Jeff Shea

This website illuminates my life and adventures. My longing for freedom has led me to over 2600 of the world’s 3978 provinces, to every country on earth and to the summit of the highest peak on each continent (thank heaven for good weather!). In my travels, I learned to respect the intelligence and ingenuity of people of all races and callings both past and present. Come see the world as I see it: as a peaceful place, full of nature and beauty. With the right spirit and intent, we can make our world a virtual Garden of Eden.

DISTINCTIONS: BBC 2017 Travel Pioneer • Journal Articles • Explorer’s Club Flag Expeditions
World Parks Project • Walk Across South America • Jeff Shea Travel Map

Bangladesh, Gazipur Prov, Street Tires
Slovenia, Metlika Prov, Ants On Flower
UK, Vale Of Glamorgan Prov, Coast
UK, Kingston upon Thames (London) Prov, Field And Sky
Water Transportation, 2015 Argentina, Salta Province My small Zodiac was chock-full of gear. I sat on the front to row.
Madagascar, Woodcutters, 2003 - These three men tackled the sawing of a large log the old fashioned way.
Turkey, Antalya Prov, Gardener
Tanzania, Ngorongoro Crater, Zebra And Wildebeest, 1987 - Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania is a thrill to see, for inside it there are most of the big game species in Africa. I long to see the world's natural animal populations restored by preserving vast spaces on the surface of the earth as World Parks.
Argentina, Jujuy Province, 2010 – Jeff Shea walks across South American Altiplano – I decided in 2010 to begin doing yearly expeditions to push myself to my maximum potential, to see what I could do and what I could not do, even though I knew that there was serious risk, especially in solo walks across desolate territories. One of the impetuses I had was my deep conviction that humankind – although few are paying attention in this regard – desperately and quickly need to set aside vast, contiguous areas of the world, each with an epicenter far from its edges. I call these World Parks. (Two years later, I incorporated World Parks, Inc., a non-profit, public benefit corporation whose purpose is to further this idea.) I could accomplish many things at once: walk in candidate areas, to really know them, photograph unusual landscapes, test my metal, learn, discover, and possibly inspire people to consider my idea of World Parks, eight vast areas to be permanently preserved for our descendants. My first walk was across the South American Altiplano. It is a dry area bordering the world’s driest desert, the Atacama. (In 2012, I walked across the Atacama. Writer John H. Richardson accompanied me for the first nine days of that journey.) The first week of this journey, I almost ran out of water. Here, I am shown crossing the Salinas Grandes, a large, dry “salar” near Morros village in Jujuy Province in northwestern Argentina. I set the camera up on a tripod to take this self-portrait.
South Georgia, Salisbury Plain, Penguins Couple, 2006 - These two penguins perform a mating ritual with each other.