Benedict Allen - an Explorer for our Times

Benedict Allen is a 57 year old explorer who you may have heard of as he has hit the headlines recently. Last month, he was reported missing in Papua New Guinea after missing a flight to Hong Kong where he was due to give a talk. What you might not know, however, is the extent of the expeditions he has undertaken before this. This article will give you a whistle stop tour of his early life and how he became an explorer, his most significant and shocking expeditions and what happened to him in Papua New Guinea.

At the age of 18, Allen attended the University of East Anglia where he read Environmental Sciences. As a child he had gone on expeditions to the Jurassic Coast of Britain with his father, who had also taught him how to fly a plane. Possibly as a result of these early experiences, Allen developed a keen interest in exploration, attending three expeditions in his final year at East Anglia, travelling to Costa Rica, Brunei and Iceland. He later began a degree in Ecology at the University of Aberdeen but dropped out, never taking the final exam, in order to embark on his first independent expedition from the mouth of the Orinoco to the mouth of the Amazon.

Whilst Allen has been on many expeditions, perhaps the most impressive, albeit dangerous, was his partaking in the Niowra tribe’s six week long male initiation ceremony known as “Into the Crocodile Nest”. Here, Allen, with 15 other males, was isolated from the village by being put into a large nest-like enclosure. The men were beaten with sharpened bamboo sticks to create crocodile like marks on their skin. The wounds were then covered with a grey mud to prevent any blood flow and the men beaten every day for a further six weeks. After this process, they were admitted to the tribe as ‘full men’, and have the crocodile marks on their skin for life.

During Allen’s most recent expedition, to re-unite with the tribe he first came across whilst filming a documentary with the BBC some 30 years ago, he made breaking news after he was reported missing. Allen had missed his flight out of Papua New Guinea, something that, according to his family, was very out of character. This happened because the local tribes were fighting, making it dangerous for him to attempt to leave, combined with a huge storm that had swept away the bridge he needed to cross in order to leave the area. He also contracted malaria and dengue fever, further impeding his departure. With no phone, he was unable to contact anyone for help. After several days of media attention, a Daily Mail journalist tracked him down, a rescue helicopter was dispatched and Allen was found “alive and well”.

After an experience which must have been traumatic for both Allen and his family, he has decided to take a break from his expeditions in order to spend more time with his family and young children. There are also reports that he may consider taking a satellite phone on future expeditions. I think it is fair to say Allen has had many incredible experiences and that, perhaps after this last one, he has made the right decision to focus on those close to him.

Overall, these compelling experiences and discoveries, for me, make him one of the most daring and impressive explorers the UK has ever seen.

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