Luxury’s for losers. I stayed at this really glamorous hotel in Muscat called the Chedi (ghmhotels.com). But after a few days, my wife, Shara, and I just packed up our Land Rover and headed inland to camp for a few days. It was the best bit of the trip — we went climbing, rode camels with the Bedouin and discovered all these beautiful wadis.
It took Channing Tatum to bring out the ‘wild’ in my wife. Shara isn’t normally the outdoorsy type, but when I was filming Running Wild with the actor in California, she sighed and said, ‘Ooh, I’d love to sleep on a little rock ledge with him…’
I want to move to New Zealand. The only trouble is it’s so far away. That country is my idea of heaven, though. I usually base myself around Lake Wanaka on South Island, where you can go skiing, hiking and jet-skiing down the rapids. I even got Shara to go skydiving with me.
If you want to ‘live’ my shows, try Central America. When I was in the Army, Belize was the place to spend your leave — we used to go scuba-diving around San Pedro. Kayaking among humpback whales off Mexico’s Baja Peninsula was a big highlight, too. And for real, genuine wilderness, I’d recommend Costa Rica. There are some beautiful jungle lodges and fun stuff like canopy high-wires, but there’s also proper rainforest — and it’s full of jaguars and exotic reptiles.
Family holidays are pretty old-school in my house. We have our own tiny island just off Abersoch, in North Wales. No electricity, no running water — just great views and lots of activities for the kids (and me). People underestimate how wild Wales is, but it’s got it all, from whitewater-rafting to Europe’s longest zip wire (zipworld.co.uk).
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South Africa makes me want to throw myself off a cliff. But in a good way. You’ll find me paragliding or bouldering there, and Cape Town also has lots of beaches and things to keep Shara happy. For African wildlife, nowhere rivals Zambia — I went to the Luangwa Valley once and couldn’t believe the concentration of big game there. I’ve never seen so many elephants and hippos.
What’s next? Camping with penguins. I’m desperate to treat the family to an Antarctic trip where you camp out on the ice (white-desert.com). It’s crazy-expensive though, so it may be a while…
Come on holiday with me! If you want a true survival experience, you need to book a course. I run 30 academies around the world, including America and the UAE — and usually drop in if I’m filming nearby (beargryllssurvivalacademy.com). All sorts of people come along, and you don’t have to eat worms if you don’t want to.
I’m happier eating yak eyeballs and drinking urine than I am at a cocktail party. But whatever your comfort zone, it’s good to get out of it.
The Island with Bear Grylls returns to Channel 4 in the spring.
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