The Terraquest Team

With Virtual Antarctica, two of the travel industry's most forward looking companies have launched a continuing series of "virtual expeditions." Terraquest is the result of combined efforts by adventure travel pioneer Mountain Travel-Sobek and corporate travel agency WorldTravel Partners.

We chose Antarctica as our initial project because we feel it's a fantastic destination for travel, and one that is virtually unknown to the general public. By offering this glimpse into "the last continent", we hope to introduce a whole world of opportunity -- not only for the potential traveler, but for the Web surfer as well!

Future programs include Virtual Galapagos, coming in May, for which we plan to sell berths exclusively through the World Wide Web site. (So if you'd like to make virtual travel a reality, ask about Virtual Galapagos via e-mail, and we'll let you know as soon as the details are worked out.) Other Terraquest projects coming up include a trek to Everest Base Camp, a climb to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, and a number of other exciting and stimulating travel adventures.

Naturally we'll be keeping up with the latest in browser technology, and moving ever closer to interactive multi-media on the World Wide Web! So keep us on your hotlist... remember, Virtual Antarctica is just the tip of the iceberg!

The Field Team

RICHARD BANGS
Producer, Correspondent
By journeying to Antarctica, Richard will working on his 12th book -- this one about the world's deserts, of which Antarctica is the largest! More details about Richard's writing and career in adventure can be found elsewhere on this site.

JONATHAN CHESTER
Co-producer and Photographer
As well as serving Terraquest aboard the Livonia, Jonathan will be acting as a naturalist/guide for our passengers. He has provided much of the content and nearly all the photography for Virtual Antarctica. Read more about Jonathan by clicking here.

RINIE VAN MEURS
Naturalist Guide
Well known and popular as a polar guide, Rinie is also a widely published photographer and writer. The Dutch-born naturalist knows the places he takes his visitors to -- he's lived in the Falkland Islands and other subantarctic islands, and enjoys sharing his knowledge of birdlife, and the fragile ecosystems of Antarctic with other polar travelers.

KEVIN TWIDLE
Communications Director
Dr. Kevin Twidle is a widely-traveled, multi-faceted communications specialist whose imagination is as creative as it is technical. He is a Research Fellow in computer science at the Imperial College of London, and a founding partner of 7E Communications, one of the world's leading Inmarsat service integrators. As a field communications expert he has set up satellite links in the Sudan, Siberia, Afghanistan and other countries he is not free to divulge. He speaks six languages, including Perl, C++ and English.

KEVIN BAUMERT Videographer & Correspondent Kevin Baumert is a recent graduate of Notre Dame, and since joining WorldTravel Partners' Interactive Media division he has traveled extensively -- to India, Kenya, Morocco and elsewhere. He was a correspondent for the "Return to Iwo Jima" tour, only the second civilian landing on the tiny Pacific island for World War II veterans. For Virtual Antarctica, he will be shooting a video record of the trip for eventual use in other media, as well as filing regular reports on his experiences in the real Antarctica.

VICTOR GOODPASTURE
Correspondent
Born in Munich and raised an Army brat, A. Victor Goodpasture is no stranger to adventure. The San Diego-based writer/photographer has covered the Indi 500, flown with the Blue Angeels and rounded up wild horses in the Mojave Desert, among his many previous assignments. A former newspaper reporter and photographer, Vic -- known as "The Ice Man" -- has written for over 50 publications on topics ranging from filmmaking to digital imaging technology. On this, his first trip to Antarctica, he will be writing a daily log for virtual travelers.

GARY SCHUMACHER
Producer, Terraquest
As Senior Vice President of WorldTravel Partners, Gary Schumacher has led the huge corporate travel company into the brave new world of interactive media. In this capacity, and as president of WorldTravel Partners - Interactive, he has produced several multimedia projects, including the CD-ROM Freedom is Not Free, about the Korean War. He is an avid traveler who manages to balance family life, corporate life and life at the far edge of travel with aplomb.

CHRISTIAN KALLEN Project Director A former river guide, disc jockey, magazine editor and travel writer, Christian Kallen has scrambled to keep in front of the cutting edge of multimedia with his company Desktop Adventure. Recruited by Sobek Expeditions to handle their catalogs, he co-wrote three books with Richard Bangs, including Rivergods and the Lowell Thomas Award-winning Riding the Dragon's Back. He has since written and directed several projects for Mountain Travel-Sobek, including the Kodak PhotoCD The Adventure Disc. Christian will be the virtual navigator for Virtual Antarctica, handling the satellite uploads and live chat moderation at "mission control".

BRAD JOHNSON
Designer, Brad Johnson presents
Since Brad was introduced to computers last year he dropped the brush on the painting career he had pursued since graduating from Washington and Lee University in 1986. His work in interactive media has been featured in Multimedia Graphics 1 (Thames and Hudson), Designer's Guide to the Internet (Hayden Books), Communication Arts, I.D., HOW, Electronic Link, OnLine Design, and Graphis.

Take a Good Look... Like to see the TerraQuest Team in action? Just click on the penguin to view a panorama in QTVR(613k)