Travel, near, far, to borders never crossed, to the depths of evil, to space. Travel to a goal and never leave it. Official history is full of explorers of flesh and blood - "Doctor Livingstone, I suppose" - or of fiction, Phileas Fogg, Captain Nemo. The thirst for adventure of these men has sometimes hidden dark legends and always women whose exploits should also have been highlighted.
The truth is that there have been, there are and there will be female explorers, although from a long list, few names are known, some have been forgotten, and others relegated to anecdote. It is unfair. Their names and achievements must be vindicated.
Who remembers the Soviet astronaut Valentina Tereshkova? The name of aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart has flown over our heads in recent years. But hardly anyone knows anything about Bessie Coleman, a black aviator, also a pioneer, but further relegated to history.
There are plenty of examples: the British writer Freya Stark. The continuation of a family saga of defenders of the oceans like Alexandra Cousteau. Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei. Magazine has chosen three out of many. Ethologist Jane Goodall and her journey to our past and our future with chimpanzees. To Robyn Davidson, who made history crossing Australia on a camel or the traveler and journalist Nellie Bly, who managed to circumnavigate the world in 72 days. Surely, when she met her, Jules Verne gave her some advice to "beat" him.
Nellie Bly died 101 years ago. We should remember her every day for the paths she opened with the pen or the machete. She invited us to think that the trip is not only a pleasure, but also a duty. She was the first woman to circumnavigate the world in less than 80 days, 72, most of the time alone. The best thing was that on her adventure she had time to stop in France and say hello to Jules Verne. What would they say? Another trip by Bly was braver, she locked herself in an asylum for ten days to denounce the mistreatment of patients: her articles had immediate and positive consequences.
Goodall, a world reference, is a burning Halley's comet, sailing to the beginning of what we are, to what unites us with chimpanzees and to defend their territory from human voracity. Her journey in Tanzania at a time (1960, she was 26 years old) when working in Africa and being a woman was a true chimera, has incalculable value. Goodall does not have a return ticket. His hope is to light the flame and the consciousness of the schoolchildren to whom he tells her life's journey and that he will still be alive when she is no longer here.
A dog, four camels, a photographer, Rick Smolan, and a desert odyssey of more than 2,000 km across the sandy plains of Australia. Davidson became very famous for this adventurous journey, known as Tracks, which for her was a milestone, and for us, an example that the trip, in addition to being interior, can be just around the corner without having to take a plane, perhaps, a bike, a car, a bus or walk. Or ride a camel.
