Christina Dodwell

FRGS The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

(born 1 February 1951) is a British explorer, travel writer, and lecturer. She is Chairman of the Dodwell Trust and was awarded the Mungo Park Medal in 1989.'DODWELL, Christina', in ''Who's Who 2009'', (London: A. & C. Black, 2008) Dodwell has travelled in

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

, the former

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

, and

Kurdistan Kurdistan (, ; ), or Greater Kurdistan, is a roughly defined geo- cultural region in West Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages, and national identity have historically been based. G ...

, by horse,

canoe A canoe is a lightweight, narrow watercraft, water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using paddles. In British English, the term ' ...

, elephant,

camel A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provid ...

and

microlight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with ailer ...

, and has published books and articles about many of her travels. The authenticity of some of her travels and writings has been called into question by David Roberts.

Life

Dodwell was born in 1951 in Nigeria to British parents, Christopher Bradford Dodwell DFC, late the Glider Pilot Regiment, and Evelyn Dodwell (née Beddow). Her parents had married in England on 11 May 1946, and her father became the

District Officer The District Officer (abbreviated to D.O.), was a commissioned officer of one of the colonial governments of the British Empire, from the mid-1930s also a member of the Colonial Service of the United Kingdom, who was responsible for a District of ...

Oyo, Nigeria Oyo is a city in Oyo State, Nigeria. It was founded as the capital of the remnant of the historic Oyo empire in the 1830s, and is known to its people as 'New Oyo' (Ọ̀yọ́ Àtìbà) to distinguish it from the former capital to the north, 'Ol ...

, where he was also a writer on Nigerian topics. Her mother and grandmother had both grown up in China, and Dodwell said in 1996 "I don't know where I belong. My family thought it was totally normal that I had a larger view of the world." When she was six, Dodwell's family returned to live in London, England.Jazmin Kay,
CHRISTINA DODWELL
' at feminist.com She was educated at Southover Manor School,

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

, and Beechlawn College,

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

. Her first job was as an interior designer. In 1975, she went on holiday to Africa with a girlfriend and two men. The men stole their jeep, leaving the women stranded until they found two wild horses to ride. Her friend returned home, but Dodwell stayed in Africa for three years, travelling by horse, elephant and

. During this time she spent seven weeks going down the

Congo River The Congo River, formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second-longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the third-largest river in the world list of rivers by discharge, by discharge volume, following the Amazon Ri ...

in a dug-out

. After travelling twenty thousand miles around Africa, between 1975 and 1978, Dodwell returned to England and wrote a book about her African experiences, ''Travels with Fortune''. However, she found home life boring and went on to other explorations. Her second major expedition was to

, travelling by horse and canoe, in 1980 to 1981, and her later travels have included

, China,

and

, and a seven thousand mile flight by

across West Africa.CHRISTINA DODWELL, EXPLORER, AUTHOR, BROADCASTER AND FOUNDER OF THE DODWELL TRUST
at dodwell-trust.org She was arrested in

Gonbad Persian domes or Iranian domes have an ancient origin and a history extending to the modern era. The use of domes in ancient Mesopotamia was carried forward through a succession of empires in the Greater Iran region. An ancient tradition of royal ...

and

. In Kraimbit,

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

, Dodwell was initiated into manhood by the crocodile people of the

lowlands. Her shoulder was scarred with a scaly pattern imitating one found on a

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large, semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term "crocodile" is sometimes used more loosely to include ...

's forehead.The Mick Sinclair Archive
Christina Dodwell
at micksinclair.com In

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, she was paralysed for ten days by the bite of a hunting spider. Her travels in China and Tibet took her to

Kashgar Kashgar () or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is a city in the Tarim Basin region of southern Xinjiang, China. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, located near the country's border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. For over 2,000 years, Kashgar ...

