Secret Compass founder Levison Wood aims to become first to walk the Nile

BRISTOL, U.K. - Nov. 30, 2013 - PRLog -- MEDIA RELEASE: 30 November 2013

Secret Compass founder Levison Wood aims to become first to walk the Nile

This Sunday (1 December 2013), Levison Wood – expedition leader, travel writer, photographer and co-founder of expedition company Secret Compass – embarks on a year-long challenge to walk the length of the river Nile.

Of his record-breaking 4,250-mile challenge, Wood said, “Walking the Nile is not just the most memorable and demanding expedition I’ve ever undertaken. It’s an amazing opportunity for me to report on all the incredibly positive stories that come out of Africa.

“Physically and mentally challenging, it will push me to the limit, requiring levels of resilience and determination that just cannot be prepared for! Despite the inherent risks, I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

Wood has travelled in over 80 countries and across all terrains, spending several years as an officer in the Parachute Regiment. In the army he met Tom Bodkin, a fellow commander in the Paras, with whom he went on to found expedition company Secret Compass in 2010.

Secret Compass’s marketing director, Kerry O’Neill, said, “Levison has led numerous expeditions to Africa with Secret Compass in recent years, pioneering adventure travel in the world’s newest country, South Sudan. He has up-to-date, on-the-ground knowledge of what it is to travel through these countries on foot – and is well aware of the significant challenges ahead.

“We hope that some of his friends and followers at Secret Compass and further afield might be able to join him for stretches of this epic, history-making adventure which will begin in the highlands of Rwanda and enter the jungles of Tanzania and Uganda before continuing northwards through Sudan to end on Egypt’s Mediterranean shore.”

As well as being one of exploration’s last great ‘firsts’, Wood’s reporting on the ground will reveal a cross-section of a continent experiencing extraordinary change. He will be able to bring the day-to-day successes, stories and struggles of the people he meets to the attention of his followers in the UK and around the world.

The journey will be the subject of a four-part Channel 4 documentary to be screened in 2014. The series will be produced by October Films, who will join Wood for short stints throughout the journey, facilitated by Secret Compass’s specialist film and TV arm (which provides pre-production and in-country support for crews filming in remote regions).

John Hay, commissioning editor at Channel 4, said, “We’re delighted Levison has allowed us to follow him on this incredible journey…his daily tweets from the riverbank will be a daily dose of another world.”

For further information about Secret Compass expeditions, contact Kerry O’Neill via email on kerry@secretcompass.com or visit Stand D18 at London’s Adventure Travel Show, January 25-26^th.

For press information about Levison Wood and Walk the Nile, please contact Lizzie Carr at Campbell-Bell Communications, via email on: lizzie@campbell-bell.com.

Walk the Nile online:

http://www.walkthenile.com/

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/walking-the-nile

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NOTES TO EDITORS
Secret Compass is a pioneering expedition company creating world-first experiences for teams of like-minded adventurers. Through group and bespoke adventures, Secret Compass helps each team member achieve the extraordinary in the world’s wildest places. Founded by ex-British Army Parachute Regiment officers, its expeditions reach the planet’s most remote regions in the spirit of exploration’s earliest pioneers. Its highly trained professionals deliver well-planned and safe experiences, while encouraging daring leaps out of comfort zones. Secret Compass is passionate about returning tourism to post-conflict zones and emerging economies to stimulate local development and challenge preconceptions.

Specialist Film and TV services
Secret Compass also takes film crews, journalists and photographers to remote and previously inaccessible areas thanks to its unrivalled location management expertise. Clients to date include the BBC, National Geographic, Animal Planet and Channel 4, in countries from Afghanistan to Uzbekistan.

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