Charlie’s Story
After completing the descent of the Maranon river (the principal source of the Amazon) a few years ago, we were excited to continue the story to more unexplored rivers and environments that are experiencing so much change and human influence. Things are moving fast in the world and it could be our last chance to explore and document these environments. The Blue Nile was one of the first great rivers to come up in our discussions.
I would be reunited with a couple of characters from the previous mission. Rocky, the leader and guide for the crew in the ‘Mission Amazon’ documentary, learned that the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile was nearly complete and this was the last chance to run the river. With our date dictated by the dam’s construction, we had to make the descent at the lowest state of flow, which nobody had experience before.
With our only knowledge coming from the handful of people who have ever made this journey, we could expect anything.
Ben Peters of em-fast.co.uk is one of the most experiences expedition medics there is, and found himself playing a greater role in production in our journey down the Amazon. With a passion for education and exploration, we formed an alliance with a goal to inspire kids through our film. Ben sculptured an education program for schools to incorporate environmental science and conservation, and to inspire the next generation to think more about the impact we have on our planet and encourage them to do more about it. As well as learning the history and politics of certain regions, the kids also gain new practical experience navigation and survival skills.
