Mahaweli challenge
Sri Lanka
August – September 2014
Having never set foot in a canoe or kayak, Ian set off at the end of August 2014 to hike and paddle the longest river in Sri Lanka from source to sea. With a length of 208 miles (335 km) the Mahaweli Ganga – or Great Sandy River – is a similar length to London’s River Thames.
The journey took Ian, and his inflatable kayak Challenge, through Sri Lanka’s many landscapes. Beginning at the country’s third highest peak – Totapola Kanda – he travelled through tea plantations to the ancient kingdom of Kandy before finally reaching the island’s east coast and the Bay of Bengal at Trincomalee.
Always interested in making each adventure as different from the one before as possible, Ian attempted his descent with fellow adventurer Kerim Morris.
But everything didn’t go according to plan, as you can read here. You can read Kerim’s thoughts before setting off on the challenge here.