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
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Java, Jeff Shea Summit Mt. Merapi, 1983 - When I went to Java for the first time, I traveled to Borobudur. Mt. Merapi overlooks this fantastic temple complex. I climbed Mt. Merapi at night, arriving at dawn.
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UK, Conwy Prov, Castle
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Slovenia, Kranjska Gora Prov, Mountain Scene
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UK, Gloucestershire Prov, Castle
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North Col Everest Camp 1, 1995 Tibet, Mount Everest - 35mm film
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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.
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Greenland, Warming Island, Broken Channel, 2006 - This photograph - taken from a helicopter - shows the broken glacier and the new channel that has created Warming Island. This shot was taken exactly one year to the day following the discovery of the island by Dennis Schmitt of Berkeley, California. I was part of a five man expedition that Dennis led to survey the island in the late summer of 2006. An article in the New York Times on Jan 16, 2007 made Warming Island the poster child of Global Warming. This photograph first appeared in that article on the front page of the Science Section.
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Easter Island, Reed Ship and Moai at Anakena Beach, 1997 - In this photograph both the Moai and the reed vessel at Anakena beach in 1997 are visible. Easter Island was a place of mystery and deep feeling. My short experience there was deeply enhanced by my relationship with my Rapa Nuian lover. She was native Rapa Nuian and had a deep spirit.
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Thailand, Surat Thani Prov, Dragonfly
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Thailand, Krabi Prov, Phra Nang Beach