Any time I can stick it to the man in a small way, I do.
BEN FOGLE: 'Could you start your life all over again?
'Leave behind everything you know for something completely different?'
I guess we live in a bit of a pressure cooker.
'I'm Ben Fogle, and over the next few weeks,
'I'm going to live with the incredible people
'who've done just that...'
Do you ever feel like abandoning the property?
No. It's my... It's my home.
Would you say you enjoy the companionship
of animals more than people?
Probably. Yeah.
'..in some of the most remote places on Earth.'
This is why I love the wilderness.
'I'll discover their motivations...'
For me, it was just, yeah,
you're born, you go to school, you work all life, and then you die.
'..the challenges...'
There's no way that I was gonna put
my wife and my children in that house, the condition that it was in.
Just make sure there's absolutely no electrical current down there.
'..and find out what it takes to make a new life in the wild.'
Hasta la vista, baby. BEN LAUGHS
'For the next week I'll be living with Aleks,
'a Norwegian conservationist, model, and bush guide,
'who's moved to the Kalahari Desert.'
Life in the desert is hard.
You know, the Kalahari kinda hates you, so...
'I find out how a life-threatening experience
'at the tender age of 18...'
I suddenly feel something kiss my forehead,
and that was, er, a gun.
'..altered the course of her life forever.'
I decided to spin the globe, and if my finger lands on a country,
I will go there, unless there's a civil war.
'I discover how her passion for conservation...'
They brought nature to life around me.
Could you get a better gift than that from anyone?
'..has driven her across the continent.'
I have a job to do on this planet, and I'm on a mission,
and that doesn't stop just because I fall in love.
'From London, I travel over 8,250km to Maun in Botswana.
'Then drive east for five hours through the Makadikadi Basin.
'Botswana really is a vast country.
'There's a statistic that 70% is the Kalahari Desert.'
There's a population of around two million,
and most of those live within the cities.
So it has some pretty spectacular wild landscapes here,
brimming full of wild animals.
I know that Aleks is originally from Norway.
You couldn't get two more contrasting countries.
And she's only been here for a few months,
so I can't wait to find out more.
Wow. Look at this. Wisdom Academy.
Hey, Ben. Hey, Aleks.
Hey. How are you?
Very good. Very nice to meet you.
How are you? So nice to see you.
Welcome. Look, loads of people. Who is everyone?
Yeah, this is the Ju/'hoansi. Hello.Yeah.
Hi. I'm Ben. How are you? INDISTINCT
It's very hard for me to say that.
SPEAKS NAME IN OWN LANGUAGE
BEN TRIES TO REPEAT
MAN REPEATS
I think we're gonna have to... We're on number one, so maybe...
I think we're gonna have to work on that.
Hello.
PEOPLE SAY THEIR NAMES, BEN ATTEMPTS TO REPEAT
Hello. How are you? This is the best greeting I've ever had.
So many people. This is the old man. Oh.
Kam-po. Kam-po. I'm Ben.
A great, great healer.
WOMAN SAYS HER NAME, BEN TRIES TO REPEAT
Hello. Hello.
What a greeting. Is this like your extended family?
This is my family. LAUGHTER
I love that.
BEN LAUGHS
'34-year-old Aleks is from Norway.
'She grew up outside Oslo
'and enjoyed a childhood full of outdoor activities.
'In her teens, she began a successful modelling career.
'At 18, she went volunteering to an animal sanctuary in Namibia.
'She planned to go for two weeks but stayed for 13 years.
'During that time, she continued modelling
'but also trained and worked as a bush guide.
'At 20, she set up an organisation dedicated to helping
'the Ju/'hoansi tribe, with whom she lived.
'In February of this year,
'she came to Botswana for a job and met fellow bush guide, Ralph.
'She fell in love and got married four months later.'
So, what's everyone actually up to today?
This is our Wisdom Academy. Mm-hm.
And so we're finishing pathways,
we're dragging, like, a lot of thorn bushes
to close up this circle, so we're protected from lions.
Mm-hm.And, uh, some people are painting, some people are beading.
It's just, you know, a normal day. And you speak fluently?
I am definitely very good at it,
but I don't think you can ever be fluent, like, you know,
you go to a new place, you have to learn new words.
