Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild

Adventurer Ben Fogle travels to Restoration Island on Australia's Great Barrier Reef to visit former businessman David. As this intriguing travel documentary reveals, David lost $10million in the stock market crash of 1987, as well as his marriage and his home. Now he lives alone on an island in a house made of recycled material and makes beer to trade with local fishermen for food.

Adventurer Ben Fogle travels to Alaska to visit a couple who hiked 4,000 miles to find a new home and lifestyle. As this incredible travel documentary reveals, they spend half the year in a mountainside yurt, then hike in the region's countryside for the next six months. Ben joins the family and learns some essential survival skills including grizzly bear protection and navigating Alaskan storms.

Adventurer Ben Fogle travels to New Zealand's South Island to meet Robert and Catherine, who left a privileged lifestyle to survive as hunter-gatherers. As this intriguing travel documentary reveals, they live in an area of countryside that’s two days from the nearest road. Ben helps Robert hunt for rock lobsters and joins Catherine to climb a waterfall to fix the family's gravity-fed water pipe.

Adventurer Ben Fogle ventures into the swampland countryside of southern Georgia to spend time with Colbert, a former financier who now lives in his hand-built wooden cabin. In this remarkable travel documentary Ben learns some of the vital skills needed to survive in this dangerous backwater, including skinning roadkill, spearing frogs and drinking swamp water.

Adventurer Ben Fogle travels deep into the foothills of the Himalayas in the Indian countryside to meet Steve, a former fighter pilot who decided he could not live in an organized society. In his remote mountain property, Ben helps Steve chase off intruders, plough the fields with a team of buffalo, tends to Steve's future grave plot, and meditates naked with him.

Ben Fogle travels to a remote part of the Philippines countryside to meet Neil, a complex man who gave up on the American Dream for a new lifestyle with his adopted family in a very alien culture. In this revealing travel documentary, he meets Neil's family, living in a bamboo house on a hillside, where he helps kill a chicken and a pig, and learns about the school run, native transport style.

Adventure guru Ben Fogle travels to the Namibian desert and spends time with Gideon, who quit his career to live in the largest conservation area in Africa. In this revealing travel documentary, Ben embraces the harsh work of farm life in temperatures pushing 40C, tending to more than 150 animals, repairing baboon damage to water pipes and learning how to castrate sheep with his teeth.

Adventurer Ben Fogle journeys to the wilderness of Alaska and spends time with Mike and Fran in their simple, self-built log cabin. In this eye-opening travel documentary, Ben discovers how the couple have created a self-sufficient lifestyle by working the land and trapping animals. He also gets stuck into forest survival, battling mosquitoes, adapting to 24-hour daylight and hunting prey.

Ben Fogle travels to the countryside of Utah to meet 72-year-old twins Bill and Bob Stone, who fled their adrenaline-junkie pasts for a tough subsistence lifestyle. In this fascinating travel documentary, he joins the brothers as they go cattle-wrangling, rock climbing and skydiving, while Ben also discovers why these former bounty hunters decided to cut themselves off from civilization.

Adventurer Ben Fogle travels to Southeast Asia to meet 31-year-old Jon Watkinson, who quit a career in finance for a new lifestyle in a handmade bamboo hut on a remote island in Laos. In this engrossing travel documentary, Ben digs trenches, attempts an extreme form of fishing and helps his host to lift and move an entire house. He also discovers how the locals have taken Jon to their hearts.

Adventurer Ben Fogle heads to Australia to meet 61-year-old Barbara Walker, a widow who has lived alone in an isolated Bush camp for eight years. In this intriguing travel documentary, he discovers how this former photographer adopted a new lifestyle in one of the world's most challenging environments, managing 63 wild horses and hand-rearing rescued animals in the remote countryside.

Adventurer Ben Fogle ventures deep into the Appalachian Mountains to spend time with Justin, who rejected the trappings of a privileged lifestyle to live in the remote countryside. In this revealing travel documentary, he discovers how Justin's life in the wild began with a grueling 2,000-mile trek to his home, where he has no electricity or running water and all his meals are fresh roadkill.

Adventurer Ben Fogle journeys to the Pacific Northwest to live with British-born Lynx Vilden. As this intriguing travel documentary reveals, this former punk-rock wild-child has spent more than half her life hunting, eating and sleeping in the wilderness. Lynx teaches Ben the tricks of surviving this Stone Age lifestyle and discovers her mission to convince the rest of us to 'become prehistoric'.

Adventurer Ben Fogle heads to Tanzania, living nomadically with Brit-born Moli and his wife Noelle. As this engrossing travel documentary reveals, they swapped a city lifestyle for a vast wilderness and a new safari guiding business. In one of the wildest and least visited parks in the area, Ben experiences living alongside some of the most fearsome animals on Earth.

