( CNN ) -- After hiking along the Amazon River for more than two years , Ed Stafford is suddenly in a rush . The native Brit , who set out to become the first person to walk all of the river 's roughly 4,000 miles more than two years ago , is hoping to finish his hike on Monday , in time to catch his scheduled flight home to Leicestershire from Brazil . Despite collapsing from exhaustion on a roadside Sunday morning , Stafford is confident he 'll make the plane . `` Feeling much better , '' he wrote in a blog post from northeastern Brazil on Sunday , after catching three hours of sleep . `` ... will walk all night from now to complete the remaining 85 kilometers . '' It 's the kind of fortitude that Stafford has summoned time and again since setting out from the Amazon 's River source in Peru in April 2008 , seeking to raise international attention about rain-forest destruction and to help raise funds to combat it . Since then , Stafford and Gadiel `` Cho '' Sanchez Rivera -- a Peruvian forestry worker who joined him in July 2008 -- have encountered pit vipers , electric eels , anaconda , mosquitoes and scorpions , but very few doubts about whether they 'd reach the Atlantic . `` After grabbing something to eat , and replying to emails I finally got my head down at 1:27 a.m. , '' Stafford wrote in a piece for CNN.com last week , after hiking for 15 straight hours . `` We 've never walked 55km in a day before so we are satisfied with what we 've achieved , if a little stiff . '' Stafford , a former British army captain , and his hiking buddy have seen their share of setbacks . Stafford contracted cutaneous leishmaniasis , a skin disease , and had to have a botfly removed from his skull . Cho suffered a nasty machete cut . But their biggest challenges were far less dramatic . `` Although everyone would like me to say that the hardest thing has been our encounters with ( indigenous residents ) pointing bows and arrows at our chest , for me that was n't the hardest part , '' Stafford said last month , `` ... the adrenalin kicks in and you deal with exciting , potentially dangerous moments like that easily . '' `` It 's been the mundane that had really challenged me , '' he said . `` ... The weight of the rucksack , the basic food , the constant mosquito bites , the constant thorns . The little things that in a two-day expedition would n't bother you have been the things that have actually been challenging . '' The greatest pleasures of the journey , Stafford said , have been the warmth of the Brazilian people , with village children frequently welcoming him and Cho to new towns and their parents offering home-cooked meals . Having never visited the Amazon before starting his expedition , Stafford now says that his quest to save the region wo n't end with his hike . `` I 'm committed now to this place for the rest of my life , '' he wrote on CNN.com this month , `` and I intend to take 'Walking The Amazon ' around the world and keep alive the stories of the people we 've met along the way , the lives in the Amazon and the tale of the jungle . '' Though he says that deforestation means the Amazon `` is changing faster than many of us can comprehend , '' Stafford has also found reasons to be hopeful about its survival while hiking . `` Although ( deforestation ) is sill going on in the moment , '' he said , `` there 's a generation coming through Brazil that are very aware of environmental issue and really do care about the Amazon . '' As he closes in on the Amazon 's mouth , Stafford has found time to nurse less lofty desires . He says the first thing he 'll do after touching down in England is grab a pint of beer . And his Peruvian partner , he says , ca n't wait for a pint of fresh milk .
Ed Stafford set out to become the first person to walk all of the river 's roughly 4,000 miles . He 's hoping to raise international awareness about deforestation . Stafford started his hike in April 2008 . A forestry worker from Peru has accompanied him for most of the trip .