Sarah Davis - First Female-Led Nile River Expedition - 6,853km from the source in Rwanda to the Mediterranean Sea!

Sydney resident Sarah Davis became the first woman to lead an expedition down the Nile River, one of the world’s longest and most dangerous rivers. 

Sarah’s expedition involved over 1,000km of rafting and 3,000km of kayaking through Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Sudan and Egypt. 

Along the way, Davis, faced immense personal dangers, including a hippo attack, being arrested and detained by military police in Burundi and unexpected, life threatening river rapids in Tanzania. 

During the podcast Sarah shares more about the biggest challenge of the adventure which was getting to the start line, this involved almost 2 years of preparation while working a full time job and doing other small challenges. 

Sarah goes into detail about planning and preparation, and how she broke down the different areas of risk, she shares more about overcoming  her own personal fears and self-doubt to achieve this incredible human powered adventure!

Show notes

• Growing up in the UK and being big into sport
• Moving out to Melbourne, Australia 
• How the idea came about
• Why she decided to do this challenge
• Taking 4 years out as a Personal Training
• Figuring out what hasn’t been down before
• The Desire Map (Book)
• Expectations for the challenge
• What is involved - the countries, the distance
• The start of the Nile?
• The blue Nile
• The white Nile
• The planning, the preparation and the logistics
• Taking 2 years to plan - the how!
• The money - how she paid for the challenge
• Setting up a ‘gift registry’ instead of a marriage registry
• The biggest challenge of the planning
• The security and the safety aspects
• Risk management
• Getting insurance?
• Dealing with stress
• Quitting her job!
• Mental preparation
• 10 seconds of courage - Ted Talk Nadine Champion 
• Training….
• Confidence
• Getting to the start line - leaving Sydney 26th September 2018
• Getting out on the river for the first time
• What where the days like
• Hippo’s are not cuddly and friendly!!!!
• The people she met along the way
• Dealing with injury and mentally being ready to finish 
• Problem solving and dealing with organisation daily
• Missing out South Sudan
• Winning Women
• Wanting to write a book….
• Homeless and jobless.
• What’s going to be next
• Final words of advice
• New website coming soon!!

 

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