, Karakol on Lake Issyk Kul,

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

, the lamasery of Taer'si,

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

and Shilin. She may have been the first Westerner to see the

dragon boat A dragon boat is a human-powered watercraft originating from the Pearl River Delta region of China's southern Guangdong Province. These were made of teak, but in other parts of China different kinds of wood are used. It is one of a family of t ...

race on Lake Er Hai. There is little that she refuses to eat. Looking beyond elephant's trunk, crocodile's tail, and hump of

rhinoceros A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

, she said in an interview "When one's eaten

maggot A maggot is the larva of a fly (order Diptera); it is applied in particular to the larvae of Brachycera flies, such as houseflies, cheese flies, hoverflies, and blowflies, rather than larvae of the Nematocera, such as mosquitoes and cr ...

s three or four times one isn't squeamish, and if someone brings you a bowlful that they've spent the day gathering it would be impolite to go 'urgh!'... I seem able to eat anything without ill effects, although I had one bad day after eating a piece of rotten camel." Dennis Hackett, writing a television review in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' in October 1984, said – Altogether, by 1997 she had visited some eighty different countries. Together with Delia Akeley, Mary Kingsley, Florence Baker, and Alexine Tinne, she was one of the five subjects of a book by Margo McLoone published that year, ''Women explorers in Africa'' (1997). In 1990, she was appointed as an

Attaché In diplomacy, an attaché () is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified ac ...

at the London Consulate of the Republic of Madagascar, continuing with this until 2005. In 1995 she established a charity called the Dodwell Trust, to help Madagascar's people, chiefly in the areas of education, family health, and

sustainable development Sustainable development is an approach to growth and Human development (economics), human development that aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.United Nations General ...

. Dodwell's nine books have been translated into five other languages. She has also made three television films and more than forty radio documentaries for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

, has lectured at the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

, London, the

Royal Scottish Geographical Society The Royal Scottish Geographical Society (RSGS) is an educational charity based in Perth, Scotland, founded in 1884. The purpose of the society is to advance the subject of geography worldwide, inspire people to learn more about the world around ...

, Edinburgh, the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

, Washington, D.C., and

the Explorers Club The Explorers Club is an American-based international multidisciplinary professional society with the goal of promoting scientific exploration and field study. The club was founded in New York City in 1904 and has served as a meeting point for ex ...

of New York City. Her three television films for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

are ''River Journey – Waghi'' (1984,

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

award), ''Black Pearls of Polynesia'' (1991) and ''African Footsteps – Madagascar'' (1996). She married Stephen Hobbs in 1991. In 1994, she was reported to own a flat in London and a small farm in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

, but said that her ideal home was a timber house without electricity in the Valley of Geysers,

Kamchatka The Kamchatka Peninsula (, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and western coastlines, respectively. Immediately offshore along the Pacific ...

, belonging to a bear-tracker she had met there in 1992. In 2009, she made a documentary for BBC Radio 4 on indigenous culture in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. After her husband's death, she explored living with her widowed sister in Gloucestershire, appearing in an episode of the BBC's "Escape to the Country."Escape to the Country, July 2013, Episode 14x27 (host Jonnie Irwin). She now lives on a farm, but still spends much of her time in Africa.

Major publications

*''Travels with Fortune – an African Adventure'' (1979) *''Travels in Papua New Guinea'' (1982) *''An Explorer's Handbook: An Unconventional Guide for Travellers to Remote Regions – Travel, Survival, and Bush Cookery'' (1984) *''River Journeys'' (with

Russell Braddon Russell Reading Braddon (25 January 1921 – 20 March 1995) was an Australian writer of novels, biographies and TV scripts. His chronicle of his four years as a prisoner of war, '' The Naked Island'', sold more than a million copies. Braddon ...

Germaine Greer Germaine Greer (; born 29 January 1939) is an Australian writer and feminist, regarded as one of the major voices of the second-wave feminism movement in the latter half of the 20th century. Specializing in English and women's literature, she ...

, William Shawcross, Brian Thompson, and Michael Wood) (London: BBC Books, 1984) *''A Traveller in China'' (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1985) *''A Traveller on Horseback in Eastern Turkey and Iran'' (1987) *''Travels with Pegasus: a Microlight Journey Across West Africa'' (1989) *''Beyond Siberia'' (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1993) *''Madagascar Travels'' (1995)

Other publications

*Preface to Richard Barnes, ''Eye on the Hill – Horse Travels in Britain'' (1987)

Honours

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

, 1982 *

British Academy of Film and Television Arts The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

Award for film ''River Journey – Waghi'', 1985 * Mungo Park Medal of the

, 1989

Life

Major publications

Other publications

Honours

References

External links