Etihad employees, Ali Al Shamsi and Taryam al Subaihi, are taking part in a once-in-a-lifetime expedition to Antarctica with polar explorer and sustainability pioneer Robert Swan. As the airline’s sustainability ambassadors, they’ll be sharing their experiences and the knowledge gained during this two week Antarctic adventure.
Visit the International Antarctic Expedition website | View expedition video's
Ali Al Shamsi and Taryam al Subaihi share their experiece of once-in-a-lifetime expedition to Antarctica.
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12
Day 1
After an exhausting 36 hours of travelling and many more spent discovering the transit halls of South America, we finally arrived at our destination located on the Southern tip of Argentina, the humble city of Ushuaia. Being the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia is known in South America as la fine del mondo - the end of the world. Located perfectly on a bay, surrounded by a picturesque snow covered mountain range, the city has been a necessary stop over for sailors travelling from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, and vice versa, for centuries. For us, it is the starting point of our journey to the Antarctic.
As soon as we arrived to the airport, we were met with the warm hospitality of the locals and our team members of the International Antarctic Expedition – 2041. Over 66 participants were trickling in from all over the world to take part in this adventure of a lifetime. After our generous welcome, we were driven to Las Hayas Resort Hotel which our taxi driver proudly pointed out was where Nelson Mandela stayed in during his visited the city. Room service, gym and a classy restaurant, the luxury came as a surprise to us both as we realised the true hardship of our journey was yet to begin.
After crawling into our hotel room, we spent a blissful hour rejuvenating, washing off the previous two days travel. Miraculously, we were surprised to find enough reserved energy to drive to St Martin, a small street which represents the whole of the city’s downtown area, for dinner. Not expecting the temperatures to drop so suddenly to 5 degrees Celsius, we quickly rushed home having learnt the vital lesson of using layers of clothing. We spent the rest of night meeting our team mates who hailed from a wide variety of different cultures and religions, sharing the same goal of travelling to the end of the world to learn what knowledge Antarctic had to offer.
Day 2
IAE2041program officially started today with introductions from Robert Swan of the expeditions teams leaders. We were split into groups which we will remain with for the duration of our journey to Antarctica. Group presentations followed and Ali and I both agreed that the selection of all the expeditions’ team members was done with great care as everyone was extremely enthusiastic to work together and all shared the excitement of the adventure that is to follow. Ali and I were put into different groups with team members from India, UK, China, US, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Oman.
It was not all fun and games. Jumper, one of our team leaders who is ex-military, ex-navy and ex-helicopter commando incharge of our group’s safety during the trip gave us sobering presentations about the extreme dangers of Antarctica’s wild life and weather. The drake passage which we will have to cross in order to reach Antarctica is known to the people of the sea as one of the most treacherous waters in the world, with waves reaching as high three story building. Jumper closed his presentation by saying: “Though it one of most beautiful places on Earth, Antarctica wants to kill you.”
Later, Ali and I later decided to test our health by walking two and from the city with some of the group members, an easy 30 minute hike down the mountain but a an hour and half up the mountain to get back to the hotel. This easy task began our understanding of our team members but also allowed us to witness the admirable yet simple life of the locals. After only a few days in the city, we are overwhelmed with how welcoming and supporting the people are here. Salesman will do everything to go out of their way to assure you find what you’re looking for, families and children will not fail to bid you good morning, evening or afternoon. The lessons we will learn in Antarctica still remain a mystery to us but there is one thing we have discovered; people at home and in the rest of the world could learn a lesson or two from the charming people of Ushuaia.
Day 3
Excitement is building up as tomorrow we set sail to the unknown. We were up at 6.00 am, packing our gear for a hike up the glacier Martial to begin our training. With our team members, we were tasked with finding the correct route up the mountain, pitching up tents in windy conditions, climbing almost vertical paths and much more as a team. It began to dawn on us that the group we have been assigned to will be our family for the next few weeks as we all will be in charge of each other’s safety and state of mind in the harshest of conditions in the Antarctic. It was a combination of our training before the trip and our Emirati pride that kept Ali and I at the front of each of our teams for most of the duration of our climb.
