The Adventurers’ Club Newsadventurersclub.org/archives/AC News/AC News May 2011.pdf · We’ll know after the next big rain! Attendance was up nicely for our distinguished VIP on

The

Adventurers’ Club News©

Volume 55 May 2011 Number 5

Ascension Cathedral in Almaty, KazakhstanPhoto – Bill Altaffer

The Adventurers' Club News The Official Publication of the Adventurers' Club of Los Angeles®, California

May 2011 Number 5

ACLA President, Larry Schutte #1121

.Marc Weitz #1144; Asst. Editor.

Club Phone (323) 223-3948 (24 Hrs)

Robert G. Williscroft #1116, Clarkston, WA 99403 Cell (818) 613-9445; [email protected]

Los Angeles, CA 90071 (323) 600-4805; [email protected]

www.adventurersclub.org

Volume 55 Publisher Editor

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DIRECTORY INSIDE FRONT COVER

PRESIDENT'S PAGE 1 ARTICLES

THE FIVE STANS 2 WHAT'S HAPPENING

6 THRAWN RICKLE 10 BOOK REVIEW: PLANET MOJAVE — VISIONS FROM A WORLD APART

11

THURSDAY NIGHTS AT THE CLUB

12 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

21

FORTHCOMING PROGRAMS

21 ROSTER UPDATE 21

1P—RESIDENT 2ND VICE PRES

SECRETARY

ADDRESS I,arrv Schuttc Mike Gwaltney Robert DeMott

2433 N Broadway Los Angeles, CA 90086

1sT VICE PRES TREASURER

DINNER

MAILING Manny Gomcs lefferv Goddard

RESERVATIONS

ADDRESS (323) 223-3948

PO Box 31226 Deadline: Tuesday Noon Los Angeles, CA 90031

ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS May 20111

The

ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS©

Volume 55 May 2011 Number 5THE PRESIDENT’S PAGELarry Schutte #1121 - President

Hey gang!Fearless

leader here.The word forthis month ismembership.I’m going totalk about itbecause I’mc o n v i n c e d

that’s the way to grow the club, not byselling key chains and coffee mugs.

As old members die, move away,cannot make it to meetings, etc., wemust replenish our “tribe” with new,compatible, qualified members cho-sen by our existing membership. Wehave the solid twenty-five guys whoshow up every week for dinner andthe meeting and several more who justcome for the presentation. Our goalis to grow that number to betweenforty and fifty guys who come on aregular basis. If each of us sponsoreda worthy candidate, we will hit ourmark within this year, which I wouldlike to see. So, existing members, thechallenge is on. Please think throughyour list of friends, associates, col-leagues, and recommend someoneworthy of membership. The dues anddinner revenue are what keeps ourgreat Club solvent. With your help,

we’re going to keep things going in abig way. Also, some of you membersmight want to leave something to theclub in your will. So if you’re updat-ing your affairs, please don’t forgetto leave a “little taste” to the clubthat has provided good things for you.

BTW – NOHA is October 23,2011, at the Delfina in Santa Moni-ca. We need quality objects for thesilent auction. Please see me or SteveBein to donate your things.

The Masons have fixed the roof yetagain. Let’s hope it works this time.We’ll know after the next big rain!

Attendance was up nicely for ourdistinguished VIP on April 21st. Overfifty showed up. It was nice to see.Keep it up guys. I love it!

Ralph Perez (#1150) left the samenight with an Expedition flag to takeon the amazing walk he has plannedfor the next few months. Also, checkin often to Bill Burke’s blog for up-dates on his Everest double summitattempt: www.EightSummits.com

This month of May coming uplooks to be an amazing line up of tal-ent with Chris Welch from VirginOceanic to Cheetah Lady LaurieMarker, Gil Garcetti, and our ownPierre Odier. Strap in, it’s going to bea real adventure!

May 2011 ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS2

The Five StansBill Altaffer (#1095)

The Five Stans

Editor’s note: This article was condensed froma much longer article that contained manymore details of this remarkable trip.

I met with my fellow travelers, asmall group of Americans, in Al-

maty, Kazakhstan, to begin my thirdtrip to the Stans. From the rooftopof the world to the vanished Aral Sea,we experienced the five Stans as fewtourists have. I count this as one ofmy very best trips ever.

Almaty, nestled in the foothills of theTien Shan mountain range, is the larg-est city in Central Asia and the step-ping-off point to the other Stans. “Al-maty” means the place with apples. Itis believed to be where apples were firstdomesticated. It had grown up as amajor site on the Silk Road but wasdestroyed by the Mongols in 1211. To-day it is a modern city made prosper-ous by oil and gas. I was amazed thatthe streets were washed down nightlyand, as we noticed all through the restof our trip throughout Central Asia,

trash and litter were nonexistent.Before leaving Almaty, we drove into

the Small Almaty Gorge where theMedeo Sports Complex is located. Setamong the craggy peaks and alpineslopes created by an ancient glacier, thisOlympic-size skating rink will be thesite of the next Asian Games. We hadlunch in a traditional Kazakh yurt res-taurant before setting off to Bishkek,the capital of Kyrgystan.

