Last month we posted about Ed Stafford who had just completed a 4000 mile, 859 day expedition along the entire length of the Amazon river. Yesterday, Outside Blog posted a great interview with Ed Stafford, which is well worth a read.
Walking the Amazon
In the interview Ed reveals how he got the idea for the expedition on Google. However, he does not reveal whether or not the expedition was undertaken as a reconnaissance mission for Google’s River View project. Inspiration also came from projects that his contemporaries have undertaken. Ed goes onto explain that his experience in the military and leading conservation expeditions set him in good stead for the adventure.
Taking on such a long journey in a remote place is no easy task. The daily grind was a hard challenge and there were some hairy moments too:
There were five dugout canoes full of Ashaninka Indians. Half of them were standing up at this point in an impressive display of aggression with bows and arrows pointing at us, some with shotguns as well, and all the women with machetes. They beached and ran towards us. Because we’d had that threat of being killed the day before, I thought they were coming to kill us.
Ed gained a lot of satisfaction from completing the expedition and not only that, he improved his Spanish too!
And what is the best piece of outdoor gear to take if you are going to walk along the Amazon? We thought it would be walking boots, but Ed says that it was a boat! But it wasn’t cheating…
The pack rafts were phenomenal. Without them, I think the expedition would have been nigh on impossible. There are so many tributaries that sometimes you’re inflating the rafts six or seven time a day.
Congratulations again to Ed and Cho for completing the expedition and thanks to Outside blog for an enjoyable interview.
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