Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent (born 29 November 1978) is a British travel writer and broadcaster who specialises in solo journeys through remote regions. Her book, ''Land of the Dawn-lit Mountains,'' was shortlisted for the 2018 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards.

Personal life

Bolingbroke-Kent was born in Norfolk and educated at

Wycombe Abbey School Wycombe Abbey is a private girls' boarding and day school in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The school was founded in 1896 by Dame Frances Dove (1847–1942), who was previously headmistress of St Leonards School in Scotland. Its ...

and

The University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, where she studied Modern History. She is the granddaughter of Admiral Sir Walter Thomas Couchman.

Career

In 2005 Bolingbroke-Kent left her job on

The South Bank Show ''The South Bank Show'' is a British television arts magazine series originally produced by London Weekend Television and broadcast on ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new version of the series began 27 May 2012 on Sky Arts. Conceived, written, a ...

to drive an

auto rickshaw An auto rickshaw is a motorized version of the pulled rickshaw or cycle rickshaw. Most have three wheels and do not tilt. They are known by many other terms in various countries, including three-wheeler, Adaidaita Sahu, Keke-napep, Maruwa, auto, ...

from

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

with her friend Jo Huxster. Their 98-day, 12,561 mile journey took them across 12 countries, including China, Kazakhstan and Russia. By completing the journey, they raised £50,000 for the mental health charity Mind, and broke the Guinness World Record for the longest ever journey by auto-rickshaw. The pair were later awarded Cosmopolitan magazine's Fun, Fearless Female Award. The comedian Stephen Fry called it a ‘brave and marvellous adventure.’ In 2013 Bolingbroke-Kent followed the remains of the

Ho Chi Minh Trail The Ho Chi Minh Trail (), also called Annamite Range Trail () was a Military logistics, logistical network of roads and trails that ran from North Vietnam to South Vietnam through the kingdoms of Kingdom of Laos, Laos and Cambodia (1953–1970), ...

through Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia on a Honda Cub motorcycle. This was her first major solo adventure. A book about this trip, ''A Short Ride in the Jungle,'' was published by Summersdale (UK) in 2014. The Irish travel writer

Dervla Murphy Dervla Murphy (28 November 1931 – 22 May 2022) was an Irish touring cyclist and author of adventure travel books, writing for more than 50 years. Murphy is best known for her 1965 book '' Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle'', about a ...

said that she ‘enormously enjoyed every page’, and ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine described it as ‘A jaw-dropping adventure, part travelogue, part thriller….an adrenaline-fuelled, fascinating ride.’ In 2016 Bolingbroke-Kent spent three months exploring the remote Northeast Indian state of

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and India declared it as a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and la ...

. Travelling by foot and motorcycle, she spent time with the Idu Mishmi,

Adi Adi or ADI may refer to: Abbreviations * Acceptable daily intake, in health and medicine * Acting detective inspector, a type of police inspector * Africa Development Indicators, a compilation of data assembled by the World Bank * Alternating ...

, and

Monpa The Monpa ( (;, Chinese: 门巴族) are a major people of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India and one of the 56 officially recognized ethnic groups in China. Most Monpas live in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, with a population of ...

tribes. The resulting book, ''Land of the Dawn-lit Mountains,'' was published by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

in the UK, India and the US. In 2019 she was the recipient of the Royal Geographical Society's Neville Shulman Challenge Award, and spent two months exploring the Naga tribal territories of

Northeast India Northeast India, officially the North Eastern Region (NER), is the easternmost region of India representing both a geographic and political Administrative divisions of India, administrative division of the country. It comprises eight States and ...

and

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

. Bolingbroke-Kent's other journeys include circumnavigating the Black Sea, motorcycling the Pamir Highway and walking a section of Georgia's Trans-Caucasian Trail. She is a regular contributor to publications including The Telegraph, The Guardian, Wanderlust and Geographical. She has also recorded several stories for Radio 4's ''From our Own Correspondent''. She has also produced and presented a number of documentaries for BBC Radio 4's Costing the Earth (about community-based conservation efforts in

Nagaland Nagaland () is a States and union territories of India, state in the northeast India, north-eastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south, and the Naga Sel ...

an
Tajikistan
an
Open Country.
Bolingbroke-Kent has spoken about her travels at the Royal Geographical Society, the Financial Times Festival, the Kendal Mountain Festival and the Cheltenham Festival. Until 2018, Bolingbroke-Kent worked as a freelance television producer. Her credits include ''World’s Most Dangerous Roads'' (BBC2), ''Tom Hardy’s'' ''Poaching Wars'' (ITV), ''Joanna Lumley’s'' ''India'' (ITV) and ''Joanna Lumley’s Silk Road Adventure'' (ITV). She is also the co-founder and director of the travel company Silk Road Adventures.

Books

2007 ''Tuk tuk to the Road: Two Girls, Three Wheels, 12,500 miles.''

The Friday Project The Friday Project was a London-based independent publishing house, founded by Paul Carr and Clare Christian in June 2004. It evolved out of ''The Friday Thing'', an Internet newsletter taking an offbeat look at the week's politics, media act ...

(UK). 2014 ''A Short Ride in the Jungle: Motorcycling the Ho Chi Minh Trail.'' Summersdale (UK). 2017 ''Land of the Dawn-lit Mountains: A Journey Across India’s Forgotten Frontier.''

(UK, USA, India).

Articles and broadcasts

The Guardian, 2022 - Trophy Hunting in TajikistanThe Guardian, 2020 – ‘I swapped my gun for binoculars – conservation in Nagaland.’BBC Radio 4, 2020 - ‘Fate of the Falcons’Adventure.com, 2019 – Climbing with the Bedouin in Jordan’s Wadi Rum.Wanderlust, 2019 – The Last Inhabitants of KichkuldashiThe Guardian, 2017 - ‘Tribes and Shamans become your hosts..’Interview on Radio 4’s Midweek programme. 2014.Interview on Radio 4’s Saturday Live about the Ho Chi Minh Trail. 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:BolingbrokeKent, Antonia British travel writers British film producers Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 1978 births Living people British women travel writers