Ed Stafford - Expeditions Unpacked: What the Great Explorers Took into the Unknown

In February 2018, three female adventurers, led by the British explorer Laura Bingham, become the first team to navigate the entire length of the Essequibo River.

The final entry in this book is a world-first river descent led by . The night before they were due to take a twin-propeller Cessna deep into the remote Guyanese jungle, Binghams expedition partner and room-mate, Ness Knight, meticulously laid out all of her kit on her bed. Knight needed the mental clarity that she had everything and knew where everything was before she packed it away something I completely get. Bingham (who happens also to be my lunatic wife) came in and, as a joke, pulled away the bed covers to tip all of the kit into a heap on the floor. Somehow the two continue to be the best of friends having subsequently kayaked the entire Essequibo together, but I know that I would have exploded if shed done that to me. Binghams intention was to cut the pre-expedition tension I know she just wanted everyone to laugh but, when you play with someone elses kit, you are playing with fire.

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On the same expedition, a very different piece of kit also revolutionised the trip. About a year into the walk, I ran out of money. Without it I could no longer buy food, pay for insurance, hire local guides or afford website maintenance. In days gone by, I would have had to hold my hands up and admit defeat expedition over. But on this trip I was carrying a BGAN (satellite Internet link). I uploaded a video, cut to a Coldplay soundtrack (for maximum tugging of heartstrings) and put a Paypal link next to it asking people to help fund the expedition. The response was extraordinary and over the course of the next year, the video raised over 40,000. To be able to communicate with the outside world from the depths of the Amazon saved my expedition and enabled me to achieve a Guinness World Record.

But as much as I admire the theodolites and sextants, the oilskins and the water drums, its the frivolous items that I find myself drawn to. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston sailed around the world with Tennents Lager, whisky and Bovril, whereas Jason Lewis pedalled, rowed and paddled across oceans with Castle Eden Ale, whisky (again) and Marmite. But can we even call these items whimsical? On the face of it, its not too hard to imagine that the gruelling days and nights would have been impossible to survive without a nightcap and a tiny slice of home. But digging deeper, perhaps the very items that make me grin are the ones that reveal a mischievous character: Its my expedition and Ill take what I bloody want! And why not? Could it be that this two-fingered salute to common sense is in fact the bolshy character trait that made the expedition happen in the first place?

From accordions to pianos, canines to camels, the mix of essentials and extraordinaries over the centuries has been fascinating to research and write about in a manner that lays bare these explorers remarkable minds. Whether you read it from cover to cover or simply dip into it on a coffee break, I sincerely hope that Ive managed to capture the sense of wonder at these astounding feats of human endeavour and how each explorers own personal kit selection helps us to get inside the minds of those who have chosen a life less ordinary.

The large waterproof liner inside my 90-litre Macpac rucksack helped keep me bouyant when wading through the Amazon and took some of the weight off my aching shoulders.