A giant whale shark gracefully swims beneath a fishing boat, its massive form capable of capsizing the small vessel with a single movement. This captivating moment was captured by the renowned Mexican environmental photographer and marine biologist Cristina Mittermeier. Whether it's majestic whales, gigantic icebergs, or indigenous people – Cristina has traveled the world for decades to capture the beauty and fragility of Earth's biodiversity and the wisdom of those who honor and respect...

Steep rock faces, surrounded by vast glaciers and massive icebergs floating far below on the ocean - Greenland's nature is truly unique. Not only in terms of the landscape but also because Greenland’s glaciers and ice caps play a crucial role in climate change. However, exploring their condition can be extremely difficult as they are almost inaccessible due to their remote location.   Our two guests in this episode faced this challenge. French glaciologist Dr. Heïdi Sevestre researched the...

Powerful, loving, and wise – elephants hold a great fascination for people worldwide. And yet they are threatened with extinction. Due to ivory trade and loss of habitat through humans, populations have been decreasing drastically in recent centuries.   Kenyan conservationist Dr. Paula Kahumbu has made it her life’s work to prevent this. She is CEO of the organization WildlifeDirect and won numerous awards for her work to protect endangered species in Africa. She has received international...

What does real success really mean? How can we effectively fight against climate change and for nature? And what to make of the protests of the "last generation"?   Jane Goodall, Ph.D., DBE talks about all this and more in this episode of Unfolding Maps. She also reflects on her earliest animal-related childhood memories, explains what growing up during World War II taught her for life, and explains some of the biggest challenges we humans face right now – and where possible solutions...

From a childhood close to nature in Jamaica, to a youth marked by violent experiences in England, to an unforgettable walk to the North Pole that would change everything – that's how you could describe the life of Dwayne Fields in a nutshell, the first Brit of color to reach the North Pole on foot.  Since his march to the North Pole, one adventure follows the next. Most recently, the presenter, explorer and naturalist traveled to the most extreme regions of our planet in his new National...

This time at Unfolding Maps - not a climber, not a cyclist, not a desert photographer, but: Hollywood's most famous and beloved villain!   Danny Trejo was shot, stabbed, decapitated, blown up, hanged, flattened by an elevator and lost his life in some even less appetizing ways that I'd rather leave unmentioned here. He's been the record holder as the world's most killed actor for years now - and he's steadily extending his lead.   Danny has starred in over 400 films: blockbusters like...

What can we learn from the tribes in the rainforest of New Guinea? What are the greatest dangers facing humanity and the earth today, and how can they be overcome? These are some of the many questions we address in this conversation with a leading scientist that has been voted one of the world's top ten intellectuals by various British and American magazines and who researches and writes on just about everything that makes up human existence – think "universal genius": Jared Diamond. He...

In this very special episode, we welcome a real survival icon: Bear Grylls has become known worldwide as one of the most recognized faces of survival and outdoor adventure. Trained from a young age in martial arts, Bear went on to spend three years as a soldier in the British Special Forces, as part of the 21 SAS Regiment. It was here that he perfected many of the survival skills that his fans all over the world enjoy, as he pits himself against the worst of Mother Nature. Bear originally...

Chris Burkard, born in 1986, is many things: he is an adventurer, photographer, creative director, speaker, author, father, husband, surfer, certified yoga instructor ... and first and foremost, a storyteller. He travels much of the year to explore the most remote places on earth, capturing stories there to inspire people to rethink their relationship with nature. In this way, he seeks to advocate for the preservation of wild places all over the world.   Initially, he was one of the most...

“I just think back to that first time I got a proper look at Antarctica: There was something about the simplicity and the beauty and the perfectness of it all that made me want to scoop it all up and somehow contain it in me.”  That's a quote from our guest, Polar explorer, Antarctic scientist, author, speaker and expedition leader Felicity Aston MBE. And that is exactly what she did: She preserved Antarctica (and the polar regions) within herself. She spent a continuous period of two and a...

"One of the most amazing things about Mike Horn's life is that it still hasn't come to an end." This sentence sums up the life of this episode’s guest quite well: Mike Horn is introduced again and again as one of the world's most important explorers and adventurers of our time. What he has achieved and demonstrated in terms of endurance, determination and courage is pretty much unparalleled.   He was the first person to swim solo and unsupported across the Amazon River from its source to its...

In this episode the tables are turned. Instead of asking them, Erik answers questions – such as: What can we learn from travel? How can storytelling change the world? How do we experience adventures and what does that do to us? How can we travel in times of climate change? And what opportunities do we see within the challenges of the current pandemic?   A few weeks ago, photographer and filmmaker Bastian Fischer asked Erik such and similar questions for his podcast "Yellow Van Stories". They...

