Antarctica prt 2

We were hosted in the New Zealand 'Scott Base', which sat on the shore looking out over the frozen sea. With pressure ridges throwing up spectacular ice formations.
The base consisted of about 70 people during the summer and during the 7 months of continual darkness it dropped to 14.
It was surprisingly well equipped. the food was excellent, coffee marvelous, there was a gym, bar and fancy dress room ( with a fine line in dresses).
Before we could do anything we had to go through our Antarctic field training. So we headed out in the articulated Haglans about 5 miles from base out into the white.
Here we learnt to fill and use stoves, layer up our clothing, avoid frost bite, how to pee in a bottle and keep it in your sleeping bag to stop it freezing and other dark arts of the seventh continent.
We built a snow shelter - great fun. sadly ran out of time before we could construct doric columns and graceful arches!
We erected our Scott tents, basicaly unchanged since.....Scott.
We were then left to have our first night in the snow. We had a little snifter and then it hit us.. We knew the sun wasnt going to set, but nobody really believed it! its true it doesnt! very strange and it took a good week to get used to .
I managed to sleep though with the help of pills and eye pads.
Awoke to furious wind (climatic) it was an interesting morning, derigging tents and practicing search techniques.
A debrief later and an emptying of pee bottles and we were fully qualified arctic explorers.
We now prepared to head off to the wild white yonder.
We met the 'conservators ' we were to be living with and filming. ' lizzy, cricket, diana, john and nigel', all lovely people who couldnt have been kinder or more accomadating.

We filmed the loading of 2000 artifacts into crates and suppervisied the loading of a similar quantity of survignan blanc into our luggage.
Then we set off. It was a few hrs away by hagland and it was wonderful to shoot the low light over the glacier and ice bergs as the wind whipped snow around our feet and our norwegian transport trundled through the epic landscape.

antarctica prt 1

What an amazing trip.
Antarctica is one of those places I had always wanted to go and never thought i'd get the chance.
Our four man team headed off for the long haul south in October.
30 hrs later, a couple of bottles of white and only the wonderful air crew to entertain us, we found ourselves in Christchurch, the main jumping off point for expeditions South to the ice.
We had a day here to blearily film in the local museum packed with Scott and Amundsen items.
Our film was to look at Scott's hut on Ross island and the efforts to preserve it, also we wanted to look at Scott's dash South from the point of view of those left behind.

We were to be hosted by the New Zealand Antarctic guys and so we found ourselves in a room full of thermals and coats trimmed with rabbit.
We were issued 6 pairs of gloves and -100 degree boots!

all very exciting, I've never been anywhere that requires such preparation and specialist equipment.We flew out very early in the morning with a bunch of Americans, suited in vast boots and coats in case of an unscheduled plunge into icy wastes!

Our team consisted of Ben Fogle, veteran antarctic traveller and lovely fellow, Nick the sound man and Tim the producer. both were friends with whom I'd filmed with before.

5 hrs later I was lucky enough to be sitting next to the pilot on the jump seat as I filmed our approach and landing into Antarctica, quite staggering. blue blue sky , smoldering mount Erubus  on our left, we skid to a halt on the frozen sea. the trans antarctic mountains rose  4000 metres on our right shoulder. we were here!

Escudo and san fran

What an amazing place. Escudos is a 2km long island off the coast of panama.
Its surrounded by sandstone stacks topped with palm trees. A coral reef encircles the island. White beaches are over hung with palm trees and the interior is mangroves.
This little island is home to at least four endemic species. Orchid, frog, humming bird and sloth. It was the last one we were here to film.

There's only a hundred left in the world and they are all here.
Getting to them meant driving as far as we could by boat then wading into the mangroves. Not easy at all. One slip and the camera goes underwater and it's all over.
We got really lucky and were able to film a mother and baby only a couple of feet away and unlike there larger main land cousins these guys are super chilled. They can even be handled and they just sit there looking like a cross between yoda, ET and a bean bag. Very cute.
The highlight for me was filming one swimming, which they do well. I was able to dive beneath him and film looking up as we swam overhead.
We stayed in an idyllic bay. We swung our hammocks in thatched huts on stilts , at snapper and lobster and the day always started with a swim out to the reef.
The down side to the trip is that the island is supposed to be protected and uninhabited.... We saw mangroves being chainsawed and taken away. We saw permanent dwellings and the fish around the island have been decimated.

