Waypoint Namibia Film | Namibia Main |  Speaking Tour | Press Release

Map By Molly HolmburgNamibia Speaking Tour

Can climbing give you access to understanding outside of the vertical? What if you have to go to Namibia to find out? In May, 2009, Majka Burhardt led a small team of explorers into a landscape of translucent scorpions, laser sharp granite cracks, 1.7 meter-long cobra tracks, and the Himba people--one of the last great Southern African pastoral tribes, all in the name of first ascents and cultural connection.

Upcoming Events

Majka is currently scheduling speaking events in conjunction with her recent expedition in Namibia. If you would like to schedule a show, please email Majka at mb@majkaburhardt.com. Please read more about Majka's work as a speaker here, and scroll down for an extended description of her Namibia talk.

January 8th, 2010

Ouray Ice Fest, Ouray, Colorado

January 12th, 2010

Osprey Packs Fundraiser for the Colorado Environmental Coalition

Dolores, Colorado

Dolores Community Center, 6:30 PM

January 16th, 2010

Wild And Scenic Film Festival,

Nevada City, California.

January 26th, 2010

Dartmouth University, Hanover, New Hampshire

February 11th, 2010

Burlington, Vermont

University of Vermont and GearX

Dudley Davis Student Center, Livak Ballroom

March 18th, 2010

St. Lawrence University

Canton, New York

*Additional Events TBA:  Eugene, OR, Tilton, NH... coming soon.

Waypoint Namibia: Big Walls, Desert Mirages, and Perseverance in the Damaraland and Beyond.

Can climbing give you access to understanding outside of the vertical? What if you have to go to Namibia to find out? In May, 2009, Majka Burhardt led a small team of explorers into a landscape of translucent scorpions, laser sharp granite cracks, 1.7 meter-long cobra tracks, and the Himba people--one of the last great Southern African pastoral tribes, all in the name of first ascents and cultural connection.

Climbers get dirty; they hike, carry heavy packs, and commit to landscape in a way that is understood by people who have to do the same to forge a life. Except climbers do it with thousands of dollars with of gear. They do it with the fewest material possessions around.

Namibia is Africa’s newest independent country and was the first country in the world to mandate conservation in its constitution. As one of the least populated countries in the world, and one of the most progressive in Africa, Namibia combines peace, stability, and accessibility with rugged wildness and remoteness.  In the past decade, Namibia has also developed a globally renowned system for resource management that pairs the conservation of natural lands with the economic stability of rural communities. How does adventure complement, and conflict with, environmental understanding? Majka Burhardt shares her story of connection with a country in Africa that impacts policy and economics from Mongolia to the United States.

Majka has spent a decade translating her pursuits of adventure to the broader world. To do this, she keeps taking climbing to unlikely places, and creating an experience beyond the climbing. Majka calls it making adventure "additive": when adventure goes beyond exploration and toward cultural and environmental connection. Is it too much? Is it not enough? Find out what Namibia taught her as an answer.

Previous Events:

November 9th, 2009

Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Decebmer 12th, 2009

Bozeman Ice Fest, Bozeman, Montana

7:30 PM, Emerson Cultural Center