Louis-Philippe Loncke, is a Belgian explorer, adventurer and motivational speaker. In 2008, he achieved the world first crossing on foot of the length of the Simpson desert, which was a North to South traverse passing through its geographical center.

Early life and education

Loncke was born in Mouscron, Belgium to a family of furniture makers. He studied engineering in Brussels at ECAM, a master in Industrial management in KULeuven and treasury management at the University of Antwerp Management School

University of Antwerp Management School

The Antwerp Management School is an autonomous business school affiliated with the University of Antwerp. It is located in the historical center of the city of Antwerp...

.

Management consultant

Loncke started his career as logistic manager. Since 1999, he has build experience in over 10 corporate companies in various positions. He has been working as management consultant since 2007 mainly in IT. The skills he built in the challenging corporate world allows him to plan efficiently his expeditions. He is also self-taught in photography, SEO

SEO

SEO or search engine optimization, the process of improving ranking in search engine results.SEO may also refer to:* Seo , a Korean family name* SE-O or Västra Götaland County, a county on the western coast of Sweden...

, marketing and communications. Since 2006, he is volunteering at NGO Art in All of us and was elected member of the board of directors

Board of directors

A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...

 in 2010.

Adventurer and explorer

Loncke started traveling alone in 2000. In 2002, he was send to Singapore for work and learned scuba diving. To fulfill this passion he traveled for a year in Oceania between 2004 and 2005. He started hiking and heard about adventurers and explorers; and became interested after seeing the world acclaimed film Alone across Australia

Alone across Australia

Alone Across Australia is a 2003 Australian documentary starring adventurer Jon Muir.-Subject:Jon Muir, whose adventures include climbing Mt. Everest, trekking the North and South poles, and remote sea kayaking, challenges himself to complete the first unsupported crossing of Australia...

. Back in Belgium, he met author and adventurer Sylvain Tesson who encouraged him to continue and Louis-Philippe left again in 2006 to Australia to start his first three expeditions.

His first solo unresupplied traverse of the Tasmanian Wilderness

Tasmanian Wilderness

The Tasmanian Wilderness is a term that is used for a range of areas in Tasmania, Australia.The World Heritage Areas in South West, Western and Central are the most well known. However, there are also other areas in Tasmania that have the elements of being known as wilderness areas, the Tarkine...

 was undoubtedly the most epic of all three and brought him the first sponsors and recognition among Australian explorers. After a year in Australia, he went back to Belgium and started planning for a series of several world first expeditions, the first being to attempt crossing the Simpson desert on its longest distance.

He has organised charity expeditions involving media buzz including the highest chocolate tasting on Everest. In July 2010, he trekked across Iceland between its extreme latitude from North to South. He spoofed an Icelandic promotional video that got viral in Iceland. He has announced a return to Iceland to attempt doing the journey during the winter.
Both his Simpson and Iceland expeditions involved a science program of the MSH of Paris named Stress and decision taking in extreme environment.

Solo world firsts

• 2006 - Unsupported crossing of the West MacDonnell National Park
  West MacDonnell National Park
  West MacDonnell is a national park in the Northern Territory , 1234 km south of Darwin. It extends along the MacDonnell Ranges west of Alice Springs....
  
  
• 2006 - Unsupported traverse of Fraser Island
• 2007 - Unresupplied crossing of the Tasmanian Wilderness
  Tasmanian Wilderness
  The Tasmanian Wilderness is a term that is used for a range of areas in Tasmania, Australia.The World Heritage Areas in South West, Western and Central are the most well known. However, there are also other areas in Tasmania that have the elements of being known as wilderness areas, the Tarkine...
  
  
• 2008 - Unsupported crossing of the Simpson Desert
  Simpson Desert
  The Simpson Desert is a large area of dry, red sandy plain and dunes in Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland in central Australia. It is the fourth largest Australian desert, with an area of 176,500 km² ....
  
   from North to South and passing through the center.
• 2010 - Unsupported traverse of Iceland
  Iceland
  Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
  
   in the Summer

Charity and cultural expeditions

• 2009 - Chocolate Sherpa expedition
• 2011 - BelgiKayak expedition, touring by kayak the Belgian waterways.

Awards and recognition

• In 2009, he was awarded young talent of the year by the Baillis of Mouscron.
• Outer Edge magazine has selected in its February–March 2011 issue Loncke's Simpson desert crossing being in the top 10 Australian expeditions to the edge of reason.
• Accepted as member of the Explorers Club in 2010
• Becoming Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society in 2011

External links

of Louis-Philippe Loncke