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March 2026 – Volume Thirty-Two, Number Three
Celebrating our 32th year!
EXPEDITION NEWS, founded in 1994, is the monthly review of significant expeditions, research projects, and newsworthy adventures. It is distributed online to media representatives, corporate sponsors, educators, research librarians, explorers, environmentalists, and outdoor enthusiasts. This forum on exploration covers projects that stimulate, motivate, and educate.
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EXPLORING THE WILD, UNDOCUMENTED
CORRIDOR OF THE DARIÉN GAP
Following a successful reconnaissance of the infamous Darién Gap in fall 2025, Hungarian-Austrian geoscientist Christian Wohlmutter, from Mosonmagyarovar, Hungary, and American expedition filmmaker Jack Fisher, based in Boulder, will attempt a full crossing of a remote, underexplored and largely unmapped corridor of the infamous Darién Gap between Panama and Colombia in spring 2026, pending permitting. Their focus is further inland and away from typical migration routes closer to the Atlantic.
The Darién Gap, the only break in the Pan-American Highway, has long stood as one of the most formidable geographic obstacles in the Western Hemisphere. A swath of swamp, jungle, river, and mountains, it is a region defined by the lack of roads and extreme risk.
It is also a geopolitical flashpoint – known for migration routes, smuggling corridors, and the presence of armed groups. For decades, it has carried a reputation as impenetrable.
One of Fisher’s exploration mentors, British explorer Colonel John Blashford-Snell (1936-), led the first vehicle expedition across the Darién in 1972, cementing the region’s place in expedition lore.
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Now, more than fifty years later, Wohlmutter, 37, and Fisher, 35, will attempt a different kind of crossing – traveling by motorized canoe and on foot – to link the southern terminus of the highway’s northern section with the northern terminus of its southern section.
If successful, it will mark the first documented crossing of this corridor of the Gap.
The team will collect geospatial data to fill a critical void in existing cartography. While satellite imagery provides a broad view, dense canopy and shifting waterways obscure essential details.
On-the-ground geodata will allow cartographers to refine and complete mapping datasets for one of the least understood regions in the Americas.
Equally important, the expedition will gather oral histories from residents and village elders in isolated communities along the route. During their earlier reconnaissance of the region in 2025, Wohlmutter and Fisher reached one village that had not received outside visitors since 1995 – “a powerful reminder that exploration is as much about listening as it is about crossing,” says Fisher.
The journey will be documented in real time, blending scientific fieldwork, human stories, and expedition filmmaking into a rare look inside one of the world’s last great roadless frontiers.
Learn more and watch the video:
jackrfisher.com/dariengap2026
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Kenchreai, the port of the great city of Corinth on the Aegean Sea, in the Peloponnese region of Greece, located about 50 miles west of Athens.
(Rendering courtesy of Vanderbilt University).
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GREEK EXPEDITION SEEKS SPONSOR PARTICIPANTS
Kenchreai (or Cenchreae) was a vital Roman-era port of Corinth, located on the eastern side of the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece, serving as a gateway for trade across the Aegean. Kenchreai flourished as a port where Greeks, Romans, and eastern immigrants lived together in prosperity.
Renowned for its bustling commerce and role in early Christianity, the sunken, partially submerged ruins of this ancient city can still be explored near the modern town of Kechries.
| | Dr. Dan Davis (foreground) and Dr. Art Trembanis. | | |
And that’s what Dr. Dan Davis of Luther College, and the University of Delaware’s Dr. Art Trembanis plan this spring. The $100,000 project brings together archaeologists, oceanographers, engineers, and students to map and study the coastal and submerged heritage of this once-bustling Roman port.
Their team, aided by archaeological students, will deploy autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), diver teams, and high-resolution mapping systems to study the submerged harbor and coastal infrastructure of the ancient port.
| | Image of the Kenchreai site taken in June 2025. (Photo: Art Trembanis) | | |
Sponsor participants can join for a rare, hands-on window into a working expedition – from observing AUV operations and dive missions to engaging directly with the interdisciplinary science team in the field.
“It’s immersive, operational, and deeply connected to the story of ancient maritime trade and modern exploration technology,” says Trembanis.
