The longest walk on Earth from Cape Town to eastern Russia which would take at least six months

For keen hikers, there are a number of long-distance trails which could challenge anyone.

There is the Appalachian Trail in the US, the Greater Patagonian Trail through South America and Te Araroa through New Zealand, to name a few.

But none of them has anything on the longest walk on Earth, which comes in at a whopping 14,334 miles (23,068 kilometres) – over six times the Appalachian’s length.

The route takes you from Cape Town, South Africa, to Magadan in north-east Russia, and is entirely walkable.

Be warned though, it crosses through 16 countries which subject you to desert, warzones, and some of the coldest places on the planet.

The longest walkable route on Earth is a massive 14,334 miles long, going from Cape Town, South Africa, to Magadan, Russia

The route goes through the Sahara desert as you cross from Sudan into Egypt

Damascus, Syria, is just one of the places en route where you will find yourself in a warzone

The hike would doubtless give you some great views, including of the Black Sea from the coast of Georgia

The 14,334-mile hike would require approximately 4,500 hours of walking, equating to 188 days, but being realistic – or at least a bit more realistic – it would take closer to three years to complete this journey at a sustainable pace while accounting for time to sleep.

So, if you are thinking of packing your bags, taking a career break, and being the first person to ever do this, here is what to expect along the way.

Firstly, according RealLifeLore on YouTube, Earth’s longest walk technically starts in L’Agulhas, rather than Cape Town, which is the southernmost point on the African continent.

From there you walk up the length of South Africa, and cross into Zimbabwe. At this point you meet your first big danger – the black mamba, or Africa’s deadliest snake.

Next the route takes you briefly through Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, and then back into Malawi.

After that you trek all the way through Tanzania to Uganda, which is your next big threat, as one of the malaria capitals of the world – so be sure to have your shot before you embark on this getaway.

And once you are through that, you go straight into South Sudan which, according to the Global Peace Index, is the fourth most dangerous country in the world, as it is embroiled in a civil war.

However, you soon get into Sudan, which is a healthy five ranks higher, and could subject you to temperatures of 47 Celsius as you go through the Sahara.

Your last stop before leaving Africa is Egypt, which you depart by crossing the Suez Canal and heading to Israel and Jordan.

After brief stint through those, you head into the last active warzone on the route – Syria, which has been engulfed in civil war since 2011.

The conflict has been marked by the use of chemical weapons, bombings, and other atrocities. 

Given that, anyone doing this walk will be keen to get to Turkey as soon as possible, although the route does not go through anywhere especially notable here before crossing into Georgia.

At this point you will meet the edge of the Black Sea, bringing excellent views from the beaches around Pitsunda.

Then you cross into the final country, although there are still over 10,000 km to go, as this is Russia.

You begin by walking through Sochi, the host city of the 2014 Winter Olympics.

The route sees you go through the width of Siberia which would likely involve encountering temperatures as low as -39C in the harsh Russian winter

Magadan is a port town founded in 1930, and was a major transit centre for political prisoners put to work in the closest gulags in Stalinist Russia

The former airport of Magadan, administrative centre of Russia’s Magadan Oblast region

Quickly though, the route leaves the Black Sea and begins its monotonous traipse through the world’s largest nation, north of its borders with Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China.

This sees you go right through the width of Siberia, and given the length of the journey, this would likely involve encountering temperatures as low as -39C in the harsh Russian winter. 

The final stint of the journey is from Yakutsk to Magadan, along the ‘road or bones,’ so-called because the gulag labourers who died while building it had their bodies simply mixed in with the rest of the rest of the building material.

Any further than Magadan would be practically impossible to get to on foot, hence, this is the destination of our planet’s longest walk.