The series is over and the winner now working at the Natural History Unit. A big thank you to everyone who has been in touch and for all the kind and supportive comments about the series and about wildlife film making. Both the viewing figures and audience appreciation figures climbed throughout the series, so thanks for watching too!
I’ll post something on this site, should we ever decide to do something like this again. In the meanwhile, the drought in Kenya continues so we’re heading back out there.
Best wishes, James
Sept 2009
What is Wildest Dreams: http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/tv/2009/wk29/unplaced.shtml
A good review: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2009/aug/26/wildest-dreams-organ-grinder
The dust devil clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGd2Cb_iw3E
Some conservation headlines encountered during the making of ‘Wildest Dreams’:
LEWA - A CONSERVATION SUCCESS
The Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, famous for its rhino and zebra conservation does some amazing work with local communities in oder to create truly sustainable models for conservation in Northern Kenya. Check it out: http://www.lewa.org/
HIPPOS AND DROUGHT IN AFRICA
There’s no doubt that the scene of starving hippos moved many viewers. We had no idea how bad the situation was there when we arrived at Mzima Springs and I’m sorry to say that across many parts of Kenya the story is becoming steadily worse. The Mara River, famous for the wildebeest crossing is almost dry (principally due to destruction of the Mau Forest). The famous elephants of Amboseli are slowly starving and back at Mzima more hippo have died. Desperate herdsmen push their flocks deep into National Parks where competition for food with wildlife becomes worse. And there’s a vast human cost too as millions of people all over the country are reported suffering from the drought. There is one glimmer of hope on the horizon - El Nino years usually bring heavy rains to Kenya - and this year looks like it may turn El Nino. But for countless animals big and small any rainfall will come too late.
SWIMMING WITH DOLPHINS
There are some people who believe no one should ever be allowed to swim with whales or dolphins. I don’t think this is realistic but I do think there should be codes of conduct in place so everyone likely to have an encounter understands how best to behave. The etiquette with dolphins is simple - always let the animal come to you. Allow the animal to control the duration of the encounter and try to keep a respectful distance. Be mindful of youngsters in the pod and how they might be affected. If they are very aware of you keep the encounter short. If in doubt, or if the animals are behaving aggressively, withdraw from the encounter. And most importantly, keep you hands to yourself. The idea of a wild animal happily taking you for a ride is Hollywood fiction, yet I’ve seen tourists try it time and time again. Such harassment is usually a sure way to scare the animals off.
VULNERABLE VULTURES
Thanks should go to the cattle farmers of Natal, South Africa, who leave out safe carcasses for the wild vultures to consume at their so-called ‘vulture restaurants’. But spare a thought for India’s vultures - their population is said to have crashed by some 99% (recent research suggests from 40 million to just 60,000) because of a chemical diclofenac that’s used to treat domestic livestock. In many regions vultures have been wiped-out completely.
THE DELTA – THREATENED EDEN
The Okavango Delta is one of the last true great wilderness areas in Africa. Surrounded by the Kalahari Desert and almost the size of Wales, it’s never been colonised to any great extent and doesn’t have heavy tourist pressures. The animals there are relatively naive about mankind and because of that you can get very close to the wildlife. However the Delta is under threat from external sources.
Firstly the Delta relies on water coming from the Angolan Highlands. As these are becoming increasingly populated, and farmed, the water quality is changing: increased run-off and fertilisers are causing changes in water chemistry that some scientists think will affect this fragile ecosystem. And the continued threat of water extraction from Namibia hangs over the Delta. Namibia needs water to fuel its expanding population and plans to dam and extract water and possibly hydro-power from the Okavango River have been discussed. This could lead to changes in the seasonal ebb and flow of water levels in the Delta area, or in an extreme scenario, cause the Delta to dry up altogether.
Try:
http://www.elephantresearch.co.uk/
http://www.tusk.org/
RHINO – ON THE EDGE
The issue hasn’t gone away. The demand for rhino horn is on the up and in many parts of Africa rhino are being slaughtered on an increasing basis. Said to be currently fetching $18,000 per kg in East Africa, rhino horn is still used in traditional medicines and for dagger handles. The fate of all wild rhino populations in Africa continues to hang in the balance.
Try:
http://www.savetherhino.org/etargetsrinm/site/1/default.aspx
http://www.wwf.org.uk/what_we_do/safeguarding_the_natural_world/wildlife/african_rhinos/
LION – POPULATION CRASH
Can you imagine an Africa without wild lions? It’s going that way. Estimates vary but it’s thought there’s been at least a 50% crash in lion numbers over the last 50 years. A combination of persecution by herdsmen, the poisoning and trapping for tourist souvenirs (teeth / claws), disease (notably FIV), fragmentation and human invasion of wilderness areas means that truly wild lions – those living outside fenced parks – might become a thing of the past.
