Searching FOR THE YETI

From mermaids to the Loch Ness Monster, everyone loves a mythical creature story. But are they just myths? In the case of the famous yeti, ANDREW BENFIELD and RICHARD HORSEY decided to find out.

- ANDREW BENFIELD and RICHARD HORSEY

They did so by setting off on a series of adventures across Asia, talking to locals and chasing stories of sightings, and then recording the results in a podcast series called Yeti (BBC Sounds).

The pair are no strangers to exploring the world. Both are from the UK (Andrew from Essex and Richard the Dorset coast) but have spent a great deal of time in different corners of the planet.

Andrew is currently based between Singapore and Bangkok but has lived in Israel, Africa, Bali and elsewhere, doing everything from investment banking to advising embassies and international organisations on working more effectively, attempting to motorbike from India to Burma (and writing a book about it) – even teaching meditation and tai chi.

Richard is a widely published political and conflict analyst, writing on Zimbabwe, North Korea, Syria and Myanmar, where he lived for much of the 2010s following a decade working for the UN; he also has a PhD in psychology and has authored academic articles and a cookbook called Ugly Food about the world’s most overlooked ingredients.

They’re also both fellows of the Royal Geographical Society, where they spoke about their yeti search last year. We chatted to the pair to unlock their fascination with this enigmatic creature – and to find out what (if anything!) they discovered…

What got you thinking about yetis in the first place? 

Andrew was given a book about a 1950s British expedition to look for the yeti; they didn’t find it but they did turn up a remarkable number of consistent local accounts. But these were all dismissed as folklore when the foreigners didn't come in and see it, which seemed more than a little patronising.