Upon arrival, we were impressed bythe abundance of trees. At dinner thatevening, we were treated to a perfor-mance of part of Manas, a dramaticsong that celebrates the history ofKyrgystan. We spent the followingday sightseeing. That evening, we haddinner in the home of the mother-in-law of our tour manager, PaulSchwartz, a huge feast includingmany exotic items and featuring veg-

etables from her garden.The following day, we flew to Osh,

in south Kyrgystan, the country’s old-est and second-largest city. It was acenter of silk production along the

Photo: neiljs' photostream

Bazzar in Bishkek, Kyrgystan

Ascension Cathedral in Almaty,Kazakhstan – the only Christian church inthe Stans

Photo: Bill Altaffer


The Five Stans

3

(Moving Days continued on page 4)

old Silk Road and celebrated its3,000th anniversary in 2000. Therewe visited the sacred Suleiman’s

Throne, a huge limestone and quartzmound with a view of the city. It isfull of caves, and has recently beendeclared a UNESCO World HeritageSite. After lunch, we headed overlandto Sary Tash.

Sary Tash is a collection of smallhouses and yurts close to the Tajiki-stan border. Its only accommodations

are a few yurts with pads on the floorfor sleeping, lighting from bare bulbspowered by a generator, and an out-house a small distance away. Temper-

atures were cold and food was verybasic, emphasizing that we had leftthe comforts of the beaten path be-hind, entering a world with roughconditions that few Americans canimagine.

After our somewhat uncomfortablenight in Sary Tash, we drove on themostly unpaved road to the borderpost. We disembarked from our vanto stretch our legs while Paul wentinside. We waited, and we waited. Fi-nally, Paul came out to inform us ofthe situation. It had been impossibleto obtain the paperwork allowing ourKyrgyz driver (an ethnic Uzbek) andvan to carry us across the ten-mileno-man’s-land. The commander of-fered to transport us in an army vehi-cle for the outrageous fee of $50 perperson. Paul had bartered this downto $200 for all seven of us. Then thecommander placed a tiny stool be-tween the two front seats, where Paulperched with his legs scrunchedagainst the gear stick. The remainingsix of us crammed ourselves sardine-like into the back seat without a cu-bic inch of spare space. The com-mander and the driver occupied thetwo front seats, with plenty of roomand richer by $200.

The drive was very slow, over rough,rocky road, across a riverbed, up anddown steep rises, bouncing and jos-tling and seeming to last forever. Atlong last, we reached the Tajik bor-der post. We were met by two 4-wheeldrive vans and their astounded driv-

Suleiman’s Throne overlooking Osh,Kyrgystan


Sary Tash, Kyrgystan



The Five Stans(Five Stans continued from page 3)

ers. We loaded up, and set out on thePamir Highway, a narrow, often one-lane road, mostly unpaved, thatwinds its way through incredible scen-ery. For many miles, it paralleled the

Chinese border, marked by a contin-uous “electric” fence that had beenbuilt by the Soviets. We wound be-tween mountains, eventually climb-ing over several high passes, includ-ing the highest at 14,000 feet, theKyzyl Art Pass. For most of the day-long drive, we were alone on the road,only occasionally meeting or passinghuge Chinese trucks carrying goodsto other parts of Central Asia. Thisarea is very sparsely populated, withonly a few small villages scatteredthroughout. We reached one of thesenear the beautiful, pristine KarakulLake around lunch time. After an af-ternoon bouncing through moreamazing scenery, we eventuallyreached Murgab, the “city of birds,”a town of about 4,000 people andsecond largest town in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, apiece of disputed territory in the

mountainous northeast corner ofTajikistan. Murgab is the highest townin Tajikistan, sits at the junction ofthree major roads and has long beena melting pot for the many ethnic

groups in Central Asia.We stayed in a Murgab guest house

for two nights. It was a collection ofa home and several outbuildings clus-tered around a small dirt courtyard,all enclosed by a fence with a heavygate. The house had a few rooms,each with multiple beds for travelers,and the family’s living quarters andkitchen. There was no running wa-ter. Electricity was available for briefintervals in the evening. The out-buildings included an outhouse anda sauna where we were able to takehot bucket baths. In the courtyardwas an oven where woman of thehouse baked bread every few days.Food was basic and not particular-ly good.

We spent most of a day drivingout of the town up into a valleybetween two of the many moun-tains. We experienced incredible

Pamir Highway


Typical street in Murgab, Tajikistan

Photo: Traveladventures.org


The Five Stans

scenery that left us filled with aweat the sheer majesty and immensityof the landscape.

After returning to Murgab by mid-afternoon, we visited the local mar-ket and a cooperative that sells hand-made items to the few tourists thatreach this remote spot. By chance,this was the first day of school. Wewere struck by the children, alldressed in black and white finery.Some of the young girls looked al-most like they were dressed as Frenchmaids, with black dresses and white,frilly aprons. This black-and-whiteattire turned out to be common withschoolchildren throughout the fiveStans. Most of the girls also worefrilly white pompom-like hair acces-sories. They were beyond cute.

The following day, we traversed15,270 foot high Ak-Baital Pass,eventually arriving in the city ofKhorog, where we spent two nights.

Khorog is the home of the CentralAsia University, underwritten by theAga Khan Foundation. Our very nicehotel, the Serena Inn, was built by the

Aga Khan on the bank of the PyanjRiver with a view of Afghanistan onthe opposite bank. We spent the dayseeing the sites, including the world’ssecond-highest botanical garden andthe first motorized vehicle to traversethe Pamir Highway in 1932, a smallpickup truck displayed at the edge oftown on a large concrete block.

We spent the next two days climb-ing over more mountains on some ofthe roughest, dustiest roads in theworld. Close to nightfall on the daywe left Khorog, we arrived at the lit-tle village of Kalaikhumb where wewere fortunate to stay in a guesthouse supported by the Aga KhanFoundation. It was basic, but had elec-tricity; its courtyard was cement rath-

er than dirt, and it boasted a centralbathroom with a flushing toilet and atub with hot, running water.

