Mungo Park
At 24 Mungo Park, a young Scottish doctor, became the first European to reach the interior of West
Africa. In 1795, aged 22, Mungo – who had never traveled much outside of Scotland - popped over to Sumatra in Indonesia
where he discovered eight new species of fish, just like any regular 22 year old does. It was at 24, however, that he
was to really make his name. Despite having never seen an episode of Man vs. Wild, Mungo trekked through man-eating
jungle and the desert kingdom of Kaarta, was held captive by local tribesmen for four months and escaped to discover the
long sought Niger river at Segou on July 21s 1796. Puts that 'exotic' trip to Cabo or Ibiza in perspective a little bit
doesn't it?
