Distant Suns

Sam Manicom, overlander, traveller and author of 4 motorcycle books, was born in the Congo in Central West Africa where his parents worked. His family returned to the UK when he was 10 and he has been travelling for much of his life. His first solo trip was age 16 by bicycle into Europe. Many backpacking, hiking, cycling and hitch hiking journeys later, and back in the UK but wanting to do something completely different, Sam learned to ride a motorcycle. Within 3 months of starting to ride, he set off to travel the length of Africa. This 1-year trip turned into an 8-year, 200,000 mile, around the world motorcycle adventure across 55 countries. Sam’s 4 books take the reader travelling through the different sections of the eight-year journey. Africa – ‘Into Africa’, Asia and the Middle East – ‘Under Asian Skies’, Southern Africa and South America – ‘Distant Suns’, and North America – ‘Tortillas to Totems’. He now works full time in the world of adventure travel. He’s a keen advocate of motorcycle travel in particular and when not writing his books, magazine articles and conducting multimedia travel presentations within Europe and the USA, he’s very much involved with travel related organisations. Sam is a co-host for Adventure Rider Radio RAW. In 2017 he was awarded the Overland Magazine ‘Spirit of Adventure’ Award for his contribution to Overlanding. When he isn’t writing or presenting, Sam and his partner Birgit are usually off riding somewhere. Sam’s latest book ‘The Moment Collectors’ - released in February 2022.