American Michael Zervos has broken the world record for visiting every country on earth, in the fastest ever time – 499 days.

Adventure travel company, Untamed Borders, assisted the globetrotter in his challenge, where he set foot in all 195 UN recognised nations.

The company played a crucial role in his record-breaking adventure, called Project Kosmos, guiding the traveller in 13 of the most challenging destinations.

Untamed Borders also acted as his travel consultant for the full extended trip, helping the US film-maker to plan his world record attempt and supported him throughout the journey.

On the ground, it guided Michael in some of the potentially more problematic stretches, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Algeria, Libya, South Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Eritrea and Turkmenistan.

Alongside the mammoth journey, Zervos also recorded multiple interviews in every nation, asking people “what was the happiest moment of your life” - collating stories of joy from around the world.

The previous record stood at 554 days and to break it was enormous logistical undertaking. Founder of Untamed Borders, James Willcox, explains some of the considerations needed to help Michael complete his feat:

“A trip like this has many moving parts and there were a lot of factors which had to be taken into consideration.

We advised Michael to try and complete some of the more challenging countries early in the project, helping to reduce the risk and pressure towards the end of the challenge.

We helped plan the best route for him to make this happen, while also helping to ensure all the correct paperwork was completed to navigate tricky borders, which in some countries can shut abruptly or the processes can change quickly.

Michael also had to stay nimble to world events, conflicts and natural disasters, all which can affect access to nations and travel plans – as we have seen recently with Pakistan closing its airspace and cancelling many flights, due to the tensions with India.

We usually don't advocate “fast” tourism and believe deeper connections with nations and communities are preferred. However, the human element of Michael's filming project, where he documented happiness across the globe, won us over.

We're delighted we helped him achieve this feat.”

Michael finished his challenge in Detroit on Friday (30th May) and is scheduled for a series of large media appearances in the days to come, including with USA Today.

He has also secured a publishing deal with Penguin Random House in the US and is in the process of writing a book about his adventures and the people he met along the way.

You can find out more about Michael's challenge and watch his videos from each nation via his Instagram account.

**The challenge is awaiting final verification from the Gunniess World Records**