My Wildest Dream
I will never forget seeing the opening episode of Sir David Attenborough’s LIFE ON EARTH on my parent’s new colour TV in 1979. It was the first ‘grown-up’ programme that I was allowed to stay up for: stunning landscapes, fantastic creatures and – wow - that man in the blue shirt went everywhere! He’d say half a sentence on one side of the world and finish it on the other - it was pure TV magic. And it gave me, an animal-obsessed eight-year old, a dream. A dream to work with wildlife.
Ten years later, I blew all my savings on a return ticket to Africa. I was visiting my uncle, who was doing charity work in Kenya. And it was there, one morning in the Masai Mara that I ran into a film crew filming lions: at that moment my dream job literally materialised in front of my eyes. That was all the inspiration I needed. I returned to the UK to study Biology at Uni and managed to secure holiday work helping in the archives of the Natural History Unit. On graduating I landed a full-time job and have been in the industry ever since. I’ve now worked with some amazingly talented people, both at independent companies and at the BBC, as well as the camera people and sound recordists, all of who share a passion for wildlife, for nature and for filmmaking. I’ve even worked with the man in the blue shirt on several films. I have a copy of his autobiography; it’s inscribed to me personally and is one of my most treasured possessions.
I know how unbelievably lucky I’ve been. That’s not to say the job’s a breeze. It’s easy to tell tales of the exciting bits – things that make us sound like rugged adventurers - but the reality is usually much more mundane. If you treat the animals with the respect they deserve you’re unlikely to come into conflict with them. High-adrenaline moments are few and far between and much of the time is spent waiting for things that never happen, usually in remote and uncomfortable places, whilst dealing with some tropical illness, far from home, friends and family.
But of course it’s still very much a dream job and WILDEST DREAMS is about people fulfilling their own hopes and aspirations. We’re there to help them. For me, it’s a chance to hand down some of the useful lessons I’ve learned from almost 20 years in the business. It’s also an opportunity to open the industry doors to a wider range of applicants than those who might normally consider themselves suitable candidates. And of course, it makes entertaining telly too.
Planning discussions with the production team soon dispelled my concerns that this would be either an “Apprentice in the Jungle” or a quest to find a new wildlife presenter. Instead there was a chance here to do something very real, something that would turn the spotlight on how wildlife films are made - with all the highs and the lows - in an enjoyable way. Thousands applied and once we started interviewing potential candidates it became clear what a talented and passionate nature-loving bunch we Brits are.
Working in the African bush can be very tough; it exacts a toll both physically and mentally and we chose our candidates with great care. They all had to pass stringent medical, fitness and psychological tests.
Once on location, my job was to set them real wildlife film making assignments, to ensure their health and safety on location, and to help them learn as fast as they could how to operate effectively in the bush. Nick Knowles was there to keep an eye on things and to give the candidates much-needed moral support. He was a great guy to work with.
We knew that we’d face times where we’d have to give the candidates direct, constructive criticism and that by the end of the series we’d have to whittle down from nine to just one. There was after all just one job. Our ambition was to do that with a sense of humanity and compassion. The candidates would need the right level of support because the tasks we were about to set would be really, really hard.
With this in mind, Nick and I were very keen to camp with them through out the whole experience. I loved it. Nick still needs some convincing on the virtues of life under canvas however!
As an experience it was more rewarding than I could have ever imagined, and I know from the letters the candidates have sent me since that they took a lot from it too. What got to me was just how fast they all learned, and how good they became at a number of difficult film making skills. They were a really great bunch and it was a pleasure to get to know them all. The part of the week I dreaded the most was when we had to send someone home. It was never an easy decision and it was not a responsibility I enjoyed.
In the end a winner emerged and that person will soon be joining the Unit for a year’s placement learning to be a wildlife filmmaker. It’s now up to my colleagues – and the winner themselves - to shape their future. To live their dream. I wish them all the very best.
You can watch the series on BBC ONE on Wednesdays at 19.30, starting July 22nd for 7 weeks.
As for me, I’m heading back out to Africa. We’re making a new landmark series on the continent. The wilderness out there is shrinking fast, the climate seems to be becoming more extreme and much of the wildlife is becoming scarce, so it’s more important than ever before to get out there and tell these animal’s stories whilst we can.
James
July 2009