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Walking the Amazon: 861 Days
In April 2008, Ed Stafford began his attempt to become the first man ever to walk the entire length of the River Amazon. Nearly two and a half years later, he had crossed the whole of South America to reach the mouth of the colossal river.
With danger a constant companion - outwitting alligators, jaguars, pit vipers and electric eels, not to mention overcoming the hurdles of injuries and relentless tropical storms - Ed's journey demanded extreme physical and mental strength. Often warned by natives that he would die, Ed even found himself pursued by machete-wielding tribesmen and detained for murder.
However, Ed's journey was an adventure with a purpose: to help raise people's awareness of environmental issues. Ed had unprecedented access to indigenous communities and witnessed the devastating effects of deforestation first-hand. His story of disappearing tribes and loss of habitats concerns us all.
Ultimately though, Amazon is an account of a world-first expedition that takes readers on the most daring journey along the world's greatest river and through the most bio-diverse habitat on Earth.
With danger a constant companion - outwitting alligators, jaguars, pit vipers and electric eels, not to mention overcoming the hurdles of injuries and relentless tropical storms - Ed's journey demanded extreme physical and mental strength. Often warned by natives that he would die, Ed even found himself pursued by machete-wielding tribesmen and detained for murder.
However, Ed's journey was an adventure with a purpose: to help raise people's awareness of environmental issues. Ed had unprecedented access to indigenous communities and witnessed the devastating effects of deforestation first-hand. His story of disappearing tribes and loss of habitats concerns us all.
Ultimately though, Amazon is an account of a world-first expedition that takes readers on the most daring journey along the world's greatest river and through the most bio-diverse habitat on Earth.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 239 reviews
December 14, 2012
The story of Stafford's grueling journey on foot is begging to be told. By someone other than Stafford. He needed a ghost writer. Or a team of iron-stomached editors. Stafford just plain can't write worth a damn.
His journey is a fascinating one- but he rarely pulls his head out of his ass long enough to tell the reader anything about the wildlife, the people he meets, or even the scenery. We spend a lot of time inside his head, which is a dank and dolorous place. Stafford is clinically depressed for much of the trek, and when he's not, he's quarreling and quibbling with his staff. He reminds me curiously of Ayla from The Clan of the Cave Bear- the star turns are done by Stafford. All the best ideas are his.
There's some what I saw as self-serving justification very early on, when he falls out with his initial partner- and that set the tone for me. I didn't like his authorial voice from page one.
The, um, the photos are interesting. There, I've said something nice.
His journey is a fascinating one- but he rarely pulls his head out of his ass long enough to tell the reader anything about the wildlife, the people he meets, or even the scenery. We spend a lot of time inside his head, which is a dank and dolorous place. Stafford is clinically depressed for much of the trek, and when he's not, he's quarreling and quibbling with his staff. He reminds me curiously of Ayla from The Clan of the Cave Bear- the star turns are done by Stafford. All the best ideas are his.
There's some what I saw as self-serving justification very early on, when he falls out with his initial partner- and that set the tone for me. I didn't like his authorial voice from page one.
The, um, the photos are interesting. There, I've said something nice.
April 11, 2013
This should have been named "A narcissistic moron manages to survive a lame expedition against all odds." He gives no credit to many of the people who helped him, failed to appreciate the very jungle he claims to love, and has no understanding (and no apparent interest in) the local people and how they manage to survive in these remote communities. And then he not only depends on them for food and shelter many times, he EXPECTS it! Still, go ahead and read it because it really is unbelievable how self-absorbed this guy really is.
February 26, 2019
Ed and Cho’s Harrowing Adventure
“The lake felt so relaxing after so long in dense vegetation and we bumbled down to the water for a wash. When the sun set, we used our head torches in the gloom, and as we stripped at the side of the lake, balancing on pieces of wood laid on the mud so as to keep our feet clean, I caught a glimpse of what looked like reflective dots all over the surface of the lake.
‘Concha su madre!’ I said to Cho. ‘Crikey. Look at the number of caiman in the lake!’
At first Cho didn’t think they were caiman, then he looked more closely and saw that
I was right. The lake was stuffed, and the number of eyes reflected in our torchlight, just above the level of the water, confirmed our fears…We giggled like kids at the thought of how vulnerable we were standing on the edge of this lake washing ourselves in the presence of perhaps fifteen of these huge predators.”
How exiting it would have been to have seen that view of the caiman as presented in the paragraph above. How frightening, too!
I remember seeing a TV program back in the early 80s about Gene Savoy, an explorer, who was walking through a swamp. I wanted to be there. I wanted to walk through a swamp. In later years, I wanted to take a boat down the Amazon or even walk into its jungle.
Now, after reading this book I think otherwise, yes, I still wish to walk through a swamp, but not that one. I still wish to have another jungle trip, but not that one. Maybe it would be best to just live in Costa Rica in a quaint village and visit the jungle, with a few guides, ones with guns.
Luke and Pina Coladas
Ed began his trip I 2008. He started off with a man named Luke, but that didn’t go so well. Luke was too slow. Luke wanted a donkey to carry his backpack. Luke! Luke! Luke! I liked Luke; Ed didn’t. Ed didn’t want to give him a donkey but later on he got one to carry their food and water. Then a little further down the road Ed sent Luke home. Luke went back to his girlfriend and sat out on the beach in Costa Rica drinking pina coladas. Somehow, I just know this to be true.
Ed found other guides, native men, and then he found Cho, who became his best friend and travel partner. Cho could keep up with him.
Luke and Ed had begun their trip at the head of the Amazon in Peru. The idea was to walk for 2 plus years, the entire length of the Amazon. If I were young I would have wanted to go with them, but maybe only for a week, if I could last that long. I realized that most men could not have handled this trip. Luke would not have made it, especially with Ed. Luke wanted to be with his girlfriend, and well, I don’t think that he had the stamina, but we will never know.
