Is this the world’s longest walk? 24,262km from South Africa to China – what to see and countries to avoid
- Russ Cook’s epic run across the length of Africa inspired Post Magazine to try devising the world’s longest walk on Google Maps, complete with sites to visit
- Our hypothetical itinerary, taking into account visa regulations, sealed national borders and war zones, would take an estimated 5,532 hours
You might not be familiar with Plaatjieskraal Ghost Town in South Africa. I wasn’t, until I read about Russ Cook, who recently became the first person known to have run the length of the African continent.
The 27-year-old Englishman began his journey at Cape Agulhas, Africa’s southernmost point, and finished 16,300km (10,130 miles) away, in Tunisia. He crossed 16 countries in 352 days and, on completing the epic feat, admitted with typical British understatement that he felt “a little bit tired”.
Cook’s achievement soon had me poring over Google Maps in an attempt to devise an even longer running, or more realistically, walking route.
The itinerary would have to be hypothetical, as red-tape-ridden visa regulations, sealed national borders and battle-scarred war zones would halt a hiker in his or her tracks.
Which brings us back to Plaatjieskraal, which is just down the road from Cook’s Cape Agulhas departure point.
Built in the 1980s, the holiday resort was abandoned when its seaside properties became buried beneath sand drifts. But it just so happens to be situated in the right place to be the starting point for what is possibly the longest overland hiking adventure possible (in theory).