As we pushed further up the mountain, we were met by Robert Swan who explained how climate change had destroyed the beauty of the glacier in various ways. Not being a tree hugger, many could shed a small tear and move on but being part of that strenuous climb and respecting the mountain as we did, it was a devastating tale to hear. Overall, it was a wonderful experience getting to know each of our team members cultures and backgrounds as we worked together to overcome to tasks put before us.
After the climb, everyone rushed down to the city to purchase final gear in preparation for the trip. This has been a daily practise since we arrived but we are slowly realising no matter how much gear we pack, nothing can fully prepare us for the challenges that lay ahead.
Day 4
After raising our country flags, we finally set sail and bid farewell to the lovely city of Ushuaia. Our ship is the impressive Sea Spirit. A seven deck vessel, the Sea Spirit is over 90 meters long and holds a crew of 68 souls who hail from the Philippines, Indonesia, India and many more nationalities. Captain Borris Tsvetkov, a 30 year veteran of the sea, is leading our travels to Antarctica and has made this trip over the Drake Passage 7 times.
After settling in to our comfortable hotel room-like quarters, we met with our team mates on the deck to cheer our journey forth to the Antarctic. Slowly sailing out of the bay of Argentina, the waters were calm and the shared fear of possible sea-sickness began to fade from most of our group. We were finally moving forward on our exciting voyage and nothing could break our high spirits.
A few hours later, the ship entered the rough waters of the Drake Passage. Five meter waves began to rock our humble ship and the majority of our team mates began to feel the effects of the sea. Many stayed in their rooms to cope with sea sickness while others spent their time on the decks in hopes of being cured by the pure, cool fresh air of the ocean. Luckily for Ali and I, we were able to overcome the initial awkwardness and adjust easily to the sway of the ocean.
Making the best of a bad situation, team mates worked together to ensure that no one was left unattended to. With the help of their expedition brothers and sisters, many began to find their sea legs throughout the rest of the day and were out of bed, bravely accepting the challenge and appreciating the wonders of the journey through the ocean in all its might and greatness.
Day 5
After 2 days at sea, we saw our first glimpse of land, Smith Island. The view was an astonishing mountain rage covered with snow peaking out of clouds.
We had a few hours until reaching the shores of Antartica which were spent listening to educational presentation from climate change and sustainable energy from two of the most recognised specialists. Both gentlemen have promised to sit down with me over the next few days to discuss some of the questions that Ali and travelled across the world to answer including: How much is the UAE impacted by climate change and what can individuals do to assist in pushing for renewable energy.
The UAE is, after all, a small country and we are curious about how much it is contributing to climate change. Should the average person be concerned about their contribution to these efforts?
After reaching the shores of Antarctica, we were taken through a magnificent passage way called the lemaire channel between glaciers and mountains. We were taken on a zodiac, an inflatable boat, to take a closer look. Both and I spent the entire trip speechless. What we only saw in picture frames and on computer screensavers, we witnessed a few meters from our eyes. Ali compared beautifully to being the deserts of Al Ain, the similar purity of the dunes which is mirrored here in the beauty of the glaciers. It truly was breathtaking and we both agreed after returning to the boat that being surrounded which such foreign perfection has changed something in is which we hope to discover more about it in our journey here in Antarctica.
Day 6
We made our first landing on Peterman Island. Surrounding by Penguins and seals, we worked with our teams to achieve the goals set by our team leaders. Surrounded by Antartica’s wildlife, it was difficult not just to sit back and take in the wonders that overwhelmed us. Returning to the ship, we had a chance to hear Robert Swan’s talking about his personal experience on his journey to the North and South pole. We listen to this magnificent story with all its excellent points about leadership.
We later heard lectures from the specialists on board and the true purpose of our journey is slowly beginning to make more sense. Not only are we blessed to be part of this journey to one of Earth’s wonders, a continent with 98 per cent of its surface covered by ice, but we are also privileged to have onboard with us some of the greatest minds in climate change and sustainability. Sitting with Robert Zibblies, a South African expert on sustainability, we began to explore ideas about corporate sustainability and its benefits to the company. Analyzing the possibilities, we looked into possible customer attraction and retention, improved operating efficiency and identifying new business opportunities. Ali and both decided to make the best of this trip by spending as much time as possible absorbing these pearls of wisdom so that we may bring home with us ideas and plans for change to our people, our company and our nation. The world is moving forward in environment protection and we cannot afford to allow our great company to fall behind.
