A Nigerian adventurer, Ileri Babalobi is set to embark on a journey to break the Guinness World Record for visiting all 54 African countries without using air travel.
This endeavour aims to make him the first African to accomplish such a feat while also setting two Guinness World Records.
He plans to travel to 48 countries by public transport and visit the remaining 6 island nations by sea. At the borders of each country, he intends to take a photograph with the Nigerian flag.
His journey is scheduled to commence from Lagos on March 6 and his day-to-day adventures will be documented on YouTube.
Ileri aims to complete the journey within 9 months, spending an average of 3 or 4 days in each country to explore tourist sites and engage with the culture.
In his words;
“I have always wanted to visit all African countries, a dream stretching back over ten years ago. I had already taken steps towards that, by visiting more than a dozen of them on my own.
“When Hilda Baci broke her world record in May 2023, I began to see that I could do it in a way that would raise money for charity, and also draw attention to important causes, while also showing the world how African cultures look like.
I choose to go by road or sea firstly because it’s cheaper that way and also because you get to see more of the environment or scenery and interact more with people”.
During this journey, he will promote the Borderless Africa campaign led by the NGO Africans Rising, while also raising funds for the Nigerian Red Cross.
“It’s a pity that Africans have to pay expensive visa fees to visit most other African countries. I look forward to a future where most of the barriers to migration for Africans within Africa are removed,“ Ileri Babalobi hinted at his challenges.
The Enugu State-born man spent his formative years in Northern Nigeria before relocating to Ibadan during childhood.
Babalobi has already visited all 36 states of Nigeria, all 16 regions of Ghana, and over a dozen other African countries.
His travels began shortly after winning one million naira on the game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” as he was eager to explore diverse cultures and satisfy his curiosity.