Sibusiso Vilane’s climbing and adventure career began in Swaziland when he met John Doble; a British High Commissioner who was serving in Swaziland when they met. John Doble then introduced Sibusiso into mountain climbing which ultimately led Sibusiso in becoming the first black African to successfully summit Mount Everest in 2003. In 2005, he summited Mount Everest again from the North side, thus conquering the mighty Everest from both the South and the North sides – succeeding on first attempts on both sides. Sibusiso then embarked on The Seven Summits quest between 2005 and 2008. He successfully completed the project, which is seven highest peaks of the seven continents of the World! He holds the distinction of being the first black person in the world to achieve this historic feat. 

In January 2008, Sibusiso and his South Pole Expedition partner became the first South Africans (and he the first black person) to walk to the South Pole, across the snow and ice, unassisted and unsupported – another remarkable achievement which won them the inaugural Solomon’s Adventurer of the Year, 2008. Since his first ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro in 1999, Sibusiso has reached the Uhuru Peak of Kilimanjaro multiple times, many of which have been guiding trips. He leads the annual Trek4Mandela and Caring4Girls charity climbs which takes place every month of July which is Mandela month and they summit on 18th of July which is Nelson Mandela’s birthday. He has lead a number of climbing expeditions to Aconcagua in South America. This is the highest mountain in the southern hemisphere, the highest in South America and one of the seven summits. In one of the trips he led the youngest South African who was aged fifteen to summit Aconcagua.

His other accolade is completing the Grand Slam of Adventure, which makes him the 1st black African to conquer the three poles challenge - the South Pole, North Pole and Mount Everest. 

He has run and finished nine comrades’ marathons and in early 2018 went on an attempt to reach the summit of Mount Everest without the use of supplementary oxygen where he got to as high as 8000m without oxygen support.
 

Synopsis:

The SUU Eccles APEX presentation on February 6, 2025 featured adventurer Sibusiso Vilane. His presentation was titled, “From Humble Beginnings to the Top of the World”.

Sibusiso began his story at age 4, when his mother moved him and his sister to Eswatini following his parents’ divorce. There were hardships—he shares that they couldn’t afford shoes, clothes, food, but he doesn’t believe they were poor. “I think we were wealthy because we were alive” he stated. He shared his experience as a herd boy, looking after goats and cattle, started school at age 10 by the generosity of his step-father, and an important lesson he learned from that time: if an opportunity arises, take it, and do it for yourself. 

A big moment in Sibusiso’s life was when he got offered a job as a Game Ranger at Malolotja National Park. He understood the conservation related questions in the interview from his experience working as a herd boy, but was unsure of the job description. He learned another valuable lesson: life is about taking risks. He said, “You will never know what will happen but you cannot stop taking risks.” This job brought him to what he called the “adventure side” of his life.

He met John Doble, who was the British Consul-General of South Africa at the time. When John shared that he was interested in exploring the park more but was unsure of going without a guide, Sibusiso offered his time. They climbed, walked, and climbed some more. John was impressed by Sibusiso’s fearlessness and confidence in climbing, and asked if he’d ever climb Mount Everest. Sibusiso stated that he didn’t know why people climbed mountains, but he was excited about the opportunity. John stated he would have to figure out the details, and would inform Sibusiso about a future expedition.

After a successful sponsored expedition to Kilimanjaro, Sibusiso asked John about the expedition to Everest. It finally came in July of 2002, when Sibusiso received a letter from John regarding an expedition the following year, and asked if he wanted to go. Another valuable lesson was learned at this moment: “Motivation cannot be outside influenced, it has to be inside. That will, that desire to do something has to come from within.” Sibusiso talked about the importance of asking yourself why you want to do something, saying that his motivation for climbing Everest was “I just wanted to prove to myself that it can be done. I wanted to prove to Africans that they can do it, and much, much, more, I wanted the world to know that Africans can as well.”

After training for a couple weeks climbing other mountains in the Himalayas, the journey to the top of Everest finally set out. They spent many days acclimatizing, a process that included going from each camp and back before reaching the summit. After multiple failed attempts to reach the summit due to weather, the expedition team faced a choice. There were enough resources to try again, but did the team still want to do it? They all agreed, and forged on, carrying the determination with them. It was in the early morning hours of May 26, 2003 that Sibusiso said, “I believe I was the tallest African on Earth.” It had taken 60 days to reach the summit of Everest, and it was no easy feat. In the end of it all, Sibusiso took with him the lesson that, “I am more than capable to achieve just like anybody.” Concluding his presentation, Sibusiso left the audience with this: “It is not about where you come from, it is not about where you grow up, it is not about your social standing, but it is about how far and how high you want to go, and you can go as far and as high as you believe you can do.”