Chris Kilham Interview | Outside Online

You Are Here:

Home >> Naughty by Nature

Today's Question
What's the best way to learn to live off the land? answer

Is it better to buy or make a survival kit? answer

Today's Question
What country has the best ratings for eco-tourism? answer

What is the greenest rental car? answer

What kind of dog will make me look manlier? answer
Is there a sport that safely combines my twin passions for guns and kayaks? answer
How come most of the world's cultures enjoy eating goat, but Americans don't? answer

Online Favorites

Special Issues

Photo Galleries

Outside Magazine October 2004

Dispatches: Doing It
Naughty by Nature

By Brad Wetzler


	UP FOR ANYTHING: Kilham brandishing a length of tongkat ali root near his home in Leverett, Massachusetts (Russ Quackenbush)

Looking to rachet up your mojo, sans synthetics? University of Massachusetts explorer in residence Chris Kilham, 52, has spent 25 years traveling the world to study native uses of medicinal plants. Despite having zero formal training in botany, the plucky adventurer and author—known to fans of his herbal guides and travelogues as the Medicine Hunter—has become a leading promoter of alternative healing. For his 13th book, Hot Plants: Nature's Proven Sex Boosters for Men and Women (Griffin, $13), due in bookstores in October, Kilham traveled from Siberia to the Amazon to experience firsthand the uplifting power of ten easily purchased botanical "remedies."

OUSTSIDE: So what are "hot plants"?
KILHAM: Natural agents that enhance sexual experience. They increase sensitivity and make sex more urgent. Men get better erections. Women benefit, too. Your orgasms are like Chinese New Year fireworks.

Testing them must make for some interesting experiences.
Believe me, I've wound up obsessively horny in every remote place I've been. I've woken up with a raging erection on every continent. But sex with strangers is not without its hazards, so sometimes I travel with a partner.

Given the success of drugs like Viagra, why should anyone consider herbs?
If you can use a plant and not an alien substance, that's a good option. These plants deliver the goods—otherwise they wouldn't be used after thousands of years. Plus, they're cheap.

Do you have a favorite hot plant?
Tongkat ali, from the Malaysian rainforest. It's one of the most powerful aphrodisiacal plants on earth. Animals eating tongkat ali copulate three to four times more frequently than normal.

If you're taking all these enhancers, you must be randy 24/7.
Well, I'm used to being charged up, so it doesn't feel like I'm just bug-eyed all the time. These botanicals help keep me healthy and strong, which is great, because this line of work is very demanding. You start early. You finish late. It's always go, go, go.

Contributing editor Brad Wetzler profiled climber Will Gadd in the April issue.

•	Subscribe to Outside and get a FREE Gift!

•	Give the gift of Outside Magazine!

•	Subscribe to Outside Online's free weekly e-mail newsletter featuring gear reviews, fitness advice, galleries, podcasts, and more.