Celebrated explorer Levison Wood on finding the good in life ahead of Lancashire tour date

Visiting 19 towns and cities, Levison will captivate audiences with extraordinary stories from more than 20 years of exploration, including exclusive insights into his brand-new book, The Great Tree Story: How Forests Have Shaped Our World, and a behind-the-scenes look at the development of a major film.

The brand-new show Walking the World: A Life of Exploration and Adventure, Levison’s fifth live tour, will celebrate the human spirit and the transformative power of travel as he takes audiences on a visual and emotional journey spanning his career to date.

Tickets are available now from nothird.co.uk

Levison, tell us a bit about your background and how you reached this point in life…

I grew up in the north Staffordshire countryside which I loved. My parents were teachers, and I think they gave me a curiosity about the wider world, although I don’t think I even visited London until I was 10, maybe 12.

After a very typical clichéd gap year as an 18-year-old, I studied history at university, then hitchhiked part of the Silk Road. Visiting those places left a real impression on me, that while they had awful reputations in the news – the reality was they were some of the most hospitable places on earth.

I spent a number of years in the Parachute Regiment of the British Army, serving in Afghanistan – but I knew it wasn’t my lifelong career, and when I left, I wanted to fulfil a boyhood dream to be an explorer.

Once I’d learnt some of the skills I’d need, as well as photography and writing, I ended up running a business taking people to weird and wonderful places other people couldn’t get them to. All the while I was doing that, I continued to write, and take photographs, documenting the experiences.

I decided I wanted to do something big, and in 2013 planned to walk the Nile – the world’s longest river. It was my big break, and with a portfolio of photography in hand by that time, Channel 4 commissioned the TV series Walking The Nile.

I had no idea if it would be possible or how dangerous it would be! But the following year, I was fortunate enough to then walk the Himalayas, from Afghanistan to Bhutan. The next year, it was Central America, Mexico, Columbia, and the gang lands… And now here I am, I’ve written 12 books and released eight TV series. It’s been a wonderful journey!

‘Walking’ has been the basis of many of your expeditions – the Nile, the Himalayas, with elephants… Why is that?

There is just something very special about walking as a means of transport. It takes you back to a time before motor vehicles and gives a very different perspective.

You are literally grounded. Which means wherever you are, people come to talk to you and you can’t just jump in your car or on your bike and escape from them – so you have to engage, you have to talk to them. That opens up so many opportunities, to talk to people about themselves, their places, and the places you are walking through and I hope I give them a voice.

How has the world changed in the time you have been exploring, and has your focus changed alongside that?

In recent years, my expeditions have become more focussed on issues, rather than destinations, creating a shift towards using my platform for good.

Having that level of responsibility was not something I considered when I started out, or that my work would be inspiring to others. I just had the opportunity to travel, and took it, which led to being on TV and having a voice.

That realisation made me start taking it more seriously, which in turn inspired my more recent work, the TV series on endangered animals, Botswanan elephants, orangutans in Borneo, Namibian lions, polar bears in Greenland, and my new book The Great Tree Story: How Forests Have Shaped Our World.

That change has also come partly through the changes I’ve seen out in the wild. The world’s environment is changing for sure; the human population has doubled, while the wildlife population has halved. Forests have been destroyed at a record rate, and the retreat of the glaciers over the past 25 years has been at a huge pace.

How will WALKING THE WORLD: A LIFE OF EXPLORATION AND ADVENTURE reflect your change in focus?

I really enjoy touring; telling stories comes naturally to me. And as humans we are all, and always have been, story-tellers. I hope to share important and deeper messages through humour and anecdotes.

This tour will be about summing up my adventures and journeys so far, and the biggest lessons along the way. The underlining theme is to create greater awareness of our place in the world. But there are two messages to it…

Firstly, the fact that we – as humans – are not above nature. We are not special. We are monkeys who have achieved a position of responsibility. And that aligns with the premise of the new book.

The way we lead our lives in modern society is not sustainable. Indigenous communities know we are part of the system, all spinning on the same rock.

