Tim Cope

Tim Cope (born December 7, 1978 ) is an Australian adventurer and world traveler from Gippsland , Victoria .

First tour

At the age of 21, Cope began his first major tour. In October 1999 he started in the far west of Russia , in Petrozavodsk , on a one-year trip on a recumbent bike to Beijing , which he reached in October 2000. He committed this undertaking together with Chris Hatherly and described his collected impressions in a book published in 2003.

From Kharkhorin to Ópusztaszer

In Australia, as well as in Asia and Europe, Cope became widely known through his ride from the steppe of Mongolia , starting in Kharkhorin near Karakorum , all the way to Hungary . With just one tent and three horses, Cope intended to follow in the footsteps of the Mongolian horsemen of Genghis Khan and to immerse as much as possible in the nomadic way of life of the Asian steppe peoples. In addition to riding, he quickly learned to adapt his rhythm of life to the needs of his horses. From the originally estimated eighteen months for the route of almost 10,000 km, a three-year trip developed from summer 2004 to summer 2007.

After crossing the Altai , Cope followed the shores of Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan and in the middle of winter crossed the wide Kazakh steppe to the almost dry Aral Sea . His local guide gave him his dog Tigon, a Central Asian Tazi , which from then on became the only constant companion for Cope alongside the horses. Tigon was stolen from him in a remote and dilapidated Russian settlement, but he found it in good time before the dog could be eaten. He crossed Russia through the Caspian Depression and the Manytn Lowlands to the Sea of ​​Azov and entered the Crimea on its eastern foothills. The further he got to the West, the more difficult his journey became due to the increasing civilization of Europe. So he had to struggle with his horses with the dangers of automobile traffic or had to look for suitable pasture places for a long time, as most of the free areas in Europe are used for agriculture. In the Crimea, Cope also witnessed violent clashes between the Russian-born population and the Crimean Tatars , who are retreating to their ancestral lands after being deported during the Stalinist era . In the resulting conflict, he claims to have recognized that the rural way of life is incompatible with a nomadic culture. As he continued on his way through the Ukraine , Cope had to interrupt his trip after learning of his father's accidental death in Australia on his satellite phone. Returning from the funeral, he continued his journey from where he left off.

After the grueling crossing of the Carpathians , in the Tigon spent Cope ill for several weeks in a remote mountain village of Hutsul before moving to Hungary further moved. The Danube marked the most westerly destination of his journey, as he viewed this river as the border between the urban Western European cultural area and the nomadic world of Eurasia. Hungary had chosen Cope as the end of his journey because the Magyars, the first equestrian people to invade Europe from Asia , once settled here . During his trip, Cope had attracted international media attention, especially from the countries he had toured, but also in Australia. When he reached his final destination at the monument to the Magyar prince and state founder Árpád in Ópusztaszer , he was received by his family, numerous onlookers, the media and diplomatic representatives from Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Hungary and Australia. In the reporting of the Asian countries in particular, his trip was recognized as a tribute to their nomadic roots. In a final résumé, Cope came to the conclusion that he had put on the “fur of the wolf” during his three-year journey and that it would be difficult for him to return to urban civilization. He gave his three horses to a Hungarian orphanage, and took the dog Tigon with him to Australia twelve months later. He built a yurt in the garden of his home .

Book and film

Tim Cope published the book Off the Rails: Moscow to Beijing by Bike (Penguin Books 2003, ISBN 978-0143005568 ) on his bike tour from Petrozavodsk to Beijing .

In November 2009 he produced the four-part documentary series In the footsteps of the nomads from the video diaries of his crossing of Asia for the broadcasters ZDF and ARTE (eng: On the Trail of Ghengis Khan ; directors: Tim Cope, Richard Dennison). The series was first broadcast on ARTE in February 2010 and a second time in August 2010 on PHOENIX . The publication of a book is also planned for the end of 2013.

Web links

• Official website