Rüdiger Nehberg

Rüdiger Nehberg, also known as 'Sir Vival', (born 4 May 1935) is a human rights activist and survival expert who introduced survival training to Europe and founded the anti-FGC organization TARGET. He currently lives in Rausdorf near Hamburg. Nehberg describes himself as having "No astrological sign, no church, no hair, and no clip in the ear (this means: he is a maverick)".

He was born in Bielefeld, where he had his first adventure at the age of four, when, to the distress of his parents, little Rüdiger disappeared without notice and was found only two days later, by the police. In 1972, together with two friends, he became one of the first to travel the length of the Blue Nile in a home-made boat.

Since 1980 he has been involved in defending the interests of the Yanomami Amerindian tribe. With his spectacular enterprise "The Tree" (crossing the Atlantic Ocean on a fir-tree in 2000) he contributed to the provision of a protected reservation for the Yanomami. In 1981 – followed by a camera team – he crisscrossed Germany without any special equipment and relying for his sustenance solely on what he was able to find in nature. In 1987, Nehberg crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a pedal boat.

He also is one of the initiators of revealing the fraudulent "Tatunca Nara"- story, which made a very big noise in the German and Brazilian media. A German worker named Hans Guenther Hauck left his home near Nuremberg in 1967, moved into the Brazilian jungle and proclaimed himself as the leader of the secret Ugha-Mongulala tribe, which lives hidden in the secret jungle city of Akakor since 15,000 years. The city and the tribe never existed. But very famous filmmakers and adventure-loving men and women believed Mr Nara, three people even died during Tatunca-lead jungle excursions. The deaths of the people and the whole circumstances have never completely been revealed. In Nehberg's book "Der selbstgemachte Häuptling" (The self-made chieftain) the whole story of this mysterious man and his deeds can be read.

In September 2000 he founded the human rights organization TARGET, which has obtained promising results in preventing the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM). For his commitment to endangered peoples, Nehberg was awarded the "Bundesverdienstkreuz" ("Federal Cross for Merit"). In November 2006, TARGET organized and financed a conference under the patronage of the Eygyptian Great Mufti Ali Gomaa at Al-Azhar University of Cairo. As a result of the conference, leading authorities of Islamic law denounced genital mutilation.

Works

* Survival-Lexikon ISBN 3-492-23055-5
* Drei Mann, ein Boot, zum Rudolfsee, ISBN 3-492-22714-7
* Abenteuer am Blauen Nil, ISBN 3-492-23251-5
* Mit dem Baum über den Atlantik, ISBN 3-492-23607-3
* Die Kunst zu Überleben, Survival, ISBN 3-492-22622-1
* Medizin Survival, ISBN 3-492-22717-1
* Survival-Abenteuer vor der Haustür, ISBN 3-492-22715-5
* Überleben ums Verrecken, ISBN 3-89029-219-4
* Echt verrückt!, ISBN 3-89029-264-X
* Die Yanomami-Indianer, ISBN 3-492-23922-6
* Abenteuer Urwald, ISBN 3-89029-286-0
* Abenteuergeschichten, ISBN 3-453-01855-9
* Rüdiger Nehberg - Die Autobiographie, ISBN 3-89029-297-6

External links

* [http://www.ruediger-nehberg.de/ Rüdiger Nehberg's Homepage (German)]
* [http://www.target-human-rights.com/index.php?lang=en "Target" Human Rights Site]