Swiss born explorer Sarah Marquis, 43, started a solo survival expedition through some of Australia’s most rugged and desolate terrain and plans to walk 500 miles before she completes her trek in Western Australia’s Purnululu National Park later this summer.
Marquis is trekking the Kimberley, a remote area in the northwestern corner of Australia inhabited by wild and dangerous animal. Marquis told National Geographic, “Here, there’s a zone where there are no humans. And there is no such thing on this planet, anymore.” Halfway through her trek Marquis has had run-ins with deadly saltwater crocodiles and wild bulls, “I wanted the connection with nature, the animals, and the wild. I wanted to be in a place where the animals hadn’t seen people,” says Marquis.
The 500-mile trek is not simply a long walk; Marquis is in survival mode, living off the land and her own experience and ingenuity. Her mornings start early, and she walks 12 hours a day while foraging for food along the way. One of her favorite meals is large crickets the size of a human finger. In addition to crickets, Marquis grazes on passion fruit, lily bulbs, and anything else she can find. One orange like looking fruit made her eyes go blurry for hours, “It got better once I stopped eating them,” said Marquis. In the first month of her trek Marquis has already lost 22 pounds. The current drought in the Kimberley has hampered what Marquis can find to eat; she had originally planned to feast on wild yams and tomatoes, but has been forced to supplement her diet with 100 grams of flour a day.
Marquis is no stranger to long arduous treks and adventure. She has trekked the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail, 4,350 miles through the Andes, rode a horse through Central Anatolia in Turkey, and trekked 10,000 miles from Siberia through the Gobi Desert to Australia. The three year 10,000 mile trek helped make Marquis a National Geographic 2014 Explorer of the Year.
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