On Monday, a British man became the first person to walk the entire length of the Amazon river, Reuters reports.
When former army officer, Ed Stafford, arrived at Maruda Beach in Brazil, he finished a 6,000-mile journey from the origin of the Amazon river to its mouth. The length of the Amazon is 4,000 miles, however Reuters reports that flooding forced Stafford to walk a extra 2,000 miles.
Stafford began his journey over two years ago in April, 2008. During his walk, the 34-year old endured over 50,000 mosquito bites, contracted a skin disfiguring disease, was accused of murder, had a botfly living in his head (see video above), and was chased by Ashaninka Indians with bows and arrows.
Peruvian forestry worker, Gadiel Cho Sanchez Rivera, joined Stafford for most of the journey after Stafford's original companion, British adventurer Luke Collyer, bowed out.
Read more about Stafford's adventure on his website. For photos, click here. For a previous blog post on Stafford's adventure, click here.
–Erin Beresini