Without exaggeration, Adventure Bound is one of best travel documentary series ever made, and I must admit that while surfing channels, I’m glued to my TV every time I stumble upon Alby Mangels’ adventures.
And if you have not yet discovered this extremely interesting and educational series, I will do my best to make you want to turn on your TV and find out what it really means to be Adventure Bound.
When I first started watching Adventure Bound I thought to myself. Wow, I wish I had so much money to travel around the world for a living–the episodes feature Alby driving different trucks on different continents, sailing different boats in different oceans, flying choppers and airplanes in remote areas of the world, etc.
This guy must have either had some major dough or some powerful connections to pull it off. I was wrong. And I came to admire this extraordinary man, whose eternal energy and determination is a guiding light to us all.
Alby Mangels was born in Holland in 1948. When he was 8, his family moved to Australia. A short time later his parents split up, and Alby was brought up by his mother in a shack on the banks of the Murray River in Murray Bridge, South Australia. However, Murray Bridge was not enough to satisfy Alby. Neither was Australia. For Alby Mangels, the world was not enough!
On March 10th, 1971, Alby and his friend John Fields left Adelaide and traveled north to their first job–building homes for local Aborigines. This was the beginning of the World Safari I–an adventure that would take Alby through 56 countries and 6 continents in 6 years.
Starting capital–$400 and one camera. Alby worked, saved money and then spent everything on travel. In Tokyo, Alby stayed with the Zen Buddhist monks and his job was to wake up at 4am every morning to wash and scrub the floors.
His World Safari I adventure would take him from Tokyo to Thailand (he hitched the ride on a boat), crossing to India, and then off to Africa. In Kenya, Alby and John bought a 2-cylinder “Daf” for $200, which would cover 30,000 miles of African terrain in 3 years.
In South Africa, in order to earn enough money to travel, Alby and John became insurance salesmen and sold life insurance policies on the side of the road. In the first 11 weeks Alby made more money in that short period of time than anyone in the entire 140 year history of the company.
“Travel hasn’t satisfied an appetite. It has created one.” World Safari II and World Safari III followed, taking Alby all over the world once again. And the world is not a perfect place.
Alby and his companion Judy get into a car accident in South Africa. Alby crashes his chopper on his Yorke Peninsula farm. Alby’s boat Gretta Marie, burns and sinks, critically injuring a young crewman who dies a short time later. Alby’s dog, Sam, a loyal friend, is shot dead by strangers. Adventure Bound is full of human drama.
Traveling along the Suriname river, Alby searches for the lost Indian tribe that still remains untouched by modern civilization. In Papua New Guinea, Alby visits the “smoked people,” remains of dead tribesmen who have been hung up on the side of a mountain.
On a trip to South America, Alby and his companion Judy encounter schools of piranhas, electric eels and croc-infested waters. In Namibia, Alby and his companion Michelle make their way to the civil war zone.
Four-wheeling in Australia, sailing to South Africa, searching for bushmen in Kalahari desert, facing gorillas in the forests of Rwanda and many other interesting travel stories are all a part of Adventure Bound.
As an introduction to each episode, Alby says, “Have you ever had a dream… just pack up and go…see the world? Well, I did it. For 25 years I traveled from my home in Australia to Africa, to the Amazon rainforest. I dodged terrorists in Peru and tagged rhinos in South Africa. This is a story of that amazing journey–a quarter of the century in the making–of the places I went and the people I met. Join me now for Adventure Bound.”
As I write these words, I’m very excited to highly recommend this program to anyone who has a passion for travel. Alby Mangels has seen this world like no one has. What a life!
Watch it, experience it, live it.
Alby Mangels (Wikipedia)
Alby Mangels: Beyond World Safari
- 7 Women Reach South Pole After 562-Mile Ski Trek (1.000)
- The Search For El Dorado (0.778)
- The Adventurer's Guide To Safe Travel (0.722)
- The World's Most Dangerous Hike (0.722)
- Climbing The 7 Summits (0.722)
- Base Jumping - Adventure or Lunacy? (0.722)
- Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster (0.722)
- Head Hunters of the Amazon: Seven Years of Exploration and Adventure (0.500)
- Shobok Castle in Bedouin Lands (0.500)
- South Pole explorers to drill for Sir Ernest Shackleton's whisky (0.500)
- Captain Scott's Antarctic diaries to be released daily on Twitter (0.500)
- Underground Caverns Found Under Giza Pyramids (0.500)
- Wonders Of The World - Ellora Caves (0.500)
- The Colorado Cave Of Gold (0.500)
- The Lost Spanish Silver Mine Of Llano County (0.500)
- The Search For The Lost Ship Endurance (0.500)
- Google Trail View For Treasure Hunting (0.500)
- The Lost City Of Petra (0.500)
