Happiful August 2019

Right here
and now
Continuously embarking on dangerous expeditions for his work, Aldo Kane leads an
adrenaline-fuelled lifestyle. However, as he tells Happiful, a sense of calm and
appreciation is always available to you when you learn to live in the moment
Writing | Lucy Donoughue
I’ve caught Aldo Kane in a
rare moment of quiet. He’s
back home, in London, in
the middle of a round of
interviews and photoshoots,
before preparing for his next
exciting expedition to Thailand,
Laos, and Vietnam.
As a former Royal Marine sniper
and current-day TV adventurer,
explorer and presenter, Aldo is
used to spending long periods
away from the UK, exploring the
world. In the past two years alone,
he completed a world recordbreaking
row from Portugal to
Venezuela with Team Essence and
long-time pal Jason Fox, spent
three months in South America
filming Meet The Drug Lords:
Inside The Real Narcos for Channel
4, worked with Steve Backshall
on Undiscovered Worlds, had two
stints in active volcanoes for
Expedition Volcano, and worked on
National Geographic’s One Strange
Rock with Will Smith – and the list
of adventures goes on.
To say that Aldo has experience
of negotiating extreme and
hostile situations, both on and off
camera, is an understatement.
“I’ve been living like this since I
was 16,” he says, referring to when
he went into the armed forces.
“Although I’ve probably been in
more hardcore and high octane
situations since I left the Marines.”
I can only imagine...
With physical strength and a high
state of awareness being so hugely
important for Aldo’s work, it’s
hard to picture what he does in his
downtime, away from the cameras
and pulse-racing activities.
“I always need to be mentally
and physically fit for the next stint,
whatever that might be, so when
I’ve got two weeks off between
jobs I’m not sitting around eating
donuts!” Aldo laughs.
“I’m in the gym, doing crossfit
training, because my body needs
to be prepared to run away from
danger, to escape, fight, whatever
is needed in the moment, and
my brain needs to be ready and
working together with my body to
help me achieve that.”
This marriage of mental and
physical is a recurring theme
as we chat, along with Aldo’s
love of the outdoors. “The
most important thing for me,
My body needs to
be prepared to run
away from danger,
to escape, fight,
whatever is needed
in the moment, and
my brain needs to be
ready and working
together with my
body to help me
achieve that
mentally,” he adds, “is being
outside and being active. It’s so
crucial to get out in nature at least
once a day. It’s there for everyone,
and it’s free.”
Despite the breathtaking, farflung
locations Aldo has filmed
in, he still finds that it’s the UK’s
capital where he regularly gets
the most benefit from open air
exercise – as it’s the place where
he doesn’t have to be “hard-wired
into the environment”, as he does
on location.
32 • happiful.com • August 2019