Monty Halls is a high profile figure in the worlds of diving and adventure. This ex Royal Marines Officer has led numerous expeditions and projects throughout the world, and is a marine biologist, travel writer, television presenter and public speaker of note. Monty’s work, undertaking all manner of unusual projects, has taken him around the world to a huge variety of environments. He has just completed his third book, with the first “Dive – The Ultimate Guide” the best selling dive guide in the UK through 2005. Presenting credits include Channel 4, Radio Five Live, Channel 5, Discovery and the National Geographic Channel. He can be seen on Channel 5 in an eight part series “Great Ocean Adventures” following his latest circumnavigation to encounter the most impressive animals in the oceans.

Qualifications / awards:

Marine biologist, ex Royal Marines Officer, Royal Marines Physical Training Instructor, Honorary Ambassador to the Galapagos, Director of the Shark Trust, Patron of the Scuba Trust, Scientific Exploration Society Bish Medal Winner, South Africa Medal

TV Credits:

Uncharted Territories – Carlton West country: Two part documentary following an attempt to film a rare species of crocodile in the jungle pools of Central America. (Expedition Leader / Presenter).

Rebuilding the Past – Discovery Channel: An attempt to recreate an Iron Age settlement over seven days (Presenter).

Superhuman's – Channel 4: Year long study of human performance involving ten high achievers from around the UK. (Contestant / Winning Male).

Journey to the Centre of the Earth – Channel 4: Exploration of the science behind Jules Verne’s book of the same name, involving a circumnavigation of the earth seeking out the deepest mines, active volcano’s, sunken cave systems and earthquake centres. (Presenter).

Great Ocean Adventures – Channel 5, Channel 9 (Australia), Discovery: Ten week circumnavigation of the globe seeking out the great encounters with the big animals in the oceans. Ten part series. (Expedition Leader / Presenter).

Total Adventure – Sky – Circumnavigation seeking out the ten greatest dives on earth. (Expedition Leader / Presenter).

Totally Wrecked – DVD – Circumnavigation seeking out the ten greatest shipwrecks on earth. (Presenter, expedition leader, underwater cameraman, producer, director!).

Expeditions:

New Millennium Expedition 2000: Aquatic leader of expedition to the jungle pools and sinkholes in the Maya Mountains, Belize.
Nyika Plateau Project 2001:Ledanti poaching expedition to the Nykia Plateau, northern Malawi.
India Atlantis 2002: Led multi national team that discovered a sunken city off the coast of India.
Operation Zembe 2005: Led team that explored cave systems off the tip of the Cape of Good Hope in search of prehistoric human occupation.
Full Circle Ultimate Dive (2001), Totally Wrecked (2003), Swimming With Giants (2005): Expedition leader and organizer. Global circumnavigations to seek out the ultimate dives, wrecks and animal encounters in the world’s oceans.

Numerous other expeditions in Lake Malawi, the Philippines, Indonesia, Africa, and Belize.

Monty Halls is one of the country’s leading explorers and motivational speakers. In 2002 he led a multi-national team of adventurers and scientists on an expedition to South East India to discover the ruins of a lost civilisation beneath the sea. This was a discovery of global significance, and established Monty as one of the new stars of British exploration. Since then, his exploring and speaking career has seen him travel throughout the world, present tv programmes to millions of viewers, and establish himself as one of the most dynamic figures on the modern speaking

Monty was invited to take part in the major Channel 4 project “Superhumans”. This two-hour television special pitted high-achievers from all disciplines in Britain against one another in a series of tests devised by experts in human performance. Top performers drawn from business, the arts, sports and exploration were pitted against one another in fields such as emotional intelligence, problem solving, fitness, sleep deprivation and control of fear. In May 2004, in a live final viewed by over a million people throughout the UK, Monty was declared the overall winner.

In late 2004 he filmed, directed and produced a documentary on the adventures of a team of divers traveling the world seeking out the greatest wrecks on earth. The resultant DVD "Totally Wrecked" is now selling throughout the world. In November 2004, Monty presented a two-hour special for Channel 4 called “Journey to the Centre of the Earth”. His first series on Channel 5 was “Great Ocean Adventures” following his journey around the world seeking out the greatest big animal encounters in the ocean’s.

The second series of Great Ocean Adventures takes the encounters and exploration to a new level. In this series Monty battles jumbo squid in the dark waters of the Sea of Cortez, hangs in raging current in the deep water of a canyon off Bali to encounter the biggest bony fish in the world, and seeks out native fishermen and experts to encounter some of the most elusive and legendary animals in the vast oceans of the world.

Monty is an adventurer in the finest traditions of British exploration. A former Royal Marines Officer who left the services to train as a marine biologist – achieving a first class degree in 1999 - he was the first to get an underwater picture of a rare crocodile species in the jungle pools of the mysterious Maya Mountains in Belize. In late 2001 he led a pioneering project 270 kilometers in sea kayaks up the inland shore of one of Africa's great rift lakes, photographing new underwater species and contacting remote villages and indigenous peoples en route. He has also photographed sharks in cave systems in South Africa, and led projects in Indonesia, Honduras and the Philippines. His television programmes have appeared on Carlton, Discovery, and the National Geographic channel. Monty also organises and leads breath-taking world expeditions. In 2004/5 three major adventures are planned. At the end of 2004 he headed the first exploration of potential prehistoric settlements in the company of Dr Bruno Werz, which led to significant discoveries under the sea beneath Cape Town.

Drawing from his experience as a Royal Marines Officer and leader of numerous demanding expeditions throughout the world, Monty takes the audience on roller coaster ride through a series of stunning adventures. He not only outlines the principles of good leadership and effective crisis management, he also shows real examples of the application of these principles on operations with one of the world’s elite regiments and on expedition to some of the most remote locations on earth.

Monty owns and operates Full Circle Expeditions, an adventure travel company. Monty lives in Bristol, UK.