The Business Travel Magazine Feb/Mar 2019

TALKING TRAVEL
Living cheek by jowl with nature
Kate Humble
The BBC TV presenter has ventured to some of the world’s most remote and hostile
places to feed her passion for the great outdoors, writes Angela Sara West
Ithink I was born with the travel bug,”
says Kate Humble. “I was given a
wheelbarrow for my third birthday and
was found a mile away from home with it. I
told mum we were having an adventure!”
At just 19, an intrepid Humble travelled
alone around Africa. “It was a seminal
journey; my first time travelling solo and out
of Europe. I learnt more in that year than I
would ever have at university.” Her African
adventure saw some scary arachnid action.
“On my first trip, I came home with a sore
toe which swelled up. A spider had laid eggs
in it, which were on the point of hatching!”
She went on to experience numerous
small-screen expeditions, both in Blighty and
abroad, as a presenter on BBC shows such
as Holiday, Tomorrow’s World and Springwatch.
“Some of my most memorable filming
experiences abroad were in Siberia in the
depths of winter for Living with Nomads.
Some days, it was -50C, the coldest I’ve ever
been. I have also filmed a very rarely seen
sixgill shark from a submarine in the Cayman
Islands, which is right up there with my most
exciting wildlife encounters.”
Numerous places stand out. “I love the
Gobi desert in Mongolia because of the
family I lived with there, and the bamboo
forest of Kahuzi Biega National Park in the
DRC, where I sat with a troop of 19 eastern
lowland gorillas. I love the reefs around West
Papua and Papua New Guinea. And I love
Wales – it is beautiful and it is home.”
Living on a working farm, Humble’s passion
for animals and the big outdoors hugely
influences her travel choices. “Seeing wildlife
or being able to head out into the wilderness
are very much my reason for travelling.”
Frequently on the road for work, the latter
part of last year saw her travelling prolifically,
mainly in the UK, while this year will feature
India, Mexico, the Arctic and Colombia.
She says Mali and the Sahara made for her
most memorable trips. She’s also enjoyed
cycling in Cuba. “I went with my husband in
the early noughties. We thought the best
way to get under the skin of the island would
be to travel the way the locals do – by bike.
We stayed in local houses, ate with families,
and cycled around for a month.”
There’s rarely
anything enjoyable
about being in an airport.
Can someone please make the
Harry Potter mode of travel
possible for Muggles, too?”
She had never pedalled with panniers, or
any great distance, before. “At first, it was
hard – Cuba is staggeringly hilly – but by the
end we were covering 100 miles a day. It was
a great way of seeing and experiencing the
country, particularly the out-of-the-way
places. The south coast was spectacular…
some of the best diving I’ve ever done.”
There were numerous mouth-watering
moments on her tasty Spice Trail journey
across the Middle East. “I loved Yemen; the
buildings, the people, the food… It breaks my
heart to see what is happening there now.
Petra is always breathtaking, but so is
Mada’in Saleh, in Saudi Arabia, also built by
the Nabateans, but rarely visited and
somewhat ignored.”
She describes her month living with the
Afar people in Ethiopia’s hostile Danakil
Depression for The Hottest Place on Earth as
“Tough. Dusty. Eye-opening. Humbling. Hot!”.
Meanwhile, the Wakhi people in the northeastern
region of Afghanistan are “amongst
the most hospitable, warm and genuine.”
Her top travel tips? “Go with an open mind
and don’t follow the herd.” And her big travel
bugbear? “There’s rarely anything enjoyable
about being in an airport. Can someone
please make the Harry Potter mode of travel
possible for Muggles, too?”
As for airlines, “I choose flights on routing,
price and time,” she says. “With all the
competition airlines should offer customers
safe, comfortable travel, and not all do.”
For a much-needed break, Humble heads
to her poacher’s cabin home in the Dordogne,
France. “I speak no foreign languages well
enough to say I speak a foreign language,
but I do try,” she says.
Humble’s a speaker at Stanfords’ Travel
Writers’ Festival this February, having
recently released her new book Thinking on
My Feet, highlighting the benefits of walking.
“Having time outside in the fresh air and
being part of nature is an essential part of
my day. So many people have contacted me
with uplifting stories of how walking has
helped them deal with depression, grief or
anxiety. The simple act of putting one foot in
front of the other can work miracles!”
The best thing about travelling? “It is the
best way to learn. Life is too short to sit still!”
46 THEBUSINESSTRAVELMAG.com