MARUDA, Brazil - After 859 days, thousands of miles and "50,000 mosquito bites," Ed Stafford intends to be the first man known to have walked the entire length of the Amazon river when the waves of the Atlantic Ocean lap his feet in northern Brazil on Monday.

While he says he is "no eco-warrior," Stafford told the Associated Press near the end of his journey that he hoped his feat would raise awareness of destruction to the Amazon rain forest - but that at its heart, it was simply a grand expedition of endurance.

"The crux of it is, if this wasn't a selfish, boy's-own adventure, I don't think it would have worked," the 34-year-old former British army captain told AP as he sat under the Brazilian sun near the jungle city of Belem. "I am simply doing it because no one has done it before."