Extreme adventurer Ash Dykes has only been back in civilization for a few days after his kayaking expedition in the Congo Basin, but he’s already thinking about his next trip.
“I’m doing this for pure passion,” Dykes told The Independent, visibly dazed but notably upbeat on a video call in the days after he returned home. Dykes laughed as he said he felt jet lagged from his journey — despite the jungle trek taking place in the same time zone as his home in London.
For months leading up to his recent journey, 35-year-old Dykes had used social media videos to tease his plan to travel through the “most dangerous rainforest on Earth.” Risky business is nothing new for the Welsh athlete. With more than 6 million followers across TikTok and Instagram, Dykes has made a name for himself as an explorer, and has been the subject of several TV specials documenting his adventures. His 434-mile (800 kilometer) trip to the Congo River Basin in Central Africa was the first of a series Dykes calls Project Six: six back-to-back expeditions to countries with extreme environments and ecosystems within 12 months.
