Wildlife presenter and intrepid traveller Steve Backshall is encouraging youngsters to get outside with his new book Deadly Detectives: Top Tips to Track Wildlife. The Deadly 60 star chatted to What’s On about his love of the great outdoors.

TV naturalist Steve Backshall has faced the world’s deadliest creatures, explored the hazardous depths of a volcano and encountered cannibals in the most inaccessible jungle in the world.

And now the presenter of popular CBBC programme Deadly 60 is sharing some of his knowledge with budding young explorers in new book Deadly Detectives: Top Tips to Track Wildlife.

Aimed at children aged from nine to 11, it is an easy-to-read guide to the origins of tracking, the equipment necessary to become a tracker and how to do it.

Steve illustrates his tips with examples of his own detective work on land and in the water from tropical rainforests to the African savannah, from the Arctic tundra to the desert.

He shows how footsteps, feeding habits and even a pile of poo can reveal snow leopards, crocodiles, gators, snakes and polar bears, while closer to home youngsters can track foxes, squirrels, badgers and birds, using exactly the same techniques.

The 40-year-old became interested in nature at a young age himself, as he revealed in his recently released autobiography, Looking For Adventure, which followed his journey from inquisitive child to adult adventurer.

Born in Surrey, Steve inherited his spirit of adventure from his parents. His father worked for British Airways for more than 40 years, which meant free flights for the family and extensive travel during his youth, although the family lived on a shoestring once they reached their destination.

“Looking back, it seems that much of my early life was spent dragging a stuffed suitcase round Third World cities shrouded in the cloak of night, trying to find a room for under a pound a night,” he recalls.

After leaving Exeter University with a degree in English and theatre studies, Steve went to live in Japan, where he studied martial arts for a year, attaining his black belt. On his return he began writing for the Rough Guides travel series, which then led to TV work with National Geographic and then the BBC, presenting The Really Wild Show.

Before long, he was in the middle of Papua New Guinea experiencing the crushing lows and immense highs of the BBC’s Lost Land Of The Volcano expedition, where he led the first ever team of outsiders into the depths of the New Guinean volcanic crater known as Bosavi.

Many of his adventures on this expedition, during which 40 new species were discovered, are featured in his memoir.

There have been times, he admits, when he’s been in a hot, wet, hellhole being bitten by ants, termites and mosquitoes, when he’s asked himself why he chooses to do it.

“There are many people who have this desire to explore, challenge themselves and push back the boundaries. It’s an expression of human desire.

“Sometimes you’ve got to plumb the depths of despair to reach the elation at the end.”

And there are still new places for him to explore.

“I’m up to 101 countries now and there’s something like 260. I’m desperate to go to Antarctica and to Patagonia. There are vast portions of the planet that I haven’t seen yet.”

Deadly Detectives: Top Tips to Track Wildlife, is available now, priced £12.99. Steve will be signing copies at Waterstones in Bluewater, from 2.30pm on Sunday, November 17. Admission is free.