Being back in Belgium now after this major expedition I can finally look back at this. It amazes me what I’ve done and I’m very proud of it. It actually doesn’t seem real what I did. Here’s just a small recap of what I’ve done to get to my 3rd summit of happiness. It’s quite a bit so I try to keep it short. For those with not too much time here’s a small video about it, for the ones with more time: the 22nd of February I’m presenting this expedition with stories and pictures in Dendermonde (Belgium).

Cycling to Indonesia

After the summit of Mount Everest I cycled from Kathmandu to Indonesia. I did this with Benjamien, a Belgian friend. It was the first time someone was joining me on this project and we had great fun. We crossed over to India, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. A trip of more than 8000 km in quite good conditions. Mostly we found enough food, water and places to sleep. Although this was the first warning about the heat and I passed the equator by human power!

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A whole new adventure!

After cycling all the way to East Java, Malcolm (Australia) and I set off by rowboat. The goal was to follow the Indonesian archipelago to reach Papua. Everything wasn’t going as planned and we found lot’s of delays getting the boat to Indonesia by container ship. Still after a while we could start rowing and made a great first part from Java to Bali, Lombok and Sumbawa. We mainly slept on the beaches in our hammocks.

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From Sumbawa to Flores my girlfriend came along to get a good push along the Komodo Islands. There we got a good taste of the waves hitting the beaches as we arrived in the evenings. The rainy season was full on which pushed us in the right directions but creating bigger swells and crashing waves while landing. Here I realised that this one was gonna be an extreme experience an expedition.

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From Flores, Steven, a Belgian friend joined me for about a week. Great experience to be rowing with him as the swell and wind were getting bigger. After he left I had about a month on my own from island to island.

Learning the hard way

In this month I realised the impact of being alone. It is very difficult to get the boat on land (200kg) and when it is anchored I don’t sleep that much. I need to recover from the past efforts but it is hardly possible. I got to know the real strong currents of the Indonesian through-flow which scared the sh** out of me a couple of times. Especially the crossing of the Alor strait with immense tide rips. Due to time limitations I had to cross this during full moon when the currents are strongest. I was extremely grateful for having such a good boat, I got very scared over there on my own.

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Help is coming!

In Alor Koen De Gezelle (Belgium, boat builder) and Gerhard (Netherlands) came along to join. There we did our first bigger crossings of 70km (11hrs) and more. We mainly rowed at night during these crossings so we could arrive with daylight. A very smart thing to do because while sleeping in a village at Pulau Wetar we heard about a fisherman being eaten by a crocodile that same morning… Another reminder of the dangers ahead of us.

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Just the 2 of us

After 2 weeks of rowing we say goodbye to Gerhard, sadly he got injured in his back and he makes the smart decision to fly back home. Koen and I carry on and we make great progress. By that time I’m already more than 3 months in the expedition and Koen is just getting in the rhythm. The big crossings are taking it’s toll and I get sick of it all. The biggest one so far was about 90 km which we did in 16 hrs, a real struggle since on every crossing I start to vomit when the sun comes up, mainly from exhaustion. The problem is that you just can’t stop, so I vomit and get back to rowing immediately, for a couple of hours more.

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Getting sick and sick of it!

By the time Koen goes back from Saumlaki to Belgium, Mark arrives. We follow the main Island North to Pulau Larat. A comfortable row because no big crossings here. When he leaves I’m preparing for the next big crossing, 120km of open sea, the biggest one yet and alone. But my body decides differently and by the time I am at the crossing I’m already too weak and caught a tropical virus. I decide to go back to Belgium and leave the boat in a village with friends (thank you Poppy!).

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Back to serious business

After this period I get back in October 2018 to finish the final phase. Again I’m alone to cover the big crossing. During the first part everything was going well, but I had 10l of good water and 20l of not so good water. By the time I started the other water I had to vomit every time I drank it. After 24 hours of rowing I started to hallucinate and after 35 hours of non stop rowing I got pulled off the sea by a boat (and 16km off shore). That was a brutal day and I needed to recover from that. I recovered and decided to get me brought back to the same place I got saved. In this way I was able to cover the lost distance and continued solo to Seram Island. I loved this trip as the seas where calm (except for some currents) and I felt getting stronger and stronger. The whole area is quite remote and I encountered some strange places…

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The final rowing push

In Seram island George Eden (UK) comes over to help me row. The last big crossing is to be made of about 90km. We discover a tiny island at about 20km offshore where we can take a couple of hours rest. This crossing takes us to the start of Raja Ampat, a true divers paradise. This was the most calm and impressive rowing I’ve done in Indonesia. Just a week longer and we reach Papua (Sorong). I get a bit emotional because of the amount of effort I’ve put in there to get to that point, +4000km of rowing in really tough conditions, becoming the first one to do such feat! There we swap our oars for bikes and set off for another new adventure.

