Wanderland: on a Vision Quest with Nature Writer Jini Reddy
05/01/20 • 42 min
1 Listener
Alone on a mountain top in the Pyrenees, in the pitch black of night, without another soul around, a woman hears a voice echoing out of the darkness. It was an experience she couldn't understand or explain. It terrified her. But it also changed her life.
Follow nature writer Jini Reddy on a Vision Quest, a lone wilderness vigil on a remote mountain in the Pyrenees for five days without food, phone, or connection with the outside world of any kind. Hear how that experience changed her, and led to a new understanding of nature and her place in it.
After she returned to civilisation, that voice, that mystery, inspired her to begin another kind of quest. She called it Wanderland: a search for the magical in the landscape of her home, Great Britain. We follow in her footsteps, to treasure maps and lost springs, sacred Scottish isles and hidden temples in the land. Through it all, we begin to see another hidden side of nature, more akin to our indigenous ancestors' views than our modern selves. We begin to see beyond the ordinary, into the deep wonder and magic of the wilderness itself. In Wanderland, all things are possible.
Highlights include:
- Learn what feels like to go on a modern day Vision Quest, a five-day lone wilderness vigil, just as indigenous tribes around the world have done for Millenia
- Hear the unsettling, and otherworldly story, of the Voice from the darkness that changed Jini's life
- Follow a treasure map to go skinny dipping in a lost spring
- Discover a hidden land temple on the Scottish island of Iona, one of the most sacred places in Great Britain
- Hear the story of 'Wanderland' - Jini's critically acclaimed book about her journey in search for the magical in the landscapes of Great Britain
- Find out about indigenous perspectives on nature and be inspired to connect more deeply with the world around you
- Get Jini's top tips on how you can begin your own Wanderland, your own journey to find the mystical in the modern world
Wanderland
Get 30% off with the code: WANDERLAND30
“What a wonderful book Wanderland is! A witty, gentle, original and very modern quest for the magical (not the mythical) in Britain's landscape, which both made me laugh and moved me.” – Robert Macfarlane
Jini Reddy
Jini has been an award-winning journalist, travel writer and nature writer for many years. Her byline has appeared in The Guardian, TIME magazine, National Geographic Traveller, Geographical, Psychologies, Resurgence and the Ecologist and countless other publications, both print and online.Recently, she was named one of National Geographic’s Women of Impact. You can read the interview here
Follow Jini: Twitter: @Jini_Reddy (https://twitter.com/Jini_Reddy) / Instagram: @JiniReddy20 (https://www.instagram.com/jinireddy20/)
Composer
Original soundtrack composed by Alastair Nisbet. https://www.facebook.com/allynisbet
Armchair Explorer
Follow the show on social media: Facebook: @ArmchairExplorerPodcast (https://www.facebook.com/ArmchairExplorerPodcast)/ Instagram: @AaronMWriter (https://www.instagram.com/aaronmwriter/)
For eco-tourism adventure ideas related to the show, please visit the individual episode pages at: https://www.armchair-explorer.com
Host Aaron Millar is a multi-award-winning travel writer, journalist and author. He contributes regularly to The Times of London, National Geographic Traveller (UK), and many other national and international publications.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Alone on a mountain top in the Pyrenees, in the pitch black of night, without another soul around, a woman hears a voice echoing out of the darkness. It was an experience she couldn't understand or explain. It terrified her. But it also changed her life.
Follow nature writer Jini Reddy on a Vision Quest, a lone wilderness vigil on a remote mountain in the Pyrenees for five days without food, phone, or connection with the outside world of any kind. Hear how that experience changed her, and led to a new understanding of nature and her place in it.
After she returned to civilisation, that voice, that mystery, inspired her to begin another kind of quest. She called it Wanderland: a search for the magical in the landscape of her home, Great Britain. We follow in her footsteps, to treasure maps and lost springs, sacred Scottish isles and hidden temples in the land. Through it all, we begin to see another hidden side of nature, more akin to our indigenous ancestors' views than our modern selves. We begin to see beyond the ordinary, into the deep wonder and magic of the wilderness itself. In Wanderland, all things are possible.
