In November 2015, Mario set off on his second proper walk, which was to be a casual stroll across the entire African continent, an expedition he named Crossing Africa. That’s 12,000 kilometers (7,456 miles) that would take him through South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt.
RELATED: Is walking the most adventurous way to travel?
He returned home in January 2018—two years, three months, and presumably several hundred blisters later—successful, inspired and empowered by his feat (and feet). So we gave him a call. Because we like people who do this kind of thing.
Adventure.com: When most of us think about ‘exploring the world’, we’re talking about going on holiday for a couple of weeks. To say to your friends, “I’m just gonna go and walk across Africa for a couple of years,”—there must have been some good reactions.
Mario: Most people thought it was impossible or I was going to die. People were ready to write my obituary, which was pretty funny. But I wasn’t going out there to die, I was going out there to meet and overcome some challenges. Anything is possible with a little research.
Where did the idea for the Crossing Africa expedition come from?
I kind of stumbled upon it. It’s a combination of my interests—culture, travel, athletics, and pushing my body and mind to the limit. It took me about a year to figure out what I really wanted to do, and it’s not like anyone has written a manual on how to walk across Africa.
