A Son’s Tribute Across Continents
Matt Sclarandis retraces his father’s legendary ride from Italy to Nepal.
Interviewed on the 13.05.2025
Some journeys begin long before the setting off. For photographer and director Matt Sclarandis, the road to Nepal started years earlier, in the aftermath of losing his father.
At the age of 23, Matt’s father left his hometown in Italy with a simple but audacious idea: to ride all the way to Nepal. Driven by curiosity and a deep desire to see the world beyond familiar borders, he packed his Lambretta 150cc and set off in 1963. That journey would shape the rest of his life. He later became a National Geographic photographer, leaving behind a remarkable archive of images and stories that would live on through his family. After his passing in 2016, Matt felt, as he puts it, that “something shifted” inside him. He decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and retrace the same route, not only to honor his life and legacy, but also to create a story of his own.
„I had always looked up to him, considering him a hero for undertaking an incredible journey from Italy to Nepal on a 150cc Lambretta back in 1963, when he was just 23 years old. His story had lived in our family like a legend, a mix of courage, curiosity, and madness“
In 2023, Matt set off on a 1988 Honda Africa Twin, beginning a tribute ride in his father’s honor. The route ahead stretched over more than 15,000 kilometers, leading from Italy through Eastern Europe, across Central Asia, and into the Himalayas. In adventure, the act of leaving is often as challenging as the return. When we spoke, Matt described the mix of excitement and apprehension he felt before departure. After nearly seven years of preparation, this journey was no longer simply a leap into the unknown, but the realization of something he had carried with him for a long time.
He traveled light by intention, though in hindsight he admits the bike was overloaded from the start. Much of the extra weight came from camera equipment. Determined to document every stage of the journey, Matt set out not only to retrace his father’s path, but to tell his own story along the way. He is currently working on a film born from that experience.
Trips of this scale come with highs and lows. One of Matts proudest achievements of the trip was having crossed the great Himalayan range - technically known as the Karakoram in that region - from Kyrgyzstan through China and into Pakistan. He says „I felt a deep sense of accomplishment, as though I had conquered the most challenging stretch of the entire route.“.
Altough not everything that shaped the journey was triumphant. In the Wakhan Corridora remote stretch of road in Tajikistan that runs parallel to the Afghan border for hundreds of kilometers, a mechanical failure led to the crash that forced him off the road for months. A bearing connecting handlebar to the main frame of the bike had completely rusted. As Matt hit a large puddle, the handlebar jammed suddenly. Approaching a nearly 100-meter drop, he instinctively threw his body to the side in a split second to avoid going over the edge. The bike fell at around 20–25 km/h, landing on him and instantly snapping all three ligaments in his right shoulder. Paralyzed by the pain, he passed out on the roadside amid cold rocks. After about 10 or 15 minutes, he regained consciousness, thinking it had been a nightmare. But it was all real: he laid there underneath the 250–270 kg motorcycle, shoulder shattered. Panic set in quickly as he realized he couldn’t move his right arm at all. He couldn’t lift the bike, pitch a tent, or even add clothes. And he knew temperatures would drop to -10 or -12°C that night at the 3,600 to 3,800-meter altitude where he had fallen.
„Then, strangely, a wave of calm came over me. I accepted the possibility that I might die of hypothermia that night. But after a few minutes, I shifted into problem-solving mode. I started thinking about what I could burn to stay warm - my gear, even the bike itself, if necessary. There were only rocks around me. After about two and a half hours, I spotted a tiny Jeep in the distance. Tears of joy rolled down my face - I knew I was safe. Four Tajik men had been passing by and stopped to help. They rescued me and brought me to the nearby town of Langar, where I was finally able to eat, rest, and sleep in the warmth of a house.“
After this incident, Matt had to fly back to play for surgery. At this point Matt wasn’t sure he would be able to continue, but that feeling only lasted a few minutes he says. A few months later, he returned to Kyrgyzstan to pick up his journey where he left. While the crash became one of the most defining challenges of the trip and a moment of extraordinary luck, the most unexpected struggle awaited him only after he reached his destination:
„When I finally reached Kathmandu, Nepal, I felt as though I had completed the journey of a lifetime. It was a deeply emotional moment - the fulfillment of a dream I had carried for years. But to my surprise, that sense of triumph was short-lived. After just a few days, a strange emptiness settled in. I had poured everything into reaching that goal, and once it was behind me, I was left with a single, unsettling question: Now what?„
The high of achievement gave way to a wave of sadness and disorientation for Matt. For months, he struggled with aimlessness and depression, having spent so much time alone on the road amid silence, reflection, and solitude that he had unlearned how to be social and outwardly expressive. Social situations once natural now triggered anxiety and a sense of being out of place, yet this phase became part of the journey, teaching him that one adventure’s end marks another’s start - an inward one. He learned patience with himself, to prioritize presence over performance, and to rebuild grounded connections with others and himself.
The journey reshaped Matt in unexpected ways, stripping away assumptions of invincibility. “I thought it would make me stronger and more confident in all aspects of life, but instead, it humbled me and changed me in ways I couldn’t have imagined. I’m still processing all the internal reconfiguring that took place within me,” he reflects.
Its core lesson crystallized around pursuit without reservation. “To follow your dreams, to just do what you want to do and try your best to achieve it, it will be hard but insanely rewarding. My goal is to arrive at my death bed with 0 regrets of what it could have been if I did this or that.” He recommends such endeavors to others without hesitation, saying you should do it “because it’s f**ing awesome. you will remember it for the rest of your life”.
For those feeling stuck, Matt emphasizes building resilience through tailored practices. Finding personal tools, make it be therapy, movement, creativity, solitude, or connection. They equip one to handle inevitable stress, anxiety, and triggers, fostering lasting equilibrium. Such a road, he notes, often hastens clarity on what truly sustains.
© 2025 Grit & Dust (A Son’s Tribute Across Continents). Photos © 2025 Matt Sclarandis. All rights reserved. No part of this article or images may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form without prior written permission.