The 81-year-old is organising a trip to the Altai mountain range in Mongolia in July to deliver medical support to indigenous villagers, explore hidden cave complexes and survey endangered species.
Colonel Blashford-Snell, who was raised in Jersey and attended Victoria College, would like Islanders to fly the Jersey flag with him in Mongolia.
‘If any Jersey people are interested, they should get in touch very soon because we shall have 23 on the team and already we have 12 people who have signed up,’ said Colonel Blashford-Snell, who founded the Scientific Exploration Society in 1969.
‘Anyone whose interests lie in the fields of botany, archaeology, zoology and community aid is welcome to put their name forward, but you must be able to ride a horse.’
The octogenarian, who earlier this year journeyed with a team of 18 from
the Scientific Exploration Society to the region of Amazonas in Colombia, said his team in Mongolia
would be tracking the endangered Saiga antelope. ‘We want to find out how many of the Saiga antelope there are left,’ he explained. ‘We will be cataloguing them and checking on their health.
‘Other tasks will include archaeological surveys and botanical studies. There are a lot of plants found at high altitude, including a cabbage plant – it’s very rare. We’ve got some Mongolian botanists who will be coming with us and studying these plants.
‘We shall also give medical aid to the local communities and provide reading glasses and school books to schoolchildren.
‘We already have three doctors who have signed up – from Malaysia, England and Australia – and a dentist. Mongolian interpreters, scientists and a cook will also accompany us and our scientific studies will be undertaken for the National University of Mongolia.’
Colonel Blashford-Snell said that the Asian country was just the sort of wilderness that satisfied his appetite for exploration.
‘It’s wild in Mongolia, the people are very pleasant and there’s lots to discover,’ added Colonel Blashford-Snell, who is also leading an expedition to Kenya in January.
‘Much of Mongolia is relatively unknown and unexplored. It’s the size of Europe with a population of just three million.
‘It’ll be very hot during the day and it can be freezing at night when you are up in the mountains – some 13,000 ft above sea level.
‘We will have tents with us and they will be carried by camels, and we will undertake our scientific studies for the National University of Mongolia.’
Anyone interested in joining the expedition should email jbs@ses-explore.org.
