What fits into the bottom of a backpack, weighs less than three kilograms and can be used to explore the remotest rivers on earth? The answer: a packraft. These tough, hand-built inflatable boats have changed the face of wilderness exploration since they first arrived on the scene over a decade ago.

Packrafts are versatile, super-lightweight and rugged, and can fit into a stuff sack about the size of a two-person tent. For white-water use they can even be fitted with a spray deck. When paired with a four-piece carbon-fibre paddle they make any swamp, lake, river or tributary accessible to a keen explorer. The concept is simple but brilliant - when you hike, your raft and paddle fit inside your pack. When you paddle, your body, gear and pack fit inside your raft.

Alpacka packrafts were first created in Chugiak, Alaska in 2001 by Sheri Tingey. The company has gone from strength to strength, and is now based in Colorado and hand-crafts purpose-built boats in an expanding range of sizes and types. The rafts are designed with one main air chamber and a separate inflatable