'Hardest Geezer' Completes in Tunisia Epic Run the Full Length of Africa

For the final leg of his run Cook was joined by supporters © FETHI BELAID / AFP
For the final leg of his run Cook was joined by supporters © FETHI BELAID / AFP
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'Hardest Geezer' Completes in Tunisia Epic Run the Full Length of Africa

For the final leg of his run Cook was joined by supporters © FETHI BELAID / AFP
For the final leg of his run Cook was joined by supporters © FETHI BELAID / AFP

Russ Cook on Sunday completed a mammoth quest to run the length of Africa having overcome health scares, visa troubles and even an armed robbery.

The Briton arrived late in the afternoon at Cape Angela in Tunisia, where a sculpture marks the "northernmost point of the African continent".

The epic endeavour saw him live up to his "hardest geezer (man)" nickname to complete the more than 16,000-kilometer (9,900-mile) journey.

Cook believes he is the first person ever to run the entire length of the continent.

The 27-year-old set off from South Africa's most southerly point on April 22 last year.

By the time he crossed the finish line in Tunisia, he had taken more than 19 million steps in 16 countries, running the equivalent of 385 marathons in 351 days.

He crossed mountains, tropical forests and deserts, including the mighty Sahara.

Cook's efforts have raised over £550,000 ($695,000) for the Running Charity and for Sandblast, which raises awareness for the indigenous Saharawis of Western Sahara.

For the final leg of his run, the endurance athlete from Worthing in southern England was joined by supporters.

"Wanted to open up the last day of this project to anyone and everyone who has been watching and supporting," he said on X, formerly Twitter.

"Come and run the last marathon, the last half, 10km, five kilometres, one kilometre. Whatever you fancy," he added.

The end of the challenge was set to be celebrated with a party at a hotel in Bizerte, Africa's northernmost city.

A performance by the rock band Soft Play, formerly known as Slaves, was planned.

"Can't quite believe it but we've managed to pull off Soft Play playing the finish line party in Tunisia," he said.

"Get your daiquiris ready girls and boys this is gonna be mega," he added.

Cook joked throughout his journey that he craved a strawberry daiquiri.

It was not only the running that challenged the extreme runner. In Angola, he and his team were robbed at gunpoint, while Cook's difficulties in obtaining a visa for Algeria nearly derailed the entire project.

In the Sahara, he ran at night to escape the searing heat and scorching sun. In Nigeria, doctors told him to cut back on his daily mileage because of pains he was suffering. Cook still kept going.

Before setting off last year he said his approach to life was to throw "everything and the kitchen sink" at it.

"I'm a totally normal bloke, so if I can do this, hopefully people can apply this to their own lives in whichever way they choose," he said.

"For 99 percent of people, it's not going to be running across Africa, but it might look like chasing their dreams a little bit more," he added.

"We have met incredible people in every single country we've been to that have welcomed us with love and kindness. The human spirit is a beautiful thing," he said.



Indonesian Rescue Center Takes in More Orangutans as Fires Rage

An 11-year-old male orangutan named Didik eats on a rehabilitation island at a rehabilitation facility run by wildlife foundation Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia in Ketapang Regency, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, August 31, 2026. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan
An 11-year-old male orangutan named Didik eats on a rehabilitation island at a rehabilitation facility run by wildlife foundation Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia in Ketapang Regency, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, August 31, 2026. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan
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Indonesian Rescue Center Takes in More Orangutans as Fires Rage

An 11-year-old male orangutan named Didik eats on a rehabilitation island at a rehabilitation facility run by wildlife foundation Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia in Ketapang Regency, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, August 31, 2026. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan
An 11-year-old male orangutan named Didik eats on a rehabilitation island at a rehabilitation facility run by wildlife foundation Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia in Ketapang Regency, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, August 31, 2026. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan

In the jungles of Indonesian Borneo, a rehabilitation center is taking in more orangutans as the country's worst wildfires in a decade sweep through the forest home of the critically endangered animals.

The intense wildfires, burning mainly on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, began in July and could continue until November, aggravated by a severe El Niño weather pattern, the government has warned.

