Summary: Is the great age of exploration over? Has the modern traveller swapped Ulysses' quest for the Happy Isles for a short break at the Holiday Inn? Maybe. But most of us still yearn for the rough, rugged and romantic places of the explorer's imagination, places where no travel company has been before us.... And some of Britain's greatest explorers and travellers will be taking us there, in mind if not in body, as they examine the past, present and future of great exploration. Justin Marozzi will introduce Herodotus, the first explorer as well as the father of history, and follow his high-spirited travels through Turkey, Iraq, Egypt and Greece, examining sex, war and exploration in the fifth century BC. Anthony Sattin will then guide us through the Age of Enlightenment, the greatest age of exploration, and the perfect intersection of knowledge and desire, possibility and challenge. Nowhere was more challenging than the interior of Africa, to which Sir Joseph Banks and his friends turned their attention, sending Mungo Park and other brilliant travellers in search of the lost city of Timbuktu. Christina Dodwell will pay tribute to the great women explorers of the past, including her grandmother who made intrepid journeys by mule in China during the time of the warlords. Bringing us up to date, she'll recount her latest horse safari in Madagascar where she's setting up a new form of eco-tourism for the local economy. John Gimlette will talk about his adventures in Paraguay, Newfoundland, Labrador and the Guianas. During his travels he has often crossed paths with the early explorers and will select a few of his favourites. Amongst them are great men who fail, and the occasional loser who mysteriously triumphs. Benedict Allen famously pioneered the filming of expeditions for television, by doing away with a camera-crew and instead capturing experiences as they happened using a hand-held video camera. He'll reveal the highs and lows of recording his hazardous journeys - from being thrown from his horse in the Andes on his first day filming, to being shot at by hit-men. Robin Hanbury-Tenison will recount leading the Royal Geographical Society's expedition to the interior of Borneo, which launched the rainforest movement and earned him the Society's Gold Medal. He founded Survival International, of which he is President, and is a tireless champion of exploration and the benefits it brings mankind. Ed Stafford became the first person to walk the entire length of the Amazon River in August 2010 - a trek that took him 859 days. He'll tell how he ate piranhas, fended off deadly vipers and sustained 50,000 mosquito bites. His scariest moments weren't with the wildlife, however, but when he encountered hostility from remote tribal peoples. After the presentations the speakers will debate the motion "Exploring is good for the explorer but not much good for those being explored." The full video is available on www.intelligencesquared.com
