

Levison Wood is a British explorer, writer and photographer who’s travelled to over 100 countries, many of them in war zones, typically thought of as hostile or off the beaten track. His documentaries, best-selling books and photographs have enchanted people the world over. He’s walked the whole length of the Nile – the world’s longest river, walked the Himalayas where he survived a terrible car crash, diced with gang leaders when walking the Americas and recently returned from his most ambitious expedition to date – a 5000 mile circumnavigation of the Arabian peninsula from Iraq to Lebanon.
For tickets to see Levison Wood talk at London’s Adventure Travel Show click here.
On this episode we cover
His work with The Adventure Travel Show
His recent Arabian journey around the Middle East – Iraq, Syria, Yemen
Travelling to over 100 countries
Walking the Nile, Walking the Himalayas, Walking the Americas
Exploring a region at the slowest pace
Being a keen pedestrian!
How travel is all about the people
Shedding light on places that tend to be in the news for all the wrong reasons
Travelling to conflict or terrorism afflicted areas
How conflict is often localised
Travelling to Afghanistan
Sudan being one of the most hospitable places he’s been to
Bars and nightclubs and people living normal lives in Syria
Exploring the human urge to travel
His own adventurous spirit
Caravanning in Wales and camping in Scotland as a child
A cliché gap year to Thailand and India and more age 18
Loving backpacking and the freedom of adventure
Being determined to make travel his career from a young age
Spending 5 years in the Parachute Regiment in the army
Working for a charity in Africa
Setting up a guiding and expedition company
His foray into TV and media
Walking the length of the River Nile
The death of journalist Matt Power
The planning that goes into an expedition
The risks in his expeditions
How the most dangerous things are often the most mundane – getting ill, car accidents
The near death experience he had in the Himalayas in Nepal
Shooting off the mountain in the car as the brakes failed
Surviving the crash against the odds
Being rescued by the local villagers
Waiting three days for the helicopter to take him to Kathmandu
How the accident changed him
Realising his own mortality
Lisa feeling sorry for his mum!
Serving in Afghanistan in the military
His first trip to Afghanistan age 22
Dervla Murphy cycling from Dublin to Delhi in the 1960s
The Wakhan Corridor in the North East
Entering via Tajikistan
Travelling the length of the silk road
Hitching hiking from Grantham Services on the A1 to Calais, Russia, Iran, Pakistan and India
Bangkok and the Khao San Road
William Sutcliffe’s Are You Experienced
Spending 6 and 9 months walking the Nile and the Himalayas
The alternate reality of travelling for 6-9 months every year
Meeting the Dalai Lama in the Himalayas
How his guides leave the greatest impression
Bathing in the Ganges, Rishikesh and Haridwar
The amazing festivals in India
The shepherds in the changing of the seasons in the Himalayas
The migratory route of the descendants of Ghenghis Khan
Yaks, camels and goats
How different cultures receive him, usually with hospitality
The ganglands of central America
San Pedro Sula in Honduras, the murder capital of the world
The city controlled by two main gangs
Negotiated with the gangland bosses in prison
Russia, Iran and Syria without pushing a political agenda
Never feeling scared but feeling aware of the dangers
Just because there’s men with guns it doesn’t mean you’re going to get shot
Having to be wary of wildlife on the Nile
How driving is often the most dangerous part
The appeal of the freedom of motorbikes
His Arabian trip being the culmination of 15 years work
Travelling to Baghdad in 2003 (from Egypt, Jordan and Israel)
Finding the Middle East a complex place to understand
Being in Baghdad as war broke out…
…when his mum thought he was on holiday in Greece
Suicide bombings in Israel meaning he was stuck in Jordan and had to
cross the border into Iraq
American soldiers trying to sell him a gun
Escaping Iraq by hitchhiking to Mosul to Tikrit
Saddam Hussein still being down a hole
Blagging a life with some mercenaries
Being a reckless 21 year old
Revisiting these areas recently – Syria, Iraq, the Gulf, across the desert in Oman, into Yemen, taking a fishing boat to Somalia, to Djibouti, Saudi Arabia to Jordan
Seeing the disruption in Syria and the shell of Mosul
A sense of hope and humour
How Saudi Arabia was a surprise
Amazing tribes in Jeddah and the xxxx mountains
Jeddah feeling quite progressive – a McDonalds on every corner
Damascus still being a thriving town with hotels, nightclubs and restaurants
Lebanon – skiing, beaches and wonderful scenery
The Safaricom marathon in Kenya through in aid of the Tusk Trust Charity
Running next to rhino, giraffes and antelope
Previous Big Travel Podcast guest Major Kenneth Hames being attacked by a rhino
Lisa being worried walking through a field of cows
How the world is moving with connection and technology
From Internet cafes to smartphones
Tribesman in Sahara with iPhones
How to hold a smartphone when wearing a grass skirts
Tribesman from Central America on Facebook
Mobile money in Africa being revolutionary
Paying with a phone in a local shack
His party trick skill
Yoga and headstands
Wanting to spend more time
Sacrificing a social life
Going on a wife hunt (AKA don’t believe everything you read in the newspapers)
How travel has put paid to perfectly good relationship
Doing headstands in the pub
Being recognised in a random places
Being mistaken to Ant Middleton
Walking the Americas being one of his favourite journeys
His guide Alberto being the perfect travel companion
The intensity of travelling with people
Lisa getting drunk with journalists abroad
The times he’s been close to giving up
How the Nile was the first big test of his own limits
The death of Matt Power
Being in the middle of the Sahara on his birthday when his mates were all in Ibiza
Having no idea whether the TV programme was going to be a success
Having no idea the programme would be so successful
How taking risks can sometimes pay off
Where he has had the best food
No such thing as a light lunch in Georgia, the Caucasus mountains and Azerbaijan
How it’s hard to get lost these days – Google Earth
Getting lost in the Gurez Valley in Cashmere
Spending the night the night in freezing rain in the bottom of a ravine
The most incredible view he has ever seen (tough to choose)
The incredible light of the Wadi Rum desert in Jordan
The view towards Annapurna from Sarangkot hill in the Himalayas
The road trip he made with two ambulances from London to Africa over 27 countries
The great African road-trip mix tape
Listening to Toto’s Africa 5000 times (due to a technical breakdown!)