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A great cycling adventure

From Sorong we set off in the unknown. We get some help by locals to find bikes, get our permits and maps. The problem but great thing is that nobody has ever cycled here before. We have no idea what the roads are like (no asphalt at all) or how many villages we would pass by to find food. Very soon we discover that this will be a very challenging ride. Lot’s of mountains, heat, jungle, rain, mud and so much more make this a difficult crossing. After a couple of days our bikes start to break down reducing our daily distances significantly. Every now and then a truck passes by and George tries to get a ride to the next city like that. The whole ride is amazing and I feel great on the bike. It is very though and we get very strange experiences there. From Papuan rebels to encounters with the strangest animals, construction sites in the middle of the jungle to special forces for protection. A very interesting place for sure and I really love the people there! In the last 3 days I head more into the mountains to Enarotali. These 3 days I cover about 8000 altitude meters in 270km, extreme!! An average tour de France covers 5000 altitude meters in a week…

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To the mountain!

The sad part is that recent tensions between rebels and the Indonesian army (even when we where there 16 people got killed, with more even coming up, including civilians) made it impossible for me to continue to the mountain human powered and I had to stop at Enarotali. I had to helicopter to Carstensz Pyramid (only 70 km) with an expedition. A great way to be climbing with more people from around the world. In the end we are 7 people going to the summit on the 1st of January. The climb itself is technical but for experienced climbers not very difficult. I enjoy the whole climb and in the end I try to arrive alone on the summit. I need this moment for myself, to think about what I’ve done here. For 2,5 years I trained, prepared, cycled and rowed every day to get to that point! For 10 minutes long I cry on the summit, take some pictures and descent back down, looking forward to get back home with friends and family…

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Special thanks to my sponsors who made this unique adventure possible!

After some time to relax I meet George. He is an English rower joining me to row from Bula (Seram) to Nabire. He’s been competition rowing for 7 years but this will be his first rowing adventure. Glad he’s totally up for that. Inge, my girlfriend, got a bit worried about what was coming up and wanted to have a partner for me to row. Thank you very much for arranging that!

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The first part was a 90 km crossing to Misool island which was divided by a stop on a tiny island. We rested there for a couple of hours, then set off during the night on the remaining 70 km. The tiny island was really nice, but got extremely hot without any trees. I hung the hammock using some driftwood to get some shade.

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The crossing itself went very well, we made a huge progress in the first part. A certain time I decided for us to wait half an hour and get some sleep. There was a big thunderstorm just in front of us and I wanted it to give it time to clear again. A good decision it seemed when we continued rowing under a clear sky again. In the morning we arrived at Misool Eco Resort where we were hosted for a night. The most luxurious crossing I had here, great food, a bed and an easy place to land with the boat. Thank you very much for the great hospitality.

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The first day gave George an idea about rowing here and the hardest part (and last big crossing) was finished. What a great feeling getting closer to my goal! From there on we took it easy and I had a feeling of a holiday. Clear waters, rowing through this part with amazing reefs, once in a while jumping in the water to refresh and snorkel. Like many times before the locals were extremely helpful and curious.

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After a couple of days, while camping on the islands, I see Papua. A very special moment to me because from there I’m starting to feel the end of this rowing adventure. With the right timing we even get great progress because of the strong currents pushing us further to Sorong, where we re-evaluate out trip. I’m really enjoying these last days of rowing to Papua, which could even be the last days of rowing in Indonesia. I start to visualise all the effort, pain, joy and so much more I had here which makes me pretty emotional.

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Once in Sorong I get to talk with Bram Darkim, a kayaker and cyclist in Manokwari. He tells me there could be a road going all the way to Enarotali, the village where the trek to Carstensz Pyramid starts from. After some research and talks with locals we decide to leave the boat in a hotel, find bicycles and cycle to Enarotali. There has never been someone to do this so this will be a great adventure which I’m very excited for!

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After my recovery time at Savana Cottages I set North-West to Ceram, an island almost 500 km further. Getting there was supposed to be more relaxed as there’s more little islands on the way there where I can take my rest for the night. The biggest crossing which needed to be done was about 45 km which is funny. About 2 years ago this seemed like a major undertaking and by now it seems like a small crossing that I can easily do on my own (which I still take very serious).

