On Thursday, Danas Pankevičius, a Lithuanian traveller, announced that he had successfully visited every country on the planet. His achievement was 25 years in the making. “After 25 years of non-stop travelling, I am happy to have finally visited all the countries of our beautiful planet.
Every single one. The last one was Turkmenistan,” Pankevičius posted on Facebook. He has been officially recognised by the record-keeping organisation Rekordų Akademija (Academy of Records) as the first Lithuanian national to visit each country on earth.
“I’ve climbed mountains, swum oceans, stumbled through deserts in the worst heat. I swam naked in Antarctica. I’ve slept for years in a hammock or a tent in the jungle or other remote places.
I’ve dived for sunken ships and planes. I’ve watched great white sharks from a metre away. I’ve travelled across the African continent by land.
I’ve crossed the entire Amazon River. And I came home overland from Singapore. “I’ve visited dozens of different tribes, living with them and observing their daily lives.
I’ve met many wild animals along the way. I’ve searched for diamonds and any kind of food. Sometimes, it was something you wouldn’t even dare to taste.
I’ve drank water from puddles, or rivers in the rainforest. I’ve seen wars and poverty. I’ve seen luxury.
I’ve travelled by every conceivable means of transport, even stopping the longest freight train in its tracks, as there was simply no other way to g.