Extraordinary Adventurers

................................................ Ed Stafford from the UK is the first person to walk along the Amazon River from the mountains of Peru to the mouth of the river in Brazil. His extraordinary journey took two years and four months. There are many dangerous animals in the rainforest, like snakes and crocodiles, but Ed was talented and lucky; he was only bitten by ants and mosquitoes. On his trip, Ed had to find fruit and nuts or catch fish each morning. Sometimes food was hard to find and Ed was often tired and hungry. While he walked, Ed wrote a blog to tell about climate change and destruction of the rainforest.

................................................ Did you know that more than 4,000 people have climbed Mount Everest? Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner from Austria is one of these highly talented climbers who has climbed all the world’s mountains over 8,000 metres high. It’s very difficult to climb in cold weather and storms because it’s extremely hard to keep your balance against strong winds, but Gerlinde loves it. She started climbing as a teenager in the mountains near her home. When she left school, she became a nurse but always went climbing in her free time.

................................................ Some adventurers are always looking for an extraordinary challenge. Ordinary is not satisfying for them. Megan McGrath from Canada has climbed mountains, ridden a bike across Canada and run races in the desert. But her most incredible journey was a skiing trip to the South Pole. As she skied, Megan pulled a sledge with a tent and all her food. She skied through terrible storms and freezing temperatures for forty days till she arrived at the South Pole. Erik Weihenmayer from the United States has climbed mountains and ridden a bike through deserts. Amazingly, Erik is blind and he wants other blind people to have active lives too. He has taken groups of young blind people climbing in Nepal.