Paul Salopek on Walking the World
Conversations with Tyler
Conversations with Tyler
4.8 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 25 January 2023
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Paul Salopek is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and National Geographic fellow who, at the age of 50, set out on foot to retrace the steps of the first human migrations out of Africa. The project, dubbed the “Out of Eden Walk,” began in Ethiopia in 2012 and will eventually take him to Tierra Del Fuego, a distance of some 24,000 miles.
Calling in just as he was about to arrive in Xi’an, he and Tyler discussed his very localized supply chain, why women make for better walking partners, the key to crossing deserts, the most difficult terrain to traverse, what he does for exercise, his information prep for each new region, how he’s kept the project funded, which cuisines he’s found most and least palatable, what he learned working the crime beat in Roswell, New Mexico, how this project challenges conventional journalism, his thoughts on the changing understanding of early human migration, and more.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.
Recorded October 13th, 2022
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Conversations with Tyler is produced by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, |
| 0:09.4 | bridging the gap between academic ideas and real world problems. |
| 0:13.5 | Learn more at mercatis.org. |
| 0:16.2 | For full transcript of every conversation, enhanced with helpful links, visit |
| 0:21.1 | ConversationsWithT Tyler.com. |
| 0:27.2 | Hello everyone and welcome back to Conversations With Tyler. |
| 0:30.9 | Today I am chatting with Paul Salopeck. |
| 0:33.5 | Paul is not here with me. |
| 0:35.0 | Paul, where are you? |
| 0:36.6 | I am in Shasi Province in Western China. |
| 0:40.2 | Paul is undertaking one of the most remarkable feats I have heard of. |
| 0:44.2 | First of all, he's an extremely well-known journalist, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner. |
| 0:49.3 | You may have read his articles in the National Geographic, The Atlantic, and many other publications. |
| 0:54.8 | But since 2013, he has been embarking on what is called the Out of Eden Walk, |
| 1:00.0 | which is roughly a 15-year project 24,000 miles. |
| 1:04.3 | I call it walking around the world, but it is starting in East Africa, the cradle of mankind. |
| 1:09.3 | And it will finish in Tierra del Fuego, and as stated, Paul currently is in Western China. |
| 1:15.1 | Paul, welcome. |
| 1:16.4 | Tyler, it's good to be here with you. |
| 1:18.2 | First question. |
| 1:19.5 | How do you take care of your feet? |
| 1:21.2 | I think I drew a lucky card on the genetics and on feet, so the feet more or less take care of me. |
... |
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