For more information about how to join the team as a sponsor participant in this technology-enabled coastal and maritime expedition contact:
art@udel.edu, 508 221 2643, https://sites.udel.edu/ceoe-art/
See drone footage of the site taken in June 2025:
https://youtu.be/NiAKN7ruBkw?feature=shared
EXPEDITION UPDATE
| | Glacier Girl, a Lockheed P-38 Lightning World War II fighter plane, photographed in 1992 with a Leica R4 using Kodak Ektachrome, after it was excavated from 268 feet beneath the Greenland ice sheet where it lay buried for over 50 years. (Photo: Luciano Sapienza). | | |
“Lost Squadron” P-38 Warbird Still Flying
One of WWIIʼs most fearsome warbirds, the twin-boom P-38 Lightning lay buried under Arctic ice for 50 years, and eluded recovery attempts by more than a dozen expeditions. The only rescued survivor of an entire squadron of P-38s and B-17s attempting a crossing over Greenland in 1942, Glacier Girl was finally pulled piece by piece from beneath 268 feet of ice in 1992. (See EN 2007).
The aircraft was eventually transported to Middlesboro, Kentucky, where it was restored to flying condition. It now appears in air shows as part of the Lewis Air Legends Collection.
Photographer Luciano Sapienza of Rockport, Maine, traveled to Greenland in June 1992 to document the excavation. He posts, “Nothing was safe. The glacier moved, moaned, and shifted around us with deafening thunderous cracks as if some gargantuan ice cube.
“We were on our guard. Displaced engine oil and hydraulic fluid coated every surface. Chemical vapors stressed our breathing. The glacier cracked and shifted around us. Earlier that week, a six-foot block of ice weighing several tons fell from the ceiling exactly where I had placed my tripod for this image (above).”
| | The restored Glacier Girl currently appears in air shows. (Photo: Lewis Air Legends) | |
The restoration team had used around 80 percent of the plane’s original parts over a period of 10 years to bring the aircraft back to factory condition.
Sapienza’s nonprofit Fallen American Veterans Foundation, Inc. is now moving into Phase I – updating its ice-dynamics model and finalizing survey planning to verify the depths and positions of two WWII aircraft in southeast Greenland, carrying eight MIAs: a Douglas C-53 Skytrooper with five aboard, estimated at approximately 350 feet deep within the Greenland ice sheet, and a Grumman J2F-4 Duck amphibious biplane with three MIAs, approximately 30 feet below the surface.
For more information: www.lousapienza.com,
https://www.lewisairlegends.com/air-legends-foundation/p-38f-lightning-glacier-girl
| | The Johnnie Walker Explorers’ Club Royal Route. If you have one, hold onto your liquor. | | |
Hold Your Liquor
The Johnnie Walker Explorers' Club Collection was a series of travel-retail exclusive whiskies launched by Diageo starting in late 2012, which led to a major legal dispute with the real-life Explorers Club, eventually settling into a collaborative partnership. (See EN, 2014).
Now it’s one of the so-called rare “Lost Labels” of Johnnie Walker, according to The Whisk(e) Wash (Jan. 29, 2026).
The Explorers’ Club Collection was an ambitious travel-retail series launched in 2012. It featured three expressions: The Spice Road, The Gold Route, and The Royal Route. Each was inspired by historic trade paths and regional flavors.
The value of a one-liter bottle and case is a cool $499.99 on Frootbat.com.
Read more:
https://thewhiskeywash.com/whiskey-articles/the-lost-labels-of-johnnie-walker-discontinued-expressions-you-cant-buy-anymore/
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QUOTE OF THE MONTH
"The difficult is what takes a little time; the impossible is what takes a little longer."
– Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930), a Norwegian polar explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian, and Nobel laureate. While we’re at it, he is also quoted as saying:
"Never stop because you are afraid – you are never so likely to be wrong."
EXPEDITION FOCUS
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Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is employed to locate hidden voids
around the Giza plateau in Cairo, Egypt.
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Ground Penetrating Radar Unlocks
Secrets Inaccessible to Explorers
At the frontier of exploration and engineering, some discoveries begin not with excavation, but with ground penetrating radar (GPR) designed for spaces humans dare enter.
Geophysicist and science educator Jan Francke, Ph.D., of Groundradar, Inc., based in Vancouver, has more than three decades of field experience spanning 109 countries and is leading the development of custom GPR systems built for some of the most physically constrained environments on Earth.
| | Dr. Francke peels back layers of the earth to discover secrets lying far underground. | | |
This month, Dr. Francke and his team will use a purpose-built ground penetrating radar system capable of operating within the Great Pyramid of Giza’s King’s North Shaft – a narrow, circuitous tunnel only a few inches in diameter that leads from the King's Chamber toward the exterior.
