Monty Halls

Monty Halls is a writer, explorer, television presenter and public speaker. A former Royal Marines officer who worked for Nelson Mandela on the peace process in South Africa, he left the services in 1996 to pursue a career in leading expeditions. After achieving a First Class Honors degree in marine biology he has circumnavigated the globe four times on various projects, leading multi-national teams through some of the most demanding environments known to man.

Notable expeditions included an anti poaching project in the high montane grasslands of the Nyika Plateau in northern Malawi, the discovery of a sunken city off the coast of Tamil Nadu in India, and a (successful) attempt to find and photograph a rare crocodile species in the mountain pools of the Raspaculo Basin in Central America. He was awarded the Bish Medal in 2002 by the Scientific Exploration Society for his services to exploration. Monty won Channel Four’s Superhuman competition in 2004 which kick-started his television career. Since then he has presented series and documentaries for numerous channels, including the BBC, Channel Five, The Discover Channel, The National Geographic Channel and the History Channel.

The three Great Escape Series for BBC2 saw Monty and his much loved dog Reuben live on the west coast of Scotland (2008), the Outer Hebrides (2009) and the west coast of Ireland (2010).  After Ireland, Monty went out to Australia to film the award winning “Great Barrier Reef” for the BBC’s Natural History Unit. Monty is patron to The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, Help for Heroes, Shark & Coral Conservation, The Shark Trust, Coral Cay Conservation, Go Commando, Dumfrieshire and Cumbrian Greyhound Rescue and is an Honorary Ambassador to the Galapagos Conservation Trust. When Monty has extra time he continues to run expeditions and diving trips in between speaking engagements and filming projects. He has also written six books, mainly on diving and the marine environment as well as “Beachcomber Cottage” for the first “Great Escape” series and “Great Irish Escape” for the third series. His latest book “The Fisherman’s Apprentice” documents his time in Cornwall with some wonderful photography.

Additionally, Monty also writes a weekly column for The Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine and a monthly column for Outdoor Fitness Magazine. Monty lives with his partner Tamsyn and his daughter in Dartmouth where they are running their new business that specialises in wildlife tours around the local area, natural history filming courses and training packages for corporate groups.