British explorer goes missing in jungle
FEARS were growing yesterday for a British explorer who disappeared while searching for a tribe of headhunters in the remote jungles of Papua New Guinea.
Benedict Allen, 57, was travelling alone to find the Yaifo tribe, said to be one of the last societies that have no contact with the outside world.
Mr Allen, who has made six TV series for the BBC, has not been heard from since he was dropped off by helicopter at an abandoned mission station three weeks ago.
He was due to catch a flight to Hong Kong at the weekend to speak at a Royal Geographic Society event but failed to arrive.
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner, who recently travelled through Papua New Guinea with Mr Allen for a documentary, said the pilot who dropped him off more than three weeks ago had returned to track Mr Allen’s route. Local police chiefs have been contacted and a search is under way.
Mr Gardner said: “I would say the chances are Benedict is going to be fine. I hope those aren’t famous last words. Benedict always expected something like this.
“I had supper with him just before he left and he said, ‘Look, I’m quite certain I’ll probably be out of contact for quite some time and people shouldn’t worry about it’.”
Last night Mr Allen’s family, including his Czech-born wife Lenka, 35, said they are increasingly concerned about his fate.
Mr Allen’s sister, Katie Pestille, said: “He was supposed to catch a flight to Hong Kong on Saturday night. That is out of character because he had it all organised. I can’t do anything. Just wait. It’s ghastly. He knows all about that survival stuff but what worries me is there are bad people in these jungles.
“You would think that they were totally empty but there are people in there. I mean, I know more about the Amazon, but there are loggers and drug dealers and all sorts of bad people.”
Father-of-three Mr Allen, who travels without a mobile phone or GPS tracker, was the first person to make contact with the Yaifo when he visited the area 30 years ago.
Before setting off on his latest adventure he wrote: “Last time the Yaifo ‘greeted’ me with a terrifying show of strength, an energetic dance featuring their bows and arrows.
“On this occasion who knows if the Yaifo will do the same, or run off, or be wearing jeans and T-shirts traded eons ago from the old mission station. Nor do I have an obvious means of returning to the outside world, which is somewhat worrying, especially at my advanced age.
“Either I must paddle down river for a week or so – or enlist the help of the Yaifo, as I did last time.”
Mr Allen, a survival expert from west London, has a vast track record of remote exploration and is the only person known to have crossed the Gobi desert alone.
He said he once had to eat his dog in order to survive in the Brazilian rainforest.
His agent Joanna Sarsby said: “He is a highly experienced explorer, very clever and resourceful and adept at surviving in the most hostile places on Earth, and he would never give up.
“He may not be a young man any more but he is very fit.”