Sibusiso Vilane OIB (born 5 December 1970, Shongwe Mission in Mpumalanga) is a South African adventurer, motivational speaker, and the author of the book ''To the Top from Nowhere''. An adventurer, marathon runner, mountaineer, and expedition leader, he has also served as the
Chief Scout A Chief Scout is the principal or head scout for an organization such as the military, colonial administration or expedition or a talent scout in performing, entertainment or creative arts, particularly sport. In sport, a Chief Scout can be the prin ...
of
Scouts South Africa
Scouts South Africa is the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) recognised Scout association in South Africa. Scouting began in the United Kingdom in 1907 through the efforts of Robert Baden-Powell and rapidly spread to South Africa, ...
.
Sibusiso has been married to Nomsa since 1995 and is the father of four – three girls and a boy.
Early life
His
Swazi Swazi may refer to:
* Swazi people, a people of southeastern Africa
* Swazi language
* Eswatini
Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked coun ...
mother and South African father moved the family to
Swaziland where Vilane was schooled (from the age of 11). Sibusiso completed his O levels at the Mater Dolorosa school in
Swaziland. After a time as a labourer and drawing on his experienced as a goatherder, Vilane began his working career as a game ranger at
Malolotja Nature Reserve 280px, View on the national park
Malolotja National Park covers of mountain wilderness on Eswatini's northwestern border with South Africa. The park includes Ngwenya Mountain, Eswatini's second highest mountain (1,829 m), and Malolotja Falls whic ...
in Swaziland in 1993. In 1996, he met John Doble who became a friend and benefactor and who was instrumental in finding the necessary sponsorship for Vilane's
Mount Everest
Mount Everest (; Tibetic languages, Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is List of highest mountains on Earth, Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border ru ...
summit expedition.
Climbing career
Vilane started climbing in 1996 by summitting peaks in the
Drakensberg
The Drakensberg (Afrikaans: Drakensberge, Zulu: uKhahlambha, Sotho: Maluti) is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, which encloses the central Southern African plateau. The Great Escarpment reaches its greatest elevation – within t ...
. In 1999, he summitted
Mount Kilimanjaro and went on to the Himalayas in 2002, successfully climbing
Pokalde,
Lobuche
Lobuche (also spelt Lobuje) is a Nepalese mountain which lies close to the Khumbu Glacier and the settlement of Lobuche. There are two main peaks, Lobuche East and Lobuche West. A permit to climb the mountain is required from the Nepal Mounta ...
, and
Island Peak
Imja Tse, better known as Island Peak, is a mountain in Sagarmatha National Park of the Himalayas of eastern Nepal. The peak was named Island Peak in 1953 by members of the British Mount Everest expedition because it appears as an island in a sea ...
, all of which are over 6,000 metres high, as part of his training for the Mount Everest expedition.
In March 2003, Vilane set off for the
Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...
again in his quest to be the first Black African to summit earth's highest mountain, Everest. He summitted successfully on 26 May 2003 from the South Side.
On that day, South African President
Thabo Mbeki
Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki KStJ (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who was the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (ANC ...
congratulated him on his achievement. "In this, he has shown the heights we can all scale in life if we put our shoulder to the wheel and work at things without flagging. Sibusiso, you have done us proud!" In 2006, Vilane was awarded the Order of Ikhamanga (Bronze) by President Mbeki.
In 2005, Vilane reached the summit of Everest again with
Sir Ranulph Fiennes
Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet (born 7 March 1944), commonly known as Sir Ranulph Fiennes () and sometimes as Ran Fiennes, is a British explorer, writer and poet, who holds several endurance records.
Fiennes served in the ...
and Alex Harris after accessing the peak from the North Ridge – the more difficult and statistically less-successful side. This achievement meant that he is the first black African to climb the world's highest peak twice and by two different routes. Three children's charities benefited from his climb: The Birth to Twenty Research Programme at Wits University, the Africa Foundation and the SOS Children's Village in Swaziland.
Since this climb, Vilane has completed all
Seven Summits
The Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven traditional continents. Climbing to the summit of all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first achieved on 30 April 1985 by Richard Bass. Climbing the Seven Summits a ...
. In late 2007 Vilane and fellow mountaineer,
Alex Harris, embarked on an unsupported and unassisted trek to reach the
South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...
which, when they completed the expedition on 17 January 2008, made Vilane and Harris the first South Africans to walk to the South Pole and Vilane the black person to do so.
Seven Summits timeline
#
Mount Kilimanjaro (Africa) 1999
#
Mount Everest
Mount Everest (; Tibetic languages, Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is List of highest mountains on Earth, Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border ru ...
(Asia) 2003 – South and 2005 – North
#
Aconcagua
Aconcagua () is a mountain in the Principal Cordillera of the Andes mountain range, in Mendoza Province, Argentina. It is the highest mountain in the Americas, the highest outside Asia, and the highest in the Southern Hemisphere with a summi ...
(South America) 2006
#
Mount Elbrus (Europe) 2006
#
Carstensz Pyramid
Puncak Jaya (; literally "Glorious Peak") or Carstensz Pyramid, Mount Jayawijaya or Mount Carstensz () on the island of New Guinea, with an elevation of , is the highest mountain peak of an island on Earth. The mountain is located in the Sudi ...