By the end of the next day, wefound ourselves out of the mountainsand on real roads as we approachedDushanbe. While still outside the citylimits, we stopped to pay local boysto wash our vans with buckets using

(Moving Days continued on page 6)

Hyatt Regency in Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Photo: Hyatt Hotels & Resorts

Khorog, Tajikistan

Photo: Parviz.Tj


(Five Stans continued from page 5)

The Five Stans

water from a small stream. Dirty ve-hicles are ticketed in Dushanbe soseveral groups of boys perform thisservice for a small charge. We stayedat the 5-star Hyatt Regency in Dush-anbe. After our rough accommoda-tions on the road, this was one of thenicest hotels I have ever stayed in. Wewere bemused by the contrast betweensleeping on the floor of a yurt with norunning water at one end of the PamirHighway and ending up at the other endin a true 5-star hotel with all the amen-ities, even a lap pool. We spent twodecadent nights there while we exploredthe sites of Dushanbe.

Leaving Dushanbe, we spent allday first flying to Khujand and thendriving across the border to Samar-

kand, Uzbekistan. Crossing the bor-der was the usual ordeal in this partof the world, with us hauling our lug-gage across wide expanses of no-man’s-land, multiple copies of Cus-toms declarations to complete andthe repeated examination of all ourdocuments on both sides of the bor-

der. We spent two nights in Samar-kand, a bustling city with much historyand many sites to see. We visited theBibi Khanum Mosque, built by Tamer-lane to be the largest mosque in the Is-lamic world. Architects from India andPersia, with the help of almost 100 el-ephants, constructed the mosque us-ing Indian marble.

On the 16th day of our trip, we trav-eled by bus west to Bukhara, an an-cient Silk Road oasis for camel cara-vans. Bukhara was built by Tajiks/

Persians. The ancient architecture anddesign in Bukhara have been pre-served better than in other places,despite being heavily bombed by theBolsheviks, resulting in a charminglylovely and exotic city. We visited theZindan Prison with its infamous “bugpit” where two British spies were bru-tally imprisoned in the 19th century. Wesaw the Kalon Mosque and Minaret,the second largest mosque in CentralAsia. Its minaret is ringed by fourteenunique bands of brickwork and was the

Bibi Khanum Mosque in Samarkand,Uzbekistan


Kalon Mosque, Bukhara, Uzbekistan

Photo: Emiraty


(Five Stans continued on page 20)

-

The Five Stans

only structure to survive when Geng-his Khan razed the city. We stayed in a“boutique hotel” in the old JewishQuarter that had been fashioned fromseveral old Jewish merchant houses anddecorated in the national style.

After Bukhara, we drove to Turk-menabat, Turkmenistan (our fifthStan) with the usual border crossingordeal, then flew to Ashkhabad. Ash-

khabad had been destroyed by Mon-gols in the 13th century. In 1948, amassive earthquake ravished the city,killing over two-thirds of its popula-tion. Lately, it has seen a major build-ing revival. It has changed dramati-cally since my previous visit over adecade ago, reminiscent of the build-ing explosion in Dubai. Ashkhabadfeels like a mix of Pyongyang, Bra-silia, Dubai and Canberra. The lookof the city is ultra-modern andspare-no-expense, though most ofthe luxury apartments and fancyhotels seem to be unoccupied.Huge parks and statues completethe picture of a country suddenly

dripping with natural gas revenues.Fortunately, we were able to visitTolkuchka Bazaar outside of thecity for a taste of reality. The is oneof the most exciting open marketsof Central Asia.

The trip officially ended in Ashkha-bad. Some of us stayed on for an ex-tension starting with a return toUzbekistan for a one-night stay inKhiva. Legend says that Khiva wasfounded by Shem, Noah’s son, atthe spot where he found water inthe desert. Khiva is a living muse-um including the Dzhuma Mosquewith its 115 carved wood columnsthat create a forest-like effect. Fourof these columns, older than therest, show fire damage, supposedlyfrom Genghis Khan’s torching ofthe city.

The next day we drove to Nukus,the capital of the autonomous regionof Karakalpakia in western Uzbeki-stan. The Karakalpak people aremore closely related to the Kazakhsthan to the Uzbeks, with a mix ofMongol bloodlines. Nukus sits at thecenter of an area crisscrossed by oldcaravan routes and dotted with an-cient ruins. Its claim to fame is theSavitsky Art Museum, the “Louvreof the desert,” famous for its hugecollection of avant-garde Russian art.Our main purpose in coming toNukus was to take an all-day bouncytrip to Muynak, once a thriving fish-ing port on the Aral Sea, formerly thefourth largest inland sea in the world.

Large Mosque in Ashkhabad,Turkmenistan



What’s Happening...

Gary Hareland attendschristening


Photos Gary Hareland

Gary Hareland (#1138) attended the Christening/Launch Ceremony forthe USNS William McLean. McLean was the most successful Technical

Director at China Lake ever! USNS William McLean was launched in LongBeach on April 16, 2011, at 8:30 pm.

On an unrelated matter, Gary was the guest speaker at the Bakersfield NavyLeague on April 20.



Editor’s Note:Each month we will feature recent activities ofmembers and friends on this page. Please sendyour material along with any photos to the Editorby email or snail mail. Designate it for “What’sHappening....”

Roz challenges the Indian OceanPhotos Roz Savage

Roz Savage has cast off from a pierin Freman-

tle, Australia,and pointed herocean rower, Sed-na, toward thecoast of Africa.

You can followher trip at http://rozsavage.com. Unfortunately, becauseof pirate activity, she will not be post-ing her daily position.

Roz appeared at the Club back inSeptember, 2006.

