemini’s 55 quests give
electric vehicles has also been a clear idea of the magnitude of the
astounding. Less than five per cent tasks ahead.
of all new cars sold were electric in Yet ‘progress is occurring faster in
2020, rising to around nine per cent those parts of the energy system for
in 2021 and 14 per cent in 2022. which clean technologies are already
This year, EVs are projected to reach available and costs are falling quickly’,
a 19 per cent market share. In the first the IEA reckons in its tracking report.
half of 2023, the Tesla Model Y was In other words, H. economicus’s
the top-selling car worldwide, thus instincts aren’t sufficient to avert the
beating every petrol-fuelled vehicle. climate and environmental crisis; the
SHUTTERSTOCK
‘The global automotive market is old idea that market forces could do
firm in the Electric Disruption Zone,’ it has proven to be a fallacy. Maybe a
reads the CleanTechnica website low-consumption LEDs) are the global tax on carbon emissions could
with some fanfare. only innovations, among the more have succeeded, but it was irrationally
Is H. economicus’s innate than 50 monitored by the IEA, that ruled out by many states.
rationality going to steer our are considered ‘on track’ towards Among the ‘not on track’ flags, the
society towards the safe haven of the global goal of net-zero CO2 IEA also lists ‘behavioural changes’.
decarbonisation? Unfortunately, the emissions by 2050. All of the In this case, the agency talks about
answer is no – its rationality is, by remaining ones are not. energy usage, but it’s more than
definition, marred by selfishness. As The majority of the IEA’s indicators likely to be a general rule: nobody is
Smith put it in The Wealth of Nations: are listed in the ‘more efforts needed’ keen on changing their status quo –
‘It is not from the benevolence of the category, including energy efficiency, neither people, nor nations.
butcher, the brewer, or the baker that electrification level and renewables We should also remember that
we expect our dinner, but from their adoption in general, but also Smith was no blind free-market
regard to their own interest.’ hydrogen, wind and nuclear, heating zealot. He realised that his H.
Solar photovoltaics, electric and cooling, energy storage and economicus needed interventionist
vehicles and lighting (more than smart grids. The IEA also laments an government to guarantee the wealth
half of residential lights are now insufficient pace of innovation. of our nations.

OCTOBER 2023 . 17
 GEOGRAPHICAL
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 VIDEO AWARDS
Better World

THE MPB Geographical

Better World Video Awards
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Share with our readers a film – short or long – that tells We’re looking for great short films that move and
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make our planet safer, healthier and more sustainable. rudimentary basic video storytelling. The important thing
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OCTOBER 2023 . 19
 MALARIA
Disease control

A DEADLY END

AKBARI LAB/UC SAN DIEGO

20 . GEOGRAPHICAL
 An adult Anopheles gambiae, the
mosquito species responsible
for most malaria deaths

FOR MALARIA
Progress on reducing malaria
deaths stalled ten years
ago. Bryony Cottam reports
on a new gene-editing approach
that could provide
a significant breakthrough

OCTOBER 2023 . 21
 Incidence of malaria, 2020
species that cause malaria in humans. Two of these species – P. falciparum and P. vivax – pose the greatest threat. The first symptoms – fever,
headache and chills – usually appear 10 to 15 days after the infective mosquito bite and may be mild and difficult to recognize as malaria. Left unt
P. falciparum
Incidencemalaria can progress
of malaria 1
is the tonumber
severe illness
of new and death of
cases within 24 hours.
malaria in a year per 1,000 population at risk.

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

MALARIA

E
Disease control

very mosquito laboratory has a different

method for feeding its mosquitoes. At the Catteruccia
No data 0 10 30 50 100 300 500 1,000
Lab at Harvard University, where Andie Smidler spent
several hours a day tending to the insects as a PhD The number of new cases of malaria in a
student, mosquitoes are fed on human donor blood Source: World Health Organization (via World Bank) OurWorldInData.org/malaria • CC BY
year per 1,000 population at risk in 2020
served through a membrane feeding system called
a Hemotek. ‘But here,’ she says, ‘we feed them on
anaesthetised mice.’
When Smidler moved to the Akbari Lab at the
University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where
she’s now a postdoctoral scholar, she brought Anopheles
gambiae – a species more commonly known as the
African malaria mosquito – with her from Harvard.
She’s now responsible for what she estimates is around
20,000 A. gambiae, one of five species that she and her
colleagues currently study, but at any one time there might
be as many as 100,000 mosquitoes in the UCSD lab.
Omar Akbari, principal investigator at the Akbari
Lab, explains that access to the chambers where the
mosquitoes are housed is restricted by a card-reader
door lock followed by an iris scanner. Beyond these first
two doors, a curtain of air blocks the movement of any
flying insects. ‘It’s an ultra-secure facility,’ he says. ‘You
don’t want the mosquitoes to get out.’
Of the more than 3,500 species of mosquito on Earth,
only a handful are responsible for transmitting malaria.
Of these, A. gambiae, which is endemic to sub-Saharan Andie Smidler (left) and Reema
Africa, is the most efficient at spreading the most lethal Apte, reseachers in the Akbari
Laboratory
of the malaria parasites, Plasmodium falciparum. The
World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in AKBARI LAB/UC SAN DIEGO

2021, malaria caused 619,000 deaths globally, 96 per

cent of which (593,000 deaths) occurred in Africa. P. by mosquitoes are growing longer and their range
falciparum was responsible for most of these. has expanded. But one important factor is the rise
During the first decade of this century, the world in antimalarial and insecticide resistance. The WHO
made unprecedented progress towards the global reports that between 2010 and 2020, 78 of the 88
eradication of malaria. It’s a period that Pedro Alonso, malaria-endemic countries detected mosquito resistance
who retired from the role of WHO Global Malaria to at least one insecticide. ‘In some areas,’ says Raman,
Programme director in March last year, refers to as the ‘mosquitoes have even changed their behaviour.’
‘golden era’ of malaria intervention. New drugs, the What’s more, Raman says that P. falciparum has
widespread roll-out of insecticide-treated bed nets, developed a resistance to the main rapid diagnostic test
the use of residual indoor pesticides and a lot of newly used for malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. ‘So you can
allocated funding contributed to making a significant test a whole lot of people and they come up as malaria
dent in the number of new cases. Between 2000 and negative, while they’re actually malaria positive,’ she
2013, the WHO reported a 30 per cent reduction in case says. ‘The malaria parasite is finding many ways to evade
incidence, and mortality rates decreased by 47 per cent being detected and being effectively treated. And it is
worldwide. Then, progress stalled. becoming a little bit scary.’
Jaishree Raman heads the Laboratory for Antimalarial In the opening statement of the WHO World Malaria
Resistance Monitoring and Malaria Operational Report 2022, director-general Tedros Adhanom
Research at the South African National Institute for Ghebreyesus writes that despite mounting challenges
Communicable Diseases in Johannesburg. She says – including the arrival of Covid-19 – most countries
there are many reasons why progress has plateaued: have managed to hold the line against malaria.
funding has flatlined, the warm, wet seasons preferred However, the effectiveness of our main tools against

22 . GEOGRAPHICAL
treated,

A Target Malaria
team member
engages with
community
members in the
village of Abutia
Amegame,
Ghana
TARGET MALARIA

A HEAVY BURDEN TO BEAR malaria is in decline. ‘I think there is a major concern

that we will have a drug-resistant outbreak, which
l Almost half of all malaria cases occur in four would have serious consequences for any elimination,
African countries (Nigeria, the Democratic let alone eradication efforts,’ adds Raman. As such,
Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Mozambique), global healthcare leaders are on the lookout for new
but Olukemi Amodu, director of the Institute of approaches, one of which is currently sitting in a cage in
Health at the University of Ibadan, says that the a chamber of the Akbari Lab.
burden of malaria is particularly high in Nigeria; At the moment, Smidler is feeding the female A. gambiae
the country accounts for more than a quarter of in her care with live mice roughly once a week. ‘We’re
all malaria cases globally. ‘Anopheles gambiae is gearing up to inject embryos,’ she says, ‘so I need a fresh cage
very common in Nigeria – the weather conditions of mosquitoes every week.’ Only female mosquitoes drink
here are favourable for this mosquito,’ she says, blood – making them the only transmitters, or ‘vectors’, of
explaining that while some countries experience malaria – which provides them with the protein they need
seasonal malaria transmission, where most cases to produce their eggs. These A. gambiae embryos will
occur during the rainy season, transmission in be injected with CRISPR, a gene-editing tool designed,
Nigeria occurs throughout the year. ‘That puts in this case, to target two genes: one that’s important
about 97 per cent of the population at risk.’ To make for female development and one that determines male
matters worse, A. stephensi, an invasive malaria- fertility. So far, tests have resulted in only sterile males
transmitting species from Asia, recently spread into being born, while all the females die.
sub-Saharan Africa and is now in Nigeria. The idea is that, since female mosquitoes typically
only mate once, the mass release of the sterile male

OCTOBER 2023 . 23
 MALARIA
Disease control

A mother puts her child A NEW VACCINE

to sleep inside a malaria
net in Ghana l In April 2023, Nigeria provisionally
approved the newest malaria vaccine
(R21), which has been developed
for use in children aged five and
under – the group at the highest risk
of severe malaria. The latest trials
have demonstrated a high vaccine
efficacy of between 70–80 per cent
following the fourth dose, but some
researchers are sceptical about
whether children will complete the
full course.‘Will the new vaccine have
an immediate impact in Nigeria? I
think first of all there needs to be
a greater awareness among the
public of the benefits,’ says Olukemi
Amodu, director of the Institute of
Health at the University of Ibadan.
‘We’ve seen vaccine hesitancy
around the routine vaccines that we
already have, due to religious beliefs
or misinformation, so we’re not going
to be able to prevent malaria with
vaccines unless we
do more to educate and support local
communities.’

ARNE HOEL/THE WORLD BANK

mosquitoes should prevent wild females from producing escaping. That said, while an escaped A. gambiae would
future generations. Insect populations can and have be unable to survive outdoors somewhere like the UK,
already been successfully suppressed by the release of it would be a very different situation in a place with a
sterilised males that have been irradiated with gamma suitable climate – such as San Diego. ‘But the whole
or x-rays, a technique that was originally trialled in the point of our technology is that it’s a dead end, right?’
USA as a way to control agricultural pests such as fruit Smidler says. ‘If a male mates with a female in the wild it
flies and screwworms. But that method of sterilisation doesn’t matter, she’d be infertile.’
has a detrimental impact on the fitness of male
mosquitoes, which then struggle to compete for mates
with the wild males. That’s why sterilisation needs to be ‘We’ve essentially created a very
done genetically, says Smidler.
Akbari’s team isn’t the only one developing new evolutionarily stable system that
genetic technologies to put a stop to malaria-spreading
mosquitoes. ‘There are a number of different groups
can be used to suppress Anopheles
working on developing genetic bio-control technologies gambia populations safely’
for mosquitoes, and a lot of different approaches
have been tried,’ says Akbari. ‘But the main difference
between these approaches and ours is that our ‘Part of the motivation behind this research was to try
technology doesn’t rely on gene drives.’ to develop a technology that mitigates the limitations of
In genetic engineering, gene drives are used to gene drives,’ says Akbari. ‘We’ve essentially created a very
increase the probability that any offspring will inherit evolutionarily stable system that can be used to suppress
a particular genetic element. ‘It’s a technology that can A. gambiae populations safely. That’s not something that
spread easily into a population,’ says Akbari, ‘which can has previously been developed.’
be a problem, because once you deploy it, it’s going to Questions still remain about whether it’s a good
be very difficult to stop it from spreading.’ This raises a idea to entirely eliminate a mosquito species from an
number of concerns about what might happen if there area, but Smidler believes that there’s little evidence
are any unintended consequences of the technology, to suggest we shouldn’t. ‘Technically, that experiment
including any wider ecological impacts it may have. has been done before,’ she says. ‘We had malaria in the
Smidler says that the Akbari Lab was built at a time USA before the 1940s and the way that we controlled
when fears surrounding gene drives were at an all-time it was to oil-slick the swamps and spray DDT
high – which explains, she adds, the slightly exaggerated everywhere. We eradicated the mosquito, as well as a
safety precautions designed to prevent any mosquitoes lot of other insects.’ By the time mosquitoes returned to

24 . GEOGRAPHICAL
 Only female mosquitoes
suck blood and spread
diseases such as malaria

DIGITAL IMAGES STUDIO/SHUTTERSTOCK

the USA some 15 years later, the malaria parasite was

EVASIVE BEHAVIOUR long gone. ‘Obviously, that was ecologically brutal and
l The first recorded evidence that mosquitoes were wouldn’t pass muster today,’ she adds. ‘But the point is,
adapting their behaviour to the use of insecticides if there were any ecological impacts at the time, then
came from the Solomon Islands, where a method we don’t recognise them today. There’s nothing that
called ‘indoor residual spraying’ had been used to serves as a warning lesson.’
deter mosquitoes from homes and buildings since Fred Aboagye-Antwi, principal investigator at
the 1960s. Like many Anopheles mosquitoes, A. Target Malaria Ghana, is inclined to agree. ‘I will not
farauti – commonly found in the coastal areas of conclusively say that there would be no impact because
Papua New Guinea and the surrounding islands, we are still investigating,’ he says. ‘But from what we
including the Solomons – likes to feed indoors and have seen so far, a significant reduction in the number of
at night. By the ’90s, however, this preference had A. gambiae is not going to impact the ecosystem.’
shifted to feeding outdoors in the early evening, Aboagye-Antwi and his team at the University of
before people turned indoors for the night. Ghana are currently conducting a four-year ecological
study to help predict the impact of locally suppressing

