THE next time you think you’re hungry, think of Sarah Marquis.

    The 44-year-old National Geographic explorer from Switzerland regularly finds herself rummaging around in the fridge in the middle of the night checking there’s still food in there, some three months after the starvation she put her body through on her last expedition.

    Marquis’s fourth book, “Wild By Nature,” was released last week. Recounting her extraordinary solo hike that took her literally from one end of the planet to the other, Marquis’s book is a story about walking for three years by herself and surviving everything from drug smugglers and a dengue fever delirium in the Laos jungle to lethal wildlife and tropical ringworm.

    “The amount of preparation that goes into a trek such as my voyage across the world is huge,” Marquis said.

    “For two years I planned this trip, from Siberia to the Nullarbor Plain in South Australia, making sure that as much as possible can go to my religious plan.

    “I have to have this plan, and I also have to put a lot of weight on — it’s important to build that strength in mind and body as weight is a safety net.

    “As soon as I start walking, however, I let go. There’s something amazing about connecting with nature and being that close to it — you forget about everything else and don’t care if things happen that aren’t part of your original plan.”

    That isn’t to say that it isn’t difficult, and that things don’t go to plan — quite regularly.

    “The first six months is the hardest, though you might not expect it,” Marquis said.

    “You can still hear the voices of your family and friends in your head and I always think of it as like an icecube melting.

    “Once it has done, you sort of separate and stop feeling lonely. Instead, you grow closer to the natural planet instead of further away.”

    During her expedition, Marquis’s days differed according to the season: in both, she rose and walked with the sunrise and stopped to sleep at sunset, but this was obviously dictated by winter and summer light patterns.

    “Obviously, Australia is my favorite place to trek through,” she said. “I’ve spent half my life in the Bush and feel like I know every lizard and stone! But I also enjoyed the Gobi Desert as it surprised me that there were both snow leopards and white bears there. It was awesome.”(SD-Agencies)