A wildlife spot in Dillingham, Alaska, where Barack Obama touched down as part of a stopover visit intended to highlight the damaging effects of climate change, has been renamed the Bearack Viewing Area in his honour.

The bear in question is of the four-legged variety. But it is another unlikely alliance between Bear and Barack that has more vividly captured the public attention. Obama also used his trip to Alaska to trek through the wilderness and be taught survival techniques by Bear Grylls, the British television presenter and survival expert. The encounter will form part of a new series, Running Wild With Bear Grylls, and will be aired later this year on the NBC network.

It marks an extraordinary coup for Grylls, 41, an Old Etonian father of three, who lives on a remote Welsh island and is known for combining a profound love of risk with a streak of distinctly British eccentricity. A former SAS reservist and the son of a Conservative MP, Grylls is one of the youngest men to climb Mount Everest. He also once circumnavigated the British Isles on a jet-ski and rowed naked in a bathtub along the Thames to raise funds for charity.

Read the article “President Obama Films Episode of Running Wild with Bear Grylls” on theguardian.com.