The Celestial Mountains Ride
Host
Tian Shan Mountains, Kyrgyzstan
Black Saddle, 2024
Hosting Black Saddle‘s Celestial Mountains Ride, assisting clients and local guides on this 11 day journey across Kyrgyzstan. We travelled through contrasted landscapes like alpine forests and blossoming prairies, high mountain passes, glacial rivers, big lakes like Issyk Kul and Song Kul, desertic landscapes and canyons, plains and rolling hills sheltering yurt camps. We met Kyrgyz families living in yurts for the summer with their animals, and the shepherds herding their animals in summer pastures. We observed the horse culture linked to a semi-nomadic traditional lifestyle, and heard “horses are transport, milk and meat”. We observed the complex cultural influences between native nomadic Kyrgyz, Russia, Asian countries and the Middle East, and the legacies of the silk roads. We saw nomad games like the goat game and horseback wrestling, performed by all ages. With the local guides Baha, Nordine and Ryskul.
Coaching on project evaluation in Cambodia
Trainer
Planète Urgence & Highlanders Association, 2024
Volunteering Mission in Ratanakiri Province, Coaching on project monitoring and evaluation through the anthropological perspective. Mission organised by the French NGO Planète Urgence with its local partner Highlander Association (HA), an indigenous organisation created in 1999, IUCN member. The training was followed by team members of HA and Indigenous People for Agriculture Development in Cambodia (IADC).
Both associations are mainly represented by women and actively work on local challenges for indigenous populations related to human rights, socio-environmental matters, land law, gender, agriculture, climate change resilience, ancestral knowledge, culture preservation including arts and languages.
Ratanakiri is a remote province in North East Cambodia, a hilly land once mainly covered in jungle. The only province in Cambodia where the Khmer population is a minority and the indigenous population a majority, belonging to seven language groups, among them the Tompoun, Kreung, Jaray and Lon.
Local socio-environmental and political challenges are critical as the jungle is progressively moving away and so are the indigenous villages, while monoculture, logging and new industries expand.
Horse Treks in Atacama Desert
Guide
Atacama Horse Adventure, Chile 2023-2024
Guiding day and multi day horse riding treks through the Atacama Desert and training horses. Exploring and adapting to a unique and extreme Altiplanic environment, between the chain of volcanoes along the Andes and the extensive desert. I can see the smoke from the active volcanoes on a daily basis and small earthquakes are regular, this is one of the most active parts of the Ring of Fire. The landscapes are very contrasted from sand dunes to stone ground and rock formations, canyons, hidden streams, and a few ancient oasis where the villages are settled with their irrigation canals and small agricultural plots. I learn about the ways of life and history of the native Licanantay populations here who for thousands of years have lived in the desert, and observe the syncretism of the native and hispanic cultures.
Horse Riding Safaris in the Maasai Mara
Backup Guide & Rider
Safaris Unlimited, Kenya, 2023
Backup guiding multi days mobile horse riding safaris through the Maasai Mara, among wildlife including big game. I learned about the Kenyan cultural diversity with over 40 tribes, and about the semi-nomadic pastoralist lifestyle of the Maasai people in the Mara and their coexistence with wildlife. I also learned about the safaris and conservation activities and local history and the functioning of the multi actors / multi cultural uses of the territory. I discovered a new ecosystem and wildlife, living amongst predators, and I learned to adapt my riding and guiding, as well as to live in mobile camps within this environment, as part of a multicultural team.
(Picture taken by Olo Safaris)
Horse Treks in Andalusia Sierra Nevada Mountains
Guide
Caballo Blanco, Spain, 2023
I led day and multi-day rides in the Andalucian mountains and valleys with Spanish and Arabian horses, and I did some horse training and schooling. I discovered the Sierra Nevada mountains with their unique ecosystem and endemic species, and the olive groves, almond groves and goat farms in the valleys. On the lower parts of the mountains, the old villages and the terraces on the hillsides show the Muslim cultural legacy. I observed how the landscape is designed by a mix of Muslim and Christian cultures. On the higher slopes I followed on horseback and on foot some ancient mule tracks that keep disappearing and reappearing on the ground.
