Surviving Extremes

The intrepid Oxford don, explorer and author of "Going to Extremes" is back, and he's set himself a challenge to cope with the worst that nature can throw at him in "Surviving Extremes".

Travelling to four of the most extreme natural environments - swamps, deserts, jungles and arctic wastelands - the question is, can he pick up enough tips from the indigenous people to hack it at the very edge of human existence, or will his mid-latitude sensibilities forever let him down?

This is Nick Middleton's account of how he had to put his body and mind to the test in a unique survival experiment.