| Honorific Prefix: | Major | ||||||||||||
| Levison Wood | |||||||||||||
| Birth Date: | 5 May 1982 | ||||||||||||
| Birth Place: | Hartshill, Staffordshire, England | ||||||||||||
| Occupation: | Military officer, explorer, photographer and journalist | ||||||||||||
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Major Levison James Wood,, VR (born 5 May 1982)[1] is a British Army officer and explorer. He is best known for his extended walking expeditions in Africa, Asia, and Central America. He has also undertaken numerous other overland journeys, including a foot crossing of Madagascar and mountain climbing in Iraq. He documents his journeys through books, documentaries, and photography.
The son of teachers Levison Wood and Janice, née Curzon, Wood was born on 5 May 1982 at the North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary in Hartshill, Staffordshire. He grew up in nearby Forsbrook[2] and was educated at Painsley Catholic College,[3] before obtaining an honours degree in history at the University of Nottingham. He was commissioned as an officer into the Parachute Regiment on 13 April 2006 where he spent four years, serving in Afghanistan in Helmand, Kandahar and Zabul. Wood was promoted to Captain on 13 October 2008.
He left the army in April 2010, took up a career in writing and photography, and has become a bestselling author. He has extensive experience in travel and exploration in over 100 countries and in 2011 was made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He is an elected Fellow of the Explorers Club in New York, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a visiting Fellow of The Business School and holds honorary doctorates at Staffordshire University and The University of Nottingham.
Wood acts as a patron and ambassador for a number of charities including UNICEF, the Tusk Trust, The Glacier Trust,[4] the ABF The Soldiers' Charity[5] and The Gurkha Welfare Trust. He rejoined the army in 2012, serving as a reservist Major in the 77th Brigade.
In March 2024 Wood was appointed as Chancellor of Staffordshire University, taking up position on the 1st May.[6]
The expedition to walk the length of the Nile was inspired by the explorers John Hanning Speke, Richard Francis Burton, David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley.[7] Wood was accompanied by numerous guides, journalists (including Matthew Power), and friends along the different stages of the route. The expedition was commissioned into a television programme for Channel 4 that aired in January 2015, and Wood detailed the trip in his book Walking the Nile.[8] Power died during the programme from severe heat stroke. Wood was forced to abandon a 450miles section in South Sudan due to heavy fighting caused by civil war.[9]
Beginning in December 2013, over the course of nine months, he undertook the first ever expedition to walk the entire length of the river Nile from the Nyungwe Forest in Rwanda. The expedition was commissioned as a four-part documentary series for Channel 4 in the UK. He also wrote a Sunday Times bestselling book detailing the expedition, Walking the Nile.
In 2015, Wood embarked on another challenge: to walk the length of the Himalayas from Afghanistan to Bhutan, filming a documentary series and writing another book about the experience, which was published in January 2016.[5] [10]
In September 2017 he began his most ambitious challenge to date: a full circumnavigation of the Arabian Peninsula: travelling from Syria, through Iraq, the Gulf, crossing part of the Empty Quarter desert in Oman, traversing Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Holy Land to finish in Lebanon; an expedition totalling . During the course of the journey, he was embedded with Iraqi troops fighting ISIS where he witnessed the liberation of Sharqat and also encountered Palestinian guerrillas and Hezbollah operatives. He visited the city of Palmyra which was then under Russian control. This journey was documented in the Discovery series Arabia With Levison Wood.
Channel 4 broadcast Walking the Americas from January 2017, featuring an expedition from Mexico to Colombia.[5] The channel then broadcast his journey along the Caucasus in the four-episode series From Russia to Iran: Crossing Wild Frontiers.[11]
In May 2020, Channel 4 commenced broadcasting Walking with Elephants, where Levison followed the 650-mile migration of elephants across Botswana.[12]
In August 2023, Levison presented Levison Wood: Walking with...; a three-part wildlife documentary series that aired on Channel 4.[13]
| Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan with Afghanistan clasp | |
| Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal | |
| Volunteer Reserves Service Medal[14] | |
| Army Achievement Medal (US Army award)[15] |
Walking the Himalayas was voted "Adventure Travel Book of the Year" for 2016 at the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards.[16]
Wood was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Staffordshire University in 2017 in recognition of his work as an explorer, writer and photographer.[17]