MASTER AND COMMANDO
Heading into uncharted territory with extreme explorer Aldo Kane
How did you get the outdoors bug?
My twin and I were in the scouts when we were kids, then I joined the Royal Marines at 16.
Sixteen seems very young to go into something like the Royal Marines. Were you thrown in at the deep end?
Definitely. I was 15 and nine months when I signed on the dotted line, which is the youngest that you can sign on. But you can’t actually go anywhere to train until you’re 16. I went from being a paper- boy to joining the Marines and becoming a commando. I was the youngest in my troop by a long way.
Did the training challenge you more because you were so young?
I think so. To become a Royal Marine commando, you have to go through the hardest infantry training on the planet. Physically, I wasn’t ready for it. My body was broken by the end of it, being so young, my bones were still growing but I was determined to become a commando and a sniper. That proves a big point: your body will keep going until it breaks. But, usually, it’s your head game that breaks first.
Were your parents supportive?
Joining the Marines at 16 is essentially madness. My mum and dad were not happy with it. When I was 14 or 15, I was running with kit on, with boots, learning skills, and I guess they could see that that’s what I wanted to do, so eventually they came around.
Was it tougher physically or mentally?
Because I was younger, I found it easier mentally as I didn’t have any other point of reference. If you joined the Marines at 22 and had been at university or [ had had a job], in the back of your head when times get tough, you question what you’re doing. If you don’t have another point of reference, you can’t compare it with anything.
Do you have a stand- out memory of your time in the Royal Marines?
There are two. One was a trip for a year on HMS Fearless, travelling around the Far East. The second thing was when I was getting towards the end of my career in the Marines and was deployed to Iraq as a sniper. Going to war was good and bad for lots of different reasons. I left shortly after that, just because I wanted to do other things and once you’ve been to war, it’s not something you really want to spend the rest of your life doing.
When did TV opportunities come knocking?
I left the Marines and worked on oil rigs. At the time, I didn’t know how useful all the skills I had from the Marines were, all the ethos of the commando spirit of courage, determination, unselfishness, cheerfulness in adversity. Working in TV is similar: small groups of people working in austere, hostile conditions and environments under pressure to try to get a job done. Around 10 years ago, I was asked by a friend at the BBC if I could get a team inside an active volcano in the [ Democratic Republic of] Congo, and I said, “Yeah, sure.” That first expedition in TV was a massive learning curve. Dangerous, but then I thought: “Wow, there’s this whole other life I didn’t even know about.” I assumed that TV was something that other people made. But after I did that, word got around that I could get people into remote, hostile places and since then I’ve been into active volcanoes when they’re erupting and embedded with drugs cartels in South America.
And you’re happy behind and in front of the camera, aren’t you?
My main business is looking after people so they can do their filming. But in the past year I’ve done a lot of on- screen stuff. I’ve just finished a series with naturalist Steve Backshall for the BBC and Dave, Expedition, where we attempted 10 world firsts. I also went head to head with explorer Ed Stafford in a survival race across the mangroves in Borneo, which was one of the toughest things I’ve done. And I’ve done a couple of shows for the
BBC, one on drones and drone warfare, and another where I was locked in a nuclear bunker for 10 days, in the dark on my own to see how sleep and your mental state are affected.
Was that a tough experience? Obviously you’ve been in more perilous situations... Yeah, being locked underground in a nuclear bunker was tough but it wasn’t one of the most physically demanding things I’ve done. I had a bed, but it was dark, uncomfortable and damp. I had no contact with anyone, no concept of day or night, and I wasn’t able to exercise. What I took away is that you need those things to keep your mental health in a good condition. What’s been the biggest “Shit, this is it” moment? There have been a few dodgy situations. My job is to reduce risk as much as possible, but sometimes stuff is just dangerous, such as rowing across the Atlantic. When you’re capsized by a 30ft wave that throws everyone overboard and underneath the boat, that’s terrifying and there’s not much you can do about it. I’ve also had big boulders just miss my head on a couple of jobs with Steve recently! What kind of challenges do you take on in Expedition?
Steve and I go around the world to 10 different locations, and we try to do a world first in each: climbing a mountain in Greenland, cave diving through passages in Mexico that have never been explored. But also, the message is about climate change. You’ve worked on expeditions with some big- name celebrities as well. Did any of them surprise you in terms of the way that they reacted? A couple of years ago, I worked with Tom Hardy, Henry Cavill and Adrien Brody, on extreme driving programmes across the hottest, coldest and wettest places on Earth. But, once we get away from the cameras and everyone’s hectic lifestyles, people are just people and expeditions are a great leveller. What is the harshest environment to survive in? Mangrove swamps are very difficult to operate in. Cast limestone jungles, too. Imagine a limestone environment which has been rained on for millions of years: it ends up very sharp, slippery and dangerous, with jungle on top. But the scariest situations, such as when we were doing stuff with the drug cartels in South America, involve people. People generally are unpredictable and tricky.
How do you stay in shape at home?
I’m not a gym bunny who’s training to look good. Everything I do has a purpose and is functional. So I can run 10 times up and down the inside of a volcano carrying a generator on my back. Everything I do is based around needing to be able to be fit and strong but not weighed down with useless muscle. I do a lot of CrossFit- based training and a lot of calisthenics, mostly without weights but maybe with kettlebells.
Do you train your mind as well?
To be physically fit, you need to be mentally fit, and vice versa. If I don’t train for three, four, five days a week, then my brain’s off in another place and I’m not as resilient mentally or physically as I could be.
What’s your greatest achievement?
Again, a couple of things. The best thing I ever did was join the Royal Marines because I wouldn’t be doing any of this stuff now without that. One of the things I’ve been proud of most recently was rowing across the Atlantic from Portugal to Venezuela. Five of us rowing for 50 days. We set world records. It wasn’t for TV [ but] we raised a lot of money for the NSPCC.
What’s left on your bucket list?
Being in the bunker was difficult mentally and I just wonder if I’d be able to physically perform as well as being alone and isolated. Perhaps some sort of solo climb.
Aldo presents documentary Britain’s Next Air Disaster? Drones on BBC2 in July
and can be seen on Expedition on Dave. @ aldokane
“It’s terrifying to be capsized by a
30ft wave”