Dorset's 'Indiana Jones' returns from Mongolia expedition

Colonel John Blashford-Snell has spent the past 60 years travelling to some of the planet’s most remote, inaccessible, and dangerous places in pursuit of scientific research, wildlife conservation and community aid.

This year Colonel Blashford-Snell led a team of 26 volunteers to Mongolia to give medical aid, work with the universities and carry out archaeological, botanical and zoological studies with the support of the Scientific Exploration Society.

Colonel Blashford-Snell, who celebrated his 87th birthday on Sunday, October 22, now lives in Motcombe near Shaftesbury.

He said: "It was an expedition we had planned for a long time but it had been put off by the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"Eventually we made it out this year for three weeks in June.

"We have worked very closely in the past with the national University in the capital Ulaanbataar in the past, but for this expedition, we were in the Eastern part of the country where Genghis Khan died.

"It was a mixed scientific expedition, looking into the biology, zoology, and botany of the area, but we also thought about what we can do to help the locals, so we had a team of dentists, doctors, cardio nurses to give medical aid to the Mongolian people."

Colonel Blashford-Snell was joined by his grandson on the expedition for the first time, keeping an eye on the old Russian army trucks that the expedition used to carry stores and provide a mobile kitchen.

He said: "My grandson is as mad as a hatter, a bit like all of us on these expeditions.

"There are a lot of us who keep going on this expeditions and everyone is mad."

Colonel Blashford-Snell is now planning his next expedition and has his sights set on South America.

He said: "We are looking at places in south or central America, anywhere where it is peaceful at the moment.

"The expeditions do a lot of good to help local people and it is great to bring medical aid and dentistry to people all over the world."