OCTOBER 2023 . 25
 MALARIA
Disease control

the mosquito species. ‘If you do a species composition

analysis, there might be a few Anopheles, but the
If there’s one thing to take away from our
majority of mosquitoes that we find are other species,’ previous attempts to eradicate malaria,
he says. ‘So even if you take the Anopheles out of
the picture, it’s unlikely to affect the whole system it’s to not become complacent when
significantly.’ However, there’s a chance that with A.
gambiae gone, another vector could take its place. ‘In
presented with a promising new tool
ecology, species are always competing for a particular
niche. This is something that needs more consideration contributing to insecticide resistance. ‘If a genetic approach
and research before any genetic approach can be rolled – which doesn’t require much human involvement – is
out for malaria control.’ successful, then it could have a very, very big impact when
According to Aboagye-Antwi, one of the main it comes to malaria control within Africa.’
challenges to eliminating malaria from Ghana is a lack of If there’s one thing to take away from our previous
compliance. ‘Talk to anyone, and they will tell you they attempts to eradicate malaria, it’s to not become
know the importance of bednets, but I’d say it’s only a complacent when presented with a new and promising
very small percentage that use them. Most people have tool. In the 1950s and ’60s, many believed that the
them at home, but they use them for growing vegetables combination of chloroquine – the ‘miracle drug’ – and
or protecting their chickens.’ Similarly, he says, the DDT would wipe out malaria parasites once and for all.
general Ghanaian public isn’t well informed about the More funding, resources and greater public education,
most effective uses of insecticide sprays, which is further as well as new technologies, are all desperately needed

26 . GEOGRAPHICAL
 1870 CENSUS: STATISTICAL ATLAS OF THE UNITED STATES
RICHARD JUILLIART/SHUTTERSTOCK
Malaria was rife in the USA
during the 19th century

A child in Uganda, where

malaria is still the main
cause of death – particularly
among the young

to ensure success. Nonetheless, says Aboagye-Antwi, the A SHORT HISTORY OF MALARIA

future is bright. ‘Yes, the challenges are numerous, but l As little as 100 years ago, malaria existed on
elimination is possible.’ every continent but Antarctica. In England, the
Smidler agrees that malaria eradication is last recorded outbreak of locally transmitted
fundamentally a team effort, but when asked whether malaria occurred between 1917 and 1921, but in
her genetically modified mosquitoes could come the the centuries prior, it had plagued communities
closest we’ve seen so far to a silver bullet, she admits she living near coastal marshland in areas such as
thinks they stand a pretty good chance. the Somerset Levels, Essex, Sussex and Kent.
‘I don’t want to call it a silver bullet,’ she says. ‘That’s Throughout the first half of the 20th century,
a little too cocky, especially for something that’s going the disease was successfully driven from
to be as labour intensive as this, that’s going to need much of Europe and North America and, in
iterative releases of sterilised males over five, ten years 1955, the newly formed WHO launched the
or more.’ first campaign for the worldwide eradication of
In a way, she adds, a gene drive fits that definition malaria. A total of 35 countries were declared
more closely, in the sense that the knock-on effects malaria-free. Then, realising it was too great a
of releasing just ten mosquitoes could lead to malaria challenge to achieve within the timeframe that
eradication. ‘Maybe a better analogy for our technology had been set, the WHO withdrew funding from
would be a “silver buckshot”, because it’s not going to the campaign. In many countries, malaria
be a one-and-done. Yeah,’ she says with a smile, ‘maybe subsequently returned with a vengeance.
that’s what it should be called. A silver buckshot.’ l

OCTOBER 2023 . 27
ON
EVEREST
Climate change

THE
Modern equipment and much-
improved weather forecasting
have led to queues in the ‘Death
Zone’ as climbers attempt to reach
the summit of Mount Everest.
But the number of climbers isn’t
the only thing that’s on the rise.
Temperatures are also increasing,
causing the world’s highest
glaciers to melt, with dangerous
consequences for both climbers

RISE
and communities downhill

BY NATALIE BERRY

28 . GEOGRAPHICAL
A line of climbers on the Lhotse Face (7,500
metres) crossing the Yellow Band, on the
southeast route up Mount Everest in Nepal
CHRISTIAN KOBER/ALAMY

OCTOBER 2023 . 29
 EVEREST

K
Climate change

anchha Sherpa, 90, is the last

surviving member of the 1953 expedition that reached
the summit of Mount Everest. Aged 19 at the time, he
carried equipment up to the South Col to aid Edmund
Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s historic first ascent.
The oldest resident of Namche Bazaar, a staging
point for Everest expeditions, Kanchha has witnessed
the peaks darken from white to black. ‘There isn’t as
much snowfall as in the past,’ he says. ‘The snow-capped
mountains are not as snowy and I fear their essence and
beauty are slowly diminishing.’
Before the first ascent, Sherpas were reluctant to climb
their native mountains, deeming it disrespectful to
the Tibetan Buddhist mountain gods. The Sherpas call
Everest Chomolungma, ‘Mother Goddess of the World.’
Since 1953, Everest’s summit has been reached more
than 11,000 times by more than 6,000 people.
‘With the boom of commercial mountaineering,
I feel that people have forgotten the essence of the
mountain deities,’ says Kanchha. ‘There are so many
people climbing these mountains, living on the
glaciers, and the waste they produce is polluting the
sanctity of these sacred landforms.’
Kanchha’s grandson, Tenzing Chogyal Sherpa, 30,
was moved by the laments of lost snow and ice. Today,
he works as a glaciologist at the International Centre
for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD),
SWISS FOUNDATION FOR ALPINE RESEARCH

studying ice loss on Everest and across the Hindu

Kush-Himalaya region. The latest studies by ICIMOD
have warned that glaciers in the region could lose up
to three-quarters of their volume by 2100, even if the
world acts to limit global warming. These glaciers supply
water to around two billion people downstream, who
now live under increasing threat of avalanches, flooding,
landslides and drought.
In 2019, Tenzing joined an expedition
to assess climate change’s impact.

SHUTTERSTOCK

30 . GEOGRAPHICAL
 Kanchha Sherpa (ringed)
with the 1953 Mount
Everest ascent team

‘There are so many people climbing

these mountains.... they are polluting
the sanctity of these sacred landforms’
Kanchha Sherpa, 90

Latest studies show glaciers in the

region could lose up to 75% of their
volume by 2100

OCTOBER 2023 . 31
 EVEREST The notorious Khumbu Icefall, where 16 Sherpas
died in 2014. Over the years it has become more
Climate change dynamic and precarious to navigate and remains
the most dangerous section of the climb

1952
SWISS FOUNDATION FOR ALPINE RESEARCH

The team estimated that the South Col glacier – the ice – tumbled down on them, dislodged after the early-
world’s highest at 8,200 metres and the route most morning sun had warmed the glacier. It’s the second-
expeditions from the Nepalese side take to reach deadliest disaster in Everest’s history. The worst followed
Everest’s summit – has lost 2,000 years of ice formation in 2015, with 22 fatalaties, when a number of avalanches
in just 30 years. struck the southern side of the mountain.
‘We estimate that over the last 30 years, the average Since 1978, around 200 of the climbers who’ve reached
temperature on Everest has risen at a rate of approximately Everest’s summit have done so without supplemental
0.2–0.3°C per decade,’ says climate scientist Tom Matthews oxygen. A recent study published in iScience reports that
of King’s College, London, who has installed weather higher air pressure due to rising temperatures has increased
stations on the mountain. A phenomenon called oxygen levels near the summit – a relief for oxygen-depleted
elevation-dependent warming plays a role. ‘The higher climbers. But overall, climatic changes are having a more
the elevation, the higher the rate of warming,’ says profound impact on the high Himalaya.
Tenzing. Cold, dry air, 150 km/h winds and strong
sunlight also increase sublimation – where snow and ice
transform directly to vapour – exposing ice below. Clients pay an average of £45,000,
Research suggests that warming might not drive
gradual changes in mountain regions, but instead may be and more than £70,000 for exclusivie
abrupt. ‘Whether it’s melting driven by ever-darkening
surfaces absorbing ever-more sunshine, or the change
experiences, but budget guiding for
from snow to rain, there are mechanisms that could around £25,000 is gaining traction
trigger rapid transformations,’ explains Matthews.
In 2018, Tenzing followed in his grandfather’s
footsteps on a research trip to Everest’s Khumbu Scientists expect more frequent and intense melt periods,
glacier. The internal temperature measured 2°C warmer meaning that some sections could become trickier as
than the mean annual air temperature, despite below- negotiating exposed rock involves technical climbing and
zero air temperatures – showing how sensitive it has slower descents. ‘The Triangular Face on the Nepal side,
been to past warming. between C4 and the Balcony, would be much slower to
‘There’s a lot of lag time in glaciers,’ says Tenzing. descend if snow cover was more patchy,’ says Matthews.
‘Once the ice reaches the tipping point of 0°C, you have Snow- and ice-based climbing anchors will also
drastic melting.’ require regular replacement to prevent fixed-line failure,
Consequently, the Khumbu glacier’s notorious icefall while increased melting has prompted discussions of
(5,486 metres), Everest’s most dangerous obstacle, is shifting South Base Camp 200–400 metres lower.
more dynamic. In 2014, 16 Sherpas were killed on the In the ’90s, commercial guiding on the South (Nepal)
glacier when a number of seracs – unstable blocks of side boomed. Today, Base Camp bustles with helicopters

32 . GEOGRAPHICAL
 2021 ARBINDRA KHADKA
TENZING CHOGYAL SHERPA

and offers high-speed Wi-Fi. Clients pay an average of

£45,000, and more than £70,000 for exclusive experiences,
but budget guiding for about £25,000 is gaining traction.
In 2019, a shocking photo of a ‘traffic jam’ beneath
the summit went viral. These queues increase the risk
of oxygen deprivation in the ‘Death Zone’ above 8,000
metres and exposure to avalanches. This spring season,
Nepal’s Ministry of Tourism issued a record 478 permits
– generating US$5.8 million in revenue – resulting in
more than 1,000 people on Everest’s flanks.
Overcrowding has caused a build-up of rubbish,
abandoned equipment and human waste (and bodies)
while also polluting the watershed with harmful
synthetic ‘forever chemicals’. In 2019, the Nepalese
government launched a campaign to clear more than
10,000 kilograms of rubbish.
More than 300 people have died on Everest since 1953.
The spring season this year was the deadliest yet, with a
record death toll of 17 – well above the average of four.
Deteriorating conditions and safety concerns have
caused some guiding companies to move operations to
the quieter north side in the Tibet Autonomous Region
of China, with its better infrastructure, good road access
and far stricter and more rigorously policed regulations.
Adrian Ballinger of Alpenglow Expeditions shifted
north following the avalanche disaster of 2015. ‘With the
current lack of regulation of Everest in Nepal, we believe
it is impossible to safely and ethically run an expedition
to the south side year after year,’ he says. The problem
is not necessarily the number of permits being issued,
Ballinger explains, but rather climbers who are ill-
equipped for the Khumbu Icefall and put lives at risk.
Kanchha Sherpa with a photograph ‘The dramatic increase in numbers, specifically
of himself from the 1953 expedition
inexperienced climbers led by inexperienced guide

OCTOBER 2023 . 33
 EVEREST
Climate change

companies, has created a tinderbox where big accidents

are inevitable when they could be avoidable,’ he says. ‘All
Scientists predict that the South
we can do is advocate for the increased regulation of the Col glacier may disappear by
mountaineering industry in Nepal.’
In recent years, the Nepalese authorities have debated 2050, meaning that Everest’s high
introducing a permit quota and minimum-competency
regulations to reduce risks and environmental impacts, reaches could be bare, black bedrock
but they have yet to implement tighter controls.
Accidents related to climate change and overcrowding could be bare, black bedrock by the time of centenary
disproportionately affect local Sherpa porters, who celebrations.‘The cause of climate change is global, but
undertake dangerous work and are often involved in the effects are local,’ says Tenzing. ‘This region is the
rescue operations. While some Sherpas are leading perfect example of its symptoms. Climate change is
personal climbs and founding expedition companies, exposing mountain fragility and now they are not as
many now work elsewhere in Nepal’s tourism industry. strong as we thought.’
In April, three Sherpas died in an avalanche on the As Kanchha joined 70th anniversary events this May
Khumbu Icefall. ‘We need to look through another lens and reflected on his historic role, Tenzing continued
at the dark side of mountaineering,’ Tenzing says. ‘It’s his field work. ‘My grandfather is the past of the Everest
like going to a battlefield.’ region,’ he says. ‘And I plan to be the future and continue
Scientists predict that the South Col glacier may his legacy in preserving Sherpa culture, the environment
disappear by 2050, meaning that Everest’s high reaches and its people.’ l

34 . GEOGRAPHICAL
 Tenzing Chogyal Sherpa gazes
at the shrinking Khumbu glacier

TENZING CHOGYAL SHERPA

TENZING CHOGYAL SHERPA

Tenzing and
colleagues carry
out a deep ground-
penetrating survey
on the Khumbu
glacier, with
Everest Base Camp
in the background

OCTOBER 2023 . 35
 TÜRKIYE
By bike

Pedalling through history

Julian Sayarer has travelled across
and reported on vast swathes of
the world by bike. For his latest epic
journey he tackles a country close
to his heart - Türkiye, the land of his
father and his second home

The route of Julian Sayarer’s

4,000-kilometre bike journey

36 . GEOGRAPHICAL
into the future

PICTURE CREDIT
 TÜRKIYE

O
By bike

Cycling past the fields and mountain lakes of the

Balkans, where shepherds speak both Turkish and
Greek, it was sobering to consider that Russian
expansion during the late 19th century, together with
the British, had helped Greeks and Bulgars empty
the Balkans of their Turkic and Muslim populations.
A century later and Türkiye, now a NATO member
but fearful of further escalation across the Black Sea,
was helping mediate Russian–Ukrainian prisoner
exchanges and guarantee the so-called ‘grain corridor’
that tried to keep Ukrainian harvests supplying world
markets. A few weeks later, a baker I drank tea with in
n a late autumn day last year, outside the city of Adana would lament the rising cost of flour,
a grand house on a backstreet of the Greek port city one of many moments in which the roadside would
of Thessaloniki, I took a photo of my touring bicycle intersect with the political machinations that churn
loaded with panniers. The house was the childhood high above the lives of regular people.
home of Mustafa Kemal, better known as Atatürk – The first major waypoint on the journey through
the man who, more than any other, is credited with Türkiye was, of course, Istanbul, a city that always feels
founding the Turkish Republic, but who was born in as if it’s moving fast enough to keep up with a changing
what is now Greece. It’s an indication of the diverse and world. When I first lived in Istanbul in 2007, teaching
disparate nature of the Ottoman Empire, which, before
its collapse, was a borderless territory that spanned from
what used to be Yugoslavia to Yemen.
As I framed my bicycle for the photo, a young man
with a thin beard walked towards me and we greeted each
other in Turkish, then English and then a mixture of the
two. He offered to take a photo of me with my bicycle
and said that he too had made the journey I was about
to, setting out from the eastern Turkish city of Diyarbakır
and riding across the country, east into Georgia, before
back west to Greece. There he had fallen in love and
married his wife, and Thessaloniki was now home. I
remarked that I was riding towards Diyarbakır myself and
asked if he was Kurdish. He rolled his eyes and replied:
‘Turkish, Kurdish, Greek. To me it is the same thing.’

