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Greatest living explorer denies title |
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"My passport says I am a travel writer" |
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| If Fiennes is a travel writer, then is he the "second greatest living (British)
travel writer" next to Paul Theroux? |
| Q:
Is it a myth that Fiennes is the
"World's greatest living explorer?"
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A: Yes; that was once
printed in Guinness. But we
can't find when it was printed or what he claimed to have explored.
We think this "greatest explorer" hype is simply
an outdated, and incorrect, "publisher's dust jacket" item parroted
by the media. |
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Says Fiennes: "The problem is knowing what people mean by the word
'explore'. I've done 32 years of expeditions, only one of which was as a
true explorer, as opposed to what I call myself—an expedition leader."
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An Irish beer company once said
Fiennes was
"The World's Greatest Explorer". Why?
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Nova's website does not mention Fiennes as discoverer |
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Nicholas Clapp's book about how he discovered Ubar. |
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"Nicholas Clapp,... became
absorbed with the legend of Ubar...
using ultramodern techniques, to uncover this
"Atlantis of the Sands." (review at Amazon.com)
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| "Fiennes was particularly obtuse when it came to the mildest of questions.
Did he think of himself as an explorer first, or a writer? 'My passport says I am a travel writer.'"
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| Land Rover spokesperson, heart attack survivor, snowmobile
driver, owner of a dog who has peed on both poles, and he's a
travel writer! |
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• His passport says he is a travel writer(1).
• In the UK he is available as a celebrity/motivational speaker.
• In an interview Fiennes says he's an expedition leader, not an explorer.
• His adventures have been endurance treks, not exploration. |
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(1)
Traveling is not
exploring. Trekking across remote but previously discovered areas is called
an adventure, not exploring. Exploring is journeying to a remote area
for a scientific purpose such as mapping, documenting flora & fauna, etc. |
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Q: Does Fiennes truly claim he discovered the Arabian city Ubar?
"...Fiennes
led several expeditions in the great deserts of Arabia,
before
finally finding the city in Oman in 1992."[http://www.speakers.co.uk/SubPages/Speakers/6071.htm]
"After numerous attempts he found the Lost City of Ubar ...in
1992, his biggest expeditional success so far." [http://www.angelfire.com/biz5/beeswing/ranulphfiennes.html]
"Ranulph has led over 30 expeditions...The discovery of the lost
Arabian city of Ubar" [http://www.tracyedwards.co.uk/fiennes.html]
He is laconic, maddeningly matter-of-fact: discovering a fabled
lost city in the Oman desert in 1992 was "luck."
[http://www.time.com/time/europe/eu/magazine/0,9868,188819,00.html]
"The Guinness Book of World Records describes Fiennes as the world's
greatest living explorer. He was at the helm of the expedition that
found the Lost City of Ubar."
[http://www.januarymagazine.com/profiles/rfiennes.html]
"TIME: What's next? FIENNES: ...maybe I'll try for another
lost city in Arabia."
[http://www.time.com/time/europe/eu/magazine/0,9868,188819,00.html]
"Question: Which expedition are you most proud of? Sir Ranulph Fiennes: I think probably
locating the lost city
of Ubar in the early 1990s,..."[http://www.travelleronline.com/travel_talk/chatranulphfiennes.shtml] |
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| A:
Nasa and Nicholas Clapp found Ubar!
Fiennes was hired to do logistics... |
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Who really found Ubar? Nicholas Clapp found Ubar. What did Fiennes really
do? Apparently he only handled logistics & financing. |
Clapp found Ubar
"... it was one of
the strangest phone calls that the NASA space agency had received…A hesitant voice on the end of the line said:
'I would like to talk to someone about using the Space Shuttle to look
for a lost city.' With these few words, began one of the most extraordinary quests of the 2Oth
century. A quest to solve a mystery which had baffled scientists and
explorers for a thousand years."
[http://www.guidedones.com/issues/reports/ubar10.htm] |
"...Nicholas Clapp...made that -fateful phone
call to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California back in
1983. 'It was a little nutty, a little eccentric,' he reflected years later. 'But as an amateur you can do things the professionals can't.'
What Clapp didn't know then was that he was about to embark on a 10-year
odyssey. And that his 'amateur' efforts would culminate in what Time
magazine heralded as 'one of the three major scientific events' of the
1990s."
"Clapp found Ubar. His revelation that the city had indeed
collapsed into an underground cavity also proved that ancient 'myths' are
often founded on sound historical fact."
Major Find
"The idea of searching for the lost city of Ubar was conceived in 1981 by
Nicholas Clapp, a Los Angeles filmmaker and adventurer...with the help of
Mr. Hedges, recruited a team of experts in several fields.
Analysis of the space images was directed by Dr. Charles Elachi,
...Working with him were Dr. Blom and Dr. Robert E. Crippen,...Alan Jutzi,
... assisted with archival research. Dr. Zarins, a professor at Southwest
Missouri State University in Springfield ...is still at the site directing
the excavations....Sir Ranulph Fiennes, a British polar
explorer...directed logistics for the expedition and helped arrange
financing from Omani backers.
[http://www.ups.edu/faculty/velez/FL380/Ubar/page2.htm] |
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