Ed and Cho visited the villages, and almost got killed several times. The natives do not like gringos, and for good reason. The gringos are trying to put in oil wells, they are clearing the land for cattle, and they are logging. Then there are men who come in and kill the natives in order to steal body parts to sell on the black market. Then they had to worry about narcos, men who were carrying drugs out of the country, mainly coco leaves from coco plantations, I think.
Next, they had to walk through swamps, but these swamps are not like the one I would want to walk through. These swamps had plants with stickers that could be as much as four inches long. They stuck in their shins and their knees. The swamps also had poisonous snakes and caiman. And the jungle in its entirety had mosquitoes, bot flies, and jaguars, just to mention a few of its dangerous creatures.
Ed was walking on a muddy path and began stepping over a viper that he didn’t see at first because it was the color of the mud. He didn’t even see that it was coiled and ready to strike. I won’t say what happened, but I think that a walking stick would have come in handy.
Don’t Cry For Me Argentina
On most days the men were so exhausted that they wondered where they would find the energy to continue the next day. Sometimes, they were starving. They thought of bacon and eggs and pancakes with syrup. Well, that is what I would have been thinking of. Half way through the trip Ed became depressed and bored, if you can imagine being bored when you are always in survival mode. Since he was tired and worn out, I believe this affected his state of mind. He put it this way: “I’m so missing having a friend to chat to or a girlfriend to confide in. I miss having a drinking partner.” He was downright lonely, and he had not yet made Cho a good friend due to a language barrier that they finally worked out. So together they sang: “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina.” And at times, Ed did cry. So I began warming up to this macho guy, realizing that he had a heart in spite of how he treated Luke.
Orchids and Spider Monkeys
Ed was too tired to appreciate nature, which is the problem with trips like this. I remember when I walked with my friend Julie 11ks to Bonampak, Mexico. It was grueling; I was tired. I didn’t see anything either, but I heard frightening sounds in the jungle. When we were in the Yucatan I saw plenty. I thought that the butterflies were the flowers of the jungle. They kept landing on my pink pants. I hadn’t seen any flowers, and obviously they hadn’t either, as my pants were flowers to them. I saw large orange and black worms wrapped around a tree trunk, I saw a beautiful insect that I was afraid to touch since some can be poisonous, and I saw fish when I was snorkeling.
But to really enjoy these things you need to not be trying to get somewhere, to be the first to walk the entire Amazon, for example. So, I think Ed needs another trip, one in which he can just enjoy nature, even though it can be dangerous at times. He can live that life I want in Costa Rica and write about it.
“The lake felt so relaxing after so long in dense vegetation and we bumbled down to the water for a wash. When the sun set, we used our head torches in the gloom, and as we stripped at the side of the lake, balancing on pieces of wood laid on the mud so as to keep our feet clean, I caught a glimpse of what looked like reflective dots all over the surface of the lake.
‘Concha su madre!’ I said to Cho. ‘Crikey. Look at the number of caiman in the lake!’
At first Cho didn’t think they were caiman, then he looked more closely and saw that
I was right. The lake was stuffed, and the number of eyes reflected in our torchlight, just above the level of the water, confirmed our fears…We giggled like kids at the thought of how vulnerable we were standing on the edge of this lake washing ourselves in the presence of perhaps fifteen of these huge predators.”
How exiting it would have been to have seen that view of the caiman as presented in the paragraph above. How frightening, too!
I remember seeing a TV program back in the early 80s about Gene Savoy, an explorer, who was walking through a swamp. I wanted to be there. I wanted to walk through a swamp. In later years, I wanted to take a boat down the Amazon or even walk into its jungle.
Now, after reading this book I think otherwise, yes, I still wish to walk through a swamp, but not that one. I still wish to have another jungle trip, but not that one. Maybe it would be best to just live in Costa Rica in a quaint village and visit the jungle, with a few guides, ones with guns.
Luke and Pina Coladas
Ed began his trip I 2008. He started off with a man named Luke, but that didn’t go so well. Luke was too slow. Luke wanted a donkey to carry his backpack. Luke! Luke! Luke! I liked Luke; Ed didn’t. Ed didn’t want to give him a donkey but later on he got one to carry their food and water. Then a little further down the road Ed sent Luke home. Luke went back to his girlfriend and sat out on the beach in Costa Rica drinking pina coladas. Somehow, I just know this to be true.
Ed found other guides, native men, and then he found Cho, who became his best friend and travel partner. Cho could keep up with him.
Luke and Ed had begun their trip at the head of the Amazon in Peru. The idea was to walk for 2 plus years, the entire length of the Amazon. If I were young I would have wanted to go with them, but maybe only for a week, if I could last that long. I realized that most men could not have handled this trip. Luke would not have made it, especially with Ed. Luke wanted to be with his girlfriend, and well, I don’t think that he had the stamina, but we will never know.
Ed and Cho visited the villages, and almost got killed several times. The natives do not like gringos, and for good reason. The gringos are trying to put in oil wells, they are clearing the land for cattle, and they are logging. Then there are men who come in and kill the natives in order to steal body parts to sell on the black market. Then they had to worry about narcos, men who were carrying drugs out of the country, mainly coco leaves from coco plantations, I think.
Next, they had to walk through swamps, but these swamps are not like the one I would want to walk through. These swamps had plants with stickers that could be as much as four inches long. They stuck in their shins and their knees. The swamps also had poisonous snakes and caiman. And the jungle in its entirety had mosquitoes, bot flies, and jaguars, just to mention a few of its dangerous creatures.
Ed was walking on a muddy path and began stepping over a viper that he didn’t see at first because it was the color of the mud. He didn’t even see that it was coiled and ready to strike. I won’t say what happened, but I think that a walking stick would have come in handy.
Don’t Cry For Me Argentina
On most days the men were so exhausted that they wondered where they would find the energy to continue the next day. Sometimes, they were starving. They thought of bacon and eggs and pancakes with syrup. Well, that is what I would have been thinking of. Half way through the trip Ed became depressed and bored, if you can imagine being bored when you are always in survival mode. Since he was tired and worn out, I believe this affected his state of mind. He put it this way: “I’m so missing having a friend to chat to or a girlfriend to confide in. I miss having a drinking partner.” He was downright lonely, and he had not yet made Cho a good friend due to a language barrier that they finally worked out. So together they sang: “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina.” And at times, Ed did cry. So I began warming up to this macho guy, realizing that he had a heart in spite of how he treated Luke.
