the travel bug cv ben fogle -...

but I’d hope that an agent wouldensure you have a local guide and getto experience local hospitality on yourholiday,” he says.

Since he travels so intensivelythrough work, I ask if holidaying in theUK is something that appeals.

“Definitely; my favourite places arehere,” he confesses, having holidayedwith his children in Devon, Norfolk andthe Isle of Wight. While some seasideresorts are “stuck in a time-warp, anda bit depressing”, he praises St Ivesand Blackpool as perfect destinations,catering for different budgets.

That said, he is currently planninghis first family “adventure” holiday,taking his wife and the eldest of histwo children, four-year-old Ludo, toMozambique.

“I’ve been counting down the daysuntil I could take my son to an excitingdestination and show him what I loveabout the world,” he says excitedly.

And might the services of a travelagent come in handy in the future?

“As family holidays become moresignificant in my life, yes, we willrevert to using an agent who can planeverything for you, and give you thatreassurance,” he agrees.

If Fogle intends to take his wife andchildren to all of the places he’s beenfortunate to visit, that will be onelucky travel agent indeed.

when they do. There’s a fine balance.”For him, the benefit of exploring

and learning about the world is that itinspires us to want to look after it.Looking out to a row of jiggling schoolchildren waiting to get their hands onthe Lego mountain, he observes:“That’s why things like models ofMachu Picchu are so important, sothat the younger generation knowshow important it is to look after theplanet we live on.”

He is convinced of the need fortourism to be done sensitively,however. “There’s lots of travel whichinvolves being holed up in a hotel withimported food, never experiencinglocal culture and cuisine, and arguablyyour money barely trickles downwithin the economy,” he points out.

“For me, responsible tourism meanssome form of integration with thepeople and culture of a place. Exactlyhow you do that is up to the individual,

during a monotonous, arduous anddangerous challenge such as this.Alongside thoughts of his wife andfamily, it is being able to reliveprevious travelling experiences in hishead, he says.

“There isn’t always chance to savourthe experience at the time, so whenI’ve crossed the Atlantic or Antarctic, I get the chance to recollect. Thememories are like my own littlecinema,” he explains.

Gluttonous societyFogle seems grateful for the directionhis career has taken. “I feel incrediblylucky to have travelled so much – it’ssomething I could only have dreamedof,” he says. But he is also concernedby the extent to which the modernconsumer travels.

“We live in such a gluttonous societynow; we probably travel too much. Weneed to pull back from our overuse ofresources,” he states. “But I would findit hard to give up travel,” he admits.“It’s so easy now, it’s a bit like a drug.”

I suggest our growing desire to seethe world puts pressure on places likeMachu Picchu, where visitor numbersare now strictly limited to protect theancient site from degradation.

“That’s a problem for many of theworld’s top attractions,” he agrees.“It’s the same in the UK. Our Campaignfor National Parks [a charity of whichFogle is president], encourages peopleto visit, but then they have an impact

boat capsized and they lost crucialequipment – a moment which Foglehas described as the scariest in his life.

There were more lucky escapes forthe pair in Antarctica, when theycompeted in the 2009 South PoleRace: a 430-mile journey intemperatures of minus 40C, duringwhich Fogle suffered hypothermia andfrostbite, and the team was barelyable to finish the race. Fogle hadcaught leishmaniasis in Peru severalmonths before the race, transmittedby a bite from a sand fly. He fought offthe infection in time for the Antarcticchallenge but it returned mid-race,and he had to undergo a secondcourse of treatment back in the UK.This time, he managed to shake it offfor good and – fortunately for hisfemale fans - there seems to have

been no lasting damage to the bitsof him I can see across thecoffee-shop table.

His next major challengewill be a 3,000-mile swimacross the Atlantic, to raise

awareness of threats to theworld’s oceans, in which he will swim

for up to 12 hours per day. He is also still keen to complete the

Tour Divide, a 2,745-mile cycle racefrom the Canadian Rockies to the USborder with Mexico, that he andCracknell had planned beforeCracknell’s near-fatal road accidenttwo years ago.

