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...treme or alien environments, going alone and learning from indigenous people. As The Sunday Times put it: “Filming whatever actually happens, without all the hidden paraphernalia of a film crew, and whether in danger or lonely or undergoing various exotic rituals, he has effectively taken the viewers’ experience of adventure as far as it can go.”
However, most of his more challenging journeys – depicted in his first five books – in fact took place before he began filming his exploits. “I belonged to the last generation that might pass through a wilderness for months on end and not encounter a single person of my own culture. It was a privileged time: never in all those years can I remember coming across a single other foreigner, whilst out on a trek.” Such isolation seems inconceivable today.
Benedict’s technique is not to use a satellite phone, GPS or the usual backup, but instead trust to the skills of indigenous people. He believes in doing “whatever it takes” to achieve his objective of investigating other worlds: in New Guinea, he became the first to undergo the harrowing “crocodile” initiation ceremony, and was given extensive scars up and down his chest and back - and beaten for six weeks. Elsewhere, he’s been shot at by hitmen, hunted down by gold miners, fled and eventually eaten his dog to survive, abandoned and left to die by guides. He’s even had to stitch up his own chest – without anesthetic, using his boot-mending kit!
When addressing audiences, Benedict generally uses his great sense of humour to help share with the audience his thrilling life, giving an insight as to how an adventurer stays alive when he goes without companions or any of the usual backup, and is therefore genuinely exposed as he immerses himself in seemingly hostile terrain
Twenty five years on, Benedict has narrowly escaped death six times; arguably, no one has more experience of living continuously isolated in as many remote environments.
What’s exploration, Benedict style?
“In a nutshell, it’s about leaving things at home! Your GPS, satellite phone, modern transport, sponsorship and companions – all these things may well be useful, but they each get in the way. They impose a cost on your objective: they keep you in your comfort zone and prevent you from engaging with, and therefore understanding, alien terrain. I‘m not talking here about scientists, who of course need these devices to further a serious mission, but for all the rest of us who are trying to get to know a place. And especially the professionals: how else can we in this day and age claim to be “explorers” if we aren’t truly face-to-face with the environment we are “exploring”? We become less and less explorers, and more and more like adventurers or athletes. Incidentally, all this backup also of course undermines any physical achievement. If you’re dependent on these aids, are you really “unsupported,” or “solo” as you plod on through the wastelands? I know I’m being harsh, but it’s also the sad truth: with such backup at your disposal how do you know that what you’re doing is through you own ability? Maybe you shouldn’t be tackling Everest, but a nearby hill!”
Why do you call yourself an “explorer” in this day and age?
“At one level of course we are all explorers - whether working in a Zurich bank, or wandering the forests of Borneo. That’s what makes us human: the desire to push our limits and investigate our surroundings is something we all do naturally. But there are also two types of professional “explorer.” Firstly, there are scientists, those whose job it is to piece together rationally how our world works. And secondly there are specialists who also discover new things in remote terrain but whose focus is perception, in the subjective, in how we respond emotionally or intellectually to alien places and people. This is where people like me come in: as I see it, my job is to go to unknown, little known or misunderstood parts of the planet and describe and challenge our ideas about them. But whichever type of explorer you are the difference between you and, say, someone travelling as a tourist, traveller, adventurer or a Polar sportsman, is that you set out with the specific objective of systematically tackling that frontier of knowledge and
Testimonials
..an insightful, entertaining and brilliantly executed talk.', Oracle Health Services Forum 2011
'Meaningful and positive, something to take away and think about...excellent; everyone thoroughly enjoyed it, and it tied in nicely to the messages that we wanted to get across to our sales team.' CMO, Airwide Solutions, 2011
''A captivating motivational talk; we received very encouraging feedback from both CBRE representatives and guests alike - all 120 copies of his book were snapped up...' CEO, CB Richard Ellis, Paris Conference, 2010.
"The points you made on teamwork and the "power" of the individual, plus your enthusiasm, gave a perfect motivation and start to our conference." Chief Executive, Sericol Ltd., Madrid
"Your amazing Amazon adventures kept our audience spellbound. Although I am sure most would find the prospect of such a journey daunting, they will never-the-less have taken on board your lesson on the ability of men and women to overcome extreme adversity and succeed in the end." IBM Ltd, south of France conference
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- Teamwork
- Surviving Against the Odds
- Achieving the Impossible
- Motivation
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