Secondly, I say ‘don’t believe everything you read in the news’. Bad news sells and negative is the overwhelming message. And people feel they cannot change things when that’s what they hear.

Ninety-nine per cent of the world’s population is good. Yes, there is world poverty. But poverty is less than it has ever been. Access to education is greater than it’s ever been. Fewer people are facing war and violence than ever in history.

I think I learnt that perspective through studying history: Yes, we had Covid, but it wasn’t the Black Death. Yes, there is war, but it’s far less than the Middle Ages. Figures like Donald Trump are controversial and you may disagree with his policies – I know I do – but he isn’t Genghis Khan burning cities to the ground.

We live in pretty good times. We forget that gratitude. Positivity is important and being mindful we occupy a space in time where good is happening.

The fact I’m still alive, having been through places like Syria, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan tells me that – that there is more good than bad out there, even in places we perceived to be full of ‘bad’.

Tell us more about your new book, The Great Tree Story: How Forests Have Shaped Our World

The book came about off the back of those TV series looking at endangered species. Without forests, animals and wildlife stand no chance. I spent two-and-a-half years on research trips, to various locations – rather than one single expedition as the previous projects have been – visiting forests and the spiritual leaders living within them.

It has been a wonderful journey and very different to what I have done before, but it is probably the most important work to date.

As humans, we used to be far more in tune with nature, and it’s only in the last few hundred years we have lost that connection – you look back to the Industrial Revolution, and how that changed the focus away from agriculture, and created a bigger demand for man-made resources.

During the past half century we have chopped down more trees than in the previous thousands of years. And when we lose trees, we lose animals. There are species unrecorded in places like the Amazon, which have been lost before they were even discovered! And we’re damaging ourselves too. Cures for so many diseases are there to be found – but in losing forests, we’re losing the chance to find them.

Contradictory to what we may understand, is much of that deforestation is often local people chopping down trees, not outsiders. But they need the money to feed their families, so you understand why it happens; the dairy or beef industries are demanding it, and they are paying.

Alongside that, it’s these indigenous communities who are the keepers of the forests. From the Congo to the Amazon, these people have a very organic connection to the forest and looking after it.

We see their wisdom as old fashioned, but they have real connection. And that’s what the book is about. Our human connection to nature, to trees, and how that has shaped us.

The book brings to life that spiritual and emotional connection and the importance of trees in life. They are a visual reference for everyone no matter where you live in the world, but in today’s society, they are seen as a background to life – not the source of life. Which is strange, when we’re all familiar with the idea of the tree of life!

If you could pick a favourite journey – which would it be?

I can’t pick out one – they’ve all been so different and had their own highlights and special moments. But the one I am proudest of is 2017-18 going into Arabia.

Specialising in Middle Eastern history at university, I was fascinated by the region, which inspired me to want to travel there.

When I pitched it and started discussing the journey, everybody said it was too dangerous and impossible. The TV networks all turned it down because it is this particularly divisive region, so I went by myself with two mates, paid for ourselves and filmed it ourselves.

Without having that TV company backing, we were able to journey how we wanted to. Things that never would be signed off by TV companies became possible, which made it a fascinating insight into a really complex environment, telling stories that had never been told before.

Besides writing the book and preparing for the tour, what else have you been working on?

I’ve recently released a short film – The Burn, which is a fictional story about the effects of war and PTSD among veterans, and there is another film in the making… A Hollywood blockbuster, which is written and has been sold to a studio so more is going on with that now in the background. But it’s very much a case of watch this space.

Writing and directing for screen comes back to that idea of being a story-teller. The more time I spent telling stories, through books, documentaries and on stage, the more I wanted to explore new ways of doing that. In a fictional drama, you can tell a version of non-fiction without it hurting those surrounding the story. You have the liberty to be bold.

I’ve really enjoyed the process of moving into films. We had a Leicester Square premiere for the short film – and that was something I never imagined I’d be able to say.

And there are another two films also being worked on. All three are very different, and one of them is linked to the new book and trees too.