Mm-hm. Erm, but I have good teachers.
Well, listen, I love helping out,
so no time like the present to get stuck in
if you need some help moving stuff around?
Great. Yes. I definitely do.
OK. Have you got it?Yeah.
You good? Yeah.
OK. I don't want to let you down yet.
OK. Well done.
I'm loving this enthusiasm from all corners.
So this is genuinely lion protection?
Yeah. Desert lions are always a little bit more feisty
because life in the desert is hard.
You know, the Kalahari kinda hates you, so...
Now that I've done a little bit of lion protection,
can I have a look around? Yes.
This is our little headquarters.
Yeah.Our main building of the Wisdom Academy.
So you keep talking about the Wisdom Academy...
Yeah. ..how would you define that?
Well, erm, it's basically a sanctuary
for the Ju/'hoansi knowledge and wisdom,
erm, that is kind of here to guide the future.
So it's not about preserving to keep it like a place of the past.
It's not at all a museum.
It's a place, like a think tank for the future,
where we can find ways to merge creativity,
like, innovation, new ideas, and mix that
with, like, the old, ancient wisdom and knowledge.
So, is it fair to say the Ju/'hoansi are kinda under pressure?
Yeah. Extreme pressure, and in Botswana,
well, most of southern Africa,
they're not allowed to hunt and gather any more.
In Namibia, they can still do a bit of hunting.
But imagine that's your life purpose,
and now it's taken away from you.
And they... they need a place and a platform
where they can, you know, actually get paid to be
the guardians of nature
that they have been for hundreds and thousands of years.
Are you almost trying to preserve or halt
that cultural erosion that's been going on?
Erm, I wouldn't say preserve or halt
because then it immediately sounds like, you know,
that I'm idealising the past, which I'm not.
I'm just acknowledging who they are and how they can help us
than it is about, you know, making sure they're stuck in time.
But learning from the past to protect the future.
Inform the future. Yeah, exactly.
This is where we are hanging bucket showers from.
And where's the water from?
Er, we have a big, erm, bowser,
like, a tank that's attached to a lorry.
We fill that up at this camp just adjacent here,
and then we bring it here, and this is the short-term solution.
But long-term, we wanna put in a borehole.
Do I get the impression I'm visiting you
in the very early stages of what you're doing here?
I've been working with the Ju/'hoansi
for, like... almost 15 years.
So we have been having long-term projects,
but it's a new project here.
ALEKS SPEAKS THEIR LANGUAGE
How are you? Are we gonna sit down? Sit down for a second.
I know you mentioned that you bring water from somewhere else.
Do you have any electricity here? No.
The plan is to get solar panels and run off, erm, a solar grid.
So my life has kinda changed drastically
from me being, you know, alone,
living in the bush with them for 15 years, very remote,
first, on the Namibian side, I'm now here cos I got married.
Well, congratulations. Thank you.
And I think I found the most, like, niche husband
in the world to fit me.
And so he, erm, grew up here, out here,
in the Makadikadi Desert,
and he has a camp called Jack's Camp.
So when he's around, I live there,
but if he's not there, I live with them.
And where are you staying right now, then?Here.
Where am I staying? Here.
I love that. ALEKS LAUGHS
Thank you, Aleks. I'll get settled in, if that's OK.
Yeah, yeah. This is very comfortable.
Bit hot. It is about 40 degrees.
But I'm slightly overwhelmed if I'm to be honest.
I wasn't expecting so many people here.
I was just anticipating finding
a Norwegian woman living in the wilds of Botswana,
and instead, I found a Norwegian woman and her extended family.
And a missing husband.
It's all quite strange. Obviously, this is in its infancy.
Huge changes have happened in her personal life in recent months.
And she's obviously spent many, many years
in different parts of Africa, working on similar projects.
I don't know where her passion was born.
I don't know how she ended up on the continent of Africa.
So many questions. But I think this is gonna be fun.
'I barely have time to unpack
'before a literal welcome committee arrives.'
THEY SING
We are going to go to see the old man.
The old man. Shall I follow you? Yeah.Yeah, yeah.
'Aleks and bushman Steve are on hand to translate the proceedings.'
SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
I want to you to... welcome him into the village.
My church, you are more than welcome.
