{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}} {{Infobox television | alt_name = Ray Mears' Bushcraft Survival | image = Bushcraft.jpg | runtime = 50 minutes | creator = [[Ray Mears]] | director = [[Ben Southwell]] | presenter = Ray Mears | country = United Kingdom | company = [[BBC]] | network = [[BBC Two]] | first_aired = {{Start date|df=yes|2004||}} | last_aired = {{End date|df=yes|2005||}} | num_episodes = 10 | num_series = 2 | producer = | related = ''[[World of Survival]]''<br />''[[Extreme Survival]]''<br />''[[Ray Mears Goes Walkabout]]'' }} '''''Bushcraft''''' is a survival television series hosted by [[Ray Mears]]. The series airs on the [[BBC]] in United Kingdom, it also shown on [[Discovery Channel]] in the United States, [[Canada]], [[India]], [[Italy]], [[Brazil]], [[New Zealand]], [[Australia]], [[Czech Republic]], [[Norway]], [[Sweden]], The [[Netherlands]], [[Romania]] and [[Russia]]. Following on from ''[[Extreme Survival]]'', ''Bushcraft'' was first shown in 2004, and ended in 2005.
==Episodes==
===Series 1=== # "Aboriginal Britain": Mears is based in [[Great Britain]], where he shows how [[Stone Age]] [[hunter-gatherer]]s used the resources around them to feed and clothe themselves.<ref name="Series 1">{{cite web |url=http://shop.lovefilm.com/lovefilm/8238055.product |title=LOVEFiLM Shop: Buy Ray Mears' Bushcraft Survival – Series 1 DVD |accessdate=30 December 2008 |author=LOVEFiLM |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130128035233/http://shop.lovefilm.com/lovefilm/8238055.product |archivedate=28 January 2013 }}</ref> # "Jungle Camp": Mears sets up a jungle camp in the [[Amazon rainforest]] close to a native village, and sees how the [[Yekuana]] live in harmony with their environment. He encounters [[poison dart frog]]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<ref name="Series 1"/> # "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]]s. He then journeys to the huge rock outcrops which inspired ''[[The Land That Time Forgot (novel)|The Land That Time Forgot]]'' and ''[[The Lost World (Conan Doyle novel)|The Lost World]]''.<ref name="Series 1"/> # "Africa Camp": Mears makes a return visit to northern [[Tanzania]] to spend some more time with the [[Hadza people|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. This episode was withdrawn by the BBC when the series was repeated in 2019.<ref name="Series 1"/> # "Africa Safari": Mears fulfils a childhood dream by experiencing a true [[safari]], [[Maasai people|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.<ref name="Series 1"/>
===Series 2=== # "Birch Bark Canoe": As far as Mears is concerned the [[birch bark]] canoe is the best vessel man has ever created. He has always wanted to construct one and in this programme he works with [[Algonquin people|Algonquin]] canoe maker Pinock Smith, one of the few people left who know how to craft them using traditional methods.<ref name="Series 2">{{cite web |url=http://shop.lovefilm.com/lovefilm/8432845.product |title=LOVEFiLM Shop: Buy Ray Mears' Bushcraft Survival – Series 2 DVD |accessdate=30 December 2008 |author=LOVEFiLM |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130128033645/http://shop.lovefilm.com/lovefilm/8432845.product |archivedate=28 January 2013 }}</ref> # "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]], a river as unspoilt today as it was three hundred years ago when it was the essential route for the [[fur trade]] canoes.<ref name="Series 2"/> # "American [[Prairie]]s": Mears takes a journey into America's past as he travels in the footsteps of [[Jim Bridger]], one of the mountain men who opened up the route to the [[West Coast of the United States|Pacific Coast of America]]. Ray makes a [[bull boat]] using willow and [[American bison|buffalo]] skin and spends time with the [[Shoshone]].<ref name="Series 2"/> # "[[Sweden]]": One country where the ancient skills of [[bushcraft]] 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]] in the north where he takes a [[dog sled]] journey into the snowy wastes.<ref name="Series 2"/> # "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 [[European badger|badger]]s and [[deer]] and explains his interest in sleeping outdoors whenever he can.<ref name="Series 2"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{BBC programme}} *[http://www.raymears.com/ RayMears.com] *{{IMDb title|0487810}}
{{Ray Mears}}
[[Category:2004 British television series debuts]] [[Category:2005 British television series endings]] [[Category:BBC Two original programming]] [[Category:Survival television series]]