Alone in Zambia: Scorching Sun, Out of Water

Summary

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Real Survival Stories

Episode Title: Alone in Zambia: Scorching Sun, Out of Water
Host: John Hopkins
Guest: Chaz Powell
Date: September 10, 2025
Podcast: Real Survival Stories by NOISER

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Episode Overview

In this gripping episode, John Hopkins explores the harrowing true story of Chaz Powell, an experienced British survival instructor who set out to walk the entire length of the Zambezi River—a 2000-mile journey across some of Africa’s harshest environments. After months of preparation, Chaz’s trek becomes a test of endurance, skill, and sheer willpower when he finds himself stranded, alone, in 50°C heat without water. This episode charts his journey from eager adventurer to desperate survivor, encompassing moments of heart-stopping danger and soul-searching reflection.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Zambezi Expedition—Setting the Stage

• [00:33] Host John Hopkins sets the location and mood: Chaz is alone on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe, in a blistering environment locals dub "Suicide Month."
• Chaz Powell’s Mission: Walk from the Zambezi’s source to the Indian Ocean—over 2,000 miles.
• Preparation: Years of physical and mental training, route planning, and risk assessment went into the expedition.

2. Early Obstacles & Chaz’s Personal Motivations

• [09:35] Chaz shares his troubled youth and path to redemption through adventure, drawing inspiration from explorers like David Livingstone.
• [10:47] He describes how teaching bushcraft and inspiring young people became part of his growth:

  “I started teaching bushcraft and survival. I started working with young people and teenagers and taking them on life-changing adventures...” (Chaz Powell, 10:47)

• Restlessness and a deep need for adventure continue to drive him.

3. Departure and Sudden Solitude

• [08:10] & [15:21] Chaz’s local guide backs out at the last minute, leaving him to start the journey alone—casting immediate doubt on the expedition’s feasibility.

4. The Race Against the Seasons

• [18:11] Chaz explains he chose the hottest season to traverse the Barotse floodplains before floodwaters returned, knowingly risking exposure to brutal temperatures.

  “The local people call it Suicide Month because it’s so hot you can’t really go outside.” (Chaz Powell, 18:57)

• The Zambezi is at its lowest but the surrounding savannah is at its most deadly.

5. The First Major Crisis—Dehydration and Delirium

• [20:43]–[24:37] Progress bogs down as the gorges prove nearly impassable. Frustrated by slow movement (sometimes only 1–2 miles a day) and dwindling supplies, Chaz gambles by climbing out of the gorge onto the open plateau—expecting to reach another river, the Kolomo, in a few hours.

  “I calculated… Kolomo river is about 20 km away… maybe I can make a liter of water last four hours. …but at 50 degrees… I soon realized how hot it was.” (Chaz Powell, 24:11)

6. Lost on the Savannah—Physical and Mental Collapse

• [25:37]–[30:46] The terrain is more difficult than anticipated. Chaz runs out of water and becomes severely dehydrated and disoriented.

  “Within an hour of doing that, I was completely lost.” (Chaz Powell, 25:37) “I need to get back down to the river. I’m not going to be able to do what I thought I was going to.” (Chaz Powell, 29:50)

7. Emergency Decision—A Desperate Gamble

• [30:46]–[32:38] Chaz activates the emergency SOS on his satellite phone, but rescue can’t reach him fast enough.

  “I said to them, hands down, I’m not going to be alive that time of day. I already know that I’m in a lot of trouble here.” (Chaz Powell, 31:30)

• In agony, he drinks urine and digs for water before making a final, desperate choice: attempt a dangerous descent back down the cliff to reach the Zambezi.

8. The Cliff Descent—Survival at the Brink

• [34:02]–[38:52] Chaz describes the life-or-death calculus behind his decision to risk the descent.

  “I did think about friends and family... I’d rather die climbing down that cliff than sat there.” (Chaz Powell, 34:02)

• Bleeding and exhausted, he stumbles, jumps, and slides down, at one point fainting from exertion and dehydration.

  “This is one of the things now that feels a bit like a blur, like a blur of adrenaline.” (Chaz Powell, 35:54)

• At last, he reaches the river and plunges in.

  “I must have drunk about 5 liters of water in about 10 minutes.” (Chaz Powell, 38:39)

9. Aftermath—Reflection and Regret

• [39:18] Chaz records himself expressing remorse for the pain he could have caused loved ones:

  “I felt selfish, you know, I felt really selfish that I put people through that... I could have died. So, yeah, it was a tough moment.” (Chaz Powell, 39:18)

• Initially swears off continuing the expedition.

10. Rescue and Recovery

• [42:05] Chaz is found by a friend acting on his earlier distress message. He recovers in Livingstone, regains clarity, and rededicates himself to a safer, more cautious approach.

