Julian Monroe Fisher Prepares for Fourth Leg of Great African Expedition

Next week, explorer and anthropologist Julian Monroe Fisher will return to Africa to launch the next leg of his Railriders Great African Expedition. As with previous phases of the project, Julian will be traveling in the footsteps of another great explorer, while researching ethnographical diversity on the African continent in the 21st century.

The Great Africa Expedition first began back in 2012, and for each of the past three years Julian has gone back to the continent to explore the changing ethnography of the indigenous people that live in a variety of regions. This year he'll be trekking through the Karamoja region, an area that crosses through Kenya, Uganda, and Sudan. That part of Africa is home to the Karamajong people, who migrated there from what is now Ethiopia around 500 years ago.

In the fourth phase of the expedition, Fisher will follow in the footsteps of Major Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton (yes, that is all one name!) and Scottish hunter-explorer W.D.M. Bell, both of whom traveled through this part of Africa in the early 20th century. The Karamoja region remains mostly unchanged since that time, with very little development and few humans occupying the area.

Julian will once again be carrying a flag from the Explorer's Club for this expedition as he continues his research into the lives of native groups who have developed from hunting with bows and spears to AK-47s. He will examine how these pastoral herdsman have adapted to the modern era, and which of their unique traditions have managed to survive in the 21st century.

Fisher's route will also take him to Mount Elgon, Mount Kadam, the Kidepo Valley, and Mount Morungole, where anthropologist Colin Turnbull studied the Ik tribe of Uganda back in the 1960's. Turnbull wrote a book about the Ik entitled The Mountain People, and his graphic depiction of their lifestyle, and the hardships they endured as the result of their displacement from their ancestral lands,  caused quite a stir at the time. The Ik were forced into a major famine due to their migration, which caused major problems for the tribe.

You can learn more about Julian's plans by visiting the official website of the Great African Expedition. He'll depart next week for the journey, and will spend about a month in the field. While he is there, he'll be posting regular updates to his website as well, keeping us apprised of his adventure along the way.

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Explorer Julian Monroe Fisher Announces Ambitious Schedule for 2015

In addition to hosting a new adventure-centric radio show, explorer Julian Monroe Fisher has also announced an ambitious schedule for 2015 that will see him return to Africa once again, and launch a completely new expedition back home in the U.S.

In January/February of next year, Julian will travel to Uganda and South Sudan carrying Explorers Club Flag #89 on a research expedition to explore cattle rustling amongst the pastoral herdsmen that still subsist in those countries. He hopes to explore the evolution of these tribesman, who went from using bows and arrows, and spears, to AK47 automatic rifles.

Once that project is complete, Julian will then launch Phase 4 of his RailRiders 2012-16 Great African Expedition. Scheduled to take place from June to August of 2015, Fisher will be traveling overland, starting from the coast of the Indian Ocean in Mozambique. He'll set out from the grave site of Captain William Grant Stairs, a Canadian-British explorer who played a pivotal role in the exploration, and eventual colonization, of Africa. From there, Fisher will travel up the Zambezi River, through Zimbabwe and Zambia, to the Kingdom of Katanga. His journey will then take him from the source of the Congo River to Kinshasa, all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.

After he has returned from Africa, Julian will also launch a new expedition to explore the Carolina River system back home in the U.S. Over the course of two years (2015-2016), he hopes to paddle 32 individual rivers throughout the Carolinas, with those journeys being filmed for a television program. This project is entitled "Carolina Rivers -Education, Preservation through Exploration." Throughout the journey, Julian will work closely with schools to develop a curriculum tools that will instill in students a better understanding of the environment that surrounds the Carolina rivers, and the importance of preserving them for future generations.

As if all of that wasn't enough, sometime in 2015, OutWildTV will also begin airing a documentary film and television series from two phases of Julian's Great African Expedition. Those programs will cover his journey through South Sudan and Uganda. You can find out more about those expeditions by clicking here.

While I can tell you for a fact that Julian is enjoying his new gig as a radio host, I know he is also looking forward to getting back to his "day job" as an explorer as well. It seems he will have some great opportunities to do just that next year.

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Reminder: The Adventure Magazine Radio Show Begins Tonight

Last week I posted a story announcing the launch of a new radio program called The Adventure Magazine with Monroe and Gigi, which will be hosted by my friend Julian Monroe Fisher and his wife Gigi. I wanted to take this opportunity to remind everyone that the program begins airing tonight on Port City Radio 103.7 WBNE in Wilmington, NC at 6 PM Eastern Time. You will be able to listen to it live over the Internet, and the entire program will be available to stream from the website after it has aired live as well.

Tonight's first guest will be Alan Arnette, who will share stories from his mountaineering expeditions to the Himalaya and elsewhere. Alan is fresh off a successful summit of K2 this summer, and I'm sure he'll have lots to say about that expedition. Future episodes of the show will include other great guests, including Levison Wood, who recently finished walking the length of the Nile River, and polar explorer Felicity Aston.

The Adventure Magazine is sponsored by Great Outdoor Provision Company, and will be a one-hour program that airs each week. Topics will include exploration, gear, travel destinations, and much more. As it debuts, the show is running on just one radio station, but plans are in place to expand further. By the end of 2015, they hope to have it airing on as many as 25 other stations.

If you get the chance, tune in tonight and listen to the first show. If you miss it, be sure to listen to the archived version on the Adventure Magazine website. I'm sure it'll be an interesting hour for Adventure Blog readers.

Good luck to Julian and Gigi on their first show.

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