Martin Strel`s Amazon Swim - for Peace in the Middle East, Dalai Lama, and Clean Waters,
Irena Knehtl
March 20, 2008
In the epilogue to the book "The Man Whom Swam the Amazon", Martin Strel writes: "there are millions of people throughout the world gazing out the same window. Occasionally a crazy thought comes into their head from somewhere so far away they can`t even fathom its sources, but they quickly discard it and return to the surface to deal with the seemingly important aspects of everyday life that crowd their inbox. Years pass, their children have children, and every time they gaze out that window, those old dreams flood their minds again. Big dreams. Dreams they are afraid to try to reach but yet linger. They may think they`re too fat or too old or whatever their excuse. They all have an excuse that prevents them from reaching those dreams. If a fifty-two year old, slightly fat man can swim the Amazon, what can you do?
Remember, those last two hours before sunset can often be the best swimming of the day".
The Amazon river has by far the greatest total flow of any river, carrying more than the Mississippi, Nile, and Yangtze rivers combined — so while it may not be the longest river, it is undoubtedly the largest. Known as The River Sea, its drainage area, called the Amazon Basin, is the largest of any river system.
After 3,272 miles (5268 km) and 66 days of exhaustion, sunburn, delirium and piranhas, Martin Strel successfully completed a swim down the Amazon River. Strel´s Amazon swim will be the fourth time Strel has broken the Guinness record. Martin Strel says that for him it was achieving - the impossible. Like Sir Hillary reaching the top of Mt Everest.
In one of his blogs, Martin writes, if I can swim that river, then the Palestinians and the Israelis can find a way to live together in peace – and the 8 most powerful and richest countries in the world can find a way to forgive the debts of the 15 poorest counties. And a bunch of other stuff too.
For all those reasons, I swam that that river, interview
Mr. Martin Strel, the Man of Swam of Amazon, heartiest congratulations to this extraordinary – unique - achievement.
Thank you, Irena!
Q: What are your feelings now that you reached – what seemed – almost impossible, you swam the Amazon river?
Martin Strel: My feeling are – let me put is this way – dreamlike. I worked hard, trained and dreamed that someday, I shall swim the great Amazon river. The dream has come true, I feel that my mission in life is fulfilled. And should I pass away tomorrow, I am satisfied. On my part I wish to live for many more years and teach and educate people around the world about what I have been doing for the past couple of years.
Q: Your book "The Man Who Swam the Amazon" has been just published and is already climbing bestseller charts. What responses are you getting and from whom?
Martin Strel: My book was published in USA and Canada. In the future, I hope, it will be published all over the world. I would like to recommend it to those, who are interested in live stories of persons doing great things and have dedicated their lives to it. Some are now comparing me to Sir Edmund Hillary, who first reached the top of Mt. Everest. Unlike Sir Edmund I wanted to so something nobody before me has done it.
Let me tell you, it was not easy. It was difficult, involved risks and it was virtually on the edge of possible. I intend to promote my book and lecture all over the world. Coming is also documentary film under title "Big River Man", the story of my life and the Amazon swim. The producers spent with me several months and recorded some excellent material. It has all what it takes a successful documentary. Produced in Los Angeles, California, it should be out in autumn 2008 and it will have the premiere in Toronto. Canada.
The book is as accurate as possible. Actually, I am thinking of writing – may be - another book about my experiences.
Q: You say, you swam the Amazon for clean rivers, rainforest, but also for peace in the Middle East and for His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I am talking to you from the Middle East – from Yemen. What was achieved and was your message heard?
Martin Strel: I think, my wish did come true. Many around the world who followed my Amazon undertaking heard my message. Responses – they were all unique! And that was precisely my aim, to educate, to forward a message to the world. Clean rivers, waters and forest are our wealth and we ourselves have to assure that they will not be destroyed.
This is my mission in life: to preserve the planet earth for the future, when we are no longer.
Further, we are all aware what was happening and is happening in the Middle East. His Holiness, the Dalai Lama is one of the key people, working for peace. I therefore mentioned his name in several interviews as my motto was " swimming for the peace, friendship and clean waters".
A similar message was transmitted in the year 2000, when I swam the Danube. We had the war in the Balkans then. I wished to show to the peoples of the world that wars do not solve a thing. Let`s get involved in other – nicer things. The response to my "Danube" message was great, it proved effective. I continued my message of peace during the Mississippi swim in honor of 11th September, 2001 victims, etc.
Q: Did you ever meet His Holiness, the Dalai Lama?
Martin Strel: No, not yet.
Q: Amazon is the last on you list of big river. Is there any particular close to your heart, or is something special?
