Wade Davis

Anthropologist Wade Davis has traveled the world celebrating the wonder of culture for more than 50 years. No place has enchanted him more than the outback of Australia, from Uluru to Arnhem Land, altogether 10,000 clan territories, each inspired by a devotional philosophy known as the Dreaming. Named by the National Geographic Society as one of the Explorers for the Millennium, Wade has been described as “a rare combination of scientist, scholar, poet and passionate defender of all of life’s diversity.

From 2014 to 2024, he served as Professor of Anthropology and the BC Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at the University of British Columbia. Between 2000 and 2013, he was Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society. His 24 books, published in 26 languages, include the international best-sellers The Serpent and the Rainbow, One River, The Wayfinders, Magdalena and Into the Silence, winner of the 2012 Samuel Johnson prize, the top nonfiction prize in the English language. National Geographic Books has published two collections of his photographs, Light at the Edge of the World and Wade Davis: Photographs. His 40 film credits include Light at the Edge of the World, an eight-hour documentary series written and produced for the National Geographic, and Sendero de la Anaconda, the most watched documentary in the history of Colombian cinema.

One of 20 Honorary Members of The Explorers Club, Wade is Honorary Vice-President of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and recipient of 12 honorary degrees, as well as the 2009 Gold Medal from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, the 2011 Explorers Medal, the 2012 David Fairchild Medal for botanical exploration, the 2015 Centennial Medal of Harvard University, the 2017 Roy Chapman Andrews Society’s Distinguished Explorer Award, the 2017 Sir Christopher Ondaatje Medal for Exploration, and the 2018 Mungo Park Medal from the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. In 2016, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2018, he became an Honorary Citizen of Colombia. When not traveling, Wade divides his time between his home on Bowen Island, and a remote fishing lodge in Tahltan territory in northern British Columbia.

Language spoken: English 

Photo credit: Adam Dillon