The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘They told me not to go’
Local filmmaker seeks adventure in ‘forbidden’ lands, remote areas
MADISON — Coming eye-toeye with endangered mountain gorillas, chimpanzees and golden monkeys; scaling the peak of Nyiragongo, an active volcano in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and sleeping in a hut with rats running overhead are just a part of what Scott Tucker loves to do on his days off.
Tucker has a wanderlust for places most people read about or see on TV — remote locations that most people enjoy from afar.
His goal? “To go places that no one’s really talking about or going to, or if they do, they’re not covering it like I cover it,” the 54-year-old said.
In 1998, Tucker earned his scuba diving license and wanted to share his experiences. The camera came out, and in 2005,footage started appearing on local access television channels.
“It took a few years of really getting comfortable under water, doing underwater videography, before I could say, ‘Wow, I think I’ve got this,’ ” he said.
In 2011, he started Expedition Earth, a nonprofit organization “to inspire and educate people about the environment and care about the environment,” he said.
Fast forward to today, to his newly released video, https://bit.ly/2JTJBZJ on YouTube — the first of a multi-part documentary on the “forbidden land” of Papua New Guinea, where he immersed himself in the culture and saw, firsthand, what most people only see from afar.
This island country is in the southwestern Pacific Ocean and shares borders with Indonesia.
“I was told not to go,” Tucker says. “My 11-year-old son said, ‘Dad, don’t go there, there’s cannibals there.’ ”
Yet, Tucker looks at vacation as a time to explore and learn. When he returns from his expeditions, he relives the experience, editing and adding music to the raw videotape accumulated during his travels.
He credits Ben Rayner as the creative force behind the music that accompanies his videos.
He takes a comedic approach to the adventure films. In a clip
from his latest, Tucker meets a fuzzy juvenile marsupial, a spotted cuscus, who instantly is enamored of him — or his shirt front, at which she nibbles while focusing her big eyes at the camera.
“I kind of feel like I’m on a vacation all the time. We live in this beautiful place called New England,” he said. “When I get a chance to go somewhere I don’t want to be comfortable. I think I get a lot out of the trips when I am out of my comfort zone.”
Tucker finds time to travel with his wife, Ava, son, Race, 12, and daughter Daphne, 18. It seems that this appetite for exploration runs in the family.
Daphne has fond memories of hiking with her father and communing with nature. She said this experience has shaped her future. A 2018 graduate of Daniel Hand High School, she will continue her education at the University of Tampa with a marine science/biology double major. Her career goal is to become a traveling marine biologist.
“I grew up looking for animals,” she said. “I would go snorkeling with my dad all the time. He taught me to appreciate wildlife and I know so many people are scared of snakes and they’ll just kill them, but he taught us to appreciate them and pass that on to other people.”
When he is not traveling, Tucker is an owner, along with his three brothers, of Empire Paving General Contractors, the family business started in the 1960s by their father.
With his travels, Tucker says, he escapes from his everyday life.
“I’m very vulnerable in situations like this,” he said. “It’s scary. I think being frightened is something that I have done such a great job of eliminating from my own world. When I feel it, I really get a chance to, first of all feel the feeling, and second of all, being able to transform over the top of it and either respond to it or go through it or get sucked into it and lose your mind. It’s a test.”
This was never more evident during his visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in 2016, to live among gorillas and chimpanzees and hike the top of Nyiragongo, an active volcano that features one of the world’s largest lava lakes.
He has vivid memories of the hike to the top, where the plan was to sleep on the rim of the volcano, along with a group of 19 other hikers. Tucker was dehydrated and incapacitated, with what he believes was some sort of African bug.
“The group leader said, ‘Look, dude, you’re not going to make it with us. We can’t leave you behind,’ ” he said.
At this critical point he had to choose — be carried to the top on a stretcher or escorted back down. He decided to pay an extra fee to get to the top and revels in his decision.
“I saw the birth of earth,” he said. “I saw active volcanoes. I heard the sound of earth being created. I looked down into a lava pool that blew me away and always will, forever and ever.”
When asked what’s next, Tucker hints at being airdropped into a location where he can immerse himself in the area where polar bears make their homes.
“What I have found is a real spontaneity killer, for me, is to know too far in advance where I’m going to,” he said. “I learn too much, I think too much. I try to let it percolate around December and … ”