Michaela Strachan has entertained for years, as a television presenter on shows such as 'The Really Wild Show' and 'Animal Rescue Squad'.
Now, she's working with Cheestrings to launch The Brave Bones Club, hoping to inspire children to be adventurous. We got the chance to chat to Michaela about the campaign, her career and her life in South Africa.
Tell us a little bit about the Brave Bones Club you're launching.
The Brave Bones Club is an initiative launched by Cheestrings which encourages children to play more adventurously. The more fearlessly kids play, the stronger and more confident they grow up. It's not about encouraging dangerous play – it’s about brave play. So many kids these days sit in front of laptops, tablets, televisions, smart phones, we need to inspire them and encourage them to get out more and get away from screen time.
Parents can worry about letting their kids play freely and lack inspiration or confidence to take them outside; the Brave Bones Club is a place where young daredevils can come to play. It’s a club all kids can be a part of, centered around playing with courage.
The website gives ideas of how kids can be brave and take part in the Brave Bones challenges and earn badges. There are currently 12 badges to collect and they vary from the kissing a toad badge, to the blindfold goalie badge, from the bath snorkelling badge to the pongy sock press up badge! They are all fun ideas to inspire kids to take part and then make up their own brave challenges. The website is www.bravebonesclub.com
How important is it that children are encouraged to be adventurous?
It's really important. Curiosity is a fundamental part of growing up and we need to encourage our kids to do it. Active play contributes to strong bones and adventurous play is vital for mental and emotional development. Kids are living in a virtual world these days and we need to encourage them to balance that by playing in the real world as well. Children are programmed to seek out risk and challenge, they need it to learn and grow and gain confidence.
What are some ways that parents can get their children involved in exciting activities?
By introducing them to the Brave Bones Club website and inspiring them with some of the ideas! I think it's really important that parents get involved these days as a lot of kids need to be inspired by their parents to get outdoors and play adventurously. Parents need to remind themselves of the things they used to do as kids and do them with their own children: climb trees, make dens, make mud pies, go pond dipping, take the family on an adventurous bike ride or sleep out in the garden - although not advisable at this time of the year unless you want to be really adventurous!
Your new show 'The Great Penguin Rescue' airs on Eden - how was the experience of filming this series?
It was a lot of fun to film although it was really hard work at times! Few people know that we have penguins in South Africa and fewer people know how endangered they are. I have lived in Cape Town now for 11 years and African penguins are on my patch! I've become very fond of them and they have definitely found a special place in my heart. One of their colonies is 'Boulders Beach' which is only half an hour from where I live. It's a huge tourist attraction and we visit them regularly. In recent years I have become aware of their dramatic decline and wanted to do something about it. SANCCOB is a local sea bird rescue centre and each year they do what's called the chick bolstering project. They basically collect any late born and abandoned chicks that wouldn't make it, rehabilitate them and then put them back into the wild around 6 to 8 weeks later to boost the population numbers.
The series follows me becoming a volunteer with SANCCOB during this process. It follows the training, the chick collecting, the rehabilitating and the releases and discovers exactly what the problems are.
How did you find yourself going down this career path, involved so much with wildlife?
I actually trained as a dancer! I started off in musical theatre and was passionate about performing. I then got a job as a presenter on a Saturday morning children's programme called 'The Wide Awake Club'. In those days there were only three channels - BBC1, BBC2 and ITV - so if you were watching telly at 7.30 on a Saturday morning, you were watching us as nothing else was on! After that I was asked to present a children's wildlife show for ITV called OWL TV and after that I was asked to join the presenting team of 'The Really Wild Show' for the BBC which I ended up doing for 15 years. So I fell in to wildlife presenting, but it's been an amazing journey and I've loved every minute of it.
What have been some of the greatest moments in your career so far?
There have been so many, but highlights include doing 'The Really Wild Show' for 15 years. Towards the end of the series we tackled some really brave issues like the bear bile industry in China where bears are farmed for their bile to put in to Chinese medicine. It was a programme I was very proud of.
I did another long running children's series called 'Michaela's Wild Challenge' where I was challenged to do crazy things with wildlife like 'Serve lunch underwater to hungry sharks'.
'Orangutan Rescue' for the BBC was also a highlight. We
Michaela with an Orangutanfilmed an orangutan rescue centre in Borneo and helped to rescue and rehabilitate orangutans.
'Elephant Diaries' was also amazing, we filmed at the 'David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust' in Kenya where they rescue and rehabilitate elephants. It's an amazing privilege to get so close to wildlife. There really have been so many highlights and these are just a handful.
Are there any places you've never been to, or animals you've never seen up close that you'd like to get involved with?
I've been all over the world filming wildlife. One year I managed to film in all 7 continents. But there are still places I would love to go to. I haven't done much of central Africa and not enough of South America. Top of my list of things to do before I die is to see blue whales off California Baha. My wish now is to expose my 8 year old Ollie to all the places I've been to and enjoyed. Trouble is, the list is rather long!
How's life living in Cape Town, South Africa? How different is the culture to the one back in the UK?
I spend a lot of time in Cape Town although I seem to regularly come back to the UK for work. Cape Town is a beautiful city. We have the energy of Table Mountain and the Atlantic Ocean. It's a very outdoor lifestyle so our kids do tend to play outdoors a lot more and be more adventurous with their play than kids who live in a colder climate. It's an incredibly sporty nation. A lot of people are fairly obsessive especially about rugby!
There is plenty of African culture which is very rich. There is a huge divide between the rich and poor which I'll never get used to and of course there is crime as there is in any country with massive poverty.
South Africa is obviously very prominent in the news at the moment with the passing of Madiba and the country has really come together as a rainbow nation. Everyone respected Mandela and now is a time of reflection for what he has done for South Africa and the legacy he has left behind and a celebration of a man who was quite extraordinary and touched so many people's lives.
Do you have any other projects you're involved in that you can share some details about?
I am taking part in something next year which will be a lot of fun but can't say what it is at the moment! Of course I'm also doing 'Winterwatch' in January, starting on the 20th and 'Springwatch' later in the year.
Michaela Strachan is encouraging kids to be adventurous as she supports the Cheestrings’ Brave Bones Club, www.bravebonesclub.com
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