"I think so far this looks quite similar to the 2015 fires," said Karmele Llano Sanchez, co-founder of Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia (YIARI), who has worked in Indonesia for more than 20 years. "It's possible that in the months to come, they (the orangutans) will also be affected by not having enough to eat, not having enough room, enough habitat, and starvation."

A three-year-old baby orangutan named Xavier holds food inside a medical cage used for orangutans evacuated from a rehabilitation island due to nearby wildfires at a rehabilitation facility run by wildlife foundation Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia in Ketapang Regency, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, August 31, 2026. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan

The world's three species of orangutan are native only to Borneo and Sumatra.

YIARI, in the Ketapang region of Indonesia's West Kalimantan province, is now looking after 90 orangutans, after rescuing 49 since August, foundation spokesperson Heribertus Suciadi ⁠said.

Over the last ⁠three years, the center rescued three to five animals a year, he added.

The fires and haze have shrouded parts of Borneo, which also includes the Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah, in a hazardous smog that has also spread to Singapore and the Malaysian peninsula, forcing some schools to close and causing a spike in respiratory illnesses.

Sampurna, an orangutan that Reuters encountered in August, was found gasping for air and writhing on the ground in a palm oil plantation.

Sampurna died on August 30, the forestry ministry said last month. Sanchez, who performed ⁠the necropsy on the great ape, said Sampurna died less than 12 hours after being rescued and had very dark lungs owing to respiratory problems, likening them to those of a heavy smoker.

From January to July this year, fires burned around 202,000 hectares (500,000 acres) in Indonesia. No official data for subsequent months has been released, but non-governmental organizations estimate fires have burned at least 600,000 hectares more since.

FILE PHOTO: A rescuer and a veterinarian with wildlife foundation Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia (YIARI) carry an orangutan after rescuing it in a palm-oil plantation affected by wildfires in Laman Satong village, Ketapang Regency, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, September 30, 2026. REUTERS/Victor Fidelis Sentosa

In 2015, fires burned nearly 960,000 hectares, forestry ministry data showed.

"I think in general, what we see is that these orangutans that were surviving in these fragments of forest, and the forest fragments are becoming smaller and smaller and smaller," Reuters quoted Sanchez as saying.

Once YIARI volunteers receive reports of orangutan sightings, they use a drone to determine the areas ravaged by the fires and whether orangutans were living there, Heribertus said.

Equipped with tranquilizers, rescuers then drive for hours to ⁠the burned forest to ⁠find the orangutans, sometimes using a net to capture the apes before taking them to safety.

The foundation has more than 200 staff, including firefighters and veterinarians.
"Fires are occurring in many areas. As a result, the orangutans are being displaced into plantations," said Relly Susanto, a YIARI patroller.

On a recent August day at the YIARI center, orangutans swung through the trees and walked on vines, as youngsters ate fruit next to their mothers. While there is no escape from the smoke even at YIARI, the center is not currently at risk from the fires themselves and some of the rescued orangutans have been returned to the wild in safer locations.

At the moment, YIARI has enough capacity to take in the orangutans, Sanchez said. But with the fires showing little sign of abating, she is not sure how long that will last.

"It's difficult to quantify how many orangutans will need to be rescued," she said. "One of our concerns is whether we'll have enough capacity to really get all of these rescued orangutans into the facility."


Sweden Sets Quota of 72 Wolves for 2027 Cull

FILED - 12 February 2026, Baden-Württemberg, Cleebronn: File Photo - A wolf is walking through an enclosure at the Wildparadies Tripsdrill Zoo. Photo: dpa
FILED - 12 February 2026, Baden-Württemberg, Cleebronn: File Photo - A wolf is walking through an enclosure at the Wildparadies Tripsdrill Zoo. Photo: dpa
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Sweden Sets Quota of 72 Wolves for 2027 Cull

FILED - 12 February 2026, Baden-Württemberg, Cleebronn: File Photo - A wolf is walking through an enclosure at the Wildparadies Tripsdrill Zoo. Photo: dpa
FILED - 12 February 2026, Baden-Württemberg, Cleebronn: File Photo - A wolf is walking through an enclosure at the Wildparadies Tripsdrill Zoo. Photo: dpa

Sweden said Thursday it would allow 72 wolves to be culled next year to combat inbreeding, after last year's planned cull of 48 animals was blocked by a court.