(Oceania) 2006
#
Vinson Massif
Vinson Massif () is a large mountain massif in Antarctica that is long and wide and lies within the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains. It overlooks the Ronne Ice Shelf near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. The massif is located ...
(Antarctica) 2006
#
Denali
Denali (; also known as Mount McKinley, its former official name) is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of above sea level. With a topographic prominence of and a topographic isolation of , Denali is the th ...
/
Mount McKinley
Denali (; also known as Mount McKinley, its former official name) is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of above sea level. With a topographic prominence of and a topographic isolation of , Denali is the thir ...
(North America) 2008
North Pole expedition
Vilane arrived at the geographic North Pole on 12 April 2012. This is the final hurdle to becoming the first black person to complete the
Three Poles Challenge
The Three Poles is an adventurer’s challenge to reach the North Pole, the South Pole, and the summit of Mount Everest.
The first person to reach all three locations was Edmund Hillary. He reached the top of Everest in May 1953, summited the Sout ...
. This expedition was dubbed The Goliath Challenge and sponsored by Virgin Money Insurance. In completion of the Three Poles Challenge and the
Seven Summits
The Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven traditional continents. Climbing to the summit of all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first achieved on 30 April 1985 by Richard Bass. Climbing the Seven Summits a ...
, Vilane has also become the first African to have accomplished
Explorers Grand Slam
The Explorer's Grand Slam is an adventurer goal to reach the North Pole and South Pole, as well as climb the Seven Summits (Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Vinson, and Puncak Jaya or Kosciuszko). Purists also include a sub ...
, an elite title earned only by a handful around the world.
Humanitarian work
As a professional speaker, his message is simple: every person has their own "Everest" to climb. Whether you're prepared for it or not, it's there – challenging you to reach the top and if he can do that in the most dangerous and inhospitable of conditions and against all the odds so, he suggests, can others.
Since 2006, Vilane has been the African ambassador for Lifeline Energy (formerly the Free Play Foundation). He dedicated the 1,113 kilometres he trekked to the South Pole to the children of South Africa. In May 2008, as a result of this act and hundreds of sponsors supporting Vilane, Lifeline Energy was able to provide 300 Lifeline radios to children from the Nkomazi district, where Vilane was born. In 2013 Sibusiso became an official Ambassador to the Mandela Bangle programme, which benefits the Mandela Day School Library campaign through funds raised from bangle sales and donations to his "Participate for Good Expeditions".
"The future entirely depends on the education of children, their access to information to broaden their thinking and understanding of the ever-changing and challenging world" says Vilane.
Vilane is also a patron of the Global Offering (GO) projects and is an eco ambassador for Indalo Yethu, a government organisation which strives to raise awareness about the environment.
Vilane founded a running club called Born to Win. He has also hosted a radio show ''My Climb, Your Climb'' on 1485 Radio Today in which he interviewed black achievers about the challenges they faced and overcame in their careers and lives. He is patron of the Endangered Wildlife Trust's Conservation Leadership Group and currently shares his time between work at a private game reserve in Limpopo and his family in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga.
In December 2013, he was appointed Chief Scout of Scouts South Africa, a position he held until 2017.
Highlights and achievements
On Thursday December 2011, Vilane was introduced to the
Queen of the United Kingdom
The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiw ...
at a reception at
Buckingham Palace. The reception was held to acknowledge those involved in
mountaineering,
adventurer
An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme sp ...
and
exploration
Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians.
Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
. Also present was
Sir Ranulph Fiennes
Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet (born 7 March 1944), commonly known as Sir Ranulph Fiennes () and sometimes as Ran Fiennes, is a British explorer, writer and poet, who holds several endurance records.
Fiennes served in the ...
, a friend of Vilane.
From 4 to 23 January, Vilane led his first out of Africa climbing expedition and guided a team of eleven South Africans up
Aconcagua
Aconcagua () is a mountain in the Principal Cordillera of the Andes mountain range, in Mendoza Province, Argentina. It is the highest mountain in the Americas, the highest outside Asia, and the highest in the Southern Hemisphere with a summi ...
. This is the highest mountain in the southern hemisphere, the highest in South America and one of the Seven Summits. He helped five of the team members to the summit of this mountain including South Africa's youngest person to summit Aconcagua,
Jayson Funnell (at age fifteen).
In 2012, Vilane became a fully-fledged member of the British Alpine Club.
Vilane has become the only Black South African to complete the Explorers Grand Slam known as the Three Poles Challenge: reaching the summit of Everest, South and North Pole. Vilane's last achievement of the three, the North Pole, took place in April 2012.
Controversy
During July 2016, Sibusiso Vilane was the expedition lead, guiding a party of 40 climbers to the summit of Kilimanjaro. During the summit attempt a well known South African race and rally driver, Gugu Zulu, succumbed prior to reaching the summit due to unspecified illness.
"I asked him how he was, he said, 'I'm ok... I suspect there is some flu creeping in'." With tears rolling down his face, Vilane said he did not see any signs of an illness. "For me he was still cheerful."
References
External links
*
Freeplay Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vilane, Sibusiso
Living people
South African humanitarians
1970 births
Recipients of the Order of Ikhamanga
Summiters of Mount Everest
South African people of Swazi descent