Category Archives: Podcast

#38: The Dream of Human Flight – Base Jumping & Wingsuit Flying with Christina Clusiau, Shaul Schwarz, Amber Forte & Espen Fadnes

© Espen Fadnes and Amber Forte

Imagine standing on a mountain, right at the edge of a cliff. Below you, the ground drops steeply. Then you take a step forward— and let yourself fall. You spread your arms and – after a few seconds – begin to fly.
This feeling of flight is what many base jumpers and wingsuit flyers yearn for.

#36: Arctic Ascent – with Dr. Heïdi Sevestre and Alex Honnold

© Nina Adjanin (left) & National Geographic (right)

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.

#35: The Secrets of the Elephants – with Dr. Paula Kahumbu

Paula Kahumbu
© National Geographic

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.

#20: Rewilding the World – with Kristine Tompkins

Kristine Tompkins
© Tompkins Conservation

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.

#18: Living with Sami Reindeer Herders – with Erika Larsen

Erika Larsen
© Erika Larsen

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.

#17: The Search for Africa’s Fighting Spirit – with Tim Butcher

Tim Butcher
© Tim Butcher

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. In this conversation, he talks about what kind of devil he chased and whether he has found the Fighting Spirit of Africa in these two […]

#16: Eric Adams (Manowar) – Outdoor Adventures & Hunting

© Guido Karp

(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 […]

#15: Exploring Trails – with Robert Moor

Robert Moor
© Donna Svennevik

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. […]

#14: Exploring the Deep-Sea – with Diva Amon

Diva Amon
© NOAA OER

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 […]

#13: Blood River – A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart – with Tim Butcher

Tim Butcher
© Tim Butcher

As a war correspondent for the Daily Telegraph Tim Butcher quickly became obsessed with one of the world’s most war-ravaged countries – the Congo. Its rich and multi-layered history triggered him to dig deeper in his attempt to better understand “the heart of Africa”. After discovering a personal and direct link to a famous historical […]

#12: The Sound of Journeys – with Jim Kroft

Jim Kroft
© Lucas Dietrich

To musically capture the essence of a solo journey over around the world is a tremendous creative challenge. Musician, director and photographer Jim Kroft, our guest in this episode, has tackled it. His journey took him through the endless expanses of the Russian winter, but also into the loneliness of Chinese mega-cities. On the way, […]

#11: Long Way Up – New adventures on two wheels – with Charley Boorman

Long Way Up Charley Boorman

Two friends, two motorcycles and epic adventures all around the world. In episode 4 of Unfolding Maps, Charley Boorman talked about some of his most memorable travel experiences, many of which he has made with his best friend, the actor Ewan McGregor, known from movies such as Star Wars. These trips resulted in two hugely […]

#10: The Last Whalers – with Doug Bock Clark

© Doug Bock Clark

What is lost when a whole culture disappears? Award-winning journalist Doug Bock Clark has written an epic book about the Lamalerans, a tribe that lives on a remote, eastern Indonesian island. For half a millennium, they have fed themselves by hunting sperm whales, using small, handmade boats and handmade harpoons. And until this day, this […]

#9: We the Women of Afghanistan – Nahid Shahalimi

Nahid Shahalimi
© Isa Foltin

Being the daughter of one of the Afghanistan’s most influential and prosperous persons, Nahid Shahalimi grew up in the country’s high society. However, the life of her family took a dramatic turn when her father died and Nahid had to flee to Canada with her mother and sisters in the 1980s. Since then, she has […]

#8: Feeding the World – with Aerial Photographer George Steinmetz

© Gaetan Hutter

Known as ‘the flying photographer’, George Steinmetz is the natural world’s leading aerial artist, being famous for his trademark low altitude aerial photography, a special technique that he has invented and perfected. He has done much of his work with a foot-launched motorized paraglider, which he pilots while taking pictures, as well as using drones […]

#7: Over Seven Summits around the World – with Helga Hengge

Helga Hengge
© Helga Hengge

Mount Everest in the Himalayas, Mt Vinson in Antarctica – only two of the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. The former VOGUE fashion editor and today’s extreme mountaineer Helga Hengge was the first German woman ever to successfully climb them all. She has experienced challenges that could not be more diverse, from […]

#6: Great and small adventures – with Alastair Humphreys

Alastair Humphreys
© Chris Herwig

A passionate adventurer, author and film maker: Alastair Humphreys’ explorations of the earth are manifold. He has spent over four years cycling round the world, a journey of 46,000 miles through 60 countries and five continents. He walked across southern India, rowed across the Atlantic Ocean, run six marathons through the Sahara Desert, completed a […]

#5: The Power of the Cold – with “Iceman” Wim Hof

Wim Hof
© Wim Hof

A fascinating journey into the power that the cold, deep breathing and commitment can unleash together: Wim Hof is known as the “Iceman”, the reason being that he is able to endure the cold to an extend that was believed to be physically impossible before. Wim Hof has climbed Mount Everest to an altitude of […]

#4: Charley Boorman – On long Ways around the World

Charley Boorman
© Ignition Rojas

Adventurer, motorbike enthusiast, travel writer and TV presenter: Charley Boorman has explored the world for the past few decades. It all started in 1997 on a film shoot, when Charley met Ewan McGregor, known from Star Wars, Moulin Rouge, Trainspotting, Doctor Sleep and other films. Resulting from their shared love for motorbikes, they became friends […]

#2: Rolf Potts – The Art of Long-term World Travel

Rolf Potts
© Rolf Potts

In his first book, the now iconic “Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-term World Travel”, Rolf Potts promoted the ethics of independent travel. It was released in 2003 and – after more than 20 editions and many translations worldwide – had a huge impact on the global traveler scene.

#0: Introduction

© Cedric Xia

This new travel podcast travels the unbeaten path. Unfolding Maps talks to adventurers of all flavors about their expeditions and experiences that shaped them. Join the host, Erik Lorenz, in his conversations with globetrotters, who are best-selling writers, award-winning photographers,  and critically-acclaimed filmmakers.  Through the pens and lenses of these border crossers, Unfolding Maps tells […]