Melvin Durai
It has been almost two years since Abubakar Tahiru, a Ghanaian forestry student, set a Guinness World Record for most trees hugged in an hour, and I have to admit that I have not hugged a single tree. I have admired many trees in my neighborhood, but have just not felt the urge to put my arms around any of them. It’s not just Tahiru who has made me feel a little guilty about this. It’s also other environmental activists, most recently Truphena Muthoni, a 22-year-old Kenyan woman.
Muthoni set the Guinness World Record for longest marathon hugging a tree with a staggering time of 72 hours. That’s three whole days hugging a tree. I don’t know who was more relieved when it was over: Muthoni or the tree. Tree: “Phew! I thought it would never end.” Second tree: “You didn’t enjoy it?” First tree: “I did at first. It was nice to get some affection from a young woman. But then she got a little too clingy. It was just like what happened last year between you and the tree frog.” Second tree: “You shouldn’t have reminded me. I miss that little guy!” The record for longest marathon hugging a tree was first set in February 2024 by Faith Patricia Ariocot of Uganda. She hugged a tree for 16 hours, 6 seconds.
Since then the record has been broken several times by African tree huggers. This is the second time Muthoni has held the record. In February 2025, she broke the previous record by hugging a tree for 48 hours. (I hope it wasn’t the same tree. It’s good to spread the affection around.) “The first attempt was a statement, a way to reintroduce humanity to the Earth through a simple, intimate act,” she told Guinness World Records. “The second attempt was a commitment. I realised that the world needed more than symbolism, it needed endurance, consistency, and proof that care for the planet is not momentary. Doing it twice was my way of saying that climate action is not a one-off event, but a sustained responsibility.” You may be wondering how it’s possible to keep hugging a tree for three days straight. It helps that for record attempts that Guinness considers marathons (lasting longer than 24 hours), challengers are allowed five minutes of rest for every hour of activity. Muthoni could take a break every hour or save them up for a longer rest. But even with that accommodation, I probably wouldn’t be able to hug a tree for more than 12 hours. If it’s a mango tree, perhaps a little longer. I owe mango trees a lot of love. When it comes to tree-hugging records, I prefer the record set by Tahiru, the Ghanaian forestry student, because he spread the love around.
In April 2024, he hugged 1,123 trees in one hour, setting a Guinness World Record. He hugged the trees at Tuskegee National Forest in Alabama, US, averaging almost 19 hugs per minute. Each tree got just 3.2 seconds of his love. You might think that 3.2 seconds is not long enough for a hug, but in my estimation, 3.2 seconds is twice the length of the typical human-to-human hug. The typical hug involves putting your arms around the other person and then removing them almost immediately. Most people just don’t hug for a long time. This is especially true at parties. If you hug for more than a second or two, someone is likely to shout, “Hey, you two, get a hotel room!”
