TikTok Star Ash Dykes’ 435-Mile Kayak Journey Into the Congo Basin Starts With Lost Luggage

Welsh adventurer Ash Dykes had barely arrived in Central Africa before his much-anticipated expedition into the Congo Basin hit a snag familiar to any traveler: an airline lost his bag.

“Okay, we have arrived in Cameroon, but it’s not the best of starts,” Dykes told his TikTok followers in an Oct. 3 video, explaining that one of the team’s bags was still stuck in Paris.

The missing bag held more than spare clothes. It contained the pump the team needed to inflate the kayaks they will use on the river. Dykes was still upbeat about the setback. “It will delay us maybe one day, hopefully no more than two days,” he said, calling the hiccup all part of the mission.

The team recovered the bag shortly afterward and continued overland toward the start of its route on the Sangha River.

The journey is the first leg of Project 6, a series of six extreme expeditions in six countries that Dykes plans to complete over about 12 months, with only around two weeks of rest between missions.

According to his expedition site, this first mission covers more than 700 kilometers, roughly 435 miles, on the Sangha. The route runs from Nola in the Central African Republic to Mossaka in the Republic of the Congo, and Dykes bills it as a potential world first. The Sangha is a tributary of the Congo River and flows through the heart of the Congo Basin. The basin’s rainforest is the largest in Africa and second in size only to the Amazon.

Before getting on the water, Dykes planned to spend time with BaAka communities in the region to learn traditional rainforest knowledge and survival techniques.

The trip is expected to take about a month, and few travel destinations on Earth are less forgiving. Nile crocodiles and hippos share the river, while forest elephants, gorillas, snakes and spiders live along its banks. The team must also contend with malaria, dengue fever, parasitic infections, unsafe drinking water and punishing heat and humidity. On some stretches, Dykes has said, the nearest doctor could be several days away.

“The Congo is pretty much the baddest, most dangerous place on the planet you can go to right now,” Dykes told CNN, adding that he is taking the expedition very seriously.

He explained to People why he chose an inflatable kayak: it is durable and light enough to carry around obstacles when the river becomes impassable.

Dykes, 35, is no stranger to grueling routes. He completed a solo trek across Mongolia and became the first known person to walk the full length of China’s Yangtze River, a journey of about 4,000 miles.

His latest trip has also turned into an online event. Dykes has gained 2.8 million TikTok followers as anticipation for the expedition has grown. Many have watched nervously, and some commenters read the lost luggage as a sign that he should turn back.

Dykes is documenting the expedition on social media as he travels down the river.