Mary-Ann Ochota, Presenter & Anthropologist
Subtitle
Bawili Amisi is a slim woman, lean and strong. As she stirs cassava flour to make the Congolese staple fufu, a greyish sticky dough eaten at every meal, I can see the sinews in her arms standing taut. When she calls the family to eat, everyone assembles without delay. Children don't mess about with food...
Mountain Dogs to the Rescue - Countryfile Magazine March 2015
THE THREE walkers out for a Christmas stroll didn’t realise the ominous clouds above were heavy with snow. Out on the exposed Kinder plateau in the Peak District the freezing wind picked up and the visibility dropped so quickly the group lost their bearings. Without warm clothing, food or shelter, their walk...
Ancient Mines a day from Seville - British Airways/Telegraph February 2015
SEVILLE IS a history lover’s paradise. But an hour’s drive north-west of the city is a historical site that shocks all the senses. It is not just from a different period – it feels like a different planet. Rio Tinto, which translates as the Red River, is the greatest known ancient mining complex in the world. These hillsides...
Winter Mountain Skills - Telegraph Weekend February 2015
I'M TEETERING halfway down a sheet of ice. My crampon spikes are securely gripping the solid surface below, but none the less, some primal bit of my brain has decided that moving either foot is a bit much. Never mind the ice, I’m frozen. I’m in the awe-inspiring Coire an t-Sneachda – “Hollow of the Snow”...
Thailand's Child Fighters - Mirror April 2014
SITTING ON the edge of 11-year-old Nat Thanarak's bed the night before his big fight, I could see the tiredness and pain etched across his face. Nat had run 8km in a sweat suit that day, done a sparring session with his coach and hadn’t eaten a thing for 24 hours. The team around him, his trainer...
Queens of the Skies - Falconry - Telegraph Weekend November 2014
THERE'S A large black box that’s emitting high
piercing calls. It’s the eerie noise you normally associate with
wildlife films, or the bit in a western when all hope is lost. But,
rather incongruously, we’re in a field near Nottingham, next to a
caravan park. Chris Miller, a falconer with more than 40 years’ experience...
Wild Camping Dartmoor - Adventures on your Doorstep - Telegraph Travel Sept 2014
HIGH WILLHAYS, the highest point in southern England, is wrapped in heavy grey cloud. Dartmoor is not
mountainous – Willhays is only 621m (2,040ft) above sea level – but it seems to have its own special weather system: one that mixes bursts of sunshine with eerie mists, violent wind and rain. A terrain...
Wild Weekend in Wales! The Sun April 2014
NORTH WALES is a year-round playground for the whole family. Teachers Tim and Kerry Meek and daughters Amy, ten, and Ella, eight, from Nottingham, are the area’s ‘ambassadors for adventure’.
Our first stop is a high-octane drive round the Anglesey Circuit. I’m no petrolhead but it’s...
India's Slumkid Reporters - Channel 4 website September 2013
VIJAY KUMAR, the chief reporter of Balaknama, Children's Voice newspaper, looks like a bright young college kid. 'Didi, are you coming to my house today?' As is traditional, he addresses me as 'sister', and when we rendezvous at the edge of his slum, he goes into brotherly protection overdrive. He tells me to stay close...
Is it right to train with pain? The Independent October 2012
CESAR MILLAN, the dog behaviourist and trainer known to millions worldwide as the ‘Dog Whisperer’, appeared on ITV’s Alan Titchmarsh show last week. The production had been bombarded by Millan’s organised and vigorous opponents criticising his inclusion in the show, and in the course of the ten...