Re-map the Landscape
of Discovery
NOW VETTING PROPOSALS FOR 2024!
Exploration societies of old once funded grand expeditions, but discovery has changed. Now, it’s about understanding instead of conquering. In that spirit, Hidden Compass offers an annual grant of $15,000 to fund a global expedition of the modern age.
The first-ever Pathfinder Prize was awarded in late 2022. Our winning team departed for Greenland on April 3 to follow in the footsteps of Togo-born explorer Tété Michel Kpomassie. They have published dispatches from their expedition exclusively for Hidden Compass Allies.
The proposal window for 2024 Pathfinder expeditions is now closed.
Keep scrolling to meet your 2023 expeditioners and finalists, as well as the advisory panel selecting 2024 Pathfinder finalists …
Pathfinder Finalists
In Tété’s Footsteps
An expedition inspired by Togo-born explorer Tété-Michel Kpomassie’s acclaimed book, An African in Greenland, to answer the questions: Who gets to tell the story of a place? Does cultural connection manifest differently in the images and stories collected by the expeditioners based on who they are? And how do cultures interact with expeditioners as storytellers of color?
Lola Akinmade Åkerström
Expedition Leader
Noo Saro-Wiwa
Visual Storyteller
Erik Jaråker
Videographer
About the Expedition
In Tété’s Footsteps
Lola Akinmade Åkerström
Expedition Leader
Noo Saro-Wiwa
Visual Storyteller
Erik Jaråker
Videographer
View the full proposal here.
The travel industry has been pushing for more local stories shared by residents of a place. Especially from marginalized communities who have been spoken on behalf of, by others not from their land.
So, what about alternative voices who call places their home even if they aren’t from there? Especially if they are Black or brown?
“Diverse stories — whether narratives shaped by immigrants or other forms of inclusive storytelling — paint the places we experience as deeply human with vulnerabilities. This is what builds true cultural connection.” — Lola Akinmade Åkerström
About the Expedition
As the first African to live in Greenland in the 1960s, Togo-born, France-based explorer Tété-Michel Kpomassie inspired a generation of traveling African storytellers. Recently turning 80 years old, he is planning to relocate to Greenland to spend the rest of his years.
Inspired by his internationally acclaimed book, An African in Greenland, our project aims to answer who gets to tell the story of a place, how the imagery and stories we bring back are shaped through our lived lenses, and how cultures choose to interact with us as storytellers of color.
About the Team
- Lola Akinmade Åkerström, will contribute the expedition’s lead photography, cinematic art direction, and expedition leadership.
- Noo Saro-Wiwa, will contribute travel writing, journalism, and photography.
- Erik Jaråker, will contribute videography, behind-the-scenes stills, and drone piloting.
Each of our three team members bring complementary skills with a few overlaps to strengthen our messaging and visual storytelling. Both Lola Akinmade Åkerström and Erik Jaråker have worked on several videography projects together. Both Lola Akinmade Åkerström and Noo Saro-Wiwa have contributed to the acclaimed Best British Travel Writing anthology.
About the Expected Outcomes
Our goals are clear, direct, and achievable. They are also extremely relevant in our ever-changing landscape of travel and who gains access today.
More diverse stories from Greenland
We plan to bring back more inclusive modern-day stories based on organic connections that don’t exotify places and experiences, but rather, lift up our shared connections and humanity. We will be rooting our stories in the present, while tracing some of Tété’s footsteps for comparison and historical reference.
Imagery showing Black African travelers in remote places
“You can’t be what you can’t see” is a common phrase we use to support representation. One of our main goals is to bring more imagery — through photography and videography — of Black Africans traveling in places as remote as Greenland.
Attend our live virtual pitch event on November 3, 2022 from 12-1 p.m. PT.
*A recording of the pitch will appear here after the event.
Pharaoh’s Hot Springs
A scientific and investigative expedition to Hammam Faraun (Pharaoh’s Bath), Egypt, to answer this question: In the face of conflicting pressures — for tourism, clean energy infrastructure, historical preservation, and the protection of unique ecological environments — what should Hammam Faraun, and other hot springs in the Sinai region, become?
Dr. Roxanne Fournier
Expedition Leader
Sadek Hefni Shorbagi
Researcher
Mathieu Bisnaire Poirier
Researcher
About the Expedition
Pharaoh’s Hot Springs
Dr. Roxanne Fournier
Expedition Leader
Sadek Hefni Shorbagi
Researcher
Mathieu Bisnaire Poirier
Researcher
View the full proposal here.
Tucked away beneath unassuming villages on the northwestern coastline of the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, there lies what many describe as ‘potential.’
