RCGS Ambassador: George Kourounis

George Kourounis has a passion for the world’s extremes. As an explorer, storm chaser, TV presenter, and Explorer-In-Residence with the RCGS, he’s travelled to over 75 countries on all seven continents to document extreme forces of nature so that others can appreciate the power of Mother Nature. For 25 years he has chased tornadoes on the Great Plains, driven into the eye of hurricanes along the Gulf Coast, rappelled deep in the crater of active volcanoes in the Congo & South Pacific, climbed mountains in North Korea, and earned a Guinness World Record for become the first person to set foot at the bottom of the Darvaza flaming gas crater in Turkmenistan while leading an expedition for National Geographic.

Best known for hosting 50 episodes of his own globe-trotting TV series Angry Planet, Kourounis is also a regular on The Science Channel, The Weather Network and countless other networks and video platforms.

“I think that sustainable travel is an integral tool in promoting conservation,” he says. “We are only interested in preserving things that we are care about, and we only care about things that we are exposed to. By visiting a rainforest, a coral reef, or a mountain glacier, we personally connect with the landscapes and wildlife we encounter there and that can create an emotional bond that we keep with us our entire lives.”