How We Reported This: Writer Francesca Krempa is a fishing enthusiast and commerce editor who’s tested and reviewed several inflatable kayak models. For this story, she followed Dykes’s expedition through his TikTok videos and social posts. Krempa then spoke with Evan Stafford, communications director at American Whitewater, and Sarah Kilbourne, a swiftwater and packrafting instructor and former executive director of the American Packrafting Association, to assess his choice to use an inflatable kayak, the river conditions, and the wildlife and health risks.
If you’re as perpetually online as I am, you’ve been glued to TikTok keeping up with the “Congo River Kayak Guy” who’s all over my FYP.
And if you’re not, let me fill you in: Congo River Kayak Guy’s real name is Ash Dykes, and he’s going viral for attempting to paddle 434 miles (700 kilometers) along the Sangha River in Central Africa, where hippos, crocodiles, and an array of diseases are threatening to cut his trip short. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s attempting to do it all in an inflatable boat that looks like something you might casually toss in the trunk for a weekend lake trip.
Dykes, an experienced extreme athlete and 5X world record holder, has completed some wild feats: he’s crossed Mongolia on foot, walked the entire length of China’s Yangtze River, and biked across Britain. On October 8th, he kicked off his latest adventure through one of Central Africa’s most remote regions. The journey marks the first of six expeditions in his new Project 6 film series, and he’s documenting the whole thing on social media.
Being an outdoorsy gal myself, I have to wonder: Is paddling hundreds of miles through the Congo Basin in an inflatable kayak actually feasible?
Yes—but with some very big caveats. Both experts I chatted with agreed that inflatables can be great tools for remote river travel, but the boat is only one small piece of the larger expedition. For a serious, month-long adventure like this, you need extensive planning, specialized skills, and a ton of emergency preparedness. More on all of that below.
Why an Inflatable Kayak?
At first glance, an inflatable kayak might seem like an odd choice for a journey where a puncture could quickly ruin the whole trip. But portability is actually a major advantage when your route involves more than just paddling.
Evan Stafford, communications director for the conservation nonprofit American Whitewater, says inflatable boats are especially favorable in navigating impassable sections due to obstacles like waterfalls, logjams, or dangerous wildlife. “[An inflatable kayak] is going to be easier to carry or walk around,” says Stafford. “[He] might be able to deflate it and put it in a backpack or something, and carry it that way.”
Since Dykes and his crew (a local guide and a videographer) are camping every night, an inflatable is much easier to unload and carry away from the riverbed than a hardshell kayak.
That’s a big benefit in remote terrain where there may be no convenient launch points or roads to drive around obstacles.
How Dangerous Is the Sangha, Really?
From the looks of the videos Dykes has posted so far, the Sangha River isn’t necessarily a whitewater gauntlet. Most of this stretch (from Nola in the Central African Republic to Mossaka in the Republic of the Congo) is relatively wide and flat, which means less navigating rapids and more pushing through a slow current—a different kind of challenge.
“The 434 mile journey, even on flat water—that’s gonna take a lot of both physical and mental toll on someone,” says Sarah Kilbourne, a swiftwater and packrafting instructor and former executive director of the American Packrafting Association. “There’s a lot more physical exertion required, and the chance of getting a repetitive-use injury is much higher, especially if you’re a newer paddler and you don’t have good form.”
Then there’s the wildlife. Crocodiles and hippos are legitimate concerns on the water, while the surrounding forest is home to elephants, gorillas, snakes, and other territorial, aggressive species.
Less cinematic is the risk of illness: malaria, dengue fever, insect bites, waterborne pathogens, and parasites can quickly turn a remote expedition into a medical emergency. Even a seemingly manageable infection can become deadly when the nearest hospital is hours or days away. Kilbourne herself contracted E. coli during an eight-day packrafting trip in Mexico: “I was so weak and mentally fatigued that it was hard to really think straight,” she recalls. “When you are multiple days away from an evacuation, you really have to be on top of your game.”
Dykes and his team need to be prepared to handle injuries, illness, equipment failures, and unexpected hiccups without assuming help will arrive quickly. On a trip like this, self-sufficiency is a matter of survival.
Should a Regular Paddler Try This?
No, probably not. Dykes is an experienced explorer, and even he’s not undertaking this journey alone. His team includes a local guide and a videographer, and reporting ahead of the expedition described preparations involving permits, vaccinations and medications, medical kits, satellite communications, insurance, and evacuation plans. For beginner kayakers and even seasoned paddlers, the success of a trip like this is way more complicated than it might appear.
The Bottom Line: Are Inflatable Kayaks Appropriate for Extreme River Journeys?
Back to the original question: Yes, inflatable kayaks can handle extreme adventures. “If you have the time and the food and the gear, [paddling for this long in an inflatable] is not that crazy of an idea,” says Stafford. “The pieces that are more significant are the wildlife, the infectious diseases, and the environmental stuff.”
If Dykes’s journey inspires you to get out on the water, great! Take the spirit of adventure, but leave the danger to the professionals. Start with some basic training, learn how to read whitewater, and invest in equipment suited to the conditions you’ll actually encounter (hopefully not hippos).
The post Ash Dykes Is Paddling the Congo in an Inflatable Kayak. Experts Say “It’s Not That Crazy.” appeared first on Outside Online.