Walking the Amazon

In April 2008 ex-soldier and explorer Ed Stafford and his friend Luke Collyer decided to take on a monumental challenge: to trace on foot the whole length of the Amazon, from its source in Southern Peru to its mouth on the Brazilian coast.

They believed it would take them one year and would involve walking 4,000 miles. In the end, two and a half years and 6,000 miles later, only Ed of the original two, would make it to journey’s end on the Atlantic.

Along the way he had climbed an 18,000 feet mountain; filmed never-before-seen tribal ceremonies; eaten cactus, tortoises and tapirs; been mistaken for a white man buying human organs; and met a remarkable local guide named Cho, who, after Luke’s departure, accompanied Ed on his mammoth trek.

As well as filming all his own footage and demonstrating the skills needed for survival, this is a vivid portrait of a man driven to the edge of his
own sanity, to join the ranks of the greatest explorers of all time. (Source: discovery channel website)