Welcome to our web page

Since 1983 I travel around the world. Since 1991 my wife Tanja accompanies me on our life project „The big journey“. As ambassador of mother earth it is our dream to create a time document of our planet. In picture, film and text we want to show how it looks on our earth today and how she changes. We want to form a compensatory pole to a world which overtakes itself every day a little bit faster. With our reports we like to serve a mosaic piece, to hold on, to find the own way, to have goals and to realise aims. And also we like to remind of how beautiful, many-sided and protection–worth our planet is. We wish you joy and inspiration on our web page.

 

The first pictures from our current trip to Norway in our gallery!

In the coming weeks we will be stocking the gallery regularly with our most beautiful pictures.

Have fun watching.

Click here for the gallery:


Tanja & Denis Katzer and Ajaci with their e-bikes under the aurora at Steinfjord on the island of Senja. Senja is the second largest island in Norway and is located about 350 km north of the Arctic Circle in northern Norway.

Thoughts on corona and isolation

Because of the Corona crisis, Tanja and I have already cancelled any meetings, whether they were business or private, 12 days ago and stay at home. Since then we have been living in isolation, like many people already do. For most of us it must feel as if a speeding train, in which we were just sitting, had crashed into the wall without any braking manoeuvre. A terrible feeling, because many of us don't know what to do with all the time. Time in abundance, time in which you come to yourself, whether you want to or not. Many citizen of the earth has a big problem with this, because suddenly the mind is no longer distracted. The inside turns to the outside. One or the other will be surprised what comes to light. Good but also frightening. Suddenly we humans have the chance to get to know ourselves a little better. One can complain about it or take the unique chance to make the best of it. Jesus went into the desert for 40 days to meditate. According to tradition, Satan and the angels or in other words, evil and good appeared to him there. Loneliness and isolation can mean hell, but at the same time it carries something enormously positive, something cleansing, invigorating and renewing.

When we walked 7,000 kilometres from south to north and from the west coast to the east coast of Australia with our camels between 1999 and 2003, we were cut off from the outside world. We had isolated ourselves and became a part of nature, a part of the desert and a part of Mother Earth. Our lives had changed. In the beginning it was strange, because there was no TV, no newspaper, no internet, just nothing but desert. It didn't take long until we understood what an enormous treasure and depth lies in the silence. We understood how wonderful simplicity can be and at the end of the expedition we didn't want to give up this life-style anymore.

Back in Germany it seemed to me as if the whole society was sitting in an express train. We, who came from the desert, had no chance to get on this speeding train. Only the attempt would have torn us apart. It took a year until Tanja and I were once again part of the frantic, hectic, confusing, nervous and irritable life. Nearly everyone we met longed for deceleration, reflection, leisure, relaxation and inner peace, but the rushing continued, getting faster and faster until the industrial societies of this earth didn't notice that they had been plunged directly into the eye of the cyclone. There, in the eye of the cyclone, the longing for deceleration grew so enormously that yoga became very fashionable. People spent a lot of money to improve their work-life balance. And now we have Corona. It's a terrible epidemic, but it's also a real chance to come to yourself, to reflect, to switch off, to think, to create ideas, to spend time with your children and your partner and so much more.

Tanja and I are sure that there is something exceptionally positive in this crisis. So stay at home, enjoy the peace and quiet, draw new strength, because everything is coming to an end, even the crisis. Afterwards we will rebuild with new energy, enthusiasm and verve what we have ruined through our mistakes. Surely the world will not be the same after the crisis. But do we really want to go back to the old hectic and sick world where a new smartphone was spat out every three months? Was life in this world still worth living?

Tanja and I are sure that the Corona virus is one of the greatest teachers in human history so far. Perhaps even the saviour of mankind? A being close to life that forces us to change direction in time? De facto Corona has managed to reduce the worldwide Co2-emissions within a few days, remove deadly smog clouds over industrial areas or to make the water in Venice's canals crystal clear.
We are sure that Corona reminds us how important it is to protect our mother earth and its inhabitants, so that the children of mankind will still be able to see trees and hear birds chirping tomorrow...

SICILY - First test ride with the Terra Love 2019


Click here for gallery

Our upcoming expedition project has a completely new motto. For the first time in our travel and expedition life, we will cover part of the upcoming route with an expedition camper. This requires extensive, thorough preparation. The first test drive with our Terra-Love, we baptized the vehicle (the EX 412 from bimobil), took us to Sicily and the active volcano Etna.

 

Current journey - Longest unsupported E-Bike-Expedition of the World - Stage one

Siberia, Mongolia, China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand
Join us on a journey into a fascinating, different world.
Accompany us via online diary


Here are the links to the latest stories:

27.12.2017
In the national park with e-bikes – TCM responsible for the extinction of rare animal species – Animal torture and being lost

17.11.2017
Your dog must have a price, right? - Voltage drop causes uneasiness

01.11.2017
Life-span of at least 10,000 kilometer

24.08.2017
A broken drawbar - Elephant waterfall

All older entrys

Spending the winter with the last of the reindeer nomads

During their excursion to Mongolia, Tanja and Denis Katzer are going to be riding a total of 2.000 km across the Mongolian Steppe, through marshes and over mountain ridges, accompanied by their packhorses and a horse-drawn wagon. Mongolia has an unusual continental climate. Summers are extremely hot and dry, with temperatures reaching 40 degrees in the shade. Spring and autumn are characterised by raging storms and it is common to have torrential rainfall combined with temperatures of 20 degrees. Countless flies and mosquitoes terrorise both humans and animals.

In this land of extremes, even today the greater part of the population lives a nomadic life, trekking from pasture to pasture with their reindeer herds. Tanja and Denis Katzer‘s goal are the last Tuvan reindeer nomads, whose way of life is threatened with extinction. They live in an area of North Mongolia that is very difficult to access. The expedition passes the largest freshwater lake (Chowsgol) in the country. The adventurers will ride through mountain forest steppe and conquer the 3.000 m high Choridol-Saridag snow-covered mountain range. On the other side of the pass, not far from the Siberian border, there where the sparse green of the Taiga offers grazing for the nomads’ reindeer, they will seek out the Tuvans who are said to set up their camps for the winter here in small family groups. The reindeer nomads spend the winter in dwellings that they call ortz and which strongly resemble native American Indian teepees.

Denis and Tanja Katzer will ask to share the Tuvans’ hospitality, in order to spend an entire winter with the Tuvans in their own tepee or Mongolian yurt. The long arctic winter, when temperatures can drop to minus 50 degrees Celsius, means that living in this region is tough. The lonely days and nights, the cold, finding food and simple survival will be particular challenges for them. The Europeans want to experience how the Taiga hunter people withstand such extremes. During their stay they will document their customs, songs, worries, hardships and moments of happiness.

In the spring, before the snow melts and the earth transforms into a treacherous swamp, Tanja and Denis Katzer will decamp again with their horses, in order to set out on the 1,000km return journey. Without doubt, this is an expedition that combines great depth and respect for the natural world.

Visit our Blog for more entries …



Liebe Freunde der Großen Reise,
Fragen zu unseren Reisen, Technik und Ausrüstung etc. beantworten wir hier gerne.