Expedition With Steve Backshall S2

Naturalist Steve Backshall and a team of dive experts embark on an expedition to Mexico’s Eastern Pacific. Steve joins forces with renowned shark scientist Mauricio Hoyos to dive the largest marine protected area in North America – the Revillagigedo National Park. Here, they hope to witness some of the richest marine life on the planet – whale sharks, Galapagos sharks, hammerhead sharks and giant manta rays are known to gather here in huge numbers. From the Baja Peninsula in Mexico, the team travels over 700 kilometres into the open ocean. Their goal is to dive unexplored areas of the remote volcanic island of Clarion to discover where shark pups are born. Shark populations are crashing globally as they are targeted by the illegal shark fin trade. Sharks are slow breeders – some species only have a few young at a time and they take a long time to reach maturity. When commercial fishing boats catch one shark – it’s not just one life lost – it can be a whole generation. If Steve and Mauricio can discover where shark mothers give birth, they can help protect a new generati...

Regarded as the Eden of Africa, Gabon is one of the most biodiverse countries on the planet – home to gorillas, chimpanzees, crocodiles and forest elephants. With 80% of the country covered by almost impenetrable rainforest, much of Gabon remains unexplored. On this expedition, Steve and the team head into a remote part of the Moukalaba Doudou National Park. Cut off from the outside world by the Doudou mountains, this ‘unknown zone’ has never been explored… until now. Teaming up with local jungle guide Ghislain Bouassa and primatologist Alessandra Mascaro, Steve hopes to discover whether this unexplored jungle could be home to an undiscovered population of chimpanzees. The local Punu community relate tales of a mythical canyon – a place where they believe the river disappears off the face of the earth. They hold it sacred and have never ventured beyond the canyon, but they have given Stev...

Steve and the team head to the Tien Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan to find one of the world’s most endangered big cats – the snow leopard. Kyrgyzstan sits at the heart of the global snow leopard population, but from the Himalayas in the south to Russia in the north, snow leopards are under threat right across their range. The goal of this expedition is to explore the remote and almost inaccessible Djangart valley. Snow leopards are known to live south and north of here, but nothing is known about what lies between. No one has studied the cats in these mountains because these high-altitude peaks are so difficult to access, but this entire region is packed with precious minerals and mining companies now have their sights firmly set on the Djangart mountains. Teaming up with Kyrgyz conservation group Snow Leopard Foundation, Steve and the team set out to find evidence of a breeding population of snow leopards. If they c...

As the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia opens up to the outside world, miles and miles of this vast desert landscape remain completely unknown. Over 120 thousand years ago the Arabian desert was a pathway for the first human migrations out of Africa. On this expedition, Steve and the team are following in ancient footsteps to shine a light into the unknown. Joining forces with Saudi Arabian geologists Mahmoud AlShanti and Hala Alwagdani, Steve and ropes expert Aldo Kane head down into an unexplored volcanic underworld in search of the longest lava tube in Arabia. Geological evidence suggests that at least 400km of tunnels lie beneath the Harrat Khaybar lava field – subterranean passageways which could contain bones and artefacts from ancient civilisations. Only 25km of these lava tubes have ever been explored… until now. Steve and the team start their journey at the ancient Nabataean city of Hegra, where secrets lie w...

Steve and a team of world class kayakers head to the Kamchatka peninsula in the Russian far east, to take on the first descent of the Kronotsky River – through white-water so extreme that it has never before been attempted. The team set out to paddle from source to sea, starting in the shadow of a still active volcano and ending at the Pacific Ocean – kayaking through an unspoilt wilderness packed with more brown bears than almost anywhere else on the planet. If the team can make it through the white-water, they will enter an untouched landscape and witness brown bears in their natural habitat – unaffected by humans. These Russian brown bears are so isolated, some of them may never have seen people before. There are few places left on this rapidly changi...