Benedict Allen

Speaker, explorer, environmental scientist

Benedict Allen is best known for his hair-rising expeditions conducted without a GPS, phone or any of the usual backup – but instead with the help of indigenous people. He is only person in history to have traversed the 4500km Amazon Basin – during which he was shot at by Pablo Escobar, and later robbed and left to die by illegal loggers.   

Inspirational speaker

As someone who is said to have ‘almost died nine times’, Benedict is an extremely popular speaker. He can inspire, motivate and invigorate a variety of audiences, skilfully comparing his extraordinary experiences of survival ‘against the odds’ to the global ‘jungle’ we all inhabit.

Live event

In October 2024, Benedict premiered his film Missing in Papua New Guinea which tells the whole unvarnished truth of Benedict’s solo expedition to Papua New Guinea, when he revisited a community he had befriended thirty years earlier, but failed to meet his flight home.

Film work

Benedict pioneered the use of the video ‘selfie,’ famously using just a handheld camera to record six ground-breaking adventure series for the BBC. More recently, he returned to Papua New Guinea with BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner to film Birds of Paradise: The Ultimate Quest (BBC Two), other series including the major eight-part reality epic Expedition Africa (History Channel), Unbreakable (Channel Five), Travellers’ Century (BBC Two and Four) and Icedogs (National Geographic). 

In the media

Described as ‘Britain’s most fearless man,’ on the cover of the Radio Times, Benedict attracted global media attention when he encountered a string of devastating obstacles following an expedition with indigenous friends into the heart of Papua New Guinea. Having tackled the notorious Central Range, Benedict found himself trapped in an area of forest where local communities were at war. Already suffering from both malaria and dengue fever, he then faced a series of freak storms. A multi-national search-and-rescue mission was launched – and Benedict was eventually extracted by helicopter. 

This adventure forms the basis of Benedict’s book, Explorer: The Quest for Adventure and the Great Unknown.

Explorer and pioneer

Someone with probably unequalled experience of immersion in remote communities and habitats, Benedict is also an environmental scientist, author of eleven books – including two best sellers - and one of only two people included in the Daily Telegraph's list of Great British Explorers, the other being Sir Ranulph Fiennes. 

Pictures courtesy of: Channel 5, Steve Watkins & Martin Hartley.