Frank Gardner, the BBC security correspondent, is a keen birdwatcher. He wants to see birds of paradise in the wild. But the wild for birds of paradise is very wild: Papua New Guinea. Not easy in the wheelchair Frank has been using since being shot by al-Qaida terrorists in Saudi Arabia in 2004.
Step forward explorer Benedict Allen, who knows PNG rather well. Thirty years ago, he lived there with a remote people called the Niowra. He can take Frank to see his birds, and drop in on his old family at the same time. So Birds of Paradise: The Ultimate Quest (BBC2) was a personal mission for both of them, and ended up being extraordinary.
It’s tough from the outset. For Frank, the challenges are mainly physical, like how to get a wheelchair into a dugout canoe and through the jungle. For Benedict, ghosts from the past are resurrected. He is unsure how the village will receive him – it seems they thought he would stay for ever, so leaving was a big deal. Then there was a brutal male initiation ceremony he went through, having his skin carved up and then being beaten, over and over, for six weeks. Bloody hell, no wonder he’s feeling jittery. It must be worse than going back to public school.
Benedict should have been born about 100 years earlier. He’s a proper old-school Victorian adventurer, albeit a sensitive, pensive one. I think he’s hacking his way through the tangled thoughts inside his head, too. Frank seems more straightforward, more Tintin to Benedict’s Wilfred Thesiger. They also have a lot in common: English stoicism, airmen fathers, a passion for adventure, remote peoples. That kind of stuff.
They understand each other, so they make good travel companions. And Frank’s disability adds a new dimension. It’s compelling, better than the average TV travelogue.
Benedict’s reunion goes OK, with a bit of a dance, though his erstwhile best mate – his initiation buddy, for whom he has brought a watch – is sadly now dead. Then they set off deeper into the forest, to search for birds of paradise. Just a distant glimpse, a flash of gold in the canopy. But there’s a second episode to go, hopefully for Frank to find more and Benedict to find whatever he’s looking for. Can’t wait.
