Louis-Philippe Loncke

Louis-Philippe Loncke
Born	3 March 1977 Mouscron, Belgium
Education	ECAM, KU Leuven, UAMS
Occupation	Consultant, Explorer, Adventurer
Years active	2006–present

Louis-Philippe Loncke, is a Belgian explorer, adventurer and motivational speaker. In 2008, he achieved the world first crossing on foot of the length of the Simpson desert,^[1] which was a North to South traverse passing through its geographical center.

Early life and education

Loncke was born in Mouscron, Belgium to a family of furniture makers. He studied engineering in Brussels at ECAM, a master in Industrial management in KU Leuven and treasury management at the University of Antwerp Management School.

Career

Management consultant^[2]

Loncke started his career as logistic manager. Since 1999, he has built experience in over 10 corporate companies in various positions. He has been working as management consultant since 2007 mainly in IT. The skills he built in the challenging corporate world allow him to plan efficiently his expeditions. He is also self-taught in photography, SEO, marketing and communications. Since 2006, he is volunteering at NGO Art in All of us and was elected member of the board of directors in 2010.

Adventurer and explorer

Loncke started traveling alone in 2000. In 2002, he was sent to Singapore for work and learned scuba diving. To fulfill this passion he traveled for a year in Oceania between 2004 and 2005. He started hiking and heard about adventurers and explorers; and became interested after seeing the world acclaimed film Alone across Australia. Back in Belgium, he met author and adventurer Sylvain Tesson who encouraged him to continue and Louis-Philippe left again in 2006 to Australia to start his first three expeditions.^[3]

His first solo unresupplied traverse of the Tasmanian Wilderness was undoubtedly the most epic of all three and brought him the first sponsors and recognition among Australian explorers. After a year in Australia, he went back to Belgium and started planning for a series of several world first expeditions, the first being to attempt crossing the Simpson desert on its longest distance.

He has organised charity expeditions involving media buzz including the highest chocolate tasting on Everest. In July 2010, he trekked across Iceland^[4] between its extreme latitude from North to South. He spoofed an Icelandic promotional video^[5] that got viral in Iceland. He has announced a return to Iceland to attempt doing the journey during the winter.^[6] Both his Simpson and Iceland expeditions involved a science program of the MSH of Paris named Stress and decision taking in extreme environment.

Expeditions

World firsts

• 2006 - Unsupported crossing of the West MacDonnell National Park^[7]
• 2006 - Unsupported traverse of Fraser Island
• 2007 - Unresupplied crossing of the Tasmanian Wilderness
• 2008 - Unsupported crossing of the Simpson Desert from North to South and passing through the center.^[8][9]
• 2010 - Unsupported traverse of Iceland in the Summer^[10]
• 2011 - BelgiKayak expedition, touring by kayak the Belgian waterways.^[11][12]
• 2012 : Crossing of Poland by human power from Mount Rysy across the Tatras Mountains by foot, then by kayak on the Vistula to the Baltic sea.^[13][14][15] He spoke about the expedition at TEDxWarsaw 2013.^[16]
• 2013 - TitiKayak expedition with Gadiel Sánchez Rivera. Full tour by kayak of lake Titicaca. Creation of the first geotagged photographic inventory of the lake: they took GPS coordinates of the location of the limit between the water and the ground and alongside photographs of the background. They also took underwater photos on the Northern Bolivian coast to locate the living habitat of the giant frog Telmatobius culeus.^{[17][18][19][20]} He told the purpose of the expedition at TEDxFlanders.^[21]
• 2015 - Unsupported traverse of Death Valley National Park from North to South^[22]
• 2016 - Salar trek 2. Unsupported traverse of Salar de Coipasa and Salar de Uyuni on foot. These two Salt flats are located in the Bolivian Altiplano and are the remains of Lake Tauca.^[23][24][25]

Charity and cultural expeditions

• 2009 - Chocolate Sherpa expedition,^[26] walking 400 km from Kathmandu to Everest Base Camp and back to Lukla distributing chocolate.

