WADE DAVIS

Anthropologist & Explorer

Wade Davis is an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society. Named by the NGS as one of the Explorers for the Millennium, he received degrees in anthropology and biology, with a PhD in ethnobotany, all from Harvard University. His work as an anthropologist and botanical explorer has taken him from the forests of the Amazon to the mountains of Tibet, from the high Arctic to the deserts of Africa.

Davis is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2009 Gold Medal of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, the 2002 Lannan Foundation literary prize, as well as the Lowell Thomas Medal. He is the author of more than a dozen best selling books including The Serpent and the Rainbow, later released as a feature film, and One River, which was nominated for the Governor General's literary Award for Non-fiction. His other books include, Grand Canyon, The Lost Amazon, Light at the Edge of the World, The Clouded Leopard, and Rainforest. His latest book, The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World was published in 2009. The Blindness of Birds, a history of the early British efforts on Everest, will be published in 2010.

Described by ABC's 20/20 as a real life Indiana Jones, Davis's expeditions and investigations have been the subject of over 700 media reports and accounts, including three episodes of the X-files. He has written for National Geographic, Newsweek, Premiere, Outside, Utne Reader, Harpers, Fortune, Condé Nast Traveler, Natural History, National Geographic Traveler, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Globe and Mail, and several other international publications.

A professional speaker for nearly 20 years, Davis has captivated audiences with tales of insight and adventure at more than 200 universities and museums throughout the world, and scores of corporate events here at home in Canada and the US. His corporate clients have included Microsoft, Shell, Fidelity, Hallmark, Bank of Nova Scotia, MacKenzie Financials, Healthcare Association of Southern California, National Science Teachers Association, and many others. Davis has presented at the TED Conference, and he delivered the 2009 Massey lectures, Canada's most prestigious public intellectual forum.

Davis was the principal character in the 2008 MacGillivray Freeman IMAX film, Grand Canyon Adventure. His other film credits include Earthguide, Spirit of the Mask, Cry of the Forgotten People, and Forests Forever. He has recently completed a new four-hour series for the National Geographic, Ancient Voices/Modern World, which aired on the National Geographic Channel in April 2009, as did the second season of Light at the Edge of the World, a four-hour ethnographic documentary series shot in Rapanui, Tahiti, the Marquesas, Nunavut, Greenland, Nepal, and Peru.

Wade Davis' lecture presentations, illustrated by exquisite photographs, are a wild and moving celebration of the wonder of humanity, and the diversity of the human spirit as expressed among the more than 7000 cultures of the world. He is the co-curator of The Lost Amazon: The Photographic Journey of Richard Evans Schultes, first exhibited at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, and is currently touring Colombia.

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