A former Israeli now living in Cape Town has survived life-threatening conditions and defied contemporary wisdom by undertaking the most southerly swim in the world, completing one kilometer in an Antarctic lake in sub-zero air temperatures.

Previous extreme cold water swims in the area had only ventured as far south as 65º latitude.

Ram Barkai, 50, undertook the swim last week in the body of water known as Long Lake, just over 70º south, near Maitri, the Indian scientific research station in Antarctica.

Long Lake, which Indian researchers at the station have renamed “Lake Ram,” is the farthest-south unfrozen water mass in Antarctica. It is also the farthest inland point in Antarctica in which a human being has swum.

“It hurts, and I don’t recommend it to someone who feels like just waking up one morning and diving in. I trained for many months, and the swim is very dangerous,” Barkai, who has lived in South Africa for the past 11 years, told The Jerusalem Post by phone from Cape Town. Continue reading →