Best-selling author, explorer, and TV presenter Levison Wood is set to embark on an exciting new tour this spring - Walking the World: A Life of Exploration and Adventure.

Visiting 19 towns and cities, including Kingston, Wood will captivate audiences with extraordinary stories from more than 20 years of exploration.

These include 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, Wood'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.

Wood is a Sunday Times best-selling author and photographer who has worked in more than 120 countries, presented eight TV series and written 12 acclaimed books.

Levison Wood is a Sunday Times best-selling author and photographer (Credit: Martin Hartley)

In Walking the World: A Life of Exploration and Adventure, he'll share how his military background, passion for photography and journalistic work have shaped his approach to exploration.

This brand-new show will celebrate the human spirit and the transformative power of travel as Wood takes audiences on a visual and emotional journey spanning his entire career to date.

These include Walking the Nile (which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary), the Himalayas and Americas, as well as documenting efforts to protect endangered species across three continents and exploring the Middle East.

Wood said: "I've had many unforgettable experiences over the years, from surprising moments of beauty to perilous adventures that pushed me to the edge.

"I'm thrilled to be back on tour sharing these stories face-to-face with everyone. There's nothing like the energy of a live crowd, and I hope to inspire a few more adventurers to get out there."

He will be stopping at Kingston's Rose Theatre on 25 May as part of his tour.

Tickets are available now here.



Levison Wood is visting 19 towns and cities, including Kingston, as part of his brand new tour (Credit: Francessca Eagleton)

Wood grew up in the north Staffordshire countryside which he "loved".

He said: "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."

He continued: "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.

Levison Wood is fulfilling his boyhood dream as an explorer (Credit: Johnny Pickup)

"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.

"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, I 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 Wood's expeditions.

Speaking about why that is, he said: "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 that 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."

In recent years, Wood's expeditions have "become more focussed on issues, rather than destinations, creating a shift towards using [his] platform for good".

He said: "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.

Levison Wood visited Greenland as part of his TV series on endangered animals (Credit: Evangeline Modell)

"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."