11. Lessons Learned and Resilience

• [43:16]–[46:51] Chaz resumes his walk, sticking to villages and roads, learning humility.

  “I need to stop being so cocky and confident…Every time I saw a gorge from that point on I said that I’m not walking down that gorge.” (Chaz Powell, 43:16)

• Draws strength from the resilience and generosity of the local people:

  “The people along the Zambezi…saved my life many times, helping me with food, accommodation, navigation.” (Chaz Powell, 45:00)

12. Triumph and Ongoing Adventure

• [45:19]–[45:54] After 137 days and over 2,000 miles, Chaz finishes, becoming the second person to walk the Zambezi’s full length.

  “Very much relieved, very happy to have finished…very proud of myself.” (Chaz Powell, 45:43)

• Goes on to trek the Gambia River and Madagascar’s main waterway, earning the “Explorer of the Year” title.

13. Universal Lessons

• [47:43] Chaz speaks to the universality of survival—persisting, moving forward even in the most dire circumstances.

  “If anyone ever feels that they’re struggling in life, just…move out of it. Especially in a survival situation…There’s always a way out…You just have to figure out what it is.” (Chaz Powell, 47:43)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On hitting rock bottom:

  “If I don't get back down there, I'm gone. And that was probably the only time in my life I fought that. If I don't get out of this situation, I'm done for.” (Chaz Powell, 04:02 & 32:38)

• On adrenaline and desperation:

  “I just ended up just jumping down and grabbing these branches on the side of this cliff edge... my hands were bleeding... I was scraping down these rocks.” (Chaz Powell, 35:54)

• On local resilience:

  “People are living on this river every day…these people in Africa, along the Zambezi, that’s their daily life. These animals, these diseases, these…insects, the heat, the environment. And why am I any different?” (Chaz Powell, 44:16)

• On survival and life:

  “There’s always a way to survive. You know, you just have to figure out what it is. I thought I was gone. I thought I was dead. And coming out of that…makes me realize…I'm capable of much more than I think I am.” (Chaz Powell, 47:43)

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Important Episode Timestamps

• 00:33: Introduction to the hostile Zambezi landscape
• 01:35: Chaz’s desperate state—out of water, drinking urine
• 08:10–16:15: Guide backs out; Chaz’s background and solo start
• 18:57: Entering “Suicide Month” and the Barotse floodplains
• 20:43–22:24: Progress stalls in the gorges
• 24:11–25:37: Decision to risk the plateau; quickly becomes lost
• 29:50–31:30: Heatstroke, final moments, SOS transmission
• 34:02–38:39: Cliff descent and eventual return to the river
• 39:18: Aftermath, guilt, and emotional reckoning
• 42:05: Rescue and physical recovery
• 43:16: Restarting, lessons in humility, sticking to safer paths
• 45:19: Completion of the Zambezi walk
• 47:43: Chaz’s universal advice on survival and life

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Conclusion

Chaz Powell’s journey is a testament to the thin line between adventure and disaster, and the extreme endurance required to survive the wilderness. His candid admissions, extraordinary grit, and the local peoples’ generosity underline the episode’s core—human vulnerability, humility, and the relentless drive to keep moving forward, whatever the odds.

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Transcript

[Scott Hanson]

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[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

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[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

It's October 2016 on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. On a vast shelf of land overlooking the mighty Zambezi River, a desolate expanse of bone dry savannah bakes in the searing heat. It is 50 degrees Celsius, over 120 degrees Fahrenheit and rising. The sun climbs higher in the sky. Animal tracks baked into the cracked earth encircle desiccated watering holes. The elephants, lions, warthogs and wildebeest long gone in search of shade. Locals call this time of year Suicide Month because anybody who steps outside in this heat must surely have a death wish. And yet there is someone out here. 38 year old Chaz Powell is stumbling on the arid earth, fully exposed to the unbearable scorching sun.

[Chaz Powell]

It's 50 degrees plus heat. I've got no water. I'd started drinking my own urine out of desperation because I just was so desperate to get some fluid in my body.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Chaz staggers aimlessly through the coarse vegetation. The brush is so dense and unyielding it takes him minutes to travel just a few feet. Thorns tear at his clothes and bite into his blistered skin. The air, dusty and windless, catches in his throat and vibrates with the incessant trill of cicadas. Inside his backpack, his water bottle sits empty. He drained it moments ago, certain that the river was just ahead. But there is no river. Chaz stops, checks the map again. A thin blue line snakes from north to south, a tributary that should lie just a few kilometers away. He shields his eyes and squints towards the horizon. The terrain ripples in the heat, undulating folds of scrubland that swim in the shimmering haze. A wave of dizziness sweeps over him.