A SIGNIFICANT YEAR
I’m half Turkish, half British and despite having
previously cycled a number of times between the UK
and Istanbul, I was self-consciously aware that I had
never cycled much further east in Türkiye than the west
coast, near my father’s home city of Izmir.
My bike journeys over the years had taken me across
Julian on his journey
China, the Americas, Palestine and Central Asia, but had across Türkiye
yet to include a country that – despite not growing up
JULIAN SAYARER
there – had become as much a home to me as the UK.
It seemed the right time to address this, as the
following year marked an important date in Turkish English for a year, the metro consisted of barely ten stations.
history. The Ottoman Empire came to an end in 1923, Now, it comprises a dozen lines that connect a city and
so this year consequently marks the centenary of the three airports, one of which is the world’s largest. New
foundation of the Turkish Republic. stations under construction are still having their tunnels
If 2023 was a significant year for Türkiye, it was no bored, joining train lines to ferry terminals and on to the
less so globally. Supply chain shocks brought on by satellite cities across the Sea of Marmara. The Istanbul
the Covid-19 pandemic induced rampant worldwide municipality slogan, ‘We’re working for 16 million’, attests to
inflation, to which Türkiye is particularly vulnerable. a determination to create amenities that match its size.
Central banks hiked interest rates in a desperate effort Sipping coffee in a park during a brief rest from cycling
to bring inflation under control. The Russian invasion one morning, I heard a nanny speaking Turkish to a
of Ukraine was in its second year. baby who, by its name, was either Russian or Ukrainian
When I set off in the autumn of 2022, the climate – evidence of a new refugee population that the city is
of war and Western sanctions on Russian gas had absorbing. This is a city that always seems to be at the
turbocharged inflation with an energy crisis, and as I centre of things. As Napoleon said: ‘If all the world were a
cycled east from Greece towards Istanbul, that feeling of single country, then Istanbul would be its capital.’
simplicity and peace that’s so inherent to cycle touring However, for all the allure of Istanbul, I knew that I
seemed at odds with a precariously balanced world. had no time to dawdle. Already November was upon

38 . GEOGRAPHICAL
me. I’m familiar with both cycling in mountains and One of the greatest advantages of travel by bicycle
the topographical map of Türkiye, but it’s only in the is its immediacy. As I rode, I considered how Türkiye,
saddle that the hills and peaks of Anatolia impress and still more those countries to the south and east, are
upon you their full, endurance-sapping relentlessness. often seen in terms of their past. Books talk of Romans,
On reaching the higher altitudes of the interior plateau ancient Greeks, Ottomans, or go further back to Hittites,
you’re kept comfortable in terms of oxygen but not Assyrians and even more ancient people. There’s a
weather. As I rode, the days shortened with the coming fascination and fetish for the history in those countries
winter, temperatures dropped and I faced the familiar the West calls the Middle East, an exoticised category in
touring-cycling dilemma of sweating and then shivering which Türkiye – fortunately – is only sometimes included.
as ascents turned to descents. Now and then, in the Sometimes this respect for cultural heritage can be welcome,
remotest mountains, I was pursued by wild dogs. Other but I wondered what is missed by always looking back,
times the chase was from the shepherd dogs that keep and why the Western gaze is so focused on imperial pasts.
the wild dogs and wolves away from their flocks. This fixation on history is ironic, too, because nothing
At such times it’s easy to start questioning if this in Türkiye feels so unmistakably present as the future.
4,000-kilometre bicycle journey, whatever discovery it The world’s longest suspension bridge, with a span of 5.3
yields, is truly worth it. The answer, as with all adventure kilometres, joins the Anatolian city of Çanakkale to the
that at the time can feel absurdly difficult, is always Gallipoli Peninsula and Thrace. The bridge surpasses the
‘yes’, but sometimes it was only in the evening behind length of the world’s previous longest in Japan to provide
the closed door of a pension or the wall of the mosque the first non-Istanbul crossing of the Turkish Straits. A
gardens in which I often bivvy, that I felt sure of this. central section of 2,023 metres marks the year of the

One of the many new

subway lines into Istanbul
LEPNEVA IRINA/SHUTTERSTOCK

JULIAN SAYARER
centenary and shortens by hours a journey that hauls
goods from the manufacturing heartlands of Türkiye
towards the European markets.
At the roadside, solar farms climbed across the
contours of the land in a shimmering blue haze, the
fields offering a harvest of both olives and the sun’s
energy. Wind turbines are commonplace, supplying
power for local factories and the national grid, and
Türkiye is even selling them to European countries.
If this inspired hope, I also crossed a forested region
known as the Kazdağları, where, unfortunately, gold lies
close to the surface of the soil, and a Canadian company,
Alamos, is suing the Turkish state for heeding local
protests and revoking its permit to clear-fell trees and
mine the land in this pristine region. The lawsuit is a
reminder that Western corporations are often happy to
Julian outside Atatürk’s birthplace
see democratic voices sidelined when it suits their profits.

OCTOBER 2023 . 39
 TÜRKIYE
By bike

Moving inland, columns of steam lifted from MISMANAGING GEOGRAPHY

large chimneys. In a region rich with thermal spas, My ride finished on 1 December 2022 in the eastern city
geothermal plants have sprung up, making the country of Kars, on the Armenian border, where I stowed my
one of the world’s largest producers of this crucial bicycle aboard a sleeper train heading towards Ankara.
green energy, which keeps producing even when the In the early hours of 6 February, an earthquake of 7.8
sun and wind don’t. magnitude struck, followed by a second at 7.5, along
Frequently, I marvelled at the progress I saw compared the East Anatolian Fault, which I had just ridden above.
to the country I spent holidays in as a child, but this Adana-Osmaniye-Gaziantep-Diyarbakır was my route,
economic growth has consequences. While the heat that and so too was the path the earthquake took. The news
powers geothermal plants is abundant, the water needed reports shows flattened cities where I so recently recalled
is increasingly scarce. I spoke to a craft brewer in the looking out from a hotel window. At least 50,000 people
Menteşe mountains, asking if he used Turkish barley died, with some 6,000 more in Syria. Turkish society did
for his brewing, to which he shook his head, replying what it could, donating money, spare rooms, spare clothes,
that his is imported from Germany, and agricultural battery packs and anything of help. Large hotels on the
corporations have withdrawn from Türkiye citing the Aegean coast, closed for the tourist off-season, opened
long-term probability of acute water stress. ‘Maybe in 30 their rooms, but even this is only a small, well-meaning
years we are lucky and we start to have a lot of rain,’ he dent against millions of lost homes and livelihoods.
says. ‘But I’m not sure.’ The fingerprints of geography and how we manage
Further east, the politics of water only grows. All across it mark the disaster. Houses built on shifting, shallow
the country are hydropower facilities that generate energy foundations crumble in the earthquakes – a stark
for the Turkish grid, but it’s in middle Anatolia that great metaphor for the risk of leaving unmanaged the rural-
dams rise in the hills. Low rainfall already depletes power to-urban migration that’s a hallmark of globalisation,
output from this inherently climate-vulnerable form of and certainly the last half century in Türkiye. The rush
green power, yet problems are amplified all the more for
Türkiye’s southern neighbours.
Upstream dams slow the tributaries that feed the At least 50,000 people died, with some
mighty Euphrates and Tigris. Turkish hydropower
now leaves Syria and Iraq with only a limited flow of 6,000 more in Syria. Turkish society did
river water. Turkish agriculture often utilises modern,
water-conserving irrigation methods, but the ongoing
what it could, donating money, spare rooms
dysfunction that has plagued both Syria and Iraq
since the US invasion makes it difficult to establish of money from migrants buying homes, especially in
fair regional use of this vital resource. Without stable Syrian-border provinces such as Antakya and Hatay, saw
governments, it’s impossible to negotiate river rights. a property boom in which building regulations were lax,
Some lateral thinkers have proposed an Iraq–Türkiye leaving unsafe homes that the government nevertheless
swap deal of (abundant) Iraqi gas for (scarce) Tigris signed off as compliant during a 2018 construction
river flow, allowing Türkiye to use gas to replace some amnesty, while pocketing the tax revenue.
of the hydropower that now generates a quarter of its Looking back at a journey, it’s never easy to draw
electricity. But such a deal only locks in the hydrocarbon simple conclusions. The random nature of moving
dependency that is the root cause of our shared crisis: through a landscape always disproves more conclusions
climate change. than it offers; one idea is refuted by another further
If water moving south has become a prominent cause down the road. It’s this collision with the real world that
of discord, the mass relocations of humans moving provides an unrivalled understanding.
north, particularly Syrians fleeing civil war and US Using a journey to take a reading of a modern,
sanctions, has similarly marked politics in southern rapidly evolving country is implicitly political. States
Türkiye. Although regions such as Gaziantep historically are, after all, the way in which humans manage, or often
have a mixed Turkish-Arab heritage that helped it mismanage, geography. I’ve come to think that we aren’t
welcome one of the world’s largest refugee populations prisoners of geography, as is so often stated. Countries
– officially reckoned to be 3.5 million and unofficially might be an imperfect unit for organising ourselves,
somewhat more – the political strain still shows. but they’re a recognition that to do so is possible. For a
Near Mersin, I pedalled beside an EU–Türkiye-funded century that began with victory over European colonial
‘crisis centre’ being built for migrants. Soon after my powers and now ends with a global economic crisis,
journey, an election is contested in which xenophobic things are certainly not plain sailing in Türkiye, but the
campaigning is rife, particularly from the more pro-West bicycle has a good way of reminding you that in life, just
Republican People’s Party. I spoke to a woman, a voter as in history, things keep moving forwards. l
for Erdoğan’s AKP, but who questioned the idea that
her being a Muslim obliges her and Türkiye to welcome
all the refugees of Syria and, increasingly, Afghanistan,
where US sanctions have helped to usher in a famine.
She expressed resentment that Europe never helped,
as it pledged, to resettle refugees from inside Türkiye. Türkiye: Cycling Through
I recalled that in 2016, as Türkiye took in four million a Country’s First Century
Syrian refugees, the UK accepted just 10,000. It’s hard will be published on 12
not to feel that she has a point. October by Arcadia Books

40 . GEOGRAPHICAL
The Çanakkale Bridge
JULIAN SAYARER

is the world’s largest

suspension bridge, with a
main span of 2,023 metres

OCTOBER 2023 . 41
 CAMBODIA
Tonlé Sap

‘IF WE DON’T
CATCH FISH WE
DON’T EAT’
While a dwindling number of people continue
to eke out a life fishing in Cambodia’s once
bountiful Tonlé Sap lake, many more have
been forced to leave for the sweatshops
of nearby Phnom Penh or hard labour on
plantations in Thailand
Words and photographs Tommy Trenchard

