from on .
Englishman Ed Stafford is a mere four days away from accomplishingwhat no man has ever done before: walking the Amazon from its headwaters tothe Atlantic, says his blog . Stafford, a retired British Army captain, has been at it for 855 days with no break.
Joining Stafford five months into the journey was Gadiel “Cho” Sanchez Rivera,a Peruvian forester who originally planned to hike with Stafford foronly five days. Rivera, who regularly interacts with the indigenouspeople of the Amazon, decided to remain with Stafford to helphim survive.
“If the distance wasn't challenge enough, the dense forest, biting insects, snakes, bogs, wilderness and uncertainty of what lay ahead would daunt the staunchest explorer,” Sir Ranulph Fiennes told the . “To do all this in more than 800 continuous days with just a backpack puts Stafford's endeavour in the top league of expeditions past and present.”
The pair and are now walking alongwell-established roads where there is broad cell phone coverage. Requests for interviews from news organizations have increased near the journey's end and has picked up as Stafford and Rivera near the ocean.
–Will Taylor