Adventure Diaries: Exploration, Survival & Travel Stories

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In 2008, Louis-Philippe Loncke became the first person to walk the full length of Australia's Simpson Desert unsupported — 35 days, a 215kg cart, no water cache, no drops, no helicopter rescue within range. Last year, he tried again. He covered 75 kilometres in 13 days and turned back. Climate change, he believes, may have made this crossing permanently impossible.
 
The Belgian engineer turned explorer nicknamed The Mad Belgian first understood the scale of what he'd done when Jon Muir — who had been to both Poles — wrote that unsupported desert crossings make Mount Everest look like child's play. Louis-Philippe has catalogued 21 near-death experiences and is building a classification system to prove exactly why Everest barely makes a Class 2.
 
What You'll Learn:
• Why Australia has two million wild Afghan camels — and why eating them is an ecological good
• The frog that lies dormant in a salt crust for 30 years and revives when floodwater returns
• Why Mount Everest rates only Class 2 on the Mad Belgian's expedition scale
• How a 10-degree temperature rise may have closed the Simpson Desert to solo crossings forever
• What it's like to be chased by 14 wild camels with nowhere to run
 
LOUIS-PHILIPPE LONCKE | The Mad Belgian
www.louis-philippe-loncke.com
YouTube: Luffy Tests | Meet Explorers with Lou-Phi
Charity: Jane Goodall Institute — tree-planting events across Europe
Project: Expedition Database — global index of adventurers and expeditions
 
ABOUT LOUIS-PHILIPPE LONCKE
Belgian adventurer and Explorers Club Fellow known as The Mad Belgian. In 2008 he completed the
world's first unsupported north-to-south crossing of the Simpson Desert in 35 days. A former bank
IT engineer, he has completed 20-plus expeditions across Tasmania, Australia, Poland, and
Azerbaijan, surviving 21 documented near-death experiences. Currently building the Expedition
Database, a free global index designed to work like IMDB for the adventure community.
 
00:00 Louis-Philippe Loncke — who is The Mad Belgian Explorer?
01:49 Growing up in Belgium: from furniture makers to Boy Scouts
06:00 From ING Bank Singapore to hiking 2,000km across Australia
13:19 Why the Simpson Desert? Finding the world's most impossible walk
18:37 The 2008 world first: crossing the Simpson Desert unsupported
26:00 How to survive without resupply in the world's most arid desert
31:00 Wild camels, dingoes and the world's most venomous snake
41:00 Going back: the 2016 backpack attempt and 2024 cart failure
54:00 How to grade an expedition — the Class 1 to 6 adventure scale
1:04:00 The Expedition Database: IMDB for the world's adventurers
1:13:00 21 near-death experiences: barge cables, cliff falls and floods
1:19:00 What's next: Azerbaijan, the Tintin rocket and future films
1:31:00 Pay it forward, call to adventure and quick-fire questions
 
For full show notes and links, visit: adventured
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The Adventure Diaries Podcast also covers a broad spectrum OF topics withIN the fields of Adventure, Exploration, Micro-adventure, Survival, Mental Resilience, Conservation, Scotland, Hiking, Solo Travel, Cycling, Nature, Storytelling, Mountaineering

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Pete Casey was chest-deep in floodwater, five days without food, in the middle of the Amazon at dusk. His guide said: "This is a beautiful place to die, and the day you die is the best day of your life." No higher ground in sight, no GPS signal, no way out. This is the story of the first ever sea-to-source ascent of the Amazon River.

No military training, no wealthy sponsors, no support team. Pete sold his home, scraped together £110,000 in equity, and walked into the Amazon alone. What followed was six and a half years, over 7,000 kilometres, swimming every river crossing against the current, trekking through flooded rainforest, and navigating remote indigenous communities that had never seen a Westerner pass through on foot.

From near-death in flood season to coca plantations in the Andes, this is the full arc of one of the most extraordinary human-powered expeditions ever completed.

What You'll Learn:
• Why Pete ascended the Amazon sea-to-source — and why almost nobody does it that way
• The method he built for swimming river crossings with a packraft and local guides
• How 23 days in flooded forest without food nearly killed him
• What encounters with remote indigenous communities actually look like
• The brutal reality of coming home to nothing after six and a half years

Pete's presentation at the explorers club in NYC.
🌐 ascentoftheamazon.com
📸 Instagram: @p.c.casey
🌿 Junglekeepers (pay it forward): junglekeepers.com