This is a special welcome for you.
So that you cannot have bad dreams. Mm-hm.
You are welcome, and we're going to be together
and do, erm, everything we have to do.
Thank you. CHATTER
So, my first night here in my tent,
and I can hear just the gentle hubbub of...
all the, uh, bushmen and women chatting and storytelling in the...
..in the background.
It's rather soothing, to be honest.
And I'm going to practice my... TONGUE CLACKS
BEN: 'I'm in Botswana,
'in the salt pans of the Kalahari Desert
'with conservationist Aleks,
'who divides her time between her new husband's safari lodge
'and living and working with the Ju/'hoansi tribe.'
Good morning, Aleks. Hello.
So, what happens this morning?
Erm, we're gonna sit and discuss that now.
Oh, right. Oh, so it's a discussion over tea.
One of the things I was wondering last night...
obviously, there is a tourist camp very close by.
But how... how much is this about the tourist camp,
and how much is this about individuality
and the community themselves?
It's just a way to pay for the whole thing... OK.
..and be able to give them jobs.
So this is not a product of the tourist trade?
No. Absolutely not.
So, what it is, is this is our... This is our classroom.
The main aim is to pass on the knowledge
to the younger generation. Yep.
Erm, Ben, it's like a root.
I don't want to... I don't want to change.
My root cannot change to be another tree.
I have to pass it to everyone.
All my generations so that they can keep it going.
So like a need. Everyone needs to... Needs, yeah.
..be connected with the roots where their ancestors...Belongs.
I totally get that we are defined
by... our custom and our heritage and a sense of belonging.
And yet you have abandoned your Nordic roots
to embrace another people's heritage.
There's a lot of people that say stick to your lane.
"You're... You're a Norwegian... model,
"and you shouldn't deviate from that."
I think it's so important to focus on what we can do something about,
instead of who should be the person
that is allowed to do something about something. Mm.
If every man is for himself,
we're not gonna have a very sustainable future.
'Aleks and this group of Kalahari bushmen have built
'their Wisdom Academy
'within the grounds of her new husband's safari lodge.
'As well as supplying water to their camp,
'it provides food and employment
'through bush guides with visiting tourists.
'Her husband's away on a bush walk,
'but she takes me on the 15-minute drive to see it.'
Oh, wow. Yep.
That's how I feel every day, too. I was not expecting this.
This is absolutely extraordinary.
Do you know, I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like this,
certainly not in these circumstances.
Because this is a tent. This is a tent.
We just stepped into my husband's mind, by the way.
And it's... I feel like I'm Alice in Wonderland.
I've just stepped into another world.
You really are living in two parallel universes.
Absolutely. And look at the view out here.
So, you've mentioned that your circumstances have changed a lot.
You can say that. That's, like, almost an understatement.
I mean, I lived, like, 15 years
in a grass hut... or tent or under the open sky.
And suddenly, I find myself here with very different tents.
A lot bigger. It's not what I'm used to at all.
But what's fascinating is that despite this,
we're both staying over in this camp that you're creating.
So, you're still very much... following your dreams,
your passions, the work that you've done.
So, listen, like, I've never, ever moved anywhere for anyone...
Mm-hm. ..in my whole life.
I'm here to do something.
I have a job to do on this planet, and I'm on a mission,
and that doesn't stop just because I fall in love.
But, yeah, I told him quite early that I'm not the kind of person
that grows trees under the canopy of somebody else's forest.
I like to create an adjacent forest, and they can...
SHE CHUCKLES ..they can feed each other,
but, erm, that's important to me.
So, am I right in thinking, then,
that you effectively see your new circumstances
and the business that your new husband has
as a way of amplifying the work that you've been doing
for the last 15 years?
Yeah, and I think tourism should pay for nature.
And it's a lot more sustainable to let tourism pay for it
than mining or other things
that kind of, like, drill holes into the Earth crust
and extract until there's no more.
Tourism is a renewable energy, in a way.
I think a lot of people might see this as you
because that's what you've married into.
You're kind of nodding... Oh, completely.
Yeah. Yeah.
But does it frustrate you that there might be people
that would conflate the two and think that this is now you?
Of course. I mean, I have had the experience
in the last couple of months of, "Oh, and you are Ralph's wife."
