Fearless, Female Explorers

What comes to mind when asked which famous explorers you know? Magellan? Columbus? Lewis and Clark?  Notice anything similar? Yes, they are all men.  I actually asked myself the same question a few nights ago and came up with the same answers. It really bothered me that I came up with a blank when I tried to think about female explorers. As a female who happens to also love travel and adventure, I should have known better.

So I did a quick research on famous female explorers and was glad to see there were a few out there. There were three that really stood out for me.

Gudridur

She was an Icelandic discoverer who lived during the middle ages. Her journeys and unusual voyages (maybe for her time) led her around the old Nordic region. She tried several times to settle in the New World until she successfully did with her third husband (she has actually outlived all three!) where she bore their son. He was, allegedly, the first European to be born in North America. They then traveled back to Greenland. After he died, she eventually went to Rome where she lived as nun. Wow right? If you want to see what she may have looked like, an Icelandic sculptor, Ásmundur Sveinsson , made a magnificent sculpture of Gudridur.

Harriet Chalmers Adams

Well what can I say…she was a writer, photographer and explorer. She was a contributor to the National Geographic magazine in the early 20th century, where she wrote about her travels to South America, Asia and the South Pacific. She did a three-year trip around South America, retraced Columbus’ trail and crossed Haiti in horseback. More importantly, she launched the Society of Women Geographers (because National Geographic Society only allowed men at that time) in 1925 and served as its first President until 1933.

Ruth Harkness

Dubbed the “panda lady,” I didn’t really get how she got her name until I read her story. As it turns out, Ruth carried the very first live panda into America! Hers was a bittersweet story. She was a New York fashion designer who married a wealthy adventurer who wanted to bring back to the U.S. a giant panda. He died before he could accomplish this, so Ruth traveled to China to finish her husband’s quest.

I know, it’s a tragic, but romantic story. Also, note that it was a woman who brought back the first live giant panda from China! Actually, make that the first two pandas since she brought a second one just before her death.

Kira Salak

She is probably one of the most accomplished female explorers of our time. Kira Salak is still alive and continues to be a writer, adventurer and journalist. Some people call her the real life Lara Croft! Salak gained a reputation for being a tough woman adventurer, surviving war zones, coup attempts, and life-threatening bouts with malaria and cholera (gulp). She basically travels to places where no one thinks of going and is the first white woman to cross Papa New Guinea. She regularly writes for National Geographic and other magazines about her travels to places which include Iran, Rwanda, Libya, Burma, Borneo, Uganda and Peru. You can watch Kira Salak's CBS video here.

There you go fearless, female explorers. Let they be an inspiration to us women. They show us that there are great possibilities and opportunities in our lives. Use these women as role models for personal life exploration. As for men, benefit from remembering that women, too, can be explorers and adventurers in any chosen field.