Welcome to the Zegrahm Expeditions resources page! Here you will find inspiration for your next adventure and information from your last adventure, produced by our field leaders, Seattle office staff, and contributing writers. From blog posts and field reports (daily recaps of a past expeditions with images) to photo galleries and videos, explore your world from our perspective.
On our special Sea to Sahara journey, Zegrahm president Van Perry and co-founder Mike Messick lead guests to amazing discoveries across the west coast of Africa. In fact, five itinerary highlights have received UNESCO status:
Cape Verde’s former capital...
It’s tough to know where to start when you’re talking to a guy with a resumé like that of Zegrahm’s cultural geography expert, Ron Wixman.
Do you ask about his 20 years living in tiny villages in the Balkans, which made him an expert on the region? Do you talk about his time as a student in Leningrad, or as a Cultural Geography professor at the University of...
Watch as Director of Operations Jon Nicholson and Cruise Director Kelsey Simmons, talk about our brand-new expedition, Sea to Sahara, that explores Cape Verde, the Sahara Desert, the Canary Islands, and Morocco.
[FULL TRANSCRIPT]
Jon Nicholson, Director of Operations: The Sea to Sahara trip is all about diversity, natural history, culture, and visiting places that probably, most of our guests have not been to. I think the number one...
On August 21, the moon will pass in front of the sun and the sky will turn completely dark in the middle of the day. Total solar eclipses like this occur approximately once every 18 months, but they’re usually only visible from less than half a percent of the Earth’s surface. This will be the first total solar eclipse visible in the United States since 1979.
Despite the brevity of this phenomenon, its rarity makes it an experience stargazers do not want to miss....
We’ve been traveling to the South Pacific for 20 years, and in that time, we have honed two spectacular itineraries! From the island of Fiji and the Kingdom of Tonga on Faces of Polynesia to the Tuamotu, Marquesas, and Pitcairn...
Scattered across the largest ocean basin on earth, the islands of the South Pacific have wooed adventurers and explorers for centuries. And it’s no wonder why—these remote paradises offer unparalleled beauty; a bounty of exotic flora, birds, and wildlife; some of the world’s most pristine marine environments; and communities where time-honored traditions remain unchanged. Join us as we discover the South Pacific.
There are over 10,000 Polynesian islands in the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The region is generally defined by a triangle stretching from Hawaii in the north, to Easter Island in the east and New Zealand in the west. The main groups of Polynesian islands include the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, and various others.
In addition to their geographical location, these islands are tied together by their similar languages, cultures, and belief...
For at least 2,000 years, Polynesians have decorated their bodies with tattoos. Known variously as tatau, moku, patutiki , and uki, tattooing served as a form of communication among peoples across Oceania. The body artwork identified which island group one came from, as well as their genealogy, social status, and individual accomplishments. It was also used to gain protection and strength from the gods....
Brad Climpson is a marine biologist who spent the last 20 years living on the edge of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. His passion for the underwater realm has taken him to Fiji, Indonesia, Bermuda, and the Maldives. Here, Brad shares his enthusiasm for one of the world's most remote regions,...
In 1976, University of Hawaii professor Ben Finney set out in a traditional Polynesian, twin-hulled canoe on the 2,700-mile-long voyage from Hawaii to Tahiti. His goal: to prove that ancient island seafarers—who, by 1200AD, had ventured across the vast Polynesian Triangle that stretched to Easter Island and New Zealand, and even into southeast Asia—were skilled navigators who used an elaborate nautical system based on the stars, wind, migrating birds, and sea swells.
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