IN SEARCH OF PARADISE
One man’s mission to see his ultimate birds in the wild.
Birds of Paradise: The Ultimate Quest
Catch up on iPlayer In 2004, BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner was reporting from Saudi Arabia when he was shot by Al-Qaeda terrorists and left for dead. He escaped with his life, but never regained the use of his legs.
To describe him as ‘confined’ to a wheelchair is to use the word in its loosest sense. This is a man whose sense of adventure did not leave him when his ability to walk did. He skis, quad-bikes and snorkels, and continues to travel extensively, even venturing into Rwanda’s Virunga Mountains – carried by former poachers on a rattan stretcher – to see mountain gorillas.
Now, Frank is embarking on another trip, and this time it’s a big one: a quest to the remote heart of Papua New Guinea to fulfill his lifelong dream of observing birds of paradise in the wild. Accompanying him is explorer Benedict Allen, on his own mission to reunite with the Niowra people that ‘adopted’ him 30 years ago. The journeys of the two men – both physical and emotional – are followed in this new series.
Frank has long been a keen birder, with a current tally of 1,398 species. “Birds of paradise are the holy grail,” he says. I’ve always yearned to see them. Not just for their beauty and extraordinary courtship rituals, but also for how they’ve evolved. They have no predators (except man) on Papua New Guinea; the island is literally paradise for them.”
But the path to paradise does not run smooth. To access the species’ prime territory among the high, forested slopes of the Central Range, Frank must surmount jungle, swamp, river and ravine. The solution – for part of the way at least – is a type of sedan chair, but it’s a risky mode of transport: his injuries are complicated, and even the most minor misstep could have severe consequences. “I had to have absolute trust,” he recalls. “If anyone slipped I could have broken my neck.”
Whether Frank finds his beloved birds I can’t possibly say, but this is life-affirming stuff. It’s about celebrating what you have – and what our planet still has. “Every day is a bonus,” says Frank. “Life has been given back to me.” And with that in mind, his eyes are now cast south towards Antarctica...
BIRDS OF PARADISE ARE THE HOLY GRAIL. I’VE ALWAYS YEARNED TO SEE THEM.