Omar Samra

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Omar Samra
Born (1978-08-11) 11 August 1978 (age 47)
Wimbledon, London, England[1]
Occupation(s)Adventurer, mountaineer, entrepreneur, motivational speaker, writer

Omar Samra (born 11 August 1978) is a British-born Egyptian adventurer, entrepreneur and speaker.[2] He is the first Egyptian to climb Mount Everest, the Seven Summits and ski to both the Geographic South and North Pole (the Explorers Grand Slam).[3][4] He is also the first Egyptian to complete the Seven Summits challenge on 31 May 2013, climbing the highest mountain on all seven continents.[5][6] [7][8][9]

Biography

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Born in Wimbledon, London,[10] Samra moved to Cairo when he was only weeks old.[11] He finished his schooling at El Alsson School and graduated from the American University in Cairo (AUC) in 2000 with a BA in Economics and minor in Business Administration.[12] He was also awarded an MBA degree at the London Business School in 2007 with a concentration in Entrepreneurship.[13]

In May 2009, Samra decided to leave his corporate career behind and founded Wild Guanabana, the Middle East & North Africa's first carbon-neutral travel company specializing in ethical and adventure travel which has offices in Cairo and Dubai. His wife Marwa Fayed died in 2013 days after the birth of their first and only daughter Teela.[14]

In the early 2010s, Samra participated in the Axe Apollo space campaign.[15] He was among the winners or the marketing campaign and was supposed to be sent to sub-orbital space on board the Lynx. However the spaceflight was cancelled. He could have been the first Egyptian in space have the flight pushed through.[16]

Climbing

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Samra climbed his first snowy mountain in the Swiss Alps at the age of 16.[14] After his Swiss experience, he went on to trek and climb extensively in the UK, Himalayas, Alps, Andean, Patagonian and Central American mountain ranges.[17] Other adventures include traversing the Costa Rican jungle in 3 weeks, cycling across the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, around Andalusia in Spain and from London to Paris.[18] Samra has been to over 80 countries and published writing about his traveling experiences in both English and Arabic. [19]

References

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  1. ^ الصباح. "عمر سمرة.. المغامر المريض - الصباح". elsaba7.com.
  2. ^ "Egyptian explorer Omar Samra on how mountaineering helped him rediscover himself". Khaleej Times. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  3. ^ "Beyond the Raging Sea: A film that wasn't meant to be made".
  4. ^ "9 Arabs who refused mediocrity and broke all the rules". StepFeed. 22 June 2018.
  5. ^ "Mountain climbing: Egypt's Samra breaks another record". Ahram Online.
  6. ^ "Crew 193". Mars Desert Research Station. 14 May 2018.
  7. ^ "omarsamra". omarsamra.com.
  8. ^ "Meet the Egyptians Doing NASA's Astronaut Candidate Training".
  9. ^ "Ahmed Farid, Egyptian scientist-astronaut with far-reaching vision". Egypt Independent. 25 May 2016.
  10. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  11. ^ Smale, Will (9 March 2015). "The high-climbing travel boss". BBC News.
  12. ^ "Omar Samra Celebrates Milestone With Pledge to Palestine & Lebanon". CairoScene. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  13. ^ "InPics: The 100 Most Powerful Arabs Under 40". ArabianBusiness.com.
  14. ^ a b "Alumnus Omar Samra Named UNDP Goodwill Ambassador". www.aucegypt.edu. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  15. ^ "Omar Samra only Egyptian and Arab to qualify for space travel". 2013-12-10. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  16. ^ El-Behary, Hend (11 December 2013). "Omar Samra to become first Egyptian in space". Egypt Independent. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  17. ^ "Omar Samra, the Humans of New York story that stole our hearts". MiNDFOOD. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  18. ^ "Scaling new heights". London Business School. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  19. ^ AfricaNews (2019-07-26). "Record breaking Egyptian mountaineer Omar Samra talks triumphs and tragedy". Africanews. Retrieved 2025-11-21.