Sullivan’s Travels: Anatomy teacher travels into several remote nations of the world
Steve Sullivan stands by the entrance sign of the Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda, Africa.
March 4, 2010 • written by Macy Linton
Filed under Features
The wide expanse of the African Savanna; the sweltering green jungles of Asia; the towering snow-capped mountains of Alaska; the cold tile of a Bartlett school room–
Wait, what?
When a person thinks “high school science teacher,” their next thought isn’t usually “world-traveler.” Anatomy teacher and amateur photographer Steve Sullivan, however, defies that standard.
Sullivan has traveled to all of the places listed above and more. He has visited every continent but Australia and Antarctica, most of them more than once; he frequently travels to Glacier National Park in Alaska and Montana to see friends and photograph the scenery. Sullivan has also been to almost every country in Europe, and has taken several trips to Central and South Africa.
One unique aspect about Sullivan is that he doesn’t take the normal tourist approach to traveling–tours, sunglasses, Hawaiian shirts, the works. Instead, he “roughs” it.
“The rougher you make it, the cheaper it is,” Sullivan, who flies standby and sleeps on trains and in tents in order to travel without depleting his teacher’s salary, said. “I’ve experienced things roughing it that I might not have on a tour.”
Scuba-diving in the Caribbean, hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro, spending Christmas by Mt. Everest, working at an orphanage and meeting a pride of lions in the open grasslands of Africa–over the years, Sullivan has had a plethora of widely varying experiences. Out of all of them, however, his favorite memories–and his favorite pictures—are often the ones involving wildlife.
“I like to see wildlife in their natural environment. There’s nothing fake about it,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan has had close animal encounters with creatures ranging from peacocks and elephants to rhinos, crocodiles, gorillas, lions, and leopards. He has also befriended other travelers and natives, and once had a close encounter of a very different kind–with the president of Uganda.
“When I met him, [Yoweri Kaguta] Musaveni [the president of Uganda] was doing a documentary for Discovery Channel,” Sullivan said. “He’s sort of a dictator, and I’m not going to say he hasn’t done anything wrong, but when I talked to him it really seemed like he wanted to help the country. The people blast him, but people know he wants to help them live and work, and Uganda is really one of the only halfway stable countries in Africa.”
This wasn’t Sullivan’s only brush with politics; throughout his travels, he has been caught at the site of several political upheavals.
At the start of the Iraq war when no one else wanted to go to Africa, Sullivan journeyed to Uganda and Rwanda. He was escorted out of Zimbabwe when the vice president died and President Robert Mugabe’s reign of terror began. Most recently, he traveled to the Himalayan countries of Nepal and Tibet, the latter of which is the homeland of the exiled Dalai Lama and a site major political unrest.
“I go to countries when nobody else wants to go. That way it’s cheaper,” Sullivan said. “I’ve had people ask me, ‘Why do you come here?’ My joke philosophy is ‘If I die here, I don’t have to teach.’”
Sullivan has seen things beautiful, wild, and intrinsically human–and he’s definitely seen strange.
“The best thing I ever ate used to be King Crab Legs up in Alaska, but not anymore. Now it’s zebra. It’s delicious; the steak melted in my mouth. I was stunned,” said Sullivan, who while abroad advocates following the strict rule of “If you don’t peel it, cook it, or see it cooked, throw it away.”
The most important thing that he’s learned, however, isn’t how to take a picture or cook a zebra steak–rather, it’s about people.
“People in cities have no time,” Sullivan said. “The more crowded, the more rude. The more rural, the nicer. No matter where you go. The rudest people I’ve ever met were in Rome. The nicest were in Nepal. But there are nice people everywhere and rude people everywhere.”
Despite his experiences, Sullivan admits he’s getting a little tired after years of hard traveling.
“It’d be nice to be a bit more comfortable,” said Sullivan. “My advice? Take a tour.”
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