In 2015, Julia from South Africa and her British husband Gareth bought a derelict farmhouse online. They had never visited Eastern Europe before but wanted a new low-impact, self-sufficient lifestyle. In this fascinating travel documentary, Ben Fogle meets them at the property in the Hungarian countryside, helps install a window and assists as they try to buy chickens in the local market.

Adventurer Ben Fogle travels to Australia's remote north-western cape and enters 'Wilderness Island' to meet a man whose story is as remarkable as the landscape he now lives in. Ben discovers how a tragic accident compelled his host Jim, to chase his dream of living in the wild and discovers what life is like living in the notorious and daunting 'Cyclone Alley'.

Ben meets Jeff and Rose and their daughters who live in the vast wilderness of north-west Canada. It’s late autumn, and before long the family will be locked in by two meters of snow, in a region where temperatures often hit -30C. Ben joins them on a moose hunt adventure and discovers that one animal will sustain them all year. And he learns that even the youngest children are expected to work.

Adventurer Ben Fogle journeys to North Africa, to live with American Maryanne Stroud Gabbani on the farm she's built on the edge of the Sahara. He discovers why she swapped her city abode for a simpler way of life featuring sandstorms and crushing heat. He sees how she shares her life with a bunch of misfit creatures and how, as a single Western woman, she is surviving in a volatile country.

Ben journeys to the Ozark National Forest in Arkansas, to live with master craftsman Robert, learning why this 70-year-old former medical student ditched his education for America's counterculture 20 years ago, bought 200 acres of land deep in the woods, and raised a family of six children. Ben sees how far-reaching Robert's skills are, including cabin-making techniques dating back to the 13th century, and how his family have supported him in his dream.

Ben travels to New Zealand's North Island, where he meets a young nomadic family led by Amber and Andy, who spend their life exploring the country's wild landscapes. He hears how the family's lives changed forever after one fateful day, how they swapped the stress of the city for a life on the open road, the price they paid for chasing their dream and how the horrors of the past still haunt them today.

Deep into the jungle mountains of Thailand on the border with Myanmar and far off any conventional map, Ben spends time with 40-year-old French-Canadian Julien. He’s been a Buddhist monk for almost half his life, living in a remote monastery. Ben learns why this former teenage student from the West stripped away all complications of a modern lifestyle for a primitive Eastern religious existence.

Ben travels to the vast forests of the Rhodope Mountains in Bulgaria to join Miriam and Peter, a couple who have chosen to live as nomads, hiking through some of the world's most striking wildernesses. The couple have decided to live without a permanent home, carrying their only possessions on their backs. Ben helps them forage and hunt for food and even undertakes some unusual washing techniques.

Ben visits the vast wilderness of North West Canada to meet Jeff and Rose and their five daughters, a family of adventurous off-gridders who rely on hunting big-game animals to survive.

Ben Fogle travels to Ireland’s rugged Atlantic coastline in the bleak midwinter. He stays with Judith, an 80-year-old who rejected a modern lifestyle for one closer to nature. Ben learns how she and her late husband created a unique utopia and discovers how, even at an advanced age, she is determined to remain alone in her solitary cottage nestled in a remote hillside.

After six years of globetrotting, Scott and Casey gambled their life savings on a kite-surfing school in a remote stretch of the Peruvian coast. As Ben lives their day-to-day life, he learns what led them both to this decision.

Former festival director Karen has set up an artists' retreat in the heart of the Sahara. The impressive project required that she learn centuries-old techniques - and the art of patience.

Ben travels to highlands of Panama to meet a couple who turned their backs on a comfortable lifestyle in the US to try their hand at coffee producing. During the busy harvest season, Ben learns the finer details of how to craft his favourite drink.

Ben travels to the coastal forests of southern Sweden to meet 24-year-old single mother Annalisa, a native Italian who left everything in her home country behind when she was a teenager, and is now developing a forest hideaway on the fringes of society for her and her toddler. Ben helps her chop wood and make her home baby-proof, while Annalisa goes busking to make a small living. They also go dumpster-diving in search of rubbish that can be put to good use to counter the amount of waste thrown away.

Ben meets a Glaswegian retired teacher who relocated to the mountains of Ethiopia, and leads an active life in her new home as she approaches her 70th birthday. She has made significant contributions to the local community, including setting up a school and building a restaurant on an isolated mountain top over the course of three years.

Ben meets Jaimie, an inventor who has built a unique home for his family on a remote island off the coast of Panama. Ben gets a taste of the unconventional family's daily routine, which includes scrubbing boat hulls, getting some exercise in a pedalo, hacking through the island's vegetation, and home schooling for the children. He also discovers the unusual family dynamics in the household and takes a look at some of his host's inventions, which include a computer game depicting his unusual life.