Ralph Perez challenges the PacificCrest Trail

Ralph Perez (#1150) is in the finalstages of planning his 2,655 mile

hiking trip on the Pacific Crest Trailfrom the Mexican to the CanadianBorder.

He will be leaving on May 1 goingfrom Campo to Lake Morena, the firsttwenty miles of a long journey. Youcan follow his progress by loggingonto his blog at: http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=343341.If that doesn’t work just Google: Pa-cific Crest Trail, Trawler Cat.

His blog contains past stories abouthow he prepared for this monumen-tal trip. He uses the trail name ofTrawler Cat and refers to other clubmembers by their trail names; he callsme Corn Nut (in reference to my fa-vorite trail food) and Shane Berry isGlobe Trekker. Ralph can also bereached at his email address:[email protected].

Shane and I both plan to join Ralphon the trail as he passes through theLos Angeles segment of his hike. Ifclub members were to contact himbeforehand and make arrangementsthey could alsojoin Ralph on asegment of hisjourney and signhis expeditionflag; I am sure hewould appreciatethe company.

Rick Flores (#1120)

Roz with her freshly stickered Sedna

Roz takes a “baker’s holiday” inSydney Harbor


Well...we dohave a new

roster, but it hasseveral errors.We’ll be fixingthat with an erra-ta sheet shortly.Should you find

an error we missed, please let me knowby email. We will publish changes inthe News as we receive them.

As I mentioned last month, our nextproject is to publish a new loose-leafbio-roster. Many of you have sent meyour updated bio information andphotos, but I am certain that manymore are sitting on updated materialthat will not be included in the newbio-roster, unless you get the materi-al to me.

Remember to write out your bio infull, even if you have only a coupleof changes; and include the best dig-ital photo you have. I’ve received sev-eral letters asking me to write the biofrom a resume or from some otherpiece of material on the member. Heyguys, it doesn’t work that way! Youwrite out your bio and Email it [email protected]. If you don’t haveemail, then put it in the U.S. mail.Please don’t put it off!

Remember to purchase a copy ofPierre’s Cambodia Angkor at the Clubor online at www. limageodier.com. Thisis a project that really matters, andyour purchase will affect the lives ofcountless children.

THE THRAWN RICKLE From the Ancient Scottish: thrawn = stubborn; rickle = loose, dilapidated heap

Thrawn Rickle

Robert G. Williscroft #1116 – EditorI made an editorial comment on

page 16 regarding the Coriolis Effect.Here is a bit more information. TheCoriolis Effect is a twisting motioncaused by the Earth’s rotation. It af-fects air and water in large systemsover significant lengths of time. Atypical cyclonic or anti-cyclonicweather system is about 1,000 milesacross, and lasts for at least severaldays to a couple of weeks. The samething is true for ocean currents, ex-cept that they tend to last very muchlonger. Because the surface of theEarth moves faster at the equator andslower as you move toward the poles,this causes a twisting effect for themovement of both air and water –counter-clockwise north of the equa-tor, and clockwise, south of the equa-tor. We call this cyclonic in the southand anti-cyclonic in the north. The ef-fect is much too small to affect waterin sinks and basins, especially sincethese involve very short duration mo-tions. In a marine physics college examback in the day, I was asked to calcu-late this effect for a wash basin, in or-der to demonstrate why it does not workat that level. (Sorry Bob!)

Please continue to send letters-to-the-editor about what you see in thesepages, or experience at the Club. Yourregular input is what makes this mag-azine a monthly value for both your-self and all the other members.

The password for the online full-color edition is “acla1105”.


Book Review - Planet Mojave

11

BOOK REVIEW –PLANET MOJAVE – VISIONS FROM A WORLD APARTAuthors & publisher: Ridge Writers, East Sierra Branch, California Writer’s Club, RidgecrestCA, 2011, 300 p; 8.50 X 5.50 soft cover. ISBN: 978-0-6154664-4-6. Review by Fredrick G. Hareland(#1138).

Planet Mojave is an eclectic col-lection of stories, poems, and ad-

ventures written by thirty membersof Ridge Writers.

The contents of this excellent lit-tle book virtually mir-ror the Mojave Desertextremes and eccen-tricities. Its beauty,blue skies, sunshine,strange lenticularclouds, grotesqueJoshua trees, ghosttowns, movie, TV,and commercial film-ing locations, are allhere. So is Mojave his-tory, whether it be pi-oneer, mining, avia-tion, or rockets andspace travel.

This book contains chapters deal-ing with the great outdoors, movielocations and filming, people, livingand loving, cowboys, fictional stories,poems, and even some fifty-five-wordstories, all about some small part ofour precious Mojave Desert. Wecould think of no better way to shareour fantastic desert with the worldthen through the words and storiesof Planet Mojave.

Some of you fellow adventurersmay remember your recent visit toChina Lakes, Little Petroglyph Can-

yon, to view the Western Hemi-spheres largest collection of rock artin one location. Now you can readmore about that and many other in-teresting and historic Mojave desert

places such as ghosttowns, geological for-mations, rocket launch-ing areas, mines, mili-tary bases, filming loca-tions, places where oldwest bandits such asTiburcio Vasquez usedto hang out, hiding andwaiting to rob the nextstage.

As interesting as themany magical placesin the desert can be, itis still the people whopopulat it that are the

most interesting, and Planet Mojavetalks about a whole plethora of them.From 1849er William Lewis Manly,to Dr. William McLean, and Mojave’sElbert Leander “Bert” Rutan, thisbook tells their stories and those ofmany more.

This well-illustrated book containsover 100 photographs and fourteendrawings, maps, and charts. It is avail-able from planetmojave.com or memberGary Hareland (#1138), who will behonored to autograph it for any fel-low Club member.