Day 7
The winds took a bad turn today, with gusts reaching over 100 kilometres per hour. The captain anchored the ship by using over 20 meters of chain to keep us in place. After adjusting to the icy breeze, we sailed on to Neko Harbour (named after a whaling ship that docked there for two winters) where we made our first step onto the mainland of Antarctica as previous stops were on Islands. One of the team stated a wonderful quote, “A first walk into a new country makes life on this planet worth being grateful for. Just imagine how we both felt to step on the least visited continent in the world. We took two small steps for man and two giant leaps for the United Arab Emirates, being the first Abu Dhabians to make this journey.
After spending time climbing steep snow slopes, we wrote postcards to ourselves and our families which will be posted from Port Lockeroy and get to us in Abu Dhabi six months from now. The objective of this task for Ali and me was to remind our future selves of the great respect we have to come to have for this white paradise. After returning to the ship, we sat in a group to put forward our questions to the specialists about Antarctica.
We wanted to discover what resources would Antarctica have to offer countries if the current treaty was not renewed in 2041. It turns out that Antarctica has enough fossil fuel reserves which could support the world’s energy consumption for over 10 years. To find these reserves, the continent would be literary be destroyed and this is reason why Robert and his team are putting forth this extreme effort is their 2041 cause. Robert spoke to us about the possibility of the United Arab Emirates being the first country to sign the treaty which i hope learn more of soon.
Day 8
The ship is filled with exciting today as tonight we camp out on the ice of Antarctica. We spent the day gearing up with tents and gear which will us hold in place as we sleep in the unforgiving cold. We have moved into Paradise Harbour where we will be transferred over the Leith Cove, a small rock covered with Ice in the middle of a bay, surrounded by mountains and wildlife.
The zodiacs took us over and the ship left us alone in the wilderness to deal with nature’s response to our visit. In our teams, we set up camp and spent the evening discussing future possibilities of renewable energy for each of our countries. Being a motorcycle enthusiast, I found fellow Harley Davidson motorcycle riders and we talked of embarking on a journey from the Middle East to a distant destination on our Harleys to support renewable energy and sustainability in the Middle East.
Team mates from the UAE and Egypt gathered together as i made the call to Prayer and Ali lead us in our first group prayer on the ice of Antarctica. It was an unbelievably rewarding experience to pray side by side our muslims brothers and sisters who have travelled from across the world to share knowledge of how protect our small planet. Later, night fell as did complete darkness. With nothing but our tents and sleeping bags, we enter our zero degree sleeping bags and ferociously battled sleep until the morning.
Day 9
Before we began this journey, Robert announced that his goal was to link sustainability with leadership in each of the 2041 team, and today was a day of leadership. There are no two ways around, each of us here have been blessed with the gift of witnessing the Earth’s most breathtaking and untouched continent. With this gift, our team including Ali and myself and are obliged to take this message home and lead our people into a world of sustainability and renewable energy.
The mission is long and undoubtedly filled with obstacles, but nonetheless, it is something we are determined to accomplish. To take on thi responsibility, the mission requires men and women with strong leadership skills. We were taken to Cuverville Island where, in our teams, we were set with the task of climbing the Cuverville Mountain together while discussing the strengths of four heroes of the Antarctic, Robert Swan’s mentors and Polar explorers Captain Robert F. Scott, Lord Edward Shakelton and Roald Amundsen. We were to point out the leadership skills in each of the four and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of our own leadership skills.
This may seem like an ordinary task with minimal benefit, yet the discussions that followed was where found the greatest from. We successfully climbed the mountain in harsh conditions and climbed down to return to the ship were we continued the discussion for hours, not only discussing the obvious leadership skills, but analyzing how each of us from different cultures handled certain objectives as a leader. The talks continued throughout the night with a wonderful mix of some extraordinary team mates including Simon, a Chinese owner of a coca cola plant with over 2000 employees, Mark from Wales who is a leader in Sustainability for an energy company, Michelle from Canada who is a family life co-ordinator, Ali and I.