00:00 Cold open — chest-deep in floodwater
01:18 Who is Pete Casey and what is the Ascent of the Amazon?
03:21 Growing up with no money in Sussex — how adventure didn't come naturally
05:19 First trip to South America — joining Ed Stafford's Amazon walk
07:50 Photography dreams and why building became his career
11:32 How Pete decided to ascend the Amazon sea-to-source
17:23 Selling his home — the point of no return
21:17 Route planning on Google Earth and arriving alone
26:26 Why Pete swam every river crossing — method and fear
29:27 The Pororoca tidal bore and using the Amazon tide to gain ground
34:00 First Una tribe encounters — being surrounded
47:11 23 days in flooded forest, no food, chest-deep in water
51:50 Recovery in Manaus and planning the next leg
55:28 How kit evolved over 6.5 years — Wellington boots vs jungle boots
1:00:40 What Pete ate in the jungle — farinha and sardines
1:05:00 Walking alone through cocaine plantations in the Andes
1:13:40 The Explorers Club, coming home, and the food bank
1:23:34 Pay it forward: Junglekeepers

For full show notes and links, visit: adventurediaries.com/podcast
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The Adventure Diaries Podcast also covers a broad spectrum OF topics withIN the fields of Adventure, Exploration, Micro-adventure, Survival, Mental Resilience, Conservation, Scotland, Hiking, Solo Travel, Cycling, Nature, Storytelling, Mountaineering

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Beki Henderson is a BAFTA-nominated adventure filmmaker and expedition safety specialist with years of experience leading camera teams into some of the world's most remote and demanding environments. She's worked alongside Steve Backshall, Ben Fogle, Levison Wood, Aldo Kane, and most recently Will Smith on the landmark Pole to Pole series — premiering at the Natural History Museum in London.
In this episode, Chris sits down with Beki to dig into the Green Abyss — her personal expedition into Gabon's Waka National Park in 2024, launched in the wake of the country's military coup. The plan was to pack-raft the undocumented Akoi River for a month, reaching remote communities to understand the human cost of conservation policy. What followed was a masterclass in expedition reality — strainers, flash flood risk, a support team walking in entirely the wrong direction, and a village that no longer existed.

Beki also reflects on building a career in adventure television from scratch, why qualifications mean nothing without field experience, and what it really means to take risk seriously — not the dramatic kind, but the deep, lasting uncertainty that keeps you up at night two metres above a rising river in the middle of a Gabonese gorge.

Chapters:
00:00 — Risk Isn't Dramatic: What Expedition Danger Really Looks Like
01:25 — Introduction & Welcome to Adventure Diaries
03:12 — Growing Up in North Yorkshire With No Adventurous Instincts
06:53 — Building a Career in Adventure Filmmaking From Scratch
10:00 — Wilderness First Responder: Why Qualifications Mean Nothing Without Experience
12:17 — First Break Into Adventure Television: Steve Backshall & Expedition Series
14:07 — The Green Abyss: Pack Rafting Gabon's Undocumented Akoi River
16:29 — Building a Team in the Field & Getting Government Permission Post-Coup
22:29 — Strainers, Portaging & Why the River Always Wins
26:43 — Trapped in a Gorge: The Flash Flood Decision That Changed Everything
33:37 — The GPS Disaster: When the Support Team Walked the Wrong Way
38:10 — Ingondé Doesn't Exist: Conservation, Gold Panning & The Human Cost
44:24 — Recording Undocumented Species & Reflections on the Green Abyss

Pay It Forward: Beki shines a light on the Black Mambas — an all-female anti-poaching unit in South Africa working to protect wildlife and educate communities before poaching ever starts. Find them at blackmambas.org.

Call to Adventure: Figure out where your own edge is — and go there. Adventure doesn't have to cost money or require extreme skill. Start with what takes you outside your comfort zone.

Follow Beki Henderson:
Instagram: @bekihenderson
Website: beckihenderson.com
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The Adventure Diaries Podcast also covers a broad spectrum OF topics withIN the fields of Adventure, Exploration, Micro-adventure, Survival, Mental Resilience, Conservation, Scotland, Hiking, Solo Travel, Cycling, Nature, Storytelling, Mountaineering