May 2011 ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS

Minutes – March 24, 2011

THURSDAY NIGHTS AT THE CLUB

12

March 24, 2011Marc Weitz (#1144)

The meeting began with a tributeto Marv Garrett #1083 who

recently went on the great adventure.Those returning from adventure:

Paul Isley #1088 – Lectured inNew Orleans and then flew to Chi-cago where he is the newly electedpresident of the Chicago Adventur-ers’ Club.

Steve Bein #1057 – Returnedfrom a week in Homer, AK, photo-graphing eagles.

Jim Dorsey #1081 – Returnedfrom Ethiopia where he visited avolcano with other scientists. On thetrip, he was shot at by bandits, suf-fered from sun stroke, and his wifebroke her leg.

Frank Haigler #825 – VinceWeatherby spoke for Frank, sayingthat he was interviewed on JapaneseTV about Japanese war atrocities inWWII.

Danee Hazama #1014 - Work-ing on the relations between the Tai-wanese and the indigenous people.

Dave Dolan #1087 – Returnedfrom the Explorers’ Club annual dinner.

ry October 12th to October 15th. Ad-venturers’ clubs from all over theworld will be attending. Paul ex-pressed interest in putting together acontingent from our club to attend.

Bob Silver #728 – brought in ra-tions and supplies given to U.S. Ma-rines in Vietnam. It included tin cans,matches, coffee, dried cream, gum,cigarettes, and toilet paper.

Sid Hallburn #1125 – is puttingtogether a musical review of clubmembers. Members with musical tal-ent are encouraged to contact Sid tobe in the show.

Steve Bein #1057 – showed slidesof eagles taken in his recent trip toAlaska

Joseph Brown #928 – combinedall the rosters and member info intoa 3.2GB file. Members who wouldlike to obtain a copy can contact Joe.

Adventures with a Purpose

World-renowned traveler, RichardBangs, came to the Club tonight

armed with books, travel DVDs, anda Power Point presentation about histravels. Richard Bangs is a founderof the adventure travel industry. Hestarted his company, Sobek Exhibi-tions, in the 1970s. Sobek was oneof the first outfitters to cater to ac-

Richard Bangs at Sognefjord, Norway

Photo: Richard Bangs

Those leaving on Adventure:Paul Isley #1088 – Flying to Sin-

gapore, Shanghai, and Manila for 2½ weeks to do a show.Other Happenings:

Paul Isley #1088 – announced thatthe Chicago Adventurers’ Club willbe celebrating their 100th anniversa-



13

(Minutes continued on page 14)

tive travelers. He led first descentsof thirty-five rivers around the world,including the Zambezi and Yangtze

Rivers. Since then he has publishednumerous articles and books, givenlectures all over the world, and pro-duced travel TV shows and docu-mentaries. His philosophy is travelwith a purpose. That purpose is toexperience foreign cultures and his-tory with minimal impact. This themeis popular with the modern the trav-eler. Richard gave us some back-ground on adventure travel andshowed us videos of his expeditions.

Richard Bangs discovered in hisresearch that adventure travel beganaround the 16th century. Prior to this,people viewed nature as a threat:something to be avoided and con-quered. Up until this point, human-kind had spent most of its history try-ing to eat and stay warm. We did thisby building shelters, hunting, farm-ing, and otherwise overcoming nature.The thought of returning to and en-joying nature was appalling. It was notuntil romantic poets such as LordByron and Percy Shelley began to

write about the concept of the sub-lime that enjoying nature became envogue. The idea of the sublime was anappreciation for the beauty of flow-ers, trees, mountains, etc. This appre-ciation sprang from the increasingfilth and crowding of cities. Gettingout into the mountains allowed oneto stretch, breath, and clear one’sthoughts. Shelley and Byron were therock stars of their age; this causedtheir new idea of the sublime to growquickly in popularity. To cater to thisnew philosophy, the first adventuretravel companies began to organizetrips into the Swiss Alps.

Richard’s modern view of the sub-lime stems from the Maori conceptof Kaitiakitanga. This is the beliefthat all things in nature are livingthings that are connected. TheMaori told stories with mountains,trees, rivers, and other natural fea-tures asthe main characters. TheMaori viewed these features asmembers of their family who need-ed to be taken care of and protect-ed. Richard incorporates this con-cept into his travels. Richard notes,however, that adventure travel haslost its edge. It has become toomuch about conservation and lessabout risk and exploration. Richardseeks balance: to preserve the riskand adventure, while preserving thetravel destination.

Having established the backgroundof his philosophy, Richard regaled uswith tales of his travels. He began by

Richard Bangs in Africa

Photo: Richard Bangs


(Minutes continued from page 13)

14

Minutes – March 24 & 31, 2011

telling us about the first full descentof the Blue Nile from Lake Tana allthe way to Alexandria. He showed avideo of rafts and kayaks being low-ered down the Blue Nile falls fromLake Tana to navigate every inch ofthe river. Richard’s expedition had topay the Ethiopian government$10,000 to increase the flow to thefalls for cinematic effect. A hydro-electric dam ordinarily cuts off theflow to the river, leaving the falls al-most completely dry.

The expedition ran into some trou-bles. A kayaker, feeling adventur-ous, took off on his own to explorea small tributary and was shot at bya bandit, called a “shifta.” In an-other section, a raft overturned intosome rough water. All the time thethreat of crocodiles and hippopot-ami were present. When the raftturned over, someone shouted“crocodile!” The members of theexpedition scrambled as fast as theycould from the river to the safetyof shore.

