Voyage to the Heart of the Earth

Nov 8, 2018

Sacred spaces aren’t just reserved for cathedrals and temples. The earth itself can be a sacred space, and Leon Chartrand, founder of Xavier Expeditions, knows how to find it. The latest destination? Namibia.

Themed “Story of Earth, Story of Us,” the expedition took students to the edge of Namibia’s Kalahari Desert. For eight days, the group made a safari ranch its base station and from there trekked to discover over 2,000-year-old footprints and skeletal remains, walk with Saan Bushmen to learn about medicinal plants, hike across massive sand dunes, and observe giraffes, elephants and lions in their native habitat.

Not bad for a fellow who came to Xavier looking for a part-time job.

“When I came to Xavier, I was looking for teaching experience and a place that would be a good home for this idea of wilderness immersion,” he says.

Chartrand’s CV includes not only an MEd and MA in Theology from Xavier and a PhD from the University of Toronto in Environmental Ethics, but also some fairly adventurous experiences.

“I’ve lived in Yellowstone and worked as a bear management officer and bear biologist in Wyoming for about eight years. It was time for me to do something new with my life, and that’s when I came to Xavier,” he says.

Chartrand began Xavier Expeditions in 2010 with a trip to Yellowstone. “I needed 10 people to sign up, and I got 11.”

Now the expeditions program has expanded to include Spring Break trips to the Navaho Nations in the Grand Canyon, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Gates of the Arctic National Preserve—and the first trip to Namibia in 2018.

The driving force behind Xavier Expeditions was to take students, who are primarily from urban or suburban backgrounds, and provide the opportunity to be immersed in an environmental setting that Chartrand describes as “the reality we all actually live in. Our world is primarily a wilderness community.”

The first Namibia trip was two years in the planning, but a 2019 trip is already in the works.

The 11 students on the first trip were in Namibia for 15 days—eight days on the safari ranch plus excursions to national parks and desert regions. Saan Bushmen took them tracking and taught them about medicinal, edible and poisonous plants and animal signs. 

“They’re the oldest culture and language in Africa and the original hunter/gatherers,” Chartrand says. And encountering elephants, giraffes and zebra all at one watering hole in the wild is an immersive experience not found at any zoo. “That was a highlight.”

Another memorable event turned out to be the evening soccer games. “It was really moving. The students loved playing soccer with the village kids,” Chartrand reflects. “We’re already talking about the game becoming a tradition.”

Chartrand credits Elgin Ritter and Ritter Safaris for helping with the trip's planning and success. Now he's also working on developing trips for alumni and veterans and building a financial need-based grant program for students. One idea for an alumni trip would be Virunga National Park which straddles Rwanda and Uganda. It’s the habitat for the last of the mountain gorillas. Stay tuned—you could help write the next story of the earth.

Learn more about Xavier Expeditions.

View this video of the Namibia trip created by Entrepreneurial Studies major David Constantine.