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July 24, 2007
HUMAN POWERED CIRCUMNAVIGATION ARRIVES IN EGYPT…. AND COMES FACE TO FACE WITH ANIMAL POWER
Jason Lewis of Expedition 360, a British attempt to complete the first circumnavigation of the world using only human power, will be turning his attention from human power to animal power for the first time during his 13-year challenge when he visits the work of the Brooke equine charity in Egypt this week.
The purpose of the visit is to learn more about the work of the UK-funded Brooke charity, which works to alleviate the suffering of equine animals working in some of the poorest communities in the world. Despite spending the last 13 years using his own power to circumnavigate the globe, Lewis is a strong advocate of how poverty affects the treatment of animals and how important animals are to the livelihoods of milions of people worldwide. Lewis will be visiting the Brooke’s work in Luxor on Saturday 7th July (details of the photo call below).
"Over the last 13-years I've passed on the road, or met face to face, literally thousands of people across 26 countries whose livelihoods depend heavily upon equines: for carrying drinking water, fuel for cooking and goods to and from market. Very often the condition and ill-treatment of the animals is extremely distressing to witness," explains Lewis.
“I have known about the outstanding and vital work the Brooke has provided to the equine world since my childhood - my parents both being avid supporters over the years. And being brought up around animals on a farm in the West Country I have a special interest and empathy with animals."
The Brooke has been helping working equine animals and supporting their sustainable use for over seventy years, concentrating mainly on the Middle East, North and East Africa, Asia and, most recently, South America. In Egypt, where the charity was founded in 1934, it has a network of 24 mobile teams providing desperately needed care to stricken animals and working with their owners across the country – from Edfu to Marsah Matrouh.
At present Lewis is biking through Egypt, the last country in Africa before he reaches the Middle East and Europe to finish the circumnavigation back at the Greenwich Meridian Line in East London, where he started in July 1994. The African leg has been the toughest overland section, with temperatures in the Nubian Desert, Northern Sudan, reaching well over 55 degrees each day. The absence of any roads at times has made the going exceptionally tough, with Lewis having to push his 15-year old steel-frame bicycle, the same one he started the expedition with back in 1994, through deep sand for tens of kilometres at any one time. For 200kms before reaching the Egyptian border he was faced with no access to water at all.
"It's been unbelievably hot these past few weeks" says Lewis. "I never thought it would be possible to bike through temperatures over half-way to boiling point! There comes a point after midday when it just becomes too hot to do anything other than dissolve in a puddle of sweat in the shade - if I'm lucky enough to find any - for the rest of the day. It's been really awful at times, but seeing the light at the end of the tunnel - crossing the Greenwich Meridian Line - has kept my spirits going when my body has wanted to give up".
Lewis has also encountered bureaucratic roadblocks through the Sudan and crossing into Egypt. He was kept waiting for a month in Ethiopia for a visa to enter to Sudan, and was initially told by the Egyptians he would not be able to cross Lake Nasser to the Aswan Dam by human powered means. Faced with the prospect of having to back-pedal all the way to Mumbai in India to seek an alternative route back to the UK via Pakistan and Iran, Lewis was eventually granted special permission by the Egyptian border authorities to pedal his bike through the desert to Aswan from the Sudanese border. Although his journey was hindered – albeit temporarily - when he was detained at a military detention centre facing charges of espionage.
As well as visiting over 800 schools since leaving England, the expedition has raised over £31,000 ($63,000 USD) for small-scale charitable causes along the way, such as orphanages, hospices for adults and children living with HIV and AIDS.
PHOTO CALL DETAILS FOR JASON LEWIS IN EGYPT
WHEN: Luxor, Saturday 6th July
WHERE: Meet outside Etap hotel on the Corniche at 7,30am on Sat 7th July
WHAT: Join Brooke Luxor team travelling by security convoy to Qus to see Brooke’s work where photos/filming can be taken of Jason
For more information about this photo call please contact Niki Austin, Head of PR at the Brooke on + 44 (0) 207 968 0833 (9am to 5pm UK time) or + 44 (0) 7884 435753.
