A 34-year-old Devon adventurer has become one of the first to travel 1,500 miles down the length of the River Ganges on a paddleboard, dodging poisonous snakes, crocodiles and sharks on the way.
Mike “Spike” Reid spent 98 days on a stand-up board to complete the challenge with his Indian colleagues Shilpika Gautam.and Kumaran Mahalingam, paddling for eight hours a day. They camped on the banks of the holy Hindu river.
Spike and Shilpika started at 4,000m above sea level at the Gangotri Glacier in October. They hiked about 100 miles, before cycling a similar distance along mountain tracks. The two were joined by Kumaran for the paddleboarding section down to the sea.
Spike, Shilpika and Kumaran became the first people to paddleboard down the Ganges, joined by three other European and American paddleboarders for different sections.
Spike, who returned to London two weeks ago, said: “We saw a large amount of wildlife, including the endangered Gangetic river dolphin, turtles, and a water snake too close for comfort, plus a wonderful plethora a birdlife. Luckily we had no close encounters with the three species of crocodile present or the Ganges shark.”
The videographed journey, which will soon be made into a TV programme, was aimed at highlighting the problem of litter and promoting paddleboarding. Spike said they saw piles of litter along some sections of bank, particularly single-use plastic such as cups.
Spike was hailed a hero in 2011 after he shot a polar bear that attacked his group in Svalbard Norway, and killed Eton schoolboy Horatio Chapple, 17.
