23 Years of Traveller Mike Spencer Bown

A 44-year-old traveller who has traveled the globe and is known as the “first tourist to visit war-torn Mogadishu” has decided to unpack his backpack after 23 years of wandering.





Mike Spencer Bone in Mogadishu.

Mike Spencer Bown, who has walked the world and visited 195 countries in 23 years of uninterrupted travel, is finally returning home.



Mike Spencer Bone in the sands of the Sahara in southern Algeria, June 2013. Mr. Spencer Bone, 44, can be called the most tenacious traveler in the history of mankind. He ran a solo marathon from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, visiting all the countries in between.

He became the first tourist in war-torn Mogadishu, hitchhiked to Saddam Hussein’s hometown during the US invasion of Iraq, and lived with pygmies in Congo.



Mike Spencer Bone in Mongolia, 2009.



Mike Spencer Bone at Nam Tso Lake in Nepal.



Mike Spencer Bone with his travel partner Molly at Nam Tso Lake in Nepal.



Mike Spencer Bone in the national Korean costume in Seoul. Mr Spencer Bone has lost track of arrests and detentions. But despite visiting some of the most dangerous places on Earth, he escaped serious trouble or illness, with the exception of two brief bouts of malaria.

He hitchhiked most of his trip, but—unlike most other travelers—he stayed in the countries he visited.

And all with the same robust backpack he first left his native Canada with in 1990.



Mike Spencer Bone at the Dragon Tree in Socotra.



Mike Spencer Bone with pilgrims in Tibet.

Mr. Spencer Bone said: “Every day of my adult life is an adventure.

When I was 21, I thought about my future, and I asked myself, has anyone ever tried to walk the globe?

I thought, if not, why don't I try? That's how I started my journey.

There are over 300 people on Earth who have visited every country in the world, but I don’t consider them real travelers.

They are passengers in the full sense of the word, they do not travel, but travel.



Mike Spencer Bone with a guide in the mountains of the Mongolian Altai. Photograph: Mike Spencer Bown/SWNS

Over the years, Mike has visited Indonesia 20 times, twice in Egypt, six times in India, five times in Cameroon, twice in Peru, three times in China, dozens of times in Africa and almost 50 times in Thailand.

He finances his travels by performing assignments of various companies: in Bali he sells silver, exports furniture from Java and gems from Africa.

He said, I’ve never had a problem with money. I'm taking a legitimate risk. I camp, sleep only in cheap hotels, stay with the locals and do what they do.

It’s easy to make money in third world countries if you know how (and you’ll know if you live there long enough).

If you want to do a round-the-world trip, don’t expect to spend more than 200 bucks a day: there’s no budget for it.

Forget about “vacation” and start living with the locals. If you don’t know the price of something, you probably can’t afford it.

During his odyssey, Mr. Spencer Bone often looked death in the eyes in the mountains of Nepal and came across machine gun muzzles more than once.

He rode a reindeer sled with drunken Yakuts in Russia, helped healers in Mali, and canoeed past sleeping tigers in Bangladesh.

His most memorable moment was his visit to the Somali capital Mogadishu in 2010.

Mr. Spencer Bone went there in search of legendary beaches, called the most beautiful in the world, and came across hostility there.

Somali immigration officials deemed him a spy, and he had only difficulty convincing them of his loyalty.

“Somalia was the last and most dangerous country on my list. When I got to Mogadishu, I knew I had succeeded, he said.



Mike Spencer Bone in Papua New Guinea. Photograph: Mike Spencer Bown/SWNS



Mike Spencer Bone with the Pilgrims of Tibet. Photograph: Mike Spencer Bown/SWNS

Mr. Spencer Bone drove through Afghanistan in the back seat of a motorcycle - sipping wine during a Taliban shootout - and through Iraq during the second Gulf War.

In Pakistan, he was detained by the CIA, in South Asia he picked up a mysterious strain of herpes, and in Antarctica he “hung out” with penguins.

Other adventurers saw him living in a Bambuti tribe of pygmies in the Democratic Republic of Congo, hunting antelopes and fleeing genocide by Hutu rebels.

But despite some risky situations, he says he never sought danger intentionally.

The greatest danger is not countries, but groups of people in “bad” areas on the outskirts of cities that are not part of the community – beware of such areas.

Many of the most interesting places are really dangerous – they can easily kill you there.



Mike Spencer Bone in front of a gorilla in Rwanda, 2010. Photograph: Mike Spencer Bown/SWNS

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Mike Spencer Bone during the second hike to Machu Picchu, 2009. Photograph: Mike Spencer Bown/SWNS



Mike Spencer Bone with reindeer herders in Russia. Mr Spencer Bone, who completed more than a dozen passport applications during his marathon, finished his trip to Ireland last month, where he spent several weeks before heading to his mother's home in Calgary, Canada.

After years of solitude, he finally met a woman on Facebook waiting for him in Canada.

But when asked if he was ready to calm down and finally stop his odyssey, he replied: “For now, enough – at least for now.”



Mike Spencer Bone with Bambuti Pygmies in Congo. Photograph: Mike Spencer Bown/SWNS



Mike Spencer Bone in Tehran, 2003. Photograph: Mike Spencer Bown/SWNS



Mike Spencer Bone with his companion Molly Macindoe with reindeer herders in Yakutsk, Russia. Photograph: Mike Spencer Bown/SWNS



Mike Spencer Bone in Damascus, Syria.



Mike Spencer Bone with Pygmies in Tari, Papua New Guinea.

Recommended by Mike, what to take with you in the world:

1. mosquito net
2. Old worn backpack, the least attractive for thieves
3. Mango cleaning knife to scare off potential burglars
4. Strong shoes.
5. A set of visa application forms and many photos
6. Metal cup
7. A shirt with a collar for visiting the embassy
8. A khaki shirt made of fast-drying fabric and with many pockets helps impress officials.
9. Impressive business card with a good logo
10. Waterproof cover for documents



Mike Spencer Bone in Somalia amid a rusty backbone of an American tank.



Mike Spencer Bone in Mogadishu.

10 Golden Moments: What it took to experience and see Mike

1. Visit the Blue Whale Cemetery, South Georgia Island, Antarctica
2. Run from police on a boat on the Niger Delta, Niger
3. Sprint down the black cone of a volcano in Guatemala
4. Be released after being captured by pirates in Puntland, Somalia
5. Meet Sikh pilgrims at the Golden Temple of Amritsar, India
6. “Contact” with penguins under high blue ice, Antarctica
7. Swim to Angel Falls in a crappy canoe, Venezuela
8. Come face to face with silvery mountain gorillas in Virunga Volcano National Park, Rwanda
9. Follow the Inca Path to Machu Picchu, Peru
10. Think Eternal at Base Camp Under Everest

Text by Tara Brady, Daily Mail.



Source: mirfactov.com/