Round the Horn

South African Adventurer is teaching children about conservation on new expedition

After 15 years of worldwide exploration, 43-year-old South African adventurer Mike Horn is investing his knowledge and experience into a new challenge to be shared by others.

Horn has circumnavigated the globe at both the Equator and the Arctic Circle, sailed solo across oceans, walked every continent and completed the world’s first night expedition to the North Pole. He has probably seen more of the planet than anyone else on it, and therefore knows more about living in harmony with nature than most.

As such, the aim of his Pangaea expedition (named after the Greek word for the super-continent that existed 250 million years ago) is to enhance respect for the environment and encourage the protection of its resources for future generations. The expedition lasts for four years, and they have just completed the first.

Young recruits are given the chance to explore the globe with Horn at varying stages. “I have not been disappointed by one of them," Horn says. "They’re not polluted by politics or money. I’m not changing their lives, they’re changing themselves. I’m just taking them to somewhere it’s nearly impossible for them to go without the boat, infrastructure and my knowledge.”

Horn says he chooses the young adventurers that join him by looking for things in them that he saw in himself at an early age.

Their boat “Pangaea” has eco-friendly elements: it is made of aluminium (easily recyclable), is unpainted to reduce toxins, contains a plastic compactor for all the rubbish the boat trawls out of the oceans, is part-powered by solar energy, and the crew are able to make their own water on board. Mercedes-Benz are contracted to supply the most efficient engines, which next year will be upgraded to one with zero CO2 emissions.

“The world is still a beautiful place," Horn says. "Let’s conserve that beauty and teach [the younger generation] how to conserve it.”