Ben journeys to the freezing coastal waters of Iceland to live with Hakon, a former carpenter who overcame alcohol and embraced a clean, solo life in the wilderness on an private island.

Ben meets a scientist in Siberia, who gave up his urban life to work in the Russian Arctic on finding ways to reduce the impact of climate change on the permafrost. His project makes use of steam machines and monster trucks, but away from his environmental work, he is working on the idea of bringing the woolly mammoth back from extinction.

Ben meets Lucy, who left Britain to start a new life with her husband Tim on New Zealand's north island. They now live with their two daughters in a yurt beside a river in the middle of 25 acres of woodland they have transformed into a farm. Ben discovers how the forest provides the family with everything they need, getting a taste of their daily routine of chopping wood and foraging for wild foods. He also discovers how the couple are providing their children with an alternative education and the campaign of activism Lucy has embarked on from their wilderness home.

While we may all feel a little isolated under the current circumstances, some people really have got away from it all, setting up home in some of the most remote locations on earth. Ben Fogle returns to see how some of them have fared, starting with the Long family in New Zealand. You may remember they were two days’ walk from the nearest road, so it was very much a hunter-gatherer existence. “Bewitching, but horribly tough – like camping for ever” is how RT described it. So how have the children coped with such an isolated upbringing, and how have the parents maintained their relationship? SUMMARY Ben reunites with people he previously met in some of the most remote locations on Earth, discovering how life has changed for his hosts.

You’ll remember Colbert. He’s hard to forget. In 2014 Ben Fogle visited the eccentric 60-something who’d built his dream home (a wood cabin with no electricity and no running water) in the oppressive, mosquito-ridden swamps of Georgia, USA. Ben couldn’t understand why anyone would choose to live there. He struggled with Colbert’s basic lifestyle and his unconventional attitude (his embarrassment over their campfire chat about sex was obvious) but he obviously admired him too. He returns to learn that a few years ago Colbert’s beloved home burnt down. Undeterred, the wildman rebuilt it. “I feel overwhelmingly blessed. I’m one of the richest people in the world,” he says with a smile. SUMMARY Ben reunites with a man with a gift for craftsmanship living in the swamplands of Georgia. Ben discovers he has experienced a life-changing accident in the six years since they last met, but remains as competitive as he was on their original encounter.

A life-threatening parachuting accident was the catalyst that persuaded Jim Alston to pursue his "Robinson Crusoe" dream, while his partner Kim Nguyen also had a near-death experience in a horrific car crash. In 2017 Ben Fogle went to visit the pair on the aptly named Wilderness Island off Australia’s north-western cape, where he got a lesson in the art of mud-crabbing and the necessity for fresh water (which the island was without). Ben now returns to find Kim and Jim have now built an eco-resort and gained an extended family. "This island has served as therapy for both of them," he concludes. SUMMARY Ben reunites with a couple living off the west coast of Australia, and discovers the logistical nightmares they have overcome to make a home for themselves on a desert island, as well as enduring the extremes of the Australian climate. While they have recently had cause to celebrate, their lives are becoming increasingly difficult, which may result in them moving on.

Ben meets a Pembrokeshire family living on the side of a rugged mountain, where they catch and forage for their own food and salvage junk for homemade inventions. Ben helps them put their latest creations to the test in all weathers, and learns about the special global policy for utopian living that they have signed up to.

Ben Fogle meets a former film-maker who has made a home in the highlands of eastern Iceland, and set up a wilderness centre exploring 200 years of local history. Ben takes part in an ancient tradition where thousands of sheep that have spent the summer in the mountains are sorted, as well as bathing in a hot waterfalls, riding horses on the plateau, and smokes trout with dung.

Ben ventures off the wild coast of Northern Ireland to the tiny, remote and rugged island of Rathlin. He stays with 41-year-old Rauri Morgan, a former HR executive who turned his back on corporate life to move into an ancient family heirloom. Ben embraces modern-day foraging, ancient myths and legends, and eccentric property maintenance, and discovers that Rauri's paradise has been found in the most unlikely of places, but that there is more than meets the eye to both him and his place on the island.

Ben revisits Amanda and her husband Clive, stars of Our Yorkshire Farm, on their remote farm of Ravenseat in the Yorkshire Dales. Ben discovers how they get by in the tough world of farming and meets the latest addition to their flock.

Ben revisits Emma, who has embraced a truly organic life, hidden away in overgrown woodland in wildest Wales. Ben helps Emma construct a new communal mud hut.

Ben heads to Devon to revisit the Mason family who, five years ago, were all stuffed into a cramped renovated horse box. Ben is now welcomed into their new home, on their own land.

