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
Vietnam, Quang Ngai Prov, Women On Bicycles
N Ireland, Balleymena Prov, Home Landscape
UK, Saint Helena, Tristan Da Cunha, View From Ocean, 2002 - Tristan Da Cunha is the most remote inhabited island in the world, lying between Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope in the south Atlantic. It is quite stunning to see. It rises straight out of the ocean to a height of over 6500 feet.
Seram, Poisonous Snake Whose Head I Unwittingly Stepped On, 2006 - On my last day in the forest of Seram on my Search For The Little People 2006 expedition, me and my three guides from Mosso were walking from Kanikeh to Jalan Lintas, or, the Asphalt Road, via Roho. It was a long day. We started walking at about 10 a.m. and arrived at about 930 p.m. on the side of the road. Midday, I was in the lead when I heard a sound. I turned around. Memet, the lead guide, was slashing about with his parang (i.e., machete). He cut this snake in three pieces. Memet, Edi and Saiful all agreed that this snake was so poisonous that if I had been bitten, I would have been dead within an hour unless I'd been given the anetedote: little likelihood out here in the middle of nowhere. They said I was lucky to step on its head - it couldn't bite. Had I stepped on its tail, it would have been a different story, and I would be history.
Myanmar, Mandalay Prov, Bagan Temple Buddha
Seram, Water Duck, 2006 - When I asked my guides what this bird was called, they said, "Bebek Air." This means Water Duck. In order to get this photograph with a 500mm lens, I had to stalk this duck by approaching it five paces at a time, making sure that I did not move side ways. This was taken on a river near Seti Iluana in the interior of Seram.
Dawn along the coast.
Papua New Guinea, Flower Bud, Red & Yellow, 1983 - I saw this flowering bud between Tekap and the village of Wava.
UK, Birmingham, Birmingham Girls, 2009 - I was just leaving Birmingham at night, taking a photograph of a downtown monument, when four beautiful Birmingham girls said, "Will you take our photo!" I was delighted. My camera settings were all wrong, however, so I asked them for another. (Their one friend had already started walking, unfortunately, so she was not in this photograph. She is in the other one.) Their enthusiasm was contagious!! I gave them my website address, and they wrote back to me as "The Birmingham Girls", hence the name of the photograph.
Ambon, Back Of The Becak, 2007 - In Ambon and all over Indonesia and other parts of Asia, the becak (pronounced be-chak) is used as a means of transportation. It is a three wheel bicycle, driven from behind. In Indonesia's many cities, one can find countless becak drivers waiting for a fare. Tourists are likely to be asked to pay as much as a taxi.