Martin Strel: The reply is not simple. Each of those great river has its own particularities and all are close to my heart. As I love nature and water in particular and I love to drink pure water, am therefore advocating clean waters and drinking water.
Rivers give me energy and reason for living. The biggest impact has left the Amazon river. At the beginning I was afraid, and as result I used to suffer – but when I finished the Amazon swim, I was overjoyed. As a child who gets an ice cream and hardly waits to get another one.
What are your feelings during the swim, what are you thinking about, what is your driving force?
Martine Strel: A rather complex question – without doubt. But is the key to my success in swimming great rivers. I taught myself how physiologically to prepare myself for such undertakings. It is the physiological preparation which is much more important than my physical condition. In other words, I prepare my head well before swimming. And I know in advance what awaits me prior actual swimming.
During the swim I have at hand different stories which I keep telling myself all over again and keep inventing others and so the time passes. I keep talking to myself, or hallucinate. My team by know knows well, that this is part of mediation and rhythm but which is essential to reach my goal. My swimming exercise is – an extraordinary physical test and that`s not for everybody. Only few on our planet can actually do it.
I also learned how to forget pains in my body and to concentrate and think about other things. I took me years and years to reach this stage. I will be honest, before ten or twenty years I would not be able to achieve what for example - I reached today. When younger, I was practically not mature enough - in my head. Otherwise, I think about everything possible, about friends, family, God, past undertakings, plans for the future, beautiful girls and parties which will take place after the swim. Many times, I also count my moves, which are many. About 54 in a second, and you can make it out how many per day if one swims ten hours.
Q: From originates the idea to swim great rivers and to reach – the impossible?
Martin Strel: The idea to swim the rivers, lakes, seas, is actually an old one. When I was about then, I just loved to watch the film about Tarzan in which Johnny Weissmuller plays the main role. I loved his swimming in the jungle. As a child, I loved nature and animals, would swim in smaller rivers, lakes, built dams, went fishing, did camping along waters, played cowboys and Indians. A wonderful childhood, which today`s youth no longer knows or experiences.
As I grew up, I always wanted to be able to reach goals, which nobody before me reached, was interested in ideas, which were not yet realized. And so I reached the idea of swimming the big rivers. I begun Slovenia in 1991 with small 105 km long and very cold river Krka and ended in the Amazon.
Several times, I was close to death and it would be quite possible that today I would no longer walk this planet.
Q: What is Martin Strel like privately, books that you read, music you listen to, favorite place?
Martin Strel: A confident person, but a quiet one. I like the company of positive people, who stimulate and inspire and understand what I am doing. I very much like people who are able to understand different values in live. I also like to do things on my own and do not like to be dependent on others.
During my swimming of big rivers, I have a team next to me, who assist me. All of them are experienced, reliable and I have to trust them 110 percent. Normally, my team are individuals from different countries and nationalities, who do not know one another all so well in order to minimize any misunderstanding. Otherwise it could be fatal for my undertaking.
To tell you honestly, I am not reading as much. Today, I am more exercising and traveling the world. But I always like to read some good adventure literature, also magazines, newspapers, internet, TV about adventure undertakings from all over the world.
I love music, country, flamenco and good old rock music. You may know that my actual profession is a guitar teacher and I still love to play my old classical guitar.
My favorite place is – most certainly – my piece of land in Mokronog. There I find peace and contemplate ideas. I just love the quietness, have a glass or two of our local vine – cvicek. Next to me is my cat, who sleeps after eating full.
It is from here my ideas and plans originate, some of them I put on the paper afterwards and see if they are workable. I also have a garden, vineyard and orchard, I make my own vine, grow fruits and vegetables.
Q: Congratulatory messages and wishes are pouring in from all over the world. Is there one of special importance or meaning?
Martin Strel: There were many indeed and they are all special as they are from the heart. I am pleased that my mission has touched the ears of so many and that some truly respect my achievement. My team tries its best to reply each and single one of them. I am also pleased over all invitations which are coming my way and if possible, I try to attend them all.
Q: Your home is Mokronog in Dolenjska region of Slovenia. How do you recall your childhood? What are they saying at home in Mokronog about your achievements and records?
Martin Strel: Mokronog is the name of a small village which has its name after "wett feet". Mokronog literally means "wett feet". My childhood was unforgettable. If only possible, I would love to be young again. I would turn the wheel of time some 50 years back. Much to my regret this is not possible. I am remembering many things from my childhood and I wish to be able to write a book about it some day.
Today, I come to Mokronog to find peace, to recall the past and meet people who live there all their life. But I wished to venture in the wide world and my wish has been fulfilled. But I return to my place of birth as often as possible. Both of my parents are still alive, my mother Pepca, my father Tomo, also my sisters Mira and my brother Tomaz.
