World’s longest footpath crosses 16 countries from Cape Town to Siberia
The world’s longest trail crosses 16 countries. To complete the expedition, it would take 1,153 days and cross warring states. In six- to eight-hour days, it would take a person more than three years to complete the route.
Although there is no agreement among researchers as to when the ancestors of Homo sapiens sapiens began bipedalism – some place the milestone 10 million years ago, others 4.4 million years ago and others later – it does seem clear that it was Homo erectus, one and a half million years ago, that began to walk like us.
From that moment on, walking became part of the human being. Walking is in our DNA and, today, there are even bracelets that count the steps we take every day. Nowadays, hardly anyone would admit to “not walking enough”. That would almost be a declaration of intent against our own health and that of the planet.
It would mean using the car a lot, emitting a lot of particles that damage the ozone layer. Being sedentary. There was someone in 2007 who took walking to the ultimate expression. It was Christoph Rehage, a German who walked 4,500 km, from China to his native Germany, and set a world record along the way.
No one has walked more than him. However, those 4,500 are a far cry from the 22,387 km that connect Cape Town (South Africa) with Magadan (Russia), the two farthest points on the planet that can be connected without a boat.
4,492 hours. That is the time that, as revealed by Interesting Engineering, separates the two points. If one could walk without stopping and without sleep, it would take a human more than six months to complete the journey.
Between the Siberian city of Magadan and the African city of Cape Town at the Cape of Good Hope, there are 16 countries that would have to be crossed in the adventure that such a journey would entail.
From south to north, the expedition would start from South Africa, passing through Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt.
These are all African countries to be crossed before entering Asia via the Sinai Peninsula through the Suez Canal, then Israel, Syria, the Asian parts of Turkey and Georgia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and, finally, the longed-for Russia.
In six- to eight-hour days, it would take an estimated 1,153 days for a person to complete the route.
To complete it, the adventurer would have to face stretches where, among other dangers concerning nature – such as dangerous animals, thick jungles and eternal plains – survival would be difficult.
