Growing up in South Africa’s bushlands, Corne Schalkwyk is one of Africa’s premier wildlife guides.  

Corne is a distinguished commercial leader and elite expert in the African safari sector, currently driving growth as the Head of Partnerships and founder of Bushwise Exclusive. Renowned for his expansive operational knowledge across major wildlife destinations, Corne previously shaped the industry as the General Manager of Premier Safaris and Head of Sales for EcoTraining, where he expertly curated world-class wilderness adventures and specialized Safaris. His forward-thinking approach earned him the prestigious SA Tourism / Africa Travel Indaba Innovation Award as Innovator of the Year in 2024, celebrating his development of game changing, deeply immersive wilderness experiences that redefine standard travel. Recently highlighted in Forbes for his insight into sustainable tourism and conservation, Corne stands as a premier global authority on how meaningful connection, wilderness education, and active exploration are transforming the adventure travel landscape.

Follow Corne at his LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corneschalkwyk/  

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True stories of adventure and exploration as told by those who lived them.

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Charles William Steele, Jr is a cave explorer and speleologist who has led and participated in expeditions to many of the longest and deepest caves in the United States, Mexico, and China. He has explored hundreds of caves across North America and Asia and has written two books chronicling his expeditions: Yochib: The River Cave, and Huautla: Thirty Years in One of the World's Deepest Caves. TV shows such as National Geographic Explorer and NOVA have featured his expeditions.

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Yochib: The River Cave*

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True stories of adventure and exploration

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Justin Fornal is an explorer, writer documenting vanishing traditions in some of the world’s most challenging regions. His work focuses on ancient textiles, traditional foodways, and the material culture of ritual..

Justin has led research expeditions across Iraq, Somalia, Haiti, Yemen, Ethiopia, Liberia, the West Bank, and Arctic Greenland. A 2025 Society of American Travel Writers Gold Medal Awardee, his work has appeared in National Geographic, VICE, The Explorers Journal, Adventure Journal, Parts Unknown, and Roads & Kingdoms.

Through his nonprofit, the History, Arts, & Science Action Network (HASAN), Justin collaborates with minority communities facing discrimination and genocide, helping them preserve cultural heritage and reclaim their narratives on an international stage.

In 2026, Justin launched Sahel by the Sun — a solar-powered crossing of Africa from Dakar, Senegal to Xaafuun, Somalia in a Land Rover Defender — highlighting endangered Sahelian cultures while advancing sustainable exploration. He has been a fellow of Explorers Club since 2011 

Justin's website JustinFornal.com

Instagram Justin Fornal

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True stories of adventure and exploration

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Jacob “Val” Myers is an Appalachian-born adventure athlete with a growing list of accomplishments stretching across the board from ultramarathons, expeditions, published writings, and community service projects. Getting his start working with public lands as a young man in Gorges State Park, Val has hundreds of hours of volunteer service on trail crews and as a fundraiser supporting conservation projects around the country.

Val has taken on extreme expeditions in the coldest regions of the world such as Antarctica, the Yukon, Norway, and Alaska since entering the field as an aspiring polar guide in 2022. In parallel to his fascination with wild and rugged spaces, Val has completed multiple mountainous ultramarathons extending over one-hundred miles across the American landscape.

Val is currently publishing a book detailing his attempted world record skiing solo and unsupported to the geographic south pole while providing context and honor to the complicated Appalachian landscapes that raised him. When not writing, Val has continued planning for future expeditions, Fastest Known Time (FKT) attempts and is supporting his community through volunteerism.

Val's website: jacobvalmyers.com

Val's You Tube Channel

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True stories of adventure and exploration

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Oscar Scafidi is a travel writer, international educator and risk consultant. Originally from the UK and Italy, he has lived, worked and travelled across over thirty African nations. Oscar tends to focus on difficult destinations and post-conflict zones which do not attract many tourists. His work has included everything from interviewing pirates in Somalia to chasing elephants around the forests of Gabon. Among his many accomplishments, he kayaked 1,300km along Angola's longest river and 750km along Madagascar's longest river.

Oscar’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ScafidiTravels/ 

Social media links:  lnk.bio/ScafidiTravels

Kayak The Mangoky Official website: https://kayakthemangoky.com/ 

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Oscar Scafidi is a travel writer, international educator and risk consultant. Originally from the UK and Italy, he has lived, worked and travelled across over thirty African nations. Oscar tends to focus on difficult destinations and post-conflict zones which do not attract many tourists. His work has included everything from interviewing pirates in Somalia to chasing elephants around the forests of Gabon. Among his many accomplishments, he kayaked 1,300km along Angola's longest river and 750km along Madagascar's longest river.

Oscar’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ScafidiTravels/ 

Social media links:  lnk.bio/ScafidiTravels

Kayak The Mangoky Official website: https://kayakthemangoky.com/ 

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Whiskey and a Map: Stories of Adventure and Exploration. 

