Why did you write your first book?

Why did you write your first book?

Benedict Allen (Explorer) gives expert video advice on: What is your book about?; Where can I get it?; Why did you write your first book? and more...

I think because I needed somewhere to put this extraordinary experience I'd had as a little boy who wanted to become an explorer. And finally, I set about doing it. I did a journey across the Amazon, up in the Northeast through the forest, including a 600 mile trek through virgin forest. So it's a big feat in a way, but it wasn't a feat that I pulled off by myself. I had a lot of support from just indigenous people, all sorts of local people. And I ended up struggling to survive towards the end. I was alone for weeks in the forest. So I don't know exactly how long. But it was very, very difficult. I had two sorts of malaria and barely got out of the forest alive. So it's very difficult to carry on a normal life, really. And I just thought I've got to just set this down. I decided to sit down and write the story of this journey. It became a pattern, I went out on these expeditions, always going alone and learning from local people. I'm finding myself with this sort of experience in my head that I've felt…it was quite cathartic to release. So I'd work through the experience on paper, then move on to the next adventure. But only once I got it down, once I got it out of my system. I suppose that also as time went by, I got older, I also wanted to share more and more, I became less selfish and my motive for going became more and more that I should record things on this all and share them.