BBC Wildlife - UK (2019-12)

Filming: Julie Moniere/BBC; cheetah: BBC Studios

BBC Wildlife December 2019 Seven Worlds, One Planet

WALRUSES

29

overingabout

20.2percentoftheEarth’sland

surface,Africais thesecondlargest

continent.Inthenorth,theSahara–

theworld’smostextensivehotdesert

• dominates,whilethesouthandeast
  arebeingrippedapartastwotectonic
  plates,theNubianandSomaliplates,
  diverge,formingtheEastAfricanRift.
  “Ihadn’tappreciatedjusthowlong
  Africa’sriftvalleysystemreallyis,”
  saysSevenWorldsexecutiveproducer
  JonnyKeeling.“Itstretchesthousands
  ofkilometres,fromtheRedSeato
  Mozambique.It hasformedovera

largemantleplumethatis lifting

partsofAfricaandcreatinghabitats

unusuallyrichinwildlife.The

savannahgrasslandsoftheSerengeti

andMaasaiMara,forinstance,are

madeultra-fertilebyvolcanicdusts

fromtheactivevolcanoOldoinyo

Lengai,andriftvalleylakes,suchas

LakeMalawi,arehometohundreds

ofdifferentspeciesoffreshwater

fish,someoftherichestfreshwater

habitatsonEarth.”

TheMaasaiMarais thelocationfor

oneoftheAfricaepisode’smemorable

sequences.Therichgrasslandshere

attracthugeherdsofwildebeestand

otherantelope,zebraandgazellesthat

embarkona greatmigrationaround

EastAfrica,constantlysearchingfor

placeswheretherainhasfallenand

thereis newgrassgrowing.

Catsincahoots

Watchingtheireverymovearethe

predators– lions,leopardsandan

unusualallianceofmalecheetahs.

Withinthealliancetherearefive

cheetahs– twosetsofbrothersand

a singlemale– andbyhunting

together,likea prideoflions,they

AFRICA

FIELD NOTES

C

Band of brothers: male

cheetahs in Kenya’s

Maasai Mara improve their

hunting success rate if

they work together.

“We were camping on a raised

platform at Mbeli Bai, Republic

of Congo, filming gorillas and

forest elephants,” recalls

assistant producer Jo Haley,

“and had been warned never to

come down at night because

the elephants can be

dangerous. One day, we were

filming at sunset, when we

heard very loud and close

gunshots. It was quite a shock

as we were miles from

civilisation. ‘It must be

poachers,’ we thought. Were

they warning

shots aimed

at us, or had

they killed an

animal? Either way, we were

sitting ducks. We were faced

with staying put, knowing

armed poachers were close

by, or break the one rule we

had been given and escape

through the jungle. We had a

quick team meeting and

decided to make for the

nearest village about an hour

away. We grabbed passports,

water and the footage we’d

shot. Without our trackers

to detect elephants in the

darkness, it was slightly

nerve-wracking, but we made

it unscathed, and then had a

sleepless night on a wooden

floor with a friendly rat for

company. In our haste, though,

we forgot the mozzie repellent,

so we were bitten to shreds!”

AssistantproducerJoHaley

onhightailingfromarmed

poachers while on location.

Cameraman Mark

MacEwen films western

gorillas in the Democratic

Republic of Congo.