Richard Johnston Bangs (born 1950) is an American author and television personality focusing on international travel.

And so they did – on the Omo in Ethiopia – and Sobek Expeditions (co-founded with John Yost) was born, named in gratitude for the Egyptian crocodile god who may have spared their lives on those early first descents.

Bangs' articles and essays have appeared in many places, including in The New York Times, Slate and The Huffington Post.

[4] Bangs was founder and editor-in-chief of Mungo Park,[5] a pioneering Microsoft travel publishing effort.

[6] In 1981 Bangs was hired as a stuntman for the film, Killing at Hells Gate, where a whitewater rafting party is terrorised during a trip down the river.

The pilot show, Richard Bangs South America: Quest for Wonder, was carried by KQED and American Public Television.