Every 2 years since 2005 the British Universities Kayaking Expedition (BUKE/ Uniyaker) has travelled to a remote corner of the world in search of quality whitewater kayaking.
BUKE brings together a team of the UK’s best student kayakers from various universities. Following a four day selection event in North Wales in December 2016, a team of seven was selected.
In July 2017 the BUKE team will be going to the Philippines for 7 weeks to explore the amazing whitewater that we already know exists and to explore new rivers that have never been kayaked before.
Located in southeast Asia, and made up of over 7000 islands, the Philippines remain a relatively unknown destination in the white water kayaking world. Although it is more well known for its diving and beaches, we are convinced that due to its tropical mountainous terrain and reliable rainy season, it has vast potential as paddling destination. We will arrive in the middle of the rainy season, when the rivers will be at full flow, providing us with a huge variety of rivers to paddle.
Through this website we aim to document our trip through blog posts, photos and videos to encourage more paddlers to visit the Philippines in the future.
One of our key goals is to spend time with local kayakers, to improve their paddling and safety skills in order to develop the sport in their country.
When we return to the UK we will be doing talks about our trip, as well as making a video series. We will try our best to keep our Facebook page updated with news and photos whilst we’re out there.
Trip outline:
- Fly to the capital, Manila
- Head north to Sagada to gain local river information
- Warm-up on the commercial rafting runs in the area
- Explore the mountainous jungle region in north-west Luzon in search of single day and multi-day first descents
We don’t expect to kayak everyday, but every day will certainly be an adventure!
Kayak the Philippines 