Benedict Allen facts for kids

Benedict Allen (born 1 March 1960) is an English writer, explorer, and filmmaker. He is famous for his unique way of exploring. He lives among indigenous peoples (native communities) to learn survival skills. These skills help him on his dangerous journeys through unknown places. In 2010, Allen became a leader at the Royal Geographical Society, a group for explorers.

He has made six TV series for the BBC. He often filmed himself using a hand-held camera. This was new at the time. It let viewers see what it was like for an explorer to truly live in remote places. He has also written ten books about his adventures.

In November 2017, news spread that Allen was missing during an expedition in Papua New Guinea. But he was found safe soon after. He had made his way to an old mission station.

Early Life and Education

Benedict Allen was born in Macclesfield, England. His father, Colin Allen, was a test pilot for airplanes. He helped create important planes like the 'V-bombers'.

Benedict's cousin, Charles Allen, was a historian and writer. He helped Benedict feel excited about exploring the world.

As a child, Benedict loved hunting for fossils in places like Lyme Regis. He was also inspired by famous explorers and naturalists. These included Wilfred Thesiger and Jacques-Yves Cousteau. He later met many of them.

Benedict studied Environmental Science at the University of East Anglia. During his studies, he joined three science trips. He then planned his first big adventure. He wanted to cross the Amazon Basin from the Orinoco River to the Amazon River. This journey was very difficult.

How Benedict Allen Explores

Benedict Allen has a special way of exploring. He travels without Western friends, phones, or GPS. Instead, he relies on help from local people. He believes that exploring is not about "conquering nature." It's about being open and letting the place change you.

He doesn't want to just plant a flag or claim land. He wants to learn from the places he visits. He also avoids getting money from big companies. He feels that advertising products doesn't fit with learning from native communities.

In the 1990s, Allen started filming his own journeys with a camcorder. He was the first explorer to do this. This allowed millions of people to see what it was like to be truly immersed in a remote place. For example, he filmed his walk along the 1,000-mile Namib Desert. A magazine called him "Television's Most Fearless Man."

Helping Others

Benedict Allen supports several groups. He is a patron (a supporter) of the Environmental Justice Foundation. He also helps the Tony Trust and Save the Rhino Trust.

Amazing Expeditions

While still a student, Allen went on science trips to a volcano in Costa Rica and a forest in Brunei. He also led a trip to a glacier in Iceland.

He became well-known for his independent journeys. He explored the least known parts of the Amazon and New Guinea. He traveled without Western companions or communication devices. He trusted the knowledge of local communities. He was one of the first outsiders to meet two native groups, the Obini and Yaifo people.

Today, many see Allen as one of the last great classic adventurers. The Daily Telegraph newspaper listed him as one of the top ten British explorers ever. He was the only living person on the list besides Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

First Amazon Crossing

Allen's first big adventure was crossing the northeast Amazon basin in 1983. He walked and traveled by dugout canoe for 417 miles through the rainforest. This journey was very dangerous. He was chased by gold miners and got lost. He ended up walking out of the forest with two types of malaria. This amazing story was shown on a TV show called I Shouldn't Be Alive. His book about this trip, Mad White Giant, showed the adventure and his anger at how outsiders treated these places.

This first trip taught him a lot. He decided to learn from his hosts instead of acting like an outsider. He then made several trips with the help of remote communities in West Papua and Papua New Guinea. He even took part in a special ceremony with the Niowra people.

More Journeys

In Siberut and Sumatra, he looked for stories of an "orang pendek" (a type of ape-man). The Mentawai and Kubu helped him. In 1987, at age 27, he made the first recorded crossing of the Central Range of PNG. He was helped by the Yaifo, a group of people who had not met outsiders before.

In 1992, Allen crossed the widest part of the Amazon basin. This 3,600-mile journey took seven and a half months. He traveled from the Andes mountains in Ecuador to the lowlands of Mato Grosso. The Matses people of the Peruvian Amazon helped train him.

