Nabil Al Busaidi (born 23 January 1970 in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

) is an

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

i adventurer. Al Busaidi is considered to be the first

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

to walk to the

magnetic North Pole The north magnetic pole, also known as the magnetic north pole, is a point on the surface of Earth's Northern Hemisphere at which the planet's magnetic field points vertically downward (in other words, if a magnetic compass needle is allowed t ...

, climb

Mount Vinson Vinson Massif () is a large mountain massif in Antarctica that is long and wide and lies within the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains. It overlooks the Ronne Ice Shelf near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. The massif is located a ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

, and row across the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. He was voted one of the Top 100 Most Influential Arabs in the World by ''

Arabian Business ''Arabian Business'' (''AB'') is a weekly business magazine published in Dubai and focusing on global and regional news analysis. The brand is aimed at the English and Arabic-speaking communities and is published in both languages. Its circula ...

'' magazine in 2009, The Top 50 Influential Arabs by Middle East magazine in 2009 and 2011, and remains in the Top 500 Power List in 2011 for ''Arabian Business'' magazine. A documentary about his trek to the magnetic North Pole was directed and edited by two-time

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

winning director David Ward.

Early life and education

Al Busaidi was born in 1970 in London, England, and split his time between England and

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

. He studied at the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

earning a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Mathematics (1993) and Masters in Management (1997). He is a

Project Management Professional Project Management Professional (PMP) is an internationally recognized professional designation offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI). As of 31 July 2020, there are 1,036,368 active PMP-certified individuals and 314 chartered chapters ...

(PMP) and a Fellow of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

(FRGS). In 1998, he moved back to the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

, residing in

and Bahrain.

Career

Professionally, Nabs worked at a number of institutions such as Gulf International Bank (Bahrain),

KPMG KPMG is a multinational professional services network, based in London, United Kingdom. As one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Ernst & Young (EY), Deloitte, and PwC. KPMG is a network of firms in 145 countries with 275,288 emplo ...

(Oman),

Mizuho Bank is the integrated retail and corporate banking unit of Mizuho Financial Group (; ). It is one of the largest financial services company in Japan with total assets of approximately $1.9 trillion USD in 2023, and considered one of Japan's three ...

(Bahrain), and

Gulf Air Gulf Air () is the flag carrier of Bahrain, which was founded in 1950. Headquartered in Muharraq, the airline operates scheduled flights to 51 destinations in 30 countries across Africa, Asia, and Europe. The airline's main hub is at Bahrain I ...

(Bahrain) before becoming a full-time adventurer. An avid sports enthusiast, Nabs was awarded university colours for soccer and

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

at Bath University. He is a

Royal Life Saving Society UK The Royal Life Saving Society UK is a drowning prevention charity founded in 1891 in the UK. It has had Royal Patronage since 1904. History The Royal Life Saving Society UK is a national charity, founded in 1891 by William Henry, with the purp ...

Bronze award holder and a PADI advanced open water scuba diver. In Bahrain, he played for Bahrain RFC, an amateur rugby team, during their 1997–2005 seasons and as a lifelong fan

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founded in ...

he set up a Bahrain Liverpool FC Fan Club on Facebook. Nabs published a coffee table book entitled ''The Arab who Took on the Arctic – From Sand to Snow'' in 2011 and is registered with the London Speakers Bureau as a motivational speaker.

Adventurer

In April 2009, he became the first Arab to walk the 650 km from

Resolute Bay Resolute Bay is an Arctic waterway in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. Named after the Arctic exploration vessel , it is located in Parry Channel on the southern side of Cornwallis Island. The hamlet of Resolute is located on the nor ...

to the magnetic North Pole and one of less than 500 ever to walk to a pole. Later in the same year, he climbed

Mount Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at above sea level and above its plateau base. It is also the highest volcano i ...

, the highest mountain in Africa at 5,895m and one of the

seven summits The Seven Summits are the highest mountains on each of the seven traditional continents. On 30 April 1985, Richard Bass became the first climber to reach the summit of all seven. In January 2023, ''Climbing (magazine), Climbing'' said "Today, t ...

. In January 2010, Nabs climbed

(4,897m), the highest mountain in Antarctica, also one of the seven summits. He became the first Arab to row over 4,600 km across the Atlantic, albeit in a team comprising 14 members, one of only 250 crews to achieve this feat and breaking the record for being the largest crew ever to complete the trip.

Current activities

Inspired by a boarding school friend Major Phil Packer, who raised more than one million pounds for charity, Nabs is working on a tour of 100 schools throughout the GCC. He is hoping to raise US$1 million for local charities.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Busaidi, Nabil Explorers of Antarctica British explorers of the Arctic Ocean rowers Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst People educated at Eltham College 1970 births Alumni of the University of Bath Living people CFA charterholders Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Nabil