First days filming

Clambering down a steep slope through aspen and pine, a frozen lake is groaning and cracking as it starts to melt next to us. The sun is low, throwing a beautiful northern warm soft light over everything.
As we descend we call out ' hey bear, it's us bear'. Bears are petrified of other bears and reassured that were only humans.
This is Lilly, a 3 yr old, first time mum with a new cub. Today was the first day she had brought her new infant 'hope' out of the den and my first day trying to film bears.
We found them lieing under a fallen tree, hope was asleep and Lilly was keeping a very close eye on her and us.
I was down first, so took some pecans ( i tried to remember my lessons and tried to control my fear) i went to make peace. I approached cautiously as no one had seen Lilly for a year and she had a young cub, I kept talking to her and threw some nuts. Her long long Tongue snaked out and Hoovered them up. I threw some more and moved closer.
Continuing to chat away and let her know what I was doing I gradually eased myself to within about 3 metres and settled down with the camera.
It felt extraordinary to be that close to a large wild carnivore with young ! She soon decided I wasn't really a threat and turned her attention to hope who was now suckling and lieing on Lilly's tummy.
We managed to get some lovely shots of these two together, suckling grooming and playing . I gadualy eased myself nearer and nearer until I was under a metre away and could smell hopes ' spaniel puppy aroma'.
Although hope had been brought out of the den worryingly early, she was a fighter, letting her mum know in very strident, loud terms that it was milk she wanted and milk she was going to get.
After an hour or so, with the sun about to dip behind the lake, lilly moved away with hope. I followed at a distance and filmed hope struggling over a branch as lilly walked off out of my vision ..... BWAAARRR lilly mock charges me from my blind side, I fill my trousers and retreat.
Lesson learnt
Bears are very very gentle, trusting animals, but don't push

Welcome to America

I flew out to Minneapolis yesterday with Max (another cameraman) and twenty pieces of luggage.
I arrived in the U S of A with Max and one piece of luggage.
so rather than head up to the great wilderness this morning were
off to the ' biggest shopping mall in America' -which weirdly
also houses the biggest jellyfish collection in America-.
Whilst the worlds great superpower looks for our bags.

australia

Just back from an amazing trip to the northern territories,
We were following the story of Ben and his team who round up thousands of cattle on horseback, quad and helicopter.





These guys are extraordinary, flying below tree level, nudging cattle with the skids.
massive adrenaline rush, flying with them.





I think we got some great footage, with the low sun, massive amounts of dust, cattle, horses and helicopters.
We also had a cineflex system with us, giving stunning aerials.








Great shoot, great bunch of people.

kenya

I was lucky enough in February to head back to Kenya and film at the Elephant Orphanage, with the BBC.

It was magical for me to catch up with everyone there and all my old Ele friends, including Emily and her new calf Eve. I hadnt seen Emily for a couple of years and she's now matriach of a lovely herd of ex orphans out in the wild.

We went out with head keeper Joseph and finaly found her. Em came straight over to say hi, leaving her new calf with the protection of the others. It was really emotional for me ( which i covered up very badly!).

We had a couple of weeks and got up Ithumba in northern Tsavo as well as Voi. The rains had finaly broken after a hideous drought. This ment the water at Ithumba was plentiful and made mudwallow a wonderous spectacle!

2010

Right, New Year, new filming trips.

Quick catch up since Gorillas.

We spent four months in all out in Rwanda and Uganda and its a time we'll never forget.

Expect to see the films sometime in the Autumn.

I was lucky enough to do a few more shoots for 'Human Planet'.

I hunted Kudu in the Kalahari with the Bushman, fished for snakes in Cambodia, and chased lions off a kill with the Dorobo!

And just before Christmas I got to play with Stephen Fry, Mark carwadine and some white rhino In Prague!

S0 2010

Im off to Kenya to go and see my Ele's for a couple of weeks, which will be magic, then off to Australia in March for the last Human Planet shoot to film the rounding up of 2000 cattle with Helicopters!

I am then starting a series in North America about an amazing man called Lynn Rogers who walks with Brown Bears. Im really excited about getting to know these extrodinary creature.

Sadly Becs and Finn wont be with me, although i hope they get to make it out to meet the bears.

There we go, a quick catch up and preview!

Saturday morning

Bec’s and I went out with Felix to see the Kitonda group. A Travelling family of Gorillas who Felix had known in the Congo in 1992. A number of them had missing digits and one a hand due to snare injuries from the band lands of Congo.
As we arrived Felix had been radioed that the group had climbed over the forest wall and were in the fields! This was a sequence we really wanted. We grabbed our kit and ran. Normally we are looking at a 2 hr walk in; here it was 2 minutes before we set up!
They adored the Eucalyptus trees and were demolishing them, much to the dismay of the wary locals.
The little ones were scampering up the trunks and chewing the bark, whilst the three silverbacks in the group were just pushing the trees down and having a right old feast!
We got some nice behaviour and it was great to see them in the open. All too soon are hour was up but a good mornings filming.











deforrestation
in action

Day off

Friday evening we got home and there was a troop of dancers on the front lawn who were at the hotel to entertain guests but there were no guests so Ryan the manager arranged 2 chairs one for Lauren and one for Finn in the hotel grounds and they had their own show which made Lauren cry but Finn reassured us all it was crying in a good way. By the time we got back from filming the dancers had made their way over to our cottage and were going for it in our garden. They were fantastic, mostly kids with incredible rhythm and drumming madness. We got fired up drank beer ate lots of meat in the hotel Friday night buffet went to bed far too late and felt awful for the start of our day off on Saturday…
We headed for Lake Burera on the Uganda border about a 40 minute drive, and found a small beach with ladies washing clothes, a bunch of students swimming who took a shine to Rosie and Lauren, and a couple of fishing boats. We negotiated a deal on a boat via 15 or so people and set out across the stunning lake for a paddle. Amazingly they even had life jackets so Finn looked the part. We had a really fun time and took loads of piccies and when we got back to the shore there were some really young boys fishing who posed with Finn and were fascinated by his blond hair. He gets lots of attention wherever we go, people can’t believe his white locks and we feel quite protective at times but he takes it incredibly well.







We thought for a few minutes about a lunch in the village but then a far better plan emerged. Another 20 minutes climbing a red dust track by car we got to Verunga lodge a stunning low key high class lodge. The views were outstanding and we ordered lunch overlooking the lakes below. The day was magic and we all got home chilled and tired and ready for an early night.


the lakes
from the lodge






Bec's and finn
waiting for lunch





Brooding
Volcano