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What happens when you walk for days through some of the most remote jungle on Earth — and stumble across a cave covered floor to ceiling in ancient drawings that no outsider has ever documented? In this Season 5 episode, Chris sits down with Joe Trevorrow, former Royal Navy sailor turned expedition guide with The Wild Tales — an indigenous-led adventure company operating deep in Guyana's interior — to unpack three extraordinary expeditions into barely explored territory.
Alongside the on-the-ground stories (rapids, sand flies, night terrors in hammocks, and jaguar tracks beside your sleeping spot), Joe shares how The Wild Tales partners with indigenous communities — the Wai Wai, Patamona, and others — to create sustainable tourism that preserves ancient sites and dying traditions. We discuss the complex tribal history of Guyana's nine indigenous nations, how a Tomb Raider game sparked a life-changing decision, and what the jungle teaches you when you stop fighting it.
Chapters:
00:00 A Hidden Cave in Guyana's Jungle
01:07 Meet Joe Trevorrow: Royal Navy to Rainforest
05:30 Joining the Navy and Travelling the World at 20
07:56 How a Tomb Raider Game Led to Guyana Expeditions
11:33 How Indigenous-Led Expedition Tourism Works
16:45 The River of Death: Paddling the Cassai Chi
20:09 Undocumented Petroglyphs Along the Riverbank
24:18 Welcome to Masakenari: The Most Remote Village
29:30 Tourism as a Lifeline: Keeping Traditions Alive
32:40 Don't Fight the Jungle: Lessons the Hard Way
35:21 Sitting Under the Milky Way on the River of Death
38:10 Night Terrors: The Scariest Night in the Jungle
40:12 Makarapan Mountain: 3.5 Billion Years Old
46:00 The Mystery Pots Nobody Can Explain
55:12 The Cave Expedition: 45km Through Patamona Territory
01:03:21 Ancient Drawings That Left Everyone Speechless
01:12:00 Conservation: Keeping Sites Secret vs Raising Awareness
01:17:49 Future Expeditions and What's Next for The Wild Tales
01:23:17 Pay It Forward and Call to Adventure
What You'll Learn
What the "River of Death" actually means — and the disease theory behind its name
How indigenous-led expedition tourism works (and why it matters)
Why two enormous pots were found near the summit of a 3.5 billion year old mountain — and nobody can explain how they got there
What it feels like to walk into an ancient cave and see drawings no outsider has recorded
The leadership lesson Joe learned — and why "Navy mode" doesn't work in the jungle
What The Wild Tales has planned for 2026–2027
Connect with Joe & The Wild Tales
Joe Trevorrow Instagram
The Wild Tales: https://www.thewildtales.com
Anders Anderson episode (S3): Adventure Diaries back cat
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Chris sits down with Brazilian conservation biologist Letícia Benavalli to talk about her work protecting jaguars in the Cerrado — one of the world's most biodiverse yet overlooked biomes. From growing up in São Paulo to founding the Pro Onça Institute, Letícia shares how a childhood fascination with nature led her to track some of the rarest cats on the planet, including melanistic (black) jaguars. She also opens up about the importance of community-led conservation, empowering women and young people in rural Brazil, and her ambition to create wildlife corridors connecting isolated jaguar populations across biomes.
Chapters
00:00 Tracking Melanistic Jaguars
04:43 From City Life to Conservation Biologist
07:10 The Cerrado: Saving Brazil's Biodiverse Savanna
14:47 Learnings from Oxford University & African Wild
22:53 Rare Black Jaguar Encounter in the Wild
27:07 Survival Story: Lost Alone in the Brazilian Jungle
36:38 Jaguar Hunting Threats & Landowner Conflicts
40:58 Pro Onça Institute: Conservation & Community Empowerment
47:02 Women Leadership in Ecotourism
1:00 Urban Jaguars in Brasília National Park
1:06 Rolex Explorers Club Grant & Future Goals
1:14 Call to Adventure: Climbing Brazil's Serra do Cipó

Guest Bio
Letícia Benavalli is a conservation biologist and founder of the Onça Institute (Instituto Onça), an NGO dedicated to jaguar conservation in Brazil's Cerrado and Atlantic Forest. She has worked across multiple Brazilian biomes — including the Pantanal, Caatinga, and Amazon — studying large carnivores and developing community-based conservation programmes. Letícia is a Rolex/Explorers Club grant recipient and a member of the IUCN's Wildlife Conservation and Protected Areas group. She presented her research at the Explorers Club in New York and is preparing a PhD focused on jaguar density, diet, and the genetics of melanistic jaguars in the Cerrado.

Key Topics Discussed
Growing up in São Paulo & finding conservation — How a city kid from Latin America's largest metropolis ended up dedicating her life to wildlife, sparked by a childhood visit to the zoo and a love of nature documentaries.
The Cerrado: Brazil's forgotten biome — Why this vast savanna is critically important for biodiversity but receives far less attention and protection than the Amazon or Pantanal.
Black jaguars and the Onça Institute — Letícia's face-to-face encounter with a wild melanistic jaguar, the rare genetics behind black colouration, and the founding mission of her NGO to connect isolated jaguar populations.
Community-led conservation & empowering women — Why conservation cannot succeed without involving local and rural communities, particularly women and young people, and how traditional knowledge strengthens scientific work.
The Rolex/Explorers Club grant & global ambitions — Winning the grant, present
Send us Fan Mail
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Please visit AdventureDiaries.com/GO  For more authentic stories of Adventure Exploration and the natural world

The Adventure Diaries Podcast also covers a broad spectrum OF topics withIN the fields of Adventure, Exploration, Micro-adventure, Survival, Mental Resilience, Conservation, Scotland, Hiking, Solo Travel, Cycling, Nature, Storytelling, Mountaineering