Catherine Edsell
Catherine Edsell is a TEDx speaker, female adventurer, expedition leader, PADI divemaster, Reef Check trainer, yoga teacher, FRGS and mother of two (she calls that last one her hardest challenge). Catherine has been working in the expedition arena since 1997 and encourages parents to balance family life with adventure after taking her daughters to volunteer in Thailand with her. Most recently Catherine led the Matriarch, a 10 day, 10 women adventure in the Namibian wilderness, tracking elusive desert elephants. Come and join Catherine at LIFE to find out how you can balance family and travel.
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A Word...
'As an expedition leader I have led expeditions all over the world - I love it - I love the adventure, the challenge, the fact that in my small way I am hands-on contributing to wildlife conservation and biodiversity research, I love the freedom of it, the immersion in nature, the relationship with something bigger than myself, and the contrast to my daily life in the UK.
As a woman, and a mother, I notice the limitations we create around what we allow ourselves to do. We are always compromising, multi-tasking, taking the slack, holding the fort, and this is all great, except when we do this ALL the time, and don't give ourselves even a few days to go off on our own, to re-connect with ourselves, to challenge ourselves physically, to marvel at the wonders of nature, to learn, to grow, and also to strip away, to get back to basics, to clear our thinking, and to change, where necessary, our mindset. When we even think about doing this we meet amazing resistance - particularly from ourselves, even if it's what we actually really need.
So, one day, in conversation with a friend, the sparks started flying, and the idea of "The Matriarch Adventure" began to take shape...
"10 days, 10 women in the Namibian wilderness, tracking elusive desert elephants (the most iconic matriarchs there are), having an adventure, dawn yoga under huge flame-red skies, inspiration round a camp fire, sleeping out under a myriad of stars, meeting with Namibian women and hearing their story.... and all else that expedition life has to offer."