Career
He is best known for his extended walking expeditions in Africa and Asia. Over the course of nine months from 2013-2014 he undertook the first ever expedition to walk the entire length of the river Nile from Nyungwe Forest in Rwanda, beginning in December 2013. lieutenant was commissioned into a four-part documentary series for Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. He also wrote a Sunday Times bestselling book detailing the expedition Walking the Nile.
In 2015 he walked the length of the Himalayas from Afghanistan in the west to Bhutan in the east.
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.
Wood grew up in Stoke-on-Trent, before obtaining an honours degree in history at the University of Nottingham. He spent a number of years as an officer in the British Army where he served in Afghanistan in Helmand, Kandahar and Zabul in 2008.
He left the army taking up a career in journalism and photography and has become a best selling author
He has extensive experience in travel and exploration in over 80 countries, in 2011 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Wood acts as patron and ambassador for a number of charities including the Tusk Trust and the Army Benevolent Fundthe Soldiers Charity. Wood recently rejoined the army, serving as a reservist Major in 77th Brigade (United Kingdom).
The expedition to walk the length of the Nile was inspired by explorers John Hanning Speke, Richard Francis Burton, David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley.
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. Matthew Power died during the programme due to a diagnosis of severe heatstroke.
In 2015, he 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, published in January 2016.
