Leica Explorers set out in the footsteps of the great explorers

Solms, Germany (February 15, 2011) – Traveling Magellan’s route in South America, exploring Australia’s Great Barrier Reef with James Cook’s log book in your backpack or following in the footsteps of Amundsen in the icy wastes of the Antarctic – the ultimate voyager’s dream will soon become reality for ten adventurous globetrotters through the Leica Explorer contest. They submitted their applications to become traveling Leica ambassadors in October 2010 and were selected from almost 1,000 applicants from 145 different countries. The Leica Explorers have now set out on their travels fully equipped with gear by The North Face, 2,000 euros (approximately US $2,700) for expenses along the way and a Leica V-Lux 2 to document their journey. These globetrotters will be keeping us up to date on their adventures with an exclusive travel diary of pictures and reports at www.leica-explorer.com.

The Leica V-LUX 2 digital compact camera is the ideal traveling companion for our adventurers. It is light, has a fast lens and is particularly versatile. With a range of focal lengths from 25 to 600 millimeters, it is a true alternative to SLR cameras and guarantees that visitors to the Explorer Blogs can enjoy fascinating insights into the countries traveled by our explorers in breath-taking quality.

The winners and their routes in detail: Marcus Werner from Berlin will be following in the footsteps of Ferdinand Magellan on his journey to South America. Sebastian Wolf from Magdeburg will be picking up the trail of Leif Eriksson in North America. In India, our Canadian explorer Hubert Hayaud and his partner Mayra Roffe will be taking the routes explored by Ibn Battuta. Lebanese explorer Roy Samaha is on the trail of James Bruce in Egypt. Daisuke Takahashi from Japan will be following James Cook’s route to Australia. American explorer Christopher Butler will be following Marco Polo on the way to China. Annie Atkins, our Irish explorer, will be traveling to Tibet to travel the routes of Nain Singh. Saulius Damulevicius from Lithuania will follow Roald Amundsen to the Antarctic and French adventurer Alary Romain takes up the trail of William Adams in Japan. Our Dutch discoverer MayLee Weernik has already completed her adventurous journey. She explored the routes taken by David Livingston in Africa.

About Leica Camera AG:
Leica Camera AG is an internationally operating premium manufacturer of cameras and sport optics products. The Leica legend is founded on the lenses of the long-established company. Together with innovative technologies, they provide for better images in all concerns of vision and perception. Leica Camera AG has its headquarters in Solms, in the state of Hesse in Germany, and a second production site in Vila Nova de Famalicão, Portugal. The company is internationally represented by its branch offices in England, France, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland and the USA. New, innovative products have pushed the company’s recent positive development: In the financial year 2009/2010, a total of 1,083 employees achieved revenues of 158.2 million euros (approximately US $213.3 million).