Tim Cope - National Geographic Adventure Honoree 2007, Australian Geographic Adventurer of the Year 2006 - is an adventurer from Gippsland, Victoria, who has dedicated himself to sharing his personal discoveries with the wider community. This has become his profession with the writing of books, making of documentaries, and professional speaking.
Between 2004 and 2007 he travelled for three and a half years by horse from Mongolia to Hungary on the trail of nomads made famous by Ghengis Khan in what Australian Geographic billed as "one of the greatest journeys of modern times". In what can only be described as an epic, Tim encountered challenges ranging from physical hardship in extreme environments (-50 degrees to +50 degrees), coming to terms with the need for patience and resolve when the journey ballooned from an 18 month plan to more than three years, and then not only confronting dangerous situations but death itself when his father was tragically killed in a car accident. During this and previous journeys Tim learnt to speak fluent Russian and was privileged to be welcomed into hundreds of homes where he came to intimately understand the fate of the nomadic people of the steppes. Well documented by BBC World Service, Radio National Australia, CNN news, the Sun-Herald, National Geographic, The Australian, Australian Geographic, WHO magazine, and many other media outlets, Tim has become widely known not only as an adventurer, but an inspirational storyteller who goes out of his way to discover people, lands, cultures, and history, and then make it all powerfully relevant to an audience.
His journey is the subject of ABC2 series The Trail of Genghis Khan, which screens on Wednesday nights at 8.00pm; the first episode was the top rating program on Digital TV and ABC2.
Other highlights in Tim's career have included rowing a wooden boat through Siberia to the Arctic Ocean (2001), riding a bicycle for 10,000km across Russia and Mongolia (1999-2000), and training as a Wilderness Guide in the Arctic and forest regions of Finland and north-west Russia (1998-1999).
He is the author of Off the Rails, and was involved in the making of the Grants Film Festival-winning documentary of the same name for the ABC, and The Yenisey Expedition for the National Geographic channel. His stills, which have been published by Australian Geographic, National Geographic Adventure and many other publications, are used as an important tool in his presentations.
Accolades have included being honoured in Washington DC by National Geographic in November 2007, being awarded the prestigious Australian Adventurer of the Year 2006 by Australian Geographic, accepted as a fellow of the Royal Geographic Society in London (2005), the recipient of the Young Adventurer of the Year award and selection in Outside magazine's top twenty five young adventurers in the world (2002).
For more information visit on Tim's many adventures visit timcopejourneys.com.
Beyond the Comfort Zone