Pheak Pheap, 12, brings

in his meagre catch in
the evening outside the
floating village of Oakol

42 . GEOGRAPHICAL
OCTOBER 2023 . 43
 CAMBODIA
Tonlé Sap

Children sort through fish at

the home of a buyer in Prek
Khsach village on Tonlé Sap

I
ever-increasing debts, more of its residents are leaving. Some
head for the plantations of neighbouring Thailand, others
for the garment sweatshops of the capital, Phnom Penh.
‘When people can’t pay back their loans they have
to sell their equipment and then they’re forced to
migrate,’ says Mom, who runs a small floating shop
selling coffee and snacks to supplement her family’s
fishing income. ‘If I could leave the lake I would. Every
day’s work is just keeping us alive for another day. But
I don’t have anywhere else to go.’
Tonlé Sap is subject to an extremely rare phenomenon
known as a monotonal flood-pulsed system. For most
t’s early morning in the village of Oakol on of the year, its waters flow out into the Tonlé Sap River
Cambodia’s Tonlé Sap lake and the chatter of children’s and down into the Mekong. But for a few months during
voices mingles with the rhythmic swish of paddles in the rainy season, when the Mekong is swollen with
water as the sun’s rays creep over the horizon. School floodwaters, the Tonlé Sap River changes course, sending
is about to begin and a small flotilla of wooden boats a deluge of water back upstream into the lake. This
helmed by children as young as six is converging on a increases the lake’s surface area to some 15,000 square
pair of classrooms floating on oil drums in the middle of kilometres – six times its dry season size – and enriches
the village. The children’s families have lived on the lake it with sediment and nutrients from higher up the
for generations and its muddy waters are deeply woven Mekong basin. To cope with the huge change in water
into their identity. Yet now, their ancient way of life is levels, families build their homes on either towering
hanging by a thread. Over the past decade, a devastating wooden stilts or floating pontoons.
combination of climate change, illegal fishing and a It’s this flood-pulse cycle, which Cambodians like
dam construction spree on the Mekong River and to compare to a heartbeat, that helped to make Tonlé
its tributaries has plunged the lake, and the tens of Sap one of the world’s richest freshwater fisheries, an
thousands of people who live on it, into crisis. ecosystem so bountiful that early accounts describe
‘This used to be an easy place to live,’ says 37-year-old people being able to simply scoop up fish in buckets
Keng Srey Mom, who has spent her whole life in the from the porches of their homes. The lake’s wealth
village. ‘The fish used to literally jump onto our houses fuelled the rise of the empire that built the famous
and often they weighed two or three kilos, but they’ve temples of Angkor Wat and it continues to provide
been declining for 20 years now.’ protein for millions of Cambodians today.
Oakol was once home to more than 80 families; But now the heartbeat that has long sustained the lake is
just 33 remain. And driven by declining catches and fading. With dams restricting the flow of the Mekong and

44 . GEOGRAPHICAL
 Fishermen paddle back
to their village to save
on expensive engine fuel

OCTOBER 2023 . 45
 CAMBODIA
Tonlé Sap

erratic weather patterns playing havoc with the annual

rainy season, the pulse is becoming irregular. In 2019, the
reversal of the river lasted only a few weeks instead of the
typical five months. The following year, it barely reversed
course at all. The water level has been steadily dropping,
and with it, the number of fish. At the same time, rampant
illegal fishing has further reduced stocks. The loss through
wildfires and deforestation of the extensive flooded forests
that once provided a crucial sanctuary for juvenile fish has
made the situation even worse.
‘The fish used to be abundant but now we have to
fish day and night just to feed our family,’ says Keo
Sophanna, a 34-year-old mother of three who, like
almost everyone in Oakol, is grappling with crippling
debts that grow bigger every year. ‘We took out a loan to
buy more nets and when we didn’t catch enough fish, we
couldn’t pay it back.’
In total, to purchase fishing equipment and make
repairs to their home, the family borrowed six million
riels (£1,150), but unable to generate enough income
from their fishing, all they can do is cover the interest
every month. So far, they’ve paid nearly seven million
riels in interest, but they still owe the original six million.
Out of two dozen families interviewed by Geographical,
every single one said that they were in debt to banks,
micro-finance institutions or individual lenders.
On a ramshackle houseboat moored alongside
several others on a muddy bank on the lakeshore,
15-year-old Srey Nin cradles her younger sister during
a break from fishing. Like many children, Nin was
pulled out of school to help her family catch enough
shrimp to pay off its debts.
‘The shrimp is cheap but the diesel for the boat is very
expensive,’ says Nin’s mother, Vorn Veng. ‘We need loans
for our boats and our traps, and when they break, we
need more loans to fix them. That’s how it is for everyone
here. We want something better, but this is all we know.’
The family used to be able to set 100 traps in a day to
catch around 30 kilos of shrimp. Now they have to set
as many as 3,000 traps to get the same return. Bringing
them all in takes an entire day and requires the help of as
many of the children as are able.

46 . GEOGRAPHICAL
Meng Thy (left) and Veng Yung
haul in their nets, searching
them in vain for fish

OCTOBER 2023 . 47
 CAMBODIA
Tonlé Sap

‘I’ll always follow my mother,’ says Nin, who has

already lost two of her siblings, one to an accident on
the lake, another to malnutrition and disease. ‘But I’d
rather be in school.’ Of her five remaining siblings,
only one is currently enrolled at school. But even with
the extra help, the family is still some five million
riels in debt. And they estimate that by the time they
eventually pay it off, the debt will have doubled.
‘The difference between now and five years ago is
like the difference between the Earth and the sky,’ says
another fisherman living on a nearby boat, lamenting the
crash in shrimp catches.
Some, particularly in the northern part of the lake
near Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor Wat, have
been able to use ecotourism to partially offset the
decline in their fishing income. Others have turned
to aquaculture, although this requires capital and the
risk of sinking into debt if farmed fish die or escape is
considerable. Meanwhile, many families have instead
responded by adopting unsustainable and illegal fishing
methods, including the use of electric charges and nets

Farmed, rather than

wild, fish being
prepared for smoking

‘The difference between now and

five years ago is like the difference
between the Earth and the sky’

with ultra-fine mesh. This creates a vicious cycle that

they know will lead to greater problems in the future. Yet
many say that it’s the only way that they can survive.
‘If we don’t catch fish, we don’t eat,’ says 59-year-old
Vouen Vun, who uses illegal fish traps to help service her
debts and support her six children and ailing husband. ‘I
don’t know what to do.’
The authorities frequently confiscate her nets, forcing
her to pay heavy fines to recover them and adding
an extra strain on the family’s precarious finances.

48 . GEOGRAPHICAL
A girl paddles through the
floating village of Oakol
in a laundry bucket

OCTOBER 2023 . 49
 CAMBODIA
Tonlé Sap

Houses stand on stilts in the

village of Kompong Phluk. Before
the recent erratic weather, they
would have been surrounded by
water five months a year

50 . GEOGRAPHICAL
 Thirty-four-year-old Keo Sophanna’s family is heavily in debt and is unable
to catch enough fish to pay the money back. During the dry season, she
migrates to Phnom Penh to work seven-day weeks on a construction site

Vun knows her family’s life on the lake is becoming grow vegetables. Another, Conservation International,
untenable, but she sees few other options. established a savings group to help mitigate the debt
‘I wouldn’t know what else to do,’ she says, sitting on crisis. It also set up a fish-processing facility in the back
the wooden floorboards of her floating home, whose of Keng Srey Mom’s grocery store, where villagers can
walls are covered with plastic wallpaper decorated with produce prahok, a popular fermented fish paste used
butterflies. ‘My great-grandparents lived on the lake. My widely in Cambodian cuisine.
family has never lived anywhere else. I was born on the These initiatives have helped increase the resilience
water, and so were all of my children.’ of some villages, yet they’re addressing only the
Critics say a recent government crackdown on symptoms of a worsening disease. The climate is
illegal fishing has disproportionately affected the lake’s becoming increasingly erratic, the droughts ever
most vulnerable communities. Meanwhile, corrupt more extreme. And while Cambodia finally imposed
government officials have themselves been implicated a moratorium on the construction of further hydro
in benefitting from large-scale illegal trawling in the dams on the main stream of the Mekong in 2020, it’s
interior of the lake. Environmental groups have also still developing new ones on the river’s tributaries, as
accused local government officials of being behind are its neighbours to the north.
a surge in deforestation in recent years in a scheme ‘People are facing so many challenges,’ says Puthy
that involved clearing areas of flooded forest and then San, who heads ActionAid’s work on disaster risk
renting the land to farmers to grow rice. reduction and climate change in Cambodia. ‘Fishermen
Over the past decade, the government has put in are having to take their whole families out fishing with
place several comprehensive policies to regulate fishing them, even the children, and others are being forced
methods, create protected areas and put a halt to to migrate to work in the factories. A lot of people are
deforestation, but enforcement has been a persistent falling deeper and deeper into debt.’
challenge. A report from the World Wildlife Fund called The fates of most people who live on the lake are now
the measures ‘too little, too late’, adding that some 90 per completely dependent on the extent of the annual flood
cent of the region’s freshwater swamp forests had already season. In the rare good years, they can endure, but
been destroyed, while those few forests that remain are, with each bad fishing season their lives become more
‘heavily modified and degraded.’ and more precarious.
At the village level, charities have implemented ‘We’re constantly worried,’ says Han Vy, a mother of
various initiatives to help individual families cope. seven from the floating village of Phat Sanday. ‘The lake
In Oakol, the British charity ActionAid helped set up feeds us; it’s a part of us. I don’t know what we’ll do if we
a system of floating gardens where local women can have to leave.’ l

OCTOBER 2023 . 51
 ETHIOPIA
Wolves

An Ethiopian wolf on
the moorlands of the
Bale Mountains

52 . GEOGRAPHICAL
 Saving
the
world’s
rarest
canine
Stuart Butler travels to
the Ethiopian highlands
in search of an elusive
wolf species nearly
driven to extinction
by war, disease and
an ever-burgeoning
human population

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS STUART BUTLER

OCTOBER 2023 . 53
 ETHIOPIA
Wolves

SHUTTERSTOCK

Mount Abuna Region

Lalibela •

e Nile
Blu
Menz-Guassa
Addis Ababa n
ETHIOPIA

Bale Mountains

A s the first rays of morning light

streak across the frozen gorse and heather, and in
the heavens, 100,000 stars fade from view, a sudden
movement catches my eye. A large creature with a
reputation as dark as the moorland night moves with
unnerving speed and silence over this bleak, high-
altitude landscape. Pausing for just a second, it turns
its head toward me and I catch a fleeting glimpse
of sharp ears, hard eyes and a bushy tail dipped in
black, and then the ghost of the highlands turns and
continues its silent race against the rising daylight. My
‘This area was a
encounter with a wolf is over. frontline during
I’m on the mountainous plateau of northern
Ethiopia. Rearing up above me like a giant arrowhead the recent civil
is Mount Abuna Yosef (4,260 metres), the biggest
mountain in the vicinity and the sixth biggest in
war. Ever since
Ethiopia. Looking the other way, downwards and off then, the wolves
the escarpment, I can just about make out the holy
town and major Orthodox Christian pilgrimage centre have been harder
of Lalibela, where 11 spectacular churches were carved
into solid rock during the 12th century with the help,
to see. Before the
so the legend goes, of a team of angels. war, I used to see
Although my reasons for coming to this far corner
of Ethiopia aren’t religious, there’s a certain element
groups of five or
of pilgrimage to my journey. I’m here to search for the six almost every
elusive Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis). It’s a creature
so rare that some might say that you have more chance day. Now, on a
of spying an angel.
Despite the name, the Ethiopian wolf is not the big,
good day I might
bad wolf of folk stories. In fact, with its slender, delicate see one or two’ Worshippers at one of the
frame, long legs and shortly cropped coat, the Ethiopian ancient churches carved
wolf looks more like a fox or jackal than a fairy tale wolf into the rock at Lalibela

54 . GEOGRAPHICAL
 An Ethiopian wolf moves
between giant lobelia plants

(indeed, its sometimes called the Simien fox or Simien

jackal). And Dessiew Gelaw, the guide who’s assisting me
in my search for wolves, assures me that the Ethiopian
wolf poses no threat whatsoever to people.
Dessiew is from the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation
Programme (EWCP), an NGO charged with protecting
the Ethiopian wolf population and its habitats. Having
assured me that this wolf doesn’t have teeth that are all
the better for eating me, he goes on to tell me that we
were lucky to have had even that briefest of encounters
with an Ethiopian wolf. ‘This area was a frontline during
the recent civil war,’ he says. ‘Soldiers from both sides
crossed over this plateau several times. I don’t know
what went on up here then because it got too dangerous
for me to stay, but ever since then, the wolves have been
harder to see. Before the war, I used to see groups of five
or six almost every day. Now, though, on a good day I
might see one or two.’
Personally, I felt privileged to have had even the
most fleeting of glimpses of a solitary Ethiopian wolf,
because with only around 500 of them remaining, the
species has the unfortunate distinction of being one of
the rarest canines on Earth.