Highlights include:
- Learn what feels like to go on a modern day Vision Quest, a five-day lone wilderness vigil, just as indigenous tribes around the world have done for Millenia
- Hear the unsettling, and otherworldly story, of the Voice from the darkness that changed Jini's life
- Follow a treasure map to go skinny dipping in a lost spring
- Discover a hidden land temple on the Scottish island of Iona, one of the most sacred places in Great Britain
- Hear the story of 'Wanderland' - Jini's critically acclaimed book about her journey in search for the magical in the landscapes of Great Britain
- Find out about indigenous perspectives on nature and be inspired to connect more deeply with the world around you
- Get Jini's top tips on how you can begin your own Wanderland, your own journey to find the mystical in the modern world
Wanderland
Get 30% off with the code: WANDERLAND30
“What a wonderful book Wanderland is! A witty, gentle, original and very modern quest for the magical (not the mythical) in Britain's landscape, which both made me laugh and moved me.” – Robert Macfarlane
Jini Reddy
Jini has been an award-winning journalist, travel writer and nature writer for many years. Her byline has appeared in The Guardian, TIME magazine, National Geographic Traveller, Geographical, Psychologies, Resurgence and the Ecologist and countless other publications, both print and online.Recently, she was named one of National Geographic’s Women of Impact. You can read the interview here
Follow Jini: Twitter: @Jini_Reddy (https://twitter.com/Jini_Reddy) / Instagram: @JiniReddy20 (https://www.instagram.com/jinireddy20/)
Composer
Original soundtrack composed by Alastair Nisbet. https://www.facebook.com/allynisbet
Armchair Explorer
Follow the show on social media: Facebook: @ArmchairExplorerPodcast (https://www.facebook.com/ArmchairExplorerPodcast)/ Instagram: @AaronMWriter (https://www.instagram.com/aaronmwriter/)
For eco-tourism adventure ideas related to the show, please visit the individual episode pages at: https://www.armchair-explorer.com
Host Aaron Millar is a multi-award-winning travel writer, journalist and author. He contributes regularly to The Times of London, National Geographic Traveller (UK), and many other national and international publications.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Previous Episode
In the Footsteps of the Anwals through the Indian Himalayas with Travel Writer Juliet Rix
The Anwals are the last remaining migrating shepherds of the Indian Himalayas. Each spring, they take their flocks from the heat of the valleys to graze among the high alpine pastures of the Himalayas. They won’t return until Autumn. It is a way of life that has remained unchanged for generations. Follow in their footsteps on this incredible journey, hiking village to village, and staying in small community owned guesthouses along the way. This is some of the most dramatic and breath-taking hiking on the planet. But it’s more than that too. The Anwals traditional way of life is under threat. As the modern world encroaches ever further upon these villages, young people are forced to leave their rural homes and find work in the city, often in brutal conditions, for little pay. By following the annual migration of the Anwals, and staying in their villages, we provide economic empowerment to their community and a future for the next generation. This is a story about going beyond the end of the road, beyond the grip of the modern world. It’s a story about exploring one of the most remote, and staggeringly beautiful, places on Earth. And it’s a story about hope. In the footsteps of the Anwals, we discover peace and serenity and, perhaps, something about our own path too.
Highlights include:
Walking with the Anwals on their annual migration
Meeting lead Anwals, camping with them, hearing their stories
Staying overnight in small rural villages, discovering their unique culture that has remained unchanged for generations
Exploring one of the most remote, and untouched, places on Earth
Learning about the plight of the Anwals, and the uplifting story of how that’s changing
Reflecting upon the Anwal's simple existence, and how it can inspire positive change in our own values and way of life
Taking us on this adventure is award-wining travel writer, journalist, broadcaster and author Juliet Rix. Follow her on twitter at: https://twitter.com/julietrix1
As well as a number of guide books, which are beautifully written and informative, Juliet also has a children’s book, ‘Travels with my Granny’, which explores issues surrounding dementia through the adventures a young girl has with her grandmother: https://www.amazon.com/Travels-My-Granny-Juliet-Rix/dp/1910959340
BOOK THIS TRIP:
This trip is run by award-winning sustainable tourism operator, Village Ways. To find out more about them, and book this trip for yourself, please visit: www.Village-Ways.com
For other eco-tourism adventure ideas related to the show, please visit the individual episode pages at: http://www.Armchair-Explorer.com
The Armchair Explorer podcast is adventure storytelling set to music and cinematic effects. Each episode one of the world's greatest adventurers tell their best story from the road. No long-winded interviews, just straight to heart of the action.
