Zwier Albertus "Alby" Mangels (born 16 November 1948) is an Australian adventurer and documentary film-maker widely remembered for his ''World Safari'' adventure travel films (''

World Safari ''World Safari'' is a documentary film released in 1977 made from footage of Alby Mangels and John Field's six-year journey around 56 countries and four continents in the 1970s. Includes a motorcycle trip across Australia, living with Buddhist mo ...

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World Safari II In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

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World Safari III In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

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Early life

Mangels was born in the Netherlands on 16 November 1948. His father Johannes (Jos) was a leather tanner. The family moved to Australia in 1955 where they settled in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. After about eighteen months in Australia his parents separated. His mother Adrianna (Sjann) remarried but died when he was fifteen. He left school at fourteen. As a teenager, he undertook a wide variety of professions including chicken farming and house construction. Mangels set off in 1971 with friend John Fields on what was supposed to be a one-off trip. It turned into a six-year odyssey which they filmed through several continents. The resulting film, first shown in Australia in 1977, was a significant success. Mangels continued to travel through the 1980s, filming all the way. Two more World Safari films were made from this subsequent material. Mangels and Fields often spent time living with local inhabitants in many locations, frequently working for room and board or just to get to know the local culture of each area.

Biographies

A companion book to the films, ''Alby Mangels' World Safari'', was published in the 1980s. Lynn Santer authored Mangels's authorised biography ''Beyond World Safari'' in 2007. There are also reports that a feature-length Mangels biographical film is in production with multi-awarded Hollywood veteran producer Paul Mason and in 2010 he was rumoured to have been approached to appear on '' Dancing with the Stars''.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mangels, Alby 1948 births Living people Australian documentary filmmakers Australian media personalities Dutch emigrants to Australia