OCTOBER 2023 . 55
 ETHIOPIA
Wolves

With the sun now blazing, Dessiew, his assistants A community ranger surveys the
and I return to the stone cabins (which were partially landscape of the Mount Abuna
destroyed during the war) that currently served as home Yosef area of northern Ethiopia
base for Dessiew and his team. As we walk over the
moorland, I asked if this lack of recent wolf sightings
meant that the wolves had been shot by soldiers during
the war. ‘I don’t think so,’ Dessiew replies. ‘Instead,
the wolves all seem to have gone down lower into the
valleys. Maybe it was because they were disturbed so
much by the soldiers but maybe it’s also because they
have been attracted there by all the rodents feeding on
crops around the farms. At the moment, we just don’t
know. But, whatever the reason, the wolves’ presence so
close to people is starting to cause conflict because the
farmers blame the wolves for eating lambs. It’s unlikely,
though, that wolves are attacking livestock because they
normally eat giant mole rats and other rodents. The real
culprit is more likely to be jackals. Fortunately, though,
most of the time, this conflict is just people chasing the
wolves away rather than actually killing them.’
Dessiew tells me that there are three distinct packs of
wolves in the Abuna Yosef region, with a total population
of around 28–32 wolves. ‘These wolves only live in certain
parts of the Ethiopian mountains and nowhere else on
Earth, so this habitat is critically important to them,’
he says. As well as the Abuna Yosef population, other
wolf hotspots include the Menz-Guassa Community
Conservation Area to the northeast of the Ethiopian
capital, Addis Ababa, where a population of around 25–30
wolves ekes out an existence and, in the south of Ethiopia,
the Bale Mountains, which, with 200–300 wolves, is the
stronghold of the species. It’s there that I head next.
At around four kilometres above sea level, the cold,
thin, oxygen-depleted, air of the Sanetti Plateau, a
vast Afro-alpine moorland that makes up the heart of
the Bale Mountains, burns the back of the throat and
my breathing is laboured. But the minor hardship is
worth it because here the wolves are much easier to
spot and, on just my first morning, I locate a group of
four wolves playfully chasing one another across the
grasslands in the dawn sun.
The Sanetti Plateau might be the last stronghold of the
Ethiopian wolf but that doesn’t mean guaranteed safety.
As with any isolated animal population, a single bit of
bad luck could spell the end of the road for the wolves.
And on the Sanetti Plateau, bad luck comes in the form
of the domestic dogs that wander up from fringing
villages. With depressing frequency, these dogs bring ‘The wolves’ presence so close to people
diseases such as rabies and canine distemper. According
to the EWCP, there have been at least eight major disease is starting to cause conflict; the farmers
outbreaks since 1992 among the wolves of the Bale
Mountains and some of these outbreaks have resulted in
blame the wolves for eating lambs’
significant population crashes.
But, there is hope. The EWCP is working hard to future of the Ethiopian wolf. Instead, it’s a problem that’s
vaccinate both domestic dogs living near wolf country likely to be much more difficult to fix.
and the wolves themselves. By 2025, it aims to have To find out more, I head back to Addis Ababa to meet
vaccinated 40 per cent of wolves in each population Eric Bedin, a field director from the EWCP, at a central
group in Ethiopia and 70 per cent of dogs living in and cafe. Sipping richly scented Ethiopian coffee, Eric, who
around the Bale Mountains, and to have reduced by half hails from the French Pyrenees but has spent many years
the number of free-roaming dogs in the mountains. studying wolves in Ethiopia and is one of the leading
However, disease might not be the biggest threat to the authorities on the species, tells me that the biggest

56 . GEOGRAPHICAL
Ethiopian wolves,
also known as
Simien jackals and
Simien foxes, are
endemic to the
Ethiopian highlands

OCTOBER 2023 . 57
 ETHIOPIA
Wolves

The highlands of Ethiopia are intensely

farmed and humans and wolves
frequently come into contact with one
another. Here, villagers return from
market in the Mount Abuna Yosef area

threat to the wolves comes from habitat loss. ‘Ethiopia’s away, but people rarely go out of their way to kill a wolf.’
human population is growing fast (the current annual His words made me think of something that Dessiew
growth rate stands at 2.6 per cent) and all these extra had said as we’d descended from Abuna Yosef. They
people need somewhere to live and food to eat,’ he says. were words filled with pride and hope. ‘When I was
‘Inevitably, this means more encroachment into wolf a child, I hated the wolves because they attacked my
country and the areas around it. The wolf populations family’s sheep,’ he told me. ‘But when I learnt how rare
here are now living on moorland islands surrounded by the wolves were and that they lived only in Ethiopia, my
people and agricultural land. attitude to them changed. Now, every time I see a wolf, it
‘The EWCP works with communities in areas where refreshes me, it excites me. The wolf is my life.’
wolves live to increase awareness of the wolves, to Then, pausing for a moment, Dessiew looked me in
dispel myths about them attacking livestock and to the eye with the intensity of a wolf. ‘For me’, he went
explain how people and wolves can live together,’ he on, ‘the wolf is Ethiopia’. l
continues. ‘Although most of the current wolf habitat
is now under some form of official or community IF YOU GO
protection, the overall wolf population in Ethiopia has To learn more about Ethiopian wolves, visit the EWCP’s
continued to slowly drop as the habitat becomes more website at ethiopianwolf.org. Ethiopian Airlines flies daily
and more degraded.’ from Addis Ababa to Lalibela, the nearest town and
On paper, the future for Ethiopia’s wolves might seem airport to Abuna Yosef, and thrice weekly to Goba, close
touch and go, but there is some hope. Unlike in many to the Bale Mountains. Tesfa Tours (tesfatours.com) and
parts of the world where predators are being hounded Nashulai Journeys (nashulaijourneys.com), which both
out by humans, in Ethiopia this is less common. ‘Sure,’ work closely with local communities and conservation
Eric says, ‘wolves are sometimes blamed for attacking projects, run trekking tours that incorporate visits to
lambs and farmers and shepherds will chase wolves Abuna Yosef and other wolf habitats

58 . GEOGRAPHICAL
Dessiew Gelaw of ‘When I learned how
the Ethiopian Wolf
Conservation Programme rare the wolves were
and that they only
lived in Ethiopia, my
attitude to them
changed. Now, every
time I see a wolf,
it refreshes me, it
excites me. For me,
the wolf is Ethiopia’
- Dessiew Gelaw

The iconic giant

lobelia of the
Bale Mountains

OCTOBER 2023 .59

GALLERY

Frozen
in time
A career-to-date retrospective of Russian-
born, London-based photographer and
filmmaker Evgenia Arbugaeva, new book
Hyperborea: Stories from the Arctic
takes readers on a remarkable journey
into some of Siberia’s most inaccessible
areas, offering dreamlike encounters
with its people, landscapes and fauna.
Arbugaeva grew up in Tiksi, a town on the
shore of the Laptev Sea in the Republic
of Yakutia. Over the past decade, she
has repeatedly returned to the Russian
Arctic coast to connect with people living
in this inhospitable environment, where
time seems to have simultaneously stood
still and sped up, as global warming has
wrought profound change
n Dikson, a port town on the North Sea
route, sits silently beneath the fading
light of the aurora borealis during
the Arctic winter. The town was once
legendary among the polyarniks –
carefully selected polar scientists –
who were lured there by the
romanticism of Arctic exploration

60 . GEOGRAPHICAL
Geographical readers can
purchase Hyperborea for 25 per
cent off the RRP. Simply visit
thamesandhudson.com and
enter HYPER25 at the checkout.
Offer ends 31 October

OCTOBER 2023 . 61
GALLERY

n Most of the houses in the

village of Enurmino, home to
some 300 Chukchi people,
were built during the period of
Soviet collectivisation in the
1930s and have been little
changed since. The village’s
inhabitants have been hunting
marine mammals for millennia,
but warming seas are making
it more difficult to predict
where they will find prey

62 . GEOGRAPHICAL
n A walrus peers
through the doorway of
marine biologist Maxim
Chakilev’s hut on Cape
Serdtse-Kamen in
Chukotka. The migrating
walruses would usually
rest on floating ice,
but now, warming sea
temperatures force them
to haul out on the shore
instead, where they are
at risk of being trampled
in stampedes. At the
peak of the haulout,
which lasted two weeks,
Chakilev estimated that
about 100,000 walruses
had come ashore

n Nikolai, a Chukchi elder from

Enurmino, remembers the time
before Russian colonisation, when
people sometimes died if the hunting
season was poor but they were
generally happier, living off the land
and sea in balance with the spirits. He
lived in an abandoned meteorological
station by the sea with his wife until
she passed away last year

XOCTOBER 2023 . 63
GALLERY

n The old lighthouse

last glowed about ten
yeas ago. It now acts
as a source of firewood
when Slava, the chief
of the Khodovarikha
meteorological station,
runs low. Slava first
arrived at the station
13 years ago

n Crackling radio waves connect

Slava with the meteorological office
in Arkhangelsk every three hours,
at which point he relays readings
to someone he has never met

n The aurora borealis

appeared the moment
Slava opened the
booth that houses
the meteorological
instruments, as if
switched on by his magic

64 . GEOGRAPHICAL
n Having braved the cold
to collect his three-
hourly weather data,
Slava returns to write
down his observations in
a journal yellowed by age

OCTOBER 2023 . 65
 REVIEWS
BOOK OF strange ecosystems that suddenly have yawning gaps
THE MONTH where dominant plants and animals once were. After
a few thousand generations, the food webs build back,
ecosystems rebuild.
EXTINCTIONS The slow recovery from mass extinctions often sees
How Life Survives, Adapts and Evolves the emergence of something completely new, such
By Michael J Benton as the first swimming scallop or the first dinosaur.
Thames & Hudson Mass extinctions at the end of the Permian and
Triassic periods triggered or enabled the evolution of
n What doesn’t kill you makes modern-style ecosystems featuring coral reefs, sharks,
you stronger, argued the German flies, conifers, crocodiles and land mammals. The
philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The Cambrian Period was topped and tailed by extinction
message from this engrossing book is events, but in between came the Cambrian explosion,
that mass extinctions are even better for unfolding over 36 million years and perhaps the biggest
the collective global constitution, revolution of all, with the emergence of skeletons and
making our planet and the species that arthropods as large as dogs.
survive and emerge from the wreckage all the more Benton’s tone is refreshing, displaying a sense of
robust and diverse. almost childlike wonder at the world and locating a
The book’s bleak title implies a worthy if rather grim sweet spot that’s authoritative but readable, modest,
read. Instead, it’s fascinatingly and possibly disturbingly occasionally witty and never pompous. We learn of
uplifting. The Earth has curated at least five mass incredible, long-extinct species such as the worm-like
extinctions and each and every one has, in the long seven-spined Hallucigenia or an arthropod, Opabinia,
term, left the world a better place. with five eyes on stalks.
Author Michael J Benton differentiates between He even downplays his role in identifying a sixth large
classifications of extinction. The dodo, whose definitive extinction event, which has long represented something
extinction can be laid at the door of a gun or club, is an of a white whale for palaeontologists. Benton makes
example that quickly leaps to mind, but then there are a strong case for locating what is known as the long-
also what are known as background extinctions. Species lost Carnian Pluvial Episode, which happened during
come and go, dying out because food runs out locally, the late Triassic, around 237–227 million years ago,
or perhaps the climate changes, or because a ‘vigorous and was characterised by heavy rainfall. The author,
incomer steals all the food or space’. along with two colleagues, first solidified (or possibly,
In contrast, mass extinction events are the he admits, ‘invented’) the theory after identifying a
headline acts of evolution. They see 50–90 per cent major extinction of sea lilies around the same time as
of all species knocked out at the same time, thanks signs of climate change were noted in what is modern-
to volcanic eruptions, for example, or meteorites or day Somerset. The extinction unfolded over roughly
ocean acidification. Such cataclysmic events, it turns a million years and saw the demise of 34 per cent of
out, are good. They have a creative aspect. Life always genera, including the rhynchosaur, a pig-like relative
bounces back. Surviving species take over, occupying of crocodiles and dinosaurs. But the event triggered

MOUNTAINS OF FIRE than any other, I now know) during his gap year.
The Secret Lives of Volcanoes ‘As a volcanologist, I have dedicated my career
By Clive Oppenheimer to observing simmering craters, often at very close
Hodder & Stoughton quarters, with a view to revealing their secrets,’ he writes.
Indeed, so close were those quarters that his career
n ‘Volcanoes get a bad press,’ writes volcanologist could easily have been halted before he’d finished his
Clive Oppenheimer in this entertaining deep dive PhD research on Stromboli in southern Italy, where he
into the history and science of volcanology. And, to watched ‘molten cowpats’ of lava splat to the ground ‘just
be fair, it’s not hard to see why. From Pompeii to Montserrat a few paces away’. ‘For one of [the] entries in my field
via Mount Pinatubo, Vesuvius and Krakatoa, volcanic notebook, the ink jerks up halfway through a word. I
eruptions and the subsequent tsunamis, pyroclastic flows, retrospectively labelled this jolt “blind terror”.’ Prudence
mudslides and clouds of sulphate aerosols (which apparently finally won over and he went on to have many more
look like ‘wrinkled plant seeds’ at very high magnification), fascinating and enlightening encounters with volcanoes
have destroyed cities and killed tens of thousands of people. all over the world, many of which he recounts here.
But Oppenheimer is keen to present another side If you’ve ever wondered about anything to do with
to these awe-inspiring portals to the Earth’s roiling, volcanoes and volcanic eruptions, you’ll more than likely
incandescent interior – to show that ‘volcanoes mean find the answers within this book. And what’s more,
more than menace and calamity’. And right from the you’ll more than likely understand them, thanks to
start, he has been in the thick of things, climbing several Oppenheimer’s admirably clear, jargon-free explanations.
of Indonesia’s many volcanoes (the country hosts more GEORDIE TORR

66 . GEOGRAPHICAL
another ecological reset that saw the flourishing of done, rather than banging the reader over the head
modern-day plants, insects and vertebrates. with a saucepan – is what we can learn from previous
Extinctions is easily accessible to the lay reader, extinction events to usefully apply to our own era of
comprising six sections, each with three or four concise climate change and whether we can do anything to avoid
chapters that wade chronologically from the deep past to the shortening our time on the planet. We’re perturbing
industrial age, documenting the first mass extinction about ecosystems in a way that no other species ever has
444 million years ago, via the cataclysmic end-Permian before. Science may at some point allow us to de-extinct
event, also known as the Great Dying. There are colour the woolly mammoth, possibly the dodo (Benton chews
plates that recreate long-gone species and a handy GCSE- over the moral case for doing so), but is there space for
level timeline is tucked at the back to put events in context. the animals we’ve killed off? Humans have squeezed the
The narrative style changes frequently to avoid monologues space for wild nature so much in the past 200 years that
and at one point you’re watching events unfold through there’s no longer room for the ten million species alive
the eyes of a soon-to-be-extinct dinosaur, a technique today, let alone for reviving the back catalogue.
that works better – is more engaging – than it sounds. From the planet’s point of view, it doesn’t really matter
One sobering takeaway is that mass extinctions – what we do – whether we do the right things or just stick
obliteration aside – don’t really mean much for the species our fingers in our ears. The history of extinctions shows
involved: give or take a few million years, they were how the evolutionary tree gets reshaped time and time
doomed anyway. Mammal and bird species typically last again; so even if we do get it right, it’s a nailed-on certainty
four million years if they’re lucky; molluscs and plants that our own branch will still snap off at some point. The
perhaps ten million years. It’s properly existentialist stuff world will survive, adapt and, in the long term, probably
that makes you wonder what Jean Paul Sartre might have be a better place, growing back even more robust, as it has
written had his interest been palaeontology. after every previous mass extinction event.
The thread that loosely runs through the book – subtly MARK ROWE

