860 Days. The Impossible Task. The Incredible Journey

Walking the Amazon

'Walking from the Pacific, over the Andes and along the entire length of the Amazon to the Atlantic is truly extraordinary ... To do all this puts Stafford's endeavour in the top league of expeditions past and present' - Sir Ranulph Fiennes OBE

Walking from the Pacific, over the Andes and along the entire length of the Amazon to the Atlantic is truly extraordinary ... To do all this in more than 800 continuous days with just a backpack puts Stafford's endeavour in the top league of expeditions past and present.

Is this Britain's most intrepid explorer since Scott of the Antarctic?

All generations need heroes; it's lovely to have a real one for a change.

Ed Stafford started running expeditions after retiring from the British Army as a captain in 2002 and has led expeditions all over the world. Whilst not leading trips, Ed worked alongside the United Nations in Afghanistan assisting with the running of their first-ever presidential elections. Prior to this journey Ed was in production with the BBC on their conservation series Lost Land of the Jaguar. In August 2010, Ed became the first man to walk the length of the River Amazon, accompanied by forestry worker Gadiel 'Cho' Sanchez Rivera for all but four months of the 28-month journey.

In April 2008, Ed Stafford began his attempt to become the first man ever to walk the entire length of the River Amazon. Nearly two and a half years later, he had crossed the whole of South America to reach the mouth of the colossal river. 
 
With danger a constant companion - outwitting alligators, jaguars, pit vipers and electric eels, not to mention overcoming the hurdles of injuries and relentless tropical storms - Ed's journey demanded extreme physical and mental strength. Often warned by natives that he would die, Ed even found himself pursued by machete-wielding tribesmen and detained for murder. 
 
However, Ed's journey was an adventure with a purpose: to help raise people's awareness of environmental issues. Ed had unprecedented access to indigenous communities and witnessed the devastating effects of the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest first-hand. His story of disappearing tribes and loss of habitats concerns us all. 
 
Ultimately though, Walking the Amazon is an account of a world-first expedition that takes readers on the most daring journey along the world's greatest river and through the most bio-diverse habitat on earth.

Ed Stafford

One Man. One Island. One Epic Survival Story

‘I stood on the beach truly alone for the first time. I would not see another person for sixty days. I was on an uninhabited tropical island and I had nothing with me to help me survive. No food, no equipment, no knife and not even any clothes. All I had was my camera kit so that I could intimately record my self-inflicted sentence.’ 
 
 What if you were abandoned on a tropical island with no food or water, no basic equipment, not even a knife, and no clothes – could you survive? Extreme adventurer Ed Stafford isn’t sure, but he’s about to find out as he pushes himself to the limit in this gripping and inspirational test of human survival. 
 
 For sixty days, with only his explorer’s instinct and a video camera to record his experiences, Ed faces the ultimate feat of physical and mental endurance. He confronts blazing heat and brutal loneliness; eats snails to escape starvation and battles illness, dehydration and fatigue in what is his most dangerous, and at times life-threatening, challenge to date. 
 
 This epic story of survival, full of exhilarating highs and devastating lows, is told with raw emotion and captivating honesty. This book will leave you amazed and exhausted.

Ed Stafford

Books by Ed Stafford

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter