THERE were no drab Butlin's caravan holidays for young Steve Backshall. Half-term in his household could have come straight out of the pages of Swiss Family Robinson – only without the whole survivalist slant; well, just.

"When I was a kid we were going on walking safaris in Tanzania," says the explorer by the by. "Mum and dad are telling us stories, looking back now thinking what were we doing," chuckles the naturalist, best known as the daredevil behind CBBC's Deadly 60. "We have pictures of us on foot, walking through herds of zebras and giraffes and things, and my sister is barely old enough to be walking on her own. My mum and dad both worked in the airlines and they did that so they would be able to travel.

"I was so lucky when I was young. We didn't have a lot of money but we would get completely free travel to get to the most extreme and outlandish places in the world. They have such an adventurous spirit. They still do now. That's probably been the most important drive of where I am today."

Getting close and personal with wild creatures from an early age, it seems, muted or at the very least dulled his sense of danger.

In one of his most memorable animal encounters, Steve is speaking to camera unfazed by the boa constrictor which has him in chokehold, pointing to his windpipe being gradually crushed by the reptile.

In another he is submerged fathoms deep in the ocean, calmly providing running commentary as a great white shark glides past, eventually closing in on him.

Yet he brushes off any suggestion he is fearless or possesses an above average fight or flight threshold. Having smelled the warm breath of the planet’s deadliest predators and lived to tell the tale, he firmly believes they are fairly innocuous - as long as they're not provoked.

There have been the odd "nips and snaps", he admits, and he will regale us with some of his near-misses when he pops in to the Wyvern as part of his Wild World tour, but he has endured far more grief from humans than any animal, he insists.

"I really believe that wild animals in almost every single situation will do anything they can to avoid hurting us," he adds without missing a beat. "My experience really bears that out. I've never had a bad injury from an animal, touch wood, despite having done this now for about 18 years. They’re not out to get us. Even the statistics show that to be true.

“We’ve been on expeditions were we’ve gone out diving with crocodiles, hippos and been fine; and inevitably got back to the city and got held at gunpoint.”

He speaks with surprising fondness of the beasts which fill most children’s and, indeed adults', nightmares - using the protective tone most of us would reserve for harmless pets.

In fact, when the subject of his favourite animal crops up, he doesn't hesitate - the wolf - proclaiming himself in the same breath "a dog person".

"I've always been obsessed by the dog family. The first time I saw a wolf I had an amazing emotional reaction to the animal which I've never had with any other animal," he recalls bristling with boyish glee. "The wolf howl is the most exciting sound in nature to me. The first time I heard it, it made all the hairs on the back of my legs and arms go up."

Through it all, he explains, it is the arduous journeys, traipsing to the world's most unattainable reaches in search of wildlife for programmes like Steve Backshall’s Extreme Mountain Adventure, which have been the most daunting and "truly scary" part of his job.

Last year, he attempted the very first ascent of Venezuela’s Tepui, the ancient, sheer-sided mountains of Canaima National Park, but after braving the slippery rock face only to be caught up in a storm, the crew was forced to retreat.

"We got halfway up it, we had lots of rock fall, a storm came in while we were on the rock face. It just went very bad very quickly. I was hanging in my harness 600 feet off the ground seeing the guys below me being blown around and it was one of those moments where everyone looked at each other and went, 'Wow, this is way harder and way more dangerous than we expected’. And we did pull out, we had to, there was no choice in the matter. That's probably the only time in my career that we had retreated due to the danger of something."

He is matter-of-fact as he relates the scene, as if dipping into a vague memory. As dramatic as the whole episode sounds, it was far less disastrous then the climbing accident which saw him fall 25ft and break his back in the Forest of Dean in 2008. And yet he has never contemplated retiring, or so much as pressing pause on the death-defying feats.

His hunger for adventure aside, he feels a duty to educate the next generation about Earth’s unsuspected wonders and their responsibility to protect them. Which is why he decided to meet them on their hometurf with Wild World and share behind-the-scenes anecdotes and, in his own words, “bloopers”.

"There's the most important audience," he declares firmly. “They've not made up their minds yet about how they feel about the world. Every time I do a talk like this there will be a few young people who say 'I got interested in wildlife because of a show you did and I'm now studying zoology at university.' That's just amazing. They're the opinion-formers and the decision-makers of the future. They’re the ones who will be changing the world for the best or the worst."

But the tour, like his spell of kayaking, and mountain-climbing in his native land are only really just killing time until the next main event(s).

Despite his protestations to the contrary, citing the many extreme sports he has indulged in over the past few months in the UK, he can't help betraying schoolboy excitement at the mention of future expeditions.

"I'm planning the next run," he teases. “I've a lot of very good plans," he adds cryptically. "I've not done all I wanted to do yet. The more I do this the more things I want to do and see. I think I've got enough to last me for a lifetime."

Steve Backshall’s show at the Wyvern on November 9 is sold out. For future dates go to www.stevebackshall.com.