Naturally Adventurous
Charley Hesse and Ken Behrens have travelled all over the globe, and accumulated a lifetime worth of adventure stories, in pursuit of wild places and wild creatures. Both are lifelong birding and natural history fanatics, and professional guides. Charley was born in the UK, but has spent his life living in Japan, Ecuador, South Africa, and now Thailand. Ken was born in the US, and has lived in South Africa and Madagascar for the last decade plus.
Contact Ken and Charley: ken.behrens@gmail.com and cfchesse@gmail.com
Photo Galleries: https://www.ken-behrens.com/naturally-adventurous-podcast
Latest episodes
Mar 30, 2025 • 53min
S5E35: Illness & injury While travelling.
Charley & Ken recount some stories of getting sick while travelling.Andean Flamingo recording courtesy of Peter Boesman, XC272584. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/272584. License Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 Please check out the website of our sponsor Tropical Birding: https://www.tropicalbirding.com/If you wish to support this podcast, please visit our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/naturallyadventurous?fan_landing=trueFeel free to contact us at: cfchesse@gmail.com &/or ken.behrens@gmail.com Naturally Adventurous Podcast Nature - Travel - Adventure
Mar 23, 2025 • 48min
S5E34: PNG with Stephan Lorenz
Charley chats with international bird guide Stephan Lorenz about birding in PNG. Streaked Bowerbird recording courtesy of Todd Mark, XC524402. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/524402. License Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0Please check out the website of our sponsor Tropical Birding: https://www.tropicalbirding.com/If you wish to support this podcast, please visit our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/naturallyadventurous?fan_landing=trueFeel free to contact us at: cfchesse@gmail.com &/or ken.behrens@gmail.com Naturally Adventurous Podcast Nature - Travel - Adventure
Mar 16, 2025 • 48min
S5E33: How to Start Travelling the Globe on a Budget
Looking to start some global birding or natural history travel, but have a limited budget, and not sure where to go first? This episode is for you! Ken and Charley give a global, continent-by-continent overview of what they consider the best destinations for the first-time budget traveller. CORRECTION: Ken stated that Costa Rica is likely the most English-speaking Neotropical country, but while editing the podcast realized that Belize and Guyana are definitely more Anglophone than CR. Banded Broadbill recording courtesy of Peter Boesman, XC290609. Accessible at https://xeno-canto.org/290609. License Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 Please check out the website of our sponsor Tropical Birding: https://www.tropicalbirding.com/If you wish to support this podcast, please visit our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/naturallyadventurous?fan_landing=trueFeel free to contact us at: cfchesse@gmail.com &/or ken.behrens@gmail.com Naturally Adventurous Podcast Nature - Travel - Adventure
Mar 9, 2025 • 46min
S5E32: Staying Healthy While Travelling
Charley & Ken discuss their personal practices for staying healthy while travelling the globe. From "doing C" to nasal rinses to battery-powered white noise machines! Ring-necked Dove (Cape Turtle-Dove) recording courtesy of Craig Robertson, XC586183. Accessible at whttps://xeno-canto.org/586183. License Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Please check out the website of our sponsor Tropical Birding: https://www.tropicalbirding.com/If you wish to support this podcast, please visit our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/naturallyadventurous?fan_landing=trueFeel free to contact us at: cfchesse@gmail.com &/or ken.behrens@gmail.com Naturally Adventurous Podcast Nature - Travel - Adventure
Mar 2, 2025 • 1h 1min
S5E31: Madagascar Enigmatic Wildlife, with Zac Babbit
Ken talks with Zac about a tour to Madagascar that Zac recently guided, in search of some of the "8th Continent's" rarest creatures. You might be shocked by the creature that tops his list!Please check out the website of our sponsor Tropical Birding: https://www.tropicalbirding.com/If you wish to support this podcast, please visit our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/naturallyadventurous?fan_landing=trueFeel free to contact us at: ken.behrens@gmail.com &/or cfchesse@gmail.com Naturally Adventurous Podcast - Nature - Travel
Feb 23, 2025 • 1h 3min
S5E30: Cultural Immersion on a Birding Tour
Charley & Ken discuss cultural immersion on their recent tours to Japan & India.White-cheeked Barbet recording courtesy of Rajgopal Patil, XC574863. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/574863. License Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Please check out the website of our sponsor Tropical Birding: https://www.tropicalbirding.com/If you wish to support this podcast, please visit our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/naturallyadventurous?fan_landing=trueFeel free to contact us at: ken.behrens@gmail.com &/or cfchesse@gmail.com Naturally Adventurous Podcast Nature - Travel - Adventure
Feb 16, 2025 • 58min
S5E29: Ken Finally Makes it to Brazil!
Ken and Charley chat about Brazil, a country that Ken recently visited for the first time. Spoiler alert: he loved it!
Bare-throated Bellbird recording courtesy of Mateus Gonçalves Santos, XC776815. Accessible at https://xeno-canto.org/776815. License Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
If you wish to support this podcast, please visit our Patreon page at:
https://www.patreon.com/naturallyadventurous?fan_landing=true
Feel free to contact us at: ken.behrens@gmail.com &/or cfchesse@gmail.com
Naturally Adventurous Podcast - Nature - Travel
Feb 9, 2025 • 38min
S5E28: Suriname with Andres Vasquez
Charley chats with his colleague Andres Vasquez about birding in Suriname.
Capuchinbird recording courtesy of Felipe Arantes, XC600460. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/600460. License Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
If you wish to support this podcast, please visit our Patreon page at:
https://www.patreon.com/naturallyadventurous?fan_landing=true
Check out our sponsor Tropical Birding's website:
https://www.tropicalbirding.com/
Feel free to contact us at: ken.behrens@gmail.com &/or cfchesse@gmail.com
Naturally Adventurous Podcast - Nature - Travel
Feb 2, 2025 • 54min
S5E27: Ken chats with Luciano Siviter, 19 years old with 10 years of guiding experience!
Ken chats with Luciano Siviter about his unique childhood close to the natural world, his travels in the neotropics, and about Mexico and Mexican birding.
Luciano's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lucianosbirding/
Luciano's profile as an Audubon Mexico guide: http://www.audubonmexico.org/our-guides/
Santa Marta Antbird recording courtesy of Lucas Lombardo, XC540972. Accessible at https://xeno-canto.org/540972. License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
If you wish to support this podcast, please visit our Patreon page at:
https://www.patreon.com/naturallyadventurous?fan_landing=true
Check out our sponsor Tropical Birding's website: https://www.tropicalbirding.com/
Feel free to contact us at: ken.behrens@gmail.com &/or cfchesse@gmail.com
Naturally Adventurous Podcast - Nature - Travel
Jan 26, 2025 • 39min
S5E26: Charley's top 5 mammals in Sichuan
Charley recounts to Ken his Top 5 mammal encounters from his recent mammal watching trip in Sichuan
Grey Wolf recording courtesy of Jarek Matusiak, XC961981. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/961981. License Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0
If you wish to support this podcast, please visit our Patreon page at:
https://www.patreon.com/naturallyadventurous?fan_landing=true
Feel free to contact us at: ken.behrens@gmail.com &/or cfchesse@gmail.com
Naturally Adventurous Podcast - Nature - Travel
