Our Wild Adventures

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Nature Documentary hosted by Gordon Buchanan and Liz Bonnin and Colin Stafford-Johnson and Steve Backshall and Chris Packham and Vianet Djenguet and George McGavin and Sue Gibson, published by BBC in 2021 - English narration

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We take a trip back through the natural history archives with some of the BBC's favourite wildlife presenters, as they share a few of their most memorable wild adventures.

[edit] Africa

In this episode, our presenters share memories of their wild adventures across Africa. Gordon Buchanan reminisces about his career beginnings in Africa, when he was only 17. Camerawoman Sue Gibson remembers the time she spent filming a baby elephant called Safina. Steve Backshall shares a story about one of his most terrifying encounters: diving with Nile crocodiles in the Okavango delta of Botswana. In a very personal story, wildlife cameraman Vianet Djenguet looks back on his time filming in his beloved homeland of Congo. Chris Packham remembers his adventures in Kenya, when he came nose-to-tusk with a group of rhino on the savannah. And finally, Liz Bonnin remembers the time she tracked zebra as they embarked on Africa's longest land migration.

[edit] The Frozen North

Our presenters look back on their adventures in the frozen regions of the Arctic. With brutal weather and often treacherous landscapes, survival here is a tough ask. Liz Bonnin recalls a memorable adventure in one of our last great wildernesses, helping a team of scientists in Ussuriysk locate a population of rare Siberian tigers. Gordon Buchanan recounts a trip to Ellesmere Island, Canada, in search of wild wolves that had never seen humans before. Chris Packham remembers the time he ventured to Greenland on an expedition to uncover the secret life of an Arctic iceberg. Finally, Steve Backshall recalls trying to get underwater with a killer whale in northern Norway, one of the few wildlife encounters that had eluded him across a 20-year career.

[edit] Asia

Our presenters look back on their adventures throughout Indonesia and Mongolia, situated in earth's largest continent - Asia. Steve Backshall looks back on one particularly unnerving adventure in Indonesia, a place very close to his heart, where he and his crew were chased by the world's largest venomous lizards - a group of ravenous, three-metre-long Komodo dragons. George McGavin, meanwhile, recounts a slightly more sedate adventure in Indonesia: the time when he filmed in a school for orangutans in the middle of the Sumatran rainforest. Chris Packham also has fond memories of Sumatra, as he recalls how, in 1998, he took a batch of photographs of the Orang Rimba people, a group of hunter-gatherers who live in the rainforest. Wildlife cameraman Colin Stafford-Johnson also has an affinity with the archipelago; he looks back on his time spent filming Peanut, Hero, Tarzan and the rest of the monkeys that live on the island of Sulawesi. From the lush islands of Indonesia in the south of the continent, we travel north to the vast lands of Mongolia. Wildlife camerawoman Sue Gibson was sent there a few years ago to film Pallas's cats in one of the most physically and mentally demanding shoots of her career. And Gordon Buchanan reminisces about his time filming Kazakh nomads, who hunt with golden eagles on horseback.

[edit] Rainforests

Our presenters look back on their adventures in our most precious of habitats – rainforests. Chris Packham recalls his visit to Pipeline Road in Panama, where he saw a staggering array of birds, and the rainforest of Peru where he witnessed the relationship between an agouti and a Brazil nut tree. Steve Backshall's experience of rainforests has been a little more adrenaline-fuelled, as he recounts his climb of a tepui, a sheer sandstone mountain, in the rainforest of Venezuela. George McGavin remembers, with great affection, the time he was in Guyana on the hunt for the world's biggest tarantula – the Goliath bird-eating spider. Liz Bonnin describes her time helping conservationists in the Amazon, climbing a tree to put a camera on a harpy eagle nest. While Gordon Buchanan recounts his four years living in the rainforest, learning his trade as a wildlife cameraman.

[edit] North America

Our presenters look back on their wild adventures with some of nature's heavyweights across North America. The continent has a very special place in Gordon Buchanan's heart. He once spent a year in the vast forests of Minnesota, getting to know a family of wild black bears. For Chris Packham, meanwhile, it's North America's coastal regions that are its greatest asset. He recalls a magical moment when a sperm whale popped up alongside his boat, as well as the time he got a little too close for comfort to a grey whale's blowhole. Liz Bonnin recounts an even more bizarre adventure in North America, when she filmed alligators in Florida during their breeding season, while wildlife cameraman Colin Stafford-Johnson tells us about what he describes as one of his most luxurious shoots in North America, filming sea otters in the busy port of Monterey Bay. Finally, Steve Backshall has had some of his most special filming moments in North America, including his time swimming with sperm whales in the Caribbean and seeing their immense intelligence in action.

[edit] Australasia

Our presenters look back on their adventures in Australia and the islands of the South Pacific. Steve Backshall describes being dropped into the nest of a wild saltwater crocodile – to help scientists in the Northern Territories assess the species' health – one of the 'craziest' things he has ever done. Gordon Buchanan faced his own fears when he visited Owarigi in the Solomon Islands, where two members of the local population helped him deal with his fear of sharks through freediving. Liz Bonnin looks back on an awe-inspiring encounter she had on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, where she witnessed the extraordinary hatching of baby green sea turtles on Heron Island. Finally, Steve Backshall and George McGavin recall an unforgettable trip to the extinct volcano Mount Bosavi. Steve remembers discovering a new marsupial species, a cuscus found nowhere else in the world, while George recalls setting a trap that revealed an enormous diversity of moths.

[edit] Britain and Ireland

The BBC's favourite wildlife presenters look back through the archives as they share their most memorable adventures in Britain and Ireland. Chris Packham remembers a recent filming trip where he had the privilege to spot some extremely rare birds circling the skies above his home county of Hampshire: white-tailed eagles. Gordon Buchanan recalls joining a fishing trawler to film killer whales off the coast of Shetland. Vianet Djenguet describes his first sight of a cuckoo in Norfolk, a migratory bird whos song Vianet remembers hearing from his childhood in Congo. Chris Packham also remembers a memorable shoot in Norfolk, where he struck gold by finding four grass snakes - and their particularly noxious smell, designed to ward away predators. Steve Backshall shares memories of filming what he calls 'one of the greatest natural miracles on earth' - seahorses. Colin Stafford-Johnson looks back on an incredible encounter he had with basking sharks in the waters around the Skellig Islands. When algae blooms in spring, these gentle giants of the sea can be seen feeding at the waters' surface. Finally, Chris Packham shares one more story - joining his old mate and sound recordist Gary Moore to try to hear the mating call of the elusive snipe.

[edit] Land of the Tiger

Our wildlife presenters look back at their adventures across India, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Liz Bonnin remembers a remarkable morning migration by thousands of cranes to the small village of Khichan in Rajasthan. Colin Stafford-Johnson recounts his time filming tigers in India and forming a special relationship with the boisterous cub Brokentail. Chris Packham looks back on a tiger-spotting trip to Bangladesh, which lead to ‘one of the worst views of an animal he'd ever had, and yet somehow the best!' Liz shares a memorable encounter in the Western Ghats, where she visited the locals trying to preserve the rare lion-tailed macaque. Finally, Steve Backshall and Gordon Buchanan recall an expedition looking for tigers in the mountains of Bhutan. Although they saw a great many animals, including a red fox, a lammergeier, bears and even a snow leopard, there was no trace of a tiger population - until, after a gruelling trek, Gordon made a sudden and dramatic discovery.