[Chaz Powell]

I was completely lost and completely out of my comfort zone, out of my depth with the situation I was about to face. Basically got to a point where I thought to myself, you know, this is stupid.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Chaz looks back in the direction he's just come. There is at least one river in the vicinity whose existence he can be certain of. The Zambezi. He was there earlier today, walking along its Banks. Now he needs to get back to it. But how? Retracing his steps would take too long in these temperatures. He wouldn't last the hour. There is, however, a shorter alternative. Chaz turns his gaze to the south, towards a rocky cliff edge that plunges down into a deep, spectacular gorge. Far below, the Zambezi carries its life, bringing water through this parched landscape. Chaz runs his tongue over his cracked, peeling lips. He needs to hydrate. And if the only way to do that is by climbing down that cliff, then so be it.

[Chaz Powell]

I honestly thought at the time, you know, this is it. If I don't get back down there, I'm gone. And that was probably the only time in my life I fought that. If I don't get myself out of the situation, I'm done for.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Ever wondered what you would do when disaster strikes if your life depended on your next decision? Could you make the right choice? Welcome to Real Survival Stories. These are the astonishing tales of ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations. People suddenly forced to fight for their lives. In this episode we meet chaz Powell. In 2016, the survival instructor embarks on an epic quest to walk the full length of the Zambezi river from source to mouth. A staggering 2000 mile long trek through harsh terrain and even harsher weather. By October, Chaz is two months in and making good headway until his progress grinds to a sudden halt.

[Chaz Powell]

But what I didn't realize was how difficult it was walking in the gorgeous. I'm only walking one or two miles a day at this point. I was getting really frustrated at the lack of progress.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Before long, Chas will find himself exposed on the wide open savannah with no shade, no water and temperatures soaring to unimaginable heights. Somehow, with grim irony, a journey along one of Africa's largest sources of freshwater will transform into a desperate battle against dehydration. And as his body is baked in the eviscerating sun, an awful possibility presents itself. Slowly dying of thirst.

[Chaz Powell]

If I don't get up now, move. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm going to get weaker and weaker. It's going to get more and more desperate. At the time I thought to myself that I'm fading here.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

I'm John Hopkins from the Noiser podcast network. Biscuit is real survival stories. It's August 2016 in the remote foothills of northwest Zambia. 38 year old Chaz Powell stands in a forest clearing gazing at a burbling freshwater spring. It might not look much, but this pool of water, partially concealed Among a tangle of tree roots is the source of one of the longest and most important rivers in Africa, the Zambezi. For Chaz, this place holds extra significance. This unassuming puddle is the starting point of his quest to hike the length of the Zambezi from its source here in the forest all the way to the Indian Ocean, a distance of over 2000 miles. It's already been quite the journey just to get here. For the last two years, he has been poring over maps, analyzing weather and terrain, gathering gear and securing travel permits, all while pushing himself through intense physical and mental training. This is not the sort of trip you undertake lightly, and Chaz isn't doing it alone. He's joined by a friend, a Zambian local, who's agreed to take on the journey as his expert guide. And now, finally, the day has arrived. The planning phase is over. Time to put some miles in their boots. But before they even set off walking, Chas notices something isn't quite right with his companion.

[Chaz Powell]

We got to the source of the river, and my friend, who was normally really vibrant and really sort of cheery and sort of out there, ish, he'd gone really quiet. So I said to him, you know, is everything okay? And then he said to me, I can't do it. And I was like, what do you mean? I was a bit. I was a bit taken aback. But he said, I can't do it. And I was like, well, I guess I was speechless.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

It seems a bit late for cold feet. What was the point in all that training and preparation if he's just going to back out now? His friend glances anxiously down at the river's headwaters, trickling through the fallen leaves. It's as if the full scale of the undertaking hadn't dawned until the very last second. It's hardly the vote of confidence Chaz needed. He can be under no illusions that this expedition is going to be easy. But then, doing things the easy way has never really been his style. From an early age, growing up in England's West Midlands, it was clear that Chas was never going to follow a straight and narrow path through life. At school, he struggled to sit still, always preferring the freedom of the outdoors to the constraints of the classroom. And as a teenager, this restlessness brought him into direct conflict with the authorities.

[Chaz Powell]

I ended up getting into quite a bit of trouble with the police when I was younger, and when I was 19, I ended up in a young offender's institution, which was the end of that row for me. I looked back at it and they were all minor offenses, but it wasn't something I'm proud of at all. And something ever since then I've sort of been on a path to redeem myself.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

This redemption lay in exploration. In pushing himself beyond his comfort zone and striving to emulate the achievements of his boyhood heroes. Figures like David Livingstone, the Scottish missionary and explorer known for charting vast swathes of the African continent. After a couple of years working and saving, Chas went off to travel the world. He backpacked around Southeast Asia, road tripped across Australia and worked odd jobs in New Zealand. He developed his passion for nature and the outdoors, throwing himself into new challenges, some of the world's wildest environments. Eight years later he returned to Britain where he decided to put his newfound experience to good use.

