Robin Hanbury-Tenison
These days, few people can claim to be in the same class of genuine, horse-riding, because-it's-there adventurers as Robin Hanbury-Tenison. In 1982, the UK’s Sunday Times called him "the greatest explorer of the past twenty years", and in 2006 the Spectator called him "the doyen of British explorers".
Hanbury-Tenison is perhaps most famous for making South America's first land crossing at the widest point in 1958, after fellow explorer Sir Laurence Kirwan had said he wouldn't make it because there were "good and sufficient reasons" no one had done so before. For his efforts, he bagged himself the Mrs Patrick Ness Award, presented by the London Royal Geographic Society at the behest of Sir Laurence.
Now, 52 years later, the defeater of logic lands on our shores (seriously – he arrives aboard a ship) to talk to Hong Kong’s Royal Geographic Society about a 2007 expedition that saw him riding horseback across the rugged terrain of Europe's least-discovered country, Albania. The lecture is based on a book he’s also plugging called Land of Eagles, which covers his journey of the length of the long-isolated country. In it, Hanbury-Tenison and his wife follow in the footsteps of Lord Byron, Edward Lear and Edith Durham in exploring the soaring mountain ranges and hidden valleys of a country in large parts untouched by the 21st century.
Hanbury-Tenison has for more than 50 years explored the globe on various adventures while actively promoting respect for, and survival of, tribal people and their land, which is increasingly encroached upon by the effects of economic growth. For his efforts, he’s the proud owner of an OBE (Order of the British Empire).
His resume also includes heading up the Royal Geographic Society's largest-ever expedition – comprising 140 scientists – to investigate the rainforests of Sarawak, Malaysia, and the RGS awarded him a gold medal in 1979.
It’s difficult to find explorers like Hanbury-Tenison anymore. Perhaps we can blame Contiki?
Andrew James
Robin Hanbury-Tenison lectures on his new book, Land of Eagles, on Tuesday 16 at 2/F, Olympic House, Causeway Bay.
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