S3 E1 • Namibia

For the first time on New Lives in the Wild, Ben heads to Africa and the deep desert sand dunes of Namibia. He lives with 50-year-old Gideon David and his young family in the largest conservation area on the continent. Gideon is a master bushman who quit a city career in life insurance for the dry and dusty desert. Ben embraces the harsh and relentless work of farm life in temperatures pushing 40 degrees. He tends over 150 animals, repairs baboon damage to water pipes and even learns how to castrate sheep with his teeth! Ben also witnesses the reality of life when one has to think about raising children in these conditions, from hand-washing nappies to learning vital desert survival skills and hunting and eating oryx.

Première diffusion : 21 novembre 2014

S3 E2 • Alaska

Ben is no stranger to remote parts, but this trip to Alaska will test him to the limit. His only access to his hostsʼ home is via bush plane. If he were to walk, the journey would take ten days and would take him right through grizzly bear country. Ben joins married couple Mike and Fran Turner, who welcome him into their simple, self-built log cabin. He discovers how they have created a self-sufficient lifestyle by working the land and trapping the animals around them. Despite battling against forest fires in the summer and freezing conditions in the winter, the family very rarely venture back into civilisation. Ben takes every opportunity to get stuck into forest survival, battling mosquitoes and learning to cope with 24-hour daylight. The new river season is beginning and there is heavy labour involved. Deep in the woods, he chops trees, learns about trapping and deadly forest fires, feeds fish guts to the plants and even eats bear.

Première diffusion : 28 novembre 2014

S3 E3 • Utah

Bill and Bob Stone are twin brothers aged 72 who fled their adrenaline-junkie pasts for a tough subsistence lifestyle hidden away in Americaʼs Wild West. In this unforgiving landscape, even with one of them recovering from a stroke, they carve out an existence and fight the challenges associated with growing old. Ben joins these canyon-dwelling renegades in their remote, isolated home, deep inside some of the worldʼs most striking and wild terrain. There he joins the boys cattle-wrangling, rock climbing and sleeping in a cave. One of the twins even persuades Ben to do a skydive. Ben also discovers more about the Stone brothers and why they decided to cut themselves off from civilisation. Once parachute instructors, police informants and bounty hunters, they are now organic farmers and doomsday preppers.

Première diffusion : 5 décembre 2014

S3 E4 • Swedish Arctic Circle

Ben journeys to the frozen north to live with 40-year-old Gaynor Leeper, a former high-flying London communications manager who gave up her old life to become an Arctic dog musher. Ben joins Gaynor and her new husband Milos in their hand-built cabin, which has neither electricity nor running water. He also meets the coupleʼs ʻfamilyʼ of 40 Alaskan huskies. The trio embark on a tough trek driving their pack of dogs through the icy wilderness. Ben learns how to sled and how to manage both himself and the animals in temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees. Sleeping in tents during snowstorms and ice-fishing in order to have something to eat, Ben embraces life in one of the worldʼs harshest environments.

Première diffusion : 12 décembre 2014