A childhood in the shadow of a Cold War border - this is how Kapka Kassabova grew up in Sofia, Bulgaria. After studying in Sofia and emigrating with her family to New Zealand, Kapka Kassabova, now a writer, poet and journalist, lives in the Scottish Highlands. From 2013 until 2015 she returned to the Balkans and embarked on a special journey into the (and her) past to finally explore the "forbidden borderland" of her childhood. Along the way, she met soldiers, (former) spies, fugitives, and...

60 years of research on social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees. And decades of commitment to animal welfare and environmental protection. This episode’s guest is the world-famous British ethologist and environmental activist, Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE.   Originally, she has been best known for her long-term study of wild chimpanzees in Tanzania in the 1960s. During that study she discovered that chimpanzees make and use tools – a discovery that transformed the way we understand...

A winter walk in the woods with an icon of heavy metal: Eric Adams is world-famous as the singer of the American band Manowar. In episode 16 of Unfolding Maps, he has already talked about another passion that shapes his life besides music - his love of nature, wildlife and hunting. In this second interview, he now delves deeper into these topics. During a hike in the US state of New York, he not only shares anecdotes from his musical career, but above all shows Erik his hunting grounds,...

Maureen (Mo) Beck was born without her left hand, but that didn’t stop her from starting to climb at the age of 12 – to prove everyone wrong, who thought this sport might not be for her. By now she has won multiple titles, including a gold medal at the 2014 Paraclimbing World Championships in Spain and a gold medal at the 2016 World Championships in Paris. In 2019, Maureen was named one of National Geographic’s Adventurers of the Year. Maureen Beck starred in the 2017 movie “Stumped” which...

Over a two-year period, storyteller and National Geographic photographer Erika Larsen travelled to many locations in the western United States to learn about the significance of the horse in Native American tribes - culturally, spiritually, and economically. ⁠ ⁠ Along her journey she met many Native Americans who shared their profound stories and experiences about the unique bond that exists between the horse and their culture. In this episode we discuss her photographic work documenting this...

She was a successful CEO of the clothing manufacturer Patagonia and played a decisive role in building the company. And then left everything behind to move to the wilderness of the actual Patagonia in Chile. For nature conservation – and for love. Our guest in this episode is Kristine Tompkins, an environmentalist and the president of Tompkins Conservation. She has been working tirelessly for three decades to protect the environment. And what she and her late husband Doug Tompkins have...

"Fathoms - The World in the Whale": That is the title of Australian author Rebecca Giggs' first book (published by SCRIBE and Simon Schuster in April 2020) – and it is, indeed, the gate to a large world... In it, Rebecca blends natural history, philosophy and science to reveal an unexpected world in a stranded whale – with more cross-connections to our “human world” than we might have ever thought about.⁠ In Australia, "Fathoms" won the Mark and Evette Moran Nib Literary Prize, and the Royal...

Sitting in a snow-covered tent, surrounded by a pretty harsh environment where no horizon can be seen, in the arctic circle. Cooking with reindeer blood and learning the fascinating Sami language. Photographer Erika Larsen experienced all this when she lived with the Sami people in Scandinavia for a total of four years. She had been looking for people who lived in unity with nature and were able to interpret “their” landscapes for the rest of the world. Erika was able to gain unprecedented...

For many years Sierra Leone and Liberia have been too dangerous to travel through. They were places of terrible violence – associated with child soldiers, prisoner mutilation and blood diamonds. With their wars officially over, Tim Butcher set out on a journey across both countries. In this episode, he remembers this journey. It is his second appearance on Unfolding Maps. In episode 13, he talked about his book “Blood River” and his explorations through Congo, following the historic tracks of...

(Rerelease of previously published Weltwach episode.) Eric Adams is world famous as the singer of the legendary American heavy metal band Manowar. Besides music however, another passion shapes his life: his love for nature, wildlife and hunting. This is what this episode of Weltwach is about: Eric Adams tells how his father once showed him the wilderness for the very first time, remembers his most curious hunting experiences and talks about the quiet magic of a dawning day in the forest. He...

An author that hiked the Appalachian Trail and then got obsessed with the history and creation of trails. This is how the book “On Trails” by Robert Moor could be summarized. Sounds a bit, boring, doesn’t it? Well, it isn’t. Instead, “On Trails” is one of the most fascinating “outdoor books” of the past years. In it, Robert explores how trails help us to understand the world. From ants to elephants to hiking paths that span continents, from interstate highways to the Internet, Moor discusses...

Imagine you are sitting in a telephone booth-sized bubble hundreds of meters deep in the ocean surrounded by darkness, in an environment where nobody has ever been before. Many of the things you see here no one has ever seen before. Every now and then shining deep sea creatures appear. Most of them are completely new to science. As a deep-sea biologist, this scenario may still be very exciting but it's nothing new to Dr. Diva Amon, our guest in this episode. Grown up in Trinidad and Tobago...