Ashraf “River Conqueror” Ali goes at it again with another swim over the Berbice River

Dec 28, 2022 Sports

By Samuel Whyte

Kaieteur News – Overseas based Guyanese, Ashraf the ‘River Conqueror’ Ali, the 76 year old former school teacher formerly of Canefield East Canje, Berbice, Guyana has no plans of slowing down from his regular river swims.

After swimming all the main rivers in Guyana and the Atlantic Ocean, he is once again swimming the Berbice River. He is scheduled to undertake the task on Thursday, December 29.

Now residing in the USA, a Pastor of The Christadelphian Church, Ali had planned to swim the River on a yearly basis whilst undertaking other tasks. However, the Covid 19 Pandemic had badly disrupted his schedule, so after a two-year hiatus, he is at it again.

Before he swam in the Atlantic Ocean, Ali met with former President, David Granger, for a cordial meeting about his feats.

Ali started swimming long distances at an early age and first swam over the Canje River as a youth, something which he would do on a regular basis. He first swam the Berbice River in 1979. In 1998, he swam the Suriname River; swimming from Skeldon to Stratt in Nickerie, Suriname.

In 1999, he swam the Demerara River. In 2016 he swam the Mighty Essequibo River. He has also swam Lake Mainstay twice. During the interim, he undertook swims nonstop back and forth, unaccompanied, without a boat across both the Demerara and Berbice Rivers.

In 2017, Ali undertook the task to challenge the choppy, murky waters of the Atlantic Ocean where he swam his planned seven miles distance in 2 ½ hours.

Speaking about his regular swims he said he is not scared. “The only scary part is before I undertake my feats people would say the rivers lakes and oceans are dangerous to swim in. People talk about the waters being full of dangerous creatures such as anacondas, electric eels, stingrays, caimans, piranhas, alligators and sharks etc, and I should swim with protective gear.”

He said he has a passion for swimming and plans to swim the Pacific and other Oceans. To him, age doesn’t matter, he likes challenges.

He graduated from the DeVry University in the USA with a degree in Electronics and Computer Technology. He got an A in Television repairs. He is also a qualified Television Producer and produces a popular Television programme in the Queens area called “The Best Things in Life are Free.”

Ali graduated from BHS in 1967. A trained teacher, he taught Science and mathematics at a number of Secondary and Primary Schools in the Berbice area. He also lectured at The New Amsterdam Technical Institute and was also head of the Science Department of the Canje Secondary School.