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Everything looked promising with very light winds and calm seas. My progress during the island hopping was great, despite the extreme heat. That’s one of the downsides of rowing without wind, it gets extremely hot!

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It all seems like a rush now getting to the islands, arriving at land. Getting all the village to gather around me, getting invited by so many people to go and eat, drink tea, sleep,… They’ve been so kind, understanding and helpful to this tall white man in his rowing boat.

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In Pulau Tioor I get lot’s of people around me and the lady takes care of me like it would be my mother. She gives me a room in the house so I can rest and people can’t bother me there. Most people are so curious they want to see me but this means I’ve got less time to sleep, here they understood my need to sleep. In the evening her husband arrives from a whole day at sea with his canoe. He caught one fish that day and he really wanted me to eat it, it was hard to convince him to eat at least a part of it as well. It touches me how the people are here. Just before that dinner I even had dinner (rice and pig) from the neighbours but they said I had to eat a lot so I would be strong to row the next day, and so I did…

This part of Indonesia is rarely visited by tourists so I’m obviously the main attraction when I arrive. The whole rowing in this area is great, small and beautiful islands with many dolphins, turtles, sea snakes,…

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On the Watubela islands I visit kampung Ilili, a nice little village on the north side of the island. I decide to spend the night there and have a good rest. Just in front of the village is a shipwreck that, according to the locals, arrived here without people inside 30 years ago. It’s a Japanese fishing ship they say and probably the people inside got killed and the boat abandoned, only to land on the reef in front of their village. A bit later someone wants to show me around in the village and takes meets some others. They make signs to slid someone’s throat. I get a bit scared I must say but according to my limited Indonesian and my dictionary they take me to a place with skulls. One of them brings a machete and we start to walk outside the village. I get a bit nervous but he starts to chop a way through the jungle and 5 minutes later we are at a rock face with more than 40 skulls at the bottom. They say it’s already more than 200years there and when I see the skulls they obviously are not that recent. The skulls are from locals apparently but I have no idea why they are there. Still this was a very nice village with so many helping people again.

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After that I set off to Ceram and a couple of days later I arrive there. The goal was to reach Bula a city where we will make the big 90km crossing to Misool from. The night before getting there I wanted to stop at a remote beach so I land there. I wasn’t sure about crocodiles but then I saw a village further up in the jungle so I walk there to ask the village chief if I can sleep on the beach. Immediately he refuses and I have to go. They walk me back to the boat, the chief seems tensed and scared, he thinks that I’m with a ship there and more people. They are quite surprised to see me alone with the rowing boat but still I have to leave. By then it’s already dark and I decide to continue rowing for an hour, then throw the anchor and sleep in the boat. I didn’t want to risk landing in a place where there might be crocodiles at night, the sea was calm so I installed myself for a surprisingly good sleep.

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The next day I start early to reach Bula in the end of the day, one day earlier than planned, now I can rest and eat well before I set off with George on the next phase, from here the final 1000km start…

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Slowly I’m getting my confidence back after the rescue at sea the last time. I had many doubts and fears about reaching my goal. Luckily now I’l have a companion to row for a month, George is a Brittish rower who was fulltime rower and stopped competing recently and is up for some adventure rowing. We try to get as close as possible to Nabire or even get there by the time he has his flight back, let’s hope for the best!

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This is a blog post with some delay because of connection issues here, sorry for that but finally here it is…

About two weeks ago I left Belgium to continue my human powered journey to Carstensz Pyramid. A couple of month’s ago I had to abort my previous expedition due to a tropical illness. Now I feel completely recovered. I trained very hard for the current and hopefully final phase of this Asian episode. The goal is quite challenging; rowing about 1700 km to Nabire. Unfortunately,  I was about to do 120 km crossing all by myself in one shot because no rowing partner was available for the longest and heaviest part. I knew upfront, this would be a tough one.

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When arriving at my boat, which was stored for four months at the military in Pulau Larat, it was luckily still in perfect condition. Many thanks to the ‘boat keepers’, and specially Miss Poppy Lim.

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After full preparation, I left to Pulau Fordata with a heavy loaded boat. This time I brought more food, bars and isotonic drinks compared to the previous trip. Key was to have more energy providers compared to the plain rice I ate for months last time.

The last night at the beach before take off wasn’t ideal but when I woke up, I was nevertheless ready to start the trip. The weather conditions seemed perfect with only an annoying side wind and swell at the end.

This exhausting journey from 120km was estimated to perform in 24 to 30 hours. The first part was already beautiful, but the further I got away from land, the spectacular the environment. Everywhere I saw dolphins enjoying the rare view of a lonely rowing guy in his boat… Having this mental picture in mind, you can probably imagine the trip started amazing.