[Chaz Powell]

When I came back to the uk, I started teaching bushcraft and survival. I started working with young people and teenagers and taking them on life changing adventures which obviously made me, I guess balance that side of things out a little bit. Obviously in trying to inspire people to live a more adventurous life.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

It felt good to give back, to share his passion with young people. It felt even better to build a career out of something he loved. But as the years passed, Chaz started to feel the same restlessness he used to feel as a kid in the classroom.

[Chaz Powell]

Maybe it's genetic, maybe it's just something that's in me that needs to be outside and needs to be exploring. But even if I haven't been walking for several weeks or months, I get irritable and I feel like I need to be out doing a trek and I need to be out on a sort of journey. And I think that's just something that's always been there, I guess pinpointing the exact reason why, I guess it's just something within me.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

And so two years ago, he decided it was time for another grand expedition. In the course of his travels, there's one part of the world that has stuck with him like nowhere else. The continent of Africa is to Chaz, one of the last remaining places on earth where true adventure can still be found.

[Chaz Powell]

I feel like Africa's still got that edge to it. You know, there's still a, an element of real wildness where people don't want to go there. You know, they're not sure what is happening in some of these wild places. And you know, learning from these people like David Attenborough and David Livingstone that you can go to these places and they are fascinating.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

One day, while studying a map of the continent and discussing potential expedition routes with his mate Ian Chas's gaze settled on the winding path of the Zambezi River. As he traced its course from the heart of Africa to the coast of Mozambique, an idea formed.

[Chaz Powell]

So I said to my friend Ian that I was looking at the Zambezi and I wanted to walk the length of the Zambezi. And he's like, no, that's too much. That's a step too far. And I thought, well, the more people have asked, obviously the more interested I've become in it and. But the more people I'd ask, the more I realized it was probably not safe. A lot of people have told me, you'll die. You're going to die on this river.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

The three and a half thousand kilometers Ambezi is one of the most formidable rivers in the world. It's not just the crocodiles, the thundering rapids and the precipitous waterfalls. It's also the extremity of the environments through which it flows. Ranging from mountainous jungle to swampland to sprawling savannas that bake in the summer heat. It's little wonder that only one person is known to have ever walked the length of it. But the more Chaz learned about the Zambezi, the more his scheme solidified. If anything, the immense difficulty of the challenge was all part of the appeal.

[Chaz Powell]

I want to get out my comfort zone here. I want to go on a long trek and I want to be in the wild. I want to be embracing that wild place. I don't want to just know I'm quite comfortable. I want to maybe live as previous explorers did and explore places that are little known about. And I think there's obviously the Zambezi tick them boxes for me. And that was the main reason.

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[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

It's August 2016 in northwest Zambia. Two years since Chaz first decided to walk the length of the Zambezi. But now he watches, dismayed, as his friend and guide turns around and walks back down the forest trail. Having just bailed on the expedition at the last second. It's a shock to the system. Suddenly facing this daunting task solo.

[Chaz Powell]

I started tracing the source of the river along this little stream, probably for about 100 meters until I eventually just sat down, my head in my hands, sort of like confused and angry and a bit upset. What the hell just happened? And am I going to be able to continue this walk now on my own?

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

For all his experience, he was counting on local expertise to help him navigate the unfamiliar terrain. He looks at the stream trickling downhill, doggedly wending its way through this dense jungle. Suddenly, a look of determination crosses his face. He is well prepared, a professional. And so much has already been sunk into this plan.

[Chaz Powell]

I said to myself at that point, you know, just I'm going to do today, I'm going to see how I feel, I'm going to do tomorrow, see how I feel. And that's what it became. It became a step by step, day by day, you know, let's see how I get on.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

And on and on and on. From its source, the Upper Zambezi cuts through the forests and flooded swamps of eastern Angola. It then flows back into Zambia, meandering through a wide, shallow valley of verdant grassland. Periodically, villages appear along its banks, scatterings of squat earthen huts. Chaz is greeted warmly by the locals, who offer him food and a place to pitch his tent. He walks all day, every day, enduring blisters, mosquito bites and the inescapable, ever present humidity. He passes herds of grazing antelope and buffalo. He descends steep rapids and navigates tricky alluvial plains where the river splinters into complex systems of channels and marshes. And he doesn't slow down. He can't afford to. Chaz is in a race against the weather by now. It's early October. In November, the rains will come and a whole section of the upper Zambezi, the sprawling Barotsi floodplains, will be submerged and completely impassable.

[Chaz Powell]

One of the reasons I walked when I did was it was the hottest time of year and it was my only chance to walk through the Barotsi floodplains, which are underwater for about 90% of the year. So I calculated that when I got to the Baroi flood plains, the water would be as low as it could be and I'd be walking on Accessible paths.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

After months of rising temperatures and no rain, the water has receded enough for Chaz to plot a course through the plains. But of course, there's a trade off. October is the hottest month in this part of Africa. So hot, in fact, the locals have a name for it.

