12 Facts About Benedict Allen

In 2010, Allen was elected a Trustee and Member of Council of the Royal Geographical Society.

Benedict Allen has recorded six TV series for the BBC, either alone or with partial or total use of camera crews, and pioneered the use of the hand-held camera for TV, for the first time allowing viewers to witness immersion of a traveller in remote environments without the artifice brought about by a camera-crew.

Benedict Allen has published ten books, including the Faber Book of Exploration, which he edited.

Towards mid-November 2017, Benedict Allen became subject to international headlines when reported missing while undertaking an expedition in Papua New Guinea.

Benedict Allen was educated at Bradfield College, and read environmental science at the University of East Anglia, participating in three scientific expeditions during his final year.

Benedict Allen is a Patron of the Environmental Justice Foundation, Tony Trust and Save the Rhino Trust.

Benedict Allen went on to establish his reputation through a series of independent journeys to cross through the least known regions of the Amazon and New Guinea.

Today Benedict Allen is acknowledged as one of the last great adventurers in the classic mould, The Daily Telegraph listing him as one of the top ten British explorers of all time, the only other living individual being Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

Benedict Allen was described as "part of the history of television" by former Director General of the BBC Mark Thompson.

In 1992 Benedict Allen conducted the first crossing of the Amazon basin at its widest, a seven and half month, 3600 mile journey from the Andes of Ecuador, south-east to the lowlands to Mato Grosso, this time trained by the Matses or Mayoruna ethnic group of the Peruvian Amazon.

Benedict Allen went on to assist BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner in his bid to see birds of paradise in the wild, the result being Birds of Paradise: The Ultimate Quest.

On 26 October 2017, Benedict Allen had himself dropped by helicopter at Bisorio Mission, East Sepik Province, then launched with a party of indigenous contacts for a three-week trek into the forest, hoping to track down the Yaifo, check up on their well-being, and thank those who had originally helped him over the mountain.