Elena Levon

Explorer • Artist • Author

"THE QUINTESSENCE OF LIFE” - 1 hour documentary shot on 6 continents - Find out answers to the biggest questions we all ask, no matter skin color, religion or our birthplace. This film unites, uplifts and gives us back faith, that no matter how different we all are, we share the same soul, pain and joy. Film will make you laugh, cry and will inspire you to follow your dreams, no matter what obstacles you face at present moment.

FILM REVIEW

F"This is such an amazing testimony to life and living. The smiles, beauty, wonder & wisdom in your film simply stun me. I stand in awe of how you were able to experience all these moments and somehow at the same time capture them to be shared. This is truly a gift to the world -- thank you! I look forward to following your continuing adventures over the next ten years and more...Namaste." - USA

Have you ever come across this quote? Those words have traveled all over the globe and came back to me with whole tribe of people who got inspired by it; Businesses, artists, “internet influencers” and thousands of dreamers out there, have been using this quote to continue inspiring others. This is not just a quote. It’s an outlook on life, a way of being, an unerring compass that guides you day after day...

MINI BIOGRAPHY

(Full biography can be read below)

Endocannibalism ritual inside malaria red zone, staring into loaded rifle in Mali, working with Hollywood directors and photographers, having my hand kissed by a prince and shaken by president, diving into madness of sex, drugs and jailhouse rock, waltzing through world famous red carpets, touching ancient worlds, fighting to stay alive...

Living deep in Mauritanian Sahara desert with nomads, with cowboys in South and Central America, inside infamous "Darien Gap" alone, surviving category 5 cyclone with locals in Fiji, dancing with mummies in Madagascar, living with tribes from South America, Papua New Guinea to Vanuatu and Africa.

After traveling whole world solo for 20 years, I became co-owner of fantastic yacht "Rebels" in 2023. Started sailing in North Atlantic Ocean with zero prior experience with my co-pirate. Celebrated my 40th year in this world in the middle of the ocean and on an island...

What's next?...

Be the first to find out —

Chapters of my life / book --

✔ In 2003 emigrated to USA from Russia alone as a 19 year-old with 1000$ in my pocket which I managed to save in one year from modeling jobs, with no help from family and without telling my mother about leaving. Trying to survive and thrive on a foreign soil solo. Getting my USA passport in 2012 (becoming a dual national) without getting married to a US citizen and traveling to my family in Russia in order to see them for the first time after almost a decade.

✔ Dance with the living and the dead (literally).

✔ Work with famous directors in Hollywood & the most celebrated photographers in Artistic Nude genre.

✔ Wear thousands of masks and souls, experience the deepest layers of existence & bring yourself back from the dead.

✔ Live deep in the Sahara desert with nomads in Morocco and Mauritania. (2012 & 2020)

✔ Venture solo without tours or guides into the most dangerous jungles such as The Darien Gap, deserts of our world, survive a category 5 Cyclone "Winston" on a small island in the Pacific, staying with locals and refusing to evacuate with all tourists and hotel owners to safety. (2016 - 2020's)

✔ Travel solo through African countries using public transport and without guides. (2011 - 2012 -- my twenties)

✔ Stare into the loaded rifle not too far from Timbuktu, film and participate in a demonstration against France and United Nations, get questioned for hours by military near the border with Dogon Country during war and closed road & interview rebels in war-torn Mali. (2020)

✔ Live with the most unique tribes and cultures of our world and participate in the ancient endocannibalism ritual inside a red malaria zone. (2011 - 2020's)

✔ Write poetry and short travel stories (2004 - 2020's)

✔ Live with cowboys, become one of a horse-men escorting bride to her groom in a traditional Guatemalan wedding. Race with cowboys through the biggest wetland in the world and pay respects to the most famous train robbers in history, by riding through the wilderness of Bolivia and reaching it's oldest town on a horseback in 4 days. (2018 - 2019)

✔ See and touch ancient cave paintings and petroglyphs on 4 continents dating from 3000 - 12.500 years old. Find hidden pyramids of Garrobo Grande (one of the oldest in all Central and South Americas), that barely anyone knows about in Nicaragua and hear a true story from locals about the biggest gold heist in history of this country that happened there.

✔ Eat the most exotic and unheard of foods and encounter countless wildlife of our world in their natural habitat.

✔ Wild Living on a true uninhabited Island for two weeks, with no electricity, or phone service in Philippines. (2017)

✔ Witnessing sacrifices for a mummy and reaching least visited country in Southeast Asia, it is also one of the least visited in the world (2016 - 2017)

✔ Trying all kinds of drugs and participating in shamanic rituals with indigenous people from South America to Papua New Guinea. (2016 - 2019)

✔ See and experience unfathomable pain, injustice and grief, as well as unimaginable happiness and ultimate peace.

✔ Get your hand kissed by a prince, shaken by a president and get offered his by a billionaire.

✔ Attend the most prestigious and glamorous events in the world.

✔ Journey from cradle to sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll.

✔ Losing my father to cancer at 18, he was 67, almost losing my own life after hepatitis b vaccine in my twenties and now having my mother diagnosed with cancer in my thirties. (She passed away in May 2023)

✔ 2020-2021 world travel - Senegal, The Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Western Sahara, Morocco, USA, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Sicily, Russia. Being one of the few overland explorers left on the abandoned by most roads - Crossing Namibia, Zambia, Mozambique, Eswatini and South Africa by land - two crazy pirates, plus 1 KTM 950 “Adventure” Austrian motorcycle = over 10.000 km of freedom.

✔ 2022 - Thousands km overland across all nations of Southern Africa in a car with a "home" attached to the roof. First travelers to live with a non-touristic Himba tribe lost somewhere in the mountains of Namibia near Angolan border. Finding Apollo 11 cave - cradle of civilization with priceless prehistoric art.

Solo journey by public transport into the depths of Southwestern Ethiopia and falling asleep to the sounds of Kalashnikov, not too far from South Sudan border. Traveling alone through all of Southern Tunisia by public transport, living with nomads in caves, being invited to local Berber wedding and making my solo journey to Libyan border in the desert temperature of +45C. Swimming alone with whale sharks in Djibouti.

✔ 2023 - Participating in Voodoo rituals and ceremonies with locals in Benin. Traveled through all Southern African nations. Became a co-owner of a sailboat "Rebels". Sang my last lullaby to my beautiful mom on 9th of May 2023. She lost her battle with cancer. She was 76. I became officially "orphaned" at the age of 39 and had an operation in Namibia, Africa same year.

✔ 2023 - 2024 - Started sailing in North Atlantic Ocean with my co-pirate Robert in September 2023. I had zero prior experience. We sailed together almost 5000 nautical miles. Canaries-Spain, Morocco, Portugal, Cape Verde (Attended yearly carnival) anchored in Mauritania and sailed along the coast of Western Sahara back to Canaries. (Many regard this route as "impossible")

I celebrated my 40th year in this world in the Atlantic ocean and on land on the same day - March 27th 2024. Traveled in Summer 2024 for 3 weeks, alone to a war zone in order to see relatives, whom I haven't seen 4-5 years and to pay respects to my roots. (Russia / Ukraine border -- Mariono, Rylsk and Kursk)

-- 40+ wild and free years in this world.

To be continued...