We’ve all felt it—that heavy, inescapable feeling that creeps in as weekend hours slip away. South African explorer Riaan Manser calls it the “Sunday dread”. Decades ago, while sitting in Newlands Forest after a run, Manser realized that despite having a good job, a nice car, and a pretty girlfriend, his gut was telling him he was deeply unhappy.
“I decided right there I wasn’t going to accept it,” Manser shared during a presentation. “I believe I’m a go-getter. I’m not a talker; I’m a doer.” That afternoon, without even owning a bicycle, he committed to a wild dream: becoming the first human being in history to circumnavigate Africa by bike.
Surviving the Rebel Jungles
When Manser originally pedalled away from the V&A Waterfront, only five people and a dog showed up to say goodbye. The media mocked him, yet 2 years, 2 months, and 15 days later, he returned to the exact same spot after cycling through every coastal country on the continent—alone, unaided, and without a support crew.
The journey tested the limits of human resilience. While navigating an active war zone near the Liberian jungle, Manser was tackled off his bike and held captive by heavily drugged young rebels. Staring death in the face, with his knees physically shaking, his life was saved by an unlikely twist of fate: a rebel leader found a magazine featuring a close-up photo of then-President Thabo Mbeki. To survive, Manser stood side-by-side with his captor, laughing at the photo until they abruptly let him go.
Bridging the Gap to Reality
Manser’s boundary-breaking didn’t stop there. He went on to kayak around Madagascar, circumnavigate Iceland in a double kayak alongside his friend Dan, who has cerebral palsy, and spend six continuous months locked in a tiny rowing boat with his partner, Vasti, rowing 11,000 kilometres from Africa to the Statue of Liberty.
Ultimately, Manser believes his extreme trials were part of a deeper personal evolution from a tough childhood. For him, true success isn’t about talking through strategy or dreaming up clever ideas; it is defined by the raw grit required when the rubber meets the road. Action is everything, because as he reminds us, there is an entire ocean between saying and doing.