Orchids and Spider Monkeys
Ed was too tired to appreciate nature, which is the problem with trips like this. I remember when I walked with my friend Julie 11ks to Bonampak, Mexico. It was grueling; I was tired. I didn’t see anything either, but I heard frightening sounds in the jungle. When we were in the Yucatan I saw plenty. I thought that the butterflies were the flowers of the jungle. They kept landing on my pink pants. I hadn’t seen any flowers, and obviously they hadn’t either, as my pants were flowers to them. I saw large orange and black worms wrapped around a tree trunk, I saw a beautiful insect that I was afraid to touch since some can be poisonous, and I saw fish when I was snorkeling.
But to really enjoy these things you need to not be trying to get somewhere, to be the first to walk the entire Amazon, for example. So, I think Ed needs another trip, one in which he can just enjoy nature, even though it can be dangerous at times. He can live that life I want in Costa Rica and write about it.
December 27, 2022
Ед Станфърд се заема да постави рекорд като първия човек извървял цялата дължина на р. Амазонка пеша и го постига. Ако обаче си мислите, като мен, че да прочетете книга за приключенията му би било интересно, ще останете излъгани.
Когато човек, който не разбира абсолютно нищо нито от преходи пеша, нито от оцеляване сред природата, нито от писане, се захване с много самочувствие да напише книга как ходи пеша и оцелява сред природата, вече знаеш че нещата не отиват на добре.
Въпиющата неиформираност и глупост на автора започват да шокират още от първите страници, когато той решава да тръгне на похода си из планини и джунгли пеш с раница, тежаща 50 кг. В нея, наред с останалите безполезни глупости има два лаптопа, акумулатор, два уреда са сателитно геопозициониране (технология, находяща се във всеки модерен GSM) големи колкото тухла.
Всеки, който поне веднъж е излизал на планински туризъм е наясно колко идиотска идея е раницата ти да тежи колкото самия теб. Има сайтове за хобито дълги преходи пеша, в които запознати обсъждат неща като дали е оправдано четката ти за зъби да е без дръжка, за да спестиш няколкото грама в багажа, но кой да ги чете...
Ако си мислите, че в книгата има някакво оцеляване сред природата, също ще останете излъгани - цялото поречие на Амазонка е заселено, къде с големи градове, къде с малки затънтени селца, къде с поселища на наркотрафиканти, къде с полудиви индианци и "местни жители" които разни некъпани хипита от работещите там НПО-та насъскват да мразят белите хора, като ги лъжат че разпространяват болести нарочно, храната им е отровна и искат да им откраднат земята (последното може и да е вярно де).
Така че на нашите приключенци не им се налага изобщо да оцеляват в джунглата, не че те могат да го правят тъй като им липсват дори елементарни познания за това. Пътуването им из Перу и после Бразилия преминава в мъкнене от село на село, купуване на храна от местните, преспиване в палатки разпънати в нечий двор и така ден след ден. Не описват природата на местата, през които минават. Не описват хората и племената, които срещат, освен съвсем бегло.
Голямата част от обема на книгата е посветена на караниците между двамата от екипа (които водят единия да се откаже по средата), на това какво точно са яли тоя ден и на безбройните пъти, когато поради липса на предварително планиране, а често и на акъл, се губят, въртят в кръг и/или остават без никаква храна и вода.
Честно казано, ако бях един местен индианец и видех някой толкова тъп да минава наблизо, от милост бих му пуснал една стрела с кураре, за да не се мъчи горкия.
Когато човек, който не разбира абсолютно нищо нито от преходи пеша, нито от оцеляване сред природата, нито от писане, се захване с много самочувствие да напише книга как ходи пеша и оцелява сред природата, вече знаеш че нещата не отиват на добре.
Въпиющата неиформираност и глупост на автора започват да шокират още от първите страници, когато той решава да тръгне на похода си из планини и джунгли пеш с раница, тежаща 50 кг. В нея, наред с останалите безполезни глупости има два лаптопа, акумулатор, два уреда са сателитно геопозициониране (технология, находяща се във всеки модерен GSM) големи колкото тухла.
Всеки, който поне веднъж е излизал на планински туризъм е наясно колко идиотска идея е раницата ти да тежи колкото самия теб. Има сайтове за хобито дълги преходи пеша, в които запознати обсъждат неща като дали е оправдано четката ти за зъби да е без дръжка, за да спестиш няколкото грама в багажа, но кой да ги чете...
Ако си мислите, че в книгата има някакво оцеляване сред природата, също ще останете излъгани - цялото поречие на Амазонка е заселено, къде с големи градове, къде с малки затънтени селца, къде с поселища на наркотрафиканти, къде с полудиви индианци и "местни жители" които разни некъпани хипита от работещите там НПО-та насъскват да мразят белите хора, като ги лъжат че разпространяват болести нарочно, храната им е отровна и искат да им откраднат земята (последното може и да е вярно де).
Така че на нашите приключенци не им се налага изобщо да оцеляват в джунглата, не че те могат да го правят тъй като им липсват дори елементарни познания за това. Пътуването им из Перу и после Бразилия преминава в мъкнене от село на село, купуване на храна от местните, преспиване в палатки разпънати в нечий двор и така ден след ден. Не описват природата на местата, през които минават. Не описват хората и племената, които срещат, освен съвсем бегло.
Голямата част от обема на книгата е посветена на караниците между двамата от екипа (които водят единия да се откаже по средата), на това какво точно са яли тоя ден и на безбройните пъти, когато поради липса на предварително планиране, а често и на акъл, се губят, въртят в кръг и/или остават без никаква храна и вода.
Честно казано, ако бях един местен индианец и видех някой толкова тъп да минава наблизо, от милост бих му пуснал една стрела с кураре, за да не се мъчи горкия.
