Explorers Club to be Honoured at Tan Tan Festival

The Explorers Club, will be honoured for its efforts by the Moroccan government and King Mohammad VI at the historic Moussem de Tan Tan Festival in the Sahara on September 6th through 8th

The club, with its headquarters in New York City, has been singled out for its leadership role in promoting inclusive efforts for explorers and scientists from all countries to pursue a unified goal of worldwide exploration, 

Accepting the honor will be President of the Worldwide Explorers Club Alan Nichols and 14 member delegation of the Club's noted members, both explorers and scientists.

Tan Tan, famous for its inclusive tradition, brings together more than 35 tribes from the Sahara, the Berbers, along with a few representatives from other African and Middle Eastern countries. They spend a fortnight pursuing cultural exchanges, folk art and music festivals, camel races and other unique activities. Termed a "spectacle" by visitors, Tan Tan becomes a virtual city created on the Sahara with more than 1,000 Bedouin tents and more than 1,000 camels.

Started in 1963, Tan Tan Moussem's main event is camel trading, but there are also wedding celebrations, inter-tribal competitions and lots of music and dancing. The most dramatic aspect of the festival is a fantasia, a reenactment of a traditional Berber attack charge on horseback.

The festival was suspended from 1979 until 2004 due to tension in the Western Sahara, but since its revival by the Moroccan Ministry of Tourism and UNESCO, it has drawn nomadic peoples from Morocco, Mali, Niger and as far away as Saudi Arabia. Festival participants stay in a temporary city of more than 800 tents handmade from goat and camel hair.


About The Explorers Club

The Explorers Club was founded in New York City 1904 by a group of the world's leading explorers of the time. It is a multidisciplinary, not for profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to scientific exploration of land, sea, air, and space by supporting research and education in the physical, natural and biological sciences.

Inside the club in New York

The Club's members have been responsible for an illustrious series of famous firsts: First to the North Pole, first to the South Pole, first to the summit of Mount Everest, first to the deepest point in the ocean, first to the surface of the moon. With 3,000 members worldwide, the organization is headquartered at 46 East 70th Street, New York.

For more information visit: www.explorers.org


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