[Chaz Powell]

The local people call it Suicide Month because it's so hot you can't really go outside. This is for local people. Temperatures are in the 50, you know, 50 degrees plus temperatures at this point. So the Brussy floodplains. I knew it was going to be hot, but I knew that it was my only chance of getting through that area.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

While locals keep cool indoors, Chaz forges on across the plains. Conditions are sweltering. Most days it's well over 40 degrees Celsius, or 100 degrees Fahrenheit. But with the river flowing alongside him, he is never short of drinking water. After a few weeks, Chaz reaches a significant waypoint. The place where the Zambezi plunges sharply off a giant cleft in the earth, crashing into the gorge below in a constant rolling explosion of mist and noise. It was named Victoria Falls by David Livingstone, the first European to lay eyes on it. But to local people, it's Mosi Oatunya, the smoke that thunders. As he drinks in the breathtaking sight, Chaz's spirits are high. He's passed the Barotsi floodplains, the most challenging stretch of his journey. Next, it's the gorges, the deep basalt canyons through which the Zambezi flows for the next 150 miles. Navigating the gorges won't be easy, but the success of the past two months is cause for optimism. Though out here, overconfidence can be a very dangerous thing.

[Chaz Powell]

This walk's going well. I've done half the walk in two months and my confidence was high and I was maybe not, I guess, to use the word, cocky, I don't know, but confident that I could get through really difficult times. And I think I overstepped that mark a little bit with my confidence and think I sort of miscalculated things and that was one of the reasons, I think I got myself into trouble.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

It's mid October. Chaz has left Victoria Falls behind him and now awkwardly picks his way along the bottom of the gorge. To one side, the river tumbles down a series of dramatic whitewater rapids. Towering basalt cliffs loom overhead. Chaz scans the ground beneath his feet, though ground is a generous word for these sporadic boulders that provide the only walkable pathway inside the gorge. There are points where the rocks disappear completely, forcing Chaz to wade through waist deep water. And this has slowed him down considerably.

[Chaz Powell]

I'm only walking one or two miles a day at this point, and If I've got 150 miles of doing this, I'm in quite a bit of trouble because I'm not going to have enough food. I hadn't calculated the right food rations. I hadn't realized how difficult it was. I was getting frustrated. I was getting really frustrated at the lack of progress.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Exasperation building, Chaz stops to reassess. He can't go on like this. He's falling too far behind schedule. He's already slipped and hurt his leg, which prompted him to make a social media post alerting friends to the increasingly precarious position he's in. His injuries aren't serious, just a small strain and he doesn't expect anyone to come looking for him. But there's some comfort in the fact that at the very least, his rough location is out there. Chaz pulls out his map and scans the flat ground above the gorge. He'd originally planned to avoid. Walking along the clifftop in this heat, being separated from the water seemed like a bad idea. But then he spots something promising on the map. Another river, a tributary of the Zambezi, just 20km downstream. With a confirmed water source ahead, a new plan emerges. Maybe he can afford to stay high and follow the clifftop route rather than remaining down here in the gorge. Chaz turns to the cliff. Luckily, he's in a spot where climbing out of the gorge is possible via a series of slopes and ledges. And so, after filling up his water bottle, Chaz starts to climb. Three draining hours later, he emerges on top of the gorge, where the land unfolds in a vast expanse of yellowed sun bleached scrub.

[Chaz Powell]

I calculated that this other river, Colomo river, is about 20 km away. In my head once again, I've been thinking, you could walk 4 to 5 kilometers an hour. That's a four hour trek. Maybe I can make a liter of water last me four hours, which would be fine a month previous, but at this point, 50 degrees. I soon realized how hot it was.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Up here. With no shade provided by the canyon walls, the heat is almost unbearable. Immediately, the wisdom of this decision is questionable. But then, it's only 20km. He was doing considerably further than that before he hit the gorges. So with the mid morning sun beating down savagely, Chaz sets off walking. He's only a few steps in, however, when another issue rears its head, the cliff top terrain is anything but flat. It's a dangerous expanse of hidden hills, dry creek beds and crumbling rock escarpments. It's no place to find yourself walking alone at the height of the deadly dry season. Soon it will become clear why locals call the Zambezi the river of Life. In a place like this, without it, survival isn't just difficult, it's impossible.

[Chaz Powell]

And I had to keep diverting around these bushes and up and down these bumps. Within an hour of doing that, I was completely lost.