In physics, we say that something has potential energy when its position, internal forces, or electric charge is favorable relative to its local environment. Others have different definitions of potential: economic, financial, scientific, medical, touristic … and while there are many examples in Egypt of projects that have exploited one potential at the expense of others, the case of the sacred Gebal Hammam Faraun (Pharaoh’s Bath Mountain) is one whose future is still unknown.
“Space exploration is my true passion. But since I’m not an astronaut (yet!), I imagine Earth as humanity’s sandbox for responsible and ethical exploration of outer space.” — Roxanne Fournier
About the Expedition
Hammam Faraun (Pharaoh’s Bath) is one of about fifteen hot springs generated by geothermal faults near the Gulf of Suez, in close proximity to the Red Sea. It has been suggested that these springs were used for bathing and healing practices dating as far back as the Third Pharaonic Dynasty.
The northwestern part of the Sinai Peninsula is full of historical sites, but the general lack of infrastructure has kept it minimally changed since those early days of Pharaonic rule. However, there has been pressure from the tourism industry to develop the region around the hot springs into luxury resorts to cater to the country’s growing demand for tourism.
What’s more, recent prospecting activities have revealed that the valuable geothermal energy, which is clean and renewable, could be tapped for much-needed clean power generation to meet Egypt’s plan to generate 42% of energy from renewable sources by 2035.
Hammam Faraun is also ecologically special because its springs intermingle with the sea, potentially hosting a unique ecosystem that may warrant preservation and protection.
This has led us to wonder: What should Hammam Faraun, and other hot springs of the Sinai region, become in the near and distant future in the face of pressures from tourism and energy industries? What is at stake if Hammam Faraun’s resources become exploited for industrial gains (touristic or otherwise)?
About the Team
- Dr. Roxanne (“Roxy”) Fournier will be the lead author and expedition leader.
- Sadek Hefni Shorbagi will contribute photography and expedition planning and logistics. He will be a co-author, community liaison, and Arabic translator.
- Mathieu Bisnaire Poirier will contribute marine sample collection and analysis, and underwater photography. He will be a co-author.
Our core team already has a strong working relationship, having been colleagues at the University of Toronto from 2014-2017. We have traveled to Egypt together in 2022 and have also done a multi-day camping trip in remote Canada in 2020. Most importantly, we all value the importance of respecting the place in which we are visitors, and we are always mindful of each others’ safety and wellbeing.
About the Expected Outcomes
Our team has two main goals for the expedition:
Investigate the scientific potential of Hammam Faraun’s coastline and marine ecosystem — We describe the “scientific potential” as a quantifiable measurement of the uniqueness of the Hammam Faraun coast and marine ecosystem, which will include metrics such as unique species count and microbiome analysis of said species.
Formulate a diverse perspective on the issue of economic development vs. cultural and/or ecological preservation of Hammam Faraun — We will gather insights and opinions from various stakeholders through local travel by car or bus.
The end result of our expedition will be a photo essay full of original research. There has never been a holistic view of the interplay between clean energy demands, scientific potential, spiritual and cultural heritage, and tourism associated with the hot springs of the Sinai Peninsula. We wish to give a voice to those who are unheard in regard to this topic, while also showcasing a region that rarely gets any foreign attention.
Attend our virtual pitch event on November 3, 2022 from 12-1 p.m. PT.
*A recording of the team’s pitch will appear here following the event.
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Meet the Advisory Panel
Lola Akinmade Åkerström
Expedition Leader, 2023 Pathfinder Team
Award-winning writer, international best-selling author, and photographer Lola Akinmade Åkerström is the expedition leader for the 2023 Pathfinder Prize-winning team, “In Tété’s Footsteps: A Cultural Expedition in Greenland.”
Åkerström has dispatched from 70-plus countries for various publications, and her writing has been translated into 18 languages. Her work has appeared in National Geographic, BBC, CNN, The Guardian, Travel + Leisure, Slate, The New York Times, Travel Channel, Adventure.com Magazine, AFAR, Lonely Planet, and many more. She has collaborated with high-profile commercial brands from Mercedes-Benz and Dove to Intrepid Travel and the National Geographic Channel. She is a Hasselblad Heroine.
A sought-after keynote speaker and visual storyteller, Åkerström has spoken at dozens of conferences and trade shows around the world. She has spoken at the Royal Geographical Society and taught at National Geographic Traveler’s Masterclasses. She delivered an inspiring TEDx talk on “The Power of Asking Why Not?” in Stockholm, Sweden.
Åkerström is the founder of Geotraveler Media — a multimedia and travel consulting agency providing a spectrum of visual storytelling and travel media-related services. She has been recognized with multiple awards and nominations for her work, including a Pushcart Prize nomination, and was honored with a MIPAD 100 (Most Influential People of African Descent) Award within media and culture in 2018.
