Adventurer home after years in Africa

At the summit of Mount Sinai in Egypt, where the Bible says God gave Moses the 10 Commandments, global nomad Francis Tapon from San Francisco took in the sunset and said, “It’s time to go home.”

Dusk cast its golden glow over him, Tapon remembered. “I felt fulfilled,” he said. “I’d accomplished a lifelong quest.”

Tapon has been gone five years. In 2013, he left the Bay Area to explore all 54 African countries and then climb the highest mountain in each.

This coming week, he will return to his home on the Peninsula after a series of expeditions where he hiked 10,000 miles, including 2,000 miles across Madagascar, climbed 50 of 54 of the continent’s highest peaks, married his wife Rejoice at Victoria Falls, and survived six malaria infections. Tapon was not able to earn 54-of-54 summits because, in four countries, military units would not allow him access.

No problem, he said. After all, this is a guy who hiked the Triple Crown — the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail, 3,100-mile Continental Divide Trail (and back) and 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail — and then wrote an essay called, “A Thru-hiker's Motivation: Not Enlightenment, Just Ice Cream.”

Tapon, 48, was born in San Francisco, attended Lick-Wilmerding High School in the city, and went on to graduate from Amherst and then received an MBA from Harvard. He worked for Hitachi, consulted for Microsoft, and also co-founded a robotic vision company.

At age 36, he was on the path to a life of 60-hour workweeks, high pay and high overhead, house-rich and cashpoor. That life didn’t make sense to him, and he chucked it all to start hiking.

Some figure Tapon to be a wealthy eccentric, and he’ll be the first to tell you: eccentric, yes; wealthy, well, not so much.

“The whole five years in Africa, it cost me $110,000,” Tapon said. “It’s a lot of money, it’s true, but a lot of people could afford to do this if they wanted to. I camp, I live simply, buy street food. My biggest expense was a reliable 4x4 pickup truck to get around Africa.

“Many people buy cars that are worth over $50,000 instead of getting a $10,000 used car, or they put a $200,000 down payment on a large house,” Tapon said. “If they just spend less, they can go on a really long trip. I encourage people to not be so scared, and if this kind of thing is for you, go for it. Life goes by fast.”

When he arrives in San Francisco this week, he’ll be introducing his mother to his wife, Rejoice. He met her in Central Africa in Cameroon, and after they shared several expeditions, married two years ago at Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River, which forms the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. She joined her husband in 31 of the 54 countries in Africa, and together, they walked 2,000 miles across Madagascar.

Tapon has traveled to more than 100 countries and has written two books, something of cult classics, “Hike Your Own Hike” from 2006 and “The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us” in 2012.

Next on his plate, Tapon will spend the next year in the Bay Area writing a book on his adventures in Africa and compiling a series of episodes of the video that he filmed. He hopes to complete a 90-minute documentary.

“I’ve got to figure out how to replenish the pot,” he said with a laugh. “Next up, we want to go to the West and Central Asia, about 25 countries.”