Ed Stafford

First man to walk the entire length of the river Amazon

Ed Stafford walked into the history books when he became the first man to walk the length of the Amazon River. His epic adventure took two and a half years and everyone thought it was impossible. His achievement is, as explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes put it: ‘Truly extraordinary… in the top league of expeditions past and present’.

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What Ed Stafford's clients say

Here is some of the feedback from audiences and clients who have worked with Ed.

"In short, it was amazing. Everything about the session suited our team perfectly and everybody has been incredibly positive, inspired and taken plenty of learnings from him. He was incredibly open to the questions asked as well. Seriously, seriously impressed, so thank you and thank him. It genuinely lifted what's been a pretty tough year for some of our team. See below some of the comments I got directly from my team... What a guy! Did not expect this. Right up my street I saw the documentary years ago, it always really stuck with me, then I saw his time on a desert island. He's someone I was always interested in, he's just such an interesting guy to watch and listen to. Honestly, a really big thanks to you for arranging this! I'll just say a huge thanks for today. I really can't see any of the previous companies I've worked with doing something like this. Such a fan of Ed's. Really enjoyed that, I think we/you have nailed this remote malarky - great for the newbies to see also. Every day. Have we moved forward - yes! It's not every day you get to have a Zoom call with a legend like Ed Stafford! Massive thanks for making the festive summit such a memorable day! It was fascinating getting an insight into Ed's mindset and how he tackled a behemoth challenge like walking the entire length of the Amazon. I just hope some of the lessons I've learnt from yesterday stick with me, not that I'm planning on walking the Amazon any time soon."

Scede (virtual)

"I just wanted to say thank you for a great talk today, the team really enjoyed it. Your talk was open, honest and refreshing; it was a great inspiration for the team."

Thermo Fisher Scientific (virtual)

"Ed was fantastic and I think a large part of this was due to his warm and engaging style... Taking time to understand the audience and our goals before the event, Ed delivered a fantastic session for the Waitrose Personnel Conference. His warm and relaxed style instantly engaged the audience and his inspiring story left the team on a complete high. I wouldn't hesitate in recommending Ed to anyone looking for an inspirational and motivational speaker."

Waitrose

"Ed gave a wonderful talk. Having him brought a real sense of occasion - the number of internationally well-known adventurers is very small, the number of those who have achieved a genuine world first is even smaller. Better still, given his pedigree, is that he was so willing to poke fun at himself, making for a session that was full of laughs as well as being impressive and inspiring."

Financial Times

"Your talk was a true hit with everybody at the event. It was truly inspirational, heartfelt, expertly delivered and closed out our conference on a perfect note. In fact, we received our formal customer feedback (by which the customers all rate the speakers for the two day event) and you almost had a perfect score. You had all 5 out of 5 – except for one 4 out of 5…btw, we’re still tracking that person down! Seriously, that’s an incredibly high score, and a testament to the power of your story."

Cognizant

"Ed delivered an absorbing, fascinating and thought provoking presentation that was absolutely perfect for our audience. Our brief to him was slightly different to his usual motivational speeches but he crafted his presentation superbly, it was very relevant and created the inspirational start to the conference we were looking for. He is very engaging, amusing and talks about his amazing experiences in such a modest manner. Next time we will make sure we allow more time for him to speak as our audience were captivated which was apparent afterwards when so many were keen to speak with him."

Anglian Water

"Ed was fantastic last night - all of The Condé Nast Traveller team and our readers absolutely loved hearing his Tales. He was world class and such a lovely man."

Condé Nast Publications

"Ed was very well received. (A lot of delegates were asking him for pictures and autographs as he was leaving the event!)"

PIBA

"You could not have hit the mark more completely with what you said. Not only was the content of enormous interest in its own right, but your delivery was extremely moving."

Ernst & Young

"Ed spoke at our two-day Leadership Conference and although his tale of walking the Amazon is something not many of us have experienced, Ed’s story and the humanity behind it resonated with each of us. His engaging and honest approach to storytelling captivated the audience and really lifted the energy in the room. We were with him every step of his journey. Ed received really great feedback from the attendees – his story is so interesting, and his style/manner of presenting is really genuine. People said he was the perfect end to the two days."

WPP

"A fantastic end to our Annual Conference, Ed Stafford provided a gripping account of his adventures and of the challenges he overcame. Providing insight into overcoming adversity, his speech resonated with the audience and was well received."

ARMA

"Uniformly positive feedback! Everyone had a great time."

White & Case

"'You think you've heard all the motivational speeches there are to hear, then someone like Ed proves you wrong. Hearing his tale of determination put any challenging experiences we'd ever had in the workplace into perspective."

