Benedict Allen

In the early 1980s, an Environmental Science student went on a research trip to

study a volcano in Costa Rica. The student was a young man called Benedict
Allen, and this trip was to be the beginning of an exciting life full of travel and
adventure.

Allen developed an interest in the world around him when he was still a boy. His
father used to bring him back interesting presents from his trips abroad, and this
made Allen decide that he wanted to travel. Later, during his student research trips,
he realised he could learn much more about the local environment from the people
he met there than from his teachers. He decided that the best way to do this would
be to travel alone rather than in a group.

His first trip alone was in South America, where he walked overland from the
Orinoco River to the Amazon. On his journey through the jungle, he spent as much
time as possible with the people he met in villages along the way. He learnt how
they survived in the harsh and often dangerous local environment, and used the
knowledge and skills he learnt from them on his journey. His journey did not always
go well. Because he had refused to take a map with him, he lost his way several
times, and on one occasion he almost died of illness and hunger.

Since then, Allen has been on many trips to remote parts of the world. He believes
that being an explorer is not about discovering new places but discovering more
about yourself. He also believes that you do not need to travel to be an explorer.
‘We are all explorers,’ he says. ‘It doesn’t matter if we are in a jungle or in an office,
we are continually learning new things.’