I’m a legendary British explorer – I spent 100 days trekking in world’s most dangerous jungle & barely came out alive
A LEGENDARY British explorer has told of how he spent 100 days in the world’s most dangerous jungle – a wilderness that has claimed thousands of lives.
Colonel John Blashford Snell CBE told The Sun about his epic adventure that saw him survive bandits, dangerous animals, unforgiving conditions, and death-defying terrain.
Colonel Snell is a bonafide world explorer who seems like he has stepped straight out of a swashbuckling adventure film.
But perhaps his most daring adventure was his journey crossing the notorious Darién Gap.
It is a dense and unforgiving jungle between Panama and Colombia.
Many have attempted to travel the wilds there, and many have lost their lives trying – with the area having a reputation as one of the most dangerous places in the world.
The gap is 66 miles of dense, mountainous jungles grown thick with foliage, and is home to drug traffickers and armed guerillas.
But for Colonel Snell, now 86, it was just another challenge to be conquered in his extraordinary life.
“It was like a never-ending green hell,” he told The Sun Online, recalling how they were shot at by bandits, attacked by snakes, and had to float their 4x4s on rickety rafts across raging rivers.
Colonel Snelll founded the Scientific Exploration Society (SES) and served for 43 years in the British Army.
He has navigated the Congo River, is credited with “inventing” white water rafting with his trip down the Blue Nile, and led a 9,500-mile expedition from Alaska all the way to Cape Horn.
The dad-of-two is one of the last of a generation of true explorers who traveled the world’s most unknown and most unforgiving places.
But for Colonel Snell – his travels through the Darien Gap in 1971 will still be some of his most incredible stories, especially as more than 100,000 desperate migrants try to traverse it every year.
Colonel Snell, president of the SES, was asked to find a viable track through the deadly gap to finish the Pan American highway which runs from Alaska to Cape Horn.
The only break in the modern marvel of a road was through the thick jungles of the Darién.
And so, equipped with two Range Rovers and a team of British, Colombian, Panamanian, and American armed forces, John set off to find a route.
He told The Sun Online: “It’s a mixture of jungles, swamps, hills, lots of bandits, and terrorists. It wasn’t the most inviting place.
“It was basically a dense jungle, very hot, very humid. It was a hell of a piece of country to get through.
“There were lots of smugglers who were trying to get in from South America.”
The Darién Gap is notorious as a drug smuggling passageway from South America into North America, and lurking in the dark greenery are armed drug militants.
John recalled: “We managed to do a deal with the Panamanian authorities.
“We hired about 15 of the smugglers, a few murderers from a local prison to help us come through the gap.
“It’s quite an epic story of volunteers that were offered their freedom and they came with us back into South America.”
As John’s team trekked onwards, they came upon the Atrato Swamp – roughly the size of Wales – and had to cross it with their two Land Rovers.
Using inflatable boats, stunning photos reveal the men guiding the Range Rovers across the murky swamp by hand.
If you’re lucky enough to avoid the drug cartels who frequent the gap, you might not be lucky if you run into one of the many deadly creatures lurking about.
The Darién is home to deadly snakes, such as the bushmaster and fer-de-lance, as well as wild cats, caimans, and as John describes it, “tarantulas galore”.
John said: “One of our members found a bushmaster coming after him, and it grabbed him in the heel of his jungle boots made of carbon rubber and it locked in.
“He fell over with the impact but he managed to draw his revolver and blow the head off the snake.”
But despite the troubles with the animals, there was also beauty, as John recalled witnessing a black jaguar early one morning on the trail.
“I was leading my horse when suddenly it stopped and there was this fantastic Black Cat standing and looking at me with those wonderful yellow eyes,” he told The Sun.
Also on the expedition were veterinarians for the horses in the caravan, along with environmentalists and anthropologists.
Scientists from four countries conducted vital research on the botany, biology, geology, geography, entomology and zoology of the region whilst on the trip.
Two indigenous peoples live in the Dairen – the Kuna and the Chocó – both of which John and his group encountered.
John explained: “The people of the area were very important to our quest, because we were trying to protect their image.
“The Kuna wear these incredible blouses covered in gold.
“The Chocó looked very much like the traditional Amerindian with most of them only wearing a loincloth.
“We were very anxious to try and protect them because once the road went through, we knew the whole environment was going to be damaged.”
Though John’s team was well equipped with military and protection, they were attacked by the newly formed FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), and lost six men.
The trip became more and more precarious as days went on, and the team often was obscured from daylight due to the dense vegetation.
As time went on, more and more of the men on the expedition were airlifted out due to injuries and illness, with supplies being airdropped as needed.
The British Army Air Corps parachuted down food, water, and supplies as needed – and “a few bottles of beer to keep us going”, John said.
The team drank water through a filter or drank from the jungle vines around them – something which the children who were lost in the Amazon last month did to survive.
Exhausted and beaten down, the team finally arrived in Colombia on the 100th day of the expedition and came in bearing arms, flying the British Flag and beating a drum – sort of.
It was like never ending green hell.”
Colonel John Blashford-Snell
John recalled: “Well, we had a tin box. I had a shotgun and we had a Union Jack. So we advanced into Columbia, carrying those and we were welcomed by the Colombians.”
John’s expedition resulted in authorities deciding not to build a road through the jungle – as it was too dense, too dangerous, and too environmentally dangerous to complete.
Despite the extreme dangers and continued deaths in the Darién, some have begun traversing the gap as a form of “extreme tourism” – something John warns against.
Journeys through the dangerous gap for migrants seeking to reach America cost roughly £300, but thousands of migrants pass through the jungle each year – with hundreds dying and disappearing.
As of May, over 127,000 have made the journey, hailing from countries all over the world – Bangladesh, Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela, India and more.
John said: “It’s a terrible place to try and come through. And I think a lot of people are dying. I certainly wouldn’t recommend somebody going out at the moment. But I think you’re likely to get shot in the back.
“It was a difficult expedition, probably one of the most difficult I’ve ever done.”
He has detailed his adventure in his new book From Utmost East to Utmost West which is available now.