For most, the idea of living on a remote island with no medical facilities, constant threats from wildlife, and a three-hour canoe journey to the mainland would be a daunting prospect. For 66-year-old British expat Ali Porteous, it is paradise perfected. The former television camerawoman has spent the last 27 years building a life one mile south of the equator on Bulago Island in Uganda's Lake Victoria, a story she shares in the new series of Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild.
From Frontlines to Frugal Island Living
Ali Porteous, originally from Chichester in West Sussex, had a career that could hardly be more different from her current existence. In the 1980s, she filmed on the frontlines of conflicts in Afghanistan, Peru, and Sri Lanka for outlets like BBC 2's Newsnight. She once filmed deep in the mountains near Osama Bin Laden's secret hideaway and even brought an unexploded Russian bomb shell home as a souvenir, which now forms the base of a table in her garden.
Her connection to Uganda began in 1985 when, disguised as a travel agent, she embedded with the National Resistance Army to report on a silent genocide. This sparked a lifelong love for the country. After raising two children in the UK with her partner Robin between war zone assignments, she returned to work as a media adviser for President Yoweri Museveni. When that contract ended, a fateful boat trip on Lake Victoria in 1997 led her to discover Bulago Island.
"I borrowed a little sailing boat to take a last trip... and we came across Bulago island. Maybe we should buy it, I whimsically suggested," Ali recalls. They purchased a 49-year lease on the 500-acre island for $16,000, with a plan to create Uganda's first marine eco-resort. As a newly single parent, she moved there with her nine-year-old son Oliver and five-year-old daughter Phoebe.
Building a Sanctuary and Facing Heartbreak
The early days were defined by pioneering hardship. The family lived in British Army tents for three years. They made bricks from termite hills and built a lodge without machinery, relying entirely on solar power. Ali's life is now frugal but rich. She grows her own fruit and vegetables, boasting of "the juiciest pineapples I've ever tasted and the best and biggest avocados." She drives a 1996 Rav4 on the mainland and sources designer clothes from a second-hand shop.
Her home is shared with an eclectic menagerie: a horse named Tufani (Swahili for 'storm'), a donkey, two camels from North Kenya called Rumi and No 9, and a multi-generational pack of small, feisty dogs. Yet this idyllic setting holds profound dangers. Ali has lost several dogs to crocodiles and snakes. Just months ago, three pups died within an hour after attacking a forest cobra.
The risks extend to Ali herself. With no medical facilities on the island, an injury or illness requires a perilous boat crossing, made increasingly unpredictable by climate change. "I always used to ride my horse bareback, but now with ageing bones, I have to be cautious... because I don't want to fall off and break my back and be paralysed," she explains.
A Decade-Long Legal Battle and a Conservation Legacy
In 2009, Ali's world collapsed when her business partner sold the lodge without her consent. A court order barred her from the property. She spent a decade in a gruelling legal battle, living in a Kampala bedsit and working at an international school. "I was so broken by it all. I lost my faith and trust in mankind," she admits. After ten years, she finally won back her island home.
This ordeal galvanised her mission to protect Bulago. To fund conservation, she sold plots to like-minded individuals, creating a community of about 150 residents. While neighbouring islands have been deforested, Bulago thrives. Her proudest achievement is campaigning for a Lacustrine Protected Area, successfully established by the Ugandan government, which safeguards the lake's ecology and supports local fishermen living below the poverty line.
Now in what she calls her "Third Act," inspired by Jane Fonda, Ali feels a "delicious sense of liberation." Her children—Oliver, 39, a tech genius in Estonia, and Phoebe, 35, an artist in Thailand—plan to visit this year. Future dreams include establishing Uganda's first National Marine Park and developing a sustainable eco-wilderness resort. "I feel happier now here in the wild than I've ever been in my life," she concludes, a testament to a life radically and courageously lived.
Ben Fogle: New Lives in The Wild launches on Thursday 15 January 2026 on Channel 5.
