Wildlife cameraman, presenter and Strictly Come Dancing champion, Hamza Yassin is on a new adventure to help people experience the wonder of the natural world as he hits the road with his debut tour
‘I love what I do,’ beams Hamza Yassin, who this month, is bringing his My Life Behind The Lens tour to Fareham Live. ‘I’m one of the luckiest men ever. I get to do what I love most; film wildlife and have an incredible time doing it.’
Growing up in Sudan, before moving to the UK when he was eight years old, Hamza has always loved the great outdoors and being in nature. And he says he still retains his childlike wonder.
‘Tell me any child under five years old who isn’t interested in animals, being outside and enjoying the natural world. I am a child at heart and have just managed to keep that feeling,’ he explains.
‘I had no more passion about nature and animals than any other child. But I never had it taken out of me. You know, children aren’t scared of spiders, not until they notice an adult being scared of them. Perhaps in general we are very good at taking that passion away from kids: “Stop looking out of the window, learn your maths and physics. Wash your hands, stop playing with those snails…” Kids should be given the opportunity to be outdoors as much as possible.’
Hamza’s inspiration came, unsurprisingly, from David Attenborough’s wonderful programmes, and perhaps more surprisingly Steve Irwin’s more hands-on, gung-ho approach. They ‘lit the spark’ for Hamza to make that love of nature his profession.
‘I thought: “I don’t look like David Attenborough or Steve Irwin, so I can’t be them – but I can be the man behind the camera filming them”, and that’s what I worked for,’ he remembers.
‘From a young age, I heard David speaking so wonderfully about animals and nature and then I’d change channels and see Steve literally hugging a crocodile…
‘I grew up seeing crocs in Sudan – but we didn’t hug them!’
As well as his work as a filmmaker Hamza Yassin is also a skilled wildlife photographer (Image: Courtesy of Hamza Yassin)
For Hamza, going on tour gives him the opportunity to share his inspirations, to answer the questions he’s most commonly asked when out and about and to give an important message.
‘The tour is about my life, in different ways,’ he explains. ‘I get asked a lot of the same questions, and when the opportunity came up to share those answers in one place to more people, I liked the idea, so here I am going around the country explaining how things are done behind the lens.
‘I talk about how I first fell in love with the natural world, about my first camera, about the camera I have now and other technology we use. The close encounters and near-death experiences. I go through my trials and tribulations. You know this job of being a wildlife cameraman is definitely a lifestyle – you can be away from home eight months a year. But overall, and the message that I hope to bring to people through the tour is hope… about the natural world. There is a lot of doom and gloom out there at the moment, not just around the natural world, about everything, and it’s understandable.
‘But despite all that, there is still hope and I want to share that with people. So that’s really what it’s about. And giggling – there’s always a bit of a giggle in there!’ he adds for anyone worried it might all be a bit serious.
Hamza has made his home on the remote west coast of Scotland, and hasn’t been tempted to move to a more central location to pursue his career – in fact, as a self-confessed ‘hermit’, you wonder if life on tour is a challenge?
‘I’ve always felt like a hermit when I’m in a city,’ he admits. ‘I struggle in large crowds. Yes, I danced in front of 16 million people on live TV, and I go and talk in front of 1,000 people in a theatre, but I have control in a way in those situations.
‘I like being with people, don’t get me wrong, but only in situations where I feel comfortable or when I can take myself away if I need to.’ One of the topics on Hamza’s list of most asked questions is, of course, his glitterball-winning appearance on Strictly Come Dancing in 2022.
Although already established as a popular children’s presenter as Ranger Hamza on CBeebies’ series Let’s Go For A Walk and Eco Quest, and known for appearances on Countryfile and Animal Park, it was his winning turn on Strictly which made Hamza a household name.
‘I thought I was going out in week one, and I would just be that ‘nature dude’ who once went on Strictly Come Dancing,’ he remembers, smiling. ‘I dedicated my week one dance to Mother Nature, wearing a pink suit and looking like a flamingo.
‘I just thought no one knows who I am, but I am having a great time dancing with my professional partner, the gorgeous Jowita, and I have an amazing platform to speak about the natural world, so I gave it my best.
‘I definitely didn’t expect to win it, but it was really special to bring wildlife to that huge audience and the people who found me on Strictly have now followed me into the natural world.’
Hamza is known for his popular TV shows, where he shares his passion for wildlife (Image: Courtesy of Hamza Yassin)
Hamza is also hugely grateful for the opportunities Strictly brought him.
‘I wouldn’t have thought about touring before Strictly, but having done the Strictly tour, I understood more what it was like to be in front of a huge live audience.
‘I have a lot to thank that show for; it changed my life and I am so thankful to the people who have come on this journey with me, who follow me on social media and who watch the documentaries.
‘And what has been brilliant so far with my own tour, is realising this is a chance for me to say thank you to the people who have supported me, through Strictly and everything I’ve done since.
‘Touring so far is good, especially being able to spread the love of Mother Nature; it’s like my version of a pilgrimage and spreading the word.’
He adds: ‘Seeing people face-to-face like this is awesome.’.
Hamza’s natural world pilgrimage My Life Behind the Lens will be at Fareham Live on Friday, May 22, followed by a final Hampshire date in Basingstoke’s The Anvil on Saturday, May 23.
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