The expedition is primarily based in the Bukit Barisan Mountain range, covering the North Sumatra and Aceh regions. Some rivers in this range have been previously paddled, including Aek Simonggo and Bahblon. Our expedition is going to take place from mid-July to the end of August when rivers are expected to be low to medium flow.

We have been using Google Earth Imagery and ArcGIS to identify new rivers, and have found promising results, such as unrun sections of the Aek simonggo. At the time of writing, researching potential rivers is an ongoing process, but our findings indicate a promising outlook for what is to be a very exciting expedition full of first descents, and we hope to showcase Sumatra to the wider kayaking community as a viable paddling destination.

This is an unsupported expedition, so everything we need will have to be carried in our boats. On our way, we will be documenting the whole expedition. This will include the obvious kayaking shots, landscapes, fauna and flora we encounter, and any interactions with the locals. It is not going to be a sugar-coated production, as we want to effectively demonstrate the euphoric highs and potentially horrendous lows that are the reality of such an expedition. Above all we want to inspire our audience (including kayakers, explorers and other young people in general) to get out of their comfort zones, proving that anyone can get to these amazing places if you put the work in.

Following our return to the UK we will be producing an approximately 40-minute-long documentary style film, taking inspiration from similar productions such as ‘Guatemala | Long Film’ (BUKE 2024), ‘Sneaky Freaky Creeky: A Scottish Kayaking Film’ (Dave Biggin) and ‘A Kayakers Solo Adventure in India’ (Nouria Newman). The film will cover all aspects of our expedition from the training and planning stages all the way through to completion, thus creating a narrative that blends the highs and lows of our paddling achievements with the Sumatran landscape and culture. In addition, we will be creating regular short video content for Instagram and Facebook including photographs and raw POV/ video shots, as well as river diaries and blog updates for our website, and a shorter kayaking-focused edit on YouTube- similar to ‘Kayaking Afon Tawe POV’ (Pistyll Productions) and ‘We Are Send II’ (Senders)- intended for applications to Kayak Sessions ‘Short Film of the Year’ contest.