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Levison Wood

World renowned explorer, writer and photographer

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About

Gender: Male

Nationality:

Languages: English

Travels from: United Kingdom

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Biography Highlights

Levison Wood is a professional explorer, TV presenter, photographer and author of 11 books. He is an experienced public speaker having done three UK-wide theatre speaking tours and spoken at events and conferences for huge clients around the world.

Biography

Meet Levison Wood

Levison Wood is a professional explorer, writer and photographer. Over the last decade he has had eight critically-acclaimed documentary series which have aired around the world, in which he has walked the length of the Nile, the Himalayas, the Americas, crossed the Caucasus, circumnavigated the Arabian Peninsula, followed the migration and conservation of elephants in Botswana and more. His latest series about endangered animals aired in August 2023 on Channel 4.

Levison is an elected fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorer’s Club. He is an ambassador for UNICEF and Leica. He served as an officer for several years in the Parachute Regiment, where he saw combat operations in Afghanistan.

He has written 11 best-selling books about his journeys, including a motivational book called The Art of Exploration, which was released in June 2021. ‘Britain’s best loved adventurer’ (The Times) talks about his secrets of discovery for the first time in this revealing manual of what it means to be an explorer in the modern age. He shares his own stories, as well as examples of pioneers in many fields, using their work to show how we can all develop our own explorer’s mindset and how these lessons can be applied in daily life. With chapters on curiosity, teamwork, resilience and positivity this is a book that provides a tool kit – no matter your age or profession.

He has recently completed his third UK-wide speaking tour, also entitled ‘The Art of Exploration’. He also often gives adventure-filled talks to companies, charities and universities on leadership and teamwork. He shares his amusing and poignant tales of life on the road and his transition from Parachute Regiment soldier to modern day explorer. With further stories and behind the scenes moments from his journeys all over the world for Channel 4, Levison asks why we travel. As well as the people and places that have inspired him, he’ll reveal the perils of life on expeditions, what it’s like being chased by hippos, shot at by gunmen, falling off a mountain and meeting illustrious figures such as the Dalai Lama along the way.

Videos

Books

Escape from Kabul: The Inside Story

‘An important account of one of the defining moments of the modern world’ PETER FRANKOPAN The evacuation of Kabul in August 2021 will go down in military history as one of the most unexpected events in modern times. In an eerie replay of the disastrous British retreat from Kabul in 1842, coalition troops withdrew from Afghanistan after twenty years of military campaigning. The subsequent collapse of the Afghan government and its army shocked the world, as a resurgent Taliban gathered its forces and swept across the country. Thousands of Afghans who had worked with the allies were left to the meagre mercy of the Taliban. As the Taliban went door to door to execute ‘collaborators’, a small international task force set out on a daring mission to evacuate as many Afghans and their families as possible. Drawing on a wide range of first-hand accounts – the politicians and officers who planned the trans-continental rescue, the young soldiers who were faced with the unenviable task of keeping a crowd of thousands of desperate people at bay, former interpreters and soldiers of the Afghan Special Forces who made it out – Escape from Kabul is the harrowing true story of Operation Pitting and the Kabul airlift.

Endurance: 100 Tales of Survival, Adventure and Exploration 100 of the most astonishing stories of human survival, adventure and exploration, chosen by Levison Wood.

We are always captivated by tales of courage and bravery, of world-firsts and death-defying experiences. In this anthology, explorer and bestselling author Levison Wood has gathered 100 of the most fascinating accounts of human endurance throughout history. From the heroism of Antarctic explorers to pioneering women in the Middle East; from record-breaking athletes to survivors of war and torture, this wide-ranging collection embraces both classics of the genre, as well as new and neglected voices. Endurance is packed full of you-couldn’t-make-it-up true stories and adventure fiction classics, from the high seas to the poles, from inhospitable jungles and deserts to the unknown realms of space, through physical and mental despair to euphoric highs. Yet all of these extraordinary stories celebrate the enduring nature of the human spirit, and show the mental and physical determination it sometimes takes to achieve one’s aims. Includes extracts about and by Ernest Shackleton, Robert Falcon Scott, Sir Edmund Hillary, Tenzing Norgay, Amelia Earhart, Marie Colvin, John Krakauer, Solomon Northrup, Ella Maillart, Freya Stark, Ed Stafford, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Aron Lee Ralston, María Elena Moyano, Gertrude Bell, Isabelle Eberhart, Nellie Bly, Alex Honnold, Nelson Mandela, David Nott, Jules Verne, Neil Armstrong and Scott Kelly.

The Art of Exploration: Lessons in Curiosity, Leadership and Getting Things Done

‘Forget routine; now is the time to embrace the unknown, step out of your comfort zone and open the gateway to the Art of Exploration.’ ‘Britain’s best loved adventurer’ (The Times) talks about his secrets of discovery for the first time in this revealing manual of what it means to be an explorer in the modern age. The man who has walked the Nile, the Himalayas and the Americas discusses his lessons from a life on the road, how he managed to turn a passion into a lifestyle, and what inspired and motivated him along the way. Wood explains how he and other explorers face up to life’s challenges, often in extraordinary circumstances and demonstrate resilience in the face of overwhelming odds. He shares examples of pioneers in many fields, using their work to show how we can all develop our own explorers mindset and how these lessons can be applied in daily life. With chapters on curiosity, teamwork, resilience and positivity this is a book that provides a tool kit – no matter your age or profession. As Levison says, ‘these lessons can help you to fulfil your potential for living a happy life, regardless of your circumstances’.

Encounters: A Photographic Journey Hardcover

Embark on a voyage of adventure with Sunday Times bestselling author, award-winning explorer and photographer Levison Wood, as he shares photographs and stories of the extraordinary people he has met and places he has seen on his breath-taking journeys around the globe. Encounters brings together 15 years of Levison Wood’s photography for the first time, telling the incredible stories of the world’s most remote places and the people who live there. Through chapters covering Frontiers, Conflict, Heritage, and Community, this collection showcases the breadth of experience across human communities and humanity’s relationship with its environment. With his unique experiences in extraordinary locations, and his eye for compelling compositions, Levison has created a memorable and powerful collection of images that shows the true stories of his adventures from ground level.

The Last Giants: The Rise and Fall of the African Elephant

The Last Giants explores the rapid decline of one of the world’s favourite animals and the measures required to halt their extinction, through Levison Wood’s time spent with elephants in Africa. This book comes at a critical time. Fifty years ago, Africa was home to just over 1.3 million elephants, but by 1990 the number had halved. Meanwhile in the span of a lifetime, the human population has more than doubled. In Levison Wood’s The Last Giants, he explores the rapid decline of one of the world’s favourite animals. Filled with stories from his own time spent travelling with elephants in Africa, the book is a passionate wake-up call for this endangered species we take for granted. The Last Giants was written to inspire us all to act – to learn more and help save the species from permanent extinction.

Incredible Journeys: Discovery, Adventure, Danger, Endurance

Alongside real-life explorer Levison Wood, travel around the world, meet some of history’s most daring pioneers, and be inspired to go on your very own adventures! Embark on 20 epic expeditions alongside Levison Wood, from the Silk Road and medieval pilgrimages to the Holy Land to Nellie Bly’s trip around the world, and recent missions to the Moon and the Mariana Trench. Along the way, Levison Wood shares his own insights into adventuring, telling you what it’s REALLY like to follow in the footsteps of Alexander the Great. Beautifully illustrated with maps showing the routes and filled with detail bringing the cultures of each region to life, this is a lavish gift book to treasure from one of our greatest living explorers.

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