Ash Dykes Becomes First Person To Travel Length of Uncharted Amazon River

British explorer Ash Dykes, 33, battled sickness and hallucinations to complete an epic 37-day trek, reaching the mouth of the mystical Coppename River in Suriname, South America.

The extreme athlete and his teammates Jacob Hudson, Dick Lock, and Matt Wallace, kayaked for three days and nights straight to complete their mission, suffering from sleep deprivation, infections and malnutrition in the process.

The adventurers then became the fastest group to ascend Suriname’s tallest mountain, Julianatop.

Ash said: “To get to the finish line was very emotional for us all. Those last three days were some of the hardest. In three nights, we had under five hours of sleep. So we were extremely sleep-deprived and started to hallucinate. We were suffering with heat exhaustion. We were dehydrated. I don’t think words will ever be able to express just how tough it was. To get over that finish line was just monumental, just unreal.”

Ash, 33, originally from St Asaph, Wales, headed into the centre of the ex-Dutch colony, which is 93% forested, in a helicopter on August 29. He and his team then spent the next six days fighting their way upstream in kayaks with 50kg of supplies – while being bitten by ticks and army ants. The group also came across Goliath tarantulas, snakes and caiman along the way.

“We didn’t see any other humans in 34 days. And we were using the sun to charge everything. We were starving, we were thirsty, we faced a lot. One of the boats popped because it was over 37c, a few days before finishing, which is the worst nightmare. That jeopardized the whole expedition and meant that we had to distribute all kit amongst the other three kayaks, and Jacob and Matt had to share paddling duties on one kayak.

“Matt also blacked out as he had a really nasty infection in his arm. He passed out for a good couple of minutes, and the whole evening was ruined then as he didn’t have his energy back. Jacob almost fainted maybe 5km before the finish, and Dick did pass out a few days before.”

The team survived on around 800 to 1000 calories a day while burning through up to 6,000 – leaving them badly malnourished. They initially lived off a limited number of ration packs before catching piranha, stingray and wolfish from the river, which they then cooked and ate. Despite this, he and the others lost around 10kg each in weight and also suffered a raft of injuries.

Ash went on: “Matt checked his boots in the morning, but he forgot to check his gloves. He got two nasty stings from the most venomous scorpion in Suriname, enough to evacuate most people. We had to take that very seriously, and luckily he did start to recover, otherwise that would have been an instant evacuation.I developed a really nasty infection on the lower part of my shin. Luckily that recovered and I went on antibiotics, but I had to squeeze out a lot of puss.”

Ash, who is a global ambassador for the charity Free the Wild, said the team also came face to face with a jaguar during the expedition.

He said: “Out here, because there’s no human activity, the wildlife are all really curious.  A jaguar came to the river bank and stood there staring for at least two minutes which was unreal. I really hope Suriname stays this way and allows the jungle to remain relatively untouched and for the wildlife to be left alone”

Ash has three previous world records following his expeditions in Mongolia, Madagascar and China.