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[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

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[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

It'S been an hour since Chaz set off walking along the cliff top, but it feels like much longer. The sun dazzles overhead, so bright and powerful that it drains the land of color, like it's sucking the life out of everything it touches. Sweat evaporates as soon as it forms, leaving behind a salty crust that coats his skin and clings to his wiry blond beard. He reaches into his pack and takes out his water bottle. He tries to pace himself. He's already gone through more than half of his meager supply, but his dehydration is insatiable. After a few unsatisfying gulps, he returns the bottle to his pack and pulls out his map and compass. He frowns. Apparently the Kolomo river is still over 10 miles away. He shields his eyes from the sun and looks east. The savannah dips and rises in front of him. Endless miles of cracked brown earth, which appears almost unnavigable.

[Chaz Powell]

But what I didn't Take into calculation was the fact that there was a lot of overgrowth, there was a lot of these form bushes, there was a lot of up and downs. You know, this land wasn't flat. It wasn't a flat pit of land that I could just go on a compass bearing to.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Chaz staggers on through the dense, spiky brush, only stopping to sip from his water bottle or check his compass bearing. Another hour passes. The sun reddens in the sky as the thermometer reading ticks ever higher, surpassing 48 degrees Celsius. 49, 50. The scorching air ripples like water distorting the horizon. Behind a shimmering wave, distant rocks and trees appear to float as if detached from the earth. In 50 degree heat, the human body enters crisis mode. Excessive sweating, dilated blood vessels and increased heart rate are all measures designed to stabilize core temperature. If they cannot do so, human physiology starts to break down. Vital organs fail, neurons misfire as the brain overheats, leading to confusion, dizziness and delirium. At this stage, without immediate medical attention, the outcome is inevitable. Collapse, coma, ultimately death. Chaz is being slowly cooked. He's now experiencing the unmistakable early symptoms of heat stroke. A throbbing head, a pounding heart, blurred vision. Soon he is forced to confront a grim fact.

[Chaz Powell]

Basically got to a point where I thought to myself, you know, this is. This is stupid. I've covered no ground. I need to get back down to the river. I'm not going to be able to do what I thought I was going to.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Chaz staggers over to a stunted tree. He squats in the scant shade cast by its skeletal trunk and takes out his now empty water bottle. He upturns it, trying to shake one last drop onto his tongue, but it's no use. He sits there, the brim of his hat pulled low over his face, and lets the reality of his predicament sink in. He is now several kilometers from the place where he safely climbed out of the gorge earlier this morning, and still a significant distance from the other river marked on the map. He can't carry on, but he can't turn back either.

[Chaz Powell]

So I made a decision, you know, at the time, was to activate the SOS on my satellite phone. And just in my head at the time, it was like, okay, I've never used this satellite phone from emergency. I've never activated the SOS let's see if I can get some help and advice.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Chaz sends out his emergency signal. Moments later, a voice crackles through the receiver. Chaz explains the situation how he's become lost and severely dehydrated. Somewhere on the savannah above the Zambezi Gorge, he gives his coordinates and waits for a response. When it comes, it's not the one he needs.

[Chaz Powell]

The control center said, basically, we can't get anyone to help you, but we can send you a helicopter and it's going to be later in the evening. And I said to them, hands down, I'm not going to be alive. I'm not going to be alive that time of day. I already know that I'm in a lot of trouble here.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

They're startling words to say out loud, but it's true, the heat is killing him. If he doesn't find a way to get to water soon, then this is where his journey will end. He scratches at the dusty baking earth trying to dig for water. He even consumes his own urine. But nothing helps his agonizing thirst. Over the past couple of hours, Chaz has been walking parallel to the cliff edge that runs alongside the Zambezi. The Cliff is over 100 meters tall and completely vertical. Until now, attempting to climb back down to the river below hasn't even been something worth contemplating. But as all other solutions fall away, he is left with only one.

[Chaz Powell]

I said to myself, you know, I need to go back to this cliff. I need to have a look at this cliff. I need to see, is there a way down to the river? I don't want to sit here and die. I want to see what I can do to get myself back down to the water. I honestly thought at the time, you know, this is it. If I don't get back down there, I'm gone. And that was probably the only time in my life I fought that. If I don't get out myself, out of this situation, I'm done for.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Chaz stumbles, dizzy, through the undergrowth towards the cliff edge. He can hear the rumble of the river below. Millions of liters of water coursing and tumbling over the rocks. He inches to the precipice and peers over. It's a terrifying drop, over 400ft and practically sheer, with just a few jutting ledges and tufts of vegetation. He can't climb down that. It'd be suicide. Maybe it would be easier just to give up, to lie here and wait for dehydration to take him. But as soon as the temptation of surrender rears its head, it's swiftly repelled by an even stronger instinct.

