I’ve boldly gone and back: Adventurer on
TV explorer reveals how his wanderlust is Scots-made
has boldly gone to some of the remotest, most inhospitable locations, facing death and disaster in the most far-flung corners of the globe. But now TV adventurer Benedict Allen has revealed how his worldwide globe-trotting all started in the north east of Scotland.
And how he’s having to battle his wanderlust desires to fulfil his most important job – being dad to his three young children.
Benedict, 58, has made six series for the BBC including Skeleton Coast, Edge of Blue Heaven and Last of the Medicine Men.
The passion for exploration, though, was forged when he arrived to study ecology at Aberdeen University.
“That was where I decided I was definitely going to be an explorer,” said Benedict. “Scotland was my testing ground for the world, my launch pad.
“I got really serious about it and ran endlessly on the beaches there to get myself fit.
“I thought I’d maybe have one chance of an expedition and I’d have to get in shape.
“I dreamed of where I wanted to go and had maps of the Amazon all over the walls of my little digs in Aberdeen and even had leaves on the floor. It sounds crazy but I thought it made it look more like a jungle so I could get it absolutely clear in my head that this is what I was going to do.”
Having scrimped together enough money to fund a trip, Benedict set off for the Amazon at the tender age of 22. That first expedition, 600 miles through the densest forest from the Orinoco delta to the Amazon delta, was almost his last.
“I almost died several times, I got two kinds of malaria and I was chased by drunken gold miners with knives,” said Benedict. “I jumped in my canoe to get away but it capsized. I lost everything down the river and I had to walk out of the forest. It took three weeks, struggling every day. “I had adopted a dog which had an infection and it became my companion. It got so bad that I didn’t think I was going to get out, not going to see my mum and dad again, and had to eat it. It was a terrible thing to have to do.”
Rather than putting him off, the expedition drove Benedict on to go back on other adventures and try to understand why he so nearly died. He’s been on so many expeditions he’s lost count.
“I’m not sure, 15, maybe 20,” he said.
The Amazonian escape was just one of many near-death experiences, including being shot at