Sunday May 04, 2003

Let's get back to some adventure, shall we?

Nearly two years ago, I stumbled across the name of a lake in Siberia, Russia. Lake Baikal. ("Buy Call"). A half-hour of research was all it took to know that this lake demanded an expedition.

Baikal is filled with the clearest water on the planet, with visibility over 150 feet.

It hosts more endemic species of wildlife than the Galapagos Islands, including a colony of 60,000 nerpa seals, the only freshwater species in existence.

Most lakes have a life-span of 10-20 thousand years. Baikal has been around for 25 MILLION years!

The lake sits in the junction of three tectonic plates that are slowly spreading, and it will eventually become the world's fifth ocean.

The list goes on and on and on. It's a sacred place, Baikal, "The Sacred Sea." And this May, after a year and a half of planning, researching, boat building, training and dreaming, Heather and I head to Siberia.

Our local team-member there, Hank Birnbaum, will host us in his village of Bolshoye Goloustnoye, where we'll assemble the boats, learn a bit about how to behave in Russia, and absorb his family's grace and hospitality. And on June 1 we set out. For the next three months, we'll make our way clockwise around the lake, exploring its every inch of coastline, its wildlife and mountainous shores, its fury and infectious magic, one stroke at a time. If all goes well, by the end of August we'll return to Hank's village from the opposite end, and we'll celebrate!

Over the next couple months as we continue preparing we'll fill you in on more of what we know about Baikal. Of course, we're hard at work arranging a way to transmit updates -- and pictures -- from the heart of Siberia. We want to share this expedition more than any other!

In the meantime, check out our brand new website at www.chargelife.com!

For now, I’ll leave you with these last two points…

1) This expedition to circumnavigate Lake Baikal has never before been done.

2) Lake Baikal is, far and away, the largest lake on Earth!!!

Brandon and Heather

www.chargelife.com