Rolf Blomberg's Timeline and Travels

1926: He takes a boat trip in the Mediterranean with his mother and one of his brothers.

1929: He travels as a cabin boy to the Arctic Circle.

1932: A journalism and advertising office begins in Stockholm.

1934: He arrives in Ecuador for the first time; from Guayaquil, he goes to the Galapagos Islands, where he collects species for the Naturhistoriska Museet, Natural History Museum in Stockholm, and makes a report on the disappearance of Baroness Wagner.

1935: travels to Peru and Argentina following clues about Baroness Wagner, without success; he returns to Sweden after going up the Orellana route. He gives his first lecture on Ecuador at the Explorers Club in New York.

1936: He publishes his first book with the Gebers publishing house in Stockholm: "Underliga människor och underliga djur" (Different Men and Strange Animals). He is producing his first documentary film with SF Svensk Filmindustri: "Vikingar på sköldpaddoarna" (Vikings on the Turtle Islands). He returns to Ecuador to visit the Shuar Indians in the Ecuadorian Amazon and shoots his second short documentary: "I kanot till huvudjägarnas land" (By canoe to the land of the head reducers), and returns to Sweden.

1938: The Swedish publisher Gebers publishes his second book, "Högkvarter hos huvudjägare" (Camping among the headhunters). He travels to Borneo and Java, where he stays for more than a year and meets the Dayak.

1939: His short documentary films about Indonesia "Ormar och orangutanger på Java" (Snakes and Orangutans in Java) and "Den stora urskogsön" (The Great Jungle Island) are screened.

1940: His travel chronicle in Indonesia "Tropisk Urskog" (Tropical Forest) is published in Sweden, he participates as a volunteer for Finland in the war against the U.S.S.R. and works as a war correspondent in Norway. He marries his first wife, Karin Kajsa Abdon, with whom they spend their honeymoon in New York and travel to Java (Indonesia).

1941: Voyage through Bali, Satoenda, Komodo and Sumatra. At a meeting of Europeans living in Java, he was introduced to the Ecuadorian Emma Robinson Pérez, who at the time was married to the Dutchman Cornelis Bockhorst.

1942 – With the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, European residents are taken to concentration camps; Rolf Blomberg stays there as a correspondent and provides support to his interned friends (he takes care of his pets and precious objects, and provides them with medicines).

1943: Their first son, Staffan, is born; the family remains in Indonesia.

1944: Continued support in European resistance to the Japanese invasion of Indonesia.

1945: As a volunteer for the Red Cross, he helps prisoners who are liberated from Japanese concentration camps; among them Emma Robinson, now a widow, and her daughter Birguitta Bockhorst Robinson. He travels to Australia, and on his return trip to Sweden, crossing the Atlantic aboard the ship Gripsholm, Rolf meets Victor Hasselblad and, from then on, they agree to supply cameras in exchange for reports on the operation of the Hasselblad camera in extreme conditions.

1946: He separates from his wife Kajsa, who returns to Sweden with their son Staffan. He travels to Singapore and the Philippines. His short documentary films "Strandhugg pa Sundaöarna" (Walk on the beaches of the Sunda Islands) and "Svenskt i Australien" (Swedish in Australia) are released.

1947: He makes his third trip to Ecuador. Visit the Galapagos Islands and the Ecuadorian highlands. He met the photographer (alias) Robinson and Arturo Eichler, with whom he ascended the Ilinizas and crowned Cotopaxi. Visit the Tsáchilas. His book on Indonesia "Sydvart" (Heading South) is published in Sweden. Between 1947 and 1968 his travels and stays in Sweden and Ecuador alternate, from the 1970s, he settled permanently in Quito.

