Adventurers Set To Row The Ganges River

Earlier in the year I ran a series of videos that were told the story of a team of rowers who navigated the length of the Mississippi River in a 32-foot, handmade York boat. That project was led by Brett Rogers, who had previously spent 100 days on Canada's Yukon River as well. Now, Brett is off on yet another river adventure, this time exploring the mystical and legendary Ganges River in India.

At 2525 km (1569 miles) in length, the Ganges is the longest river in India and the most densely populated in the world. Starting in the Himalaya and flowing southward to the Bay of Bengal, the Ganges is second only to the Amazon in terms of water output. It is listed amongst the most polluted waterways in the world as well, which is startling considering the number of people that live along its banks. Perhaps most importantly of all however is its significance to the Hindu religion, which sees the river as the embodiment of the goddess Ganga, providing them with their daily needs.

Brett and his three man crew, which consists of Matt Telford, Cliff Quinn and Doug Copping, arrived in India a few days back and they have been preparing to embark on their ten-day journey ever since. The team has been posting updates, including some fantastic photos, to Brett's blog over the past few days and are now getting close to launching their boat. They anticipate getting underway on Friday and documenting the expedition as they go. Follow Brett on Twitter to get news of their progress.

Judging from his past work, the real treat will likely come when Brett produces videos of this journey. His "Old Man River" series about the Mississippi were fantastic, with beautiful imagery and a compelling story. I suspect we'll eventually see something similar about the Ganges, but we'll just have to wait for the post-expedition updates to arrive. For now though, it should be fun to follow along with the journey and learn more about this amazing part of the world.