The world according to adventurer and film-maker Benedict Allen

He's ventured all over the world – living with tribes, trekking with camels, and pushing the limits of physical and mental endurance. So what does Benedict Allen love about travel?

5 mins
Mountain/ocean/jungle/desert – which are you and why?

By inclination, deserts. But even as a child I was determined to one day learn skills from remote people – and in my naivety the tropical forest seemed a magical place, where one might sit quietly and learn before setting out on a great solo trek. I soon learned it was a tough place to be alone – and of course it was very arrogant of me to think I could simply settle down  with 'Indians' for a few months and then head off. The forest picks you apart. If you are traversing forest for months on end it’s hard to do much more than endure it: in the desert, however, you begin to value the sparse life around you. Your mind expands. You can see a horizon, can think of the future ahead of you.

What was your first great travel experience?

That first expedition – I tried to cross the remotest corner of the Amazon, which took me 600 miles along the Guiana Shield.  

What was your favourite journey?


Not that one! Once I was separated from my indigenous guides, I was quickly in trouble! Famously I was forced to eat my dog companion to survive. My favourite would be walking the length of the Namib with camels – a huge privilege, and one never permitted anyone before.

What are your top five places worldwide?


Namibia, Mongolia (especially the Altai), Mentawai islands (off Sumatra), Mexico’s Sierra Madre Occidental, and London.

Name a special place to stay...


I’m not one for hotels – especially those ones which ask you to put aside unused towels as if they are actually interested in saving the planet. I prefer to lie back under the stars in, say, The Hindu Kush. I went there a few years ago retracing Eric Newby’s steps – such rugged valleys and brutal and fine clean air.

What three items do you always pack?
 

I really only take care with a survival kit – and this will include waterproof matches, compass and waterproof paper for writing messages… I do tend to keep a few turns of loo paper in my back left pocket. Amazing how useful that simple trick is. 

Which passport stamp are you proudest of?

My first Australian stamp – received on Thursday Island having crossed the Torres Strait by sea-faring canoe. En route we’d been 'ship-wrecked' on a little rock for one night and two days without water.

What is your guilty travel pleasure?

Biscuits. How I love a good custard cream on a jungle trek!

Which do you prefer: window or aisle?


Window – so as to curl up and dream.  

Who is your ideal travelling companion?


A camel. Some of my favourite camels however have been rather domineering types – and this makes for an interesting journey. My camel Jigjig decided to head off home after walking TWO WEEKS with me across the Gobi. He tried to take the other two camels with him – somewhat dangerous, when no-one in the world knows where you are.

Best meal on the road?

Perhaps the rousing porridge I started each day with when crossing the Central Mountain Range of Papua New Guinea. Even after generous helpings of that my local guides (naked) had to stop from time to time to build a fire for their feet – which would become too numb to walk.  

Worst?


The first time eating a sago grub (in New Guinea) raw. It turned around in my throat and walked out.

Most surprising place? Most disappointing?


Haiti was the most surprising – at Voodoo festivals seeing hundreds of ‘ordinary’ people suddenly possessed by deities. Disappointing: Taj Mahal – I had impossibly high expectations perhaps, and should have sneaked in at dawn or dusk to avoid all the crowds.

Where do you NOT want to go?


The Great Pyramids – like a lot of places that have become so photographed and iconic, I suspect they are best left to your imagination. Better to make your own wondrous discoveries.

Who/what inspired you to travel? Any travel heroes?


My father, who was a test pilot. He flew a Vulcan bomber overhead when I was a little boy. I began reading of Captain Cook – who I loved because he hugged the Maoris (as I understood it), and saw them as every bit as good as us. I loved Robert Scott also – for the spirit with which he plodded onward…

What is your worst habit as a traveller?


Wishing to get on with my objective, rather than absorbing experiences along the way

Is there a person you met while travelling who reaffirmed your faith in humanity? Anyone who made you lose it?

Scores of people have taken me in, looked after me – for no obvious reason. Time and again I’ve relied on the kindness of strangers – and found people of all sorts so very decent. Only three (a goldminer in Peru, a logger in the Brazilian Amazon, and a Colombian hit-man employed by Pablo Escobar) have completely ruined things by trying to kill me.


Benedict Allen will be speaking at The Adventure Travel Show, appearing in The Adventure Auditorium on 18 January 2015 at 12:45.

Advance tickets to the show are now on sale Get your tickets for only £5 (saving £5 off the door price!) by quoting ‘WANDERLUST’ when booking tickets online

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