Video: Dutchman to cycle round the world – using an amphibious bike

If there’s one area where round-the-world cycling attempts fail to meet that description, it’s the ocean. Bikes and vast bodies of water don’t generally make great bedfellows, but Iranian-born Dutch adventurer Ebrahim Hemmatnia has other ideas.

On November 22, 2014, Hemmatnia set off from Senegal in a vehicle called Melanie, a four-wheeled propeller-equipped thing that can be pedalled on both land and water. 68 days later he arrived in Sao Paolo, Brazil, having pedalled across the Atlantic with no support vessels accompanying him. He now plans on taking Melanie around the world.

Gizmag reports that Hemmatnia’s Atlantic trip earned him the Guinness Record for "longest journey by amphibious bicycle," but 1,473 miles by sea and 43 by road weren’t enough. When his World With No Borders trip recommences, he will follow a route close to the Equator, aiming to complete a full lap of the planet, finishing in Dakar.

Hemmatnia says his journey is also symbolic as he wants to encourage the free exchange of knowledge and ideas between countries and cultures. "Borders were created by human minds, they can be removed by human minds," he said. "There is no need for borders, we are all human beings."

Hemmatnia’s ‘bootfiets’ (literally ‘boat-bike’) features four fatbike wheels when on terra firma, the rear two powered by his pedalling. When the land runs out, the wheels are removed and the drivetrain is switched to a propeller.

The body of the six metre long vehicle has a foam core covered by a carbon fibre skin. There are panels to power the desalinator, navigation lights and a satellite phone and he also has a motor which can be charged by his pedalling, meaning he can take a break but still carry on moving.

"There is one planet, and if we don't share it wisely, we will lose it," he says of a trip intended to draw attention to how interconnected we all are.