
British Universities Kayak Expedition 2024 Report
Osian Curig, Oli Cooper, Patrick Kyle, Bryony Agar, Alastair Shapland, and Matthew Purvis
This is the story of how we spent 6 weeks travelling across Central America loaded in the back of a pick-up truck in search of infrequently and undescended white water rivers, of course this was not our original plan but as we quickly learned not much runs to plan, or to time for that matter, in the tropics.
BUKE
The British Universities Kayak Expedition is a biennial event aiming to bring together the best student kayakers of the white water type from across Britain to take advantage of the long summer recess and be part of a once-in-a-lifetime expedition. Having sent off paper applications detailing each of our paddling resumes, the 20 top candidates were invited to North Wales for a weekend off paddling some of the UK’s most notorious test-pieces. At the end of the weekend a vote was held amongst the group to decide on the six paddlers who would make up the 2024 team. We left that weekend with nothing more than a group chat and a country name: Guatemala.

Goals
From the off the goal of the expedition remained clear: to achieve as many First Descents of White Water rivers as we could across Guatemala.

Planning
With a team of first timers we set about planning the whens, whats, and hows of our expedition. Planning could be split into 5 categories briefly described here:
- Finances: When planning a 6 week expedition on a students budget we had to get creative on funding with everything from adventure grants to a ceilidh.
- Food: with stretches of rivers expected to take multiple days food became limited to just that which could be carried in the back of our boats, Dehydrated vacuum packed food provided a tasty solution to this problem.
- Technology: Tech played a variety of roles in the expedition being used to advertise through media and our website (BUKE2024.co.uk) and through the use of Garmin InReach satellite radios, which acted as our life line should all else fail.
- Logistics: By far the largest area to plan this involved everything from flights to finding local contacts and translators to river mapping.
- Kit: Now in need of expedition kit we had to find the help of some sponsors to source everything we would need to operate safely.

Expedition
As we completed so many descents over such a long timeline I am limited to telling just a couple of stories from the most interesting descents so please know this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Having landed safely in El Salvador we were ready to get stuck into it, unfortunately the same could not be said for our van which had been permanently impounded on the Mexican-Guatemalan border. A hasty replacement was found and modified with an extended roof rack to fit all nine boats on it and we were heading north to Guatemala. Soon after we arrived on the banks of the Valparaiso, a first descent we stumbled upon by accident whilst travelling to another river.
The river itself, a steep and continuous grade 4+ run made of limestone, contained two slide like features of note that we christened the Birth canal (long and narrow) and Tormented Ejaculation (started slow and got fast, with a hairy undercut to the right) made for excellent paddling. However, the most interesting part of this run did not come from the river itself (a theme that soon became apparent), with several of the team ill they skipped paddling to ventured out and find drinking water. In itself an un-extraordinary task until they found themselves in a boarder town adjacent to the Chiapas region of Mexico, which is currently in the midst of a cartel turf war. Quickly flagged down by the cartel and informed of this the van and remaining boats were searched for weapons (in which the machetes we carried for bush waking were disregarded as simple gardening tool). Satisfied in their search the cartel then decided to help protect us by circulating image of the truck as safe and even joining us for food at the take out much to the dismay of those that had just emerged from the river.

Several days after this ordeal we attempted the first descent of the Upper Upper Azul, a stunning blue river that provided a nice change from the silty brown rivers we had become accustom to. Coming into the expedition this was one of the most promising sections that we had mapped with potential to be the centre piece of the expedition. Scouting the first 300m, finding a continuous and technical stretch of river, before putting on descended to a convenient pool marking the beginning of what we found to be a nightmare section running over limestone a geologist would describe as interesting. The river split over and over around tens of islands, each channel clogged with trees, before converging and forming a series of impassable narrows just a foot or two wide and then completely disappearing under a rock. We called it quits here. Walking our loaded boats up to the top we decided to lap the 300m section we had successfully descended, the Azul Racecourse, taking the opportunity to dial in the complex sequence of moves asked of us by the section.

Descending through the drainage we then attempted the Catriana, a 3-4 day long tributary of the Azul. With a hike in lasting almost 2 hours we put onto the river late in the day, completing an hour (1km) of continuous Gyr-like grade 5 white water before stopping to set up camp for the night at what we thought was the start of a major 1km portage. Unfortunately throughout the day one member of the team dislocated his shoulder on an inconveniently placed rock before reducing it mid-flow, and I began to show symptoms for a parasitic infection which somewhat complicated the coming days. With the next days paddling of about 4km being less eventful it marked what we hoped to be a turn in our luck. Unfortunately it was not, just 200m into the third day’s paddling we found the start of the portage we thought completed at the end of day one meaning we were 2 days behind schedule and running out of food. An easy decision was made to walk out from here back to a dirt track that marked the river right ridge line of the almost 1 km deep gorge. It took just over 3 hours to scale up the banks of the river and back to the camp of the night before where a convenient trail head emerged allowing the group to split with the two fastest to ascend to the track and meet our driver and translator to arrange help for the next days hike, whilst the remaining members of the team began to shift the pile of gear up the track and rest for the next days hike. With two porters to aid with the ~35kg in kit we each had. An early start and 3 hours of walking to complete the ascent only broken by a short stop for breakfast at the porters family home and we found ourselves back with the truck, which was only mildly broken down, giving us just enough time to make it Jacaltenango for the night.

