The Adventure Podcast

Episode 227 of The Adventure Podcast features wildlife camera operator and television presenter, Declan Burley. Declan grew up in Luton, dyslexic and working on building sites. Nobody around him went into the arts and no one really knew what a wildlife camera operator was. In this episode, Declan talks to Matt about the long road to where he is now: three months in the Amazon at 23 that changed everything, years of being flat broke, and a cancer diagnosis in his late twenties. He explains what camera trapping actually involves, and what it was like to work across six critically endangered species for The Wild Ones, from snare-riddled jungle in Malaysia to mine-field leopards on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. They also cover the class divide in British wildlife television, what slowing down teaches you about the natural world, and whether conservation storytelling can actually change anything - or whether it's just preaching to the converted.

For extra insights from the worlds of adventure, exploration and the natural world, you can find The Adventure Podcast+ community on Substack. You can also follow along and join in on Instagram @‌theadventurepodcast.

Chapter Breakdown
0:00-06:15: Growing up in Luton, building sites, dyslexia, and why becoming a wildlife camera operator wasn't something anyone around him had ever done or suggested.
06:15-14:13: Class, access and the 8% statistic.
14:13-26:36: Three months in the Amazon at 23, learning to move slowly, borderline trench foot, and why that trip settled everything.
26:36-34:48: Declan talks about receiving a cancer diagnosis in his late twenties, and how camera trapping became his specialist skill and calling card.
34:48-42:00: What camera trapping actually is.
42:00-50:18: The Wild Ones - six critically endangered species, six countries, and what Declan saw on the ground.
50:18-58:00: Whether conservation storytelling can actually change anything, the three choices when faced with environmental despair, and why commissioners need the audience to keep watching.
58:00-1:00:00: What scares him, what brings him hope, and why he puts animals and humans on exactly the same level.
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Episode 226 of The Adventure Podcast features ex-England Rugby Captain, sailor, rower, and world-record holder, Ollie Phillips. After over a decade of elite sport and multiple Player of the Year awards, an unknown injury suddenly stopped Ollie's career. In this episode, Matt and Ollie cover what it's like to grieve a career and a life you dedicated yourself to, and what happens after. They talk about Ollie's last minute decision to say yes to the Clipper Round the World Race, having never sailed before, a world record expedition to the North Pole, and more recently, a charity row across the Atlantic. Ollie is funny, direct, and genuinely honest. And it turns out the gap between who you were and who you're becoming is where the most interesting stuff happens.

For extra insights from the worlds of adventure, exploration and the natural world, you can find The Adventure Podcast+ community on Substack. You can also follow along and join in on Instagram @‌theadventurepodcast.

Chapter Breakdown
00:00- 06:22: Who Ollie is now and the twelve-year rugby career that started it all.
06:22-14:48: Why sports people and soldiers gravitate towards adventure, the ten-out-of-ten feeling that real life rarely matches, and what the corporate world gets wrong.
14:48-22:43: Community, shared experience, and why Ollie has never started a story with "this one time, when I was on my own."
22:43-33:24: How a spinal injury ended his rugby career in four hours, and why saying yes to a last-minute call from Sir Robin Knox-Johnston changed everything.
33:24-39:14: Getting on the Clipper Race with no sailing experience, going from novice to second-in-command in three months, and the useful delusion that rugby might still be waiting at the end.
39:14-49:13: PwC, the North Pole, and a fifteen-month legal battle just to play one last game of rugby at Twickenham for closure.
49:13-1:00:51: What that final game meant, and the moment outside a basement flat that made Ollie realise he needed to change.
1:00:51-1:05:03: Therapy, validation, fatherhood, and why not expecting anything from anyone has made everything better.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-adventure-podcast.
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Episode 225 of The Adventure Podcast features marine biologist and TV host, Melissa Cristina Márquez. Also known as the 'Mother of Sharks'. Born in Puerto Rico, Melissa's spent her career trying to make people care about one of the most misunderstood animals on the planet. In this episode, Matt and Melissa cover a lot of ground - from Jaws and Baby Shark to a three-metre crocodile bite on her first ever Shark Week shoot. They touch on the psychology of inflammatory media language, and the hundreds of thousands of years of indigenous knowledge that Western science has largely ignored. Melissa is warm, funny, deeply informed and completely disarming. She has a way of making you realise how much of what you think you know about sharks has been handed to you by Hollywood. She challenges the idea that fear and respect can't coexist, argues that diversity in science isn't just about fairness but about asking better questions, and explains why a species that's survived 450 million years may not survive us. While this conversation starts with sharks, really it's about how we relate to the natural world and whether caring - loudly, specifically, and imperfectly - might be the most important thing any of us can do.

For extra insights from the worlds of adventure, exploration and the natural world, you can find The Adventure Podcast+ community on Substack. You can also follow along and join in on Instagram @‌theadventurepodcast.