Bryson our scientist gives the Pygmy sloth five years before it goes the way of the dodo.


San Francisco

I skipped merrily from Panama to the west coast and hooked up with my friend Tuppence for a few days in San Francisco.
What a wonderful place. I had time to explore Haighte and the mission and all the bars between. loved it.




















We were filming a Madagascan environmentalist for a Natural world. Out of the forest for the first time, receiving an award in  the city.
Typically i think San Francisco was more eye opening for us than it was for him!

Bocas del toro

Sat on a little jetty looking over the carribean. Were in a Small town called bocas del toro.
Were here to pick up food, a generator and dive gear, before we head off to our island.
Its a lovely place with a very laid back atmosphere.
A great if long drive yesterday from panama city. We crossed the canal and was stunned by the size of the ships plying up and down. We crossed the mountains, with the mist lifting to afford astounding views down to both the atlantic and pacific.
The next few days promises to be full on, but with your own coral reef, deserted island and cold beer, you cant really complain!

panama and pole

Off today to a wee island off the coast of Panama.

We're there to film some of the last hundred remaining pygmy sloths.

These most rare of beasts apparently swim in the Caribbean ! i cant wait.

it also looks like I'm off to the south pole in November!

nitin

Had a great couple of days working with the composer and musician Nitin Sawhney, in his Brixton Studio.

I was filming him as he worked on the score for Human Planet. I was in awe watching and listening to him playing, a real honour.

on the Thursday evening i got to hang out with him and James Taylor at the Royal Albert Hall as they jammed on the vast organ there.

very very cool to have the place to ourselves!

New York and New Orleans

Now home.

A busy three weeks in America.

I've finished on bears and this trip was somewhat different. First stop was New York to film two stories for Human Planets urban

programme. Bee keepers on top of Skyscrapers and Rat Catchers

in Manhattans less salubrious restaurants.

It was a full on week. The days spent up high getting stung and the nights down low trying not to get bitten.
We visited a wonderful, surprising market where our bee keepers sold their wares and everything on sale came from the city. There where stunning veggies, flowers, pickles and preserves.

We were lucky enough to visit one vast roof top of 50,000 m2 that was one huge allotment ( well it was really a field in the sky). I did a crane shot starting on a fellow pulling up carrots and then start to move as a wheel barrow trundles past, slowly rising to reveal the Manhattan skyline behind us and the streets down below. quite fun.

Our rat catchers were great characters. We couldn't get into the restaurants until they shut at oneish, then we sneaked in with torches. QUITE QUITE disgusting. NEVER eat Chinese in New York. We were all unable to eat for a good 48 hrs after this.

Then onto New Orleans.

This was a one hr special with Stephen Fry and Mark Carwadine looking at the oil slick off the Louisiana coast.
5 star hotel and blueberries for breakfast! my kind of shoot.

Stephen and Mark were charming. Due to Stephens schedule we had a really tight timetable to get our film. we had to try and get ten minutes of broadcast television every day.....tricky.

It was fascinating to see the vast slick BP pr machine in action. and the story defiantly isn't one sided. I went thinking BP was the bad guy, but realised we're the ones that demand the oil and they just provide it. A very complicated problem with the solution being fairly unpalatable for almost all of us.

I do know I had a lot of fun and laughs on air boats, speed boats, helicopters, green peace boats, BP boats and fishing boats.

We also nearly got sucked up by a water spout ( well not that nearly!)
New Orleans is amazing, when you get away from the tourist street its little lanes of wonderful architecture, great food, stunning music and dancing. doesn't feel like America at all.

All in all a full on, challenging three weeks, but fascinating and fun.