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Sabine K. Bergmann
Co-founder / Co-CEO
Sabine K. Bergmann is the co-founder and co-CEO of Hidden Compass. As an award-winning travel, science, and nature writer, she has contributed stories to dozens of publications — including WIRED, Sierra Magazine, and The Best Travel Writing book series — with a collective readership of tens of millions of readers. Her writing has been featured in exhibitions throughout Europe, North Africa, and North America. As an editor, she has managed content for travel companies valued at more than $500 million. Sabine is a Stanford University-trained environmental researcher and community coordinator who has worked on conservation projects from the Amazon Basin to the Great Barrier Reef. In 2009, she represented Stanford University climate researchers at the United Nations. From 2011-2013, she was the co-host of a live-broadcast environmental radio show in Spanish with an audience of 100,000. She has interviewed sources at sea in a tropical storm, escaped political unrest in the Andes, and discovered cocaine-smuggling coverups in the Caribbean. She has also interviewed earthquake survivors and astrophysicists, mountain biked from the Andes to the Amazon, and chronicled oral traditions passed down through millennia of indigenous history. Headshot by In Her Image Photography. Learn more at www.sabinekbergmann.com.
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Sivani Babu
Co-founder / Co-CEO
Sivani Babu is the co-founder, co-CEO, and creative director of Hidden Compass. She is an award-winning journalist and nature photographer who has contributed to BBC Travel, CNN, Backpacker, Outdoor Photographer, Iron Horse Literary Review, and numerous other publications. Her work has been recognized in the Best American Travel Writing series and has appeared in exhibits from San Diego to the Sorbonne. Sivani graduated from the University of Chicago with three majors — economics, public policy studies, and political science — and one Lazarused newspaper, the Chicago Weekly News. At the University of Pennsylvania Law School, she taught high schoolers about their constitutional rights. As a Teach for America corps member, she taught eighth-graders about the tangency of math and literacy. After working on a Supreme Court case and representing hundreds of indigent criminal defendants, Sivani left her career as a federal public defender to sail across the most brutal sea on earth. Since then, she has chased storms through Tornado Alley, searched for polar bears in the Arctic Circle, and survived serious injury while celestially navigating the Bermuda Triangle. Sivani is working on her first book, Saving the Night: Shedding Light on the Importance of Darkness.
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Sivani Babu
Co-founder/Co-CEO
Sivani Babu is the co-founder, co-CEO, and creative director of Hidden Compass. She is an award-winning journalist and nature photographer who has contributed to BBC Travel, CNN, Backpacker, Outdoor Photographer, Iron Horse Literary Review,and numerous other publications. Her work has been recognized in the Best American Travel Writing series and has appeared in exhibits from San Diego to the Sorbonne. Sivani graduated from the University of Chicago with three majors — economics, public policy studies, and political science — and one Lazarused newspaper, the Chicago Weekly News. At the University of Pennsylvania Law School, she taught high schoolers about their constitutional rights. As a Teach for America corps member, she taught eighth graders about the tangency of math and literacy. After working on a Supreme Court case and occasionally using unicorn metaphors to explain the realities of sentencing to hundreds of indigent criminal defendants, Sivani left her career as a federal public defender to sail across the most brutal sea on earth. Since then, she has chased storms through Tornado Alley, searched for polar bears in the Arctic Circle, and survived a broken neck and a concussion while sailing through a lightning storm in the Bermuda Triangle. Sivani is working on her first book, Saving the Night: Shedding Light on the Importance of Darkness.
Find your story.
Choose a Theme to Explore
Journey alongside characters in pursuit of elusive truths. Travel through extreme landscapes, to the far reaches of the planet, and into the unknown.
Get to know extraordinary characters from around the world — individuals, cultures, places, creatures, and even objects.
Investigate the relationship between humankind and the planet. Come face-to-face with Nature as an unpredictable danger, a wise teacher, and a precarious organism.
Delve into the dark and difficult aspects of a place, even when the darkness exists only in the narrator. Investigative pieces, historical exposés, and tales of narrators immersed in danger.
Inhabit the past, present, and future of a place. Unearth layers of ancient legends and traditions; probe the transient nature of the current moment; and venture out into prediction, peril, and possibility.
Photo: Dr. Gilad Fiskus
Photo: Sivani Babu
Photo: Kim F. Stone
Photo: Sivani Babu
Photo: Sugato Mukherjee
Photo: Geraint Rowland
Find your story.
Choose a Theme to Explore
Photo: Sivani Babu
01
Quest
Journey alongside characters in pursuit of elusive truths. Travel through extreme landscapes, to the far reaches of the planet, and into the unknown.
Photo: Sivani Babu