Host Aaron Millar is a multi-award-winning travel writer, journalist and author. He contributes regularly to The Times of London, National Geographic Traveller (UK), and many other national and international publications. He has presented travel documentaries for National Geographic TV, written two books for London publisher Icon - 50 Greatest Wonders of the World & 50 Greatest National Parks of the World - and is the 2014 and 2017 British Guild of Travel Writers Travel Writer of the Year, the IPW Best Destination Writer 2017 and Visit USA’s Best National Newspaper Writer 2014, 2016 & 2017. Aaron
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Next Episode
Kings of the Yukon: A 2,000-mile Alaskan River Paddle with Best-Selling Author Adam Weymouth
Join best-selling author Adam Weymouth on a 2,000-mile canoe journey down the Yukon River, from its source in Northern Canada, through Alaska, to the Bering Sea. It's one of the wildest and most pristine places on Earth filled with Moose, Bald Eagles and Grizzly Bears. But this is more than just an epic paddle. The Kings of the Yukon are the King Salmon, the Chinooks, who swim up the river every year in their tens of thousands to spawn at the place of their birth. It's one of the most remarkable migrations in the animal kingdom, and it's also one of the most important because the people that live by the river, mostly First Nations people, depend on that salmon run to survive. But it is now under threat. By tracing their journey, Adam tells the story of the salmon, but he also tells the story of the lives of people whose fate is intertwined with them. This is a beautiful adventure, but it's also an important and inspiring meditation on what it is to live, and survive, in one of the most remote places on Earth.
HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE
Discovering one of the most remote, pristine and beautiful places on Earth
Learning about the lives of the First Nations people that live by the river, their culture, history and way of life
Finding out about the migration of the King Salmon, one of the most remarkable journeys in the animal kingdom
Feeling what it's like to paddle 2,000-miles through one of the most remote places on Earth, camping on river side beaches along the way
Meeting Andy Bassich, reality TV star from Life Below Zero who lives on the Yukon River, and other off-grid characters Adam passes along the way
Hearing about the Gold Rush History of the Yukon from an indigenous perspective
Learning about the First Nations protest against the fishing ban, why it matters and it's relationship to Gandhi's famous Salt March of the early 20th century
Being inspired by a First Nations view of fishing, hunting and the interconnectedness of the natural world
Finding hope and optimism, for the King Salmon, and the people whose lives depend on them
WHO'S THE GUEST?
Adam Weymouth is the Sunday Times' Best Young Writer of 2018. An environmental journalist, his work has been published in the Guardian, The Atlantic, the New Internationalist and by the BBC, with his primary focus being the relationship between humans and the natural world. www.AdamWeymouth.com / @adamweymouth
His book, Kings of the Yukon: an Alaskan River Journey, is out now.
BOOK THIS TRIP
Please visit the individual episode pages of the Armchair Explorer website to find out how you can do this journey, and others inspired by it: www.Armchair-Explorer.com
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Armchair Explorer podcast is adventure storytelling set to music and cinematic effects. Each episode one of the world's greatest adventurers tell their best story from the road. No long-winded interviews, just straight to heart of the action.
Host Aaron Millar is a multi-award-winning travel writer, journalist and author. He contributes regularly to The Times of London, National Geographic Traveller (UK), and many other national and international publications. He has presented travel documentaries for National Geographic TV, written two books for London publisher Icon - 50 Greatest Wonders of the World & 50 Greatest National Parks of the World - and is the 2014 and 2017 British Guild of Travel Writers Travel Writer of the Year. Aaron grew up in Brighton, England but is currently hiding out in the Rocky Mountains of Louisville, Colorado. @AaronMWriter https://www.instagram.com/aaronmwriter/ https://twitter.com/AaronMWriter Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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