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"We live in a world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open."
​                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    ​Jawaharlal Nehru​
The Harvard Travellers Club is an organization that has provided a venue for adventurous travelers to gather and socialize since 1902. An affiliation with Harvard University is not required for membership.

The Club meets 8 times each year, and held its 900th meeting since inception in November 2022. Our speakers include many legendary -- as well as up-and-coming -- explorers, scientists, mountaineers, and adventurers.
​If you are not currently a member of the Harvard Travellers Club and would like more information about the Club, or would like to attend a meeting as a guest, please contact Bruce Chafee at brucec@harvardtravellersclub.org.
Club meetings are generally held in the Massachusetts Room of the Harvard Club on Commonwealth Avenue. Cocktails (cash bar) begin at 6:00 PM, dinner ($86) at 6:45, and the presentation commences at 8:00. Club meetings are attended by members and their guests. 

The dress code for our meetings is business casual.
The 2022-2023 Season at a Glance
(Meetings are held on Tuesdays, unless otherwise noted.)​​
(click date buttons for details)
v = via Zoom
All other meetings are (currently) to be in person.
Speaker
Subject
(click date buttons for details) 
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Greenland! An Arctic Adventure
Captain Sean P. Meagher
Join Arctic Explorer Captain Sean P. Meagher on an adventure in Greenland. Featuring video and photos, this talk will explore the natural beauty, wildlife, history, culture and future of one of the most unique places on this planet.

Captain Sean P. Meagher has 33 years’ experience navigating diverse places such as the Northwest Passage, the North Pole, South Pacific, Atlantic, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, and Antarctica.

Sean Meagher

Greenland! An Arctic Adventure.
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November 9
(Note this is a Wednesday!)
Robert K. (Bob) Headland
Bob Headland became involved in polar research in 1977 with the British Antarctic Survey. He was for many years the Archivist of the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge University, and remains an Associate there. He has made scores of trips to both the Arctic and Antarctic. He is an expert on South Georgia Island and has written several books on South Georgia as well as books on Antarctic voyages from the earliest ones to the present.

Bob became involved with the Antarctic Heritage Trust to maintain the huts from the early explorations. His major publication is ‘A Chronology of Antarctic Exploration’. He is a member of the Institute of Historical Research of the University of London, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, former President of the Antarctic Club, and a recipient of the Polar Medal from the Queen.

Robert K. (Bob) Headland

Our 900th meeting!
Shackleton and the Centenary of his Last Expedition: The Quest and the Search for Non-Existent Islands of the Southern Ocean.
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Into the Heart of America
Neal Moore
After spending much of his life in Africa and East Asia, the combination of political upheaval and the pandemic made Neal want to get back to his roots and see first-hand what he could learn about this moment in America’s history by traversing her first thoroughfares via her first mode of transport - the canoe. Drawing inspiration from Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, Neal will share his experiences and observations of his 2-year, 22-river, 7500-mile canoe trip from the Columbia River in Oregon all the way to New York Harbor (the wrong way - the hard way!).

Neal Moore

A Canoe Journey of Illumination into the Heart of America: 2 Years, 7500 miles
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Uncovering Lost History: Diving on Slave Shipwrecks
Tara Roberts
This evening we feature underwater explorer Tara Roberts who, in June 2022, was awarded the Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year. The subject of her talk was also featured in a podcast, and was the National Geographic Magazine cover story in March 2022.  Tara’s story is both scientific and deeply personal, as we will hear.

Sneak peek here.

Tara Roberts

Uncovering Lost History: Black Scuba Divers Searching for Slave Shipwrecks Around the World
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Iran: Not the Headlines
Jennifer Craig

Despite the glimmers of hope we hear about the recent protests in Iran, most of what we read in the papers about this country is negative.  Yet there is often a disconnect between the people in power and the population at large. 
Jennifer will take us on her 2016 countrywide trip to this fascinating country that was once Persia, reminding us of their storied history, represented in art and architecture, and sharing her experience of feeling welcome and intrigued by the similarities and differences between Persian and western culture. We will visit the cities of Tabriz and Tehran in the north; Kerman, Shiraz, and other small sites in the south; and end our travels in beautiful Isfahan, seat of the Safavid Dynasty.
If a Stream Flows in the Wilderness, Do We Know Where It Starts?
 Cathy Poppenwimer
Cathy, GIS Scientist at the Appalachian Mountain Club, will explore the streams of the Maine Woods Initiative and their work to protect and enhance brook trout and Atlantic salmon habitats. This work was in part sponsored by a HTC Permanent Fund grant.

