The Kon-Tiki Museum

Our last adventure was the Kon-Tiki Museum on Bygdøy. Thor Heyerdahl was a Norwegian explorer. He lived from 1914 to 2002. He was an archeologist, scientist and ethnographer. His first adventure was to live with his wife on the island Fatu Hiva in Polynesia from 1937-38. Their intention was not to return but did so after one year because of sickness and harsh living conditions.

This is the Kon-Tiki raft. It is made from Balsa wood and other native materials. From Polynesia Thor went to BC  and these two expeditions gave Thor information that suggested people came to Polynesia from South American and not Asia as people had believed. He set out in 1947 and followed the currents. After 101 days he landed where he wanted and proved scientist who didn't believe in his theory wrong. He wrote a book about the expedition and it became a documentary for which won an Oscar in 1951.

After the successful Kon-Tiki expedition, many scientists were not convinced. Thor went to Galapagos and Easter Island for further research and archeological excavations and found evidence of settlements by Inca people.  Scientists said people had to be critical to these findings, and in the 1990s it was finally proved by DNA that Polynesians had more similarities with Southeast Asian people than people from South America. This raft is the Ra II from 1970. Thor wanted to prove that there were connections between the people from South America and the people from Africa and the Middle East. Ra I dissolved because of a construction error, but Ra II made it from Marocco to Barbados in 57 days. One big difference between the expedition in 1947 and this one in 1970 was the amount of pollution and trash the crew found in the ocean. At the museum we saw a lump of oil about 16" in diameter. Pretty scary.

The last expedition Thor Heyerdahl did was with the Tigris. In 1977 this ship was constructed after ancient methods. He sailed around for five months in the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. The raft had men from many countries onboard and sailed under UN flag. They had problems entering many areas because of the wars in this part of the world, and the crew finally burned the Tigris in protest against the wars.

Last day in Oslo and here is the Hotel we stayed at, SAS Scandinavia. It is located very close to the Royal Castle. Our room was in the 15th floor. On the 21st floor was a bar with great views over Oslo.