The presenter ventures deep into the Scottish Highlands to meet Iona and her young family on the near-10,000-acre wilderness estate that she grew up on. Whilst in their company, Ben drives cattle on horseback, digs out a dam to ensure the family's hydro-electricity supply and gets to grips with the annual deer cull, and hears how Iona's past prepared her for this extraordinary life in the wilderness.

The presenter meets the Powell family who are living an off-grid existence in a hidden valley in the Black Mountains in Wales. Whilst in their company, Ben climbs into a ravine to maintain the family's hydro electrics, explores the forest with the spirited children, and helps plant the biggest new woodland in Wales for a generation.

Ben journeys to the Suffolk countryside and a secretive patch of woodland, to spend the week with unique character Will, 50, who could be described as a true British caveman. Ben embraces Will's Stone Age-style existence in the forest and discovers how a childhood passion carved Will's future, the price he paid for following his dream, and how he is steering it back around as Ben meets him at a new stage in his prehistoric life.

Ben Fogle travels to the remote mountains of central Portugal to meet Alex, a British man who left a successful retail career to live completely off-grid. During his stay, Ben helps Alex maintain his simple mountainside home and learns how he survives without heating, electricity, or running water. Through their conversations, Ben discovers the personal reasons that drove Alex to choose solitude and a life closer to nature.

Ben visits Georg and Bettina, an Austrian-German couple who have lived in the Irish wilderness for nearly 40 years. He explores the hand-built home and land they’ve cultivated from barren bog into a sustainable retreat. Ben gains insight into their long-standing commitment to simplicity, nature, and a peaceful life away from modern society.

Ben ventures to the lesser-known Greek island of Andros to visit Sandy, founder of a remote animal shelter perched on the slopes of the island's highest peak. He embraces sharing a home with 25 dogs, eight donkeys, a horse, a mule and more than 20 cats. Surrounded by stunning natural beauty, he also helps to feed, groom, walk and clean up after the multitude of animals that roam free around the land and a 300-year-old house.

Ben travels to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the USA to meet Mike Basich, a snowboarder who left professional sport to reconnect with nature. Ben joins him in his hand-built log cabin and follows him as he embarks on a life changing project.

Ben heads Down Under to meet Bette, an elderly woman living alone in a ramshackle house in the wilds of northern Queensland. She is a no-nonsense personality and refuses to cook Ben any dinner. But as the week progresses she warms to her guest and explains what drew her to the harsh Australian wilderness 30 years ago. She also talks about her complex relationship with men, and reveals how she has been seriously threatened when defending the natural world around her from development.

Ben heads to Slab City in California to meet an extraordinary homeless artist called DNA, who Ben had previously met whilst in the area making another documentary. Ben joins DNA in his 'Mad Max' camp on a desert hill, an extreme place to seek refuge, but like most residents in Slab City, he discovers DNA had few choices. Ben learns the harsh reality of what it's like to be homeless in the US, and the downward cycle that people can find themselves in.

Ben meets more people who chose to venture down alternative paths to everyday life, beginning with musician Vanessa Forero, who moved from her native Yorkshire to a remote mountainside in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in northern Colombia. Together they tackle home improvements, from a new cable car to building walls, receive a visit from an indigenous leader, and Ben hears one of the most extraordinary survival stories he has ever heard.

Ben explores the Great Blasket Island off the coast of Ireland, staying with Dan and Emily who are island caretakers on Europe's rugged western frontier. Ben discovers how the couple have adapted to their new lives on the island and what they've achieved while living there. Plus, he experiences fixing a water pump, catching sheep, foraging seaweed and swimming with seals.

Ben travels to an island on Norway's coastline to meet his host Elena, a former Middle East peacekeeper, and experience the hardships of living in the environment. Ben joins Elena and her partner on a mountain climb, before helping them finish their guest house, cleaning a beach, kayaking on frozen waters and gardening in the harsh landscape.

Ben meets a family at the start of their new life, undertaking an ambitious renovation of a dilapidated farmhouse in a Bulgarian village, discovering how crucial this fresh start is for them.

Ben heads into the forests of northern New South Wales to meet Jimmy, and learns he has faced multiple tragedies, including bereavement and natural disasters, since leaving urban America.

Ben ventures into the snowy mountains of Piedmont, where he meets Father Johannes, who lives an isolated life while fulfilling duties as a priest. Ben discovers they have more in common than he expected.

Ben meets Norwegian Aleks, who now lives in Botswana, learning of her incredible journey and meeting her adopted family, the Ju'/hoansi people, who have called southern Africa home for many thousands of years.

Ben meets Brit Rupert (57), who resides in a traditional house in the mountains of Japan. Rupert has fully embraced the culture of his adopted homeland but his peaceful existence arose from hardship.

Ben journeys to rural Thailand to meet Yidan, who left city life to build a farm from scratch. As he helps her work, he uncovers the deeper reasons behind her bold transformation.