expeditions - The Natural Navigator

Expedition: Africa

19 June 2009 by Tristan Gooley

I watched the History Channel’s ‘Expedition: Africa’ last night, a retake on Stanley’s expedition to find Livingstone. It is quite enjoyable if a bit ‘light’, the interest certainly coming from the internal politics of the expedition team rather than the nature of the journey itself. One thing did strike me, one of their challenges is billed as ‘using only compasses and basic maps’, which could only be billed as a challenge in the age of satellite navigation. Even this seemed to rob the team of some of their awareness of their surroundings. Pasquale Scaturro, the navigator, takes a compass bearing and then navigates from ‘tree to tree’ despite numerous clues in the sky and ground to help him hold a course. To be fair Benedict Allen does point out that the river would give a line to follow, but Pasquale does not seem to want the river to get between…

Tags: benedict allen, compass, courses, expeditions, expediton africa, maps, mireya mayor, navigator, pasquale scaturro |

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RGS Past and Present

21 November 2008 by Tristan Gooley

I had an enjoyable and full day yesterday holding a Beginner’s Guide to Natural Navigation course at the Royal Geographical Society in Kensington. We were in the Lowther room for the day, one of the many rooms at the RGS that oozes character and a sense of history. Even when stepping into the room for the first time, a lot of people experience a feeling of familiarity as it has appeared in many films.

There was a great group for the course from very diverse backgrounds, from the art world to the military. Some of us were busy chatting over a cup of tea, about the room and the sort of figures from history that would have shared the same space, Shackleton and Co, when Sir Ranulph Fiennes passed us in the corridor.

It was one of those serendipitous moments that does no harm to the romantic mystique of the place.

…

Tags: expeditions, Lowther Room, RGS history |

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Welcome to the home of natural navigation on the Internet.

Natural navigation is the art of being able to find your way solely by using nature. It encompasses using the sun, moon, stars, weather, water, land, sea, plants and animals.

The Natural Navigator is the school set up by Tristan Gooley to research and teach natural navigation. It is also the title of his book on the subject.

If you would like to know more about natural navigation you can browse the website, read about Tristan’s natural navigation book, or listen to a BBC Radio 4 interview with Tristan.

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