South African about to Embark on Major Swim Expedition

Inspirational South African author, ocean advocate and pioneer swimmer Lewis Pugh is about to embark on a major swimming expedition…but we don’t know where!

We do know it’s not Iceland, Switzerland, Italy, France, Indonesia, the Caribbean, or the Faroe Islands thanks to a post where he let people guess based on some half-finished flags of his destinations. Nobody guessed correctly.

We also know it’s not South Africa…although he has been doing some last-minute training in Cape Town. In fact yesterday he received some support on the beach from South African’s former Archbishop Desmond Tutu…who was shocked by the icy coldness of Lewis’ hands after stepping out of the ocean.

Lewis has teamed up for this expedition with the United Nations Environment Programme “to campaign for more Marine Protected Areas (national parks in the seas)”, and will be co-sponsored by the equally prestigious Living Oceans Foundation who “explore, map and survey coral reefs around the world to promote their conservation”, according to Lewis.

In a blog post entitled “Burn Your Boats” a few days ago Lewis revealed “it’s been a busy few weeks as I head into the final stages of preparing for the swim of my life. In a few more days I’ll be able to tell you when, where and why. But as I write this I’m staring down a great big neon sign that says ‘IF’.”

The IF has been caused by an injury to his back…but Lewis has decided to forge ahead regardless, drawing on inspiration from marathon runner Josiah Thugwane who became the first black South African to win Olympic gold in 1996, even though he had been “carjacked and shot five months before the event” and then contracted severe influenza just before the event.

Lewis Pugh’s own accolades include being named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2010 and being appointed Patron of the Oceans by the United Nations Environment Programme in 2013. He quit his career as a lawyer in 2003 to follow his dream “to protect our oceans”.

He is the only person to have completed a long distance swim in every ocean of the world. His autobiography “Achieving the Impossible” is a bestseller, and he has been given the freedom of the City of London!

And now he is about to set off on his next major expedition to highlight the plight of the world’s oceans. All will be revealed on Tuesday August 5.