From source to sea
Walk first spoke to Ed Stafford last autumn when he was 2,500 miles into his 6,000 mile Amazon trek. On Monday 9th August, 859 days after his epic journey began, Ed arrived at Maruda Beach, the mouth of Amazon – becoming the first person ever to walk the entire length of the river. Amid the scrum of publicity that’s surrounded him since arriving back in the UK, walkmag.co.uk managed to catch up with Ed to hear about the highs and lows of the rest of his amazing adventure…
Congratulations on an awe-inspiring achievement, Ed, could you sum up for us what the entire trip entailed?
I set off in April 2008. A lot of people said it was too far and there was so many dangers along the way I’d never make it. But I was determined to try, and maybe a bit naïve. I estimated it would take me a year to walk from the Amazon’s source to the sea… so I was over a year out on that! I’ve done it though and it was definitely worthwhile, it was an amazing experience and I’ve raised a lot of awareness about the plight of the rainforests. I passed through Peru, Colombia and Brazil on the way. In Peru, four months into the expedition, I met Cho who offered to be my guide for a few days, but ended up joining me till the finish. Together we got through some very tough and sometimes scary situations, but we never thought of giving up.
Can you tell us a bit about some of the difficulties you faced out there?
In Peru many of the remote communities are afraid of white people. They call us “Pela Cara” and believe that we’ll steal their body parts. They were very hostile and several times we were held up at gunpoint. But sheer tiredness was the worst thing, hacking through the jungle non-stop for 859 days with a 30 kilogram pack on your back really takes it out of you.
There must’ve been some pretty unfriendly animals in the jungle too…
The locals told us to watch out for jaguars, but we never actually saw one, which was a bit disappointing really. We saw their tracks, so they must have been around, I suppose they were more scared of us than we were of them. There were lots of snakes, some of which could give a deadly bite, but luckily that didn’t happen. Probably the most disturbing creatures were the electric eels – some of the ones we waded past were two metres long. While they can’t kill you, they can give you a shock big enough to knock you out. But they left us alone too.
Did you have any home comforts out there?
Sometimes if a journalist came out to interview me they’d bring things like books which was always nice. I had my iPod with me all the time and listened to it every night. I downloaded Ricky Gervais’ podcasts and listened to those in my hammock at night or brushed up my Portuguese with a language tutorial.
How did it feel to finally finish?
It was just fantastic, I’ve never been so elated. I’d set my self up for it being a bit of an anti-climax after all those miles, but it wasn’t. It was dark when we arrived at the beach. Press crews swept in silently like commandos across the sand as we approached, but I was so tired I just dragged myself into the sea and sat there looking at it all. Cameras were flashing and film crews’ halogen lights illuminating the beach, it was surreal and totally amazing.
Have you settled back into life in the UK again yet?
Not really, I’ve had so much to do with all the media attention I still haven’t had time to rest. I’m going on holiday to Ibiza in a couple of weeks though, that should sort me out.
Any plans to go further afield again anytime soon?
Actually yes, I’m planning another expedition for the next year. I can’t tell you anything about it just yet, but it’s going to be even more challenging and probably more dangerous than the Amazon one. I’ll reveal more as soon as I can…
Stay tuned to walkmag.co.uk for more news from Ed, or click here to read the interview which appeared Walk Magazine last year.
Interview by Julia Buckley. Photography by Keith Ducatel.
