Patricia Glynn - Adventurer Journalist

Patricia Glyn is a familiar face and voice to South African audiences, having been in broadcasting for 15 years. On radio she's remembered best for "Patricia's People" - a programme which profiled the great explorers, scientists, historians and eccentrics of the world. On TV, she's hosted many different shows, among them the controversial documentary series ‘Point Blank' - a show which looked at the dark underbelly of post-apartheid South Africa.

Documentaries have remained a passion throughout her career. She covered a lone horsewoman's attempt to cross Africa from coast to coast; she spent three days with the dead in the Johannesburg mortuary and she begged at downtown traffic lights with a piece of cardboard and a hidden camera.

In 2002, Patricia and 13 of her listeners walked 500 kilometres from the lowest to the highest points of Zimbabwe at a rate of 50 kilometres per day. Their efforts raised much needed funds for the animals suffering horribly as a result of political turmoil in that country. She's canoed sections of several of Africa's great rivers, she's climbed Kilimanjaro twice, and Aconcagua (the highest mountain in the Southern Hemisphere) once - all but the last 300 metres when the team was beaten back by a killer storm. The experience was so terrifying that she ain't going back for the rest!

In 2003, Patricia spent three months at Mount Everest, reporting on the Discovery team's efforts to stand on top of the world. Her daily journal describing life on this great mountain was later published as a popular book called "Off Peak".

More recently, in 2005, she walked from Durban to the Victoria Falls in the footsteps of two of her ancestors who got to the Falls shortly after David Livingstone. The two thousand kilometre journey took her along the old hunter/trader routes to the interior of Africa, often off-road and often in Big Five territory. It gave her unique insights into the life of people and animals on our stupendous continent and renewed passion for its preservation. "Footing with Sir Richard's Ghost" is the book Patricia wrote about this odyssey and it is a best-seller in South Africa.

Additional information : Patricia Glyn's Talk  Footing with Sir Richards Ghost