Nick Knowles In South America (Ch5)
Non-stop activities, that’s some people’s idea of a holiday. Off the ship to see the sun rise over the mountains, breakfast 50 miles up the road, back to the coast for water-skiing before lunch.
Just the thought of all that leaves me knackered. It’s a bit much for Nick Knowles, too, in his new travel show. Most of the time he’s out of breath, and sometimes he can hardly stand up to say his bit to camera.
Before the opening credits finished rolling, he was halfway up a cliff face in the Andes — not so much climbing freestyle as being winched up on a rope with a harness round his hefty rear end.
It’s a bit much for Nick Knowles (pictured) in his new travel show. Most of the time he’s out of breath
The trouble with holidays like that is you forget half the things you’ve done because they’re over so quickly. It’s the same with this show
‘My hands are running out of grip,’ he gasped, 100 feet up. Back on the ground, the wiry fellow called Jorge holding the other end of the rope was in danger of being catapulted into the air if Nick slipped.
‘Why… do you… enjoy… doing that… so much?’ Nick panted to Jorge after he was lowered to safety. He wasn’t hanging around to try the climb again — next stop was a dash down to the beach at Fin del Mundo, the End of the World, to see some penguins.
The penguins were nesting in holes, but that didn’t stop Nick and his guide, a conservationist called Roberto, from poking a stick into the burrow to see if their chicks had hatched yet.
No wonder locals from Tenerife to Majorca are complaining about the behaviour of tourists. Those penguins will be organising their own protest marches if this goes on.
After that, Nick took a quick and breathless trip around a replica of Charles Darwin’s ship HMS Beagle, before meeting an indigenous couple who taught him grass-weaving.
Then, he visited a wind turbine facility, went bike riding with a chap who had cycled the 11,000 miles from Mexico, and paddled off in a kayak to inspect a melting glacier
He’s no Chris Packham — he even managed to get a basic fact about penguins wrong, telling us they were only found in the far south
Then, he visited a wind turbine facility, went bike riding with a chap who had cycled the 11,000 miles from Mexico, and paddled off in a kayak to inspect a melting glacier — before finally arriving at an eco-hotel, where he stumbled exhausted into the bar. No wonder he was out of breath.
The trouble with holidays like that is you forget half the things you’ve done because they’re over so quickly. It’s the same with this show. Far better to spend longer on some of the interesting segments and leave others out.
Sending Nick bird-spotting or rock-climbing is pointless. He’s no Chris Packham — he even managed to get a basic fact about penguins wrong, telling us they were only found in the far south (as Darwin knew, Galapagos penguins live near the equator).
But the Kawesqar weavers were fascinating. We could have learned much more about them — their traditional society, their history.
Nick was in Patagonia, the continent’s southern tip, where writer Bruce Chatwin went in search of fossils half a century ago. Chatwin took his time, and ended up on the trail of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. If Nick had slowed down, he could have seen a lot more, too.