1948: He travels along the Cayapas River (province of Esmeraldas, Ecuador) with the Swedish biologist Gunnar Harling, and gets to know the popular festivals in the mountains. A graphic novel for children with his drawings is published in Sweden: "Nya Smålands upptäckt" (Discovering the New Småland). Rolf Blomberg reunites with Emma Robinson in Quito, at her home in El Dorado neighborhood (Av. Gran Colombia and Tarqui). Trip to Tsáchila territory and Esmeraldas with Emma and Lilian Robinson, Olga Fisch, Minnie Bodenhorst and Oswaldo Guayasamín. Travel to Manta, Montecristi and Jipijapa, in the province of Manabí, Ecuador. Rolf Blomberg marries Emma Robinson.

1949: He meets the Swedish banana businessman Folke Anderson at the El Timbre hacienda, Esmeraldas province. Failed attempt at peaceful contact with the Huaorani in the Ecuadorian Amazon. His book "Vildar" (The Naked Aucas) is published in Sweden. Emma Robinson introduces him to the Guayaquil plastic artist Araceli Gilbert. His short documentary film "Quito, en stad med kontraster" (Quito, city of contrasts) is released.

1950: Travels to Barro Colorado in Panama. Find and send a female mountain tapir to the Bronx Zoo in New York. Travel to the San Martin Islands, Peru. First expedition to the Llanganates, Ecuador, in search of Atahualpa's treasure. His short documentary films "Galapagos", "Imbabura", "Panamahattar, som inte görs i Panama" (The Panama Hat, which is not made in Panama), "Olja i urskogen" (Oil in the jungle) are released.

1951: Anders, the firstborn son of Emma Robinson and Rolf Blomberg, is born in Quito. Second expedition to Llanganates. His book "Såna djur finns" (These Animals Exist) is published in Sweden.

1952: Ecuadorian President Galo Plaza decorates him with the rank of "Knight". Third expedition to Llanganates. The book "Ecuador, Andean Mosaic" is published in Sweden, with the contribution of various Ecuadorian writers, including Lilian Robinson, and edited by Rolf Blomberg. His short documentary film "Jaramijó, en ecuadorianskt fiskeby" (Jaramijó, an Ecuadorian fishing village) is released. Marcela, daughter of Rolf Blomberg and Emma Robinson, is born in Sweden; soon Rolf was widowed.

1953: The film expedition "Anaconda" begins in Colombia, together with Torgny Anderberg. Discover the largest toad in the world, the bufo blombergi, in the San Miguel River, Colombia. Send a male tapir to the Bronx Zoo, New York. He meets Araceli Gilbert in Paris.

1954: premiere of the feature film "Anaconda" in Sweden, and lecture tour.

1955: Fourth expedition to Llanganates. He marries Araceli Gilbert in Guayaquil and the whole family (Rolf, Araceli, Anders, Marcela and Birgita, daughter of Emma and Cornelius Bokhorst) travels to Stockholm, where he lives for a while. On the way to Stockholm, the family visits Paris and Lisbon.

1956: travels in Africa, travels through Kenya, Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania. His book "Guld att hämta" (Buried Gold and Anacondas) is published in Sweden.

1957: He moves temporarily to Brazil with his wife Araceli Gilbert and his children Anders and Marcela, and makes the film expedition "Jangada" with Torgny Anderberg; they visit the indigenous ethnic groups of the Brazilian Amazon, Carajá and Xavante, and the coastal population of Ceará.

1958 – The feature-length documentary "Jangada" is released in Sweden and his book "Xavante" is published.

1959: He spends a summer in Galapagos, with his wife Araceli and their children, Anders and Marcela; and then they lived in Quito until 1965. In Sweden, his book "Jätteormar och skräcködlor" (Creepy Iguanas and Giant Snakes) is published.

1960: He travels to Peru, where he meets the Shipibo Indians of the Amazon. He toured the Gran Chaco in Bolivia with Don Mauricio Jespersen. In Sweden, his book "Latitude 0°" is published.

