Kate Humble on walking, wildlife, waterbirds (oh, and Chris Packham)

Here is an extract from my interview with Kate Humble for the October issue of Country Walking magazine. You can read the full version here Kate Humble interview.

Kate Humble is peering hard out of a hide, excitedly pointing out birds, when she spies one preening itself with a prominent crest. “You see that bird over there with the green and purple iridescent plumage,” she says, pointing to an island in front of us. “With that crest and such a shrill call it can only be a lapwing. The Chris Packham of the waterbird world.” She pauses. “Damn,” she adds, laughing out loud to herself. “I wish I’d put that in the book.”

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Pirates of the Andamans: On Stranger Tides

For the last week I’ve been working on a marketing plan for the dive company Similan Paradive based in Khao Lak in Thailand. They specialise in dive trips to the Similan Islands in the Andaman Sea. Here are some exclusive pictures of our new dive boat and some of the crew. Pirates of the Caribbean eat your heart out.

James Bond island: The Man with the Golden Gun

Yesterday I visited Phang Nga bay or as everyone here refers to it James Bond island. The rock and beach were made famous in the 1974 film ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’ starring Roger Moore as James Bond and Christopher Lee as Scaramanga. Today James Bond island is swarming not with baddies but with tourists. But back then it was the scene of a duel to the death between Bond and Scaramanga about the wonderfully named Solex Agitator, a device that can harness the power of the sun and focus it into a lazer beam. Click on read more to see my film and then compare it to the movie.

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New Ewan McGregor film about tsunami

The dive centre I am drawing up a marketing plan for is called Similan Paradive and it is situated next door to a musuem dedicated to the tsunami. Khao Lak was one of the resorts worst affected by the tsunmai on 26 December 2004. The earthquake was the fourth deadliest in history and measured 9.1 on the richter scale. In just Thailand alone over 8000 people died, in total more than 180,000 lost their lives. The disaster has been turned into a new movie starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts called The Impossible and is due to be released next year. They both visited the museum and many of the locals in Khao Lak have been hired as extras.