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TRAVEL
S A postcard from
GAVIN BATE
No desert too wide,no mountain too high My most memorable travel experience was… one which became a benchmark for all that followed: crossing the Sahara desert when I was 21. It was a formative journey, involving absolutely no knowledge of desert travel, other than some rather furtive training in the sand dunes at home in Northern Ireland. I planned to reach Timbuktu, but the reality was being arrested in Algiers on suspicion of being a spy, hightailing across the Atlas Mountains and spending several months largely on foot in a very hot place, relying on the kindness of the Touareg tribesman who took pity on me. Come the end, I understood the fine line between sanity and insanity, and I resembled a dessicated prune, a sort of Yoda of Arabia. Even now, after four expeditions to Mount Everest and innumerable other trips, that Sahara crossing still ranks as the most daft, and yet the most memorable. My favourite place in Ireland is… the Mourne Mountains, which are close to my home and heart. Coming back to any part of Ireland
fills me with peace. Often my trips are quite emotionally telling, because of the nature of my job as an expedition guide, but also because of the charity work I do. Any mountain scenery in Ireland is a balm to the spirit. My childhood holiday memories are… of conservation ‘holiday camps' in Scotland, Wales and the Lake District, where we planted trees and built dry-stone walls under the supervision of tree huggers. It was like a cross between boot camp and a hippy commune. Beach bum, culture vulture or an adrenaline junkie? I hate the thought that because I climb big mountains, I might be mistaken for an adrenaline junkie. As much as I love high altitude adventure, it has been the opportunity to revisit countries time and again over many years that has enabled me to truly understand their cultures. I see this as a great privilege. My ideal travel companions… have undoubtedly been the local
people who became my best friends. For a long time I travelled alone, with little money or direction, sometimes for many months, keen to absorb a place through experience and often hardship. Many transient travelling partners were met along the way. One such fateful meeting in the Himalaya on my way to a solo climb of Everest led me to find love at the most unexpected time of my life. My worst travel experience was… one of many moments of unforeseen crises and stupidity on my part. Being caught without a visa while hiding underneath a truck trying to cross the border into the Congo ranks highly; as does being in an overturned bus in a river in the black of night, in a monsoon in India, suffering from a rather colourful stomach disorder. Then there was the night I was on a scrap oil tanker bound for China and my bunk was overrun with cockroaches. The experience still haunts me. Just because I climb Mount Everest without oxygen... doesn’t mean I’m mad. I’m a very cautious climber. My passion began when I was a boy, reading the exploits of mountaineering greats, so climbing Everest without bottled oxygen has given me some of the most profound experiences of my life, and enabled me to walk in the
Another world: Gavin Bate with some of the children his charity helps, left; at home in the Sahara desert, right; at the top of Mt Kilimanjaro, above, with fellow guide, Elli Pirkis
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Irish Independent Weekend 24 May 2008
shadow of my childhood heroes. My favourite hotel is… the Kathmandu Guest House, which is where I am now. Originally a maharajah's palace, it became a haven for writers and artists and travellers in the Sixties and is now an iconic rambling hotel with beautiful gardens, in the heart of the bustling capital of Nepal. The owner, Rajan Sakya, is a good friend and understands the true meaning of personal service in the hotel industry. They go the extra mile. My dream holiday would include… fine food and wine in good company. This is generally to be found in Italy. Or else a three-month trek along the spine of the Himalayas. When I'm travelling, I always miss… nothing of home, except the one person who makes it home for me. I live a lot of my life in a tent and
I find the simplicity very appealing. I revel in the knowledge of being able to live so completely with what I can carry on my back, or haul on a sled. There is an aesthetic pleasure in doing so much with so little. The thing I hate most about travelling is… people saying, “You wouldn't get this at home!” Why travel if not to experience the bad as well as the good? I also get tired of petty officialdom and corruption in developing countries. Next I'm off to… Everest Base Camp, to which I'm leading an expedition as one of the regular trips with my company, Adventure Alternative. Nepal is safe, beautiful, cultural, exciting and vibrant — the perfect location for a different type of holiday. Then in July I am taking a team to the far western outposts of Mongolia to experience a total solar eclipse. I like providing lifechanging holidays, so I'm always contemplating where to go next. W Gavin Bate is one of Ireland’s most accomplished mountaineers and adventurers. He founded Adventure Alternative, an expedition company which provides a unique range of treks, expeditions and safaris. Gavin is also the founder and chairman of Moving Mountains, a charity funded by Adventure Alternative which, since 2002, has built clinics and schools throughout Kenya and Nepal and sponsors street children. By Jacqueline Kavanagh jkavanagh@independent.ie