1961 – SF Svensk Filmindustri premieres its short documentary films "Blommor i Ecuador" (Flowers of Ecuador) and "Galapagos, ett reportage av Rolf Blomberg" (Galapagos, a report by Rolf Blomberg).

1962 – His book "Äventyr i djungeln" (Adventure in the Jungle) is published in Sweden and his short documentaries "Inkaättlingarnas land" (The Land of the Inca Descendants) and "Urskogsindianernas vite vän" (The White Friend of the Indigenous People of the Jungle) are released, about the Peruvian highlands and Amazon.

1963: He forms the Swedish group of photographers Full Hand. His documentary short film about Ecuador "Jibaros, ett djungelfolk" (Jíbaros, a jungle town) is released.

1964: Second crossing along the Orellana route, crossing the Ecuadorian, Colombian, Peruvian and Brazilian Amazon. In Sweden, his book "Människor i djungeln" (Men of the Jungle) is published.

1965 – In Sweden, his short documentaries "Indianer på svärdfiskfångst" (Indigenous people in swordfish fishing) about daily life in the coastal town of Jaramijó (Ecuador), "Balsa" (Ecuador), and "Pedro, en indianpojke" (Pedro, an indigenous boy) about daily life and school life in the Ecuadorian highlands are released; and his book "Mina Tropiska öar" (My Tropical Islands) is published. He travels to the Peruvian Amazon, where he meets the Yaminahuas and the Campas. He moved to Stockholm with his family, and they lived there until 1968.

1966: First exhibition of the group of photographers Full Hand and publication of the book "Amazon River" in Stockholm.

1967: Trip to Turkey and Egypt. In Sweden, the book "Imbabura" is published and the short documentary "Djungeltripp: besök i Coloradoindianernas urskogsdomaner i Ecuador" (Journey to the jungle: visit to the jungle domains of the Colorado Indians) is published.

1968 – The short documentary "Alfredo från Guayaquil" (Alfredo from Guayaquil) is released in Sweden. Rolf Blomberg, Araceli Gilbert, and their children Anders and Marcela, return to settle in Quito.

1969: Portrait of the indigenous leader Dolores Cacuango and support her struggle for bilingual schools in Cayambe, Ecuadorian highlands, together with Luisa Gómez de la Torre. He made his sixth expedition to Llanganates (Ecuador). In Sweden, "Indianer är de människor?" (Are indigenous people people?), a 5-episode series on indigenous problems in Peru; "Jakt på Inkaguld" (In Search of Inca Gold), a series of 2 medium-length films about the Inca treasure (Ecuador); and "Att vara indian" (Being indigenous), a 2-episode series about indigenous problems in Ecuador and Peru. All 3 films were directed by Rolf Blomberg and Swedish filmmaker Torgny Anderberg.

1970: The 3-episode documentary series "Inka, solfolket" (Incas, the people of the sun), directed with his friend Torgny Anderberg, is released.

1971 – Her short documentary film "Svenska expeditioner, på indianstigar i Chaco" (Swedish Expeditions, along the indigenous roads of the Chaco) is released in Sweden.

1972: Cinematic expedition with Anderberg to Peru: Amazonia, Cuzco, Machu Picchu, and Lake Titicaca. His mother, Jenny Blomberg, dies, and shortly after, his son Staffan dies.

1973: He travels to Spain, Greece and France with his wife Araceli Gilbert. The book "Träd" (Trees), with texts by Artur Lundqvist and photographs by Rolf Blomberg, and "Bufo blombergi" are published.

1974: travels to Guatemala and Panama. The documentary series "Indianer i Amazonas" (Indigenous People of the Amazon), about the indigenous Campas and Yaminahuas of the Peruvian Amazon, his latest film, also produced with his friend Torgny Anderberg, is released in Sweden.

1976: His last book is published in Sweden, "Tropisk utsikt" (Tropical Panorama), which recounts his adventures in the world.

1996: Rolf Blomberg dies in Quito.