In November some of the world’s most seasoned travellers are descending on Ethiopia for a summit to share stories of exploration and exchange tips about travel.
The event is being organised by country counting community, Most Travelled People (MTP), which includes many people who’ve visited all 195 UN countries.
But what does it truly mean to be well travelled? For some, this means deep travel, really connecting with communities and spending time properly understanding a country and immersing yourself into the culture you are visiting. For others, this means visiting every country on earth, to say you have been, but that can mean short stops.
It’s a topic, which will be debated and mulled over at the MTP event in Addis Adaba, where adventure travel company, Untamed Borders, will also be offering a series of tours around the wider region in Africa. The company will be taking guests to destinations such as Mogadishu, South Sudan, Djibouti & Somaliland, along with Eritrea.
Its Founder, James Willcox, will be providing a guest talk at the main summit, sharing his experience about organising trips to some of the world’s most challenging destinations and how to assess and reduce risk.
It comes as an increasing number of people are seeking adventurous holidays in unconventional destinations, with places such as Afghanistan, Northern Pakistan and countries in North Africa, all seeing growth in the number of international tourists. Meanwhile, groups tours, with companies such as Untamed Borders, have also recently resumed to Syria, some of the first under the new government.
James Willcox is the Founder of Untamed Borders:
“We usually encourage deep exploration into countries and rich cultural experiences, where travellers really get to know a destination, its people and culture. We hope many of those who do country count also seek immersive dives into some of the nations they visit and take time to uncover the hidden corners of countries.
However, the unique coming together of so many experienced travellers at the MTP event in Ethiopia, drew us in, and we look forward to sharing stories with other traveller lovers and share our experience about how to navigate more challenging destinations.
We also understand there are lots of different ways to be well travelled. Untamed Borders previously acted as a consultant for journalist and explorer Paul Salopek in Afghanistan, who is undertaking an epic round the world walk for National Geographic. The adventure is taking 10 years, as Paul retraces the first migration route that homo sapiens took 60,000 years ago.
Meanwhile, in contrast, we also enjoyed the challenge recently, to assist American Michael Zervos to visit every country on earth, in the fastest ever time. We guided him around 13 of the trickiest countries on his route and acted as Michael’s travel consultant for the whole project, called Project Kosmos.”
Alongside the summit, MTP also has a popular website, with a community of more than 40,000 people. It allows travellers to pin and document the nations and regions they visit, along with UNESCO Heritage sites and much more. The community also comes together to go on trips, share travel tales and their love of adventure.
Other speakers attending the event are adventurers, experienced travel photographers and cyber security experts – among them, world-renowned underwater photographer, Amos Nachoum.
The experienced travellers hosting speeches also include Hayley Kennedy, the first known disabled women to visit all the world’s nations and adventure vlogger, Eva Zu Beck, who has amassed more than 1 million followers, as she shares tales of off-the-beaten path travel.
The event takes place between 13th and 16th November 2025 at the Sheraton Addis, one of Africa’s most prestigious hotels. The Untamed Borders’ trips, to other nearby nations, will take place both before and after the event. More information can be found out on the MTP website.