John Callanan’s remarkable life as a cartographer could form the script for an ‘Indiana Jones’ blockbuster John Callanan ‘John The Map’ Matt Leslie
CARTOGRAPHY – the making of maps – would not be first and foremost in the minds of most folk if asked, ‘which occupation could get you killed?’.
It’s fair to say that even Hollywood bosses might have raised an eyebrow at George Lucas’ pitch for an adventure movie about an archaeologist.
However, John Callanan – known to all round Sligo as ‘John the Map’ – has had somewhat of an Indiana Jones life trying to map various parts of Pakistan and China.
“I did a bit of travelling and I used to make menus to earn some money as I went along,” he said.
“Back in 1987, I was travelling towards India. I got into Pakistan where I discovered there was a route from there that would take me into China.
“So I thought I would pop up to China and then come back into India via that way. I went up to the north of Pakistan and ended up in the Hunza Valley.
“While there are people in the Hunza Valley do smoke, they don’t sell cigarettes as the Aga Khan is their spiritual leader and the 39th descendant of Ali who was said to be (the prophet) Mohammed’s brother-in-law.
“I was up in the mountains in this little village and I ran out of cigarettes. The only place I could get them was a Shi’a village called Ganish in the valley below.
“So of course I ran down this mountain and then I cut across down this hillside to where this shop was. Unfortunately, in doing so I started this mini-avalanche and I ended up dislocating my ankle.
“However, I managed to limp over to the cigarette shop and got my cigs. I then sat there with this injured ankle wondering what I was going to do.
“I then heard this huge guy walking up the street towards me carrying this massive ruck sack. He introduced himself as François Pallatiér.
“He turned out to be a Swiss Alpine physiotherapist. He had a look at my ankle but couldn’t do anything with it. So he piggy-backed me all the way up the hill and back to the village I was staying in.
“Three days later, he piggy-backed me down again and took me to a local witchdoctor who was able to hammer my ankle back into place.
“During that period of inactivity, I started making a map of the place that I was in. I placed some advertising on it which got me a few quid and some free meals.”
A bust-ankle gained while on a run for ciggies isn’t exactly being chased by Nazi soldiers or a bloodthirsty death cult but things soon went up a level – and then some – when John crossed over into China.
“I then decided I would write a little travel guide as China had just opened up it’s border on the Pakistan side the year before,” he added.
“Upon entering China, I entered Kashgar – which is in the Xinjiang Uyghur province – where I did another map and got free food for that as well.
“I ended up in Lhasa in Tibet. I made a map there which I sold to a hotel there who let me stay for free. I told the manager I’d be staying about three or four weeks. I ended up staying three months.
“I did another map of the city which I sold to the Lhasa Hotel – which was Chinese-run but the management was from The Holiday Inn. So they employed me.
“I was also involved with a nearby flea market that was shut down by the Chinese Secret Police. I was working at the Lhasa Hotel that day while the police were arresting and imprisoning everybody at the flea market.
“Four or five weeks later, I was approached by Tibetan activists who told me that I was to be arrested at midday the following day.
“Funnily enough, I was on the bus out of Lhasa at 11.40 and then 20 minutes later, the Tibetan Uprising broke out. It took me four days to get out of Tibet.
“Eventually, I made it into India and made my way down to Goa where I started making maps of the area there.
“Years later, I actually went back to Kashgar in China and I got myself arrested for spying – they’d been after me for about three years because I hadn’t registered at any of the hotels I’d been in before.
“Usually, you register and hand over your passport. But as I’d been staying for free, my name was rubbed out and my passport given back with no more to be said about it.
“So that heightened the suspicions of the Secret Police about me and I ended up being deported.”
However, John had not completed his maps of northern Pakistan and returned there years later where he hoped to finish the job – it would nearly cost him his life.
“I went back to Pakistan in 1997. I was still working on mapping the cities of Islamabad – the capital – and Rawalpindi,” he said.
“About 150km north of Rawalpindi on a mountain pass, we were attacked by bandits. Usually buses were accompanied by an armed guard but this time we were not as we’d been told it was all alright.
“Obviously, they were in cahoots with the bandits and had been paid off on this occasion. A few hours later – at night – I heard a volley of shots and this guy with an AK-47 appeared and started shooting at us.
“The guy sitting in front of me had his head blown off. It was dark so I didn’t realise at the time what had happened to him. When we hit a proper road and took off at speed, the driver put the light on and I’m now literally looking down this guy’s neck where his head once was.
“I eventually got back to Rawalpindi after that. I was out doing some mapping and took a cigarette break – which saved my life.
“I got to this corner and leaned against the wall to light up. As I’m smoking, I hear this God almighty explosion. I stepped around the corner to see what had happened and the whole top of the building in front of me had been blown off. There were bodies everywhere.
“One person came up to me and said ‘you must go now. You are foreign and this will be blamed on you’. So I did – I couldn’t finish mapping the area after that for obvious reasons. On the map, it says ‘not surveyed due to bombing’.
“That was two weeks of madness but I had a great time before all of that.”
John has also mapped the county of Sligo as well as producing a special Yeats County map – assignments that were a lot more peaceful than his Chinese-Pakistani adventures.
While based in Sligo himself, John has his own blood ties to the town itself.
He said: “I did that (the maps of Co. Sligo and Yeats Country) off my own bat when I approached North West