A former British army captain has become the first known person to walk from the origin of the Amazon river to its mouth, after enduring "50,000" mosquito bites, attacks by hostile Indians, and tropical disease in his nearly two-and-a-half-year odyssey.
Ed Stafford, a 34-year-old from Leicestershire, England, dived into the Atlantic Ocean after taking 859 days to walk the length of the world's second-longest river, starting at the peak of Mount Mismi in Peru in April 2008.
"It's just phenomenal to be here at the end of the journey after two-and-a-half years slogging our way through the jungle," he said after arriving at the beach about 150 kilometres north-east of the Brazilian city of Belem.
"It was really difficult to envisage how this was going to feel and I'm completely overwhelmed".
Stafford briefly collapsed from exhaustion with only 85km of the 9,650km journey to go, passing out by the roadside after breaking out in a rash. ABC News
