How To Be An Explorer: Outdoor Skills and Know-How for Young Adventurers

by Tiger Cox

ISBN: ‎ 978-1-78708-117-8 £16.99

The most famous and daring mountaineers, seafarers, astronauts, cyclists, hikers, divers, gliders, aviators of all time started with small-scale adventures that gave them the courage and the ideas to pursue their amazing goals.

This book aims to give young people confidence to obtain those skills and shows practical tasks and tales of six truly inspiring real-life explorers, even if you have not heard of Muhammad Al-Idrisi or Junko Tabel.

Inside are 25 activities which are given in a step by step format. Some are able to done at home, whilst others need to be done outside and even in the great outdoors.

The book is aimed at children aged 5 to 11. It includes 290 photographs and 130 illustrations.

Naturally if you are going to be an explorer than you will need to know what to take. A check list includes appropriate clothing, rucksack, knife, water, maps and a compass (you will be told how to make one later) as well as items such as string, iodine and of course a torch, amongst others. The next lesson tells you how to read a map, and even how to make a wild map (of your locality).

The dangers are laid out, yes even the most famous explorers pick up injuries along the way. So it’s quite a way in before activities are discussed. These include making a fire, then cooking on it and looking for edible food and insects (you will probably want to skip that bit!). Building shelters are important and these run from basic to quite advanced before introducing the concept of the bivvy bag.

Other projects include making a raft (not full size) and also a kite.

Tiger began life as an explorer when his parents upped up and took a boat from England down the coast of Europe to Africa and then across the Atlantic to the Caribbean.

He has a natural affinity for outdoor skills and wants to inspire and educate others, of all ages, to spend more time enjoying these pursuits, whether that be through adventure sports, outdoor cooking or getting out and exploring their local landscapes. He caught the bug for exploring from his parents and four older sisters, who showed him what was possible and lovingly encouraged his earliest forays in the stunning South Downs National Park in Sussex, UK. Tiger is an accomplished public speaker, having given talks on exploration and nature to audiences of over 250 people, including his old school and local chambers of commerce.