Lorenzo Barone of Italy is four months into a journey linking the Sahara, the Atlantic, the Amazon, and the Andes under human power. Called Project Dust, the route follows the path of Saharan dust carried westward to the Chilean coast of South America.
A seasoned adventure cyclist, Barone estimates he has pedaled some 100,000km around different parts of the world.
Across Morocco to the Atlantic
The first phase took place in November 2025. Barone left Nador in northern Morocco on November 18 and cycled 3,341km across the country in 19 days. He finished on the Atlantic coast at Dakhla.
He cycled through forests, mountains, oases, and deserts, spending time with local communities along the way.
Barone in Dakhla. Photo: Lorenzo Barone
At the coast, the project shifted to ocean rowing.
“Seeing the Atlantic in front of me was an overwhelming emotion,” Barone wrote on social media. “In all my adventures, that blue and that boundless horizon have always been an insurmountable limit. Thinking that this time I’ll try to cross it terrifies me, but at the same time, it fascinates me.”
The overall route map and Barone’s location as of early February.
Rowing the Atlantic
He set off from Nouadhibou, Mauritania, in December, rowing solo across the Atlantic. The approach was stripped back: “No sail, no engine, no external support, no autopilot, and no internet. Just a marine plywood boat and all the essential safety equipment, with everything non-essential left behind.”
He added, “It’s an experience I’ve wanted to live for a long time in its rawest and most authentic form, and now I finally have the chance to do it.”
Barone in his boat. Photo: Lorenzo Barone
The 4,557km crossing took 37 days. A night-time capsize, equipment problems, especially with the desalination system, and 21 days of seasickness shaped the journey. Barone spent 34 consecutive days without seeing another person and encountered two tropical storms, with waves of around 4.5m, and currents up to 6kph that pushed him backward at times.
Barone averaged about 5kph, with a longest day of 158km. There was also a close encounter with a cargo ship. At times, he described feeling a prisoner of the ocean, broken by glittering moments, including an encounter with a large pod of dolphins.
Barone in French Guyana after crossing the Atlantic. Photo: Lorenzo Barone
Near South America, currents complicated his approach to land, and he narrowly avoided running aground.
“I almost shipwrecked on the rocks because of the tidal current that was carrying me away and because of the extremely shallow seabed,” he wrote on social media. “In these areas, I risked touching the bottom with the keel and damaging the boat. In the last kilometers, some fishermen [guided me] upriver where the port is located and where this first ocean experience ends.”
Into the Amazon Basin
By mid-February, Barone appears to have made landfall in Guyana and continued inland by bicycle. On February 16, he reported covering around 1,000km in South America, mostly on dirt roads, pedaling through remote forest areas.
On March 3, he reached a river in the Brazilian jungle and attempted to descend it in a wooden canoe.
“Here I was standing in front of the Rio Jatapu, ready to fulfill one of my greatest dreams: descending a remote jungle river alone in a traditional wooden canoe,” he wrote.
Photo: Lorenzo Barone
The attempt ended quickly. Locals stopped Barone and took him to a nearby village, where they informed him he could not continue. He spent several days trying to obtain permission, but access depended on approval from several Indigenous communities and Brazilian authorities, and similar restrictions applied across the region.
The river phase is now on hold. “This phase of the project has temporarily failed, and now I’m cycling toward Bolivia,” he wrote.
So as of this week, he continues Project Dust by a different route and alternate mode of travel.