Critics of the hunt, including the European Commission and conservationists, have argued that the policy is driven more by politics than science and endangers population numbers.

There are an estimated 355 wolves in Sweden. The government has pushed for their population to be reduced for more than 15 years, to the dismay of conservationists.

"Since the Scandinavian wolf population is small and struggles with inbreeding, the reduction must take place gradually and in step with measures that counteract inbreeding," the county administrative boards said in a statement.

The 72 wolves could be killed in five counties near the capital Stockholm from January 2 to February 15.

Environmental groups last year appealed against the county boards' decision to grant licenses for 48 wolves, and won.

An administrative court said the county boards had failed to prove that the hunt would not be detrimental to a healthy wolf population.

"It is outrageous that one in five wolves in Sweden is going to be shot even though the population is severely threatened," Beatrice Rindevall, chair of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation told Swedish news agency TT.

"Our wolves are already heavily inbred, and this hunt risks making the situation even worse. It is a reckless gamble with a protected and severely threatened species."

Farmers and hunters meanwhile regard the animals as a menace because of attacks on sheep and hunting dogs and want their numbers more firmly controlled, AFP reported.

Sweden's wolves were hunted to the brink of extinction by the 1960s, prompting the country to declare them a protected species.

The animals started reappearing in the late 1970s and 1980s and their population grew through the 1990s.

Sweden began allowing licensed hunts in 2010 after numbers passed 200, issuing quotas for the number that could be killed during a set period.


Mexican Traveler Nabbed with Snakes, Lizards at German Airport

This undated Handout photo made available by the Customs at Cologne airport on October 15, 2026, show some of the many snakes and reptiles discovered three weeks ago in the baggage of a man traveing to Cologne from Mexico City over Istanbul. (Photo by Customs Cologne Airport / AFP)
This undated Handout photo made available by the Customs at Cologne airport on October 15, 2026, show some of the many snakes and reptiles discovered three weeks ago in the baggage of a man traveing to Cologne from Mexico City over Istanbul. (Photo by Customs Cologne Airport / AFP)
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Mexican Traveler Nabbed with Snakes, Lizards at German Airport

This undated Handout photo made available by the Customs at Cologne airport on October 15, 2026, show some of the many snakes and reptiles discovered three weeks ago in the baggage of a man traveing to Cologne from Mexico City over Istanbul. (Photo by Customs Cologne Airport / AFP)
This undated Handout photo made available by the Customs at Cologne airport on October 15, 2026, show some of the many snakes and reptiles discovered three weeks ago in the baggage of a man traveing to Cologne from Mexico City over Istanbul. (Photo by Customs Cologne Airport / AFP)

German customs officials found 90 lizards and venomous snakes hidden in containers and socks in a Mexican traveler's luggage as he arrived at an airport, authorities said Thursday.

The 45-year-old was stopped at Cologne airport last month and given a drug test after behaving in a "nervous" manner, the western city's customs office said.

The results indicated the man, a firefighter who was not named by authorities, had taken cocaine.

Officials searched his suitcase but rather than finding narcotics, discovered around 90 snakes and lizards in plastic containers, shampoo and cream bottles, and socks.

"My colleagues at the airport are used to all sorts of travel souvenirs in suitcases, but we've never had 37 venomous snakes and 55 lizards from Mexico before," said customs office spokesman Jens Ahland.

"It's distressing to see what some people do to animals out of sheer greed for profit."

The animals included vipers, rattlesnakes and various species of lizard, including iguanas.

Most were alive although about 30 died during and after the journey, the customs office told AFP.

The surviving animals are now being cared for at a snake farm in central Germany.

The man, who had flown from Mexico City via Istanbul, said he had brought the animals to Germany as a favor for a Brazilian acquaintance, according to customs officials.

German authorities denied him entry to the country and he was flown back to Istanbul the day after his arrival.