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But during the night I started to get tired, and at about 3 am it became more and more difficult to stay awake while rowing. I took a small nap and saw only afterwards that I was drifting away by the current and wind towards the Banda sea. The progress became less and by 3pm the next day I was completely exhausted.

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At that moment, I started to hallucinate and dehydrate. Two of my water bags probably contained bad water, from a well in a village, which made me sick. At that particular moment I realised I was stretching my limits and started to check for local boats if they could pull me out to the next island. While continuing to row and vomit I was about 16km away from Tanimbar Kei, which was my goaI. But at the same time, I felt the current getting even stronger. I became too weak to fight the current any longer and made no progress anymore. With mixed feelings, I sent my girlfriend a text message if she could find an owner of a local boat on the island to pick me up. Maybe I could continue the trip, but at the same time the risk to get drifted too far away was too big. Although still feeling somehow in control I didn’t want to push it too far since I had already crossed my limits.

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Within minutes, Inge found the telephone number of Gerson from Savana Cottages on the internet. He immediately took action in calling the rescue team from Tual, the capital city in Kei. They didn’t hesitate a second and came for me in the middle of the night. Meanwhile, I knew I was gonna be picked up so I stopped rowing. I fell asleep and got drifted away, but after a while I woke up thanks to my radio where Gerson was trying to take contact with me. In no time, they found me, picked me up and brought me to Tual. I want to stress the fact that the whole crew, boat and equipment was very professional. You can imagine it’s no surprise I was very pleased they picked me up.

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After the necessary intervention, I took a few days of rest at Savana cottages. Off course I had to continue my journey at the exact place where I stopped rowing. Gerson, some locals and even Belgium tourists where supportive about my plans, although they think I’m completely crazy. A few days later a boat dropped me off so I could finish this part of the trip.

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I have no regrets about the decisions I took, I think I had the correct reflex in calling for help before it became a real emergency. Currently, I’m still charging my batteries in order to be fully ready for the next line towards Carstensz Pyramid. Many thanks to Lucy and Gersen from the Savana Cottages for helping me out so much!!!

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See you soon!

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We arrived on a beautiful inhabited island, that seemed like paradise at first. Until the sun was gone and mosquitos started to attack us. We tried to cover up with clothes as much as possible, sprayed deet (insect repellent) all over us and yet we had to run away to a dry part of the island at low tide to finish our dinner.  After fleeing in our tents and hammock we could finally sleep in peace and quiet. The trip for the next day looked promising, as I was checking out the maps and google earth. We would row across an enormous patch of reef in the middle of the sea, with a small island in the middle. We rowed for hours over this beautiful place. That day we tried to reach Pulau Sermata, because that was not too far and would allow us to have an easy day before the big crossing to Pulau Babar.

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We slept on a deserted beach this time, because most of the time people here are so curious that they disturb our sleep to be able talk to us. I love it here and everyone is very helpful and generous, but on the other hand we sometimes are tired and need rest. The lack of sleep is starting to be very difficult here. Many nights people just flash their lights in the tent or hammock to see who’s there, play loud music or other things that keep us awake. This time we need to be well-rested for the big crossings that are coming our way. 

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That night we leave at 4 am to get the crossing done to Pulau Wetan (about 70km). Because our course course is NE, we ended up with a sideways swell and wind. It became a very hard day and I had to vomit a couple of times in the end. When we arrived at Wetan I was completely dead, no more energy, but I still had to get trough the jungle to find some people to help us pull the boat on the beach. After that, I felt really dizzy and realized I had been too exhausted. After the necessary talks with the head of the village and such we could finally rest, drink and eat, again with 20 people watching everything we do. It gives a hard mental stress here to have constantly people watching you. They all gather around, leaving no space to get fresh air so you’re sweating a lot. Each time we arrive in a village, it takes a while before we are able to cook food because of all the formalities. I sure understand why the people are gathering around: some of them never seen a ‘white person’ in their life, but on days like this after total exhaustion, I just want to eat, drink and sleep. 

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The next day was an ‘easy day’ of 20km, the sea got rougher and I was in a very bad mood. I just couldn’t push myself anymore and just wanted to quit. The whole day I was looking forward to getting to Babar and find a place to sleep and take a rest day. Koen – still in good energy – understood that 3 months of this expedition are taking it’s toll on me. 

