4 minute read
Talking Travel: Bear Grylls talks adventures, escapes and... lockdown home schooling
Born Survivor Bear Grylls
Survival expert Bear Grylls OBE talks awe-inspiring adventures, peak escapades, respect for nature…and home schooling
He’s survived tsunamis, sharks and sky falls in some of the most hostile environments on Earth. Jungles, deserts, mountains and mangroves… paragliding, ice climbing, base jumping, wrestling alligators, running through forest fires, free climbing waterfalls with apparent ease… the quest-list is endless. Eager to test his boundaries in new places and follow the path less trodden, he’s pushed himself to the limits planetwide.
Boundless Bear Grylls has proudly led record-breaking expeditions, from Antarctica to the Arctic, and conquered challenges for countless charities worldwide. It’s more a case of where HASN’T he been in the name of adventure. His familiar face embodies the ‘Above and Beyond’ spirit, with travels for the latter taking him to the world’s first designated wilderness area, New Mexico’s protected Gila National Forest, and beyond.
Grylls gears up to rise to the challenge wherever he goes. “Adventure has always been in my DNA,” he says.
His appetite for adventure began at an early age. “My biggest inspiration is my dad, a former royal marine commando and politician, and always an adventurer at heart,” he says. “My earliest adventure memories are of climbing with him on the sea cliffs and sailing around the Isle of Wight, where he taught me the fundamentals of adventure: keep moving towards the mountain before you, even if it scares you; respect and humility mean more than wealth and status; and, above all, never give up.”
The foundations established, by 18 he’d helped develop mountaineering and martial arts clubs at Eton College, learnt to skydive and mastered the martial art of Karate. After leaving school, and a spot of train surfing in India and hiking in the Himalayan mountains of Sikkim and West Bengal, the ardent adventurer studied languages at university (Spanish and German) before becoming a soldier in the British Special Forces, serving with 21 SAS and honing his survival skills.
What lights the fire in Grylls’ belly? “Life is all about that tenacity and dogged determination to keep going despite the overwhelming odds. This is the key for any
survival situation, as well as for life in general,” he says. “I’ve had to work hard all my life at goals, and that has kept my inside ‘effort’ muscle strong and trained. It was my late father who inspired me to keep going, have big dreams and to see failure as stepping stones to success.”
The seasoned traveller says surviving some of Mother Nature’s toughest challenges has taught him of the world’s unpredictability.
“You can’t take the wild for granted, and it’s that volatility that’s the magic. Respect the wild and never forget, Earth does not belong to us. We belong to Earth,” he says.
One of his closest shaves was on Mount Everest. “We had four climbers lose their lives up there during the three months I was on that mountain and I very nearly lost mine down a deep crevasse.
“I had a bunch of close calls on that mountain. No summit is ever worth a life but I look back on it hugely grateful to have survived it and hugely grateful for the friendships made. I will never forget that summit. Seeing the curvature of the world at the edges was amazing.”
As for Britain’s biggest escapades, “You don’t have to travel to the ends of the earth to experience incredible adventures,” Grylls reveals. “Sometimes, the best things are found right here, at home."
His epic journey of discovery across the British Isles for ITV saw our own shores at their most spectacular, highlighting Britain's spectacular landscapes galore.
The world-famous adventurer’s home is actually afloat – formerly a Polar explorer’s houseboat he’s converted on the Thames.
“London’s the most fun, exciting city there is,” he says, and he'll soon be making the leap to dry land, having recently bought a pad in Battersea’s historic Power Station where he’s already enjoyed some abseiling exploits. “We love the spirit of the place. They’ve created a brilliant dynamic community there, and we feel privileged to be part of it.”
Lockdown adventures, meanwhile, saw the adrenaline seeker train daily with the veteran-run business he co-owns, Be Military Fit (BMF). “Oh, and home schooling… now that’s an adventure!”
BEAR GRYLLS
Bear Grylls has launched the world's fi rst Bear Grylls Explorers Camp on the UAE's highest peak, Jebel Jais. Courses are suitable for all abilities and ages (between 8 -70) and cover everything from the 'Bear' necessities to challenging hardcore explorers, including practical life-saving skills and extreme-weather survival. See beargryllscamp.ae. His new autobiography Never Give Up, published by Penguin, is out on October 14 2021
IMAGE: ALBERTO CARACES
