Extreme adventurer Ash Dykes has only been back in civilization for a few days after his kayaking expedition in the Congo Basin, but he’s already thinking about his next trip.

“I’m doing this for pure passion,” Dykes told The Independent, visibly dazed but notably upbeat on a video call in the days after he returned home. Dykes laughed as he said he felt jet lagged from his journey — despite the jungle trek taking place in the same time zone as his home in London.

For months leading up to his recent journey, 35-year-old Dykes had used social media videos to tease his plan to travel through the “most dangerous rainforest on Earth.” Risky business is nothing new for the Welsh athlete. With more than 6 million followers across TikTok and Instagram, Dykes has made a name for himself as an explorer, and has been the subject of several TV specials documenting his adventures. His 434-mile (800 kilometer) trip to the Congo River Basin in Central Africa was the first of a series Dykes calls Project Six: six back-to-back expeditions to countries with extreme environments and ecosystems within 12 months.

His 18-day journey from the Sangha River to the Congo River on an inflatable kayak predictably included harsh conditions including extreme heat and annoying bugs. But one challenge while under the thick jungle canopy wasn’t planned for: an accidental blackout on his Garmin internet device, which led to a 16-hour dropped connection with his team back in the U.K.

The silence sparked panic as his followers speculated that he had run into life-threatening danger. While some well-meaning fans and friends worried about Dykes, other internet trolls were vindicated at the possibility that he might have found trouble along the way — going as far as to theorize how he might have met his fate in the comments of his social media posts.

“There was no winning no matter how this ended,” Dykes told The Independent. “You finish unscathed after doing really good preparation and making sure you really listen to the locals to make safe passage and make it to the end with no diseases and no lost limbs. And then people are going to say this is boring because they were betting money on different ways I would lose my life.”

The key to coming out of the trip safe and sound, Dykes said, was the three to four months he spent preparing. Having been an extreme explorer since he was 19 years old, he has trekked across Mongolia, Madagascar and the Amazon jungle. However, Dykes said the Congo had lived in the back of his mind for years.

“I’ve always wanted to do the Congo Basin,” Dykes explained. “It’s always been my biggest fear.” He said he put off the expedition for at least six years as he wanted to be sure that there was no conflict in the area. Plus, he was scared of the wildlife he might find lurking along the water.

In the end, though, he was “underwhelmed” by the danger, fortunately not coming face to face with any killer crocodiles or hippos while paddling 15 hours a day through the flooded rainforest. “It was definitely the easiest expedition I’ve ever done, which is crazy to say because it was the most fearful expedition that I’ve ever planned and anticipated for,” he said.

But Dykes said that followers should not mistake his preparedness for ease — and in response to those who questioned if his going dark was a stunt, he has a clear message.

“I think I would encourage people to look into my past,” he said, referencing his previous TV shows and documentaries on BBC Earth and National Geographic. “I’ve been doing this for 15 years. I became the first person to walk unsupported across Mongolia and I wasn’t even on social media… TikTok wasn’t even around. I was only 24.”

Next up, Dykes is trading the tropical rainforest for a weeks-long horseback trip across the frozen mountains of Kyrgyzstan, he announced Thursday.

“Having only just returned from the heat and humidity of the Congo Basin, my body has barely had time to recover, let alone prepare for the brutal cold and physical demands of spending two to three weeks in the saddle,” he said in a statement. “But that’s exactly what Project 6 is about. Six completely different environments, six enormous challenges and very little time to adapt between them.”

Dykes leaves for the journey November 14. This time, he promised, he won’t be going off the grid, joking, “We’ll have full access to the sky.”