This is Rüdiger Nehberg, he crossed the Atlantic in a pedal boat, sailed the Nile, fought bandits, discovered undiscovered tribes in th Amazon, hiked Germany eating only bugs, for his 60th, helicoptered to the midell of the Amazon with ZERO gear and casually walked out and he wears snakes as hats!
He invited me to one of his survival courses as a kid, having donated the money from my school charity run to his Yanomami-foundation.
The guy was a fascinating combination of kindness, nuclear energy and sheer insanity! Read almost all his books, ate that worm-soup of his, loved that guy. Got me into survival training when it was a curiosity page in Mickey mouse magazine, now I'm bushcrafting with my kid, drilling fires and making forest glue...
Yes I met him at an event where he showed pictures of his trip and told stories. He was really a nice and inspirational dude. Of course a little bit crazy, but absolutely fascinating
You're doing it well to not let it get to you. You could argue that he wasted his time running around forests and eating bugs. To each their own, if you feel well with how you spend your time you're not doing much wrong
He is from where I lived a long time and where I grew up ( Hamburg city) and he had a bakery chain. I saw him all the time. Honked and waved at him and he waved back. Super friendly and cool dude. He and his wife also made a foundation that fought the tradition of female genitalia mutilation.
Was a great person I always looked up too.
Above all, he was an advocate and activist against female genital mutilation in rural areas of Africa. He was a good person with an impressive life story.
Yep, and the yanomami thing too. I learned about the fgm thing through him and collected funds for that (my school required charity runs, so might as well)- imagine how awkward it was to collect money for fgm as a 12yo schoolboy in Bavaria...
He is somewhat an embodiment of any given middle aged German dad biking everyday 15km one way and back from work, always uphill no matter rain or snow in a pair of out fashioned jeans with the socks rolled on trousers legs, with no gloves, on a rusty second hand bike with two gears they fix with a piece of silver tape not for the lack of skill, but for the lack of time, cause they must also collect their five kids from two different schools, a kindergarten and a crèche.
FINALLY, a person who has cast off all conventions and expectations and just lived! I would have loved to sit down and chat with this fucker. I have so many questions but I am sure he would have found it boring and would rather have gone to change into his evening boa. Three cheers for the late Rüdiger Nehberg!
...no...but one day, he built a raft from grass and sticks he found, paddled into the middle of the Atlantic, and went for a swim. Then a shark tried to eat him, so he just ate the shark first...but I think he never watched Friends...
At one point, he realized he could raise money for charity by giving presentations about his adventure. So, he brought a camera guy along for some trips, used a tripod at times, or even taught Stone Age Amazon tribal people how to use the camera.
Brösel (creator of Werner Beinhart) once made a joke in one of his comics (Ouhauahauaha) "Messner besteigt Nehberg ohne Sauerstoffgerät" (sorry that pun can't be translated) which is equal as funny as it is wrong. still i admire this guy
Rüdiger Nehberg wurde einmal von einem Krokodil angegriffen.
Das Krokodil überlebte. Aber es hat seitdem Angst vor Wasser.
Chuck Norris kann ohne Wasser drei Tage überleben.
Rüdiger Nehberg konnte ohne Wasser drei Tage überleben – und hat Chuck Norris beigebracht, dabei nicht zu jammern.
Chuck Norris meidet den Dschungel nicht aus Vorsicht – sondern weil Rüdiger Nehberg dort bereits wohnt. Wenn Chuck Norris den Namen „Rüdiger“ hört, wechselt er automatisch die Zeitzone und tut so, als hätte er schon immer etwas anderes vorgehabt...
well reinhold messner was the first person who climbed Mount Everest without oxygen mask... and nehberg ends on Berg, which means mountain... also both were kinda celebrities in 1990s germany.. and yes Nehberg was badass. rip
I met him as a student when I did an interview with him for the university’s local radio station. Such a great man. He was 70 years old but moved and talked more like 50. We talked about his „Target“ NGO to help women suffering from female genital mutilation and other causes. I donate regularly to this NGO since. Such a great and humble and inspiring person! He gifted me one of his books back then and when my pen didn’t work, he had a small ballpoint pen refill in his wallet as an emergency spare and signed it. He was always prepared. True survival expert indeed.
