Steve Backshall: The Man Who Stares At Tarantulas

We gagged when we saw Bear turn almost anything that moves, crawls or swims into protein in Man V/s Wild, gagged again when we saw Les Stroud of getting sick on tubers and our nails to bits when the amazing Austin Stevens dived into water and wrestled a fully grown anaconda. For those with a sturdy gut, wildlife celebrities and their daring exploits make for the coolest reality shows on television. So when he heard that Steve Backshall com to India his latest Deadly 60– a compilation of sixtmost dangerous creatures yourelikely to come across, we had to a long distance call and have Steve prepare us for the worstwe can expect to see:

You have traveled literally all over the world, scouting unforgivable terrains in search of the deadliest types of animalsHow do you rate your ‘survivor-man’ skills?

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To be honest that's a complet different genre (from mine) and while what these guys (Bear and Stroud) do is awesome given a choice I would rather spend my holidays in the highlands of the Scotish Isles than in some remote Sub-Saharan desert trying to survive. That being said my love for nature has taught me to live of the land. I can build shelters, set traps to catch my dinner and most importantly know how to make fire from scratch. So yes, if I ever get marooned desert sland I think I have the skills (and hopefully a digital camera to capture my adventure) to live in reasonable comfort till help arrives.

ou’re like Ace Ventura without the bad hairdo. Out of the all the animals you tackled, did you run into anything that completely creeped you out?

There are things I have seen in the wild that literally made the hair at the back of my neck stand up. When a fullygrown elephant charges at you, no matter how brave you think youre, you'll start saying your prayers. But hankfully, I have no irrational fear any animal or I couldn't have done the things I do. I have held some of the dangerous and venomous animals in my hand and if you don't try to harm them theywill keep their fangs to themselves.

On the subject of fangs and venom, have you ever been to India in search of the King Cobra which we believe is the deadliest snake we can boast of

Oh, I have been to India many many times. In fact it was here that I met Gerry Martinone of world's leading herpetologists and it was with him that I went in search of King Cobra. Watch for th episode on my show, cause the Indian of my adventure was absolutely fascinating.

There is a lot of misinformation about emergency treatments when dealing with snake-bites floating around. Can you tell us what we can do to helpbitten by a poisonous ?

It’s quite simple really – Immobilize the area immediately and tie a handkerchief or chord above the wound to stop the poisoned blood from traveling and reaching the vital organs. Get the victim to relax and call for help. It also helps if you can identify the snake that did the deed, as there are several different types of anti-venoms available and precious time can be saved if the snake can be identified.

The Tarantula Hawk Wasp you went to Mexico for isn’t deadly (we read about it in Wikipedia). What's so special about the insect that you decided to include it in the list?

What makes this wasp so deadly is the way it lives and breeds. It preys on the Tarantula, which is the biggest and one of the most dangerous spiders in the world and lays its eggs inside its carcass. It has a really painful sting and can be life threatening for the old and the infirm.

We’re very curious to learn more about the bizarre experiment you did with Nasher – the hungry vulture you encountered in Namibia…

Well, you will have to watch the show to understand the absolute bizarreness of our “experiment.” In one of our expeditions we came across an antelope, which had just died and set up our cameras around it. Soon a swarm of vultures swooped in and it was amazing at the speed at which they fed. The carcass was picked clean within minutes.

Moving beyond your love for reptiles, does your animal magnetism also help you score dates?

(Laughs) It's funny actually, but I am currently single, which obviously sucks. You know people think I would get a lot of dates because of all the (exciting) things I do. But most girls you know are turned off by insects and since I keep a bunch of spiders at home, convincing a girl to come up for a cup of coffee can be quite difficult.

What advice do you have for someone contemplating an adventure of their own?

Do it. Don’t spend too much time worrying about things. Just get out there and learn from your mistakes. My first expeditions were done solo with no support and no money and were woefully ill prepared, but are still the ones I look back on most fondly.

From the August 2011 issue of FHM India.