Francke’s flexible radar platform weighs less than one pound and is designed in a snake-like configuration to navigate bends while preserving antenna geometry and signal fidelity as it is dragged along the surface.
Engineered to image outward from within the shaft to distances of 60 feet, the system represents a new class of ultra-light, confined-space radar technology. Initial testing has produced reflections consistent with multiple voids behind the north wall of the King’s Chamber, according to Francke.
“While further validation is required, these early results are sufficiently compelling to warrant continued investigation,” Francke tells EN.
Parallel GPR research is underway at the Pyramid of Kukulkan in Chichén Itzá, on the Yucatán Peninsula in southeastern Mexico, where previous surveys have revealed unknown sinkholes and a potential access point into what has long been hypothesized as a cenote beneath the pyramid.
These findings may enable precise targeting for future boroscopic (an optical tool used to inspect tight, unreachable spaces) exploration, integrating noninvasive geophysics with minimally intrusive imaging technologies.
Also this year, Francke’s team will launch a multidisciplinary expedition to Robinson Crusoe, a volcanic island off the coast of Chile. There, integrated radar, lidar and thermal camera surveys will be used to map a suspected cave entrance along steep cliffs – an anomaly that has remained controversial since being featured in a History Channel documentary in 2012.
A multi-sensor approach will determine whether a sealed tunnel exists within the rock face.
“This is some interesting science in a rather unusual part of the planet,” he says.
“Across these expeditions, the unifying theme is the advancement of adaptive, custom-built subsurface imaging systems designed to operate where conventional tools cannot – extending the reach of exploration into the most restricted and challenging environments imaginable.”
For more information:
Dr. Jan Francke, jfrancke@groundradar.com
www.groundradar.com, https://www.linkedin.com/in/jan-francke-gpr/
Watch his 9-min. YouTube video, GPR Secrets: 35 Years Underground here:
https://tinyurl.com/FranckeGPR
EXPEDITION FUNDING
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RGS Offers Free Searchable Sponsorship Directory
Often overlooked in the search for a sponsor is the Royal Geographical Society’s free directory of grant-giving organizations. Searching for funding? It can often be more daunting than the trip itself.
Match your expedition or field project to potential funding sources by searching by theme, amount, and eligibility. It includes the Rolex Awards for Enterprise and the Rolex Explorers Club Grant, and many other potential funders. There’s also a searchable directory of expedition opportunities.
Who knows? sometimes you only need one sponsor, so give it a go.
Learn more:
https://www.rgs.org/in-the-field/advice-and-training/plan-an-expedition/other-funding-sources
The nonprofit RGS is a membership organization based in London, and the UK's learned society and professional body for geography.
| | (Photo: AAC member Seth Anderson) | | |
Dream Big: Apply Now for AAC Spring Grants
The American Alpine Club’s (AAC) grants program awarded over $87,000 to 81 recipients in 2025 and is designed to support its members in their climbing pursuits – follow their climbing dreams, conduct research supporting climbing landscapes, and conserve crags. Interested? The time has come to apply for these and other 2026 grants available from the 124-year-old nonprofit:
Catalyst Grant ($250 - $2,000) – Funds historically underrepresented communities.
Live Your Dream Grant ($200 - $1,000) – Supports everyday adventurers looking to take their abilities to the next level.
Momentum Grant (new) ($1,000 - $4,000) – Named in honor of late Texan climber Austin Mallet, it supports the projects of passionate climbers seeking to elevate their skills in big mountain environments.
Research Grant ($500 - $1,500) – Projects that enrich understanding of the ecosystems and landscapes that are a part of the climbing experience and improve the health and sustainability of the climbing community.
Which grant is right for your project? View these and other AAC grants at:
https://americanalpineclub.org/grants
Application deadline is April 30, 2026
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Patagonia Retailers Offer In-Kind Donations
In the book Get Sponsored (Skyhorse, 2014), we write that explorers, adventurers and nonprofits shouldn’t spend six months begging corporations for a pair of socks. Yet sometimes in-kind donations can help defray costs that could otherwise be used to cover hard costs.
Patagonia’s Retail Product Donation program supports nonprofit organizations and charities engaged in action-oriented work to save our home planet, or groups who are working to support their communities and/or their community members.
A typical product donation consists of a few items to help groups advance fundraising efforts or leverage engagement. Patagonia retail locations can also provide gently used inventory to support an organization's volunteers or their staff. Donations are dependent upon inventory availability.