Jason is available for interviews via his Egyptian mobile: +2 (0) 164 773340
BACKGROUND
BROOKE
More information on the Brooke can be found at www.thebrooke.org
EXPEDITION 360
Since departing the Greenwich Meridian Line in 1994, Jason Lewis has traveled 37,000 miles – three quarters of the way around the planet - without wind or motor assistance -- pedalling a one-of-a-kind pedal boat ('Moksha', meaning liberation in Sanskrit) across the world's oceans, bicycling and rollerblading over land. On August 18th 2000, Lewis became the first in history to pedal across the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco in the US to Port Douglas, Australia - 178 days and 8,000 nautical miles. In 1994, original pedalling partner Stevie Smith and Lewis completed the first East-West crossing of the Atlantic by pedal power, and a year later Lewis completed the first unsupported crossing of the USA on roller blades.
Now into its 13th year, the expedition has comprised a total of 16 legs, each constituting major expeditions in themselves. Put back to back they make Expedition 360 one of the longest endurance endeavours in history.
THE PRICE TAG
To date the expedition has cost in excess of $400,000 USD - most of which has been raised by grass roots fundraising along the way and working odd jobs. However since June 2006 the expedition has enjoyed title sponsorship from Aberdeen Asset Management, a Singapore based investment company.
MISHAPS
> Sept 1995: Jason suffers compound fractures to both legs after being run over by a car while in-line skating through Colorado USA. Initial prognosis was the loss of the left leg below the knee. However after extensive insertion of hardware including metal rods in each tibia he is able to continue after 9 months of recuperation.
> Nov 1998: pedal boat Moksha capsizes in a storm during the second attempt to pedal to Hawaii from the California coast. No one is injured although the boat's interior is completely destroyed.
> June 2000: Jason contracts septicaemia (blood poisoning) 1,300 miles from land pedalling between the islands of Hawaii and Tarawa (Republic of Kiribati). A US based doctor in dermatology makes a positive diagnosis remotely via satellite phone and prescribes broad spectrum antibiotics before the poison reaches brain tissue, undoubtedly saving his life.
> Oct 2004: Jason undergoes surgery for 2 x torn hernias and worn knee cartilage. Doctors predict he will need a knee replacement within 10 years from the constant wear and tear of human powered travel.
> May 2005: a 17 foot salt water crocodile attacks Jason's kayak in shallow water 100 miles north of Cooktown, Cape York, Australia. His paddle is destroyed fending off the croc, otherwise Jason escapes unscathed.
> November 2005: Jason contracts malaria twice in six months: first on the island of Sumatra (Plasmodia Vivax) while paddling through Indonesia and again in Laos with the potentially lethal cerebral version (Plasmodia Falciparum).
> September 2006: Jason survives acute Altitude Sickness at 5,200 metres while biking over Lalung Pass in Tibet's Himalaya region.
> The expedition has been the victim of four robberies: one successful (Mexico) and three attempted that also involved violence (Indonesia, India and France).
WHAT'S NEXT
After completing the African and Middle East sections to Istanbul in Turkey, Lewis intends to ride across Europe and use the pedal boat to complete the circumnavigation by pedalling up the River Thames to the Greenwich Meridian Line late this October.
INTERVIEWS - IMAGES - TV NEWS FOOTAGE
Visit the Press Room on the x360 website for past press clippings, streaming video clips and photos -
http://www.expedition360.com/press_room/home.htm
Hi-res archive images are available online -
http://homepage.mac.com/expedition360/
Please contact us for a password. team@expedition360.com
DAILY UPDATES
Regular updates and archived journals from this leg can be read from
here.
http://www.expedition360.com/journal/
Or you can find the link off the expedition360.com homepage
http://www.expedition360.com
+++++++++ENDS++++++++++
Posted by jason at July 24, 2007 1:15 PM