Bio of an explorer
Michael McCarthy’s adventures around the planet read like an Indiana Jones script. He has trekked over the Himalayas to find and rescue abandoned children in the midst of a civil war, where he was captured by Maoist guerillas and held for ransom. This adventure is shown in the book (Amazon) and documentary The Snow Leopard Returns (Youtube). Over a dozen of his travel books are available on Amazon, including travel humour photobooks Amazing Adventures and Better than Snarge.
Michael survived his ferry boat sinking in the midst of the crocodile-infested Tonle Sap inland sea in Cambodia, wandered the jaguar inhabited cloud forests of Ecuador, followed grizzly bears in Alaska and the Great Bear Rainforest of British Columbia, cage dived with great white sharks off California, explored the haunts of former headhunters in the Marquesa Islands of the South Seas, kayaked with humpback whales in Newfoundland and Labrador, interviewed marine iguanas about social Darwinism in the Galapagos, swum with sea turtles in the Caribbean, gotten lost snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, and myriad other explorations of remote and seldom visited wild destinations.
As a reporter for the prestigious Pacific Sun in California, he is the only journalist ever to sneak into San Quentin Prison and escape to write a cover story about it. Hundreds of his travel stories and OpEds have been published in Postmedia newspapers across Canada. He continues to write and publish his guidebook series Picnics in Paradise; Short Walks and Easy Bike Trips in Vancouver. A prolific photographer, his trips to over 40 countries are illustrated in his photobook Portraits of People and the Places They Live.
Aside from adventures, his humanitarian work includes creating and funding a cosmetics course at the federal prison for women in Nepal that resulted in the probation of 38 women; editing and publishing Spare Change Street Newspaper for 5 years, a publication that allowed homeless people in Vancouver to earn a living and self-respect instead of begging; practicing micro-philanthropy in several countries in southeast Asia; helping found the Write to Read Project in British Columbia, whose volunteers deliver libraries and Internet connections to Indigenous communities in remote locations. His guidebook Transformative Travel; How to Change the World on Your Journey Through Life is available on Amazon. A 40-minute video on that topic is available on Youtube, along with hundreds of his travel videos.
Michael is the recipient of the VanCity Ethics in Action Award by Canadian Businesses for Social Responsibility for his work giving a voice to the voiceless. When not travelling the planet he lives in beautiful False Creek South in Vancouver, British Columbia with his wife Nancy, a retired museum director. Their son Conor is an InfoTech specialist at a major law firm and also a global traveller. When not travelling the world or writing, Michael explores Vancouver and region on walks, and daily sprints on his hybrid bike. When not travelling he plays competitive hockey all year round.
Web: www.transformative-travel.ca
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/intentional.traveler
Amazon books
