Cecilia Vanman
Cecilia Vanman worked as a footwear designer in the fashion business, when she took up scuba diving and freediving as hobbies. These interests and her love for the sea grew into such major fascination, that she decided to study marine biology, eventually graduating with a MSc Distinction in Marine Mammal Science in 2005.
Today as an Expedition Leader and Marine Mammal Biologist, Cecilia Vanman has planned, led and participated in expeditions and scientific projects in the Arctic and Antarctic, the Indian Ocean, the Black Sea, Scandinavian waters, the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. She has circumnavigated the British Isles, Spitzbergen and Iceland and has led three expeditions through the Northwest Passage.
Cecilia has also created the logistical frame work for film productions as an expedition leader for the likes of Disney Nature, Leonardo di Caprio and National Geographic Society. One of her greatest passions is science communication and bringing stories home from her expeditions in remote places to wider audiences through public talks. Cecilia is also a freelance photojournalist and her coverage includes reportage work with the Danish Navy Seals, the Danish Helicopter Rescue Service, the Danish elite unit Sirius Sledge Patrol in NE Greenland as well as articles on sustainable living, freediving, scuba-diving and natural history filmmaking.
Cecilia was invited to join Women Adventurers Club, Denmark in 2011 and 2015, she became the first Danish woman to be appointed Fellow of The Explorers Club
3 words to describe Nature?
Powerful. Healing. In trouble
3 things Nature taught you?
Curiousness
Patience
Interconnection
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Island of Langeland in Denmark
Disko Island in Greenland
South Georgia in the Southern Ocean
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Free and humble
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Calm
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
If a busy volcano: like I should enjoy its’ beauty, but have a plan for a quick exit
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Grateful
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Electrified and alive. But depending on the situation in the field, perhaps quite vulnerable.
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Thrilled in the beginning and I love the power of it all. After days of howling winds during field work, however, I can become almost overcome with a sense of restlessness. It can also add to cabin fever, which is good for no one in a remote camp. At sea, howling winds mean stormy conditions, which are never desirable.
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
I am an ‘Ocean-person’ through and through and while I enjoy being there and traveling through them, I could never live in a landlocked country. The Ocean represents freedom and independence to me. More than any nature scape it puts me in my place as a human.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10 and beyond.
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
Taking the family rowing boat, piling it high with cushions, blankets, my favorite book at the time and an anchor to go to a spot to read; there to be gently rocked by the sea and watching the soaring birds above in between. This escape to nature meant the world to me at a time when things could be difficult at school. Looking back it also set me on a path…
Felicity Aston
Felicity Aston is the first and only woman in the world to ski across Antarctica alone. The 1,744km, 59-day journey completed in January 2012 also made her the first person in the world to traverse the continent purely by muscle power without the aid of kites or machines. In 2015 she was awarded the Queen’s Polar Medal for services in Antarctica and was appointed MBE for services to Polar Exploration.
In 2009 she led the 38-day, 911km Kaspersky Lab Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition, the largest and most international women’s team ever to ski to the South Pole. The team included women from Brunei Darussalam, Cyprus, Ghana, India, Jamaica, Singapore, New Zealand. Felicity was responsible for selecting and training this diverse, multicultural team of novice adventurers for one of the most arduous journeys on Earth. Her book about the expedition, ‘Call of the White: Taking the World to the South Pole’ was published in March 2011 and was a finalist in the Banff Mountain Book Competition. She has written two further books, ‘Alone in Antarctica’ (with a foreword by Joanne Lumley) and ‘Chasing Winter: A journey to the Pole of Cold’.
Previously, Felicity has led several other notable expeditions including the first British women’s crossing of Greenland, a 700km winter crossing of Lake Baikal in a Siberian winter and an adventurous expedition in Iceland for young people with a brain injury. She was also part of the first, ever, all-female team to complete the Polar Challenge, a 500km endurance race to the magnetic north pole, and has completed the notorious Marathon Des Sables, a 150-mile foot race across the Sahara. More recently, Felicity led a 35,000km expedition in a Land Rover Defender to the Pole of Cold (the coldest inhabited place in the world) in the far northeast of Siberia. Felicity has been elected Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) in London and is a Fellow of The Explorers Club in New York.
Trained as a Physicist and Meteorologist, Felicity’s first polar experience was as a scientist with the British Antarctic Survey. Based for three years on a remote research station on the Antarctic Peninsula, her job was to monitor climate and ozone. In 2013 she co-presented a two-part series for BBC Science exploring atmospheric physics and cloud science called, ‘Operation Cloud Lab: Secrets of the Skies’ and in 2016 she co-presented a three-part series for BBC History called ‘Operation Gold Rush’ retracing the route of the 1898 Klondike stampede across the Yukon.
3 words to describe Nature?
Space. Joy. Relentless
3 things Nature taught you?
Resilience
Perspective
Humility
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Kentish Coast, UK
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel…?,
Restless
When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?
Protected
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?
Small
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Lucky/grateful
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel…?
Nostalgic
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Intrepid
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
I'm a snow and ice person...be that on the ocean, in the mountains, within a forest or as a desert
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
My childhood home backed onto woodland. When it snowed - a rare event in southern England - the woodland was transformed into a new and magical place. It was so exciting and even though I knew every inch of the woods I would rush to explore this 'new' environment. I was always very conscious it was temporary, that I had to rush to see everything before it all disappeared.