MIke Horn and his crew check out of Cape Town at 5pm on the 7th of July and start their venture North towards Walvis Bay, Namibia. This point represents the starting point of the Africa Expedition and in just a few days the boat will be joined with 9 youths who are excited and ready to discover the beauty of this spectacular region.

Blog written by Paddy Upton

Mike Horn is one of the most remarkable, inspiring, mentally (and physically) tough men on the planet. Called ‘explorer of the century’, ‘greatest ever adventurer’ and ‘the toughest man alive’, Mikes dreams dreams so big they scare him, then he sets off to accomplish them. Amongst his plenty solo adventures, he took 6months to swim 7000km from source to mouth of the Amazon, he circumnavigated the 40000km of equator without motorised transport in 17months, took 27 months to circumnavigate 20000km of the Arctic Circle without motorised transport, walked to the North Pole in 61 days of total darkness of mid-winter, skied to the South Pole and has climbed several 8000+ mountains without oxygen. Equally significantly, he is an authentic all-round good guy.

He also happens to have a training camp in the Swiss Alps, which is almost exclusively used to train the Young Explorers from every continent, who he takes to the most distant and extreme corners of the world, teaching them about both surviving in and caring for the environment.

As an old university mate of mine, he agreed to break from his current 4year, 100,000km journey around the world, to host us at his Swiss training base. A big thank you must go to Cricket SA for agreeing the budget for an out-the-box idea like this.

Day one saw the team driving around the Alps in seven of the latest generation E-cell and F-cell Mercedes Benz cars, which run on electricity and water, and produce zero carbon emissions. One of them was Michael Schumacher’s personal car – who happens to be a friend of Mike Horn. Having had a good look around the region, we shifted our mode of transport to mountain bikes. During a two-hour ride, we soon discovered there is no flat terrain in the Alps, something we would learn again and again over the next few days. While a few players went over their handlebars and donated skin to the gravel paths, none were badly injured. Thank goodness.

That evening Mike had us all riveted with his story and slideshow of spending 61 days travelling to the North Pole, across moving ice flows, in the permanent total darkness of the polar winter. Enduring temperatures of below minus 50°C, regularly having to swim, in darkness, from one ice flow to another as they broke up underfoot, surviving repeated attacks by hungry polar bears… all whilst towing a sled containing 100kg of equipment and food. Along with his partner Borg Ousland, they are the only two people to ever reach the North Pole in winter. More people have been to the moon. As we listened, concepts like dreaming big, preparing excellently, real mental strength, overcoming obstacles, never giving up, committing to decisions, and respecting your teammate took on entirely new dimensions for all of us!

The next day was an opportunity to visit Mike’s training grounds. Kitted up in snow boots, gortex pants and jackets, gloves and beanies, snow rackets and ski poles, we headed for a 3hour hike through snow to summit a 3300m peak. It entailed a rope climb, traversing an ice-field with crevasses, and a steep/ exhausting push for the summit on a clear day, with temperatures near zero and in deep snow. Not really your average cricket playing conditions.

On the walk back down to the cable station, Mike routed the party down the ski slope, so that we had a killer of an uphill climb to finish! While we all arrived completely exhausted, at age 47, Mike looked like he had just pitched home from a stroll in the park.

A truck filled with mountain bikes awaited our arrival at the bottom of the cable car. Mike pointed to a mountain opposite the one we had just summited, and said; “we’re cycling over that mountain back to the hotel”. Ha-Ha, big joke. No one believed him, myself included.

The peak loomed some 750m above us. Mike hopped on his bike and headed straight up, shouting, ‘follow me’. Joke over. The next 90 minutes saw players using every swearword in the book, until they were too exhausted to swear… and there was still more to climb. For 7km, we climbed, never once did the path level out. Not once. Honestly! I have never been so physically exhausted in my life. But I was in Mike Horn territory, so I refused to get off my bike, refused to rest, refused to walk. I found reserves that I never knew I had. AB de Villiers said that he had never been that exhausted in his life, and that he pushed harder than he had ever had before. He now knew he could do more than he believed.