And I'm like, "Yeah, I am that, too, but that's not who I am."
Erm, so, that's... But you know what, er, it's fine.
I know who I am, and I do what I do,
and whatever rocks people's boats, I don't really care so much.
Wow. This is a tale of two worlds,
and I've been surprised by both of them, to be honest.
I wasn't expecting the decadence and luxury of this camp.
But I still need to unpick the whole story that brought her here
and discover what the next stage of this journey is,
cos, obviously, everything is really new.
But what does the future hold for Aleks?
Because this certainly was not the Aleks of the last 15 years,
and I get from that little conversation I just had with her
that this still doesn't and won't define her.
'Back at the village, it's alive with activity.
'Aleks puts me straight to work on the pathways.
'This gives me the chance to find out
'how she ended up on this continent in the first place.'
Because we're in the desert, it's always good to have pathways.
So we try to keep as much grass intact.
Is that ready to go in? Er, no. You have to...
Basically, with the panga... Mm-hm.
..you hold it like that, and then you start...
Shaving it down. Yeah.
So, who taught you your first panga skills?
These guys?The Ju/'hoansi. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, coming from Norway, I know how to throw an axe.
But, er, I don't wanna throw a panga.
It's your Viking roots there. Yeah.
What was your childhood like in Norway?
So, grew up with a forest behind my house
and parents that dragged us into nature
at any free time possible.
Put it at an angle a little bit. Yeah.Yeah.
How did a kind of nature-loving girl end up being a model?
Well, first of all, I was a...
I was a tall girl at a very young age,
and so more and more frequently, I would get stopped in the streets,
and people would be like, "Do you wanna be a model?"
And I was, like, "No, absolutely not,"
and carry on walking.
And then it was actually my best buddy who had,
without me knowing,
had sent in a picture of me to an agency in Oslo,
and all of a sudden, I got this phone call saying,
"Hi, would you like to do Oslo Fashion Week?" Mm-hm.
But at this stage, I was, like, 13 and a half.
So young.
And then I went to New York with Ford Modelling Agency
cos then they had discovered me via my agency in Norway.
As a 13-year-old? 14.
14 years old?Yeah. With your parents?
Yeah, my mum joined me that summer. What did she make of this career?
She, of course, like, wasn't a big fan of the idea.
But I was just so determined.
I had... I felt like I had this internal compass.
It wasn't that I was, er, fascinated by the modelling world,
but I kind of just wanted to do something
that would take me out of Norway.
And you got to travel the world?
Travel the world in a very short time,
and I didn't know it was gonna be so lonely, which is...
Is it a lonely business? Completely.
Were you unhappy? Extremely unhappy.
But then I moved to New York,
and then I started studying method acting
with an amazing coach.
And... And that... that helped a bit,
but then I was now back to doing what I loved doing,
and I was still really unhappy.
So, you were very successful, albeit unhappy, model-actress in New York.
How on earth did you end up out in Africa?
I was actually walking home from a film set, and it was late at night
that started with these kind of, like, cat calls,
like "sk-sk-sk", which is quite common in New York.
So I just kind of, like, carried on walking.
And then suddenly, they grabbed me,
and they wanted to get money from me.
And while I'm, like, digging through my bag,
looking for something, I suddenly feel something, like,
kiss my forehead, and that was, er, a gun.
And so I was held at gunpoint.
I went from having so much control, right,
to not fall apart in my life,
and in this moment, someone takes away all the control.
When they realised I didn't have anything,
he kind of just like, erm, pushed...
pushed it a bit against my forehead and said, "Move."
And they left.
I went back to my flat and didn't really know what to do,
but I felt like it was, like,
some kind of universal bitch slap, you know?
And the fact that he also said "move".
It was like an instruction, you know?
And then I had this little globe,
and I just decided, "OK, I'm gonna spin the globe,
"and if my finger lands on the ocean, I'll go on a gap year.
"And if it lands on Norway, I can spin again."
THEY LAUGH I like that rule.
And if it lands on a country, I'll go there,
unless there's a civil war.
Mm-hm. And so it was Namibia.
Mm-hm. Two weeks later, I was on the plane,
and I was just supposed to take a two-week break.
