David Beckham in the Amazon: "No one knew who I was"

David Beckham says he enjoyed his escape from fame on his recent trip to the Amazon rainforest, where he found an entire village of people who have no idea who he was.

Beckham spent 12 days travelling 800 miles into the Amazon rainforest before finding this haven of anonymity.

The former England captain, one of football's biggest global stars, said his trip was inspired by a short walk across a London park after a five-a-side game following his retirement. Words and photos: PA.

He said: "All of a sudden I was on my own walking through a park and thinking 'you know, I haven't done this for 15 years'. That was kind of the first thing that made me think I should do something where I can go into a situation I've not been in before."

Beckham was joined by three friends to fly into Rio de Janeiro and then continue their journey by motorbike, canoe and plane to meet the remote Yanomami tribe, but even then his wife was not sure he would be able to keep his anonymity.

He said: "Victoria was not convinced that they wouldn't know who I was, but I was kind of 95 per cent sure that I wouldn't be recognised by the tribe - and I was right.

"The fact is, for the last 22 years my every day has been on a schedule and the fact that I woke up in Rio and we said, 'Let's go to the favelas', and we can have lunch when we want and have dinner when we want and kind of talk about what we wanted to and to meet people that I've never met before - that was refreshing.

"And then obviously as we went along the trip I was being less recognised and less recognised and by the end of the trip when we were with the tribe - they didn't know who I was, they didn't know what football was, and it was incredible."

David Beckham Into The Unknown is being shown on BBC1 at 8.30pm next Monday.

Beckham, whose trip into the jungle brought him into contact with everything from snakes to spiders, said one of the most frightening things was a frog that jumped on their tent in the jungle.

He said: "On this trip I was like snakes, not a big fan of, spiders, also not a big fan of - but frogs were the thing I was kind of not sure I wanted to come across one. And one of the first animals that we saw was a bright orange frog which unnerved me even more".

The former Manchester United star stayed one night in Manaus, where England will play one of their group games, and said he was not worried about the players performing in the tropical climate.

He said: "Obviously I took a good look at the stadium because I knew England would be playing there in a few months.

"I wouldn't say they're going to struggle because I know they're going to be well prepared, you know Roy Hodgson is a good manager and will prepare the players for this first game.

"It's a massive game against Italy, the first game in the World Cup for England, it's a huge game. People talk about the humidity but like I said the players prepare for this so at the end of the day they'll be prepared for the start of the game".

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