ABOUT THE BOOK

What does it really take to become an explorer?

To travel beyond maps and certainty.

To face fear . . . and keep going.

To step away from comfort and convenience - and rely on instinct, teamwork and resilience when there’s no clear way forward.

Inspired by the extraordinary journeys of previous generations, Lucy Shepherd set out to find out.

Into the Wild charts the making of an explorer, culminating in a world-first expedition into one of the most remote and unforgiving environments on Earth - the Amazon rainforest.

Leading a small all-Indigenous Amerindian team of explorers across Guyana’s faraway Kanuku Mountains, Lucy travelled through dense jungle and treacherous rivers, enduring hunger, injury and illness along the way. The rainforest was alive with constant threat: bushmaster snakes, jaguars, caiman alligators, fire ants and flesh-burrowing parasites. Fifty days after being dropped into the wilderness, the team finally reached their destination.

By turns thrilling, warm and inspiring, this is the story of a childhood dream made real. And a passionate reminder that our world’s wild places still matter, not just for what they reveal about the planet, but for what they reveal about us.