The Cambrian explosion saw a sudden,

spectacular diversification of complex
life in which virtually all major animal
phyla began to appear in the fossil record

DOTTED YETI/SHUTTERSTOCK

SEA CHANGE nation’s landmass as indicative of its cultural value,

An Atlas of Islands in a Rising Ocean have historically contributed to islands being rendered
By Christina Gerhardt politically and environmentally assailable.
University of California Press As a whole, this is a highly respectable piece of
journalistic work, and simultaneously a beautiful
n As the world faces rising sea levels due to design object, but it does feel slightly let down by its
climate change, many countries are making maps. I’m certain that Sea Change’s aesthetic allure
contingency plans to relocate populations to higher will mean that it reaches the coffee tables of those
ground. But what happens if you live on an island where who might not have ordinarily thought themselves
there is no ground higher, or on a coral atoll where very interested in the topics being addressed, and that feels
soon there might be no ground left at all? crucial right now. However, the limited tonal range of
Christina Gerhardt has done an exceptional job the cartography sometimes makes the maps difficult
of detailing the predicaments being faced by some to decode. A small quibble perhaps, but I couldn’t help
of the world’s most vulnerable island communities, thinking that a geographer’s involvement might have
and the other contributors to this book also argue resulted in a cartography of greater visual potency,
convincingly for islands to be reconceived as centres which may have conveyed the situation being faced
rather than remote places. They deftly explain how by the islanders more clearly and starkly. The world
colonial imaginations that characterised ‘far sea’ islands definitely needs more books like this one, but atlases
as wastelands where one might be marooned or eaten still need geographers.
by cannibals, and global biases that saw the size of a OLIVIA EDWARD

OCTOBER 2023 . 67
 REVIEWS

EIGHT BEARS While cautionary, this isn’t a book of doom. As well

Mythic Past and Imperiled Future as exploring the many threats the eight bears – which
By Gloria Dickie span four continents – face, Dickie also underscores
Norton successful conservation efforts.
Largely owing to a half century of such efforts, today,
n When Gloria Dickie arrived in Boulder, in the American West, the once critically endangered
Colorado, a decade ago to study environmental grizzly bear – a brown bear subspecies – is ‘expanding
journalism, she became intrigued by the number into areas where they haven’t been seen in generations’.
of black bears that wandered into town to scavenge ‘the But conflict is increasing at these new frontiers and
endless availability’ of human food. Now Dickie has farmers are questioning the grizzly’s protected status.
written an illuminating book that explores the past, Even Dickie asks: how many bears is enough?
present and future of the world’s eight bear species. She travels to India to see the lesser-known sloth
The author traipses through the shrinking cloud bear, which is being adversely affected by the country’s
forests of the Andes in search of the elusive spectacled sprawling population and is responsible for the most
bear, goes undercover in Vietnam to witness illicit bear annual human fatalities of the eight species. Then there’s
bile farms and travels to Canada’s Arctic tundra to see the universally adored panda, which China’s government
polar bears, which ‘will likely not persist much beyond ships around the globe as ‘fluffy diplomatic bribes’. Given
the end of this century’. how close pandas once were to extinction, that’s as
With a chapter dedicated to each species, Dickie remarkable as it is controversial.
skilfully probes everything from the bears’ genomic In a world grappling with myriad environmental
origins and their relationship with humans to their crises, Eight Bears serves as a timely reflection on the
conservation status and what may lie ahead for the impact humans are having on the natural world, and
‘occasional bipeds’. The book is packed with vibrant what it could mean for the planet’s ursine inhabitants.
anecdotes featuring colourful characters she meets ‘We have turned bears into spectacle, commodity
along the way. She also highlights the mammals’ special and champion,’ Dickie writes. ‘And now, we will
place in popular culture – think Winnie the Pooh, determine their future.’
Paddington and the enduring ‘Teddy’ bear. STEPHEN MCGRATH

SAM STRAUSS
WATERWORLDS Austrian ecologist Birgit Sattler studies
The Protection of our Blue Planet from microbial communities in the ice
Glacier to Deep Sea
By Birgit Sattler et al.
Benevento Publishing

n It’s hailed as the elixir of life, acclaimed as

the most important substance on our planet,
covering roughly 70 per cent of the Earth’s surface. We’re
talking, obviously, about water. No living creature, from
tiny cyanobacteria to giant blue whales, can survive
without water, a fact that in an age of global warming
we seem to be determined to put to the test. Whether it’s
glaciers, rivers, lakes or the great oceans, water’s natural
habitats are under threat.
This book relates the experiences of 12 people
involved in a passionate battle for the preservation of
water. From the glaciers of Alaska to the ocean waters
of New Zealand, these ‘waterkeepers’ put forward their Millares Cahuana considers Lake Titicaca a living being
campaign to defend our blue planet. more than a body of water. She recalls her grandmother
Particularly illuminating is the case for the survival speaking of lake fish she has never seen in her lifetime,
of the Earth’s receding glaciers. We look at a glacier and victims of mining and other unsustainable industrial
perceive a huge field of ice, but by no means are glaciers activities along the lake’s shores. Kenyan environmental
lifeless. What Austrian ecologist Birgit Sattler sees is expert Roniana Adhiambo speaks of the tragic parched
a living body in which one millimetre of meltwater shores of Lake Victoria. She spent five years working to
can contain hundreds of thousands of bacteria, algae make the lake’s polluted waters suitable for fishing and
and fungi. Glaciers are keystones to life on Earth, drinking, later moving on to work with a Dutch NGO
she explains. Only 0.5 per cent of the world’s water to capture rainwater and replace native grasses beside a
is freshwater and about three-quarters of it is stored lake in Masai livestock-herding territory.
in glaciers, meaning that they represent the largest Scientists estimate that 50–80 per cent of oxygen
reservoir of freshwater on our planet. Their meltwater produced on our planet comes from water. These
runs downstream, nourishing ecosystems and providing environmental activists present a compelling case for
billions of people with water to drink and irrigate crops. safeguarding our primary source of life.
Bolivian environmental activist María Eugenia JULES STEWART

68 . GEOGRAPHICAL
 EUAN MILES

WRITER’S
READS
Michael Benton is a palaeontologist at
the University of Bristol with interests
in dinosaurs, evolution and extinctions.
His new book, Extinctions, is out now.
n Silent Spring (1962)
by Rachel Carson
The first of many books to bring a field naturalist’s
eye to the disasters of human activity on Earth.
Carson was key in stopping widespread use of
DDT in the 1950s and saw the nightmare to come.
It takes a year of training to
make even the simplest globe n Diversity of Life (1992)
by Edward O Wilson
The classic book about biodiversity, written
by a world expert on ants, one of the richest
THE GLOBEMAKERS insect groups. Throughout his long life, Wilson
The Curious Story of an Ancient Craft campaigned for proper appreciation of biodiversity
By Peter Bellerby and why we should care about it and preserve it.
Bloomsbury
n The Song of the Dodo (1996)
n After a fruitless search for a special globe for his by David Quammen
father’s 80th birthday, Peter Bellerby decided to One of the best accounts of island biogeography
make one himself. What followed was a journey and threats to biodiversity, documenting the death
of discovery that led to the creation of Bellerby & Co of the dodo but also many other animals caught in
Globemakers, the world’s only bespoke makers of globes. the first wave of human-caused extinctions.
The Globemakers recounts this journey, tracking the history n T rex and the Crater of Doom (1997)
and craftsmanship of globes – or ‘earth apples’ as they were by Walter Alvarez
first known – in illustration, photography and narrative. Probably the best title for a science book ever.
The book takes readers through the process and challenges Alvarez tells the story from the inside. He and
of making a globe (how, for instance, do you fit a recreation his father, Luis, argued in 1980 that the Earth
of Winston Churchill’s 50-inch globe through a door?), and had been hit by an asteroid 66 million years
we peek into Bellerby’s London workshop, where engineers, ago and changed the field for ever.
cartographers, carpenters and painters craft terrestrial,
celestial and planetary globes for customers. The team began n The Sixth Extinction (2014)
sharing photos from the workshop on Instagram, with details by Elizabeth Kolbert
on craft and context, and have amassed more than 150,000 This book brings it up to date, focusing on all of
followers. (I visited the account and half an hour later I was the themes Rachel Carson highlighted but now
still there – it’s fascinating both visually and factually.) ‘We reflecting the rich scientific basis to justify the
do everything from start to watercolour finish by hand,’ claim that humans are choosing to drive a mass
Bellerby explains. The passion for the craft is tangible. extinction as large as the loss of the dinosaurs.
‘Google Maps might inform, but a globe inspires.’ n The Last Days of the Dinosaurs (2022)
Globemaking is a forgotten craft, one that fuses art and by Riley Black
science, engineering and geography, astronomy and myth Takes you through the death of the dinosaurs
– and adds a dose of imagination. The book weaves these almost minute by minute – how the asteroid
larger themes into the story of globemaking. Although the struck and the consequences as the dust
craft may have been forgotten, Bellerby’s journey has put it blacked out the Sun and a great fireball swept
back on the map. ‘The job of a globemaker is never complete: outwards, killing everything in its path.
politically, the world changes continuously, and the act and art
of globemaking is just as captivating as the countries, cities, n Mammoths (2023)
mountains and oceans depicted on the globes themselves.’ by Adrian Lister
As the Earth faces an uncertain future, the craft of Everything you want to know about mammoths,
globemaking brings into focus the one real globe we all those iconic extinct animals that survived until
share. In his craft, Bellerby says, ‘you experience a similar the time of the pyramids. Were they hunted to
feeling to the overview effect that astronauts recount. extinction or was it climate change?
Seeing the Earth (albeit recreations) standing there alone in
n The Anthropocene Reviewed (2023)
a silent studio gives you a sense of calm, but also a feeling of
by John Green
protectiveness towards the planet.’
The newest division of geological time, marking
The Globemakers is an accessible and fascinating read –
our profound changes to the Earth; personal
and like the craft itself, it’s beautiful, too.
essays written with the impact of a novelist.
ELIZABETH WAINWRIGHT

OCTOBER 2023 . 69
When the day ends,
the fun begins.

Strada Mk12 AKTIV SB

1700 lumens
AKTiv Technology

Toro Mk14
3600 lumens
Reflex+ Technology

Diablo Mk14
2000 lumens
TAP Technology
 EQUIPMENT
MATTERS

LEARNING TO
SEE THE LIGHT
W
hen it comes to long- A bike ride through the We were cycling up an innocuous
distance bike rides, hill somewhere near our turnaround
you can never be too Mendip Hills teaches point, about as far away from home as
prepared. An 1898 Tristan Kennedy some we could be. We were also miles from
guide for British and hard-earned the nearest bike shop and a good half-
Irish cyclists that kit wisdom hour walk from the closest road. With
recently resurfaced online features a long the right tools, a chain break takes five
list of more than 100 ‘touring requisites’, MARIDAV/SHUTTERSTOCK
minutes to mend, but as we rummaged
including ‘sperm oil’, ‘white cuffs’ and in our backpacks, we found we were
‘permanganate of potash’ – alongside missing a crucial component: a spare
more recognisable essentials such as quick link, which allows you to re-
‘dark glasses’ and ‘extra stockings’. attach two broken chain ends together.
Of course, this was an era when the After an hour of sweating, swearing and
self-sufficiency of cyclists – as heroes trying to persuade inflexible, fiddly bits
who tackled vast distances, powered of metal to bend using only penknife
by pure force of will – was celebrated, pliers and nearby rocks, we prised open
their suffering fetishised to the point the existing quick link and stitched the
of sadomasochism. It wasn’t until 1930 two ends back together. But in doing so,
that riders on the Tour de France were we had to remove a lengthy section of
allowed to ask for help in fixing their chain, creating a loop just long enough
bikes. At the 1931 World Championship to make it round the smallest of the
road race, a 172-kilometre time trial rear cogs – and leaving me stuck in the
won by the legendary Italian bricklayer most difficult gear.
Learco Guerra, riders weren’t even All of a sudden, the Mendips felt a
allowed to ask for water. lot steeper. I began to struggle on the
Even by the self-flagellating standards slightest incline, frequently needing
of Grand Tour competitors, such rules to dismount and push my all-singing,
sound pretty extreme today. But the all-dancing bike up the hills while
principle that it’s always best to pack my friend waited, trying not to look
for every eventuality still stands. The too smug on his Halfords own-brand
ride where I learned this lesson wasn’t hardtail. This was a humiliation I
even particularly long or arduous. A ‘We’d packed everything could take: my just desserts for having
friend and I had set out from his house we thought we’d need bought pricey gear and not brought the
on the outskirts of Bristol to complete for a daytime ride… basics. What was more difficult to deal
a mountain bike route through the with were the knock-on effects. Like a
Mendip Hills. We estimated that the
We believed we had all butterfly flapping its wings and creating
mixture of singletrack trails and dirt bases covered. Until my a typhoon elsewhere, my failure to pack
roads would take us about six hours all- chain snapped’ one tiny, quick link led to a whole series
told. It was a warm spring weekend; the of consequences – a chain reaction,
sun would be out late and we figured we if you will – each of which exposed
might even have time for a pub stop on how woefully underprepared I was for
the way home. a slightly more modest hardtail. But in anything going wrong.
I’d arrived with my pride and joy – a our backpacks, we’d packed everything With each hill taking three times as
secondhand (but recently purchased) we thought we’d need for a daytime ride. long to climb, our bike ride ballooned
mountain bike made by an American Some items (sunglasses, spare inner in length. The amount of water I’d
company called Evil. All black, with a tubes, chocolate bars) would have been packed for a six-hour ride quickly
full-carbon frame and rear suspension, recognisable to our Victorian forebears. proved inadequate for a nine-hour hike.
it looked like the kind of thing Batman Others (lightweight Gore-Tex jackets, My mountain bike shoes – perfectly
might ride if Gotham banned motorised iPhones loaded with Strava) less so. But comfortable when pedalling – began
transport. It was overkill for the ride we believed we had all bases covered. rubbing a blister as I walked and I had
we were attempting. My friend was on Until my chain snapped. no blister plasters. Worst of all, however,

