Ed Stafford Receives Mungo Park Award

The RSGS was delighted to award Ed Stafford with our Mungo Park Medal after his talk at Perth Concert Hall on Monday 24th March

RSGS President Prof. Iain Stewart and Mungo Park Medal Winner Ed Stafford FRSGS

Ed completed one of the world’s last great adventures when he walked the entire length of the South American river, probably the world’s longest river.
 

Ed Stafford’s journey down the Amazon River was an inspiring example of the sort of feats an individual can achieve when they really put their mind to it. 

Ed used his journey to inspire others by filming and blogging his two and a half year adventure, gaining followers worldwide, and forming the basis for a documentary series and book. He wanted to create an adventure that would excite people about the Amazon and to discover both its wonders and its problems. He had first gained expedition experience with Trekforce Expeditions and carried forward their slogan “adventure with a purpose” as his guiding principle.

However, Ed would insist that Walking the Amazon was a world-first expedition first and foremost, but that he hoped that an ecological message would spread in tandem. He was personally concerned with the issues surrounding deforestation in the Amazon, and hoped that by enthusing people about the Amazon they might start to share his concerns. The big aim of his adventure was to get people so involved with the Amazon that they would start to care about its future.

With this in mind, and in recognition of Ed’s outstanding contributions to geographical knowledge through exploration in potentially hazardous physical environment, RSGS President Professor Iain Stewart presented Ed Stafford with the RSGS's Mungo Park Medal and honorary fellowship of the Society.

The Mungo Park Medal has been awarded since 1930 in recognition of outstanding contributions to geographical knowledge through exploration in potentially hazardous physical and social environments. Previous recipients include Thor Heyerdahl, Freya Stark, Kate Adie and John Simpson.

Ed Stafford will share the extraordinary story of his walk down the Amazon River, from source to sea, in a talk at Perth Concert Hall on Monday 24th March. Ed’s journey down the Amazon, which took 860 days to complete, was the first time in history that anyone has walked the entire length of the longest river on Earth.

    

Ed and his friend Luke Collyer set out on this monumental challenge in 2008. They believed it would take them one year and would involve walking 4,000 miles. In the end, two and a half years and 6,000 miles later, only Ed of the original two, would make it to journey’s end on the Atlantic. Along the way he had climbed an 18,000 feet mountain; witnessed and filmed never-before-seen tribal ceremonies; eaten cactus, tortoises and tapirs; been mistaken for a human body part trafficker; and met a local guide named Cho, who, after Luke’s departure, accompanied Ed on his mammoth trek

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The talk will take place at 7:30pm in Perth Concert Hall on Monday 24th March. Tickets are £10 for adults, £7 for under 18s, students and RSGS members. Tickets are available from the Horsecross Box Office on 01738 621031 or at www.horsecross.co.uk.

To find out more about becoming an RSGS member contact enquiries@rsgs.org. The Royal Scottish Geographical Society (RSGS) is an educational charity which promotes an understanding of the natural environment and human societies, and their interactions, making the connections between people, places and the planet, and aiming to inspire positive long-term change.

 More information on Ed Stafford can be found at www.edstafford.org Attached photographs are copyright Pete McBride