Aimé Felix Tschiffely (May 7, 1895 - January 5, 1954) was a Swiss-born teacher, writer, and travel enthusiast. He wrote a number of books, most famously Tschiffely’s Ride (1933) in which he recount...view moreAimé Felix Tschiffely (May 7, 1895 - January 5, 1954) was a Swiss-born teacher, writer, and travel enthusiast. He wrote a number of books, most famously Tschiffely’s Ride (1933) in which he recounts his solo journey on horseback from Argentina to New York City, an epic adventure that still marks one of the greatest horse rides of all time. He was a household name in the United States during the 1930s, meeting with President Calvin Coolidge and appearing in National Geographic Magazine and earning a living from his popular book sales.
Born into an old Swiss family in Bern, where he was educated and became a teacher, he left Switzerland to teach in England in his early 20s. Following a brief stint as a professional footballer and boxer, he moved to Buenos Aires and turned to teaching again, at St. George’s College, Quilmes, and later as the temporary headmaster of the Buenos Aires English High School. His schedule allowed time for adventures riding horses and exploring the surrounding pampas.
In 1925, at the age of thirty, he decided to undertake a journey by horseback from Buenos Aires to Washington DC. He wrote about his ride in a bestselling book (Tschiffely’s Ride) in which he recounts his epic three-year journey from 1925 to 1928 on two native Criollo horses named Mancha (meaning Spotty) and Gato (meaning Cat), direct descendants of horses brought to Argentina by the conquistador Pedro de Mendoza in 1535—the first horses brought to the new world.
Tschiffely became a famous successful author and moved with his wife Violet to London where he continued to write more books, one of which was a biography of his friend Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham who had died in 1936. In 1937 he returned to South America and made another journey, by car, to the southern tip of the continent, recording his experiences among the natives and the changes brought on by modernity in This Way Southward (1940).
He died in 1954 at the age of 58.view less