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In 2017, Victor completed the “Explorer’s Grand Slam” which requires climbing the highest peak on all seven of the world’s continents including Mt. Everest and skiing at least 100 kilometers to the North and South Poles. He piloted the first repeated dives to the ocean’s deepest point, Challenger Deep, in the Pacific’s Mariana Trench -- now fifteen times, and in August 2019 became the first person to visit “The Five Deeps,” the deepest point in all five of the world’s oceans. Victor has now personally explored the bottom of seventeen deep ocean trenches and has made three dives to the Titanic including the only solo dive ever made there. He and his team also discovered and surveyed the two deepest shipwrecks in the world: the USS Johnston in 2021 and the deepest, the USS Samuel B. Roberts at 22,600 feet, in 2022. In 2025, the US Navy announced that T-AGOS 26, a new ocean surveillance vessel of the Explorer class, would be named after him.

He is also a commercially rated, multi-engine jet, seaplane, and helicopter pilot, a certified submersible test pilot, and recently flew into space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket, becoming the first person in history to climb Mount Everest, dive to the bottom of the ocean, and visit space.

Victor received his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, a Master’s Degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and received an MBA from Harvard Business School where he graduated as a Baker Scholar. Additionally, Victor served 20 years in the U.S. Navy Reserve as an intelligence and targeting officer, retiring in 2013 as a Commander.

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Whiskey and a Map: Stories of Adventure and Exploration. 

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George McKenzie Jr. is a National Geographic Explorer, award-winning filmmaker, conservation photographer, and educator whose work sits at the intersection of storytelling, science, and community. Born in Guyana and raised in Brooklyn, George did not grow up in wild places—however found his way to them and now dedicates his career to making conservation accessible to people who may not see themselves reflected in it.

George is the director and subject of The Book of George, a critically acclaimed short documentary that has screened at major international festivals, including Telluride Mountain film, Banff, and Jackson Wild, where it won Best Short Form Film in the People & Nature category. The film anchors an ongoing impact campaign focused on youth mentorship, conservation education, and representation in the outdoors.

His photography and film making document the unseen connections between wildlife, working lands, and the people who steward them. From camera-trapping Florida panthers and photographing endangered plants on the Lake Wales Ridge to telling stories across the Florida Wildlife Corridor and the Okefenokee Swamp, George’s work emphasizes private lands, cultural history, and the human role in conservation outcomes.

Beyond storytelling, George is deeply engaged in applied conservation. He collaborates with land trusts, state and federal agencies, scientists, and private landowners on projects related to habitat restoration, invasive species management, prescribed fire, and climate resilience. His work often translates complex land-management science into compelling visual narratives that build public understanding and support.

A committed mentor and educator, George works extensively with young people—particularly youth of color—through workshops, school programs, and outdoor experiences that use photography and storytelling as tools for confidence, curiosity, and connection to nature. His approach is grounded in the belief that conservation succeeds when people feel included, capable, and invested.

Through his lens, voice, and leadership, George McKenzie Jr. is reshaping how conservation stories are told—centering place, people, and possibility in the effort to protect wild and working landscapes for generations to come.

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Follow George at his Instagram https://www.instagram.com/georgemckenziejr/ and at his website https://www.georgemckenziejr.com.

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Cited as one of "20 of the world's most influential photographers" by the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, Peter Guttman is an acclaimed travel journalist, adventurer, author, photographer, lecturer and television personality, winner of the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Exploration and Storytelling, three time recipient of the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year Award, author of nine books and creator of two honored series of hardcover books about magical travel experiences around the world. He created five apps for the iPad and iPhone including the number one bestselling iPad app, Beautiful Planet HD, a groundbreaking showcase of global beauty, named by NBC News one of "eight outstanding educational apps". 
 
 Peter has made numerous television appearances (Today Show, CNN Travel Guide, Travel Channel, A&E profiles) discussing his adventures and discoveries.  In addition, he's been a frequent contributor to Conde Nast Traveller, Dallas Morning News, National Geographic Adventure, Outside, BBC.com as well as a national spokesman for Kodak.  

He was chosen as a Fellow of The Explorers Club having “directly and substantially contributed to scientific understanding of the world” and cited for the “sheer diversity and thoroughness of his exploration experience”.

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Find Peter’s Books here on Amazon  

Follow Peter at his website PeterGuttman.com

His Instagram at  https://www.instagram.com/peterguttman/

and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterguttman/

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Jim Clash covers extreme adventure and classic rock. Over three decades of writing for Forbes, Clash, who holds an MBA from Columbia University, has penned four books, most recently Amazon bestseller “Amplified,” about ‘60s music. His first-person stories include supersonic flights in eight separate aircraft pulling up to 9 Gs and flying to 84,000 ft; driving a Bugatti at 253 mph and Indy cars at 200 mph; expeditions to the North and South Poles; summiting the Matterhorn and 23,000-ft. Aconcagua; a C-130 flight through Category V Hurricane Dorian; chasing tornadoes; riding jet skis on 60-ft waves in Portugal; a U-2 flight to the edge of space; bullfighting; being shot point-blank in a ballistics jacket, and more. Interviews include Neil Armstrong, Mario Andretti, John Glenn, Edmund Hillary, Roger Bannister, Grace Slick, Joe Frazier, Chuck Yeager and Edward Teller. For fun, Jim gives 170-mph rides at Daytona speedway. He’s a former director at The Explorers Club.

See more of Jim's work at Forbes and on his FaceBook page

Get Jim's books here on Amazon

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Whiskey and a Map:  Stories of Adventure and Exploration. 
#space #JamesClash #biggestwaves #supersonicflight

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