To date, MASHA HAS WORKED AND TRAVELED THROUGH 145 COUNTRIES ON EVERY CONTINENT.
2023: Journey to Raja Ampat: For a month, I sailed over 300 miles around the Indonesian area of Raja Ampat, located off the west coast of Irian Jaya, New Guinea in the South Pacific. We visited and filmed at over 50 dive sites, and I logged 35+ hours underwater. Raja Ampat comprises over 1500 islands, and is considered to be the richest and most biodiverse region on the planet, hosting a staggering variety of marine life.
April/May I sailed up the western coast of Norway via local ferry to the Northern Cape (1300 miles from the North Pole) and around to Kirkenes, near the Russian border, visiting 35 towns en route and covering a distance of 3000 miles roundtrip.
2022: Sailing in the Caribbean: Barbados, St Lucia, Grenada, Grenadines, Bonaire, Curaçao, Aruba, Northern Columbia and Panama.
Expedition that partially circumnavigated Greenland by ship, beginning from Reykjavik, Iceland.
2021: Fall Expeditions to the Caucasus: Armenia, Georgia and Qatar & Malta.
2020: Feb/March 3000-mile Expedition from Ushuaia, Argentina to The Falkland Islands on to South Georgia Island and down across the ANTARCTIC PENINSULA. Return journey across the DRAKE PASSAGE to Ushuaia and Buenos Aires…
2019: SEPT/OCT: 6-week Film and Photographic Expedition across Morocco and Madagascar.
APRIL/MAY: 5-week Film and Photographic Expedition over 3,000 miles across SW Africa: from Cape Town, South Africa, north through Namibia and across Botswana to Zambabwe and Zambia; end at Victoria Falls.
2018: Trip Leader on 3,000-mile expedition across Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda: including Nairobi, Lake Nakuru, Eldoret, Kampala, Kalinzu Forest, Queen Elizabeth NP, Mountain Gorilla Trekking, Kigali, Kisali, Mbarara, Jinja, Lake VIctoria, Kericho, and the Masai Mara.
Ethiopia: Addis Ababa, Debre Markos, Bahir Dar, Gondar, Debark, Simien Mountains NP, Aksum, Mekele, Lalibela & Coptic Churches during Orthodox Easter….
AND: BELIZE & GUATEMALA: Month of August
2017: Leader/Lecturer for GeoEx on an expedition through Myanmar (Burma) in November: Including Yangon, Bago, Thanlyin, Golden Rock, Bagan, Irrawaddy River, Mandalay, Helo, Pindaya, Kalaw, Green Hill Valley Elephant Sanctuary & Inle Lake.
Continued on through western Japan: Kyoto, and Mt Koya areas
Expeditions in Ecuador, through The Galapagos Islands, and Colombia in South America, Feb/March.
2016: In March/April, Masha was on a 4000-mile expedition through Egypt, Jordan & Israel..The routes: JORDAN: Amman, Mt Nebo, Dead Sea, Petra, Wadi Rum and across the Gulf of Aqaba to the Sinai Peninsula. EGYPT: Nuweiba, Dahab, Sharm el Sheikh, Aswan, Abu Simbel (near the North Sudan border), Felucca down the Nile, Luxor, Hurghada on the Red Sea, Alexandria (and Al Alamein near eastern border of Libya) and Cairo (and Pyramids at Saqquara & Giza). ISRAEL: Tel Aviv, Masada, Dead Sea, West Bank & Palestine (Bethlehem, Jericho), Nazareth, Capernaum, Sea of Galilee & Jordan River and Jerusalem.
2015: In the Fall, Masha led the expedition, A Journey Across Tibet, for Geographic Expeditions from Lhasa, Gyantse, Xigatse, Sakya & Shegar in Tibet to Kathmandu, Nepal via the North Base Camp of Mount Everest, with an additional trip to New Delhi and Bodh Gaya, India, the place of Buddha’s enlightenment.
Masha then led a second journey to the Himalayan Kingdoms of Bhutan and Tibet, with an additional trip to the Sultanate of Brunei in northern Borneo. (Two months in Asia)
2014: July-September: China and Tibet. On a 1000+-mile expedition in China across TIBET to the far western part of the country to climb and circumambulate (to 19,000 feet) the sacred Mt. Kailash (one of the world’s oldest and most sacred pilgrimages) during the Year of the Horse. Month of camping with yak packs! Route included from Lhasa, Tsedang and Samye west to Gyantse, Xigatse, Lhatse, Sakya, Dargyeling, Paryang, Lake Manasarovar, Darchen, Mt Kailash, and on to the far western ancient GUGE Kingdom. Also traveled along the Himalaya range near the northern borders of Bhutan, Nepal and India. (Mt Kailash is the Mecca for over one billion Buddhists, Jains, Böns and Hindus.)
