Mining the Inferno
Indonesia …Residents of Java are well accustomed to the presence of volcanoes in their lives. Take a dawn climb to any one of the island’s 40 or so peaks, and a glance to either the east or the west of you will normally reveal a scene worthy of the set of Jurassic Park as you […]
The Big Blue
Philippines …Firstly, apologies for missing a week with my posts to this blog. It was probably a little ambitious of me to expect a decent internet connection from the middle of the South China Sea. That’s not to say that such a thing is impossible, just extremely inconvenient and quite tricky when you’re living on […]
Water World
Sabah …I must admit, I wasn’t expecting to see this sight when I woke up this morning. We’ve been suffering the periphery of typhoon Parma since I arrived here in Sabah, shrouding the Celebes sea in rainy grey clouds and dashing any hopes I’ve had of shooting pictures from our helicopter which has spent the […]
Hunting for Whales
Indonesia …Indonesia is one of my favourite countries in the world. I spent a lot of time here in my twenties, just roaming around, visiting as many as I could of the seventeen odd thousand islands that make up this immense archipelago. Back then, coming to the remote island of Lembata would probably have involved […]
Tomb Raiders
Cambodia …As part of the Jungles program on Human Planet we have come to Cambodia to investigate a place where nature has reclaimed the site of a former human civilization. That place is the 200 square kilometre area of Angkor in Central Cambodia, former home to, amongst others, the great Khmer empire of King Suryavarman […]
Jet Lag
Papua New Guinea …Today I can report back categorically that there is definitely no easy way to get to the centre of Papua New Guinea from the UK. At the last count my journey here involved 4 planes and just over 30 hours of flying. Consequently, this week’s post is going to be very […]
Man on Wire
Laos …Allow me to introduce you to Samnieng… that’s him in the middle of the picture on his way to work on a typical Monday morning in August. He lives about a kilometre from this spot on the wrong side of the river from his place of work which lies on a small island amid […]
Backpacking
Thailand …This particular trip to Laos has begun for me in Thailand. The story I will be covering in a few days was filmed by a Human Planet crew a few weeks ago whilst I was in Mongolia, so I have taken this opportunity for independent travel by choosing to make my way to the […]