OCTOBER 2023 . 71
 EQUIPMENT
MATTERS

was the fading light. We’d reckoned on dangerously fast roads. Two trucks inform them that you are British and
finishing at 6 pm at the latest, even with passing scarily close was all it took to display your Union Flag’. Thankfully, I’ve
a pub stop. As it was, we limped back cement the day’s lesson in my brain: yet to be accosted by anyone on my two-
into Bristol after dark, cursing our always pack for every eventuality. wheeled travels, still less a scoundrel
stupidity for not packing that most basic There are, of course, some logical who might be scared off by the waving
– but most essential – piece of safety limits to this mantra. Even the of a flag. But after my Bristol baptism
gear: bike lights. Victorians, while advocating a more- of fire, I make a point of imagining as
Even the earliest cyclists knew to is-more policy, recognised that some many points of failure as possible when
carry lights. That 1898 list of touring items were overkill. ‘A revolver is not packing for a long ride. These days, I
kit includes ‘lamp’ and ‘spare lampwick’ considered necessary in the more carry extra water, multiple quick links,
as must-haves. And yet 120 years later, civilised areas of Europe,’ the 1898 blister plasters and even a spare chain –
my own stupidity left me pedalling packing list notes, suggesting that ‘if and I always put bike lights in my bag.
home on a black bike, in the dark, along accosted by footpads or brigands, simply After all, you can never be too prepared!

WISHLIST
Three items to make your bike rides better

THE LUXURY:
Hydro Flask 32oz Lightweight
Trail Series Thermos - £50
n Frame-mounted plastic water
bottles are fine for most things,
but if you’re going for a longer
ride, why not treat yourself
and carry a thermos in your
backpack? Hydro Flask’s bottles
keep hot liquids warm for up to
12 hours, and cold liquids cool
for 24. Their Trail Series bottles
are super-lightweight, too – this THE ESSENTIAL:
32oz model (that’s 946 ml to Exposure Lights Strada Mk11 SB bike light - £335
us Europeans) weighs just 335 n Regardless of whether or not you’re
grams. Whether you’re carrying planning to be out late, bike lights are
sugary tea for winter days or ice- essential safety gear. Exposure
cold water in summer, that’s extra Lights’ Strada Mk11 SB is
weight you won’t regret. arguably the most advanced
front light money can buy. The
SB stands for Super Bright and
with 1,600 lumens of power (twice
as much as a 60-watt domestic bulb)
it lives up to the name. It’s also packed
with clever tech – including an auto-dim functionality so you don’t dazzle others
and a pulse specifically designed for daytime riding – designed to keep you safe.

THE SURPRISINGLY USEFUL:

Lowe Alpine Drysack Multipack - £35
n Sealable dry bags are obviously great for keeping
valuables such as electronics, cash and travel
documents safe inside your backpack, but they’re
also great for keeping your kit organised, especially
on longer tours. Socks still muddy from the previous
day’s ride? Pop them in a dry bag. Want to keep your
snacks clear of your dirty laundry? Dry bags again.
Even if you’re not carrying anything wet, they’re useful
for separating things out. This multipack from Lowe
Alpine contains three of different sizes: 2.5L, 4L and 7L.

Next month: wild winter swimming

72 . GEOGRAPHICAL
BoostR ReAKT 150 lumens • Blaze ReAKT 150 lumens • TraceR ReAKT 120 lumens
Rear Mounted • ReAKT & Peloton Technology • Daybright Pulse

Rear lighting that flares up automatically under braking. It can also intelligently
adapt to the surrounding ambient light conditions to maintain maximum contrast
and visibility, for example brightening for street lit areas and moving into sunlight
from shade.

This mode enables rear lights to automatically dim down when the front light of
the rider behind is detected, preventing dazzling in the chain gang, it then flares
up at the back of the pack for maximum safety.

Bespoke pulse pattern designed for daylight use which is more conspicuous
than a regular pulse and visible from over a kilometre away, even in the brightest
conditions. DayBright mode will get you noticed. Be Seen Be Safe.
 EXPLORE
DISCOVERING BRITAIN – RAVENSCAR

THE LOST RESORT

B
ritain is haunted by the Rory Walsh visits mansion, Raven Hill House. The estate
remains of ghost towns eventually passed to Child’s grandson,
and villages. A single the Yorkshire coast to Richard Willis, a young reverend.
gravestone is all that search for ‘the town that Despite his vocation, Willis was addicted
survives of Dunwich, which to gambling. He ran up huge debts and
gradually fell into the sea never was’ in 1850, served a year’s hard labour for
due to coastal erosion. Hallsands was fraud. The Peak estate was repossessed
reduced to ruins overnight by a storm, large green fields. Most of Ravenscar by mortgage lender William Hammond.
while Hampton Gay was gutted by is dedicated to farming. Follow the From the visitor centre, a stone path
fire. Besides the elements, people, too, unmetalled lanes between the fields rolls downhill past a spectacular view
have consigned places to history. The and you’ll notice that they have some of Robin Hood’s Bay. Two RAF jets roar
valleys of Nether Hambleton, Middle odd features: they’re very straight and overhead, black specks in the blue sky.
Hambleton and Mardale Green were wide enough for cars to pass each other, The route continues through leafy trees
flooded to create reservoirs. Imber and some have drain covers and curb stones, and lush ferns. At several points, the
Tyneham were requisitioned by the and they all have road names. Rural sound of trickling water heralds a nearby
military. And then there’s Ravenscar. Ravenscar has an urban street plan, its stream. At a fork, the trail descends
Ravenscar sits on the North Yorkshire extent revealed at the National Trust towards the sea. Clusters of grey walls,
coast, roughly halfway between visitor centre. caked in lichen, nestle in the grass. What
Whitby and Scarborough. Perched on Past the imposing gates of the Raven looks like another abandoned village are
a headland between the North Sea and Hall Hotel, the visitor centre hunkers the remnants of the Peak Alum Works.
North York Moors, this quiet village can down in a hollow. When I arrive, More than a century after Captain
feel very remote. Yet it was once planned England are playing Nigeria in the Child purchased the site, it became a hub
to be a major seaside resort – a rival FIFA Women’s World Cup. The radio of Britain’s early chemical industry. Alum
to Scarborough and Blackpool. Land and listeners alike crackle with nerves. is a mineral compound used for fixing
was bought, roads were laid and then... On the back wall is a large map. Dated dye onto cloth. The surrounding cliffs
nothing. Ravenscar didn’t disappear; 1902, it shows Ravenscar’s roads lined comprise sedimentary shales and clays
it didn’t appear. The National Trust with green and pink rectangles – plots formed about 200 million years ago. In
describes it as ‘the town that never was.’ of land for sale; Ravenscar rendered as 1640, alum was found at Peak between
The parish of Ravenscar has around a giant Monopoly board, with ‘You are layers of the rock. The Peak Alum Works
300 residents. During the summer, here’ instead of ‘Go to jail’. quarried and extracted alum for the
visitors can outnumber the locals. The name Ravenscar didn’t exist until textiles trade, turning into crystals that
Walkers regularly pass through Ravenscar 1897. For centuries, the area was known were then ground into powder. A large
while following the Cleveland Way. Most as Peak, due to its elevated coastal grinding stone still sits on the cliff edge.
visitors arrive by car, taking minor roads location. In 1763, Captain William Child As I explore the remains, a fresh sea
across the hills. On a sunny Monday bought most of Peak and built a clifftop breeze relieves the baking midday heat.
in August, I’m on a bus. There are two
weekday buses to Ravenscar, one in the RORY WALSH

morning and one in the afternoon. At the Station Square

terminus, in Station Square, the timetable in Ravenscar
is smaller than a smartphone and shorter
than a text message.
In the middle of Station Square, a
large tree shelters a cluster of picnic
benches. A tearoom and a couple of
houses line one side. Adjoining them are
the remains of Ravenscar railway station.
The railway came to Ravenscar in 1885
but closed 80 years later. The station
building was demolished and the line to
Whitby is now a long-distance footpath:
the Cinder Track. Instead of steam
locomotives, hissing noises come from a
coffee machine and distant waves.
From the deserted platform, the blue
stripe of the North Sea appears beyond

74 . GEOGRAPHICAL
 The view of Robin Hood’s
Bay from Ravenscar

HELEN HOTSON/SHUTTERSTOCK

The area wasn’t always so fragrant. Company was liquidated in 1913 only
Crystallising the alum required The name Ravenscar a few show homes had been completed.
potassium and ammonia. Peak’s coastal The trail’s steep route back to the village
location provided both. Potassium came
didn’t exist until 1897. suggests why. Ravenscar is 200 metres
from local seaweed; ammonia arrived For centuries, the area above sea level. Despite the railway,
by boat. The major source of the latter was known as Peak, the site felt isolated. Exposed to North
was human urine, collected in cities, Sea gales, the elevated headland has a
including Newcastle and London, then due to its elevated microclimate prone to swirling mists.
shipped to the alum works in barrels. coastal location And intrepid investors who reached the
The barrels were unloaded using the sea found there was virtually no beach.
winding house, a clifftop winch. At the top of the path, a stone seat
Despite the unsavoury ingredient offers a place to reflect. The sea sparkles
involved, the alum works employed into the hotel) while ‘scar’ is a local term in the afternoon sun. A view of Robin
more than 100 people. The works were for a cliff. Hood’s Bay, a fishing village that has
even raided by European pirates. Then, As the trail passes back through the become a holiday hotspot, is almost a
in the mid-19th century, synthetic dyes trees, the Raven Hall Hotel appears on taunt: ‘Here’s what might have been.’ The
rendered alum obsolete for making the summit. A more sobering reminder story of Ravenscar has some sensational
textiles. Demand collapsed and the of the company’s efforts lies underfoot. subplots – a gambling vicar, boatloads
Peak Alum Works closed in 1862. The path near the alum works is lined of urine – but the tale of ‘the town that
The closure was bad news for the with crumbly red shale. Higher up, never was’ follows that of any human
Peak estate. In need of new income the surface is laid with bricks. Most settlement: location, location, location. n
sources, William Hammond keenly have been worn smooth but others still
supported the railway. Ten years after bear a single word: RAVENSCAR. The
his death, the estate changed hands Ravenscar Estate Company set up a
again – and changed its name. brick works to build houses for a new
In 1895, the land was bought by coastal resort.
developers with ambitious plans. Two Some 300 men were hired to lay roads
years later, they formed the Ravenscar and sewers. More than 1,300 plots of TRAIL
Estate Company. ‘Raven’ came from land were offered at auctions. Less than Coastal • Yorkshire and the Humber
Raven Hill House (which they turned half sold. When the Ravenscar Estate www.discoveringbritain.org

OCTOBER 2023 . 75
 RGS-IBG ARCHIV E
MAP

Route from
from Ramadi to
Adrah (partial)
Gertrude Bell et al., 1914

I
n 1913–14, with the threat of war on the horizon, a Royal
Geographical Society Fellow by the name of Gertrude
Bell made a series of journeys through the Ha’il region
in the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula, setting out
with a camel caravan from Damascus in December 1913
and returning in May 1914. Before she embarked, Bell was
trained in the use of, and supplied with, a number of surveying
instruments, including a sextant and a transit theodolite for the
measurement of direction, position and height, by the RGS.
This map is one of five draughtsman’s plottings prepared by
cartographers at the RGS, including the map curator, Douglas
Carruthers, who had himself travelled in northwestern Arabia on
a similar route to Bell’s in 1909, and the principal draughtsman,
Mr Addison, based on Bell’s field notes. Her corrections can
be seen in red on the maps. Many revolve around the spelling
of placenames, reflecting both the lack of a consensus around
the transliteration of Arabic words at that time and her own
uncertainty regarding her translations. However, there is also a
correction to the position of a geographical feature: ‘There is a
mistake here, surely Helqûm was northeast of my camp at 1653,
not southwest.’
Bell later railed against the quality of the map draughting
in a letter to Arthur Hinks: ‘Many many messages to Mr.
Carruthers. I wish he were here. I wanted him as map officer,
but they preferred to retain a gentleman who had never seen
a map since he was taught the use of the globes in infancy.
Or so I judged. Abject stupidity, we must remember the Gods
themselves fight vainly.’
Bell went on to briefly join the Arab Bureau in Cairo, where
she worked with TE Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), and the
British administration in Ottoman Mesopotamia in 1917,
where she served as both a political officer and as oriental
secretary, the only woman to occupy such high-ranking civil
roles in the British Empire. Today she is hailed as a gifted
scholar, but also as a pioneering woman who carved out a role
for herself in a resolutely male-dominated world.

