James Benjamin Maddison (born 9 July 1988), formerly known as Jamie Bunchuk, is an English explorer,[1] equestrian Long Rider (assoc.

[4] Since then, he has mounted numerous expeditions including: spending one month living and working with Kirghiz hunters in southeast Tajikistan, small archaeological discoveries from the X-XI C. Sak city of Bazar Dara, a 100 mile, multi-day, camel supported run across the Red Sands Desert in Uzbekistan,[5] chronicling the lives of Kazakh eagle hunters in western Mongolia and winter packrafting down the Khovd River,[6] Mongolia (temperatures down to -20 °C) in retrofitted and homemade packrafts.

In 2013, Maddison – alongside friend and colleague Matthew Traver – completed a 750 mile, 63-day-long, horse ride from Ust-Kamenogorsk to Almaty,[7][8][9] in honour of the centenary of a historical journey through the region by the Anglo-Irish explorer Sir Charles Howard-Bury.

For their efforts, the pair were presented with an award for the 'Best individual contribution for furthering relations between the UK and Kazakhstan' by the British-Kazakh Society at the House of Commons.

In the autumn of 2014, Maddison led the first expedition ever to cross the Betpak-Dala or the 'Steppe of Misfortune' from its easternmost extremity on the shores of Lake Balkash to its western edge on the Sarysu River.