Adventure Speaker Ed Stafford

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'.

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.

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 acclaimed book, Walking the Amazon has been translated into Mandarin, Ukranian, Polish and Spanish and has been published in the USA.  In this book, Ed writes on completing this journey: ‘It was over nine million-odd steps; over 200,000 mosquito and ant bites; over 8,000 kilometres 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 the 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).

The motivational Ed Stafford was awarded European Adventurer of the Year 2011. The Guinness World Records formally recognised 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.  He continues to work on acclaimed television projects: Ed’s subsequent survival series ‘Marooned’ was shown worldwide on Discovery in 2014/5 with a second series warmly greeted by Ed’s fans in 2016. 

During each episode of ‘Marooned’ Ed is left alone in remote, harsh and difficult extreme environments for ten days learning to survive (and attempting to thrive) and filming the survival adventure himself.  In 2015, Discovery Channel aired an acclaimed new series ‘Into The Unknown’ with Ed as he explored remote locations around the world seeking unexplained markings that have been revealed on the landscape through satellite images.  Ed continues to work on exciting and challenging projects. Ed used his jungle expertise to help climbing legend Joe Simpson follow his father’s footsteps during WWII.  Ed and Joe’s story was shown in a two-part TV series on Burma’s Secret Jungle War on the BBC in May 2016.

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.

Ed intends to use his adventures to inspire adults and kids alike to stretch their horizons and believe that they can do so much more.

Ed Stafford has given keynote talks in New York, London, Sydney, Istanbul, Barcelona, Geneva and many other cities worldwide. He is fast becoming the inspirational adventure speaker to book. He is honest and real and has a no-nonsense way of imparting the lessons he learned along his mammoth journey. 

Speaker topics:

• Overcoming Adversity
• Taking Risks
• Resilience and Determination
• Goal-Setting 
• Taking On Challenges
• Motivation

Scarlet Entertainment has many different motivational and keynote speakers which you can hire. You can find more on our Leadership and Motivational speakers page. 

If you would like to book Ed Stafford as a motivational speaker at your event then please contact one of our Speaker Experts who are always on hand to help.