Day 10
Since the start of our journey, we have experienced extreme conditions on land and sea. Just when we thought Antartica could not provide us with any more beauty and for the first time since we set sail, the sun came out. It did not occur to us but seeing the sun reminded us all of how much we missed its blissful light. It was as if millions of diamonds had woken up to sparkle for us from the mountains and ice across the water. The deck, which is usually occupied by photographers and crew was filled with all team members, sharing joyful laughter after seeing a familiar sky. Though still icy cold, we enjoyed a wonderful barbeque outside surrounded by the bright mountains of Antarctica.
We stopped off for a while at Wilhemina Bay to enjoy the sun on land. After returning to the ship, we began an exercise called speakers corner where we sat with specialist in the field of sustainability and climate change, having an open discussion between small groups about how to bring change to our companies and communities.
Ali and I had a fabulously rewarding beneficial conversation with Darren from KPMG who shared with us his experience is plight to convince his CEO about re-directing the company towards sustainability. While many choose to wait for government initiatives, he suggested that individuals take on the task themselves and push to make a change from within. Darren shared with us his formula of success which can be applied to any employee, be they in human resources, finance, communications or supply management. The mission to create change requires efforts from various departments within a company and will be accepted by any CEO or company director as long as logic, environmental and financial benefits are presented. Millions of dirhams are being saved by companies across the world who have decided on turning towards environment and energy efficiency and sustainability. If we go deeper into the statistics, it is a win-win situation for the employees, company and community as a whole.
Day 11
The ship sailed throughed the Antartic Sound to Mountain Brown Bluff, named so because of its unique colour which remains brown even in the icy winter where everything else is covered in white. Walking through a path of fur seals with many aggressive alpha males protecting their groups, we pushed through and climbed a treacherous glacier filled with hidden crevasses which dropped down to depths of over 60 meters. Following our guide, we successfully reached the summit and sat with our teams to reflect on the beauty of the mountain and Antarctica.
Later on the ship, many participated in the ‘polar plunge’’, a dive into the 1 degree Celsius water.
In the afternoon, we continued speaker’s corner with Robert Swan who shared with us the importance of public speaking as a leader and the techniques of success he had learnt over the years. In his days of exploration, Robert usually found himself in a tight spot when it came to funded or when seeking permission to explore in certain areas and knowledge in these areas proved extremely valuable to us all. Later that evening, the winds took a turn to the worse and began to blow our vessel towards the ice. The only solution he found was to sail forward and fast to outrun the winds which rocked our boat in the high waves for the rest of the night.
Day 12
Our final day in the Antarctic before heading out to the ruthless drake passage, we made our final stop at King George Island to visit one of the most crucial stops in our trip, Robert Swan’s E-Base. The E-Base is a small one room facility which runs completely on renewable energy. Robert gave us a detailed recap of his courageous mission to live for 20 days in the Antarctic, surviving only on renewable energy. Looking at the cramp conditions among the innovative technology, we realised that our final stop was the most significant one yet as it gave us and the rest of the world proof. It displayed evidence that if Robert Swan could survive in one of the harshest environments in the world, the rest of us have no excuse. The technology is available and the possibilities they proved are endless. This was the final page in our story of becoming true ‘renewable energy converts’ as some of the team call it.
We manage to have enough time to visit to elephant seals who accompanied us as we sat in silence, re-running our journey through our minds as we looked towards to the future. We sat on the cliffs by the shore and watched seals and penguins who seem to be supply us with a show to bid us farewell to this great untouched continent which now holds great meaning to all of our hearts and minds. Antarctica is an example of the unbelievable wonders our world is capable of creating on its own without the touch of man. Yet, even at the end of the world, the consequences of our actions have travelled great distances, threatening the peace and solitude of this land. Without the change to renewable energy, the continent in all it perfection will be raped for its fossil fuels, destroying one of the last unscathed gifts that we have all been blessed with. Our own homes and countries are in risk of this same threat as are all countries on the globe. Sustainability is the answer to our companies, our communities and our countries. The benefits are endless and we can only hope that our journey here will help, even in the slightest, to push our lives and the lives of those around us, to inspiration toward a clean environment of sustainable energy.