Simon Reeve: ‘I had a moment in the Andes, bog roll in hand’

For his latest offering, Simon Reeve has pulled together a veritable colour palette of adventurous travel experiences. In four episodes screened on BBC2, he brings us the green of the rainforest in the Congo, the yellow of the Kalahari desert; the white of the Patagonian mountains; and the blue of the Coral Triangle sea.

Reeve covers each location with his trademark presenting style; awe at the wildlife and landscapes, genuine interest in the people he encounters, and never shying away from asking vital questions about the future of these places and their impact on the world, leading him to label Wilderness his ‘most important series’ yet. 

Is there any wilderness left?

There’s nowhere that’s untouched by humanity. There are plastic particles at the bottom of the ocean and on top of our highest mountain. We met tribespeople deep in the Congo Rainforest wearing football shirts; people in the remote Kalahari using two-decade old Nokia phones as portable music players. It is an indicator of how connected the planet is, and not in the best of ways in truth. But it’s an aspect of life, we not going to ignore it, and ask anyone who’s wearing a Leeds United top to step out of the way. For Wilderness, we went for areas where the impact of modern and industrial humanity is low, where nature still makes the rules.

Is the wilderness at risk from tourism?

Not the wilderness… obviously there are parts of the world where you can’t move for people trying to get a selfie. But the wilderness is still pretty empty – but only of eco-tourists. It’s not empty of people eyeing it up as a place to strip, mine, farm and ranch. Travel and tourism can give people an economic incentive to look after these wild places, and it is something we explore in the programme. Tourism, done responsibly and sustainably, is still a viable alternative, because we’ve got to protect these areas if we are to have any hope of combating climate change and protecting wildlife biodiversity.

Shouldn’t we leave these areas alone, rather than show them on TV?

We don’t leave them alone, they are being nibbled away around the edges, they are under threat, from humans encroaching into them. We have to learn about our planet, understand and respect it, and start loving it. 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 weather system and the climate on this planet that affects us all, and unless we care about these areas, we will ultimately lose them. We’re not shying away from the fact there is logging around the edge of the Congo Rainforest. It isn’t just a glossy travelogue, hopefully we are showing a bit of light and shade in the programme.

If people want to view Wilderness as an opportunity to learn about somewhere they might go, I think that’s almost always a positive thing. They need Western wealthy travellers turning up and putting some money into the local economy to protect and preserve these places.

How can we help promote tourism in the wilderness?

It needs to be led by the people who live in these places, the Indigenous people in particular, who are often overlooked and ignored, particularly by conservationists. I’d encourage them to set up small businesses to protect the places they care about and know far better than any outsider. I’m more in favour of them becoming the travel operators than Europeans, and again that’s something we talk about in the Okavango Delta, where there’s definitely a move towards that. That way tourists can still have the experiences but it’s not outsiders and wealthy white South Africans who are running those lucrative businesses.