The Oxford Union

"As for Ed Stafford - the feedback was brilliant. His session really lifted the afternoon and the feedback was fantastic. His down to earth approach and the story he told was well received. I think he gained a few “fans” on the day and our guests left on quite a buzz."

2Plan

"I just wanted you to know that the team have given you fabulous feedback -"raw" and "real" were the most frequent words used. Thanks again."

The Financial Times

"Excellent speaker, very genuine, engaged the entire audience and I think he tried to adapt his delivery to fit the audience. Have seen other key note speakers who have just delivered their standard out of the box speech."

Rugby Football Union

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Ed Stafford's 2025 biography

Ed Stafford’s Background

Ed Stafford is passionate about encouraging others. He is honest and real about the challenges he faced in the Amazon: alligators, snakes, severe floods, electric eels, jaguars and the hostility of local tribes confronted with a tall foreign man in their midst. Ed’s story has powerful lessons about seemingly impossible challenges, resilience, risk, working with others, respect for other cultures and the natural environment and, of course, motivation and staying positive when things are relentlessly tough. Ed’s style of delivery ensures that messages about success in the face of adversity, the determination to achieve targets and riding out tough times are delivered in a very entertaining way with a large dollop of self-deprecating humour.

‘One of the boldest jungle journeys ever undertaken.’ Bear Grylls

‘Totally, completely and utterly mad.’ Michael Palin

Ed filmed and blogged about his expedition from the heart of the jungle and engaged followers through social media during his long expedition. On his return, Ed’s footage was made into a Discovery Channel documentary and was sold to over 100 countries. His book, Walking the Amazon has been translated into several languages and remains popular worldwide. Ed wrote on completing this journey: ‘It was over. Nine million-odd steps; over 200,000 mosquito and ant bites; over 8,000km walked over 860 days, 733 of them with Cho [Gadiel ‘Cho’ Sanchez Rivera], about 600 wasp stings; a dozen or so scorpion stings; 10 HD video cameras; six pairs of boots; three GPSs and one Guinness World Record.’

News that Ed had succeeded against all odds caught the imagination of the world’s press immediately: his story featured in over 900 articles and on news channels worldwide. Among many accolades Ed was named ‘Britain’s most intrepid hero since Scott of the Antarctic’ (Daily Mail) and ‘A true hero’ (The Times). Ed Stafford was awarded European Adventurer of the Year 2011. The Guinness World Records formally recognized Ed Stafford’s achievement and Ed also received an award for outstanding bravery from Sir Ranulph Fiennes and the Transglobe Expedition Trust.

Following his epic walk of the Amazon, new challenges and opportunities were to follow. Ed filmed himself surviving on an uninhabited island for 60 days – a tough project testing Ed in many and often unexpected ways. The resulting series Naked and Marooned with Ed Stafford was shown globally on Discovery Channel during 2013 and Ed’s book about his experiences was published the following year.

Ed’s subsequent survival series Marooned with Ed Stafford was shown worldwide on Discovery in 2014/5 with a second series enthusiastically greeted by Ed’s growing base of international fans in 2016. During each episode, Ed is left alone in remote, harsh and difficult extreme environments for ten days learning to survive (and attempting to thrive). Ed films each survival adventure himself. In 2015, the Discovery Channel series Into The Unknown charted Ed’s experiences as he explored remote locations around the world seeking unexplained markings that have been revealed on the landscape through satellite images. In 2016, Ed used his jungle expertise to help climbing legend Joe Simpson follow his father’s footsteps during WWII in a two-part TV series on Burma’s Secret Jungle War on the BBC.

Ed’s next series for Discovery Left for Dead (2017) saw him escape some of the planet’s most extreme environments: subtropical forests, frozen tundra and desolate mountains. Dropped with no survival kit, Ed must rely on his survival instincts to make his way out of the wilderness in 10 days.

Ed continues to work on exciting and challenging projects. In First Man Out, Ed challenges the ultra-fit elite from across the world to survive in remote locations and race to an agreed exit point across tough terrains. First Man Out was a huge success for Discovery and a second series will be shown in 2020.

Ed was delighted to be chosen to work on 60 Days on the Streets a three-part documentary for Channel 4 shown in 2019. Ed’s vivid account of sleeping rough (and filming the experience) on Britain’s streets in Manchester, London and Glasgow humanized the homeless and helped tell something of their stories.

A popular speaker at awards, after dinners and conferences, Ed draws on his adventures with humour and insight to inspire others to stretch their horizons and believe that they can do so much more.