March 13, 2018
I remember back in 2013 I somehow managed to get control of the TV remote, doesn't happen often, after spending 15min figuring out controls I found this documentary about a bloke trying to walk the whole length of the Amazon. It was insane viewing, I was instantly hooked. On the screen Ed Stafford is great to watch, the real deal, no staying in hotels each night like a certain other survivalist :)
Ed's writing though is a bit rough, it doesn't come naturally to him, the beginning parts are slightly tedious, all about getting the idea and all the planning needed to get started on the walk, if reading this book and you are struggling don't give up because when the walk starts this becomes one of the best travel books ever written, it is really moving at times. The best parts are reading about the bond being built between Ed and his guide Cho... oh and cutting out maggots burrowing in his head.
Blog review is here> https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2018...
Ed's writing though is a bit rough, it doesn't come naturally to him, the beginning parts are slightly tedious, all about getting the idea and all the planning needed to get started on the walk, if reading this book and you are struggling don't give up because when the walk starts this becomes one of the best travel books ever written, it is really moving at times. The best parts are reading about the bond being built between Ed and his guide Cho... oh and cutting out maggots burrowing in his head.
Blog review is here> https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2018...
March 26, 2017
Three things first
1.Its an amazing achievement by Ed (and Cho)
2.Ed is not a writer and book is boring (Took me a month to read)
3.I didn't learn anything new about Amazon
Basically its a book about Ed Stafford's journey (or should I say ordeal ) on foot with the Amazon river from source to sea.But the problem is that the book is very crudely written and Ed talks about nothing else than what he faces that day.Nowhere I get to know about what is he seeing around.There are few photographs in the book.So this thing also doesn't help the reader.This is an average book.I recommend you watch the series on YouTube rather than reading the book.
1.Its an amazing achievement by Ed (and Cho)
2.Ed is not a writer and book is boring (Took me a month to read)
3.I didn't learn anything new about Amazon
Basically its a book about Ed Stafford's journey (or should I say ordeal ) on foot with the Amazon river from source to sea.But the problem is that the book is very crudely written and Ed talks about nothing else than what he faces that day.Nowhere I get to know about what is he seeing around.There are few photographs in the book.So this thing also doesn't help the reader.This is an average book.I recommend you watch the series on YouTube rather than reading the book.
December 5, 2015
300 pages of how not to behave with cultures other than your own, how not to prepare for an expedition (Step 1: who cares about learning the language? AMIRITE?) and how to annoy everyone in the process. Stafford documents his 4K+ mile journey by whining about everything he encounters (jungle! insects! mean native people! Peruvian music! Peruvian drinks! his traveling companion! his native guide! ALL BAD) and whining about the trip as a whole.
This is a mind-boggling account of an expedition leader who didn't. He promised his financial sponsors that the party wouldn't hunt, then they hunted. He likes to brag about how he's surviving on his wits alone, but his native guides do all the witting. His co-expeditioner, Luke, decides to leave after three months, but that's clearly Luke's issue, not Stafford's ("I can't remember the exact exchange but it blew up when I told Luke he was shit at navigating"). Depressed and snappish and can't figure out why? Maybe it's the fact that you admit you're living on diazepam, Captain Life Choice.
All Stafford does is complain about the expedition he's mounted, and make fun of the people he meets:
--"We talked nonsense to old Quechua men to try to confuse them; and marveled at how foul old people's mouths could look after a lifetime of chewing coca and not brushing their few remaining teeth."
--"The Ashaninka lifestyle seemed to me to be both unsustainable and meaningless."
--"In my diary I seem to have referred to the old man as 'Mr. Wanker'"
--"Anyone who doesn't know what Peruvian music is like is very lucky indeed. Never enter Peru without earplugs. For sheer lack of talent and low-quality music, no other country compares. [My native guide] had tried to teach me about the distinct and different types of music from each region but I didn't bother to learn because to me they all fall under the same category. Utter shite."
And that's how Stafford approaches all his interactions with people he meets: he refuses to try learning Spanish or Portuguese and admits that when people take him into their homes for the night he makes no effort to interact but sits in a corner and sulks. This alternates with bemoaning his single state and how frustrated it makes him that people don't immediately like him wherever he goes.
While it's precious hard to screw up a book about trekking alongside the Amazon, Stafford does manage, stopping at too infrequent intervals to describe the jungle or any natural or manmade history of the area. It got that second star for being something of a spectacular trainwreck that just kept on exploding.
As far as that publisher's blurb about the purpose being to raise people's awareness of environmental issues: "I don't want to ever pretend that the charities and rainforest awareness were the reasons why we chose to walk the Amazon." p.22. Interestingly, in the Author's Note, Stafford discloses that since returning to London he's started giving motivational speeches.
And on that bombshell...
This is a mind-boggling account of an expedition leader who didn't. He promised his financial sponsors that the party wouldn't hunt, then they hunted. He likes to brag about how he's surviving on his wits alone, but his native guides do all the witting. His co-expeditioner, Luke, decides to leave after three months, but that's clearly Luke's issue, not Stafford's ("I can't remember the exact exchange but it blew up when I told Luke he was shit at navigating"). Depressed and snappish and can't figure out why? Maybe it's the fact that you admit you're living on diazepam, Captain Life Choice.
All Stafford does is complain about the expedition he's mounted, and make fun of the people he meets:
--"We talked nonsense to old Quechua men to try to confuse them; and marveled at how foul old people's mouths could look after a lifetime of chewing coca and not brushing their few remaining teeth."
--"The Ashaninka lifestyle seemed to me to be both unsustainable and meaningless."
--"In my diary I seem to have referred to the old man as 'Mr. Wanker'"
--"Anyone who doesn't know what Peruvian music is like is very lucky indeed. Never enter Peru without earplugs. For sheer lack of talent and low-quality music, no other country compares. [My native guide] had tried to teach me about the distinct and different types of music from each region but I didn't bother to learn because to me they all fall under the same category. Utter shite."
