Eva Dickson - Swedish Explorer & So Much More

To end out Women's History Month, I have an awesome female explorer that definitely did more than explore. Unfortunately, she lead a very short life but perhaps that gives us more reason to talk about her. Eva Dickson was a female explorer, travel writer, aviator and rally car racer so she had lots of titles. Eva was born in 1905 in Sweden to her mother and father. Her parents did educate her until 1916 when they moved to Stockholm and started attending school.

When she turned 20 years old she married rally driver Olof Dickson who introduced her to the sport. As they traveled throughout Europe by motorcycle and car she learned more about rally racing. In 1927 she entered her first major rally event. These events were male-only races so she would enter under a mans name.

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In 1932 she became the first women to drive across the Sahara Desert. She started in Nairobi and drove all the way to Stockholm with her co-driver Hassan Ali. That same year, after 7 years of marriage Eva and Olof got a divorce. Eva's interest in travel was growing and as she kept adding places to her bucket list, Olof wasn't there for it. Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke, whom she would later marry. The 27 day journey gained media attention and with that attention she started a collection of travel guides.

She even played a part in scientific expeditions in Kenya and then the next year she went to Ethiopia as a war correspondent. She worked for a Swedish newspaper, The Weekly Journal and covered the Abyssinia Crisis.

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In 1936, Eva and the Baron got married and spent their honeymoon sailing around Cuba and the Bahamas with Ernest Hemingway and his second wife. The trip ended in Ernest's hometown of Key West.

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A big dream that Eva wanted to accomplish was being the first person to drive the Silk Road before settling down in Kenya with her husband. Driving by herself she left Stockholm and went through Germany, Poland, Romania, Turkey and Iran to get to Beijing. She reached Afghanistan and was advised to take a detour through India, since the route she was on was considered too dangerous for a lone woman. Then she got to Calcutta but became ill and was given a "cure" of arsenic in the hospital, which made her conditions worse.

She learned of the beginning of the Sino-Chinese War and realized she wouldn't be able to reach her planned destination. Despite being ill and her trip already lasting 9 months, she decided to go back to Europe by herself. She managed to make it to Baghdad and stopped for dinner. On her way back to town she was on treacherous and bumpy roads in almost complete darkness. When she missed a curve, the car overturned and she was pinched between the seat and steering wheel breaking her neck and dying instantly.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find much about her aviation career. However, what we do know is that in 1932 she was the third Swedish women to obtain her pilots license. I will say that in her 33 years of life she lived it full to the brim. She paved the way for wide spread travel and didn't let anyone get in her way (event her first husband). She was a rally car racer, wrote about her travels, was a war correspondent, had her pilots license and died doing what she loved. What an inspiring and interesting woman!

Thanks for following along with me as I covered some interesting and inspiring female travelers! I look forward to covering more next March when we hit Women's History Month again. Remember to take a moment and think about some of the women in your life that made an impact on you and thank them for paving the way for you and so many others.