International Mankini Challenge

When Robert Falcon Scott landed in Antarctica in 1901 and set out on his Discovery Expedition, I bet it never crossed his mind that 109 years later another Englishman, Flo Areal, would arrive even more unprepared for this hostile continent than him. With all that we know about Antarctica today and the advances made in extreme weather clothing, you’d think the fact that Flo turned up in only a luminous green Lycra Mankini to be madness. And you’d be right! But that ladies and gentlemen is a demonstration of the extraordinary efforts people will go to for the International Mankini Challenge!

Having heard of the International Mankini Challenge (IMC) from a client of his in Switzerland, Flo emailed the IMC to double check that Antarctica hadn’t been mankinied yet. With confirmation that the green lycra flag hadn’t been flown in the coldest of continents, Flo flew over to Argentina and headed to the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia, looking for a boat to take him through the treacherous Drake Passage (considered to be one of the most dangerous stretches of ocean in the world) to Antarctica.

The cost of such a trip can easily be in the region of US $5000 when booked in advance. But if you can be flexible by a few days, then the best way is to travel down to Ushuaia independently and see if you can get a last minute berth. As Flo says, you can then usually secure a spot for around US $3000 – not a bad saving! With the quota on the number of people being able to do this trip being cut for environmental reasons, these prices are only going to rise too.

Following Flo’s initial contact, the next we heard of him was on the International Mankini Challenge twitter page when @DodgyLodgey (a Kiwi backpacker) mentioned she’d seen a lad in a mankini while on a trip to Antarctica and was that anything to do with us. After telling her about Flo we established it was him. Sure enough a few days later Flo emailed us to confirm he’d become the first person to wear a mankini in Antarctica (and by doing this he’s completed the southernmost Mankiniing of a country). He then uploaded a couple of great pictures of him in the mankini by Wordie House (a British scientific research station) to the IMC Facebook Group as proof.

To see the pictures of Flo in a mankini in Antarctica, check out the Mankini Gallery.

Flo’s achievement has meant we now have mankini pictures from 24 different countries, covering six continents and involving eight different International Mankiniers. While this is a great achievement, we want more! We’ve yet to have a mankini picture from Africa (a World Cup one would be great) and with all the backpackers in Asia, I’m surprised not to see any more from there. So come on guys, it doesn’t take up much room in the backpack after all.