Without people coming along I wouldn’t be able to do this, it takes such an amount of energy both physically and mentally that I’m very happy people are joining me on the way. They always bring new energy in the expedition, which helps a lot. On the other hand, this new energy is tiring because those people are in the best shape when they arrive, while I’m getting more and more exhausted. But I have to keep on going in the same rythm (and in the mean time I speak some indonesian so I am  the one who has to do the talking in the villages).

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In Babar we have an obligatory extra restday because of bad weather, I’m not sorry for that and try to rest and eat as much as possible in the homestay where the only food option is white rice with a piece of chicken, nasi goreng or fried noodles. I’m getting sick of the lack of food too, maybe I’m spoiled but some variation or extra calories would do me good, especially as I’m burning at least 7000kcal a day here. Luckily Nina, koen’s girlfriend, had spent hours on making some dehydrated food which was an extremely good variation, thank you so much!

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From the east of Babar we plan the next big crossing, a 90 km from Pulau Daweloor to Jamdena. This would be the biggest one so far and I’m a bit nervous about it. First we need to make a 30km crossing to Daweloor early morning, there we take some rest during the day. Daweloor is a really beautiful island with many cliffs and extreme landscapes. After rest, food and making pancakes we try to sleep a bit. But the rain that night gave me no other chance than to cover at Koen’s tent where it got too hot to lay down comfortable with 2 people.

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After a hard night we get up at 23h to start our 90km at 00.00h. The first part goes well and we make a speedy progress. From about 3 am we’re getting difficulties keeping our eyes open, the lack of sleep is taking its toll and I’m starting to have dreams while rowing. Doing the same motion over and over again. By the time the sun comes up we’re more than halfway and the weather is still as good as predicted. Only then I need to vomit again and feeling sick. This prevents me further to eat and drink enough.

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***No picture of this, I was too busy keeping my head out of the boat***

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Despite that we still keep going strong and about 15hrs later we arrive at our destination. I had no energy left and felt miserable. The only things that got me through were the supportive messages my girlfriend wrote me every hour on my satellite tracker, just to keep my focus. There we eat and go to sleep, the next day we have another 30km to cover the distance to Sera, Koen leaves back to Belgium and Mark, an adventuer who’s preparing to cross the atlantic ocean by rowboat, is joining for a week. 

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We don’t have much time since Mark needs to catch a plane to Sorong after a week. The plan was to row to the Kei Islands and do the biggest crossing of the expedition. Too bad the weather and some delays made it differently. We made it to the end of the island where we left the boat with some extremely helpfull people.

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From there I fly to Bali to see my girlfriend. At first, the first plan was to row together, but I have to extend my visa and I really need a break for a while. So that timing is good now. I hope to find the mental strength again to continue this expedition..

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The first couple of days didn’t go as planned after the arrival of Koen and Gerhard. Koen fell ill and Gerhard and me capsized the boat in front of the beach. Nothing bad happened, just a bruised ego and a lost Gopro. Once Koen felt better we decided to start our journey. The box containing our gear didn’t fit for 3 rowers so we had to take turns, 2h row and 1h rest. It felt nice to take rest once in a while, although it is not relaxing in this extreme heat. We started off pretty good with some nice progress till the end of Alor.

There we were delayed for a day because we wanted the absolute right conditions for the 70km crossing to Wetar. After some planning we decided to row in the night, it’s much cooler then. After about 11 exhausting hours we reached the shore of Pulau Lirang. I had some difficulties keeping me awake while rowing. From there everything went difficult. We couldn’t camp on the beaches because it is full of crocodiles and all the locals warned us about that. The current in this channel is always going west in this season (according to the locals and it felt that way). We had a slow progress but the beauty of the rugged island made it more bearable, as well as the people who were always helpful to us crazy whites (Bule Gila).

After wetar the next island was Kisar, a small island but was always to interest me during the preparations. Another hard day of 50km crossing but after all it went well. There Gerhard decided it is time to go back home. He has some issues with his back the last couple of days which seem to get worse. A good decision because from there he still had the opportunity to find transportation back. It was nice to row along with him and sad to see him leave.

Koen and I set off after a rest day and saying goodbye. The next crossing seemed like an easy 50km to Pulau Liram but it wasn’t. A very demanding day with currents against us but the locals at Liram promise us that from there it would go east again. There it is Island hopping to the east, not very simple and we start to feel very tired. I must say this is a very demanding expedition, now I’m already here for 3 months and getting sick of it. The heath, exhaustion, being scared and so much more. Still I find a way to continue and push myself, luckily people sending me some messages of support which helps a lot here. Now writing this from an uninhabited island on the way to Pulau Babar.