Peter Pickford - To the Edges of the Earth: A Journey into Wild Land

TO THE EDGES OF THE EARTH

A JOURNEY INTO WILD LAND

PETER PICKFORD

Text: Peter Pickford, 2020

Photographs: Peter and Beverly Pickford, 2020

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission from the copyright holder.

ISBN : 978-1-928257-84-4

e- ISBN : 978-1-928257-85-1

Published by Bookstorm (Pty) Ltd

PO Box 4532

Northcliff 2115

Johannesburg

South Africa

www.bookstorm.co.za

The quote on from Amsterdam by Ian McEwan, published by Vintage. Reproduced by permission of The Random House Group Ltd.

Edited by Beverly Pickford, Alfred LeMaitre and Sean Fraser

Proofread by Wesley Thompson

Cover design by publicide

Front cover image, Kaokoland Desert, Namibia

Book design and typesetting by Triple M Design

Maps by Justin J Fox

Ebook by Liquid Type Publishing Services

F OR B EVERLY

My North Star

T HE C OMPANION P HOTOGRAPHIC B OOK

Wild Land

Southern African edition

World edition

AVAILABLE IN ALL GOOD BOOKSTORES AND ONLINE

Soon human meaning would be bleached from the rocks, the landscape would assume its beauty and draw him in; the unimaginable age of the mountains and the fine mesh of living things that lay across them would remind him that he was part of this order and insignificant within it, and he would be set free.

I AN M C E WAN , 1999

Contents

Introduction

This book does not begin at the beginning. Not because the beginning is not worth writing about quite the contrary, it was extraordinary but simply because I had no plans to write a book. Now, when I look back, my memory is patchy and often indistinct. I can tell you that our ship ran aground in the caldera of an old volcano in Antarctica. I remember that well.

Passengers were not permitted on the bridge of the ship during technical or difficult operating conditions. The captain was directing the officers towards a waypoint where they had anchored previously in the Deception Island caldera. I was standing outside on the flybridge. The ship was edging forward at dead slow. The depth-sounder alarm started beeping.

Six metres of water, Captain, said Cheli Larsen, our expedition leader.

The ship continued, slow ahead. The depth-sounder alarm does not get louder as the water gets shallower; it just continues to beep.

Four metres of water, Captain. Chelis voice, unlike the depth sounder, had risen a notch. The ship continued, slow ahead.