And that's how Stafford approaches all his interactions with people he meets: he refuses to try learning Spanish or Portuguese and admits that when people take him into their homes for the night he makes no effort to interact but sits in a corner and sulks. This alternates with bemoaning his single state and how frustrated it makes him that people don't immediately like him wherever he goes.
While it's precious hard to screw up a book about trekking alongside the Amazon, Stafford does manage, stopping at too infrequent intervals to describe the jungle or any natural or manmade history of the area. It got that second star for being something of a spectacular trainwreck that just kept on exploding.
As far as that publisher's blurb about the purpose being to raise people's awareness of environmental issues: "I don't want to ever pretend that the charities and rainforest awareness were the reasons why we chose to walk the Amazon." p.22. Interestingly, in the Author's Note, Stafford discloses that since returning to London he's started giving motivational speeches.
And on that bombshell...
September 3, 2013
Another book that took me a very long time to read. Let me explain. I went into reading this book with high hopes and excitement. I mean, stories of the Amazon and the rainforest, talk about exciting. But, Stafford is not a writer. Sure, his expedition was astounding and the fact that he accomplished it was amazing. And, I definitely want to go travel more in South America, especially in Brazil. But, the same feeling that Ed had about a month before he finished is the same feeling I had when I only had 20 pages left to get through. Let’s face the facts, although his adventure was great, Stafford is a boring, disjointed writer. There was no continuity from paragraph to paragraph. He would jump from one theme to another, one story to another and the chapters didn’t have one consistent theme throughout them. I love adventure travel books, but there needs to be some meat and potatoes. Not just stories of how depressed you are feeling and how deep the floodwaters were. Again, I get it. It was a rough trip. I don’t think I’d have been able to do it or handle it. And there are some good, quippy anecdotes throughout. But, I wish he would have gotten a ghost writer. Or printed more of his actual journal pages and had it read like that. I made it through the book, but only because I felt that I had to. And, I would recommend it for the travel trips and the adventure feeling. However, I would tell my friends these exact thoughts on the book and let them decide if it was worth it. I’m giving it 2 stars, because I didn’t hate it as much as some other stories that I’ve read, but it was not by any means, good.
September 26, 2012
A mediocre book about a singular accomplishment. It has the potential to be an epic story, but Ed Stafford can't write for beans. No detail is too trivial to be included, especially if it's what he had for dinner. Getting through this book is a lot like trying to walk through the Amazon.
And for a book about a trip through the Amazon, there's not a lot about the Amazon. The river, the flora and fauna, the people who live there, even his initial partner Luke - all are treated as mere obstacles to be overcome. To paraphrase a much better writer, Mark Helprin, it's like traveling through rural England without ever seeing bicycles or blue eyes.
And for a book about a trip through the Amazon, there's not a lot about the Amazon. The river, the flora and fauna, the people who live there, even his initial partner Luke - all are treated as mere obstacles to be overcome. To paraphrase a much better writer, Mark Helprin, it's like traveling through rural England without ever seeing bicycles or blue eyes.
February 21, 2012
The first thing - Ed Stafford is crazy. I want to travel around South America but no way would I do this. Everyone said he'd never make it and he is probably lucky to have survived - floods, infections, hostile people, dangerous wildlife. Not to mention his mental state as he spent such a huge portion of the trip depressed. A monumental adventure and a first in a world where there aren't many great adventure firsts left.
I would love to visit a lot of the places he went but I'll take a plane or a boat thanks.
I would love to visit a lot of the places he went but I'll take a plane or a boat thanks.
February 22, 2023
Ed Stafford's journey to walk the entire length of the River Amazon is an amazing feat. And there are some interesting little stories he tells, all happening throughout this amazing adventure in such an interesting setting. Unfortunately, instead of enjoying his surroundings, the people living there, the wildlife, … he pretty much complains about them the entire time. This is a bit of shame. With some more editing this book does have a lot of potential though. Props to Ed and Cho for finishing this extraordinary adventure of a lifetime.
September 7, 2011
Despite not being a prolific author Ed Stafford has written a great book here documenting the first walk of the entire length of the Amazon finished just earlier this year.
I thought the primary danger in such a trip would be the terrain, wildlife and risk of infection and disease. Although these clearly were an issue the major challenges that faced Ed were the native peoples and his own mental state. Ed and his fellow walker doggedly dodged drug traffickers (narcos) and battled depression during the 2 year plus trek through relatively unexplored South America.
The story moves with pace and I found it a really inspiring effort to achieve a brand new journey. Finding the route never before travelled or the climb never before completed becomes more and more elusive in the modern world so it's good to read about people still pulling it off and also their battle with modern technology in an effort to get it publicised.
I definitely think he had a shocker taking a 2kg Macbook to blog from though. Sure when he started the trip the iPad wasn't out but netbooks definitely were ;)
I thought the primary danger in such a trip would be the terrain, wildlife and risk of infection and disease. Although these clearly were an issue the major challenges that faced Ed were the native peoples and his own mental state. Ed and his fellow walker doggedly dodged drug traffickers (narcos) and battled depression during the 2 year plus trek through relatively unexplored South America.
The story moves with pace and I found it a really inspiring effort to achieve a brand new journey. Finding the route never before travelled or the climb never before completed becomes more and more elusive in the modern world so it's good to read about people still pulling it off and also their battle with modern technology in an effort to get it publicised.
I definitely think he had a shocker taking a 2kg Macbook to blog from though. Sure when he started the trip the iPad wasn't out but netbooks definitely were ;)
February 3, 2018
Although I see many people ripping this book to shreds I found it to be very interesting and an uplifting story about perseverance and the importance of mental health in difficult situations. Is it the best writing the world has ever seen? No. But writing is not Stafford’s job, being an explorer is. It’s really disheartening to see people react so negatively to a book that is written from his perspective about what he experienced. Yes, it includes his thoughts and food log because that’s what he did for 870 days it wasn’t all roses and seeing pretty animals in the rainforest. Wild was written in a similar style as this book and is praised, as it should be, but there is no reason for so much hate for Stafford.