Meeting the Dayak Iban in Sungai Utik
West Kalimantan, Indonesia 2022
I met Dayak Iban people from the indigenous community village Sungai Utik, stayed at their traditional longhouse and visited their customary land including rainforest and agricultural areas. We travelled in the district on foot and by boat through contrasted ecosystems, rainforest, lakes, peat swamp and flooded forest in the Betung Kerihun and Danau Sentarum National Parks, and visited other traditional villages. I learned about customary forest management, Dayak Iban culture and spirituality, interconnections with the forest, and also about different local ways of life, perspectives and strategies around current socio-cultural challenges linked to land law, deforestation, urbanisation, and globalisation.
Lebanon Mountain Trail
Crossing of Lebanon on foot along the mountain range 2022
2 people, 500 km in 21 days
We walked through Lebanon from Marjayoun to Aandqet, along the Lebanon Mountain range, following the trail created by the LMT Association. We crossed contrasted places from dry mediterranean hills to snowy cedar forests, herds and shepherds, orchards, followed by the water running through the irrigation canals, but also ancient religious vestiges and scars from the war. We met people along the way and stayed each night with locals in small villages, immersed for a moment into their way of life, and learned about people’s perspective on the current socio-eco-political struggles. We observed the cultural contrasts of Lebanon and how different civilisations and events shape the landscapes through history with agriculture, migrations, war, religion.
Two Rocky Mountains Horseback Journeys
Bob Marshall Wilderness, Montana
USA 2021 & 2022
2 people, 2 mules, 1 horse
Horseback trip in complete autonomy across the Rockies leading a pack mule and riding a horse and a mule, for 18 days in 2021 and for 10 days in 2022. We crossed the Bob Marshall Wilderness from SouthWest to NorthEast, camping along the way, managing the surprises of the trail including wildlife encounters like the beautiful howl of wolves at night or the visit of a grizzly bear in our camp. Outlook on outfitters and wranglers ways of life and relation to the wilderness and their work with animals during the preparation of our trip and after. We also learned about local initiatives for managing the coexistence with bears in the region.
Patagonia Horseback Mountain Crossing
Santa Cruz Province, Argentina 2020
2 people, 3 mares Criollas
A month on horseback in southern Patagonia Andes with my friend Taylor Dolak, in very remote locations crossing successively mountain massifs and valleys, leading our pack mare. We found our way navigating by GPS through rough terrain, often rocky cliff edges and peatland, crossing mountain plateaux and passes, thick forests, camping along the way. We occasionally stayed in remote gauchos refuges or ranches when we were in valleys, there we could take care of the mares, of our gear, and a couple of times buy food supplies. In these moments we were immersed in gauchos’ ways of life and observed their daily routine, their work with sheep and horses, and their perspectives on sharing the land with pumas.
Adventure Guiding in Patagonia
Estancia La Maipú
Argentina, 2018-2020
Horse Riding and Trekking guide
I led rides and hikes from a day to a week long in wild remote places of southern Patagonia, through mountains, native forest, steppe, peatlands, on and off trails. As a guide, I provided teaching, security, technical and emotional support, informed people about local culture and biodiversity, spotted wildlife and showed it to them without disturbing it, but also facilitated the connection between people, horses and the nature around. I trained horses using Natural Horsemanship, and carried out exploration rides and hikes. This experience conveys an adaptation between local Gaucho lifestyle and sustainable ways of living off the grid while operating adventure tourism.
Applied Anthropology Investigation in Patagonia
Wildlife Conservation Society Chile & Aix-Marseille University
Punta Arenas, Chile 2014-2015
Field investigator
Social assessment previous to the implementation of an open Marine and Coastal Protected Area in Tierra del Fuego. I gathered and analysed social data about perceptions and attitudes towards this project, among traditional fishermen and other local stakeholders. I identified and promoted new avenues for collaboration and shared interests, facilitated communication and uncovered differences of perspective. This helped reduce the potential for conflicts and promote the integration of socio-economical and cultural aspects in this conservation project.