Richard Bangs from Adventurers with aPurpose – Egypt

Photo: Richard BangsMarch 31, 2011Marc Weitz (#1144)

Unfortunately, a video malfunc-tion prevented us from seeing allthe videos. It turned out to be forthe best since Richard filled in thatpart by talking about his philoso-phy, some travel stories, and a lit-tle history. The videos were typicalstuff that could be found on anytravel channel nowadays, but tohear Richard actually speak of histravels was fascinating.

Those Returning fromAdventure

Jay Foonberg #1126 – Participat-ed in the first Jerusalem Marathon byrunning the half marathon with hisgrandson.

Shane Berry #1093 – hiked up toLewis Falls in Azusa.

Steve Bein #1057 – Attended theAdventurers’ Club outside activity tothe Cold Steel factory with some oth-er members. Founded in 1980 byLynn Thompson, Cold Steel makesknives and other weapons. Mr. Th-ompson is trained in a number ofmartial arts and has shot all of theAfrica Dangerous Seven with a .454Casull pistol.

Roger Haft #1098 – His daughterran the ½ marathon in NYC and fin-ished in the top 10%.

Chuck Jonkey #1026 – Returnedfrom the Sea of Cortez where he wasdoing some filming.




General Announcements:NOHA will be Sunday, October

23, 2011 at the Delfina Hotel. Tick-ets will run between $75 and $80.More information to come.

Bob Silver #728 will begin plan-ning the 100-year anniversary of theAdventurers’ Club, which will occurin ten years. Those interested in help-ing please contact him.

Prior to the main presentation,Steve Bein #1057 showed the re-mainder of his photos and videosfrom his recent trip to Alaska that hecouldn’t show last week due to a tech-nical glitch. There were spectacularclose-ups of eagles and a video of aneagle devouring its prey.

Uganda and Its Birds

Bob Zeman #878 visited Ugandalast year in November, and took

us on a slide tour of its people andbirds. Churchill called Uganda “thePearl of Africa.” Bob Zeman beganhis talk with this quote and then wentthrough his vacation slides. Bob trav-eled there with Father Richard, apriest and friend of Bob’s who wasborn in Uganda. There he stayed in agirls’ school run by the CatholicChurch. He was given a comfortableroom and served good meals. Theweather was temperate and the grassand vegetation were fertile and green.Bob gave us the background of Ugan-da starting with their commerce andthen telling us that Buganda is theirlargest region, and Luganda is the

main local language. The average in-come is between $300 and $400.

The girls’ school exists because theparents are constantly working me-nial jobs to survive and have no timeto raise their children. The school’sfresh water comes from cisterns thatcollect rain water off the roofs. Thegirls attend class in a main school andlive in dorms surrounded by lushgrounds. All the girls have short hairto prevent disease. It is the girls’ jobto keep the campus clean.

Not far from the school is LakeVictoria, the largest lake in Africa andthe source of the Nile. John HanningSpeke was the first white man to ar-rive in Uganda in 1862. In 1879, thefirst missionaries followed. Withthem, they brought Christianity, de-spite the many hardships suffered inAfrica. The locals gave the white menthe mocking name “mzungu,” mean-ing “those who walk in circles.”

Bob toured a botanical garden andlearned of the medicinal uses of theplants, trees, and flowers that areknown to the locals. Here, Bob got apicture of himself with a human-sized

Fisherman on Lake Victoria

Photo: TrickledownBS.com



16


termite mound and got lucky enoughto see a Shoe Bill. The Shoe Bill is themain bird to see in Uganda. It lookslike a Dodo Bird with a large bill bigenough to break a turtle shell.

Bob visited the equator and saw ademonstration of the Coriolis Effect.The Coriolis Effect is a scientificterm describing how the earth’s rota-tion influences the paths of gases andfluids. For example, draining waterwill flow clockwise in the northernhemisphere and counterclockwise inthe southern hemisphere. At theequator, it goes straight down.

the location of many famous happen-ings. Parts of the movie “AfricanQueen” were filmed nearby. Churchillvisited this spot and suggested that afootbridge be built across the falls.This was done in the 1960s but de-stroyed just 18 months later by natu-ral forces. Hemingway experienced aplane crash there: While flying overthe falls for a closer view, the planestruck telegraph lines and crashed.Hemingway and his wife needed to bemedevaced out, but that plane, too,crashed on takeoff, exacerbating theirinjuries: that Hemingway never fully

recovered from, and may have led tohis suicide a few years later.

Bob stayed at the Paraa Lodge andtook a boat out to experience the fallswhere he saw warthogs and baboons.Much of the game was destroyedunder the brutal regime of Idi Aminbut is slowly recovering.

Among other sites visited by Bob,were the rundown Uganda Museum,Father Richard’s house, Nelson Man-dela Stadium, and a spot in which twopopes have given mass.

Bob’s last stop was Jinja, just a few

[Editor’s note: The Coriolis Effect can ONLY be seenin large systems like storms and ocean currents. It istoo slight to influence how water drains from sinks,which is always a function of how the sink is built.]

Bob visited the shrine built to theformer kings who used to rule Ugan-da. Sadly, the site was burnt down in2009. Some suspect that Museveni,the current president, was responsi-ble. Many think he hoped to elimi-nate the country’s royal past to es-tablish his own divine right to rule.

Father Richard gave mass on Sun-days, allowing Bob to see Uganda’sreligious side. He visited many reli-gious sites in the capital, Kampala.

