A British explorer has gone missing in a wild jungle after leaving a haunting last tweet in his wake.
Benedict Allen is a writer, traveller and adventurer known for the way he integrates himself among indigenous tribes.
He has worked with the BBC on numerous documentaries about tribes in remote locations, but it appears he has now gone missing on his latest expedition.
He has not been heard from for three weeks since he was dropped off by helicopter in Papa New Guinea in search of the ‘last tribe on earth’, according to the Mirror.
On October 11, the explorer posted a tweet which has some people worried for his safety.
The tweet, in which he posted a blurry image of himself with his rucksack, implores people not to ‘rescue’ him.
He tweeted:
Marching off to Heathrow. I may be some time (don’t try to rescue me, please – where I’m going in PNG you won’t ever find me you know…)
He has no GPS device or other method of contact with the outside world, and is in the jungle alone.
Allen was due to start making his return home on Sunday, but there has been no sign or sight of him.
His family are now ‘frantic’ with worry about getting the father of three home safely.
The explorer is known to have endured some extreme situations over the years, once eating his own dog to stay alive.
His older sister Katie said the family are concerned, but noted the 57-year-old had been missing for three months in Brazil when he was just 22.
His agent Joanna Sarsby told the Daily Mail:
His wife Lenka has not heard from him. She is very worried. He would never miss something like the Hong Kong talk unless something had happened.
He is a highly experienced explorer, very clever and resourceful and adept at surviving in the most hostile places on Earth, and he would never give up. He may not be a young man any more but he is very fit.
He was trying to reach the Yaifo people, a very remote and reclusive tribe – possibly headhunters, quite a scary bunch. Goodness knows what has happened.
I just imagine he might have been taken ill or is lying injured somewhere, perhaps with a broken leg, and maybe being helped by locals. He never takes a phone with him – he believes in living like the locals. For him not to come back is really odd.
Allen is an expert trekker, and was on a mission to reach the Taifo – who are thought to be one of the last tribes on the planet who haven’t had contact with outsiders.
Their home is in the centre of a crocodile-infested jungle which is incredibly difficult to reach.
He met with the tribe a few decades ago, and was welcomed into the tribe, though some doubted whether the same would happen this time.
He was met with a ‘terrifying’ display of power in a ceremony of welcome. He had also been subjected to a ‘crocodile’ initiation ceremony during his first visit to Papua New Guinea when he was 24.
He was in fact the first outsider to undergo the ceremony, which involved being held in a cage for six weeks and subjected to multiple beatings, which left him with ‘crocodile’ skin.
The Foreign Office is assisting in the location of Allen, with the assistance of local authorities. Watch this space.