I ask what it is that keeps him going

trek to the remote Inca ruins ofChoquequirao also stands out.

Lucky escapesIn 2005, Fogle teamed up withOlympic rowing champ JamesCracknell to row for 49 days from theCanary Islands to Antigua in theTransatlantic Rowing Race. Theynarrowly avoided death when their

The TTG Interview

Exploring some of the world’s most remote and undiscovered placeshas convinced TV presenter Ben Fogle of the need to look after it. He talks to Pippa Jacks about Peru, luck, and being addicted to travel

Catching a rare, flesh-eatingbug in the jungle wouldprobably be enough to putme off a repeat visit to the

country in question – I’d certainlyleave some very frank feedback on mycustomer satisfaction questionnaire.

But TV presenter, author andadventurer Ben Fogle is surprisinglyphilosophical about the disease hecaught in the Peruvian rainforest in2008, which required him to undergoa course of chemotherapy and riskedpermanent disfigurement.

“When you travel, sometimes youcan pull an unlucky card,” he tells meover coffee in a Covent Gardenbrasserie. “I was just very unlucky –but it certainly didn’t put me off Peru.”

Indeed, Fogle is here this morningto help promote Peru, and before ourinterview, I helped him place the finalLego pieces on a 3.2-metre replica ofPeru’s most famous attraction: theancient Inca city of Machu Picchu.

The country holds a special place inhis heart, after backpacking there as astudent, and he has been back severaltimes since. “It was one of the firstplaces outside Europe I visited, and ithas such an exciting vibrancy –sophistication where you want it,delicious food, culture, language,people, and then sites like MachuPicchu that really do take your breathaway,” he explains.

As seen on TVFogle first appeared on our screens in2000, when he spent a year in theremote Outer Hebrides as part of asocial experiment in Castaway – one ofthe very first reality TV shows.

He went on to present programmesfrom Country File and Animal Park toOne Man And His Dog and Crufts.

From 2006, he swapped the British

countryside for more challengingterrain to film Extreme Dreams whichsaw him climb Kilimanjaro, cross theSahara Desert and trek to Guyana’sKaiteur Falls, as well as threeexpeditions in Peru.

“If there is one place in the world I’dlike to go back to, it would be Cotahuasiin Peru, where I climbed down into thedepths of the canyon,” he reflects. A

19.07.201210

2000: Appeared on Castaway,which followed 36 peopletrying to create a self-sufficient community on the island of Taransay2001-09: Presented variousTV series including CountryFile, Crufts and Animal Park,which was filmed at LongleatSafari Park2006: Published The TeatimeIslands, travelling to remoteislands of the British Empiresuch as Tristan Da Cunha 2006: Published Offshore, in which he searched the UKfor an island of his own200X: Ran the Marathon DesSables, 160 miles across theSahara, for WWF2005: Atlantic Rowing Racewith rower James Cracknell –the first pair to land, althoughdemoted to second place asthe capsize meant they lostsome of the required ballast.Described in his book TheCrossing2007-09: Extreme Dreamsseries aired, including theAtacama desert, Papua NewGuinea and Spitsbergen 2009: The South Pole Race(pictured below) with JamesCracknell, coming first of the amateur competitorsDescribed in The Race To The Pole2011: Published The AccidentalAdventurer2012: Swimming WithCrocodiles airedFogle’s next book: TheAccidental Naturalist ispublished by Bantam PressAugust 30, priced at £18.99 inhardback

CV Ben Fogle

n Meet Prom Peru at TTG On Tour inSeptember. ttgdigital.com/ontour

“There isn’t alwayschance to savourthe experience at thetime... so I get thechance to recollect.The memories arelike my own littlecinema.”

The travel bug

COVERSTORY

The Atlantic Rowing race saw Fogle capsize Fogle with Pippa Jacks at the Prom Peru/Kuoni Logo event in London’s Covent Garden TV series Extreme Dreams featured Kilimanjaro

“There’s lots of travel which involves being holed up in ahotel with imported food... and arguably your money

barely trickles down within the economy”

1119.07.2012