[Chaz Powell]

I did think about friends and family, and I did think about, you know, if I don't do something in this moment, then I'm not gonna see them again, you know, that'll be it. That'll be it for me, you know? And I think all that stuff does come to you. You start to think, okay, this is my last chance possibly to do something about it. And I also felt like I don't want to be that selfish person who sits there and does nothing. I want to get up and try to do something. I did think to myself, I'd rather die climbing down that cliff than sat there.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Chaz edges closer to the precipice and looks at the cliff again with a more critical eye. Maybe there is a way down.

[Chaz Powell]

I was looking at the roots hanging out the side of the cliff. I was looking at the different ledges, the different sort of bits that stick out. This was sharp rock that I was trying to climb down, but it was just thought to myself, yeah, let's go for it.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Chaz turns around and gingerly eases himself over the edge. He hooks his fingers into a groove in the dark, jagged basalt and blindly kicks around for footholds. It quickly becomes clear, however, that slow and steady isn't going to work. There's just no way to descend in a controlled fashion. His only option is to jump from ledge to ledge. Grabbing hold of whatever he can to stop himself from plummeting to his death, Chaz peers down to a ledge a few meters beneath his feet. Without pausing to deliberate, he lets go.

[Chaz Powell]

This is one of the things now that feels a bit like a blur, like a blur of adrenaline. And I just ended up just jumping down and grabbing these branches on the side of this cliff edge. And I was scraping down the side of these rocks and my hands were bleeding. I had cuts all over my hands and I was scraping down these rocks.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Chaz keeps going, hurling himself from ledge to ledge, letting gravity and desperation guide his descent. He clutches at leaves and branches to slow his fall. At one point, two fistfuls of foliage come away in his hands and he free Falls for 10ft, landing in a crumpled heap on a jutting ledge. He doesn't get up, not immediately. He just lies there, halfway down the cliff, blood dripping from his nose. But again, the inner drive kicks in.

[Chaz Powell]

If I don't get up now and move, I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm going to get weaker and weaker. It's going to get more and more desperate. At the time, I thought to myself that I'm fading here.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Chaz continues his wild descent, scraping and sliding, grabbing at anything he can Gravel cascading down around him. After a few more meters, he hits something more solid.

[Chaz Powell]

I reached a more substantial ledge, which relaxed me a little bit, but then I stood up and fainted. I fainted. At this point, I was just so. I was just so out of it.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Chaz comes to, but his world is slipping in and out of focus. He tries to stand, but again darkness overwhelms him. He's on the brink, teetering on the verge of collapse. But even now, his will to survive cuts through. He blinks up at the sun, letting the burning brightness sting his retinas and shock him into consciousness. He pushes himself upright and staggers to his feet. He drops down to the next ledge and the next, the frayed skin of his palms leaving bloody sneers down the rock. But on he goes, on and on until his boots slam down onto a boulder at the bottom of the gorge. He turns. And there it is, the river.

[Chaz Powell]

And I just dropped myself into the water. I must have drunk about 5 liters of water in about 10 minutes. It felt like. It felt like I was just drinking and drinking and drinking.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

It's about an hour later. Chaz lies on a rock, half submerged in the cool, rushing water. He's holding up a video camera into which he is recounting the dramatic series of events that led him here. Waves of conflicting emotion crash over him. Relief, yes, but also guilt, regret, and self recrimination.

[Chaz Powell]

I was crying. I was like, you know, the reality of the fact that I nearly died and felt selfish, you know, I felt really selfish that I put people through that when I said that on camera. I said to myself that I just feel really selfish and I'm so sorry to everybody that I put through that. You know, this is me talking to myself here, but I'm expressing that I nearly died. You know, I could have killed myself. I could have died. So, yeah, it was a tough moment.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

In extreme environments, the margin between life and death is very fine. This time, through a mix of luck, courage and experience, Chaz found himself on the right side of that margin. But it could so easily have gone the other way.

[Chaz Powell]

I actually said to myself at that point, I'm quitting. I'm not going to continue. That was it. You know, I said to myself, I'm not going to do it anymore.

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[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Chaz trudges upstream. After almost succumbing to heat stroke and dehydration, he's decided to call it quits. He's heading back upriver, back in the direction of Livingstone, the town nearest to Victoria Falls. Three long days later, he climbs out of the gorge and emerges onto a road leading into town. After a few kilometers, a white dust covered SUV appears up ahead, rippling in the hazy air. Chaz waves and the vehicle comes to a stop. When the driver gets out, there is a surprise. It's a friend of his who lives out here in Zambia. Apparently when Chaz made that social media post after hurting his leg, his pal saw it and immediately launched into action.

[Chaz Powell]

Found that my friend was out there searching. There was a search party that had been looking for me for however many days and when I got back to this road, they were there. They were there waiting for me.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

It's an enormously welcoming sight. Chas thanks his friend profusely, then climbs wearily into the backseat, letting his eyes fall shut as they make the short drive back to Livingstone. Over the next few days, he focuses on recovery, resting, rehydrating and replenishing his strength, feeling immensely better. It's not even a week before he finds himself reconsidering his earlier promise to quit.