And then I flew over to Namibia, and I had this, like, weird feeling
of, like, roots were growing out of my feet or something.
And then when the, like, door of the plane opened,
and that smell of, like, camphor bush just...
SHE EXHALES
It was like, "I'm home, but I don't know why."
And then, yeah, I went to volunteer, and it was supposed to be two weeks,
and after a month a half, I was offered a job
to help out at this wildlife sanctuary,
help raise some baby lions.
And I decided to just let go of my life in New York,
and I took a bold leap and went all in.
But the biggest lesson was that I met the Ju/'hoansi.
And from that moment,
I really felt like they saved me out of a poverty of perception.
And they had so much to teach me, and it was kind of in this moment
that I decided that I want to do something.
I don't know what, but something, and working with them somehow.
On the face of it, coming here and meeting you with them,
it looks like you're helping them,
but from your story, it sounds like they've saved you.
They have completely, you know, saved me or transformed me.
They've brought nature to life around me.
Could you get a better gift than that from anyone?
'And as the evening draws in, the games commence.'
RHYTHMIC CLAPPING AND SINGING
Huh, huh, huh!
LAUGHTER Ahh!
I've always loved this idea
that some of us weren't necessarily born where we feel we belong.
It's that sense of belonging that, for some people,
is what they spend their life searching for, looking for.
And a few of the lucky ones, in this case, Aleks, find it.
How are you skipping skills?
They're, er, not bad sometimes.
You know, what's amazing is she has had and has
what so many people think will bring them happiness -
beauty, money, travel, glitz and glamour.
But none of them brought her the happiness
that she has finally found... here in the desert.
BEN: 'I'm in Botswana, staying with Aleks
'and a group of Kalahari bushmen at their Wisdom Academy -
'a place where ancient skills are being passed on
'to the younger generation.
'While the children receive lessons in rope making,
'Aleks has got me sweeping out the classroom for a beading session.'
Is this the first time the room's being used?Yes.
We wanted to get the mat down here
so we could have a little bit of a softer seating,
cos most of beading and storytelling
and classroom happens on the floor, anyways.
So this is a big day. Yeah!
I always believe in, like, upcycling
and if you can use what you have or what you find or what's discarded.
It helps at least get a little bit of momentum.
Perhaps one of the criticisms some people have
of outsiders coming to a place like this
is that you're not necessarily solving the problem.
So, how are you going to ensure that everywhere here, your family here,
can do this without your financial assistance in the future?
Yeah. So, basically, I mean, I've already succeeded at that
with my project in Namibia,
so this is the extension that I'm doing here. OK.
The funding that I initially got,
I would use to employ the Ju/'hoansi
so that you're showing the young generation
that it's possible to have a job as a tracker,
as a bush scientist, as, like, the plant specialist.
And, erm... And that was giving hope.
So they are and were the first entrepreneurs of our worlds.
Mm-hm.And when they picked up a piece of wood
and turned that into a bow and arrow,
that's a business start-up right there.
I help them then start their own businesses.
So, like, one of the husbands, for instance,
he runs his own master tracking business,
where they do consultancy
and help wildlife monitoring or tracker trainings.
Not just in Namibia,
but in South Africa and Angola and all kinds of places.
Sometimes, you just have to remind people
that they already know how to ride a bike,
and that's just my role in this world, I guess.
You get through that one, and then I'll, er... I'll have a try.
Wow. It really is time-consuming.
Like that? OK.
So, everything that's being made now will be sold,
or is it to be used by individuals here?
Sometimes, it's for own use,
but it's also to be sold, so it can create some extra income.
This is the way of, like, monetising in a very simple way,
and then also, we're gonna have a distiller,
so they can make essential oils and then make soaps
and solid perfumes that they can sell.
I did it? Yeah.
It's a good one. It's good.
OK.Another one? Another one.
Of course.
Make it straighter. Yes. Straight in the middle.
OK. This is the one. In the middle.
Do you... What do you think of tourism here?
If Aleks gave you the opportunity to spend some time in Norway,
would you ever like to do that?
Why would you be interested in that? Why would you like to?
Exactly. It's interesting.
It's a commonality between people.
We all want to learn from one another.
'As a break from the village activities,
'Aleks takes us out into the bush
'to take part in a ritual of her own.'
