Inside Brit explorer’s epic world-first journey down length of uncharted Amazon river…from hallucinations to tarantulas
A BRIT explorer has gone through a treacherous 400-mile journey to become the first person ever to travel the length of an uncharted Amazon river.
Adventurous Ash Dykes, 33, battled sickness and hallucinations, was bitten by hoards of ants and ticks, came across the world’s largest tarentula and swam alongside vicious snakes and alligators to finish his epic 37-day trip.
The extreme athlete, along with pals Jacob Hudson, Dick Lock and Matt Wallace, kayaked continuously for the final three days and nights to complete the challenging journey and reach the end of Coppename River in Suriname, South America.
The team had to suffer from extreme sleep deprivation, infections and malnutrition, and strange night visions before finally getting to the Atlantic Ocean.
During their epic adventure, they also found the source of the Coppename River and became the fastest group to ascend Suriname’s tallest mountain, Julianatop.
Ash, 33, originally from St Asaph, Wales, headed into the centre of the Suriname which 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 300 ticks and vicious army ants.
The group also came across a terrifying goliath tarantula – the world’s largest spider – along with snakes and vicious alligators, called caiman.
They found the source of the Copiname River on September 3, before climbing nearby Julianatop mountain in the quickest ever time as a team the next day.
But their biggest test came during their waterborne voyage from the start of the river to its mouth in their inflatable kayaks.
Ash said: “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 so hot. That jeopardized the whole expedition and meant that we had to distribute all kit amongst the other three kayaks.
“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.
Ash said the team had to survive on just 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 cooked and ate.
He and the others lost around 10kg each in weight and also suffered a raft of nasty injuries, which almost ended their mission on a couple of occasions.
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.
“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.
After completing the journey, Ash said: “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.
“It was very hard, very difficult, very hot. 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.”
Although he managed to contact loved ones and share his journey on social media using satellite technlogy, he said he felt detached from the outside world.
He said: “Out here, because there’s no human activity, the wildlife are all really curious.
“So the wildlife don’t necessarily run away or hide. They watch on to see if you’re a threat or not – or to see if you are prey.
“A jaguar came to the river bank and stood there staring for at least two minutes which was unreal.
“But 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 – and said he loved taking part in “world-first” adventures.