Lucy Shepherd on Guyana: “There’s still an untouched wilderness on this planet and we need to protect it”

“I’m not a particularly confident person,” says Lucy Shepherd, the British explorer and presenter of Channel 4’s Secret Amazon: Into the Wild. Given I’d just watched her lead a team of several men on a 50-day expedition through untouched Amazon jungle in Guyana, her confession seemed a little hard to believe. In the show, she capsizes in a canoe, swims across black caiman-infested rivers, narrowly avoids a stampede of peccary (wild boar), and comes face-to-face with deadly bushmaster snakes. Confidence didn’t seem like an issue.

“I had to learn to be confident,” she quickly clarifies. “But these environments force you into acting a certain way and are often a reminder that I can do this.”

From a childhood spent exploring the outdoors and climbing trees in rural Suffolk, Lucy has pitted herself against some of the world’s harshest wilderness environments in her ten-plus years as an expedition leader, from the high mountains in Tajikistan to the frozen Arctic. She first visited Guyana in 2014, when in her early 20s; it was then that she got her first taste of its jungle on a small, three-week expedition and encountered a bushmaster snake for the first time – a deadly venomous species that plays a prominent role in the new series due to its haunting whistle.

“I’d recorded the bushmaster’s whistle in 2014. But when I went back to London, I couldn’t find anything out about it [in my research]. That’s when I knew there was so much left to explore. And because I had made a lot of connections and relationships, the opportunity arose to take on this journey, travelling from east to west to celebrate just how incredible [Guyana’s jungle] is.”

In a country where 91% of the landmass is covered in forest, much of it impenetrable, Lucy and her team were often told that it would be an impossible mission to cross Guyana’s Kanuku Mountains, practically trekking the entire width of the country on foot. “There’s no reason, historically, to go that deep into the jungle, because there’s no food source,” Lucy explains. “A big reason why so much of this is unexplored is because there aren’t rivers running through it. Every three-to-four weeks of trekking, we would cross the main rivers; in between that, it was just pure, thick bush.”

What made the journey even trickier was the lack of modern technology. One of the most high-tech pieces of equipment the team brought with them was a GPS tracker, which didn’t even work half the time due to the thick canopy. In fact, Lucy and her team – made up of Indigenous men – typically resorted to traditional techniques to navigate and survive, relying on outdated maps for guidance and using a bow-and-arrow to hunt for fish.

I was curious as to whether this was just to add another layer of interest to the series. “It’s for practical reasons,” counters Lucy. “You’re living with the forest, which has so many resources. Once you realise this, you can really just strip everything away. It’s not just because I wanted to do it on bare bones; it’s because that’s the best way to do it.”

To make her point, she told me how relying on modern equipment nearly caused the journey to be over before it had even begun. When the team capsized their boat on the way to their starting point, they lost one important item: their water filter.

“That really could have gone terribly wrong. It was like the gods were saying: “Don’t go!” I think a lot of my team felt like that. We managed to get most things back, but if we’d lost anything else, we would have had to call it off, as we just didn’t have any access to replace things. There was really no choice but to just carry on. But it was a helpful reminder that we were at the mercy of the jungle.”

I often wonder about these types of hair-raising experiences, particularly when it comes to that most unique of adventurers: the TV explorer. Are all these obstacles part of the fun or just a hassle: the life-or-death version of turning up at work and finding there’s no Wi-Fi? Lucy offers up a more thoughtful alternative.

“You only learn when you’re out of your comfort zone, and a bit fearful,” she tells me. “It also brings the team together when you go through these things. After all, you go there for adventure. But when you get too close to danger – like the bushmasters or the black caimans – that kind of thing scares you, as there’s no easy rescue. But there’s always a mixture of fear and thrill, especially when you know you’ve got the skills to deal with it.”

One of the most fearsome creatures Lucy comes across in Guyana’s jungles is the Bush Dai-Dai. Half-yeti, half-human, it can also morph into different animals. And yes, it is a mystical being – but it’s one of ancient Amerindian belief, and has long been considered a guardian of the forest. Lucy explains why it was one of her most fascinating discoveries. “In a way, it’s a metaphor, because there’s certain things you have to do in the forest to keep yourself safe and also protect the natural environment. It sounds crazy, but when you’re in the jungle, you start to recognise the signs, like snapped branches that guide you onto a path – when there’s likely never been humans there before.”

There is a serious message to the series, though. One key reason for Lucy to take on this challenge was to bring awareness to Guyana’s unprotected wilderness, much of which is at risk of being lost to deforestation and mining.

“Ever since I started doing these big expeditions, where you’re cut off from civilisation and out in the wild, you have no choice but to really connect with the environment. When I was 18 and spent a lot of time in the Arctic, it became deeply ingrained in me to care [for the land]. Now I feel like it’s become a duty for me to spread awareness. Because I’m no scientist or biologist, I hope that I can do that through filmmaking and storytelling.”

In this day and age, when there’s so much noise, and often despair, around climate change, the vicarious pleasures of adventure TV are as good a medium as any to show what it is that we stand to lose. This is not lost on Lucy, who believes that there is plenty to be gained from seeing more of these disappearing worlds.

“It’s important to know it can be a story of hope and not horror” she emphasised. “It’s exciting to remind older and younger generations that there is still this paradise and untouched wilderness on planet Earth, and we need to protect it – not just for our grandchildren. I think it’s a very dangerous narrative to start talking about children and grandchildren. It’s for the now; it’s for us. As soon as you start doing that, you’re passing [the responsibility] down.”

While our TV screens are inundated with travel TV shows, there is evidently a lack of female representation – especially when it comes to adventure. Seeing Lucy, a 29-year-old female head this extreme Amazon expedition is a breath of fresh air, and she has certainly proven herself worthy after being elected the youngest ever member of the Scientific Exploration Society, a British charity dedicated to world exploration and conservation. But as she explains, the opportunity didn’t come easily and she still experienced plenty of doubters.

“Even when I talked about this show, I’m sure people thought that I wouldn’t be leading it, or they thought the guys are just carrying everything… It’s an interesting thing, feeling like you need to validate yourself, but I’m aware we [women] all go through it still. It’s important to continue lifting each other up and championing each other, as I do think it’s getting better. But I’d like to see more [on TV]. There’s so many fantastic women doing so many awesome things in the adventure world, so let’s celebrate them.”

Guyana isn’t just for extreme expeditions like Lucy’s. “Guyana is such an incredible place, and very responsible with ecotourism.” she told me. “The jungle is so rich in biodiversity; you’ll learn about things you never even knew existed. You can go and stay at brilliant eco-lodges and in Amerindian villages, and go straight into the jungle from there. I’d suggest The Wild Tales for anyone wanting a jungle adventure. It was set up by Anders [from the series] and he works with a lot of the team members that were with me in the show, and they really make a positive impact on the Amerindian community. I’d encourage anyone to get out there and immerse yourself, as it’s unlike any jungle in the world. ”

Inspired by Lucy myself, I asked her how beginners can tap into their adventurous side: she suggested starting small. “Go wild camping, spend more time outside, and begin learning the skills. Even just putting up a tent up and cooking on a stove are good places to start. If you want to venture out further, go with friends or a team into the mountains. If that works, ask yourself: could you do this alone? Would you know what to do? If not, what courses could you do to learn the skills? I believe anyone can learn the skills and be an explorer if they want to.”

Both episodes of Secret Amazon: Into the Wild are available to watch on Channel 4 now.