29 Jan 2011 – Meeting, Basel, Switzerland

When: Saturday, January 29 . 11:00am – 5:00pm. Meeting point from 11.00 to 11.30am.
Where: Meeting point in Basel Train station, Hall (Eingangshalle)
Location: Basel

Basel SBB Train station, Saturday 29th of January, 11am. More and more youngsters gather around a colorful poster saying “YEP MEETING”. It started with a great surprise: We were 21 YEP’s – a lot more than we had expected! We went to a café where the “old” Young Explorers among us (who took part in the Malaysia, Himalaya or Mongolia Expedition) shared their thrilling experiences , what already became a tradition at our YEP Meetings. So we gained insider impressions from past expeditions and enjoyed Ann-Kathrin’s fabulous cake (it even had a world map on it!). As we got to know each other better, we realized that we all had different stories about how each of us got involved in the Young Explorer Program.

Our conclusion: “All roads lead to Pangaea” ☺
Now the active part of the meeting started. We turned the Mike Horn slogan around a bit and instead of explore – learn – act we learned, acted and explored ☺ .

LEARN: The first highlight of the day was an exhibition called “2° – Weather, Humans and their Climate” (http://www.2grad.ch/). We were welcomed by a stuffed polar bear, the tallest meat-eating mammal on land! This was particularly funny for Christopher and Luana (see picture) who might be going to the North Pole with Mike Horn soon and meet one in reality!

We had a guided tour through the exhibition and learned a lot: There was a two-meter piece of stairs for example. How come this is part of the exhibit? Our guide explained that the Aletsch-glacier is retreating so fast that each year one piece of stairs must be added so mountaineers are able to reach Concordia, the alpine hut on top of the glacier. Since 1990, its thickness decreased one meter per year, so the stairs have to close the gap to the ice! Moreover, we could examine different measuring gear, including a barometer which worked with blonde horse hair. In the last room we discovered one cubic meter of wooden blocks. They represented the amount of CO2 emitted per passenger on a flight from Basel to London. We assure you, that was impressive!

ACT: We headed back to the city to do the classical YEP Meeting promotion tour. Our goal was to further spread the Pangaea message, talk to young people about the project and distribute flyers.
A group of scouts was especially pleased to get to know such an amazing project. Some YEP-teams left piles of flyers in shops and restaurant for people to take. It was a challenge to address strangers at first but eventually we got more confident and hopefully there will be more Swiss YEPs soon!

EXPLORE: Finally, a treasure was waiting to be found in the city and therefore we all had to learn how to handle a compass and a map. Congratulations: All the YEPs understood the three basic steps very quickly!

1. Connect your location and destination, using your compass as ruler.
2. Orientate the compass lines North-South using the North of the map.
3. Read the bearing and note it down.

On the road you simply adjust the bearing and follow the compass line.
We formed three teams that started at staggered intervals. All teams made it! We curiously opened the box and found…? You wonder what it was…? Have a look at the pictures ☺!

This was already the end of the biggest YEP-Meeting so far. But when the Young Explorers left, we knew that it was actually just the beginning of new friendships with amazing buddies that inspire and support us in doing good to our home: our wonderful amazing planet Earth!
“Thank you!” to all participants for coming and doing great in all tasks. It was AMAZING to be with you! ☺
And THANK YOU to the Mike Horn Pangaea Expedition Team for starting a global movement that connects us young people across all borders, oceans, origins and makes us strong in working together for one shared goal.

Organisators: Luana Rebholz-Chaves and Tirza Niklaus
Reported by: Sophia, Tirza, Luana
Pictures by: Birke, Becca, Ann-Kathrin, Sophia

Participants:

from Germany:

• Alexandra Bauer
• Amely Bauer
• Ann-Kathrin Geiger
• Clara Blasius
• Leonard Schölch
• Nadja Höschele
• Rebecca Mattes
• Yolanda Rohde

from Austria:

• Sophia Paul

from Switzerland:

• Birke Rebholz-Chaves
• Christopher Barro
• Lea Baur
• Licius Müller
• Luana Rebholz-Chaves
• Lukas Feldhaus
• Mathieu Mauroux
• Michelle Nay
• Samuel Bonfanti
• Tirza Niklaus
• Tiziana Gees
• Valentin Dorsaz