Kidnapped while hunting for rare orchids and held captive for 9 months: Tom Hart Dyke's story [#29]

Tom Hart Dyke is a world renowned horticulturalist and plant-hunter. In the year 2000, while hunting for rare orchids in the deadly Darien Gap (between Columbia & Panama), he and his travel companion were held up at gun-point, and kidnapped. They were held captive for the next 9 months. They didn't know who kidnapped them, why they did it, or if there was any chance of survival. We talk in detail all about the unbelievable ordeal they had to suffer through, and Tom recalls some of his memories of it, he says talking about it feels like therapy to him. Tom is seemingly one of the world's greatest storytellers, and he has the stories to match. 🌱HAVE YOU MET... TOM HART DYKE 🌸Stay tuned for ROUND 2 with Tom - Friday 6th May! 🍍Watch this episode (or some of our others) on YouTube for video, photos, more links, and other resources: https://www.youtube.com/haveyoumetpodcast -- BIG announcement coming soon -- 🌻SCROLL DOWN⏬FOR 🕓TIMESTAMPS✌️ 🔗LINKS🔗 🌍ur Links: 🐠 All Links: https://linktr.ee/HaveYouMet 🌲 Website: https://haveyoumetpodcast.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haveyoumet_podcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/HAVEYOUMET_pod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/haveyoumetpodcast/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/haveyoumet-podcast/ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/62prCg7wMoQc12cCVBvU1Q Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/have-you-met/id1577838693 🐞 Our CLIPS channel: ▶https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfXvnqQ7aaXn77PGPwIMNmg/ 🌺 Tom's links Website:  https://www.lullingstonecastle.co.uk/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LullingstoneWorldGarden/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lullingstonecastle/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lullingstone 📱 Tom's Lullingstone Castle World Garden YouTube: ▶ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGyWzxQ8foiCpnwIHAQN6xw 🌵 Other links: Tom Hart Dyke on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Hart_Dyke Orchid Hunting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchid_hunting George Forrest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Forrest_(botanist) Francis Masson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Masson Tribe that Tom lived with: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentawai_people Darien Gap: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dari%C3%A9n_Gap ✌️ 🕓TIMESTAMPS🕓 [00:37] Tom's early life, and how he fell in love with plants OR It all began with carrots [10:20] The colourful history of plant-hunting [19:39] Tom's early plant-hunting expeditions [25:58] Living with an indigenous tribe [35:06] Fateful journey from Australia to Central America [40:16] Kidnapped + held captive in the Darien Gap [01:44:48] The aftermath and Lullingstone Castle World Garden 🆕 - NEW EPISODE EVERY OTHER FRIDAY -  ☀️PEN-MINDED and curious conversational interviews. EXTREME VARIETY of guests.  🎙️ Just two people talking... 🦄 Thank you for listening to the episode -- I hope you enjoyed it and maybe got inspired to plant some plants, explore somewhere new (maybe not the Darien Gap!!!), or go and visit Tom's castle!! If any of those are true - please consider clicking SUBSCRIBE + maybe consider SHARING the episode with someone you know, it all helps :) Thank you 🙌 🌼 ALL LINKS: https://linktr.ee/HaveYouMet ⬅️ 🦚 #podcast #tomhartdyke #dariengap #thedariengap #tomhartdykedariengap #kidnapped #plants #haveyoumet #haveyoumetpodcast #flowers #trees #planthunter #podcasts #newvideo #planthunting #lullingstonecastle #worldgarden 🌷