The world's his oyster

South African adventurer-explorer Mike Horn (42) has trekked around the Arctic Circle solo, walked across South America, been through African war zones and hiked deep in the Amazon, Borneo and Sumatra jungles. Now he's getting ready to start a four-year environmental outreach expedition around the globe, covering 100 000 kilometres, crossing all the continents and oceans, and reaching the North and South Poles. Mike will walk, kayak, cycle, paraglide, ski and sail. He will work with educational groups along the way, and hopes to inspire young people to clean up the planet and make all aware of Earth's uninhabited areas. His two daughters, aged 14 and 15, will join him during school holidays. The expedition starts on 09 October from Punta Arenas in Chile. From there, Mike will head to Antarctica, where he will trek to the South Pole. Next his route goes through New Zealand and China, then through Russia to the North Pole, across Greenland, to North America and down through South America to Punta Arenas. Mike was born in Johannesburg and later moved to Switzerland to work as an instructor for extreme water sports. In 1997, he undertook an unmotorised crossing of South America. Two years later, he travelled the world around the Equator in 18 months. He crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Gabon on a 28-foot trimaran, and walked, cycled and canoed from Brazil to Ecuador. Mike crossed the Pacific Ocean to Indonesia, journeyed through Borneo and Sumatra on foot and then continued across the Indian Ocean. The final part of his journey took him across Africa on foot through Congo war zones. This expedition won him the 2001 Laureus World Alternative Sportsperson of the Year Award. In 2004, Mike completed a two-year solo circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle by foot, sled and canoe, becoming the first man to travel it without motorised transport. Two years later, Mike and Norwegian explorer Borge Ousland became the first men to travel without dog or motorised transport to the North Pole during the dark Arctic months.