Ed Stafford the first human ever to walk the length of the Amazon River.

Ed Stafford

Wiki/Biography

Edward James Stafford, known as Ed Stafford (born 26 December 1975), is a British explorer. He holds the Guinness World Record for being the first human ever to walk the length of the Amazon River. Stafford now hosts shows on Discovery Channel.

Personal Information

Born: 26 December 1975 (age 44)Peterborough, England
Occupation: Explorer
Spouse(s): Laura Bingham
Children:1

Ed Stafford was born in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England and raised in Leicestershire. He was adopted as a baby by Barbara and Jeremy Stafford, who were both solicitors in Leicestershire. He was educated at Uppingham and was a Cub and a Scout in Leicestershire.

Ed Stafford with Bear Grylls

On 9 August 2010, he became the first person to have walked the entire length of the Amazon River, documented in the 2011 TV series Walking the Amazon on Channel 5. Stafford's expedition began with a friend, Luke Collyer, on 2 April 2008, on the southern coast of Peru. Collyer left after three months, and Stafford completed the journey with his guide, Gadiel “Cho” Sánchez Rivera. He undertook the attempt for several charities.

Unknown Achievements

In May 2009 Stafford appeared on the cover of the Royal Geographical Society's Geographical magazine.
In April 2010 Stafford passed the two-year barrier, has been walking since 2 April 2008. In May that year, Stafford was made Diane Sawyer's ABC News "Person of the Week".
Stafford's accomplishment of walking the Amazon river has been described by Sir Ranulph Fiennes as being "truly extraordinary...in the top league of expeditions past and present".
Stafford was announced as one of National Geographic Adventurers of the Year 2010 and then in March 2011, he was awarded European Adventurer of the Year in a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden.
In 2011 Guinness World Records recognized Stafford's achievement and he appears in the 2012 Guinness Book of Records.
Also in 2011, Stafford was awarded the Mungo Park Medal by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. He has not presented the award until 2014 at an event in Perth Scotland.

Shows

The series Ed Stafford: Left For Dead, another survival show, premiered in the autumn of 2017.

A survival shows Ed Stafford: First Man Out with a competition format began production in 2018 and premiered in early 2019.

In the show, Stafford meets one other survival expert each week in a different part of the world where each competes to complete a difficult trek with minimal provisions. Staffords six competitors in season one are Aldo Kane, (Borneo, episode one), Khen Rhee (Kazakhstan, episode two), Matt Graham (Mongolia, episode three), EJ Snyder (Thailand, episode four), Cat Bigney (Palau, episode five) and John Hudson (India, episode six).

Personal life

After his Amazon expedition Stafford began a search for his biological parents, whom he managed to track with the help of his sister, Janie. He explained, "There had always been this background intrigue. I looked for my birth family, not because I needed new parents in my life, but because it's just inherent to want to know." From his biological family, he has two younger brothers.

On 6 June 2017 Stafford announced via Twitter that his wife Laura Bingham had given birth to a boy.

Ed Stafford and his family

Prince's Rainforests Project

In August 2009 Stafford started writing a biweekly blog for the Prince's Rainforests Project.

MAN WOMAN CHILD WILD

MAN WOMAN CHILD WILD

Ed Stafford takes his wife and their two-year-old son on an epic adventure. They'll be living off the grid on an Indonesian island for a month in search of healthier family life.