Everybody can get a place inside here.
Everyone's disappeared off already. Yes.
Everyone loves this land art exercise that we're doing.
So, everybody kinda grabs their own little spot in the bush.
And the rule is that in the, like, radius around,
you can only use what's there to make something.
'As the bushmen and women get creative,
'I use this opportunity to find out
'if Aleks' life with the Ju/'hoansi has always been this idyllic.'
All my life, I had a lot of, like,
problems with my stomach and whatever,
and then when I moved and I started my project
with the Ju/'hoansi, I was...
it felt like I was food poisoned every day.
And I thought it was maybe because, you know, coming from Norway,
I wasn't used to eating porcupine and tortoise
and all these kinds of things.
That's what you were living off? Yeah, of course.
You know, there's no supermarket.
My project is 890km away from any town.
You kind of learn to live off the land.
And, yeah, as a result of that,
I just thought maybe that's why I was always feeling sick.
The Ju/'hoansi, the project, became more important than myself.
Eventually, I got so, so sick that I lost, like, nine kilograms
in-in less than two weeks.
And that... It took me that much to then decide to go to the hospital.
And then they found out that I had contracted a deadly virus
called Clostridium difficile in the hospital,
which, basically, you can die of starvation
because your body can't keep anything in.
And I got a WhatsApp message from my doctor saying,
"If you take the medication, you might survive,
"but a side effect is blindness."
It must have been a terrifying period of time
when you genuinely thought you might go blind,
you thought you might lose your life.Yep.
Do you think it focused your mind
a little bit on other things in life?
Yeah. It made me also become very, erm, aware of time
because life is short, and then it's gone.
And you have this one life, and at least, you know,
I want to be able to be an old woman and say I have lived,
I have loved, and I have mattered.
And I think we all want that.
What did your parents make of that?
I mean, it must be hard if they were out here seeing you in hospital.
Of course, they wanted me to come back to Norway,
but I was convinced that if I'd gone back with them,
then I wouldn't have really learnt my lesson,
and I needed to, from scratch, build myself back together.
And they understood that.
Sounds like the classic case of what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
Yeah. You can say that.
Everyone's had a march on us - they've had much more time.
Shall we, er, get going? I like your priorities.
Go for it. Yeah, yeah. I want to create art!
'The relationship she has with the bushmen and women here
is so strong, it's so beautiful.
'It's one driven by heart.'
Wow. Wow.
It's amazing. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
How about that?
So, this is me.
So, right now, I am over here.
So, I've brought the world here to Botswana.
Where's India?
In... Oh, yeah. India is... I missed it.
LAUGHING: It's about here. There we go.
CHEERING
'What I got a real sense of today is what Aleks is getting from this.'
She's obviously having the opportunity
to help a culture that is at threat,
but she's also learning herself.
This happy man is Ben, OK?
He is wearing short shorts. Yes. That's me. Yep.
LAUGHTER
Tell me if you think it's me. Yeah! Yeah! Exactly.
'As the day draws to a close, Aleks has commandeered me
'to replenish the firewood for the evening.'
Are you good? Yeah.
This is very useful, doing this with someone my height.
Yeah, I know.
THEY LAUGH
Do you like doing physical work? I love doing physical work.
I think it's very healthy for the mind.
There is a narrative out there that thinks that tourism is exploitative,
and there are some people that might think
that the very wealthy who come to stay at the camp
that is just across the way may be exploiting the Ju/'hoansi.
Oh, not under my watch. THEY LAUGH
No, but... but, er, I definitely see what you mean
because this was one of the first things
that I reacted to myself
when I first came to this continent, you know.
And you would see all this kind of, like, exhibitionism of tourism,
where the Maasai are hopping,
and the tourists are sitting watching them and clapping away.
And I've seen a lot of tourism operations
that have done the same thing with the Ju/'hoansi people.
And I've heard phrases like, "Don't take my bushmen,"
and I'm, like, "I'm sorry, they're not your bushmen."
They are their own people.
I don't believe in spectator tourism. Mm.
So you won't ever come here and look at the Ju/'hoansi.
You will come and sit down while they're standing,
and you're on a lower level, and you will learn from them.
Because they are mentors and teachers,
and you're a student, and you're lucky to be in their classroom.
