Benedict Allen facts for kids

Benedict Allen (born March 1, 1960) is a famous English writer, explorer, and filmmaker. He is known for his special way of exploring: he lives among local people to learn survival skills. This helps him on his dangerous trips through unknown places. In 2010, he became a leader at the Royal Geographical Society.

He has made six TV series for the BBC. He was one of the first explorers to use a hand-held camera for TV. This allowed viewers to see what it was like for an explorer to truly live in remote places, without a big camera crew getting in the way.

Benedict Allen has written ten books. One of them is the Faber Book of Exploration, which he helped put together.

In November 2017, people around the world worried when he was reported missing during a trip in Papua New Guinea. But he was found soon after, safe at an old mission station.

Early Life and Education

Benedict Allen was born in Macclesfield, England. He was the third child of Virginia and Colin Allen. His father, Colin, was a test pilot for Avro and Hawker Siddeley. He helped create important planes called 'V-bombers'.

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

Childhood Adventures

As a child, Benedict loved hunting for fossils in places like Lyme Regis along England's Jurassic Coast. He was inspired by famous explorers and naturalists like Wilfred Thesiger and Jacques-Yves Cousteau. He even met some of them later in life.

University Studies

Benedict studied environmental science at the University of East Anglia. During his last year, he joined three science trips. He started a master's degree in ecology but didn't finish it. He was eager to go on his first big adventure.

His first independent trip was an attempt to cross the Amazon Basin's remote northeast. He wanted to go from the mouth of the Orinoco River to the mouth of the Amazon River. At first, people didn't believe he could do it. He traveled about 400 miles through the forest with help from local people in just a few months.

Exploration Style and Beliefs

Benedict Allen's expeditions are unique. He travels without Western friends, phones, or GPS. Instead, he relies on the knowledge of local people. He doesn't use outside help or backup.

He believes that exploration is not about "planting a flag" or "conquering nature." For him, it's about being open and letting the place change you. He doesn't like the idea of taking over new lands.

Learning from Locals

Benedict decided early on not to have big company sponsors. He felt that advertising products didn't fit with his goal of truly learning from local communities. He believes that if you only follow a map, you won't discover anything new.

In the mid-1990s, Benedict started using a camcorder to film himself. He was the first explorer to show what it was like to truly live among a community or go on a difficult journey. For example, in The Skeleton Coast, he walked the entire 1,000-mile Namib Desert. A magazine called him "Television's Most Fearless Man."

Supporting Good Causes

Benedict Allen helps several organizations. He is a Patron for the Environmental Justice Foundation, Tony Trust, and Save the Rhino Trust.

Amazing Expeditions

While still a student, Benedict joined science trips to a volcano in Costa Rica, a forest in Brunei, and a glacier in Iceland. He became known for his independent journeys through 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 the first outsider to meet two groups of people who had not been contacted before: the Obini and Yaifo.

A Modern Explorer

Today, Benedict Allen is seen as one of the last great explorers. The Daily Telegraph newspaper listed him as one of the top ten British explorers of all time. The only other living person on that list is Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

Benedict also helped change how adventure shows were made for TV. By filming himself, he brought the real experience of remote travel to millions. This also helped make the "video selfie" popular. A former BBC leader, Mark Thompson, said Benedict was "part of the history of television."

First Amazon Crossing

Benedict's first big adventure was crossing the northeast Amazon basin in 1983. He walked and used a dugout canoe for 417 miles through the rainforest. This journey was very dangerous. He was chased by gold miners, his canoe flipped over, and he got two types of malaria. He had to walk 65 miles out of the forest. This dramatic story was shown in an I Shouldn't Be Alive TV episode in 2010. His book about this trip, Mad White Giant, showed the adventure but also criticized how outsiders sometimes act.

This first trip taught Benedict a lot. He decided to learn from local people instead of acting like an outsider. After this, he went on many treks with the help of remote communities in West Papua and Papua New Guinea. He even took part in a tough initiation ceremony with the Niowra people.

