King of the swamp: Meet the man who gave up his wife and high-flying career to live alone in remote wetlands
- Colbert, 64, used to work for American Express and lived in mansion
- He wanted to change his life and have no financial ties
- So father-of-two set up home in swamp in Georgia
- Divorced his wife as 'marriage limits freedom'
- Now spends his days hunting, swimming and fishing in wilderness
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A financial planner who craved the carefree existence he had as a boy decided to reclaim his lost youth by giving up his high-flying career to live in a swamp.
Colbert, 64, swapped his $10,000 a month salary and large house in Georgia, U.S., for a primitive wooden cabin in the wilderness.
Georgia in the South East of the U.S. is made up of thousands of acres of alligator infested wetlands and Colbert decided to plunge into their depths to live alone.
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Change of scene: Ben Fogle meets Colbert who gave up his high-flying career with American Express to live in a swamp
'I knew I had to make a change in my life and I thought "when was I happiest?" It was when I was a boy camping in the forest and playing in the woods,' he told presenter Ben Fogle for the new series of his TV show New Lives In The Wild.
'So that's what I do now, build tree houses, swim in the river, play in the forest. When my friends aren't working they can join me,' Colbert said.
Ben travels to Colbert's remote location in the first episode of his new series that airs on Channel 5 this evening.
He learns how Colbert survives by hunting wild animals, fishing and eating off the land. He built his wooden cabin and furniture himself from materials he gathered from the forest and lives without electricity or running water.
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Living off the land: Colbert hunts for his food and built his own wood cabin
He loves to explore the inhospitable terrain where he lives so he regularly camps out there despite the numerous creepy crawlies, 40 degree humidity and risk of tropical storms.
'I get lost all the time but that's part of the fun, leaving the beaten track,' he said.
Before setting up this life for himself in the wild, Colbert was a married father-of-two who worked for American Express.
He said his desire to give up 'financial ties' was a factor in his marriage breakdown and he moved to the swamp following his divorce when his daughters had grown up.
He explained: 'I didn't want to be married, it limits your freedom. To be totally free, I needed not to be married and not to have a job.'
Colbert sold his house and bought a plot of land in the swamp where he built his wood cabin. He uses gas cylinders for cooking and makes occasional trips to the store for non perishable goods. This trip involves kayaking for miles to reach a truck he owns which is kept on the edge of the swamp for when he wants to make rare journeys back to civilisation.
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Big kid: Ben visits the treehouse Colbert built
While Colbert lives a lone, he's far from a recluse as he loves to have company when his friends visit, revealing they will often invite women to his cabin for 'sex parties'.
He also meets up with his neighbours - even though they are few and far between. They are men who own hunting lodges in other parts of the swamp who occasionally visit.
Colbert's grandchildren, now aged 12 to 18, also love to visit their grandfather.
He teaches them how to fish and lets them play in a tree house he's built.
He said of the treehouse: 'It's for me as I'm still a kid but my grandkids come here and they're fascinated, they love coming to play here. They ask me how I build things and hunt. Last summer they choose to come and stay here rather than going to a theme park.'
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Splashing around: Ben joins Colbert for a swim in the river
Ben is no stranger to wilderness living after volunteering to be marooned on Taransay, a remote windswept island in the Outer Hebrides, as part of the BBC’s big millennium project Castaway.
But after staying with Colbert he admitted, "swamp living is not for me".
He explains: 'It feels quite dirty here but each to their own, It's great Colbert sees this environment around him and uses it. He'll always have something to eat here. I have loved dipping in, it has been an experience and in terms of weirdness it has been a highlight.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2549395/King-swamp-Meet-man-gave-wife-high-flying-career-life-remote-wetlands.html#ixzz2s2KH7poL
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