ManicMammy’s Blog

Photo from C4.

This is the second series of the Bear Grylls survival guide but the Sahara, Part 2 was the first episode I’ve managed to catch.

It began with Bear being dropped from a low flying helicopter in the desert, continued with his meeting a Berber tribe and many tips of what to do should you find yourself stranded in the Sahara. The highlights for the 8 year old were the protein sources that Bear ate throughout: the sand beatle, goat’s testicle, horned viper, camel fat and Sahara frog. All cringe-inducing but very entertaining from his point of view.

He was stunned as he watched Bear skin and clean out a camel and then demonstrate how he could climb inside its carcass and use it as shelter in the event of a sandstorm. I had no idea the water from a dead camel’s stomach was drinkable, that a camel has three stomachs or that oleander bushes are poisonous and that they can contaminate nearby streams with their sap.

I thought the snake tracking was interesting and also the descent down the sandstone rockface to reach the valley floor in search of water.

Despite the obvious going for shock value aspects of this episode, we did find it entertaining and educational. Whereas Ray Mears bushcraft series goes along a similar vein, I felt this one was going for a wider audience, less detailed and more sensationalistic to an extent. To be fair, it did have my 2 sons captivated so no doubt we’ll be tuning in for the rest of the series on channel 4 on Sundays at 8pm.