Riaan Manser

Riaan Manser is a world-renowned explorer boasting many a world record. His arguably most famous journey was that of circumnavigating the entire continent of Africa by bicycle over a period of two years, covering over 38 000 km and passing through 34 African countries, some ranked as the most dangerous on planet earth. Among his many adventures (and misadventures) was being kidnapped by rebel soldiers in Liberia and held captive by Al-Qaeda in Algeria.

Circumnavigating Madagascar in a kayak and similarly around Iceland in a double kayak added two more world firsts to his name. But this wasn’t enough. He decided to rope his then girlfriend into his world by attempting to row from Africa to North America. Having successfully completed this continent-to-continent ocean row, Riaan went on to row more oceans and in total has covered more than 22 000 km of open ocean. He is in a league of his own.