August 27, 2014
I love to read true life travel adventures including Krakauer, Thesinger, Theroux, Rawicz, Shackleton, Conrad, Bryson, Heyerdahl, etc., but this adventure makes many others look like a bird walk in Central Park. From the shores of the Pacific Ocean over the Andes Mountains to the leaking spring headwaters of the Amazon River is where this story begins. It ends with a walk through the Amazon Basin which includes floods, insects, snakes, mosquitos, botflys, thousands of miles of mud, meals of untold origin, drug runners, many friendly and unfriendly indigenous natives and many friendly and unfriendly police and govenment officials. After thousands of miles of jungle with a companion met it the Peruvian Andes and after two years of machete wielding travel they finally reach the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean only to be met by reporters and papparazzi. A story of adventure, of ecology, of learning self awareness, and of high expectations. I have had the good fortune to have been to the Amazon interior several times so the thought of walking those miles of mud and rainforest leaves me cold.
January 9, 2013
Totally fun adventure book. This guy is in the tradition of those crazy Brits of the 19th century, who go to far off lands, just for the hell of it, even if it will kill them. Travel for guts and glory. It is a kind of dumb goal, that has not real point. But, goddamnit, he makes it, he walks the whole Amazon in two and a half year. The only crazy person to do so.
October 7, 2012
Really good book. Very tough journey walking and wading across the whole of South America in the Amazon jungle
May 16, 2012
Truly epic. Stafford's journey is truly wonderful.
I always know it's an adventure novel when I get near the end and feel strong pangs of longing to go back to the middle, to escape in that feeling. This book had that. It has a sort of vivid wistfulness running through it that tangles neatly with the forcefulness of the plot.
Of course, Stafford's no D. H. Lawrence. His writing is factual and to-the-point, much like I an imagine him as a person to be. But that's OK - he's not trying to prove anything. This book is a document of what he went through and who he became; it's not designed to win a Pulitzer. It's raw and simple and pretty good.
The one thing that annoys me is his dedication to himself. Maybe that sounds naive - the one person who should always be on your side is yourself - but it felt a little defensive to me sometimes. Or maybe a bit cocky. What I mean is that most things seemed to come from him - while his walking partners may have thought up new ways to cook or fish, he had the bulk of the 'eureka' moments and was constantly the one getting them out of trouble. If that's all factual, cool. But I get the impression that some of the things other people did, and contributed, were left out and everything good was attributed to Stafford.
I met him at a small launch of this book, actually, in London. A really down-to-earth and truly inspirational guy. His dedication to a self-acknowledged absurd task is amazing. If you want a new role model, look no further: this guy just doesn't know how to stop until he's succeeded.
A solid and interesting read. I'll be right on board for any future books about future adventures.
I always know it's an adventure novel when I get near the end and feel strong pangs of longing to go back to the middle, to escape in that feeling. This book had that. It has a sort of vivid wistfulness running through it that tangles neatly with the forcefulness of the plot.
Of course, Stafford's no D. H. Lawrence. His writing is factual and to-the-point, much like I an imagine him as a person to be. But that's OK - he's not trying to prove anything. This book is a document of what he went through and who he became; it's not designed to win a Pulitzer. It's raw and simple and pretty good.
The one thing that annoys me is his dedication to himself. Maybe that sounds naive - the one person who should always be on your side is yourself - but it felt a little defensive to me sometimes. Or maybe a bit cocky. What I mean is that most things seemed to come from him - while his walking partners may have thought up new ways to cook or fish, he had the bulk of the 'eureka' moments and was constantly the one getting them out of trouble. If that's all factual, cool. But I get the impression that some of the things other people did, and contributed, were left out and everything good was attributed to Stafford.
I met him at a small launch of this book, actually, in London. A really down-to-earth and truly inspirational guy. His dedication to a self-acknowledged absurd task is amazing. If you want a new role model, look no further: this guy just doesn't know how to stop until he's succeeded.
A solid and interesting read. I'll be right on board for any future books about future adventures.
July 30, 2018
The author's achievement, walking the length of the Amazon, is amazing. Well worth a read if you enjoy wilderness adventures. Though I enjoyed the book I wouldn't say it was so amazing. At times I didn't feel the sense of place as I tried to visualize the Amazon jungle.
April 26, 2012
Couldn't put this one down all weekend... I found myself scouring the internet for more information on the Amazon for days after. Stafford's journey will open your eyes to the power of human will.
May 8, 2013
It felt like it took 860 days to get through this book!
This was an incredible feat by Ed Stafford and his companion Cho but this book is awful. The narrative is choppy and hard to follow, the descriptions of the Amazon are meager and fail to paint any kind of picture for the reader, and Ed Stafford himself is really an unpleasant guy.
Most of the book is him whining about one thing or another, belittling the people of Peru and Brazil (who are, according to him, feeble minded, fat, drunk and corrupt), and describing his ineptitude with planning, navigation and a score of other things.
I read a lot of adventure books and I've come to realize that the people that undertake these kinds of tasks tend to make decisions that make baffle me. Stafford seems not to sweat "small things" like money, visas, permits or even carrying enough food. He just forges ahead, backtracking willy nilly to survive and still adhere to his "rules" for his expedition.
He also does crazy things like letting a Peruvian woman who he barely knows and who comes dressed in skinny jeans to join the expedition. She was only there for a few days but other random strangers he lets join for weeks at a time, and then he wonders why they suck at living in the jungle. CRAZY MAN.
This was an incredible feat by Ed Stafford and his companion Cho but this book is awful. The narrative is choppy and hard to follow, the descriptions of the Amazon are meager and fail to paint any kind of picture for the reader, and Ed Stafford himself is really an unpleasant guy.
Most of the book is him whining about one thing or another, belittling the people of Peru and Brazil (who are, according to him, feeble minded, fat, drunk and corrupt), and describing his ineptitude with planning, navigation and a score of other things.
I read a lot of adventure books and I've come to realize that the people that undertake these kinds of tasks tend to make decisions that make baffle me. Stafford seems not to sweat "small things" like money, visas, permits or even carrying enough food. He just forges ahead, backtracking willy nilly to survive and still adhere to his "rules" for his expedition.