Scientific and other expeditions

• 2013 - Cordell expedition to Clipperton Island. Scientific and DXpedition with callsign TX5K.^[27][28][29]
• 2013 - Marañón River expedition. Joined for 6 days the 1 month rafting and kayaking of the upper part of the river.
• 2013 - Salar trek expedition. He attempted -but failed- to traverse Salar de Coipasa and Salar de Uyuni on foot without any resupply.^[30][31]
• 2016 - Unsupported partial crossing of the Simpson Desert from West to East from Old Andado to Poeppel Corner and passing through the center.^[32][33]

Awards and recognition

Louis-Philippe Loncke holding the olympic torch

• In 2009, he was awarded young talent of the year^[34] by the Baillis of Mouscron.
• Outer Edge magazine has selected in its February–March 2011 issue Loncke's Simpson desert crossing being in the top 10 Australian expeditions to the edge of reason.^[35]
• Accepted as member of the Explorers Club in 2010^[36] and elected to Fellow in 2014.
• Becoming Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society in 2011
• In September 2011, the Jane Goodall Institute Belgium nominates him as goodwill ambassador for the Roots & Shoots program.^[37]
• Selected by the LOCOG to carry the Olympic Flame through Choppington on 15 June 2012.^[38]
• Finalist Photoshoot Awards contest OCEAN 2013, category Pollution.^[39]
• At the European parliament in Brussels, on 7 May 2014, Jane Goodall made him Jane Goodall Institute Knight for Youth, Animals and Plants in the Order of the Iguana.

References

1. Herald Sun, "If the desert doesn't get you, the camels might", 23 August 2008
2. "Resume on Linkedin"
3. "Short Biography"
4. Icenews, "Walking alone across Iceland not enough: Belgian explorer to try again in winter", 9 August 2010
5. Icenews, "Belgian explorer inspired by Inspired by Iceland", 17 October 2010
6. Grapevine Interview "This Man Crossed Iceland With No Outside Help And He'll Do It Again", 31 March 2011
7. Alice Springs News, "Hill after Hill", 21 September 2006
8. The Monitor, p7, "36 days alone in the desert", 28 August 2008
9. Sudpresse Archive, "800km en 35 jours", 17 November July 2008
10. Morgunblaðið, "Walked across the country in 19 days", 31 July 2010
11. Sudpresse Archive, "Le tour de Belgique en kayak", 9 July 2011
12. L'avenir, "Un tour de Belgique à la rame", 11 July 2011
13. Belgijski podróżnik Louis-Philippe Loncke pokonał 1200 km przez Polskę, 4 June 2012
14. 1200 km przez Polskę - pieszo, tratwą i kajakiem. Belg zakończył wyprawę, Wprost24, 4 June 2012
15. 1200 km przez Polskę - pieszo, tratwą i kajakiem. Belg zakończył wyprawę, Naszemiasto Gdansk, 4 June 2012
16. Slowly Down the Vistula: Louis-Philippe Loncke at TEDxWarsaw, TED.com, 21 March 2013
17. PAT Bolivia, "Hola Pais, Louis-Philippe recorrio el lago Titicaca", 25 September 2013
18. Save The Frogs, "Frog conservation in Bolivia"
19. LeVif.be "Une expédition sur le lac Titicaca", 16 August 2013
20. 7sur7.be "Expédition sur le lac Titicaca", 16 August 2013
21. Adventure: Louis-Philippe Loncke, TED.com, 26 March 2014
22. L'avenir, "Un Mouscronnois a réussi à traverser la Vallée de la Mort en autonomie", 16 November 2015
23. Le Vif, "Un Belge a traversé le plus grand désert de sel", 21 October 2016
24. Le Soir, "Le premier homme à traverser le plus grand désert de sel à pied est belge", 21 October 2016
25. HLN.be, "Belg is eerste die grootste zoutvlakte ter wereld volledig autonoom oversteekt", 21 October 2016
26. 7sur7, "Une dégustation de chocolat belge aura lieu début mai sur l'Everest", 8 April 2009
27. "Cordell 2013 Clipperton expedition"
28. CBS News San diego, "Boaters return to San Diego after island exploration", 19 March 2013
29. ICvolunteers, "GreenVoice a Voice for the Clipperton Expedition", 18 February 2013
30. Nord Eclair, "Louis-Philippe Loncke vaincu par le désert de sel", 27 November 2013
31. L'Avernir, "Après l'assaut du lac Titicaca, il abandonne dans le désert", 27 November 2013
32. News.com.au, "Belgian explorer takes on Australia’s Dead Heart", 11 August 2016
33. La Libre, "Un Belge parcourt 300 km seul à travers le désert de Simpson en Australie", 16 September 2016
34. L'avenir, "L'ordre des Baillis s'élargit", 6 October 2009
35. Outer Edge, "The Top 10 Craziest Expeditions Ever to Touch Australia", 23 December 2010
36. "Loncke's Explorers Club page"
37. Roots & Shoots ambassador
38. London 2012
39. "Photoshoot Awards OCEAN 2013"

External links

• Official website of Louis-Philippe Loncke