Series 1

1. "Aboriginal Britain": Mears is based in Great Britain
   Great Britain
   Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
   
   , where he shows how Stone Age
   Stone Age
   The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
   
    hunter-gatherer
   Hunter-gatherer
   A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
   
   s used the resources around them to feed and clothe themselves.
2. "Jungle Camp": Mears sets up a jungle camp in the Amazon rainforest
   Amazon Rainforest
   The Amazon Rainforest , also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America...
   
    close to a native village, and sees how the Yekuana live in harmony with their environment. He encounters poison dart frog
   Poison dart frog
   Poison dart frog is the common name of a group of frogs in the family Dendrobatidae which are native to Central and South America. These species are diurnal and often have brightly-colored bodies...
   
   s and climbs into the forest canopy to gain a different perspective on the surroundings. He also offers an insight into the people who inhabit the dense tropical environment
3. "Jungle Trek": Mears encounters huge waterfalls, clouds of butterflies on a trek through the Amazon jungle in the shadow of flat-topped mountain formations called tepui
   Tepui
   A tepui , or tepuy, is a table-top mountain or mesa found in the Guiana Highlands of South America, especially in Venezuela. The word tepui means "house of the gods" in the native tongue of the Pemon, the indigenous people who inhabit the Gran Sabana....
   
   s. He then journeys to the huge rock outcrops which inspired The Land That Time Forgot
   The Land That Time Forgot (novel)
   The Land That Time Forgot is an Edgar Rice Burroughs science fiction novel, the first of his Caspak trilogy. His working title for the story was "The Lost U-Boat." The sequence was first published in Blue Book Magazine as a three-part serial in the issues for September, October and November 1918...
   
   and The Lost World.
4. "Africa Camp": Mears makes a return visit to northern Tanzania
   Tanzania
   The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
   
    to spend some more time with the Hadza, sharing a love of bows, tracking and the landscape with true hunter-gatherers whose way of life demonstrates a profound connection to the natural world.
5. "Africa Safari": Mears fulfils a childhood dream by experiencing a true safari
   Safari
   A safari is an overland journey, usually a trip by tourists to Africa. Traditionally, the term is used for a big-game hunt, but today the term often refers to a trip taken not for the purposes of hunting, but to observe and photograph animals and other wildlife.-Etymology:Entering the English...
   
   , Maasai-style. He teams up with a Maasai warrior in Tanzania and embarks on a walking safari. As they travel through a valley inhabited by wild animals, he spots a variety of useful plants and ends the day sleeping under the stars.

Series 2

1. "Birch Bark Canoe": As far as Mears is concerned the birch bark
   Birch bark
   Birch bark or birchbark is the bark of several Eurasian and North American birch trees of the genus Betula.The strong and water-resistant cardboard-like bark can be easily cut, bent, and sewn, which made it a valuable building, crafting, and writing material, since pre-historic times...
   
    canoe is the best vessel man has ever created. He has always wanted to construct one and in this programme he works with Algonquin canoe maker Pinock Smith, one of the few people left who know how to craft them using traditional methods.
2. "Canoe Journey": In Mears' view, the canoe is the most natural way to travel and to get close to wild places. To demonstrate this, he paddles down the Missinaibi River
   Missinaibi River
   The Missinaibi River is a river in northern Ontario, Canada, which flows northeast from Missinaibi Lake, north of Chapleau, and empties into the Moose River, which drains into James Bay. This river is in length...
   
   , a river as unspoilt today as it was three hundred years ago when it was the essential route for the fur trade
   Fur trade
   The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
   
    canoes.
3. "American
   United States
   The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
   
    Prairie
   Prairie
   Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...
   
   s": Mears takes a journey into America's past as he travels in the footsteps of Jim Bridger
   Jim Bridger
   James Felix "Jim" Bridger was among the foremost mountain men, trappers, scouts and guides who explored and trapped the Western United States during the decades of 1820-1850, as well as mediating between native tribes and encroaching whites...
   
   , one of the mountain men who opened up the route to the Pacific Coast of America
   West Coast of the United States
   West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
   
   . Ray makes a bull boat
   Bull Boat
   A Bull Boat is a small boat, usually made by American Indians and frontiersmen, made by covering a skeletal wooden frame with a buffalo hide.When traders of Hudson's Bay Company first visited the Mandan Indians in 1790 they found that tribe possessed of tublike boats with framework of willow poles,...
   
    using willow and buffalo
   American Bison
   The American bison , also commonly known as the American buffalo, is a North American species of bison that once roamed the grasslands of North America in massive herds...
   
    skin and spends time with the Shoshone
   Shoshone
   The Shoshone or Shoshoni are a Native American tribe in the United States with three large divisions: the Northern, the Western and the Eastern....
   
   .
4. "Sweden
   Sweden
   Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
   
   ": One country where the ancient skills of bushcraft
   Bushcraft
   Bushcraft is a long-term extension of survival skills. A popular term for wilderness skills in Canada, The UK, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, the term was popularised in the southern hemisphere by Les Hiddins in Australia as well as in the northern hemisphere by Mors Kochanski and...
   
    are alive and well and in daily use is Sweden. Mears sees how pine tar is made and used on traditional skis before spending time with the Sami people
   Sami people
   The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...
   
    in the north where he takes a dog sled
   Dog sled
   A dog sled is a sled pulled by one or more sled dogs used to travel over ice and through snow. Numerous types of sleds are used, depending on their function. They can be used for dog sled racing.-History:...
   
    journey into the snowy wastes.
5. "Four Seasons": Mears shows the viewer how bushcraft brings a new perspective on the countryside and its changing seasons. He points out the foods and plants that are available, from pig nuts to lime leaves. He observes wild badgers and deer
   Deer
   Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
   
    and explains his interest in sleeping outdoors whenever he can.

See also

• World of Survival
  World of Survival
  Ray Mears' World of Survival is a survival television series hosted by Ray Mears. The series airs on the BBC in United Kingdom, it is also shown on Discovery Channel in the United States, Canada, India, Italy, Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands and Russia...
  
  
• Extreme Survival
  Extreme Survival
  Extreme Survival is a survival television series hosted by Ray Mears. The series airs on the BBC in United Kingdom, it is also shown on Discovery Channel in the United States, Canada, India, Italy, Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Russia, where he...
  
  
• Ray Mears Goes Walkabout
  Ray Mears Goes Walkabout
  Ray Mears Goes Walkabout is a survival television series hosted by Ray Mears, showing Mears down under in Australia. The series airs on the BBC in United Kingdom, it is also shown on Discovery Channel in the Canada, India, Italy, Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands,...
  
  
• Ray Mears' Northern Wilderness
  Ray Mears' Northern Wilderness
  Ray Mears' Northern Wilderness is a television series hosted by Ray Mears, showing Mears in Canada. The series is broadcast by the BBC.Mears also released a book of the same title.-Synopsis:Ray Mears explores the Canadian wilderness...