[I]ntrepid explorer Benedict Allen will be visiting Theatre by the Lake on Sun 3 September at 7.30pm to present his latest lecture Adventures in Paradise. Part of the regular Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) series of talks at the lakeside venue, he’ll reveal the full story behind his dramatic return to Papua New Guinea which was featured in the BBC2 series Birds of Paradise: The Ultimate Quest.
A chance encounter with BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner sparked the idea for the adventure when Frank shared his life-long dream of one day seeing the elusive birds of paradise in their natural environment. He thought that dream had died in 2004 when he was attacked, repeatedly shot and left paralysed by a gang of terrorists in Riyadh, but a chance conversation with Allen led to the trip of a lifetime.
For Allen the journey offered him the opportunity to visit the Niowra (the ‘crocodile people’), a remote tribe he had lived amongst thirty years ago, becoming an accepted member of the community before abandoning them for other travels. Memories of the painful initiation ceremonies he endured, and which still scar him to this day, came flooding back as they welcomed him back to the community.
Don’t miss this riveting tale of triumph over adversity as Benedict describes the emotional journey the two men undertook over some of the inhospitable terrain on the planet battling with a wheelchair as they made it up into the cloud forest where the birds live.
Allen is one of the world’s leading adventure-explorers. He is the only person known to have crossed the Amazon Basin at its widest and lays claim that no one alive has lived so long isolated and alone in so many potentially hostile remote environments. His ventures include the first documented journey of the length of the Namib Desert and he’s the only person known to have crossed the full width of the Gobi with camels alone.
For more information and to book please visit www.theatrebythelake.com, or call our Box Office on 017687 74411. Tickets for Adventures in Paradise are £15 and £10 with discounts for RGS-IBG members at £9.50 and Students at £7.50.