Learn more:
https://patagonia.formstack.com/forms/retail_product_donation_request
BUZZ WORDS
| | Earthwise, considered by former NASA astronaut Ron Garan as “the most influential photo ever taken.” As a public speaker he focuses on the “orbital perspective” – “planetary consciousness is the new reality,” he believes. (Photo: Astronaut William Anders on December 24, 1968, during the Apollo 8 mission.) | | |
Dolly Zoom
A term championed by former NASA astronaut, serial entrepreneur, humanitarian, and highly decorated combat fighter pilot Ron Garan during a Feb. 11, 2026, Explorers Club talk in Boulder.
The term, also known as the Vertigo effect or the Hitchcock zoom, is a cinematic technique that moves the camera forward and backward while simultaneously zooming the lens in the opposite direction for a surreal visual effect one can see in such classics as Vertigo (1958) and Jaws (1975).
Garan says looking down upon the “fragile oasis of our home planet,” one cannot see borders from space. He advocates for mankind to live a dolly zoom life, not fixated on the short term. He calls upon companies to commit to an “orbital perspective” – finding sustainable solutions that will have a positive impact on their bottom line, our society, and our planet.
For more information: RonGaran.com
Watch Garan’s video explaining why mankind needs to become a planetary society:
https://tinyurl.com/GaranDollyZoom
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Nurdles
Tiny (usually 2-5mm), lentil-shaped pre-production plastic pellets that serve as the raw material for manufacturing almost all plastic products. As a primary microplastic, they are transported in bulk, and massive quantities are lost to the environment, causing significant pollution in oceans and beaches. (Source: fauna-flora.org)
ON THE HORIZON
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Humans to Titan Summit 2026, June 11-12, 2026, Boulder
The Humans to Titan Summit is planned for June 11-12, 2026, at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder. The conference will bring science, robotic and human exploration communities together to explore the concept of Saturn’s Titan moon as the next human exploration destination after Mars, how it could be done, and what we would need to do now.
Titan is the largest of the seven moons of Saturn and the second largest in the Solar System. It is the only moon known to have a dense atmosphere – denser than Earth's – and is the only known object in the Solar System besides Earth with clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid.
For more information:
https://exploretitan.org/humans-to-titan-summit-1
EXPEDITION CLASSIFIEDS
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See a Total Eclipse Sometime in Your Life.
How About From Gibraltar in 2027?
Douglas Duncan, Ph.D., a professional astronomer who was on the staff of the Hubble Space Telescope and is a science educator who has run eclipse tours for universities such as Arizona, Colorado, Michigan State, Caltech, and many others, is accepting reservations for an August 2027 eclipse tour to Gibraltar.
On Monday, August 2, 2027, the path of totality will sweep across the tip of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, causing the longest solar eclipse for decades lasting approximately six minutes in Gibraltar. Cost is $3,695 per person double occupancy plus airfare. Tell them you saw it in Expedition News.
For more information:
https://tinyurl.com/Duncaneclipse2027
| | Travel With Purpose, A Field Guide to Voluntourism (Rowman & Littlefield) by Jeff Blumenfeld – People are traveling in record numbers and many include voluntourists. Be ready to lend a hand wherever you go. How to travel and make a difference while you see the world? Read excerpts and “Look Inside” at: tinyurl.com/voluntourismbook | | |
Get Sponsored! – Need money for your next project? Read about proven techniques that will help you find both cash and in-kind sponsors. If the trip is bigger than you, and is designed to help others, well, that’s half the game right there. Read Jeff Blumenfeld’s Get Sponsored: A Funding Guide for Explorers, Adventurers and Would Be World Travelers.(Skyhorse Publishing).
Buy it here:
http://www.amazon.com/Get-Sponsored-Explorers-Adventurers-Travelers-ebook/dp/B00H12FLH2
Advertise in Expedition News – For more information: blumassoc@aol.com
EXPEDITION NEWS is published by Blumenfeld and Associates, LLC, 290 Laramie Blvd., Boulder, CO 80304 USA. Tel. 203 326 1200, editor@expeditionnews.com. Editor/publisher: Jeff Blumenfeld. Research editor: Lee Kovel. ©2026 Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN: 1526-8977. Subscriptions: US$36/yr. available by e-mail only. Credit card payments accepted through www.paypal.com. Read EXPEDITION NEWS at www.expeditionnews.com.
Research past issues of Expedition News dating back to May 1995 courtesy of the Utah State University Outdoor Recreation Archive. Access is free at: https://tinyurl.com/ENArchivesUSU
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