2019-10-01 Wanderlust

wanderlust.co.uk October 2019 31

INTERVIEW EXPLORE

apeak–oranywhereintheworld

• knowingthatyouaretheŽirst
  personevertoseethatview.[In
  Mexico,weweretheŽirstpeopleto
  divetopartsoftheworld’slongest
  cavesystem],andtherewasn’t
  asinglemomentthatdidn’t
  completelyblowmymind.

You’repassionateabout

travellingsustainably–howdo

youdothatwhenilmingashow?

Theproductionwasentirelycarbon

neutral:weo’seteverysingle

emission,fromourŽlightstoour

campstoves.Icannotgiveup

Žlying,butwhatIcandoismake

sureIo’seteverysingleairmile.

Bydoingthat,I’vemanagedto

raisemillionsofpoundstobuy

rainforestandprotectit.

Howdoyoutopyouryearof

world-irstexpeditions?What

does 2020 holdforyou?

Hopefullysomethinglesscrazy!I’m

goingbacktodoinganotherseries

ofDeadly 60 ,thistimefocusing

purelyonconservation.

wildlife.There’sawonderfulethic

behindthepeopleandculture.It

alsostandsoutformebecauseIhad

aratherclosecallthere...

Whathappened?

WeweremakingtheŽirstdescent

oftheChamkharChhu,awhite-

waterriver,andIalmostdrowned

inacanyonwaterfall–Iwas

trappedintherapidsforŽivelong

minutes,Žightingforair.IfSal

[Montgomery,teammember

andexpertkayker]hadn’tcome

tomyaid,thenIwouldn’tbehere

today.Shesavedmylife.

Whatkeepsyougoingwhenan

expeditiongetsreallytough?

NomatterhowterriŽiedyouare,or

howmuchpain,physicalstrainor

drudgeryyougothrough,everyday

isboundtohaveoneuplifting

moment.Itcouldbeassimpleas

astunningsunset,orasdramaticas

wanderingintotherainforestand

Žindingawaterfallthatnoonehas

recordedbefore.Thosemoments

giveyouthepositivitytocontinue.

Isanexperiencebetterifyou’re

theirstpersontodoit?

Ihavebeenluckytoclimbvery

challengingmountains,andit’s

alwaysathrilltoreachasummit–

evenifithasbeenscaledby

thousandsofotherpeople.Butit’s

nothingcomparedtostandingon

STEVE

BACKSHALL

For his new bookandtelevisionseries,theBAFTA-winningadventurerseeksoutunexplored

corners of the globeontenworld-firstexpeditions–toMexico,Suriname,Bhutanandbeyond

Gotowww.wanderlust.co.uk/200

Readthefull interview online

Uncoverin ecret ites with...

Expedition with Steve

Backshall airs at 8pm on

Sundays on Dave. The

book based on the series,

Expedition, is out now

(BBC Books, £20).

Your new project, Expedition, is

all about discovering unexplored

places. What gave you the idea?

I Žirst thought of it in the late 1990s:

I wanted to prove that there are still

undiscovered Žinal frontiers on our

planet – and not just in the deep

oceans or under a microscope, but

in places that people genuinely

haven’t been to before. It took

20 years to get it o’ the ground,

but we Žinally got funding.

Over the course of a year we did

ten expeditions, each of which

comprised of some kind of Žirst. It’s

the sum of my life’s work and it felt

pretty extraordinary.

Why is travelling to untouched

territories so appealing to you?

I have always been thrilled by the

idea of the unknown. Getting up

every morning with no idea if we’re

going to Žind a stretch of river that’s

never been mapped, encounter

animals that have never seen

humans – like we did in Suriname –

or just spend all day slogging

through undergrowth and getting

absolutely nowhere. That sense of

not knowing what’s going to

happen next is really exciting.

You tackled ten uncharted

expeditions for the book. Which

was the most memorable place?

Bhutan. It is covered almost entirely

in forest and is a real haven for

18

Doesthe

UK have

any secret sites?

“There’s nowhere

really undiscovered

in the UK, unless

you go cave diving

• but there are
  plenty of crowd-free
  gems. Penzance, in
  Cornwall, is one of
  my favourite places
  in Britain. Even in the
  height of summer,
  when the beaches
  and harbours are
  heaving with people,
  you can launch a
  kayak, paddle around
  a couple of bays,
  and be totally on
  your own. Out there,
  you have only seals,
  sunish and gannets
  for company.”

True to Nature 2019