Originally from Stoke-on-Trent, Levison Wood studied History at the University of Nottingham, before attending Sandhurst and serving as an Officer in the British Parachute Regiment (including Operation Herrick 8 in Afghanistan). Journalism has taken him to Syria, Pakistan, Iraq, North and South Sudan, South East Asia, India, Nepal and most of Sub-Saharan Africa. His resulting work form this featured on channels such as C4, Discovery, Animal Planet, National Geographic. Levison has interviewed and photographed some of the most prominent names in the international community, from Hollywood actor George Clooney to travel writer Paul Theroux.
In late 2014, Levison completed a 9 month expedition walking the length of the Nile, filmed for a C4 and Animal Planet US series airing in spring 2015 to great critical acclaim. His book of the same name was a Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller for four weeks, as well as an Amazon USA Best Book of the Year.
Levison embarked upon another great adventure in June 2015, trekking 1700 miles across the roof of the world. At altitudes of over 5000m, Levison travelled through some of the most remote, beautiful and perilous places on earth, including Pakistan. Afghanistan, the Line of Control with India and the disputed territory of Kashmir. He also witnessed Nepal in recovery and completed his journey in the incredible mountains of Bhutan.
In a journey of some four million steps, Levison immersed himself in local life, including yak-herding with the Wakhi tribe, playing Buzkashi with the Kyrgyz and meeting shamen, separatist fighters and people rebuilding their lives after natural disasters.
The TV series launched in January 2016 and his book 'Walking The Himalayas' was awarded Adventure Travel Book of the Year. For the final part of the "Walking The... trilogy", Levison travelled 1700 miles from Mexico to Colombia, via Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama’s infamously challenging Darien Gap.
His adventures were documented for the C4 series 'Walking The Americas' and Levison's accompanying book became one of the New York Times' Best Summer Reads, as well as a Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller.
Levison's fourth televised expedition 'From Russia To Iran: Crossing The Wild Frontier' aired on C4 in August 2017 as a 4 x 60' series, whilst his book 'Eastern Horizons' (about his travels in 2004 as a 22 year old man hitchhiking along the Silk Road) was shortlisted for the Adventure Travel Book of the Year.
Levison returned from a 5000 mile 5 month journey 'by any means' across 13 countries of the Arabian Peninsula in 2018, and recently completed production on 'Arabia with Levison Wood', a 5 part documentary series about his experiences which aired on Discovery UK from June 27th 2019. During this time, his accompanying book 'Arabia: A Journey Through The Heart of the Middle East' received critical acclaim in both the UK and US. His first children's book 'Incredible Journeys' was also published in June 2019.
In October 2018, Levison embarked on a new national theatre tour, following his successful 32 date show 'An Evening with Levison Wood' which attracted audiences of up to 1000 attendees per night. He has an avid following of around 179.6k across his social media channels.
Attracted to foreign climes and adventure since a young age, Levison has travelled and worked in over 100 countries worldwide. He has led pioneering journeys into undiscovered regions, including the first ever successful walk across Madagascar, coast to coast; scientific research in Burundi, mountain climbing in Iraq, and a horse riding expedition retracing the steps of the explorers of the Great Game in search of the river Oxus.
He was made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 2011.