In the early spring, Masha filmed underwater for a month in INDONESIA from Bali to the Komodo Islands with Giant Manta Ray expert, Dr. Andrea Marshall, for scientific and television projects, aboard the Seven Seas, a refitted Indonesian Bugis Pirate ship! She logged more than 50 hours underwater and encountered the Komodo Dragons!
2013: During the summer, Masha led several expeditions (with Geographic Expeditions) across Outer Mongolia and Eastern Siberia and the Lake Baikal region–over 4,000 miles from Buddhist Buryatia in Siberia to the Gobi Desert on the Chinese border.
2012: For the month of October, Masha was filming some of the world’s most venomous sea creatures in Northern Australia (Great Barrier Reef) and Papua, New Guinea for a variety of television specials. She spent nearly 60 hours underwater! See a short film under Trapeze/Scuba in Main Menu. Other dive locations included New Zealand and Honduras.
In the summer, Masha led several expeditions for Geographic Expeditions across China, Mongolia and Siberia….
Masha was also the Production Leader in Oman and Dubai in the Middle East with New York’s (ABT) American Ballet Theatre.
Other projects had her filming off the coast of Mexico--diving included within Cenote/cave systems and the Reef Art Sculptures of The Silent Evolution for a PBS special on Mexico: The Royal Tour hosted by the President, Felipe Calderon.
2011: Masha was on assignment throughout Indonesia to film the world’s MOST venomous sea creatures, including the lion, stone, devil, wasp and scorpion fish–sea snakes, cone shells, and one of the planet’s most poisonous animals–the blue-ringed octopus. Locations included dive expeditions to Sulawesi in northeastern Indonesia– at Buyat Bay, the Banga Islands, and the remote Lembeh Strait.
She also spent a month diving throughout FRENCH POLYNESIA, Tahiti/Moorea/Raiatea/Bora Bora & the Society Islands.
In PARIS, Masha filmed at the famed Cirque d’hiver (the Winter Circus) for the 150th anniversary celebration of Jules Léotard, the inventor of the trapeze, for a documentary on the Flying Trapeze. (She’s an avid trapeze flyer herself.)
2010: Projects took her to Germany, Austria, Albania, Prague and St Petersburg, Russia.
Wreck diving off the coast of Bermuda
And she was on a month-long journey across the Khanates of Central Asia–Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan–as a trip leader with Geographic Expeditions.
Other remarkable ADVENTURES around the world include:
Making a solo journey across Tibet, tracing the footsteps of 19th-century French explorer Alexandra David-Neel.
Crossing the famed Marco Polo Silk Route from Beijing, west across all of China, to Ashkabad, Turkmenistan.
Journeying 9,000 miles across Russia from Murmansk in the northwest, south along the Volga, and across all of southern Siberia to Vladivostok on the first car race across Russia.
Journeying across Zanzibar, Tanzania, and Kenya– documenting life in a Masai village.
Filming Great White sharks off the South African coast.
Rafting across the southern Altai region of Siberia.
Filming erupting volcanoes in Iceland (above).
Sailing across the Bering Sea from Alaska to Kamchatka aboard Green Peace’s Rainbow Warrior.
Backpacking across Patagonia & Tierra del Fuego, South America.
Canoeing down Brazil’s Amazon River.
Trekking to the top of Machu Picchu, Peru.
Traveling with Inuit Eskimos in search of Polar Bears in the Canadian Arctic.
Climbing the second highest peak in Baja by horse.
Hot air-ballooning across the European Benelux.
In Mexico: climbing Mt Orizaba-an 18,000-foot volcano-and trekking across Copper Canyon with Tarahumara Indians.
Alaska: Kayaking the Inside Passage; rafting down the Copper River; and filming Kodiak bears on the Katmai Peninsula; and sailing across the Bering Sea from Alaska to Kamchatka.
Living with isolated minority tribes in southwestern China.
Tracking Siberian Tigers in the Russian Far East.
Documenting the bear population of Lake Baikal.
Traveling across India with the Russian Circus.
Riding on Bactrian camels across Mongolia’s Gobi Desert with the Mongolian border patrol.
Skiing & training with avalanche rescue dogs, Squaw Valley, USA.
Scuba diving with sharks around the world from Mergui, Burma (Myanmar) to the Bahamas, diving to depths up to 180 feet at the infamous Truk Lagoon, Micronesia, and documenting the mysterious underwater monument off the island of Yonaguni, Okinawa.
Tracking Dugongs in the Persian Gulf of the United Arab Emirates.
Filming Manta Rays at the remote Revillagigedo archipelago, 300 miles off the southern coast of Baja.
Trekking across the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.
Crossing Marco Polo’s Silk Route from Beijing across all of China to Kashgar.
and standing, as one of the first women in history atop the North Pole.
Rowing the Copper River in Alaska