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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.  

The club meets 8 times each year, holding over 875 meetings since inception. Our speakers include many legendary explorers, scientists, mountaineers and adventurers. 

An affiliation with Harvard University is not required for membership.
Although our 2021 - 2021 season is now over, if you are a member, the past years' journeys and adventures are as accessible as ever by listening to recordings of our speakers. Log onto the member portion of this website, then History > Club Archives > Recorded Presentations.
Club meetings are held in the Massachusetts Room of the Harvard Club on Commonwealth Avenue. Cocktails (cash bar) will be served at 6:00 PM, dinner ($71) at 6:45 and the presentation will commence at 8:00. Club meetings are attended by members and their guests. If you are not currently a member of the Harvard Travellers Club, but would like to attend this meeting as a guest, or would simply like more information about the Club, please contact Swing Robertson at swing@harvardtravellersclub.org.  

The dress code for our meetings is business casual.
The 2020-2021 Season at a Glance​​
Speaker
Subject  (click date button for details)
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Crossing the Empty Quarter of Oman
​Mark Evans
​
In 1932, English explorer Bertram Thomas became the first person to cross Rub Al Khali (Empty Quarter) with Omani companion Sheikh Saleh Bin Kalut. Thomas lectured to the members of The Harvard Travellers Club in 1932.
Eightyeight years later, Mark will speak to the Harvard Travellers Club about the same trip he and his Omani companions made when they left Salalah in 2017 on December 10th, exactly the same date that Thomas set off in 1931. They arrived in Doha 49 days later.

Mark is a modern-day explorer in the vein of the olden days. He has a passion for historical exploration, and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society in London. He has lived and explored  the Middle East over the last 20 years, and has undertaken adventures in Greenland, Svalbard, Melville Island, NWT, and more.

Mark Evans

Crossing the Empty Quarter of Oman
x
Exploration and Excavation in the Siberian Arctic
Trevor Wallace
Trevor Wallace is an expedition filmmaker and Vice President of Research and Education at the Explorers Club. His films focus on expanding human curiosity about the wild and remote corners of the world.
For the past 5 years he has been working with Dr. Gino Caspari on the archaeological docu-series Frozen Corpses Golden Treasures, which is set to be released in 2021. 
​
Trevor will be sharing with the Club about his years excavating the oldest Scythian tomb in Siberia and working as a guide in the Arctic. He will talk about the lessons he learned living out in the field for months at a time, documenting discoveries that have rewritten history.

As the youngest Vice President in the 116 year history of The Explorers Club, he will talk about being part of this incredible legacy and forging a new path for the next generation of explorers.

In 2018 he was awarded the Explorers’ Club “New Explorer of the Year” distinction.

Trevor Wallace

Exploration and Excavation in the Siberian Arctic
x
Breaking the Cycle:
​ Worldwide Bicycle Expeditions as Training for the South Pole
Kate Leeming
Explorer/Adventurer Kate Leeming has cycled a distance greater than twice the world’s circumference and attained four world first achievements on her major expeditions.
​
​Through the story of her journeys, Kate will talk about her passions and purposes, what keeps her going through the difficult times.
Crossing 22,040 km over ten months, Kate’s Breaking the Cycle in Africa Expedition was not only a physical quest, but an odyssey to highlight the development needs and activities of war-torn and poverty-stricken nations.

Kate will also speak about her latest challenge, Breaking the Cycle South Pole, which will include the first bicycle crossing of the Antarctic continent via the South Pole (2021-22). Preparations so far have included polar training expeditions in Svalbard, Northeast Greenland and Arctic Canada, and in 2018/19/20, a preparatory expedition on each continent (except Antarctica).
​ 
These challenging expeditions are integral with Kate’s Breaking the Cycle Education program that aims to help "prepare our future leaders to make informed decisions to create a better world".

Kate Leeming

Breaking the Cycle: Worldwide Bicycle Expeditions as Training for the South Pole
x
Global Rescue Adventures Across the Planet
​Dan Richards
Global Rescue identifies, monitors, and responds to potential threats; provides medical, security, intelligence, and crisis response services; and performs field rescues, sending critical care paramedics and military special forces veterans to the site of an emergency.
It provided services to its members during major events including the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, the 2011 tsunami in Japan, and the 2013 civil unrest in Egypt.

As founder and CEO of Global Rescue, Dan Richards has seen it all! Join us as Dan shares stories about dramatic rescues in many parts of the world and under seemingly insurmountable circumstances.

Dan Richards

Global Rescue Adventures Across the Planet
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February 9
 Prepare to be entertained as Tinaand Frank Singsby recount stories of their unconvential honeymoon in Svalbard camping with polar bears. And be amazed at the heights Ken Maclaurin will go to to reach the highest points on all 7 continents.

Members Night

Tina and Frank Slingsby on "Camping in Polar Bear Country, Svalbard", and Ken Maclaurin on "My Bid for the Seven Summits"
x
 
Sandy Stott is Accidents Editor for the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Appalachia Journal.
He's also the author of Critical Hours -- Search and Rescue in the White Mountains (UPNE, 2018). Based on his years of experience documenting accidents, Sandy will cover key ways accidents come about, and what could have been done to prevent them. 
  
    Sandy Stott
Accidents & Rescues in the White Mountains: The Clueless, The Unlucky, The Boundary-Pushers
x
Traversing the NorthwestPassage: East to West and West to East
Sean Meagher
Captain Sean P. Meagher has 33 years’ experience navigating such diverse places as the Northwest Passage, the North Pole, South Pacific, Atlantic, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, and Antarctica.

He has completed numerous historic voyages, among which are the two he will speak about tonight:  ​​
traversing the NW Passage from East to West (his was the 216th vessel to do so) and again from West to East (where his was the third private ship and 9th vessel of any kind to have made the journey.)

Tonight's talk is co-sponsored with the Harvard Business School Alumni of Boston.

​     Sean Meagher

Traversing the Northwest Passage: East to West and West to East.
​Co-sponsored with the Harvard Business School Alumni of Boston
x
Lead(er)s in the Ice: Re-creating the 1881-84 Greely Arctic Expedition
​James Shedd and Geoffrey Clark
The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition of 1881 - 1884, lead by Adolphus Greely, was meant to collect astronomical data and establish an observation station in the Canadian Arctic for the First International Polar Year.
Of the 26 men that started, only six returned.

James Shedd, Greely's great-great-grandson, was tapped by Geoffrey Clark - a HTC member - to help re-create the expedition - minus the depressing return rate - for a documentary. 

Join James and Geoff as they tell their story about this 250-mile, 5 week kayak expedition along the narrow sea between Canada and Greenland, near the North Pole.

​The talk will focus on stories from both trips, about the individuals that stand out in the stories, and how they helped those around them. Leaders in the ice following leads in the ice to reveal the best path forward.

James Shedd and Geoffrey Clark
​

Lead(er)s in the Ice: The 1881-'84 Greely Arctic Expedition Re-created