Two years later, he returned to the Matses family who had adopted him. He filmed Raiders of the Lost Lake with a camcorder. This showed millions of people what a dangerous solo expedition was like.

Soon after, he was allowed to travel the entire length of the Namib Desert. This three-and-a-half-month journey in 1996 was done with the help of the Namibian Nature Conservancy and the Himba nomads. He used three camels as companions. This trip was shown in The Skeleton Coast.

The next year, Allen rode horses and camels for 3,000 miles around Mongolia. This included a six-week solo trip across the Gobi Desert. This adventure was called Edge of Blue Heaven.

In 1998, he went back to Brazil's Mato Grosso. He wanted to learn about the Kalapalo people. For years, they had been blamed for the disappearance of explorer Colonel Percy Fawcett in 1925. Allen's journey was called The Bones of Colonel Fawcett.

Two years later, Allen met spiritual healers around the world. He met Voodoo priests in Haiti, the Mentawai in Indonesia, and shamans in Siberia. This led to the 2000 BBC book and TV series Last of the Medicine Men.

Arctic and Later Work

In 2000-2001, Allen went on the 'Icedogs' expedition. With help from the Yupik and Chukchi communities in Russia, he tried to cross the Bering Strait to Alaska. It was a very harsh winter. He nearly died when he got separated from his dog team in a blizzard. This experience was shown in Ice Dogs. After this close call, Allen decided to stop his extreme expeditions.

Allen later married and had three children. He then presented and wrote Traveller's Century. This TV program looked at the lives of three famous British travelers.

Allen also helped BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner find birds of paradise in the wild. During this trip, Allen heard that the Yaifo community, whom he had met over thirty years before, were still living in isolation. He decided to do "one last" expedition to visit them.

Missing in Papua New Guinea

On October 26, 2017, Benedict Allen was dropped off by helicopter in Papua New Guinea. He began a three-week trek into the forest with local guides. He hoped to find the Yaifo people again and thank them for their help years ago. He successfully found the community. But after a tough trek back, he got stuck because of violence near Porgera. For several days, news outlets around the world wondered what had happened to him. However, on November 17, he was found and taken to a hospital. He had suspected malaria and dengue fever.

Books by Benedict Allen

• Mad White Giant (1985)
• Into the Crocodile's Nest: Journey Inside New Guinea (1987)
• Hunting the Gugu: In Search of the Lost Ape-Men of Sumatra (1989)
• The Proving Grounds: A Journey Through the Interior of New Guinea and Australia (1991)
• Through Jaguar Eyes: Crossing the Amazon Basin (1994)
• The Skeleton Coast (1997)
• The Edge of Blue Heaven (1998)
• Last of the Medicine Men (2000)
• Into the Abyss (2006)

Books he contributed to

• More Great Railway Journeys (1996)

Books he edited

• The Faber Book of Exploration: An Anthology of Worlds Revealed by Explorers Through the Ages (2002)

TV Series by Benedict Allen

• The Skeleton Coast (BBC, 1997)
• The Edge of Blue Heaven (BBC, 1998)
• The Bones of Colonel Fawcett (BBC,1999)
• Last of the Medicine Men (BBC, 1999)
• Ice Dogs (BBC, 2002)
• Travellers' Century (BBC, 2008)
• Unbreakable (Five, 2008)
• Expedition Africa (History, 2009)

Other TV Shows

• The Raiders of the Lost Lake (BBC 2, 1995). This showed his journey to the Peruvian Amazon.
• More Great Railway Journeys: Mombasa to the Mountains of the Moon (1996, BBC 2). A trip through Kenya to Uganda.
• Adventures For Boys: the lost worlds of Rider Haggard (2007, BBC 4). A look at the author of King Solomon's Mines.
• Birds of Paradise: The Ultimate Quest.
• I Shouldn't Be Alive: Alone in the Amazon (2010).