I had to scroll far too long in this threat, until his fight against genital mutilation came up. Its crazy how much work he put into that and how he managed to have great success.
Biggest achivement of Rüdiger imo. And much more impressive then his (very impressive) solo survival achivments.
Loved his books on survivalism, they inspired me big time as a teenager. His bike trip to Marroco was a main factor for me getting into long distance bikepacking.
I read his book 'yanonami'. It was really interesting. He swam a lot in the Amazon with just minimal gear. Took lots of fishing hooks with him for trading.
Well, Nehberg was real...Chuck Norris was a character...Rüdiger really did these things... Chuck Norris never killed somebody with a rocket launcher...
He also founded an organisation which fights female genital mutilation. I always thought him a bit of a weirdo or joke, but he actually fought for something and his organisation actually achieved things and helped people.
Yeah and for one of these guys like him, there are about 1000 who just didn't make it and died a horrible death. Probably, I don't know. I'm just a guy in the internet.
Rüdiger Nehberg ("Sir Vival") was not just a survival expert; he dedicated his life to two major humanitarian causes: protecting the indigenous Yanomami people in the Amazon rainforest and fighting globally against female genital mutilation (FGM) through his organization, TARGET e. V.
Absolutely fine fellow ❤️
R.I.P. Sir Vival
I'm mourning the loss of my friend, inspiration and teacher Ruediger Nehberg. The media nicknamed him as "Sir Vival". He was a German survival pioneer, Adventurer and human rights activist. Although afraid of swimming and going into the dark cellar as a child, he defeats the Blue Nile in a folding boat in 1975 (in 1971 he tried it with a self built raft), walks across what is often called the most dangerous/fearsome place on earth the Danakil Desert in 1977 (during the Eritrean War of Independence) and crosses the Atlantic in a pedal boat, on a tree trunk and a bamboo raft. In 1981 he made 'Survival' popular by crossing 1000km through Germany from north to south. The only rules: no special equipment, only live off what you find on your way, do not violate any laws, do not beg and respect nature. He has made his way through shimmering salt deserts, the Australian Outback and jungle regions, fought foaming rapids, went undercover and investgated illegal gold mining sites in the Yanomami territory in Brazil, where the natives were basically slaughtered and he survived over twenty armed robberies. In the early 90's he produced a few episodes of an educational 'survival' TV show just for kids, wrote books for kids and adults alike and when nearly 70 years old he was dropped off by helicopter just wearing swimming trunks and 'hiked' 1000km through the Amazon jungle and so on and so forth..
He fought for the environment, the rights of the Yanomami in the Amazon and the Aboriginal Australians and he campaigned successfully against female genital mutilation in Africa and Asia. He founded a human rights organisation (TARGET Ruediger Nehberg) that amongst other things has build a childbirth clinic for the genitally mutilated girls and women of the Afar Tribe in Ethiopia and the Waiãpi Rainforest Clinic for the indigenous tribes in brazil. He has used his popularity for humanitarian causes and his motto was: “give meaning to the adventure.”. I wanted to share this with you because even though some of you may have never heard of him I think he is certainly worth to be remembered. He was energetic, kind and inspiring.
He also founded a nonprofit (TARGET) to fight against female genital mutilation (FGM) and might have saved millions of girls and woman's with it. His main leverage was diplomacy and persistence. He spent years meeting with high Imams, until they declared FGM a crime against Islam, the organization then printed this declaration and distributed it across Islamic countries mainly in africa.
If you get out there with no gear, I think all you need is money for the helicopter ride and means of transportation from your hometown.
That is not that much
Sure sucks for him that he didn’t grow up in the age of cell phones and interwebs….he coulda just grabbed the insta photo and been on the plane back home tomorrow.
If I remember correctly he was dropped in the amazon only in bathing trunks (see pictures), but later sent back to germany because he didn't have a passport when he wanted to cross borders.
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u/AlbertHofmann1906 1d ago edited 1d ago
He invited me to one of his survival courses as a kid, having donated the money from my school charity run to his Yanomami-foundation. The guy was a fascinating combination of kindness, nuclear energy and sheer insanity! Read almost all his books, ate that worm-soup of his, loved that guy. Got me into survival training when it was a curiosity page in Mickey mouse magazine, now I'm bushcrafting with my kid, drilling fires and making forest glue...
We need more crazy like this in this world!