I can tell you that people of Mokronog are very proud of my achievements. They, however, do not know well what my achievements mean to the world. Many did not venture to the world beyond and for them Ljubljana, the Slovene capital, is far enough. So they do not know what it means to swim 5.000 km in the Amazon. But they love to listen to me when I am telling them stories about my undertakings.
Q: Which big river is next?
Martin Strel: No decision has been taken yet. At the moment I am also unable to take one. I wish to be able to lecture around the world in the future about my mission and achievements for clean rivers, peace and friendship. For now this is my priority.
I doubt that I shall do another risky undertaking. My feeling is that nature has permitted me as much and I am not so sure, it will grant me another possibility. My feeling is more – that`s it!
Q: What is your message to the world, to the Middle East?
Martin Strel: It is my sincere wish that all people and nations who live in the Middle East will find a way to live in peace and dedicate themselves to important values in life. Our live is but short in therefore is should be beautiful and lived in full.
All conflicts and wars should become history – and everybody should live happily ever after. When we are no longer, only what we have done or not done will remain. But what we have done, it should be the result of our quality in life and happy life.
Mr. Martin Strel, the Man Who Swam the Amazon, thank you very much.
BOOK: THE MAN WHO SWAM THE AMAZON
A few months old story is drawn from the eloquent and evocative trip diaries of writer Matthew Mohlke, who, armed with buckets of blood to divert piranhas, guided Martin Strel down the World´s Deadliest River. The Man Who Swam the Amazon Book is a gripping and inspirational story of perseverance, passion, and endurance what a human can do: a real-life odyssey of a rare and driven man, excerpts
Prologue chapter
OK, I´ll be honest. When I signed on as a kayaker to help navigate Martin Strel down the Amazon River, I gave him about a fifty-percent chance of survival. Myself, I gave a ninety-percent chance. One thing was certain though. Martin Strel would either swim the entire Amazon River, or die trying.
The man had the whole country of Slovenia on his back, and he had too much pride to return to his homeland having failed in doing what he´d set out to do. Martin isn´t the type of man who will be content riding out his waning years in some swank condo on the beach, peacefully watching the tide ebb and flow.
February 1, 2007—Amazon jungle near Taurapa, Peru
Martin enters the river about an hour and a half after his scheduled starting time. He shoots away from shore so fast that the small escort boat struggles to keep up with him in the heavy current. He swims the first three hours in total silence, stopping once to utter a single word, "DRINK." The six people in the escort boat stare in disbelief as he quickly guzzles a pint of energy drink, then goes back to his powerful freestyle stroking.
As navigators, our jobs are simple. Look for the fastest current, avoid whirlpools, and blow a whistle every time danger comes. But, at the same time, I must use discretion. To blow my whistle and bring Martin back.
Afterword by Martin Strel
In recent years I´ve been rolled by a wave of dreams that inspired me to attempt to swim the world greatest rivers. The Amazon, the largest, longest, and most dangerous river, was always my biggest dream. I did not only swim the Amazon to achieve some great record or sport result, but also much more. I decided to do it with the mission to show the world something different, something really important for our present and future living.
We have to protect our forests to keep them growing. We need to keep rivers and other waters clean. THE WORLD IS STILL A BEAUTIFUL PLACE! We need to protect it and keep it that way for future generations. This issue is bigger than any of us alone can comprehend. The future of mankind depends on us.
I was not strong enough to swim the river all by myself. I had a talented team to support me. I decided to risk my life for this gruelling project, which shook up the world and made history. Without the right hard-working people around me, this would be an impossible mission. I would like to thank all of the people who I was fortunate to have around me, those who suffered and laughed with me, and contributed their own part to this unforgettable project.
BOOK REVIEWS:
Martins stories of swimming the Amazon are some of the most fascinating tales I have ever heard. I am so glad he wrote this book so others can not only marvel about his feats, but can learn from this great man."
Will Steger, legendary polar explorer
BIG RIVER MAN - FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
Self Pictures, the acclaimed documentary film company based out of Los Angeles, CA, has signed on to document Martin Strel´s marathon feat of endurance, swimming the Amazon, the culmination of his lifetime of extreme achievements. Big River Man: Martin Strel vs. the Amazon" will show Martin as not only an extreme athlete, but as an extraordinarily eccentric and humanitarian human being. From his childhood growing up in Slovenia, to his rise to stardom with such feats as swimming the Danube, Mississippi, Paraná and Yangtze rivers, Martin will serve as a metaphor for the "everyman", and prove, once and for all, that one man can make a difference.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I wish to thank Mr. Borut Strel for his wonderful and efficient cooperation for bringing about the interview with his father Mr. Martin Strel.
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