Sibusiso Vilane

Sibusiso Vilane (born 5 December 1970, Shongwe Mission in Mpumalanga) is a South African adventurer and motivational speaker, and the author of the book To the Top from Nowhere. An adventurer, marathon runner, and mountaineer and expedition leader, he is also the Chief Scout of Scouts South Africa.

Sibusiso has been married to Nomsa since 1995 and is the father of four - three girls and a boy.

His South African father and Swazi mother moved the family to Swaziland where Vilane was schooled (from the age of 11). Sibusiso completed his O levels at the Mater Dolorosa school in Swaziland. After a time as a labourer, and drawing on his experienced as a goatherder, Vilane began his working career as a game ranger at Malolotja Nature Reserve in Swaziland in 1993. In 1996 he met John Doble who became a friend and benefactor, and who was instrumental in finding the necessary sponsorship for Vilane's Mount Everest summit expedition.

Vilane started climbing in 1996 by summitting peaks in the Drakensberg. In 1999 he summitted Mount Kilimanjaro and went on to the Himalayas in 2002, successfully climbing Pokalde, Lobujé and Island Peak, all of which are over 6,000 metres high, as part of his training for the Mount Everest expedition.

In March 2003, Vilane set off for the Himalayas again in his quest to be the first black African to summit earth's highest mountain, Everest. He summitted successfully on 26 May 2003 from the South Side.

On that day, South African President Thabo Mbeki congratulated him on his achievement. "In this, he has shown the heights we can all scale in life if we put our shoulder to the wheel and work at things without flagging. Sibusiso, you have done us proud!" (In 2006 Vilane was awarded the Order of Ikhamanga (Bronze) by President Mbeki. He can sign his name 'Sibusiso Vilane, OIB'.)

In 2005 Vilane reached the summit of Everest again with Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Alex Harris after accessing the peak from the North Ridge - the more difficult and statistically less-successful side. This achievement meant that he is the first black African to climb the world's highest peak twice and by two different routes. Three children's charities benefited from his climb: The Birth to Twenty Research Programme at Wits University, the Africa Foundation and the SOS Children's Village in Swaziland.

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