Previous attempts to travel the length of the Amazon

There have been a number of successful attempts to Kayak the entire length of the Amazon. In fact this has been completed around 5 times.

On 9 August 2010 Ed Stafford became the first known man to have walked the entire length of the Amazon, from source to sea........ he took more than two years to get from the source to the sea.

In 2007, Slovenian marathon swimmer Martin Strel became the first man to swim the entire length of the Amazon River.

His claim to fame was that he is best known for swimming the entire length of various rivers. Various includes the Amazon. Yes. That's right. He swam the entire way. Well - almost the entire way. 3,273 miles of it. That's close enough for me. He took 66 days to do it with a team of escort boats ready to pour blood into the river to distract predators such as piranhas.  I thought. I'm a wimp in comparison but nevertheless F**K that.

His is motto is "swimming for peace, friendship and clean waters."

In 2010 Blue Peter presenter kayaked 2,010 miles of it - albeit with a whole crew to support her it wasn't anywhere near as impressive as Ed Stafford's journey - but nevertheless....

Whenever I spoke to anyone about this project - that we are going to travel the entire length of the Amazon - most people are in awe. 'That's so cool' or 'Amazing - I'd love to do that'. Armed with our journalist visas, and sponsored clothing, it kind of felt kind of cool every now and again.

But when I read about Ed Stafford, and Martin Strel I just felt like a little bit of a pansy. Pfft.... they would mock our water craft and 5 week limitation. I started feeling like a tourist on vacation compared to them. 

Our journey seemed pale in slight comparison. Our journey won't involve any world records or extreme feats which. We will take a mere 5 weeks to travel the entire length. It will involve periods of trekking through the harsh jungle, will mostly be covered on the river itself in a variety of boats and aquatic craft.... some in dug out canoes, some in specially arranged operational boats and some on passenger ferries.

Central to our expedition however is the journey made by one Isabel Godin in the 18th Century. Please revert to the page that is dedicated specifically to her.

All the above journey's pale in Comparison to her epic adventure!