Previous to this David did the first ever continuous joint run of the Great Wall of China, some 4000km in 98 days. Plus the first ever continuous run along the coast of South Africa from Oranjemund via Cape Town to Mozambique, 3300km in 80 days.

David was born on the 16th of January 1960 into a Cape wine farming family in South Africa, and with this base he never lost his roots for the love of the outdoors. With food, wine and adventure close to his heart, David set out to take all of his passions to the extreme, and explore the limits of the human mind and body. After he studied management at hotel school, David set out into the industry and became one of the countries youngest hotel managers at the age of 21.

Two years later David started his first in a chain of successful restaurants, and has an international television cooking series on the way. David is always pushing his adventure side as well. Summiting Mt Kilimanjaro, running the Comrades Marathon, the 2 Oceans Marathon, the Puffer Ultra Marathon, and the Le Grand Raid - the worlds hardest single stage mountain race, 128km. David's books, Courage and Rice, a photographic journal of his adventure along the Great Wall of China, Hope in Thyme, a photographic journal of an inspirational journey around the coast of South Africa are now available to buy on this website Burnt Vanilla, his new book on Madagascar will be out soon.