Karl Bushby's 25-Year Walk
Karl Bushby is 25+ years into a 30,000-mile walk from Chile toward England, crossing deserts, jungles, mountains, and the Bering Strait on foot. The epic journey showcases extreme endurance in remote terrains despite ongoing challenges with geopolitics and visa issues. His trek represents one of the most ambitious physically challenging travel adventures ever attempted in wild landscapes.
The "Goliath Expedition" began on November 1, 1998, when the former British paratrooper set off from Punta Arenas, Chile. His original plan called for a 12-year, 36,000-mile journey to return to his home in Hull, England, on foot. The route required crossing the Darién Gap, a dense and roadless jungle between Colombia and Panama, which he successfully navigated despite the presence of paramilitary groups. In 2006, he and French adventurer Dimitri Kieffer walked across the frozen Bering Strait from Alaska to Siberia, a 14-day trek covering 150 miles to cross the 58-mile wide strait. His progress has been significantly delayed by visa issues, most notably with Russia. He was restricted to 90-day stays and at one point was banned for five years after unintentionally entering a security zone. In protest of the ban, Bushby walked over 3,000 miles from Los Angeles to the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C. Due to geopolitical tensions making passage through Russia or Iran impossible, Bushby swam 179 miles across the Caspian Sea from Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan in August 2024. The swim took 31 days, with Bushby swimming in two three-hour sessions each day and resting on a support boat. As of late 2025, Bushby was in Hungary, with under 2,000 miles remaining on his journey. He is expected to reach Hull in September 2026, which would mark the completion of one of the longest continuous walks in modern history.
