In May of this year, lifelong explorer and author Robin Hanbury-Tenison decided to ring in his 89th birthday with a unique challenge: Rowing 22 miles to help restore Britain’s historic rainforests.
Hanbury-Tenison set off in the middle of May, rowing along Cornwall’s River Tamar, with a goal of raising £200,000 (or about $272,00) for the Thousand Year Trust, a charity dedicated to tripling the amount of temperate rainforests in the United Kingdom.
He completed his journey, one that was no easy feat for the near-90-year-old, raising a total of £64,030 from nearly 500 supporters, according to his Crowdfunder page.
Although he didn't reach his total funding goal, Hanbury-Tenison did achieve a milestone of £50,000, which the charity called “a game changer.” Plus, Henbury-Tenison was personally proud of the achievement, especially after a life full of adventures.
In 1958, he rose to acclaim when he became the first person to cross South America from east to west, later crossing the continent from north to south less than a decade later.
His adventures have taken him across the world and have led to countless contributions to sustainability and biodiversity research, including the Royal Geographical Society’s largest scientific expedition to date, 15 months in Borneo, studying habitats and ecosystems.
“My legs have pretty well given out now, so no more running or climbing mountains, but the arms are still pretty strong,” Hanbury-Tenison said after his rowing expedition in May.
“Thanks to training, I was pleased just to get out and do alright. I hope I’ll raise quite a lot of money for a cause close to a lot of people’s hearts.”
The cause closest to his heart these days is the preservation of Atlantic temperate rainforest, a 5,000-year-old habitat that is under more threat than tropical rainforests, according to The Guardian.
In 1960, Hanbury-Tenison purchased a fragment of this rainforest habitat on the edge of Bodmin Moor, where he has raised his family to care deeply about the natural world and reflect on the habitat that used to surround the United Kingdom a couple millennia ago.
In fact, this piece of property is what inspired the creation of the Thousand Year Trust. The nonprofit Hanbury-Tenison is supporting was created by his son, Merlin, after he transformed the family estate into a healing destination, where over 3,000 people have come to spend time in the woods over the years.
Now, the family is working to rewild their land, bringing back grazing cattle, horses, and pigs, only after planting 100,000 more trees in the surrounding areas.
“Up to 20% of the British Isles was once shrouded in temperate rainforest. This is the most vibrant, nourishing and folkloric habitat that we have ever known,” the Thousand Year Trust website reads.
“Over the last few thousand years, we have slowly and steadily deforested this ecosystem until now less than 1% remains. The time to reverse that destruction is now.”
The goal of the organization is to research, rewild, and reinvigorate the land, recreating the ancient forests in a future-focused way, “a legacy that will live beyond us all,” the website adds.
“This forest is a 4,000-year-old living entity,” Merlin Hanbury-Tenison told The Guardian.
“Our purpose is to make sure that with each human generation it is slightly bigger, more biodiverse and more harmonious.”
The money funded through Hanbury-Tenison’s row will go toward creating the U.K.’s first Rainforest Research Station and Community Hub. The state-of-the-art facility would serve as an on-location research base and gathering location for scientists, volunteers, and communities alike.
“There are hundreds of research stations dedicated to studying tropical rainforests worldwide, yet not a single one exists for Europe’s temperate rainforests,” Hanbury-Tenison’s Crowdfunder page reads.
“There is almost no dedicated research into their role in storing carbon, supporting biodiversity, or enhancing human well-being.”
Supporting these efforts is also the University of Plymouth, an institution that awarded Hanbury-Tenison with an honorary doctorate in 2012. For the charity row, the university’s staff and students were especially helpful.
Working closely with the Plymouth Exploration and Discovery Research Unit, experts monitored Hanbury-Tenison’s physical health and psychological wellbeing leading up to, during, and after the row.
Medical cover and logistics support was also provided by the university, and even a creative writing student was part of the process, documenting Hanbury-Tenison’s journey as part of her final academic portfolio.
“It’s been great working with Robin and especially brilliant to bring students on board his preparation journey,” Dr. Jon Rhodes, a psychology lecturer at the University of Plymouth, said in a statement.
“It truly captures all fields, highlighting the importance of interdisciplinary work to achieve a goal. We were so pleased to be able to support him and take inspiration from everything he’s done.”
Although Hanbury-Tenison’s adventures may slow down, he doesn’t show signs of quitting.
“A lot of people my age stop trying, but if there is a bit of you that still works,” he offers Psychology Today, “Don’t give up.”
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Header image by Philip Habib/University of Plymouth
