The Team
"Not all that wander are lost"
J.R.R. Tolkien
The Core Team
Alexander Heynen
Alexander Heynen, born in the Netherlands, has lived and worked in more than 20 different countries spanning 5 continents. He is an Aerospace Engineer (MSc) by training and a Petrophysical Engineer by trade, working for the largest oilfield services company in the world.
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Alexander is fluent in Dutch, English and Spanish. He has a passion for history and enjoys spending time among different cultures. He has extensive experience travelling, with more than 100 countries under his belt, and organizing and executing various expeditions, like a 5-month motorbike trip from the Netherlands to South Africa, a tracking to lake Chaqmaqtin at the end of the Wakhan corridor in Afghanistan, one of the most remote places on earth, and climbing some of the highest mountains in the world.
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He has recently moved back to The Hague, co-parenting his 9 year old daughter Anna and 4 year old son Jack..
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Contact me: Alexander@thelongwayup.org
Jef Imans
Jef Imans, born in Belgium, has lived and worked in 14 countries in 3 continents, most of them in Africa. When working as a humanitarian, he lived in conflict-impacted countries such as DR Congo, Chad and Sudan. Like Alexander, he has traveled extensively, most notably on a motorbike for 7 months in West Africa. Ah, the good ol# days...
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He has a Master's degree in Business and Finance, speaks fluent English, French and Flemish, and is experienced managing teams, projects and security, especially in conflict-impacted area's. He has focused the last 3 years on implementing a new approach for delivery of life-saving health commodities in mainly Africa.
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He has extensive traveling and security experience and expertise, mainly in difficult environments with limited resources, and was just waiting for an opportunity like this to come around to pack his bags and hit the road - or water - again.
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He currently lives in The Hague with his wife, Beata (see below) and their 9-year old son Jeff Junior
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Contact me: Jef@thelongwayup.org
Is this you?
We are looking for a third expedition team leader. Qualifications are quite simple: if the idea of joining an expedition like this excites you, and you feel brave enough to pursue it, you already met the majority of what we are looking for. Sure, we look definitely for things like being a team player, solution oriented and preferably some experience working, living or traveling in the rough, but you'll know it yourself if you are the right one or not.
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What do you get is more important: a once-in-a-lifetime experience, a lasting memory, and immortality as one of the members of the team that defined, after 3,000 years, the true and one source of the Nile. Can you wish for anything more? Oh, and lots of fun preparing it, of course.
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Doubt no more. Apply now.
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Send a message to: Jef@thelongwayup.org
The Support Team
Beata Grablevska-Imans
Beata Grablevska-Imans, originally from Lithuania, has lived and worked in Poland, Denmark, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast. Beata holds Master’s degrees in Foreign Languages and Political Sciences and has a postgraduate of the London School of Journalism.
She speaks eight languages, loves reading and writing, traveling and exploring new cultures. She has a passion for food and enjoys studying cook books, cooking and eating, of course. Currently Beata lives in The Hague in the Netherlands with her husband Jef (see above) and their nine-years-old son and writes a book about, well, she will tell you that in person.
She manages all main communication for the expedition, providing content, and is the media and press contact.
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Contact me: Beata@thelongwayup.org
The director
What is the best way to show the world what we are doing and what we will achieve? A documentary of course.
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If you not just want to be part of this story, but actually tell the story, from the beginning, you are our man/woman. You'll be the one that really immortalises this experience, the one that will make it known to the world, the one that can proudly say "I made that documentary". Lead us the way on how to achieve that, we will lead you the way to the one and true source of the Nile.
Send a message to: Beata@thelongwayup.org
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