Biography
Born in London on 8 November 1978, Omar moved to Cairo when he was only weeks old. 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. He was also awarded an MBA degree at the London Business School in 2007 with a concentration in Entrepreneurship. Between his bachelors and masters level education, Omar worked with HSBC in London and Hong Kong for two and a half years before embarking on a 370-day journey across Asia and Latin America (14 countries).
Upon his return from his yearlong trip, Omar resumed working in London in the banking field and began his 2-year MBA programme 1.5 years after that. His expedition to Mount Everest began upon the completion of his MBA in March 2007 and lasted for 9.5 weeks. Omar then moved back to Cairo to work for Actis in the field of Private Equity.
In May 2009, Omar founded Wild Guanabana (www.wildguanabana.com), the Middle East & North Africa's first carbon-neutral travel company specializing in non-traditional, exotic and adventure travel which has offices in Cairo and Dubai. Omar now lives between Egypt and the UAE.
[edit]Climbing & Trekking
Omar climbed his first snowy mountain in the Swiss Alps at the age of 16. The trip inspired him and it is then that he decided that he would like to climb Everest one day. An unrealistic goal at the time, especially given that Omar was severely asthmatic at age 11. After his Swiss experience, he went on to trek and climb extensively in the UK, Himalayas, Alps, Andean, Patagonian and Central American mountain ranges. 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. As a keen traveler, Omar has been to over 60 countries and published writing about his traveling experiences in both English and Arabic. He is currently working on publishing his first book on the same topic.
[edit]Success on Mount Everest
In 2007, Omar joined Ben Stephens (England), Victoria James (Wales) and Greg Maud (South Africa) in putting together an expedition to climb Mount Everest from its South side. They were led by 10-time Everest summiteer Kenton Cool (England).
Omar and Ben met first at London Business School while reading for their two-year MBA. Omar had just completed his second climbing trip to the Peruvian Andes to "get climbing out of my system" according to him, before beginning his MBA. Little did he know that he would receive a university-wide email from Ben just 1.5 months later seeking interested parties wanting to attempt Everest. Omar immediately changed his plans and set Everest as a goal for 2007.
In the beginning there were roughly 30 to 40 interested parties but after one month of training, planning and a climbing trip in the Scottish winter, that number quickly dwindled to 4. Those four (mentioned above) became the core Everest team and trained together for the 18-months preceding the Everest expedition. During the preparation months, Omar climbed extensively in the Alps. He also attempted Cho-Oyu (6th highest mountain in the world) but failed to reach the 8,201m summit (Camp 2, 7200m) due to being unable to fully recover after falling sick for 2.5 months and losing over 10 kg just 3 months before the expedition.
The Everest expedition began on 25 March 2007 and lasted for just over 9 weeks. On 17 May at precisely 9:49 am Nepal time, Omar became the first Egyptian and youngest Arab to climb the 8,850m Mount Everest. He was also the first Arab to climb the mountain from its Nepali South face, the same route taken by Sir Edmund Hilary and Sherpa Tenzing in 1953.
[edit]The spark of the journey
When asked about what sparked the idea of climbing Everest, Omar said:
"Everest is regarded as one of, if not the most challenging of human conquests. I was passionate about climbing and a great believer that one should always challenge their own perception of where their boundaries lie. Everest seemed like an irrational challenge for an Egyptian, so I embraced it wholeheartedly. This feeling grew stronger when I realized that no Egyptian had attempted, let alone stood, on the roof of the world. The desire and pride of representing my country and raising the Egyptian flag on the highest points on earth has been with me ever since." - Omar Samra
[edit]Mount Kilimanjaro
In April 2008, Omar climbed the highest mountain in Africa (Tanzania) Mount Kilimanjaro by the Machame route. So far he has climbed the mountain 5 times. In September 2010, Omar led 25 other climbers from 5 different nations mostly from the Arab world to the top of Africa raising with his team over $150K for mental disability in Egypt. 100% of the climbers on the team made it to the top.
[edit]Mount Elbrus
In August 2008, Omar climbed the highest mountain in Europe (Russia) Mount Elbrus. A day before the climb began, conflict and 'war' between Russia and Georgia broke out which was only 10 km away from the mountain itself. Despite the unrest, Omar and team managed to make it to the top. On summit day, the team faced −30 °C (−22 °F), 100 km/h (62 mph) winds and less than 5 m (16 ft) visibility which was the worst weather the mountain had seen in over 10 years.
[edit]Carstenz Pyramid
In April 2009, Omar climbed the highest mountain in Australasia (Indonesia) Carstenz Pyramid. To get to the mountain, Omar and team had to trek days through dense jungle and swamps and then do exactly the same on the way back. The trip was plagued from the start with conflicts between the different tribes that made up the porter team. In many cases the team was sent back to their camp with spear wielding locals. The customs of West Papua are a tricky business.
[edit]Aconcagua
In January 2011, Omar became the first Arab in history to climb the highest mountain in South American (Argentina) Aconcagua solo, alone and unsupported. Omar began the climb on 20 January, and when the Egyptian revolution broke out on the 25th he was completely unaware of the events in the middle of nowhere. On the 28th, Omar tried to get in touch with family and realized all phones were down. When he finally managed to go online via satellite he realized what had happened. Torn between heading back to Tahrir Square or continuing up the mountain he was already three quarters of the way up, Samra decided to keep on climbing and on 1 February 2011 he raised the Egyptian flag on the highest mountain in the world outside of the Himalayas with the words 'Masr Lel Sha3b' written on the flag (translation: Egypt is for its people).