[Chaz Powell]

I've got clarity at this point. You know, I'm thinking straight now. I know how to do this. Now I know how to. I know how to not put myself back in that situation. I need to now go forward and do things properly.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

And so that's what he does. He embarks again, making sure that this time he doesn't stumble into any avoidable mistakes.

[Chaz Powell]

I need to plan things properly. I need to stop being so cocky and confident. I ended up taking an overland route through villages and sticking nearer villages, sticking nearer roads. And every time I saw a gorge from that point on I said that I'm not walking down that gorge. I'm going to stick and walk through the villages.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

The heat remains sweltering, but there's a sense now that it can't last that sooner or later, all this hot, humid air will have to break. And sure enough, come November, it does. The rainy season arrives, bringing daily downpours that drench the parched land and soak Chaz to the bone. But he struggles on through this new adversity. As he walks, the main thing that inspires him to keep going is, is the fortitude of the local people who live here. No matter how bad it gets, you can always draw strength from their resilience.

[Chaz Powell]

There were so many things, insects, you know, everywhere I went, there was a scorpion, there was spiders, you know, the mosquitoes, the diseases. There was so many things. Every day I thought, you know, I'm just surviving here, elephant, and elephant is trying to kill me. But then in the same aspect of that, I thought, people are living on this river every day. They're living with these things every day of their life. This stuff, you know, these people in Africa, along the Zambezi, that's their daily life. You know, these animals, these diseases, these. The insects, the heat, the environment. And why am I any different? You know, let's get myself through it.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Even more striking is how, despite the challenges the local people face every day, they still find the time to show kindness and generosity to a stranger.

[Chaz Powell]

You know, the people along the Zambezi, you know, saved my life many times, helping me with food, accommodation, navigation, you know, telling me the way, getting me across the tricky part of the river, you know, from one bank to the other. These people were good people.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

In January 2017, after 137 days and over 2,000 miles, Chaz reaches the sprawling mangrove swamp where the Zambezi then spills into the Indian Ocean. On the coast of Mozambique, he pushes his way through the brackish wetlands, eventually reaching a narrow, sandy beach. His journey's end.

[Chaz Powell]

Very much relieved, very happy to have finished, obviously, what I set out to do. Very proud of myself. So it was a great moment.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

After becoming only the second known person in history to hike the entire length of the Zambezi, Chas returns home to the uk. But he doesn't stay put for long. Just two years later, he's back in Africa, this time trekking the length of the Gambia River. Then he leads a team across Madagascar, following the country's longest waterway, Immangoki, from source to sea. By completing these journeys, Chas becomes the first person in history to hike the length of all three of these major African rivers, a feat that earns him the title of Explorer of the Year from the Scientific Exploration Society. After a brush with Death like the one Chaz experienced. Some people might hang up their walking boots, but for him, the most important thing is to carry on taking valuable lessons along with you.

[Chaz Powell]

That's what I've learned through life, whether it's from when I was young and I was in trouble, to pushing myself out of that situation, moving forward, away from that situation. If I'm in any kind of negative environments, you know, pushing yourself forward away from that environment. I think just moving forward in life in general is always a positive.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

In the years since his African expeditions, life has changed pace for Chaz. He's started a family and now lives with his wife and child in Scotland, where he works as a forest ranger. These days, the adventures he faces are of the domestic variety. Fatherhood, marriage. But he has found that the same core belief that helped him to survive can be applied everywhere. That no matter what obstacles you're up against, one thing remains universally true. You have to keep going.

[Chaz Powell]

If anyone ever feels that they're struggling in life, just have a look at your situation and move forward, move out of it. And especially in a survival situation, you know, there's always a way out of things. There's always a way to survive. You know, you just have to figure out what it is. I thought I was gone. I thought I was dead. And coming out of that, knowing that I can get myself out of that situation obviously makes me realize that I'm capable of doing such things and I'm capable of surviving, and I'm capable of much more than I think I am.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Next time on Real Survival Stories, we meet Nikki Daniels. A keen amateur diver, Nikki is never happier than when exploring life within the open seas in Britain and far beyond. In the summer of 1999, she goes on an expedition with her diving club. It's the kind of thing she's done dozens of times before. 50ft underwater is her home from home. But one wrong move turns her happy place into the scene of potential tragedy. Trapped within an upturned World War I ship at the bottom of the sea with low visibility and scant supplies of oxygen, Nikki will need to think and act fast if she's going to solve this deadly puzzle. And in order to escape, putting herself in even greater danger may be her only option. That's next time on Real Survival Stories. Listen right now without waiting and without adverts. By subscribing to Noiser plus, click the link in the description or head to noizr.com subscriptions.

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[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

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