The final major descent we planed was a 4 day navigation of the Putul, Copon, and Chixoy, this would go on to become my favourite run of all time. The Putul had not been descended since Hurricane Agatha had destroyed it in 2011 with only 1 recognisable rapid. Putting on at the base of the private Hydroelectric facility that powers the largest private plantation, where we had been guests the night before, it immediately felt as if we were hundreds of miles from the nearest settlement with thick rainforest as far as we could see. The Putul consisted of excellent low volume creeking with 3 major rapids of note, public indecency (an eight foot drop with a tree less dangerous tree than it looks), birthday eddy (the only recognisable rapid that requires a partial portage and has a rather sketchy eddy for the brave or fool hardy to catch), and Fast and Loose (The crux move, it pushes hard against a wall to the left, should be run harder right). With the fastest descent of the Putul under our belts we bedded down for the night just into the Copon.
The Copon canyon consisted of plenty of medium water wave trains with a big water feel for some of the best joy boating we found. Most notable was Rain City a hundred feet deep narrowing of the canyon with hundreds of waterfalls pouring out of the rocks. With the canyon flattening out we stopped for lunch, only to disturb an aggressive bee’s nest who proceeded to chase us 100m down river before relenting. This drew the attention of some near by farmers, members of a sensitive indigenous community, who kindly rescued our boats and asked us to attend a meeting in their village hall to explain what we were doing to the whole community who would decide if we would be allowed to continue. Prior to starting the descent we had gained permission to visit the area with the help of an NGO that helps to coordinate the communities in the drainage and we believed had made them aware that we would be there and meant no harm. Instead we found they had not contacted the communities who were completely unaware of our presence or intentions.
After two hours of explaining who we were and why we were there we were allowed to continue under the caveat we let them know we were coming next time. Just a few kilometres on we stopped to make camp for the night, an hour after which we were greeted by a party of 30 men menacingly brandishing an assortment of umbrellas, sticks, and machetes. After hastily breaking camp we were escorted 20 minuets walk up a track to several pick up trucks that would ferry us another 20 minutes to a second village. We soon found ourselves sat in the middle of another village hall, this time on a stage with 400 people staring back at us. After four and a half hours of angry debating, inaccurately translated from Mayan to Spanish to English every forty minutes, we were informed that they would leave us for the night and resume the debate again in the morning. A further two and a half hours debate and it was unceremoniously announced that we would be let go with our heads still firmly attached to our shoulders though we would not be allowed to continue and were fined £85.

Impact
Whilst it is hard to judge the impact of the expedition so close to its completion, we believe that it will have a positive impact on the kayaking community as well as the local area. Through the series of media we are in the process of producing including a short film and highlight reels we hope to inspire more people to take up expedition kayaking as well as inspire people to visit Guatemala. Additionally, we were given the opportunity to help teach an English lesson for disadvantaged teens, helping to improve their English by having a natural convocation with native English speakers.

Achievements
Across the course of the expedition we achieved descents of the following sections of river. Whilst the majority were second and third descents, confirmed first and highest descents are appropriately marked below:
- Lempa
- Lower Montagua (First Descent of “Rapid”)
- Upper Montagua (Highest Descent)
- Madre Vieja (1KM of first descent above the normal put on)
- Coyolate
- Valparaiso (1KM of first descent above the normal put on)
- Upper Azul
- Azul Racecourse (First Descent)
- Catrina (Highest Descent)
- Putul (First Descent)
- Copon
- Candelaria
- Chisoy (First Descent)
- Lanquin
- Cahabon
Thanks
We would like to express our gratitude to all those that have supported the expedition, without who none of this would have been possible. A special thanks to the Young Explorers’ Trust along with all its trustees and donors for their support.

Conclusion
Hampered by illness and vehicle issues we achieved less descents that challenged our abilities than we desired, however to achieve six first descents in the time period is still an impressive feat, as such the expedition should be considered a success as this was ultimately what we set out to do. Regardless of this there are several lessons we will take into future projects; The rivers we initially targeted were too steep leading to poor visibility and very slow progress. Additionally, with most plans going belly up we found it more useful to have a bank of local contacts we could fall back on than a meticulous plan.
Words by Matthew Purvis