Another player said; “I’ve had enough being the best I can be. It’s time to be better than that.” Cramp struck three players. Jacko, our comrades marathon runner physio, stretched the muscles out, helped the player back on the bike, and the slog continued. Marchant de Lange battled cramps for nearly 3 hours, but refused to give up, and didn’t. On the way up, about 3km and 45 minutes away the summit, Gary Kirsten got a puncture that we could not repair. Mike Horn gave Gary his bike, and then proceeded to carry Gary’s bike to the summit.

From the top, which came as a massive relief, about a 900m descent lay ahead over the next 14km. All were looking forward to cruising downhill. It was not to be. We carried our bikes for the better part of the first 2km, down terrain too treacherous to cycle. It is too much for my limited writing ability to describe what it was like to cycle down a Swiss Alpine mountain, through virgin forests along tracks forged only by cows during their higher altitude summer living, accompanied by team mates encouraging you through sometimes quite steep or technical terrain. It was spectacular. A true privilege to experience. Mike did it on all foot, still carrying Gary’s bike.

Freshly brewed beer awaited our arrival home after over 7 hours of climbing and cycling. Seldom has a beer tasted that sweet! The next was equally as good.

After a fitful sleep, we woke early for a 7am start, scheduled to descend a glacial river flanked by sheer cliffs, sometime so narrow that one would have to turn sideways to pass. Predicted thundershowers made the canyon too risky to run, so we headed to a region which was three mountain passes and 75 minutes away, to another such canyon, where the rain was only scheduled for later in the day.

Players and management dressed in 5mm wetsuits, specialised river walking boots, full-length protective overalls, waist harnesses, life jackets and helmets, and headed from base camp up a steep and narrow ravine. The next two hours saw us bum sliding down slippery moss-covered waterfalls, jumping into natural plunge pools from heights between 3-11metres, and sliding down a flying-fox pulley system that was the only safe way to descend one 25m waterfall. Most if not all of us were visibly shivering, through a combination of operating out of comfort zones, and in just above freezing glacial water.

‘Man-of-the-match’ went to Jacques Kallis who overcame his significant fear of heights to complete the flying fox and an 8m jump into a small rock pool. The award was shared with 23yr old media manager Lerato Malekutu who descended each waterfall jump and flying fox with accompanying screams of terror. Like Jacques, she never backed down.

After a full-on high-energy 48 hours, players were given the afternoon to rest or take a leisurely stroll around the quaint village of Chateaux d’Oex. It was impressive to see seven people to rather choose a 10km run along the river, and another five to go on a ‘leisurely’ mountain bike with Mike, which ended up being a gruelling 3hour and 38km round trip to the famous Swiss town of Gstaad. As if the countryside wasn’t beautiful enough, a beach volleyball tournament provided further soothing for the eyes.

The evening had us travel to a traditional high altitude cheese making cottage, where host Pipo opened his ‘home’ to host us for an evening of experiencing the Swiss cheese making and eating culture. Mike gave another of his impromptu talks, this time sharing stories of his preparation for his 7000km journey down the Amazon. Of the many lessons, we heard of seeing through obstacles to the solution on the other side, making critical decisions and committing fully without any second-guessing, that if dreams don’t scare you, then they’re not big enough, that bettering yourself everyday is not negotiable for someone wanting to live life fully, and that saying you will do something is not enough, it’s the action that counts.

Despite one or two players suggesting a chilled final morning to conclude a wonderful Swiss adventure, Mike and Gary had other ideas. At 7am, Mike took us through the famous ‘church run’. Up a long flight of stairs to the top of the village church, down the other side, and then back up the hill to the hotel. We then hopped back onto the bikes, with most if not all of us letting out a little ‘eina’ as bruised bums hit saddles. Again Mike showed us a loop of the village, ending with an ascent up the steepest road the village had on offer. Familiar with the two routes, players and management were divided into four teams, and the gun went off for three laps of the church run, followed by three laps of the mountain bike route. The power half-hour race was a fitting way to end the Proteas four days in the Swiss Alps, Mike Horn style.

