James March is a freelance travel writer based in Birmingham. He’s written for a variety of publications including the BBC, Nat Geo Traveller, The Washington Post, The Telegraph, Lonely Planet and Condé Nast Traveller.

James tells host Si Willmore about becoming a specialist writer on France, which is almost ironic given that France was the place where one of his less proud travel moments took place.

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TV producer and director Bella Falk has found herself in numerous scrapes over the years, including a car accident outside a Polish rice cake factory, having to stay the night in a brothel in Mali, and somehow accidentally climbing a volcano in Tanzania.

She’s worked on a radio station in Ghana, volunteered in a school in Chile, and worked face-to-face with Greg Dyke, the former director general of the BBC. In this latest episode of the JRNY Podcast, host Si Willmore speaks to Bella about her travel adventures and her fantastic career. 

As a producer and director, Bella has made programmes for the BBC, Discovery and Channel 4, but she’s also a professional photographer and writer, featured in Wanderlust, BBC Travel, National Geographic and Lonely Planet, and a blogger publishing her work at passportandpixels.com.

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In November 2019, Dr. Susanne Etti attended the climate change conference COP27 in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. Dr Etti was representing Intrepid Travel as their first ever full-time climate scientist and was there to discuss research by The Travel Foundation which has revealed that there is "only one pathway" for the industry to reach net zero carbon by 2050.

The fact that COP27 was taking place also significantly means that it’s already a year since COP26 and the Glasgow Declaration. Host Si Willmore speaks to Dr Etti to see if enough work has been done since then and asks if the industry is keeping its promise to the environment. They also discuss how to spot and combat greenwashing and how we can act together.

Dr Etti has dedicated more than 15 years to fighting climate change and her work centres around transitioning Intrepid Travel to a low carbon economy, as well as ensuring climate safety through equality, female empowerment and diversity - she states that “climate justice is not possible without social justice" - and she highlights the fascinating example of the basket weavers of Siem Reap.

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Tharik Hussain is an award-winning travel journalist and author of Minarets in the Mountains: a Journey into Muslim Europe, where he and his family follow in the footsteps of the great Ottoman explorer Evliya Celebi through the Western Balkans.Tharik is also the creator of Britain's first Muslim heritage trails, in Surrey.

He and host Si Willmore discuss his moving to London, completing the Hajj with his family including his wheelchair-bound aunt, and the uniting power of sport. You can learn more about Tharik at tharikhussain.co.uk.

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Happy holidays! Rochelle Turner is Exodus Travel's new head of sustainability. She tells host Si Willmore about her time in Japan and how she noticed how respectful the people are - so much so that schoolchildren eat all of their food out of respect for the farmer, and that every room in the house has its own pair of slippers -- including in the toilet. This deep respect for our environment is perhaps the purest form of sustainability.

"Too many things get thrown away or not given the care they deserve," says Rochelle, who has had senior roles at Ipsos-MORI, TUI, Which? and the World Travel & Tourism Council. She has joined Exodus to spearhead their Nature Net Positive commitment as well as many other initiatives. She's completed the Climate Reality Leadership Corps training and recently become a beekeeper!

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Florence Kagiso, a guide with Desert & Delta Safaris, joined the team at the Chobe Game Lodge in 2007 and was therefore the first-ever female guide in Botswana. She tells host Si Willmore about her time in the travel industry and what it was like being a woman in an industry traditionally dominated by men.

Flo shares insights into her life as a guide, including game drives, her adventures in a mokoro (dugout canoe propelled by a poler), and how she has to 'read the book' of the lay of the land -- which includes the significance of dung beetles -- to explain the local wildlife to her guests.

Desert & Delta Safaris is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and to commemorate the occasion the company has published a book called The People of Botswana Through Tourism; Our Journey Together. The book’s introduction is given by Africa’s youngest ever female minister in the Botswana government, Bogolo Kenewendo.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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