More Journeys

In Siberut and Sumatra, he looked into stories of an "orang pendek" ape-man. He was helped by the Mentawai and Kubu people. In 1987, at age 27, he made the first recorded crossing of the Central Range of PNG. He was helped by a small group called the Yaifo, who had little contact with the outside world.

In 1992, Benedict crossed the widest part of the Amazon basin. This 3600-mile journey took seven and a half months. He traveled from the Andes in Ecuador to the lowlands of Mato Grosso. He was trained by the Matses people of the Peruvian Amazon.

Two years later, he returned to the Matses family who had adopted him. He used a camcorder to film Raiders of the Lost Lake. This showed the progress of a dangerous solo expedition to millions of viewers.

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, his three camels, and the Himba nomads.

The next year, Benedict went on a 3000-mile, five-and-a-half-month journey by horse and camel around Mongolia. This included a six-week solo trip across the Gobi Desert.

In 1998, he went back to Brazil's Mato Grosso. He wanted to learn the story of the Kalapalo people. They had been accused of killing explorer Colonel Percy Fawcett and his team, who disappeared in 1925.

In 2000, Benedict met spiritual healers around the world. This included Voodoo priests in Haiti, the Mentawai of Indonesia, the Huichol of Mexico, and shamans of Siberia. This resulted in the 2000 BBC book and TV series Last of the Medicine Men.

Arctic Challenge

The 'Icedogs' expedition happened in 2000/2001. With training from the Yupik and Chukchi communities in Russia, Benedict tried to cross the Bering Strait to Alaska. It was the "worst winter in living memory." He almost died when he got separated from his dog team in a blizzard. After this close call, Benedict decided to stop his expedition career. He had explored rainforests, deserts, and the Arctic.

Later Work

Benedict got married and had three children. After that, he presented and wrote Traveller's Century. This BBC TV show looked at the lives of three famous British travelers.

Benedict also helped BBC reporter Frank Gardner find birds of paradise in the wild. During this trip, Benedict heard that the Yaifo community he knew from over thirty years ago was still living in isolation. He decided to do "one last" expedition.

Disappearance in Papua New Guinea (2017)

On October 26, 2017, Benedict Allen was dropped off by helicopter in Papua New Guinea. He started a three-week trek into the forest with local guides. He hoped to find the Yaifo people again, check on them, and thank those who had helped him before.

He successfully found the community and completed a tough trek over the Central Range. But then, he got stuck because of fighting between communities near Porgera. For several days, news outlets around the world wondered what had happened to him. However, on November 17, he was found by a newspaper team and taken to the hospital. He was thought to have 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, National Geographic 2003)
• Travellers' Century (BBC, 2008)
• Unbreakable (Five, 2008)
• Expedition Africa (Sky History, 2009)

Other TV Programmes

• The Raiders of the Lost Lake (BBC 2, Video Diary, 1995). This showed a trip to the Peruvian Amazon and a solo trek to a mysterious lake.
• More Great Railway Journeys: Mombasa to the Mountains of the Moon (1996, BBC 2). A journey 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.

Other TV Appearances

• The Big Read, where he supported His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman.
• We Need Answers, February 25, 2010, a British comedy show.
• I Shouldn't Be Alive: Alone in the Amazon.

Radio Broadcasts

• Two Men and a Mule. A BBC Radio 4 series with historian Hugh Thomson. They followed the trail of the last Inca emperors in the Andes.

Work About Other Explorers

• The Faber Book of Exploration brings together stories of explorers from different times and places. It is considered a very important book for anyone interested in travel.
• In 2006, Benedict published Into the Abyss. This book tells the story of his Arctic dog sled trip and also explores how people keep going when facing difficulties.
• His memories of Wilfred Thesiger, a great explorer of the 20th century, are in the book Wilfred Thesiger in Africa (2010).