And that's kind of my approach.
And that is the... that's the fine line that makes the difference
because that approach creates culture pride.
It makes people excited about who they are.
We're getting there, hey? Yeah.
I'm wondering about the bigger picture, though,
because I can totally see how, for this community of Ju/'hoansi,
what you're doing is amazing.
Yeah. But what about the wider diaspora?
If you have to wait for any political change,
then they're gonna be gone.
Like, with every elder that disappears,
an encyclopaedia is lost, and...
and the world is a poorer place as a result.
And I don't... I don't have time for that,
and they don't have time for that.
Have they been persecuted for a long time?
Yes. They were classified as animals, even.
And they were part of the Big Seven.
So, you could hunt the Big Five
and then get to the bonus of hunting two Ju/'hoansi.
What? A human being? Yeah.
You could actually hunt a human being?Yeah.
Till when? The last one that we found, er,
a hunting brochure was, like, dated and, like, 1970s.
It's not often I'm lost for words, but THAT is shocking.
What Aleks is doing here is basically conservation for people.
And for someone like Aleks, coming from Norway,
she has kind of stepped into a political minefield
when it comes to the dos and don'ts.
And I think it's very easy to criticise someone
based on their race, their nationality,
but surely, we should judge people on what they do...
..rather than if they should do it.
The brutal truth is she's damned if she does,
and they could be damned if she doesn't.
'Another evening round the fire gives me the opportunity
'to find out more about these bushmen and women
'and what they feel they're getting from this project.'
So, Steve, there are people here from Botswana and Namibia?Yes.
But is it the same culture?
It is. How does that work?
Two governments, Botswana and Namibia spread us.
Mm-hm. Yeah, there is almost no difference.
So, even though you're divided by nation,
it's exactly the same group of people?
Same. The same tribe.Yeah.
And the good thing is that she's now started to bring us from Namibia
to share the knowledge.
There's a lot of things we forgot.
How important is Wisdom Academy, and what Aleks is doing here?
SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
TRANSLATION:"It is not just about hunt and gatherer.
"What she's trying to do is to let them know,
"the generation, where they are going,
"for the future."
Aleks considers all of you part of her family.
Do you consider her part of your family?
LADY SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
TRANSLATOR: "Aleks has been with us."
"Doesn't feel like we're with white people or someone else.
"We feel like our family. It's like our sister.
"You could think, 'What shall I do today?'
"You have nothing to do that day, and she arrives.
"She will really pick you up and shake you from the...
"Way... The dust you are maybe of, and then wash you,
"and then you and you start to feel like a person."
Reduced her to tears. ALEKS CHUCKLES
Heart is happy.
'Over the past week, I've been living and working with Aleks
'and the Ju/'hoansi people in their Wisdom Academy.'
What do you think? Happy?
Yeah. Nice to get some colour in here.
It's slowly coming together.
'It's been fascinating getting to know Aleks
'and understand more about her relationship
'with the Ju/'hoansi people.
'But the biggest relationship in her life has so far evaded me -
'her husband, Ralph.
'But this evening, he's back from the bush,
'and I finally get to meet him.'
Baby! I didn't tell you. You must be Ralph.Yes.
Very nice to meet you. How are you?
Never liked the easy way. Good!
'It's my last evening here in Kalahari.
'I'm heading home tomorrow, but before I leave,
'Ralph and Aleks want to take us all to see the Ntwetwe salt pans,
'one of the largest salt flats in the world.'
Zebras up there, look. Yeah.
'It's about a 30-minute drive,
'and I honestly can't remember a more joyous
'or beautiful car journey.'
BEN: Is this us? Great. Yes.
ALEKS:This is us. RALPH:Here we are.
Ooh!
So, this is the salt pan? Yeah. This is...
..I believe the largest flat, open area of nothingness on Earth.
Wow.
Yeah. It's otherworldly, isn't it?
It is. And most people here believe that the world is flat.
It's very difficult not to if you've grown up here.
Look at everyone just wandering off, I love that.
Yeah. Imagine seeing it for the first time.
'I take advantage of the sudden stillness
'to sit down with Aleks and Ralph to find out more about the man
'who turned Aleks' head and won her heart.'
