S6E35: Ken in Eastern Panama

S6E35: Ken in Eastern Panama

Author: Ken Behrens & Charley Hesse March 29, 2026 Duration: 1:20:30

Is the Darien actually the dangerous borderland that most people make it out to be? Is it crazy to bring young kids on a Darien trek to visit the nest of a Harpy Eagle?! Ken tells Charley about his eastern Panama adventure.


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Intro by Jenna Pinchbeck https://www.jennapinchbeck.com/ Jennapinchbeck@gmail.com. Theme music by John Behrens https://nashvilleaudioproductions.com/Feel free to contact us at: ken.behrens@gmail.com &/or cfchesse@gmail.com


Black-crowned Antpitta recording courtesy of Scott Olmstead, XC694955. Accessible at https://xeno-canto.org/694955. License Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0


Naturally Adventurous Podcast

Nature - Travel - Adventure - Birding


There’s a particular kind of curiosity that pulls you off the beaten path, toward the rustle in the undergrowth or the call from a distant canopy. Naturally Adventurous is built on that impulse, hosted by two guides who have followed it across continents. Ken Behrens and Charley Hesse aren’t just passing through; they’ve built lives in the remote corners where they’ve settled, from Madagascar to Thailand, Ecuador to South Africa. Their conversations are less like formal interviews and more like the stories swapped at the end of a long day in the field, rich with the details of a lifelong obsession with birds and natural history. Each episode pulls you into the texture of a place-the sounds, the surprises, the occasional misadventures-that comes from seeking out wild creatures in wild landscapes. You’ll hear about the logistics of navigating a swamp, the thrill of an unexpected sighting, and the quieter reflections on how these journeys shape a perspective. This podcast is for anyone who feels that pull toward the untracked, offering a deeply personal and authentic audio postcard from the world’s most fascinating ecosystems, all through the experienced ears of two people who have made a life out of looking.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 287

Naturally Adventurous
Podcast Episodes
Episode 46: Elephant adventures with Tarik Bodasing [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:40
Charley & Ken welcome Tarik Bodasing back to the show. Tarik is an experienced ecologist and conservationist from South Africa, and in this episode we hear some stories about elephants from his years working with them. C…
Episode 44: Adventures in African Conservation with Tarik Bodasing [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:29
Charley & Ken welcome their special guest, Tarik Bodasing. Tarik is an experienced ecologist and conservationist from South Africa, and in this episode we here some stories from his career including pangolins, vultures a…
Episode 42: Birding adventures in Ecuador with Andrés Vásquez [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:19
Charley & Ken welcome their special guest, Andrés Vásquez back to the show. He tells 3 of his most memorable bird encounters in Ecuador. Charley & Ken also chip in a couple of Ecuador stories of their own. Check out a Go…
Episode 41: Guiding in the times of Corona with Andrés Vásquez [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:53
Charley & Ken welcome their special guest, Andrés Vásquez. Andrés is a senior guide at Tropical Birding and a long time friend of Charley & Ken's. He has guided several tours since Covid and shares some of his experience…
Episode 40: Charley & Ken welcome Tony Croasdale to the show. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:33
Charley & Ken welcome their special guest, Tony Croasdale. Tony is lead-singer for the hardcore punk band R.A.M.B.O. and a hardcore birder. In this episode we explore the surprising parallels between birding & Punk! Chec…
Episode 39: Six Great Natural Spectacles [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:20
Ken and Charley each talk about three of the most remarkable wildlife spectacles that they have witnessed. These range from migrants streaming overhead in Central America to dogfighting sea-eagles in northern Japan. Chec…
Episode 37: Regional Focus on Southern Thailand [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:51
Charley is still in southern Thailand, so he talks about his recent travels, plus Ken and Charley each present their "top 3" birds from this region, which is part of Sundaland, one of the world's great tracts of tropical…