The Royal Geographical Society Picture Library is an unrivalled

resource, containing more than half a million images of
peoples and landscapes from all over the world. The collection
holds photographs and works of art from the 1830s onwards
and includes images of exploration, indigenous peoples and remote locations.
For further information on image licensing and limited-edition prints, or to
search our online collection of more than 7,000 images, visit www.rgs.org/
images. Rolex kindly supports public access to the Society’s collection of
photographs, books, documents and maps.

76 . GEOGRAPHICAL
 OCTOBER 2023 . 77
ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY (WITH IBG)
 IN SOCIETY
EXPEDITION AND FIELDWORK FESTIVAL

Celebrate and thoughtful but ambitious expeditions and fieldwork. The

Society plays a pivotal role in promoting purposeful,
considered travel and supporting researchers and explorers.
develop your Expeditions and fieldwork are unique opportunities for
learning and development, and help us to develop the

expedition and knowledge and understanding that can contribute to the

creation of a better world.’
If you’re looking to expand your understanding of
fieldwork skills at expeditions and fieldwork, then join us throughout the RGS
Explore festival to examine the history of exploration, hear

the RGS Explore tales from the field and learn about travel with purpose. Take
your pick from a range of stimulating events, including:

festival 2023 n A dynamic talk using our historic Collections to examine

the cultural politics of nature reserves in Jordan.

J
oin us at the RGS Explore festival 2023, from n Captivating artistic workshops, talks and displays that will
Monday 30 October to Monday 6 November, help you develop the field-sketching and journalling skills
to celebrate exploration, field science and travel needed to document your journey and discoveries.
with purpose over eight exciting days of events
and workshops. n An inspiring panel discussion about overcoming adversity
Throughout its history, the Royal Geographical through adventure following catastrophic injury.
Society (with IBG) has supported and facilitated
geographical expeditions and fieldwork. n Lectures on youth expeditions and fair access to the
Today, we play a leading role in developing what transformative impact of travel with purpose, and the golden
fieldwork and expeditions mean in a complex, climate- age of Himalayan mountaineering.
changed world, encouraging field researchers and
independent travellers to practice safe, ethical travel n The Explore symposium, our flagship expedition and
and field research, and generate new knowledge. fieldwork planning weekend. An unmissable experience for
With a huge range of events taking place over the week, those planning their own expedition or research trip, where
we’re opening fieldwork to anyone who’s interested in you can access inspiration and advice, and meet and learn
developing their skills, learning more about the benefits of from a wide range of expedition professionals, field scientists
fieldwork, or collecting and sharing geographical knowledge. and intrepid travellers.
Joe Smith, director of the Royal Geographical Society
(with IBG), says: ‘Following the success of last years’ Find out more and book your tickets here:
inaugural Explore festival, we are delighted to be hosting www.rgs.org/Explorefestival. Follow the fun
the 2023 festival to encourage people to engage in of the festival at #RGSExplore2023

78
72. GEOGRAPHICAL
• Geographical
ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY (WITH IBG)
SELECTION OF EVENTS FOR OCTOBER

6 October, 7pm–9.30pm 10 October, 6pm–7.30pm 10 October, 6.30pm–7.30pm

Short talk (In-person, London, Lecture (In-person, Manchester) Lecture (In-person, Bristol)
and online) Manchester’s rivers, microplastics On the roof of the world: Bon
Geographical journeys: and the sewage scandal in Dolpo, Nepal
microlectures This lecture presents recent research Hear from the Society’s 2022 Neville
An informal evening of short on microplastic contamination Shulman Award winners about
illustrated talks packed with tales in Manchester’s rivers and shows their journey through the highly
of adventure and discovery to how it has influenced policy inaccessible region of Dolpo, inspired
entertain and inspire. debates in Westminster. by a desire to learn about the ancient
n Venue: Royal Geographical Society n Venue: Boardroom at Rain Bar, Bon religion.
(with IBG), 1 Kensington Gore, London, 80 Great Bridgewater Street, n Venue: University of the West of
SW7 2AR Manchester, M1 5JG England, Bristol (exact location TBC)
Tickets: £12 (in-person) or £6 (online); Tickets: Free, open to all Tickets: Free, open to all
£10 (in-person) or £5 (online) for geog.gr/MicroPlastics geog.gr/RoofWorld
RGS-IBG members
geog.gr/GeoJourneys

18 October, 7.30pm–8.30pm 24 October, 7pm–8.30pm 27 October, 8pm–10pm

Lecture (In-person, Southampton) Panel discussion (In-person, Lecture (In-person, Southampton)
Extinction: our fragile relationship London, and online) Wounded Tigris: a river journey
with life on Earth Poverty in Britain through the cradle of civilisation
Marc Schlossman discusses his By unravelling spatial and socio- A source-to-sea journey along the
project Extinction, documenting economic disparities in Britain, Tigris investigating the environmental
more than 130 species of extinct the panel will provide an in-depth and geopolitical challenges that
and threatened animals and analysis of poverty in the 21st threaten the future of this once
plants to reveal the accelerating century and discuss how it could great river.
loss of biodiversity. be solved sustainably.
n Venue: Turner Sims, Salisbury
n Venue: Geography Department, n Venue: Royal Geographical Society Road, SO17 1BJ
University of Southampton, Burgess (with IBG), 1 Kensington Gore, London, Tickets: £15; RGS-IBG members £13;
Road, SO16 3HH SW7 2AR students and under 18s £8
Tickets: Free, open to all Tickets: £12 (in-person) or £6 (online); geog.gr/WoundedTigris
geog.gr/Extinction £10 (in-person) or £5 (online) for
RGS-IBG members
geog.gr/PovertyBritain

n The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) is the home Geographical is the Society’s
of geography. Founded in 1830, we are the UK’s learned magazine, and available with all types
society for geography and professional body for geographers. of membership – but there are so
Our core purpose is to advance geographical science. We many other benefits. Our Fellows and
achieve this in many ways, through our charitable work in Members gain access to topical events
education, research and fieldwork, and more widely as a and activities, where you can meet
membership organisation. others who share a passion for geography.
The Society welcomes anyone fascinated by the world’s So whether you’re a geography professional or student, or
people, places and environments. Membership is open to simply have a thirst for geographical knowledge, membership
all and tailored to you. Whether you’re a Fellow, Associate of the Society will satisfy your curiosity.
Fellow, Student Member or Member, we make your n For more on what membership has to offer you,
adventures in geography richer and more meaningful. visit our website at: www.rgs.org/join-us

RGS-IBG CORPORATE SUPPORTERS

March 2018
OCTOBER 2023• .73
79
 CROSSWORD

ACROSS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 Country that’s great in an anagram! (9) 9 10

10 See 5 down
11 Last foxtrot in Alabama (5)
12 Hide! Trump unfortunately was victorious! (9) 11 12

13 One taking informal photos of red fish? (7)

14 Roy knew about US city (3,4)
13 14 15 16
17 Arabian city revealed by its media budget turnover (5)
19 Friend in the Appalachians (3)
20 Solemnly promise that tea is extracted from 17 18 19 20
modified seawater (5)
21 After November, Surrey possibly gets pre-school
facility (7) 21 22 23
22 In short, insect goes after French cheese (7)
24 Sorry, ‘Cake’ is wrong alternative name for Uluru (5,4)
26 Written orders include return of pilotless aircraft (5) 24 25 26 27

28 and 7 down Merton’s humour upset US National

Memorial (5,8)
28 29
29 Endlessly generating fresh citrus fruit (9)

DOWN
1 Animal found in local farm (4) SEPTEMBER CROSSWORD SOLUTION
2 Country made up of university graduates and ACROSS
alumni initially (6) 8 Macaroni 9 Durham 10 Levy 11 Ivy 12 League 13 Alpaca
3 Help in goal, perhaps, being a great lover of England (10) 15 Leinster 17 Hoedown 19 Seville 22 Brasilia 24 Siesta
4 Late playwright got 5 and 10 involved in seaside 25 Placid 27 Van 28 Gogh 29 Severn 30 Realigns
attraction (6)
5 and 10 across Conservation body might make a DOWN
start in Luton (8,5) 1 Waterloo 2 Lady 3 Godiva 4 Bicycle 5 Adelaide 6 Area
6 Support for plant when meats heartlessly processed (4) 7 Danube 14 Andes 16 Shire 18 Well done 20 Litigant
7 See 28 across 21 Harvard 23 Relief 24 Sandal 26 Chef 28 Gait
8 Last of horses that you bred here? (4)
13 War-torn nature of this African country I leave
unsaid, maybe (5)
15 Chain of Caribbean islands – or is it Swede
possibly? (4,6)
16 Irish county is 50 per cent darker, Mary (5)
WIN Download your entry at:
geog.gr/cross_word or simply fill in and
18 A rude box fashioned for French wine (8)
cut out the grid above. Send your entry
19 MP, involved with youth, left Devon city (8)
to the editorial address on page four,
22 Pacific atoll used to conceal body parts on the marked ‘October crossword’. Entries close
beach? (6) 21 October. The first correctly completed
23 Over-elaborate, like an endless US state (6) crossword selected at random wins a
24 Intends to compose Latin Mass regularly (4) copy of Philip’s Essential World Atlas,
25 Ground for building turned over in Phuket Island (4) a comprehensive hardback atlas worth
27 Use sound of sheep (4) £25. For details, visit
www.octopusbooks.co.uk

80 . GEOGRAPHICAL
 QUIZ

Where in the world?

CREATIVE TRAVEL PROJECTS/SHUTTERSTOCK

Identify this country using the following clues:

Find the answer online at
geog.gr/where-world
1
It’s the world’s 11th largest country by land area and shares
or in next month’s issue!

borders with six other nations

2
It achieved independence in 1962 and instituted a multi-party
political system in 1988

3
Its highest point is 2,908 metres above sea level

4
Only 0.8 per cent of its land is forested

5
The vast majority of its people live in the country’s northern areas
September answer: Greece

OCTOBER 2023 . 81
 I
think pierogi would be a good favourite dish. ‘A lot of Poland’s
place to start,’ says Zuza Zak regional cuisine has been influenced
when asked what dish she would
recommend to someone who is
new to cooking Polish cuisine.
‘Of course, I would say that – my
PASSPORT
TRAVEL INSIGHTS
by shifting borders and the migration
of a lot of people. For example, in
Olsztyn, where my dad was born,
the food has a mixture of Russian,
last cookbook is called Pierogi,’ she Ukrainian and Lithuanian origins.’
continues with a laugh. Zak, who has two young children,
Zak is travelling through Poland as admits that when travelling as a
we speak. She regularly returns to the family, looking for places to eat can
country in which she was born and be a little bit of a challenge. But food
lived for the first eight years of her life, can also be a particularly good way to
a period that has heavily influenced introduce children to a new culture,
her career as a cookery writer and she says. ‘When you’re travelling with
author of three cookbooks on Eastern kids, you really have to take it easy
European cuisine. ‘Food has always and not overexert yourself. That can
been a really big part of my life,’ she be a recipe for disaster. Trying new
says. ‘Both my parents were working Food writer foods can be a really good way to
full time. I spent a lot of my childhood Zuza Zak, who travels discover a new place without all the
with my grandmas, and they spent a lot widely to research her running around sightseeing. It offers
of their time in the kitchen.’ books, talks to new experiences at a slow pace.’
When her family moved to England, Bryony Cottam Alternatively, she says, pick up a
food became a way to remain cookbook, an often-overlooked but fun
connected to life in Poland. ‘It took on l way to learn more about a destination.
a new dimension,’ she says. ‘I think for ‘Sometimes people travel and they
a lot of people in the diaspora, food
Food can reveal think they know everything by the time
becomes an important connection shifting borders and they come back. But actually, by trying
to home.’ Despite this, she didn’t patterns of migration to recreate some of those recipes you
anticipate growing up to be a cookery l
tried abroad, you can continue to learn
writer. ‘I was working in TV and, at and immerse yourself in a culture long
some point, I started just writing a Eating local food after your holiday has ended.’ l
cookbook in any spare time I had.’ is as important
Polska was a labour of love that Zak
filled with family recipes. ‘When I first
as sightseeing
moved to England, I was met with a l
lot of disdain for Polish cuisine. I felt
there was a real disconnect with what Continue to immerse
yourself in different Zuza Zak’s new
I knew Polish food to be, and what
book, Slavic
other people saw it as.’ Communism, cultures by exploring Kitchen Alchemy,
she says, is largely to blame. Growing foreign cuisines when will be published
up, there was often little to be found
in the shops and a restaurant culture
at home this month
has only recently started to develop.
Yet families would pull together to
find everything needed to make the
perfect feast. ‘Plus, I think there’s
always been a kind of hospitality
culture where you invited people into
your home – that was the way that
people entertained and cooked.’
Zak refers to herself as a ‘storyteller-
cook’, using her writing as a medium
to delve into another cuisine and,
through it, into another culture. She
likes to challenge the preconceptions
that people have towards certain
aspects of Eastern European life, and
encourages any traveller to question
their own assumptions about a place.
‘Try to see beyond the surface level,’
she says, adding that food can reveal
much more than just a country’s
Making pierogi

82 . GEOGRAPHICAL VOLODYMYR HER

ASYMCHUK/SHU
TTERSTOCK
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