Today’s guest is one of Britain’s best-loved and most fearless voices in wildlife and environmental broadcasting – it’s the brilliant Chris Packham.
Chris first made his name back in the 1980s as a presenter on The Really Wild Show, a programme that inspired a whole generation of children – myself included – to get out into nature. But before that, he was actually behind the camera, working as a wildlife cameraman after studying zoology. And it’s that deep understanding of animals, ecosystems and science that still underpins everything he does.
Since those early days, Chris has become a fixture on British television. You’ll know him from Springwatch, Autumnwatch, and Winterwatch, from his BBC documentaries like The Walk That Made Me and Inside Our Autistic Minds, and from his powerful activism, whether he’s leading anti-hunting campaigns, protesting HS2, or calling out the destruction of biodiversity in the UK and beyond.
He’s won multiple awards for his environmental work and was awarded a CBE for services to nature conservation. But he’s also never been afraid to challenge the establishment, and I think that’s one of the reasons so many people connect with him.
In today’s episode, we explore the places that have shaped him, from Kathmandhu to Kashmir, Mauritius to Marrakech. He talks about the awe and purpose he finds in travel, the power of experiencing landscapes that tell stories – whether it’s battle sites like Little Bighorn in Montana or the brutalist war memorials of the Balkans – and the importance of discomfort, of being challenged by a place.
We talk about being neurodivergent and how that shapes the way he sees the world when he travels – and also the places he’ll never return to. Spoiler: it’s not a great day for Dubai or Vegas.
Destination Recap:
- White Sands National Park, New Mexico, USA
- Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA
- Everglades National Park, Florida, USA
- Zion National Park, Utah, USA
- New Forest National Park, Hampshire, England
- Honduras
- Borneo
- Scotland
- Arles, France
- Mauritius
- Seville, Spain
- Kathmandu, Nepal
- Kashmir, India
- Antarctica
- Galapagos, Ecuador
- Marrakech, Morocco
- Bar of sand nr Sanibel Island, Florida, USA
- Little Big Horn, Montana, USA
- Dubai
- Las Vegas, USA
- Philippines Rainforest
- The ‘Stans – Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan
- Finding the Spomeniks
With thanks to Airbnb for their support of today’s episode.
Thanks so much for listening today. If you want to be the first to find out who is joining me on next week’s episode come and follow me on Instagram I’m @hollyrubenstein, and you’ll also find me on TikTok – I’d love to hear from you. And if you can’t wait until then, remember there’s the first 14 seasons to catch up on, that’s over 155 episodes to keep you busy.
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