Learn about how the AMC is mapping the small upland streams (which are under-estimated by national-scale stream maps) and connecting these species to high-quality spawning habitat which is their historic habitat range and to which they have not been able to travel for a hundred years.

Members Night

​Iran: Not the Headlines, by Jennifer Craig
and
If a Stream Flows in the Wilderness, Do We Know Where It Starts? by AMC GIS Scientist, Cathy Poppenwimer
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How to Speak Whale
by Tom Mustill
Following on the launch of his book, How To Speak Whale, Tom Mustill, author and wildlife filmmaker, will reveal how a close encounter with a humpback whale inspired him to spend years exploring the cutting edge of marine biological research, where scientists are combining underwater robots and new advances in artificial intelligence to decode the communications of whales and dolphins and attempt the first ever two way communication.

Researching his book took him from the cloud rainforests in the mountains of Hawaii to the Blue Serengeti of Monterey Bay, swimming with singing Humpbacks off Dominica and dissecting giant Sperm Whales in Kent.

He will also be happy to talk about his other film work - from filming bats deep underground in Mayan tombs, kangaroos giving birth at night in the outback and giraffes being transported across the Nile.

Tune in if you've ever wanted to speak to your dog, or wondered how we might decode the conversations of other species! 
Tom is a biologist turned filmmaker and writer, specializing in stories where people and nature meet. His film collaborations, many with Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough, have received numerous international awards, including two Webbys, a BAFTA, and an Emmy nomination.

     Tom Mustill

How to Speak Whale: The Latest Research on Animal Communication, and the Travel it Took to Get There
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The Genesis of the Self-Fly Safari
by
Nick and Christina Johannsen Hanks
In 1995 Nick and Christina Johannsen Hanks set out in a single-engine airplane from a grass airstrip in upstate New York, planning to fly across the Atlantic and down the length of Africa to Johannesburg.
Nick had learned to fly as a kid and was now a commercially-rated pilot with about 1000 hours flight time. Christina, an anthropologist and, at the time, director of the Iroquois Museum in Howes Cave, NY., had to give up her position and learn to fly to be able to accompany Nick.

Join us to hear about their preparations to make the flight; their impressions of people and places they met on the way; and both the light-hearted and harrowing moments in the cockpit. The whole experience led them to found a business enabling pilots from around the world to fly small aircraft in the African bush.
Nick and Christina Johannsen Hanks
​  
The Genesis of the Self-Fly Safari
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Birding Without Borders: An Epic World Big Year
Noah Strycker
In 2015, Noah became the first human to see more than half of the planet’s bird species in a single, year-long, round-the-world birding trip. Anything could have happened, and a lot did. He was scourged by blood-sucking leeches, suffered fevers and sleep deprivation, survived airline snafus and car breakdowns and mudslides and torrential floods, skirted war zones, and had the time of his life. Birding on seven continents and carrying only a pack on his back, Noah enlisted the enthusiastic support of local birders to tick more than 6,000 species, including Adelie Penguins in Antarctica, a Harpy Eagle in Brazil, a Spoon-billed Sandpiper in Thailand, and a Green-breasted Pitta in Uganda.

Noah is Associate Editor of Birding magazine, the author of six well-regarded books about birds, a penguin scientist, and a regular contributor of photography and articles to all major bird magazines as well as other media.has hiked the 2,665-mile Pacific Crest Trail in four months, is a competitive tennis player, has run five marathons, and guides in the Antarctic and high Arctic. He has traveled to Earth’s polar regions more than 40 times as a guide and for research, and is fascinated by the birds of high latitudes.

More about Noah here.

Noah Strycker
​

Birding Without Borders: An Epic World Big Year