So who is this Eric Wessman character and why does he travel so much? 

My love of the outdoors was developed over the years I spent in the Boy Scouts. I worked for several summers at Scout Camp, earned the rank of Eagle, and then stayed in the program for 16 years as an Assistant Scoutmaster.

I served for 3 years as the President of the Outing Club at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. I got my first taste of international travel as a student of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) on their Semester in Kenya. We hiked and camped for 3 weeks on Mount Kenya, went on safari in the Maasai Mara and Lake Nakuru, hiked in small groups through the backcountry, and spent some time on the coast studying marine biology. I was hooked on travel and on Africa! 

That ended up being the first of 7 major expeditions to Africa. So far, I have spent about 20 months on the continent.

I also went on to do 3 more NOLS courses in various parts of North America.

On the top of Point Lenana 

(16,355 ft / 4,985 M), the third

highest summit of Mount Kenya,

at dawn. We bivouacked here

on my course with the National

Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS)

January 1981.

This was also during my NOLS

semester in Kenya in February 1981.

We were on our small group hike

(unarmed) through the wilds of the

Nguruman Escarpment. The 6 of us

made a great team. It was one of the

best hikes of my life.

Snorkeling and exploring a

porcupine fish up close off

the Baja Peninsula in the Sea of

Cortez, Mexico in 1984.

Photo by Sue Berch.

This was on my trans-Africa

expedition in 1986. Here I am

covered up to attempt to keep out

the sand from entering every 

orefice. This was taken in Algeria,

in the Sahara Desert. Photo by Pete

Minall.

On this expedition, we took 3 weeks

to cross the Sahara Desert. We camped

at the base of this sand dune, a few

hundred feet below. This place in

the middle of nowhere is called 

Tiguentourine, Algeria, and is only a

few miles from the Libyan border.

Photo by Debbie Halliday.

Some of my travel mates on a trans-

Africa expedition in 1986. I'm on the

far right in the front row. This was in

our camp in Bangui, Central African

Republic.

A few of us spent a week on a cargo

boat on the Zaire (Congo) River. It was

about 3 days of waiting, then 4 days of

travel. I am holding manioc, a tasteless

staple that is mixed with other food to

get its flavor.

A cleaned-up and better-fed Eric poses

at the Cape of Good Hope, Land's End

at the southern tip of Africa. It took me

6 months to get here from Morocco, 

working my way down the continent first 

with the expedition, and then traveling

independently. It took another month

to return to Nairobi to finish the trip, 

for a total of 16 countries in 7 months.

Photo by Debbie Halliday.

Here I am by my sea kayak in the

Stockholm Archipelago, Sweden

in the summer of 1987.

On the summit of the Breithorn in

the Swiss Alps in 1987. Photo by

Edgar Walsh.

With my good friend and frequent

travel buddy, Roy Feinzig. We visited

the Pyramids at Giza, Egypt towards

the end of a 7-month adventure in 1989.

In the summer of 1990, my brother Chris and

I did a whirlwind trip across the US. We had a 

great time in the amazing parks of Utah and 

Arizona. Here we are at the North Rim of 

the Grand Canyon.

With my friend Dan Schwaar on his boat on

the River Thames enroute to the Royal Henley

Regatta in 1991. Photo by Vicky Wessman.

On a foot safari photographing elephants in

1991, Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe.

Photo by Vicky Wessman.

Here I am in 1991 on my second trip to Victoria

Falls. Photo by Vicky Wessman.

Still on the same 2-month trip to southern 

Africa in 1991with my sister Vicky. This is

in  Blyderivierspoort Canyon in South Africa. 

Photo by Vicky Wessman.
 

In the summer of 1993 I did a 2-month trip to

Ecuador with my sister Vicky. We are pictured

here taking a break as we trekked the Ingapirca

Trail.

The last week of our Ecuador trip in 1993 was

spent in the Galapagos Islands. We were on a 

small boat with only 8 passengers. It was an

awesome experience!

On a break in camp with Roy during a

2-month safari in 2002. Kruger National

Park, South Africa. Photo by Anderson

Yang.

A little later on the same safari in 2002

with wildlife artist Anderson Yang in

camp in Quiver Tree Rest Camp, 

Keetmanshoop, Namibia.

In 2003 I was part of a canoe expedition

on the Horton River in Canada's

Northwest Territories. We paddled 400

miles to finish at the Arctic Ocean.

That's me in the blue shirt.

Captured doing my regular swim workout,

this time in a beautiful pool in the Dominican

Republic in 2010. Photo by Johnny Araujo.

In April of 2012 I had the opportunity to travel

to Andalucía, in southern Spain, with my mother,

Jane. One of the highlights of the trip was to visit

with my niece, Kate, who was studying in Seville

for the semester. Here are the 3 of us in the Plaza

de España, built for the 1929 Ibero-American 

Exposition.

Hard at work photographing the exciting architecture 

around Marina Bay, Singapore in February 2014. Photo

by Kam Kayhan.

In January of 2016 I joined my friend Minh, a Vietnamese

photographer, for a fantastic week in the Mekong delta

region of Vietnam that he had arranged for us. Each day had

us in a different location with a photo shoot organized by a

friend of his. It was a great way to get off the beaten path. I am

pictured here in a boat as we jump in to the fray at the floating

market at Phung Hiep. Photo by Doan Duc Minh.

I took this selfie at my campsite along the East Branch of the 

Penobscot River in Medway, Maine in October 2020. It was my

rest day after my hike on Mount Katahdin and before I explored

Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument.