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Pete Casey was chest-deep in floodwater, five days without food, in the middle of the Amazon at dusk. His guide said: "This is a beautiful place to die, and the day you die is the best day of your life." No higher ground in sight, no GPS signal, no way out. This is the story of the first ever sea-to-source ascent of the Amazon River.

No military training, no wealthy sponsors, no support team. Pete sold his home, scraped together £110,000 in equity, and walked into the Amazon alone. What followed was six and a half years, over 7,000 kilometres, swimming every river crossing against the current, trekking through flooded rainforest, and navigating remote indigenous communities that had never seen a Westerner pass through on foot.

From near-death in flood season to coca plantations in the Andes, this is the full arc of one of the most extraordinary human-powered expeditions ever completed.

What You'll Learn:
• Why Pete ascended the Amazon sea-to-source — and why almost nobody does it that way
• The method he built for swimming river crossings with a packraft and local guides
• How 23 days in flooded forest without food nearly killed him
• What encounters with remote indigenous communities actually look like
• The brutal reality of coming home to nothing after six and a half years

Pete's presentation at the explorers club in NYC.

🌐 ascentoftheamazon.com

📸 Instagram: @p.c.casey
🌿 Junglekeepers (pay it forward): junglekeepers.com

00:00 Cold open — chest-deep in floodwater
01:18 Who is Pete Casey and what is the Ascent of the Amazon?
03:21 Growing up with no money in Sussex — how adventure didn't come naturally
05:19 First trip to South America — joining Ed Stafford's Amazon walk
07:50 Photography dreams and why building became his career
11:32 How Pete decided to ascend the Amazon sea-to-source
17:23 Selling his home — the point of no return
21:17 Route planning on Google Earth and arriving alone
26:26 Why Pete swam every river crossing — method and fear
29:27 The Pororoca tidal bore and using the Amazon tide to gain ground
34:00 First Una tribe encounters — being surrounded
47:11 23 days in flooded forest, no food, chest-deep in water
51:50 Recovery in Manaus and planning the next leg
55:28 How kit evolved over 6.5 years — Wellington boots vs jungle boots
1:00:40 What Pete ate in the jungle — farinha and sardines
1:05:00 Walking alone through cocaine plantations in the Andes
1:13:40 The Explorers Club, coming home, and the food bank
1:23:34 Pay it forward: Junglekeepers

For full show notes and links, visit: adventurediaries.com/podcast

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Beki Henderson is a BAFTA-nominated adventure filmmaker and expedition safety specialist with years of experience leading camera teams into some of the world's most remote and demanding environments. She's worked alongside Steve Backshall, Ben Fogle, Levison Wood, Aldo Kane, and most recently Will Smith on the landmark Pole to Pole series — premiering at the Natural History Museum in London.

In this episode, Chris sits down with Beki to dig into the Green Abyss — her personal expedition into Gabon's Waka National Park in 2024, launched in the wake of the country's military coup. The plan was to pack-raft the undocumented Akoi River for a month, reaching remote communities to understand the human cost of conservation policy. What followed was a masterclass in expedition reality — strainers, flash flood risk, a support team walking in entirely the wrong direction, and a village that no longer existed.

Beki also reflects on building a career in adventure television from scratch, why qualifications mean nothing without field experience, and what it really means to take risk seriously — not the dramatic kind, but the deep, lasting uncertainty that keeps you up at night two metres above a rising river in the middle of a Gabonese gorge.

Chapters:
00:00 — Risk Isn't Dramatic: What Expedition Danger Really Looks Like
01:25 — Introduction & Welcome to Adventure Diaries
03:12 — Growing Up in North Yorkshire With No Adventurous Instincts
06:53 — Building a Career in Adventure Filmmaking From Scratch
10:00 — Wilderness First Responder: Why Qualifications Mean Nothing Without Experience
12:17 — First Break Into Adventure Television: Steve Backshall & Expedition Series
14:07 — The Green Abyss: Pack Rafting Gabon's Undocumented Akoi River
16:29 — Building a Team in the Field & Getting Government Permission Post-Coup
22:29 — Strainers, Portaging & Why the River Always Wins
26:43 — Trapped in a Gorge: The Flash Flood Decision That Changed Everything
33:37 — The GPS Disaster: When the Support Team Walked the Wrong Way
38:10 — Ingondé Doesn't Exist: Conservation, Gold Panning & The Human Cost
44:24 — Recording Undocumented Species & Reflections on the Green Abyss

Pay It Forward: Beki shines a light on the Black Mambas — an all-female anti-poaching unit in South Africa working to protect wildlife and educate communities before poaching ever starts. Find them at blackmambas.org.

Call to Adventure: Figure out where your own edge is — and go there. Adventure doesn't have to cost money or require extreme skill. Start with what takes you outside your comfort zone.

Follow Beki Henderson:
Instagram: @bekihenderson
Website: beckihenderson.com

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Please visit AdventureDiaries.com/GO For more authentic stories of Adventure Exploration and the natural world

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What happens when you walk for days through some of the most remote jungle on Earth — and stumble across a cave covered floor to ceiling in ancient drawings that no outsider has ever documented? In this Season 5 episode, Chris sits down with Joe Trevorrow, former Royal Navy sailor turned expedition guide with The Wild Tales — an indigenous-led adventure company operating deep in Guyana's interior — to unpack three extraordinary expeditions into barely explored territory.

Alongside the on-the-ground stories (rapids, sand flies, night terrors in hammocks, and jaguar tracks beside your sleeping spot), Joe shares how The Wild Tales partners with indigenous communities — the Wai Wai, Patamona, and others — to create sustainable tourism that preserves ancient sites and dying traditions. We discuss the complex tribal history of Guyana's nine indigenous nations, how a Tomb Raider game sparked a life-changing decision, and what the jungle teaches you when you stop fighting it.

Chapters:

• 00:00 A Hidden Cave in Guyana's Jungle
• 01:07 Meet Joe Trevorrow: Royal Navy to Rainforest
• 05:30 Joining the Navy and Travelling the World at 20
• 07:56 How a Tomb Raider Game Led to Guyana Expeditions
• 11:33 How Indigenous-Led Expedition Tourism Works
• 16:45 The River of Death: Paddling the Cassai Chi
• 20:09 Undocumented Petroglyphs Along the Riverbank
• 24:18 Welcome to Masakenari: The Most Remote Village
• 29:30 Tourism as a Lifeline: Keeping Traditions Alive
• 32:40 Don't Fight the Jungle: Lessons the Hard Way
• 35:21 Sitting Under the Milky Way on the River of Death
• 38:10 Night Terrors: The Scariest Night in the Jungle
• 40:12 Makarapan Mountain: 3.5 Billion Years Old
• 46:00 The Mystery Pots Nobody Can Explain
• 55:12 The Cave Expedition: 45km Through Patamona Territory
• 01:03:21 Ancient Drawings That Left Everyone Speechless
• 01:12:00 Conservation: Keeping Sites Secret vs Raising Awareness
• 01:17:49 Future Expeditions and What's Next for The Wild Tales
• 01:23:17 Pay It Forward and Call to Adventure

What You'll Learn

• What the "River of Death" actually means — and the disease theory behind its name
• How indigenous-led expedition tourism works (and why it matters)
• Why two enormous pots were found near the summit of a 3.5 billion year old mountain — and nobody can explain how they got there
• What it feels like to walk into an ancient cave and see drawings no outsider has recorded
• The leadership lesson Joe learned — and why "Navy mode" doesn't work in the jungle
• What The Wild Tales has planned for 2026–2027

Connect with Joe & The Wild Tales

• Joe Trevorrow Instagram
• The Wild Tales: https://www.thewildtales.com
• Anders Anderson episode (S3): Adventure Diaries back cata

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Thanks For Listening.

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a comment and subscribe for more exciting content.

Please visit AdventureDiaries.com/GO For more authentic stories of Adventure Exploration and the natural world

The Adventure Diaries Podcast also covers a broad spectrum OF topics withIN the fields of Adventure, Exploration, Micro-adventure, Survival, Mental Resilience, Conservation, Scotland, Hiking, Solo Travel, Cycling, Nature, Storytelling, Mountaineering