Simon Reeve on Wilderness: "I really believe we need a more profound connection with Mother Nature”

Simon Reeve has returned to our screens with new BBC 2 series, Wilderness with Simon Reeve, in which he travels to four of the last great wild spaces: the Congo Basin, Patagonia, the Kalahari and the Coral Triangle. Here, founding editor Lyn Hughes finds out what to expect in the four-part show, including Simon's most surprising moments and how the journey has given him new hope for the future of the world's most natural places. 

What was the big idea behind the series?

I think it's just about the most important series I've ever made because we are highlighting areas of the planet that are fundamentally connected to us. They govern and help to shape a climate on this planet that affects us all. Unless we know about these areas, unless we care about them, we will ultimately lose them. This isn't just a glossy travelogue. Hopefully we are showing a bit of light and shade in the programmes.

Will this inspire people to travel to these remote places?

It is only a good thing if people learn about somewhere they might go. Generally speaking, these places need wealthy Western travellers turning up and putting money into the local economy to protect and preserve. I'm still a believer in the power of responsible, careful, sustainable travel.

What did you find that gave you hope for the future?

We have not destroyed all of Mother Nature. There is still a planet worth learning about and caring for. And what I saw gave me more hope than I expected, I think partly because sitting on our little island, we don't get how enormous those areas are and just what treasures they still hold.

And then we met the most magnificent range of inspiring characters in this series that I've ever met. Like Adams Cassinga [in the DRC]. He risks his life every day running an undercover organisation that takes down poaching and wildlife smuggling gangs. So, people like him, a local conservationist, give me massive hope. These are local people who recognise that they've got something vitally important and they want to protect it

You go looking for rare and very elusive bonobos in the Congo. What would have happened if you hadn't found them?

I don't know. We wanted to film something that hadn't been filmed in quite that way before and in a really wild area. There's got to be a journey. There's got to be a progression, and it's got to be done within a time that doesn't ridiculously squander resources or people's physical abilities.

We pushed ourselves. I was running through the jungle with GoPros trying to film bonobos a quarter of my size and moving considerably faster.

I spotted the bonobos and got lost, separated from the team. The bonobos were not looking for open bits of the jungle, they were looking for somewhere that was difficult for any four-legged creatures to get into. And I was struggling through vines and definitely got tangled and caught up at one point and felt ridiculous. I'm 6 foot 3 for goodness’ sake.

I'm trying to wrench my arm with the GoPro free and I can see bonobos about 30 metres ahead of me. And they were very curious, curious little creatures looking at this bizarre, exotic creature that's descended into their world and came a little bit closer back to me to look at me. And they did the head thing looking at me like you see in a movie when the aliens are sizing up some strange humanoid deciding, what should we do? And I was thinking, I’m caught up and can't film them!

People talk about how closely related they are to humans. I don't mind identifying the humanity in them, but what I really object to is people denying the wild in us. We are a creature on this planet. Of course, we're the most extraordinary and successful creature that's ever existed. But we're still another bloody creature on planet Earth and other wildlife out there has abilities and capabilities that we don't get close to and don't fully understand.

So, I think it's OK to say, this is my cousin and yeah, bonobos are a really interesting creature that offers us quite a lot psychologically in terms of understanding ourselves as well. Because for too long, the idea has been that we're most closely connected to psychopathic, violent chimpanzees which gang rape and invade their neighbour’s territory et cetera.

Bonobos are a much more magnificent, peaceful creature with communities where women are in charge, where they use sex to resolve conflict, and often as a greeting. There's a term for it called a bonobo handshake, and they're magnificent. I would rather be related to a bonobo than I would a chimpanzee. So, I'm fine to identify the humanity in them. You see us in them, and I feel us in them.

What was the biggest surprise for you?

The people we encountered in ludicrously remote parts of the planet were just such very strong, fascinating, welcoming characters and they were so pleased to engage with us.

I really believe we need the wild in our lives, a more profound connection with Mother Nature. I speak from growing up in a gritty part of West London and finally encountering the wild and feeling that change that it brings. And I think I saw that amongst people we encountered on these journeys.

What are some other highlights we should look out for?

The Coral Triangle is probably the most important patch of ocean on the planet. It’s home to critical biodiversity. We’ve got to look after it but we have to learn about it forst and understand it. There are 6,000 species of fish, six out of seven of our marine turtles, and an enormous amount of coral too.

You've heard of rewilding? Well, we met a young female conservation scientist there who's re-sharking the seas. She's beginning a world first project with universities to release harmless critical sharks back into the ocean.

So, we're not just talking about problems, we're witnessing some unique projects, hopefully providing solutions as well.

What was the one standout moment during all the series?

Crawling along the ground with two San trackers in the heart of the Kalahari. One called Old Tweed, who was one of the most epically magnificent humans I've met anywhere in the world; warm, welcoming with a deep encyclopaedia of knowledge of the natural world. His skills as a tracker go beyond anything I have ever seen.

We were crawling to get up close to a herd of wildebeest, and it sends a proper shiver down my spine now to think I've done that. It was an incredible privilege, and I hope people will resonate with the struggle of the San to find food and to live a life. I hope people will recognise and respect their existence a little bit more as a result.

And what did you learn?

There is still a wild planet out there and it's huge, enormous, beautiful and life-affirming to understand it and be amongst it. I found it very moving in these places to have that sense of being in raw nature.

Watch Wilderness with Simon Reeve every Sunday from 21 January at 9pm, or catch up now on BBC iPlayer

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