After shower, pack and self-help breakfast (including packing your own dishes away), we met for a 45minute de-brief of the experience. Whilst there is no guarantee of winning, there is no doubt that the time spend at the training camp was a massive success from many perspectives, including advancing our unique team culture, learning more about ourselves and perceived boundaries, limitations and/ or obstacles, and several personal insights into living and performing at the top of our game. Lessons that will no doubt add value us as we move into an important season of cricket.

Each player was encouraged to draw his own learning from the experience. For me it was that I cannot pursue success by taking any shortcuts in preparation, that my mind can overrule an exhausted body, how liberating it is to be real/ authentic and not worry about what others think, to not limit myself by my own or others thinking, that it’s action not words that count, and that life is here to be lived fully. Which may well mean operating well outside the box!

Thanks Mike and his team, CSA and fellow Proteas for an experience of a lifetime!

Written after the first version of this blog was published. We bid a sad farewell to Mark Boucher whose early exit from International cricket came through a freak eye injury. The picture below, a few days before the injury, epitomises the man. Summiting a mountain, in front, in the snow, in a T-shirt. Farewell to a great warrior and friend to many!

Overcome your obstacles by bettering yourself and your life will become richer.

What has the weather to do with your mood? Somewhere in the world the sun shines.
—Photo taken at the North Pole.

Blog written by Zuzanna;
DO NOT EVER GO ON A LAKE WITH A RAFT. Rafts are made to float with the stream of the river, they're not made to go neither against strong winds nor the current. Last days were extremely exhausting for the Baltica crew. First we had to stay longer in PÅ‚ock, as the wind was s strong that it would push us back to Warsaw.

With the delay of 2 days we started our journey of crossing the lake. First 10km weren't difficult because the current was helping us to move, but later on, as soon as we got to the lake, we were stuck in and would have to row constantly to make any move. At some point the wind became so strong that we couldn't move any longer.

But thanks to very helpful and supportive locals we covered another kilometres this day (they pulled us with an engine boat), and although the distance wasn't big, it helped us to regain strenght. The same night, we didn't go to sleep at all, but rowed until the break of dawn. We were extremely happy when finally we arrived at the end of the lake and crossed the dam.

The rest of the journey went smoothly and now we're in Toruń, enjoying ourselves in this beautiful city!

Why look back if you are heading forward!

After a very brief stop-over at Cape Town, Pangaea heads North and stops in a small vissage called Langabaan. Mike will leave Pangaea for a brief period here as he attends to other commitments in Switzerland.

Blogs wrtten by Luana and Zuzanna:

Luana: Our raft Baltica has now succesfully covered the distance from Warsaw to Plock. This 5-day trip has been an intense and very inspiring experience for me. The crew on board is changed through out the week: the new members arrived and the old members had said goodbye. Our captain Yula believe that the more people involved in the project the better. I think she is right and so far it has been wonderful to meet so many people who care about the Vistula river and our planet's environment. The atmosphere on our little boat is very positive and it allowes us to connect to each other and spend real quality time together. All day long, we row, we talk and discuss, we listen to each other, we laugh and sing together, we tak care of each other and we share a lives on board together.

During the last two days we were surrounded by the beautiful, stunning landscape. The river has definitely gained in size and many islands shape the flow of the water. These islands are inhabited by large colonies of birds. The other day we took our kayak and went to the small sand island. The discovery we made there was breath-taking!!! All over the island, birds were nesting and many newborn chicks desperately tried to hide from us as we approach them. I have never been that close to a baby-bird and it felt incredible to see this newborn life. I bend down and watched carefully and I could see the beautiful patterns on its feathers and its heavy breathing. It was looking at me with its big, big eyes – incredibly cute! I had the feeling I was looking at life in its purest appearance.

