Overconfidence Leads to a Disastrous Solo Amazon River Adventure

In 2012, Davey du Plessis set out on a solo adventure down the Amazon River. Just two months into the expedition, the serene river life abruptly turned into a harrowing fight for survival.

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[shannonlenz]

He spent a year preparing for the trip yet still went completely unprepared.

[nancyneal]

How this guy survived the Amazon without his frontal cortex developed is beyond me.

[jayhova]

….and after all of this Tedx gave him a platform to reframe his ill conceived plan as a heroic journey of compassion.

[johnrebel]

He was irritated with the lack of urgency from the locals. Imagine being that unaware of your situation. These are people who live off what the jungle provides them for medicine & likely don't even have a word for hospital in their language. If they get seriously injured, they die. They don't cut their fantasy adventure short & go home. They LIVE out there.

[drlangattxdotnet]

I guess he figured he could become a motivational speaker for people who dream about adventure without realizing they are listening to an idiot.

[severalwolves]

7:16 So, the short answer to the question “how do they afford it?” is… rich parents.
Who could have guessed.

[tacitusromanus]

If locals were to advise me against doing something, I would listen to them and plan accordingly. Glad he made it out alive. Kudos to all the villagers who helped him along the way. He owes his life to them.

[reneejones]

The villagers are the heroes here. Hope he repaid them in some way for their efforts to save him.

[MusgraveRitual]

What a rollercoaster ride this story was. I never went so fast from admiring someone's pioneering and adventurous spirit to thinking what an irresponsible, clueless nutcase. I wonder if at this point poor Amazonian villagers have neighborhood committee meetings where they discuss how they're going to mitigate constant increase in expenses for saving clueless tourists from injury and death. Great story, and so well told, as always.

[Myn]

Youthful arrogance nearly killed him. I hope the next time someone tells him something is very dangerous that he listens. It is thanks to the compassion of all those villagers that he survived his ordeal. Absolutely loved how you told this story. Thanks so much for your efforts in putting it together.

[LianneRusso]

I hope from all his appearances and books that he gave back to those communities that helped him. I can't help but think his adventuring was just self indulgent, selfish and naive he was lucky

[WienGolf]

There is something childlike about the plan to carry out this adventure. It's like something out of the books we read as children! However, no normal person, no adult would want to undertake such a journey, especially alone. The young man was extremely lucky. The villagers were really great, they saved his life.

[tararose]

This dude plundered resources from everyone around him including people with very limited resources then profited off it all 🤢 no admiration in that, but still loved learning about it from Youtube's new greatest storyteller!

[HollyCat]

This video was almost impossible to get through. Not against the video itself, it was wonderful, as always. It’s the guy the video is about…I cannot stand this kid lol. In the beginning when he was saying how he had all of these “important teachings” to teach to the world…I think my eyes rolled so hard that they’ve rolled from here in the Colorado Rockies all the way down to Texas. Teaching what exactly? How you too can achieve your dreams as long as you’re young, healthy, and come from an affluent family? How easy it is to traipse around the world on adventures as long as your family can not only finance the trip, but also support you so that you don’t have to have a job? And his “worthwhile cause” might have been the worst. He wasn’t doing any of this for a cause or to help anyone else. He says it himself in the beginning. He did this to give himself cred in order to make money from it. He wanted to do Ted talks and write books. That’s the only reason he did it. Add his arrogance and over-confidence on top of that, and he’s extremely unlikeable. I’m honestly surprised that so many people pay money to hear him speak.

[JankAt]

Swim down amazon river with no life jacket, no paddling experience, alone, what was he thinking?

[bmyra]

Oh good. Davey's gonna pass along his wisdom to his kids. Just what the world needs.

[ChristelVinot]

when someone says it's dangerous, then you go and it's not dangerous for you, it doesn't mean it's not dangerous. it means you just happened, by chance, to avoid said danger. It's always possible to go somewhere dangerous and just not encounter the danger. it doesn't mean it's not dangerous.

[MackenzieNerdyEMT]

How he had set himself up was incredibly irritating. His "i know better" attitude left me frustrated as i heard this unfold haha, his mentality was that of a teenager who thinks they are untouchable. I am absolutely baffled he survived to be blunt, the locals absolutely were lifesavers, that was heartwarming honestly. Thankyou for the video! I always am entertained both by the information presented and your humor :)

[annegrey]

I spent a while in Peru when I was younger (decades ago) and visited the Amazon when I was there. I am not a survival specialist, but I got the impression it's not a place you want to underestimate.

[TheSondysue]

He ignored all the warnings and reality. Got into huge trouble, then expected everyone else to solve the problems he created, at great expense and trouble to themselves. And now he's a motivational speaker.