He also does crazy things like letting a Peruvian woman who he barely knows and who comes dressed in skinny jeans to join the expedition. She was only there for a few days but other random strangers he lets join for weeks at a time, and then he wonders why they suck at living in the jungle. CRAZY MAN.
April 20, 2014
Enjoyable and impressive account of a 860 day hike from the source to the mouth of the Amazon. Stafford writes better than most of the current crop of 'adventure' writers, i.e. he doesn't feel the need to use adverbs every second sentence or go on and on about the life changing wonderfulness of what he is doing or make unfunny quips etc etc.
Have to say I became a little bored towards the end:jungle,mosquitoes, hunger,jungle,mosquitoes, hunger,jungle,mosquitoes, hunger, etc. Not my idea of fun really. I do like a good adventure but one with a pub along the way somewhere.
Have to say I became a little bored towards the end:jungle,mosquitoes, hunger,jungle,mosquitoes, hunger,jungle,mosquitoes, hunger, etc. Not my idea of fun really. I do like a good adventure but one with a pub along the way somewhere.
August 23, 2019
I liked the story. I liked the guy, and I liked the writing style. But I didn't like the scenes where they killed animals. To be a no-hunting expedition, they slaughtered quite a few beasts: anacondas, vipers, tortoises! tapirs!! and countless fish. I skipped those parts, especially since killing a tortoise seems a slow and painful thing for the poor animal. A less squeamish (and less concerned about conservation) reader probably wouldn't mind though.
January 27, 2021
An exceptional read for me. Full of adventure and honesty. Ed really shares the truths and hardships of undergoing such an extreme expedition. I enjoyed his transparency and writing style. I could easily read it all over again.
April 26, 2013
Review
Well, Stafford wrote this book in a similar fashion to how I wrote my Europe Trip blog in 2007: long, very detailed, very wordy, often whiny and petty, with a pretty sad love life. What he didn't do, and what I did, was include some sort of artistic form; no joking Bill Bryson, no lyrical prose, no dreamy or thought-provoking side-stories, just monotonous, detailed explanation and fairly immature sounding thoughts. Immature in that he generally alternates between complaining about people in a passive aggressive way and forgiving them in a kingly fashion, or complaining about having no money for his trip and then spending half of it in the cities or on ridiculously expensive items and barely mentioning charity money, or his child-like interactions with his companions, etc.
Why the three stars though? Well, I will take Stafford down a few notches accomplishment-wise first, since, like great British explorers of old, it wasn't just Stafford, but Stafford and native porter person (in the case, Gadiel 'Cho') who accomplished the goal. Ed almost never did the trip alone, and frequently had a team of 2-5 people helping him, not to mention a huge team on the outside and massive financial backing. Plus, he had already been in the army, in Afghanistan and running jungle expeditions; it's not as powerful as some guy just walking across the Amazon!
There, got that out of the way. Part of what I just said was also fuelled by jealousy. Ed Stafford really must possess some dog-gone strong English perseverance and mental and physical fortitude to have pulled this off, not to mention a heaping helping of insanity. Even given detractions, his slog through thousands of kilometres of swamps and thorns and spikes and biting creatures and heat and fungus and danger and the unknown and god-knows-what-else since it's the Amazon where half of everything alive is out to hurt you -- demands respect. I'm jealous because his trip was exponentially greater than any I've done in terms of bragging rights and strength of will, and I highly respect him for doing it and doing it well.
He and oi vey! He AND Cho deserve tons of credit.
The detailed and selfish nature of his writing, while monotonous and single-minded at times, does seem to do HIS trip justice. It does seem to adequately express HIS trip to the reader. A massive logistical/mental/physical undertaking, complete with all of Ed's flaws and various challenges and events which, while not described beautifully, are faithfully and convincingly described. I think he had a great trip, and wrote a good book which is worth a read. If it was THAT monotonous, I wouldn't have written this long and contentious of a review.
June 18, 2013
ex-uk military guy, kicking around doing adventure tours in bolivia, got a gig in helping united nations do elections in afghanistan (where they were run out of the county) then comes up with an off the wall idea: what about walking down the amazon river? some him and english buddy (world adventurer kayak and mountain climber dude) say yeah, let's do it. they start in pacific ocean in peru, head east, into the red zone, rather lawless area mostly run by shining path and lots of indian land, and the indians hate hate westerners because they think they are either 1. cia or 2. oilfield devils or 3 both. so this is in the area with the deepest canyon in the world, apurimac, and you have 3 choices, 1. go down in the canyon and probably never reappear, 2. walk on the red zone side and get major hassled by the indians and reds 3. walk on the narco side and get killed by the narcos moving vegetables to colombia to process into coke. that is when ed's partner quits, hell, he quits even before the canyon. this leads up to ed finding, by total happenstance a young guy named cho, a forestry worker who knows the roads around there and agrees to guide and walk with ed till they get out of red zone. cho ends up walking for 800 more days all the way to the atlantic. yes they make it, but through incredible terrain, floods (3 years of floods), lots of immigration hassles, lots of equipment breaks, lots of bugs, lots of going hungry (they made a vow not to kill and eat animals, but did catch and eat fish) lots of being totally broke. he way overestimated how much it would cost and how long, and financial crisis hit in middle of walk, so had to start begging and did a paypal campaign, i think, or kickstarter? anyway, go more cash, got a live blog, got to belem . now ed and cho are a guinness world record holder, nat. gero. adventurer of the year 2010, a european adventurer of the year 2010. and is planning to do something else adventure wise soon.
no body could really believe they did this, most thought it pretty much impossible. but they did.
other reviewers thought ed's writing a bit lacking but i thought was adequate. has nice maps and color pics. i think at the time he was live blogging etc there was quite a bit of interest and scrutiny about outside exploitation of indian and rainforest land, logging, oil, farms, mines. i think that exploitation has gone on unabated. ed maybe needs to take THAT adventure on.
no body could really believe they did this, most thought it pretty much impossible. but they did.
other reviewers thought ed's writing a bit lacking but i thought was adequate. has nice maps and color pics. i think at the time he was live blogging etc there was quite a bit of interest and scrutiny about outside exploitation of indian and rainforest land, logging, oil, farms, mines. i think that exploitation has gone on unabated. ed maybe needs to take THAT adventure on.