Zula: When I first invited fellow Young Explorers from all around the world to join me on the raft, I was very happy to show them my beautiful country in its wildest places. The Vistula river is not associated with tourism, and most of Poles have never experienced the river the way we do. That time, I did not think that I would feel ashamed for what my friends will see. They say that 2/3 of all the sewage from Warsaw, the capital of Poland, is thrown directly into the river. It is not hard to believe in that, the smell of the water is just disgusting and since we left the capital, there are pipes protruding from the shore every 50 metres. Households close to the river don't even build cesspools… We made a dreadful discovery: one morning a very strong wind didn't let us continue the journey. We spent some time talking and then decided to do a clean-up of the beach where we stayed for the night. Obviously there was a lot of 'normal' trash – plastic bottles, pieces of styrofoam, papers… But there were also these unusual sticks – small ones, looking like lollypop sticks. There were so many of them that at the beginning we didn't even try to pick them up. Only later we realised these weren't lollypop sticks, but cottonbuds that people put in their toilets and then, with all the content of the toilet, flush into the river.

We were disgusted and shocked that people can be so careless and do not anticipate the consequences of their actions. Hopefully this will change when Poles will realise that Vistula can be an attractive tourism region and can bring money to local communities. Maybe then people will start to care about the river?

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I woke up this morning and asked myself what can I do different or better in my life that will allow me more time?

Despite difficult weather conditions during the last week, we arrived in Warsaw perfectly on time, at 12 o'clock on Monday, the 18th of June. Until now, we made breaks in bigger cities on our way mostly to
change the crew and make some necessary technical amendments to the raft, but stay in the capital of

Poland is something slightly different. First of all, some of the people involved in organisation of the project, come from Warsaw, so we had a great help from them on site and the project was promoted in the city even before we actually completed building of the raft! So as at schools in Kraków, the Baltica team held presentations at schools in Warsaw.

We anchored at resto-bar located in the exact city centre of Warsaw, at the river bank, neighbouring the Copernicus Science Centre, called 'Cud nad Wisłą' (what means Vistula's Miracle in Polish :)). The name
of the place perfectly corresponds with its atmosphere. Everyday thousands of people stroll around the Vistula boulevard in this place, and these thousands of people get to see our raft! We painted a banner
and hung it next to the raft, promoting our idea and giving the most basic information about the project. We planned to spend 3 days in Warsaw, 3 days full of attractions!

Remembering that our crew is an international team, we prepared some touristic attractions for them in between of 'project duties'. Writing 'duties' I basically mean taking care of the raft and promoting the project. On Tuesday evening we gave a presentation at 'Cud nad Wisłą' that was followed by a regular afterparty during which the crewmebers were being asked hundreds of questions about the project. Strangers would come to us to have a little chat about the raft and personally, I think that such a direct talk was the best way of promotion. The raft definitly attracts people! We even had some spontaneous lectures for kids from Warsaw schools, who went on a trip with their teachers and met us accidentally. We talked with the kids about taking the responsibility for what we do and where we live and about the art of seeing beauty and potential in what seems to be trash to other people.

It appears that a group of young people from Warsaw share our ideology. They live in a place called 'squat' – that means an abandoned building, often with unclear legal status, which place they 'bring back to life' on their own. When I first heared of squats, I associated them with dangerous communities of drug addicts and alcoholics. I couldn't have been more wrong!!! They are only normal people who just live a different lifestyle, but most importantly they lead serious social and ecological projects! The abandoned building where they live serves also as a 'common-room' for children in difficult family situations. They organise lessons of different kinds for the kids. Once a week they go dumpster-diving for food and they prepare an open-meal out of what they find, they reuse absolutely everything and give many objects a 'second life'! At least to me, meeting these people was a very inspiring lesson of life and I felt proud to talk to them about the Baltica project.

But still our main activity in the capital was promoting the project in various medias. Although it's the European Football Championship that currently makes people here most excited, lots of newspapers, radio stations and TV stations showed their interest in the Baltica project! We gave a lot of interviews and made many contacts that should be very useful in the future.

And now we resume the journey in the direction of the Baltic Sea.

Adventure, here we come! 🙂