So, how did you guys actually meet?
I knew of Aleks for a long time. Mm-hm.
And, erm, we... We'd been talking on the phone
for about, what, 14 years, I think?
Yeah. I was on the Botswana side of the border,
and she was across on the Namibian side.
And I just kept on hearing from everybody,
the Ju/'hoansi was saying, "Oh, there's... you've got to meet Aleks.
"She's doing what you're doing over there."
And we just couldn't meet because of the apartheid thing.
And I was hearing the same thing on my side.
Like, there's this guy, you know, he runs this camp,
and he's working with the Ju/'hoansi.
But we also had some preconceived...
Yeah, what were they? So, that's what I was fishing for.
What did you think Ralph was gonna be like?
I thought he was, like, you know, like, erm...
I don't know if you're familiar with the term,
but we have something called bush cowboys.
You know, like... Bush cowboys.
I wasn't quite sure what to think, actually.
I was, like, whatever.
And I'm wondering what you had built in your mind
if you'd never met Aleks?
What you had imagined?
Of course, the classic cliche of beautiful, you know, model
comes to save Africa, and it was, like,
"Hmm," you know, yes, but is she the real...
is she really the real deal?
So, then, fast forward 15 years,
how did you actually finally meet, then?
Aleks did this incredible walk, right the way across the Kalahari.
And so then a mutual friend said we should...
to raise awareness for the Ju/'hoansi and what's going on,
we should do a walk together.
So, we met, in fact, in Cape Town.
I just went there with an open mind. "Let's focus on this trip."
And then, erm, we were supposed to have dinner,
and, er, Ralph messaged me that he was downstairs,
he'd came to pick me up.
And, erm...
And then I walked down the stairs, and he's talking to someone else.
And so I say hi, and he turned around,
and when we first laid eyes on each other,
we both had to, like, take a step back.
And then we had, like, the longest,
most awkward hug in the whole wide world,
as if we had, like, you know,
finally reunited after all these years, but we had never met.
Erm...
..and we went to dinner and had absolutely no food.
Just... Just chatted away.
And just spoke about... It was just... yeah. It was extraordinary.
Actually, the day after we'd had that first dinner,
we were in the passport queue on the airport going to Botswana,
and Ralph asked me if I'd ever been married.
And I said, "No, no, no. I don't really believe in marriage."
And he was like, "Yeah, me neither, never got married."
Then we look at each other, and we're, like,
but, you know, things can change.
Casually.
And, like, after knowing each other in person for 24 hours.
But you've obviously married more than just Aleks.
You've got a whole extended sort of family now.
Yeah, wonderful. I grew up with the Ju/'hoansi,
and it's... and that is what... what it takes to live out here.
You need an extended family. It really is.
Just travelling in the truck there,
it was like I was with a very large family.Yeah.
That's exactly right.
I'm gonna leave you. You haven't seen each other for ages,
I'm gonna leave you to enjoy... Thank you.
..the sunset for a second.
'What can I say? Some things are just meant to be.'
Some of us spend our whole lives
searching for that companion, that soulmate.
And isn't it amazing that their lives have circled around
over the last 15 years,
and these two kind of soulmates finally found one another?
It's a beautiful fairy tale ending, isn't it?
And I think it'll be fascinating to see how two self-confessed nomads
pursue marriage together.
'My time here has come to an end, and I'm genuinely sorry to leave.
'I really have had the most memorable time.'
I take my hat off to Aleks.
I think what she has done here is beautiful and inspiring.
She has reunited people split by a border they never wanted
between Namibia and Botswana.
And she has worked tirelessly with them for the last 15 years
to help them when no-one else would to start forging their own future.
She has really found her wild side
by spending time with some truly wild people.
Nomads who have roamed these deserts
for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
She may have found her Prince Charming
with his beautiful camp not too far away,
but they are both very wild-spirited people,
living in a pretty wild part of the world.
You don't get wilder than that.
Look after yourself. Safe journey.
Bye, everyone!
ALL CHEER
'Ey-up!
'I travel to meet an Englishman whose longing for a simple life...'
It ended up being like living in a... it was like an open prison.
HE LAUGHS For me.
'..led him to the mountains of Japan.'
When I first discovered this place, I thought, "Wow, wow."