“All men dream, but not equally” wrote T.E Lawrence, the Dorset-based explorer best known as Lawrence of Arabia. And modern-day explorer Steven Ballantyne is dreaming big. I met him at his ramshackle office in Motcombe to hear about his latest venture: dinosaur hunting in Mongolia. Steven is Expedition Manager at the Scientific Exploration Society (SES), a charity that combines scientific expeditions with overseas aid work. It was founded by the explorer John Blashford-Snell almost 40 years ago in a converted Dorset farmhouse. The expedition to Mongolia will take a group of zoologists, botanists and volunteers to a protected area of the Gobi desert. There they hope to help a Mongolian paleontologist, Professor Perle, discover a fossilised dinosaur skeleton.
 | | The dinosaur skull discovered by Perle |
Sounds ambitious? Not for Professor Perle, who has already discovered eight different types of dinosaur and a unique dinosaur skull that links meat-eating and plant-eating dinosaurs. “There are a set of dinosaur arms in the museum in Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia with replica arms in the Natural History Museum in London,” explains Steven. “They are huge but no-one’s found the body. We might just know where it is.” It’s the second year that Steven and his team will be working with Professor Perle. Last year, a group helped the professor discover fossilised dinosaur eggs – an important find that excited experts around the world. This year, Steven is keen to involve participants from the Dorset area. And according to him, you don’t have to be an expert to discover dinosaurs in Mongolia.
 | | The Gobi Desert |
“We encourage all sorts of people to join the expedition. By the local community coming to support our work, you support the good work going on in Mongolia and help the scientists achieve their goals.” In addition to the paleontology work, Steven’s team will also be working to protect the Gobi bear and the almost-extinct Bactrian camel. Steven started travelling six years ago at the age of 30. His first trip to Papua New Guinea almost ended in disaster when he was kidnapped just four weeks in. After ten days in captivity, Steven managed to escape. Yet to his family’s horror, he returned a year later to meet his captors. “I have a real fascination with people and I wanted to find out why they had taken me captive. I did understand and I’ve been going back to the country nearly every year since.” Steven’s passion for exploring drives him to encourage others to get out and experience the world too. “Even if a place has been explored, if you go there, and you’ve never been there, then you’re an explorer. Because you’re discovering it for yourself.” | 
