Amazon Source To Sea Update: The Challenges Of The Amazon

In the first week of July I posted a story about South African adventurer Davey du Plessis, who was about to embark on an epic Source-to-Sea journey along the Amazon River. That journey, which is expected to cover 7200km (4474 miles), began with a trek to the summit of Mount Mismi a 5597 meter (18,363 ft) peak that marks the headwaters of the river. From there Davey would hike back down the mountain and then climb aboard his bike for a 1500km (932 mile) ride to his kayak put on. The third and final stage of the expedition is a 5700km (3541 mile) paddle to the sea. The first two stages are now complete and du Plessis is out on the water, but according to his Facebook page it has been a challenging go so far.

In his most recent update, which came last week, Davey indicated that the white water was faster and more difficult than he had expected and as as a result, he capsized his boat and nearly lost all of his gear. On his first day on the water he managed to cover an impressive 70km (43 miles), but spent some time running the more precarious rapids in an inner-tube while dragging his boat behind. At one point, the kayak struck a rock, which was the cause of it capsizing and that was an indication that perhaps it wasn't entirely well suited for running the early rapids of the Amazon. Fortunately the white water doesn't last for long and by now he should be on relatively flat water, with a good current, that spreads out for miles in all directions.

Since that update last Wednesday there has been no word out of Davey. Hopefully all is well and he's simply having some issues getting his communication systems to work. He obviously still has a long way to go before he reaches the ocean and it would be great to get regular updates on his progress.

Thanks to Lisa De Speville for keeping me in the loop on Davey's expedition progress.