Ed Stafford attended the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst and left the military in 2002 as a captain. Ed used his leadership and outdoor skills as an expedition leader on community and conservation expeditions in the jungles of Belize, Guatemala and Borneo.
After serving in Afghanistan as a UN contractor, Ed became Director of an expedition company in Patagonia Argentina carrying out scientific research projects and Northern Ice Cap traverses in Chile. Prior to his world-first trek along the length of the Amazon, Ed worked for the BBC’s Natural History Unit setting up a film-production base camp in the heart of the Guyanese rainforest and managing the camp’s logistics once the film crew for ‘Lost Land of the Jaguar’ arrived on location.
After his epic world-first trek from the source of the Amazon to the Atlantic ocean (completed in August 2010), Ed has continued to push his limits and take on new challenges filming himself surviving in and exploring tough environments for ‘Naked and Marooned’, ‘Into the Unknown’, and two subsequent series of ‘Marooned’ – all highly successful series with the Discovery Channel. A new series ‘Left for Dead’ premiered on Discovery UK in the Autumn of 2017.
Over Christmas 2018, Ed lived on the streets for 60 days in London, Glasgow and Manchester looking at the plight of the homeless for a Channel 4 doucmentary broadcast in early 2019.
Ed has written two books: ‘Walking the Amazon’ and ‘Naked and Marooned’.
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.
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
‘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
'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
Photo courtsey of:Martin Hartley.