Chapter Breakdown
00:00-07:05: Growing up in Puerto Rico, falling in love with sharks, and fighting to build a career.
07:05-16:48: Why diversity in science changes the questions we ask.
16:48-25:28: The language of fear and the lasting damage of Jaws.
25:28-38:11: The empathy gap between sharks and other endangered animals, and what early education can do to close it.
38:11-50:34: No villain animals, the case for fearful respect, and the crocodile bite nobody saw coming.
50:34-1:02:12: Sharks as keystones, trophic cascades, and why Melissa remains an optimist about the future.
1:02:12-1:08:32: Why science communication belongs to everyone, and what visibility does for the next generation of scientists.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-adventure-podcast.
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Episode five of our long-term series, The Far Reaches, features ornithologist, environmentalist, writer, and sustainability advisor, Tony Juniper CBE. Tony is the Chair of Natural England, the former president of The Wildlife Trusts, and has devoted over four decades to nature recovery and environmental protection. In this episode, Matt sits down with Tony in his greenhouse for a wide-ranging conversation about the state of the natural world. They start with the scale of what’s happening: climate change, collapsing ecosystems, soil loss, freshwater depletion, and how it's all driven by the same forces shaping modern society. Tony explains why many of the biggest environmental debates are framed incorrectly - not as trade-offs between nature and food, or economy and environment, but as problems that can be solved together if approached differently. They talk about farming, land use, and how mindsets are already beginning to shift. This episode is rooted in cautious optimism as Tony shares stories of species already returning to the UK. It emphasises that restoration isn’t theoretical, it’s already happening. Throughout the episode, Matt and Tony keep coming back to the idea of connection. People and nature. Policy and reality. And how the future depends on whether more people engage with it. While this is a stark reminder of what's going wrong, it's also strongly hopeful and shows what's already being quietly put back together.

The Far Reaches is a long-term series where we speak to guests about subjects related to our planet and our place on it. These episodes will dig a little deeper, perhaps enter the realm of armchair philosophy, and will tackle some more existential questions surrounding adventure and exploration.

For extra insights from the worlds of adventure, exploration and the natural world, you can find The Adventure Podcast+ community on Substack. You can also follow along and join in on Instagram @‌theadventurepodcast.

Chapter Breakdown
00:00-05:00: Why climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource depletion are deeply tied to how society functions.
05:00-15:00: How different lifestyles drive vastly different environmental footprints, and consequences.
15:00-25:00: Why framing issues as “nature vs food” or “economy vs environment” is misleading, and what a better approach looks like.
25:00-35:00: How farmers are responding to climate pressures, and why the conversation is shifting on the ground.
35:00-45:00: Examples of restoring ecosystems and improving biodiversity through smarter land use.
45:00-55:00: Beavers, white-tailed eagles, cranes, spoonbills - real stories of recovery across the UK.
55:00-End: Why this isn’t hopeless - and how reconnecting people with nature is key to change.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-adventure-podcast.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 224 of The Adventure Podcast features wildlife cinematographer and third generation commercial fisherwoman, Erin Ranney. The conversation begins with Erin's upbringing in Alaska and Washington State, and how she grew up working on her family tree farm and in the largest sockeye salmon run in the world. She talks about how that shaped her understanding of conservation from the inside out and why she’s chosen to stay connected to that community. From there, Erin traces her path into filmmaking and the point at which she realised it could act as a bridge between science, storytelling, and audiences. Alongside the field stories, Matt and Erin dig into the realities of the industry; the long periods living in tents, years spent building skills through unpaid work and stock footage, and the challenges facing nature storytelling today. They talk about the need for better science communication and the lack of funding for nature content. And why inspiring curiosity might be one of the most important parts of the job.

For extra insights from the worlds of adventure, exploration and the natural world, you can find The Adventure Podcast+ community on Substack. You can also follow along and join in on Instagram @‌theadventurepodcast.

Chapter Breakdown
00:00-08:00: Life in Bristol Bay, commercial fishing, and understanding conservation from within a working community.
08:00-18:00: A chance fly-fishing class leads to a complete career pivot into ecology and field research.
18:00-26:00: Erin discusses her lemur research, and how borrowing a long lens led to realising film could connect people to science.
26:00-36:00: Cold emails, buying her own camera, filming stock footage, and landing her first paid job filming bears in Alaska.
36:00-45:00: Working in extreme environments.
45:00-55:00: Six months in remote camps, bush planes, family involvement, and rediscovering a love for filmmaking.
55:00-01:05:00: Glacial retreat, extreme heat, and salmon die-offs - and why these stories couldn’t be ignored.
01:05:00-01:15:00: Why Erin stays connected to fishing and farming communities, and sees herself as a bridge between worlds.
01:15:00-End: Kids’ programming, inspiring curiosity, mentoring young filmmakers, and what needs to change in the industry.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-adventure-podcast.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.