From Kampala, Bob made a shorttrip northwest to see Murchison Falls.The falls were discovered by SamuelBaker in 1869 and named after Rod-erick Murchison, the president of theRoyal Geographic Society. The fallswere created by a narrowing of theNile River. A spectacular site, it was

Murchison Falls

Photo: Bob Zeman


Minutes – March 31 & April 7, 2011


hours east of Kampala. Jinja is theactual source of the Nile. The Buja-gali Falls are located here and attractrafters and sightseers. Locals offer togo down the falls holding onto jerrycans for entertainment. Here, JohnGoddard chimed in with some inter-esting facts about this part of the Nile.Apparently, there are some very dan-gerous crocodiles here, even with therough water. These crocodiles aremore dangerous because they havebecome accustomed to human flesh.During the Idi Amin regime, politicalenemies were dropped into the waterhere, alive or dead, as food for thecrocodiles. Even now, the crocodilestaste for human flesh has led them topull kayakers out of their kayaks.

In Jinja, Bob visited the exact spotwere Lake Victoria becomes the Nile.On the hill nearby, is the spot whereJohn Hanning Speke first witnessedthis fact. Bob left some of RalphWhite’s ashes at this spot. Later, Bobfound out that some of Gandhi’s ash-es were also left at this spot. BothRalph White and Gandhi made thelong trip from the source of the Nileto the Mediterranean.

Bob finishedthe presentationwith some stockphotos of birdsthat live in Ugan-da. With eachphoto, Bob gavea brief explana-tion of the bird.

April 7, 2011Marc Weitz (#1144)

Those Leaving on Adventure:Shane Berry #1093 – Off to

Utah for a hiking trip to BuckskinGulch. That is if the federal budgetpasses and the park remains open.

Steve Bein #1057 – Making plansfor a wild bird and landscape photoshoot in Newfoundland this August.

Steve Lawson #1032 – Off toToronto on a work trip to train theChinese on a new engine system.

Vimal Gairola #1075 – Leavingfor Tunis and Constantinople.Announcements

Roy Roush #864 – is in intensivecare with a foot infection. Ourthoughts and prayers are with him.

Henry Gerald Young #641 –sent a letter to the Club telling of hisnew book about his adventures enti-tled Scimitar, soon to be published.Compass Chronicles

Bob Walters was walking throughthe Glendale Gun and Knife

show a few months back looking forsome interesting trinkets. He wasn’tthere specifically for the guns andknives, as they tended to be moreexpensive at shows than elsewhere.Instead, Bob came for other interest-ing items that are often sold at theseshows. He stumbled across a charm-ing young lady sitting at a table witha number of old compasses spreadout in front of her. Assuming she wasjust keeping the seat warm for her



Minutes – April 7, 2011

18

Dad, he was surprised that she ownedthe compasses and possessed theknowledge. It was at Bob’s invitation

that tonight’sspeaker cameto the Adven-turers’ Club.K o r n e l i aTakacs is theauthor of theCompass Chroni-cles, an illustrat-ed history of the

compass. Born in Budapest, Hungary,Ms. Takacs has lived in the UnitedStates since 1995 and has been collect-ing compasses since 1998. She is also achampion “gamer” of video games.

After collecting her first vintagecompass, she fell passionately in lovewith accumulating and collectingthese instruments. Surprised at thelack of research on the history of thecompass, she had the idea of writinga book on the subject. The result wasCompass Chronicles.

Ms. Takacs began her lecture witha history of the compass. The firstcompasses were built by the Chinesenearly 2,000 years ago. Some say,however, that the Olmecs, in Me-soamerica, used compasses as farback as 1400 to 1000 BC. The Chi-nese did not use compasses for navi-gation but instead for construction ofbuildings along the principles of fengshui. It is possible that the compasswas brought to Western Europe byMarco Polo. Flavio Gioja, a pilot on

the Amalfi Coast, is credited with de-veloping the sailor’s compass for navi-gation in the 1300s. Before the com-pass, sailors needed a clear sky to nav-igate. It wasn’t until the 1600s thatmaps began to include compass roses.Large compasses, called binnacle com-passes, were gamboled and designed toremain stable in rough seas.

In the United States, the most fa-mous compass is the one used byLewis and Clark on their expedition.It currently resides at the SmithsonianMuseum, whose staff was very help-ful in Ms. Takacs’ research.

In the 19th century, most compass-es were produced in the United King-dom. At this time, pocket compassesbecame fashionable but were onlyaffordable to the wealthy up until the1910s. Negetti & Zembra were mak-ers of scientific instruments who

Dennison compass

Photo: Cornelia Takacs

Compass Chronicles



Minutes – April 7, 2011

19

made some of the most popular mod-els. Pocket compasses reflected thestyle of pocket watches of the time,making vintage models easy to datefor collectors. Ms. Takacs displayeda number of photos and pointed outdistinguishing characteristics be-tween different models and eras.

Ms. Takacs has a special fascina-tion with the compass designs ofSamuel Singer. Mr. Singer developeda half-black, half-white dial, whichmade it easier to read in low light.The dials were stunning, but infor-mation was scarce on Mr. Singer. Ittook Ms. Takacs seven years just todetermine his first name, and requiredthat she request his file from the U.S.

Patent Office. The story goes that Mr.Singer was swindled out of his patent.After that event, he ran a store in Scot-land with his wife and died a pauper.

Ms. Takacs displayed photos ofspecial compasses, beginning withsome from the HMS Britannia. Thesewere given to recruits when they be-gan their training at age fifteen. Therewere two compasses from the Boer

War with engravings on the back.From one engraving, Ms. Takacs wasable to trace the names to an actualphoto of the men. Another compasscame from the U.S. Civil War in 1861.Neither side had an official compass,but this one was an example of oneused. Sadly, a Mr. Hunter stole Mr.Singer’s patent and sold a bunch ofhalf-black, half-white compasses tothe Union Army.

