Braam Malherbe

International speaker, extreme adventurer, conservationist, youth developer and author. All these words could be used to describe Braam Malherbe, a man on a mission the save planet Earth. If you meet Braam in person however you will discover that he is an ordinary man that believes in doing EXTRA, for the causes that you care about most – this is what makes a human EXTRAordinary.

His adventures include running the entire length of the Great Wall of China, running the entire coastline of South Africa, doing a race against time to the South Pole in -45 Celsius temperatures, and in 2017 completing another world first: rowing unassisted for 92 days from Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro all in the name of the DOT Challenge, a movement he invented that challenges everyone to Do One Thing.

Considered to be “One of the top 3 athletes to ever come out of South Africa” by Prof Tim Noakes, Braam started to do public speaking when he realized his own adventures and personal journey could help others move from a life of success to a life of significance.

Braam’s contagious positive energy is fed by his life-long passion to protect the environment and inspire change. Braam places great emphasis on the importance of leadership in society and how to move from a culture of blame and entitlement to one of personal growth. He shows how, by learning from nature, we can only evolve by embracing change.

Braam’s adventures are extraordinary and always purpose driven. He is a riveting international motivational speaker, applying lessons learned from his experiences to talk about innovation and change, resilience, purpose, courage, leadership, teamwork, and making the impossible possible.

Details of Malherbe's impressive athletic feats follows:

In 1974, at age 17, Braam ran from Plettenberg Bay to Cape Town to raise funds and awareness regarding the potential destruction of species in the Langebaan Lagoon where construction was being planned. He succeeded in ensuring an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was conducted to prevent certain marine species from potentially going extinct.

In 2006 Braam, together with a running partner David Grier, accomplishing a world first by running 4, 200 km along the entire length of the Great Wall of China in a single attempt. This translated into running an average of more than a full marathon a day for 98 days.

In 2008 Braam, achieved a second world-first by running the entire coastline of South Africa, a distance of over 3, 200 km, with running partner David Grier. These expeditions raised over R2.5 million for Operation Smile, providing corrective surgery for children born with cleft lip and cleft palate disfigurements.

In 2011 Braam, and his race partner Peter van Kets represented South Africa in an unassisted race against the clock to the South Pole, a distance of 888 km, which they covered in 24 days. They did this while man-hauling sleds weighing around 85 kg each, in a climate with high winds and an average temperature of -45° C. This expedition was to highlight the problems we face as a result of climate-change (of which Braam is an expert).

On 9 May 2017, Braam achieved his third world-first. Together with his rowing partner Wayne Robertson he rowed a 6.8m rowing boat 8 100kms from Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro in 92 days. The pair rowed in continuous two-hourly shifts, with one rowing while the other made water and food and tried to sleep. The journey was fraught with problems, such as being capsized four times, 40 foot breaking swells and being submerged for five minutes, their water desalinator broke, 27 near collisions with super tankers and more… Severe sleep deprivation even caused hallucinations.