Culture shocks

He's braved North Korea and Iraq, and now Michael Palin is heading to Venezuela for an epic — if sometimes nerve-wracking — TV adventure

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“I do wonder at times like this, am I having too much fun? Is this too wonderful?” asks Michael Palin as he walks along a deserted white sand beach, bordered by a glittering jade sea.

The Monty Python legend, 82, is visiting dazzling but dangerous Venezuela, filming a new three-part travelogue. Bewitched by the country, Michael explores the world's tallest waterfall, adventures in the Andes and journeys through the Amazon rainforest. He even meets a 14-foot-long anaconda and releases it back into the wild, before a heartstopping encounter with a crocodile.

However, it's not the wildlife that endangers him the most - Michael also meets armed guards as he falls foul of the totalitarian regime run by controversial president Nicolás Maduro.

"Things got quite heavy," recalls Michael, who had travelled inland to the town of Sabaneta and wanted to film a statue of late president Hugo Chavez, who was born there.