In the 1910s, a company called Tay-lor began making official compassesfor the American Boy Scouts. Thesecompasses are very rare. Other ex-amples shown were a German WorldWar II compass, some Japanese com-passes, wrist compasses, and somecompasses side-by-side with theiradvertisements.

Lastly, Ms. Takacs displayed photosof escape compasses. These compass-es are issued to military personnel andhidden in various parts of their uniform.Most clever, were compasses hidden inthe soldiers’ service buttons.

Ms. Takacs concluded by fieldingquestions from the audience and in-viting members to the table to viewparts of her col-lection. Ms.Takacs was acharming andknowledgeablespeaker on a sub-ject that is verymuch related toadventure andexploration.


Antique compass


The Five Stans(Five Stans continued from page 7)

It barely exists today after the Sovietdiversion of its two feeder rivers, theAmu Darya and the Syr Darya, for ag-ricultural irrigation. Muynak is nowhundreds of miles from any remaining

water, which is too salty to support life.We spent time walking on the sands thatused to sit under some 40 or 50 feet ofwater, among the rusting hulks of oldfishing boats and freighters.

Finally, we flew to Tashkent, capi-tal of Uzbekistan, a lovely, moderncity located at the foot of the TienShan Mountains. It dates back to thefirst century BC. Unfortunately, mostof its historical architecture wasdestroyed in a massive earthquakein 1966. Now, wide, tree-lined bou-levards flanked with name-brandwestern stores are interspersed withbeautiful parks, fountains, monu-ments and statues. It is truly an in-ternational city.

In retrospect, this amazing over-land trip across the five Stans wasnot only one of extreme contrasts,but of learning. The experiences we

had, the cultures we met and thevast scenery we traversed gave us aperspective on man’s origin and hisadaptations for survival. We got ataste of how little people need tolive simply and how difficult it isto live directly from the earth. Wewere reminded that most of theworld does not live in our fast-paced, convenience-filled style. Itwas humbling. This is not a trip forinexperienced wimps. If you can han-dle roughing it at times, have becomejaded by easier travels, and want tosee some of this earth’s most awe-inspiring, dramatic and pristine scen-ery, it might be for you. Be sure tobring toilet paper, antibiotics, chew-

able peptoids and, if you like shop-ping for exotic, beautifully made hand-icrafts available nowhere else, muchmore cash than you think you willneed. If you have not seen CentralAsia, you are missing a huge chunkof the history, culture, and naturalbeauty of this planet. For true, un-paralleled majesty and beauty, youcan’t beat the Pamir Highway.

Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan

Photo: Russian Kayadarov

Former Aral Sea shsoreline at Muynak,Uzbekistan.

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe


Forthcoming ProgramsPrograms / Roster Update / Letters

April, 2011 – Bill Burke – Record Setting Expedition on Mt. Everest(Happening right now)

April 7, 2011 – Kornelia Takacs – Compass ChroniclesApril 14, 2011 – Jim Dorsey – The Voodoo Trail of West AfricaApril 21, 2011 – Distinguished VIP – (Details withheld for security reasons.)April 28, 2011 – Sgt. Frank Orzio USMC Retired – Vietnam War 1968May 5, 2011 – Chris Welsh – Dive Into The DeepMay 12, 2011 – LADIES NIGHT – Dr. Laurie Marker – CheetahsMay 19, 2011 – LADIES NIGHT – Gil Garcetti – Water is KeyMay 26, 2011 – Pierre Odier – Mongolia on Foot to U.S. via SiberiaJune 2, 2011 – Mike Simmons – Astronomers Without Borders

Roster Update

Dave Finnern #106515178 West Lynn DriveLake Elsinore, CA 92530Res: 951/678-6209Bus: 949/[email protected]

To the Editor:Enjoying every issue of the News – the only

communication common to all the members!This is especially so if we miss a program or two.

Meant to write earlier about March 2011. Alittle gremlin worked its way into that issue.On page 16 there is a photo of the programpresenter for Jan 27, 2011, showing him hold-ing his presentation plague. Lo and behold,the same fellow showing himself as the pre-senter of the Feb 3, 2011, program! He didnot present the Feb 3 program. I write maybebecause maybe the Internet version can be cor-rected for the correct photo to keep the recordstraight and so we'll have a photo of the pre-senter of the Feb 3 program. I know photoswere taken of Jim Barry, the presenter of thatFeb 3 program.

Regardless, one photo isn't going to takeaway from the fine job being done on theSnake River from Clarkston. Must belooking pretty inviting with May justaround the corner and the long dayspostponing the sun's setting.Great country up in the Lewis-ton-Clarkston area. I guess yourarea wouldn't be called the Pal-ouse, that would be a littlefurther north of you wherethe wheat country prevails.

– Bob Aronoff #837

Thanks for the kind words. Re the error: Oops!Not worth the effort correcting the onlineversion, however. Re the Palouse, you’recorrect. The Palouse is the northern andnorthwestern plateau. – Editor

To the Editor:Sorry that I haven't submitted anything lately

for the News. I am almost done with astory about my experience hiking the“Wild Cave Tour” in Mammoth CavesNational Park. I don't know if I canfinish it by the weekend, time is the

one commodity that is always in shortsupply.

Keep up the great work, the News has neverlooked or read better. – Rick Flores #1120

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Looking forward to your story. The News isonly as good as the stories and photos Ireceive. I just put them together. – Editor

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Documents

The Adventurers’ Club Newsadventurersclub.org/archives/AC News/AC News May 2011.pdf · We’ll know after the next big rain! Attendance was up nicely for our distinguished VIP on