January 5, 2021
I love to walk, and I love the IDEA of walking really long distances, so the idea of someone walking the entire 4,000 mile length of the Amazon River sounds like an incredible adventure! Well, add this to the list of "Glad to read about someone else doing it, but better them than me!" things I think would be fun. I think of how much I love hiking on the woods, and take several things for granted. (1) I'm usually on a maintained trail, not the challenge of the Andes or the dense (but thinning) rain forests. (2) I live in the United States, so don't have to worry about different tribes, the problems with visas, or even the 3 different nations with the Amazon. (3) When I get hungry, I go to my car and head home. Food rations are a real obstacle in this book. (4) Walking is an activity that we think of as costing nothing, but it takes a considerable amount of money to manage the language, cultural, topographical and navigational obstacles of the largest river in South America. (5) I just have to be mindful of bears (have still never seen one in the wild) and snakes. The wildlife to watch out for in the Amazon is much more abundant.
Besides being a riveting account of the whole journey, it's also a great story about how the author's original companion turned out to be incompatible with the mission early on, and how his replacement who spoke no English (Cho) ended up becoming a valuable assistant and cherished friend. Reading about the end at the Atlantic, and seeing the actual photos (included in the book) of the rapturous joy of both of them was wonderful! It's also a great lesson in that so many times giving up was the easy choice, but the two men would not let the other quit.
Besides being a riveting account of the whole journey, it's also a great story about how the author's original companion turned out to be incompatible with the mission early on, and how his replacement who spoke no English (Cho) ended up becoming a valuable assistant and cherished friend. Reading about the end at the Atlantic, and seeing the actual photos (included in the book) of the rapturous joy of both of them was wonderful! It's also a great lesson in that so many times giving up was the easy choice, but the two men would not let the other quit.
November 6, 2012
Really, I'd like to give this two and a half stars. On the one hand, it's an amazing story. Walking the length of the Amazon river, across the entire South American continent, is pretty damn impressive. Stafford has some great stories about his trip and the planning that went into it. I found it interesting that even though the physical challenge was overwhelming, it was the mental challenges that gave him the most trouble. Boredom, panic, worry over bad decisions that cost time and money, and straight up depression.
On the other hand, this dude is not a writer. And that's okay! I think he can still feel pretty good about himself, having walked the length of the Amazon river and all. But if he hired a ghostwriter for this, he needs to get his money back.
Also, he plays this form of Oppression Olympics that I would call the Suffering Olympics. At certain points in the trip he hears bad news from home (his old army regiment struggling in Afghanistan, his mentor dying in the same war) and thinks, "who am I to complain, there are much worse things happening to others." Well, maybe, but you are probably suffering from clinical depression while walking through one of the most dangerous places in the world, sometimes on the edge of starvation, oh and you probably have an infection that has a slight chance of eating your soft palate off of your face. I think it's okay to feel sorry for yourself, at least for a little bit.
On the other hand, this dude is not a writer. And that's okay! I think he can still feel pretty good about himself, having walked the length of the Amazon river and all. But if he hired a ghostwriter for this, he needs to get his money back.
Also, he plays this form of Oppression Olympics that I would call the Suffering Olympics. At certain points in the trip he hears bad news from home (his old army regiment struggling in Afghanistan, his mentor dying in the same war) and thinks, "who am I to complain, there are much worse things happening to others." Well, maybe, but you are probably suffering from clinical depression while walking through one of the most dangerous places in the world, sometimes on the edge of starvation, oh and you probably have an infection that has a slight chance of eating your soft palate off of your face. I think it's okay to feel sorry for yourself, at least for a little bit.
September 26, 2012
I'm feeling kind of "meh" about this one, so I'm giving it 2.5 stars. The adventure aspect was interesting, but I often found the author's attitude toward the native people of the areas where he was traveling to be very condescending and at times he struck me as arrogant, but I guess one would have to be somewhat arrogant to even dream of hiking the entire length of the Amazon. About two-thirds of the way through the book I started to feel like I was stuck in a "lather, rinse, repeat" cycle, only it was "hack through the flooded jungle, get lost, face starvation, discover a village just in the nick of time, repeat." Two thumbs up for having the guts to take on that type of adventure, but only a mediocre rating for the book.
October 23, 2012
don't read this to find out about the flora and fauna of the rainforest or even much about the local people who live there. What this is is a mind-boggling account of the author's Guinness record walk of the entire Amazon area from the Pacific coast in Peru to the Atlantic coast in Brazil. He talks about the pure boredom of walking that far in spite of the dangers and discomforts and how he slowly developed a way to control his mind. He is mostly accompanied by a Peruvian man who becomes a great companion after a rocky start. It was fun to read even though the author kind of just gutted his way through the ordeal rather than enjoying it. His background was in the military, not biology or anthropology.
July 26, 2014
I read this for our book club this month. I wouldn't have made it past the first couple chapters otherwise.
The biggest problem with this book is that it was written by Ed Stafford. The book could have been really good if it had been written by a ghost writer or if Stafford had a VERY heavy-handed editor. As is, this book is basically a walk of depression. It hardly talks about anything interesting (the amazon!), and focuses in depth on how bored/lonely/depressed Stafford is. He hated this journey from the first to last step and it reads just as tediously.
I did love the rare moments of interesting parts in this book. They were extremely few & far between. 2 stars.
The biggest problem with this book is that it was written by Ed Stafford. The book could have been really good if it had been written by a ghost writer or if Stafford had a VERY heavy-handed editor. As is, this book is basically a walk of depression. It hardly talks about anything interesting (the amazon!), and focuses in depth on how bored/lonely/depressed Stafford is. He hated this journey from the first to last step and it reads just as tediously.
I did love the rare moments of interesting parts in this book. They were extremely few & far between. 2 stars.
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