David Attenborough Films In Hoedspruit
HOEDSPRUIT (Kruger Times)- During the first week of 2005, Hoedspruit was privileged to host one of the leaders in the Natural History Presentation field– Sir David Attenborough.
He visited Hoedspruit, on a week’s stop over in South Africa, to film a segment of his latest series– “Life in the Undergrowth” based on invertebrates, their trials, relationships, interactions and adaptations, before continuing onto various other exotic destinations for different segments within the documentary.
Meeting someone of Sir David’s calibre was an absolute honour and a total pleasure. He is even more of a gentleman than he appears on screen, and to be able to hear that voice in person, is an experience one will never forget.
It is due to his innovative and enterprising activities as a young man that Natural History Documentaries have become so popular and so successful over the years– he is a true leader in this field. I’d even venture to say that men like Sir David are largely responsible, not only for the interest and the awareness of Nature and all her complexities, but also the passion that he has been able to create in many a young mind, for our earth and all her creatures large and small, and thus has added decided influence on the increased protection and conservation status, that is continually been added to, in many areas around the world- Hoedspruit included.
David Attenborough joined the BBC’s fledging television service in 1952, with his first documentary series– “Zoo Quest”– a breakthrough wildlife series that established the international reputation of the BBC Natural History Unit at Bristol. The first of these, “Zoo Quest for a Dragon”, established Attenborough as an intuitive performer, so prepossessed by his fascination with the subject at hand and unconcerned for his own dignity in front of the camera that he seemed to sweat integrity– a sense of daring has always surrounded him both on and off screen.
Sir David’s Natural History Documentary Career has spanned four decades and during that time he has travelled to some of the world’s remotest regions. He took his first international flight in 1954, before the world was shrunk by jet engines and modern navigational aids. Since then, he has flown in a variety of aircraft and rested his weary head in countless hotels (as well as many that could barely be called hotels).
Like anyone who has flown for a number of years, he has many tales to tell- trips to New Guinea for instance could take weeks to arrive. However, it is his stories of Nature and his many and varied encounters with all her creatures and inhabitants that are the most fascinating. There can hardly be a person alive that can claim to have seen, witnessed and experienced all that he has during a single life-time surely there can be no-one more knowledgeable on all the many incredible facets from micro-interactions to macro, as Sir David.
During his travels, Sir David has not always endeared himself to hotel management. “The main problem I used to have staying in hotels is that I used to collect all these animals; and of course we used to have to smuggle them into the rooms. We put pythons and anacondas in sacks under our beds, armadillos in the bath and had bats hanging up on the curtains! Of course everything would always escape and get out in the middle of the night”.
He tells a story of a trip to Madagascar– “I remember I found some marvellous things called pill millipedes which are about the size of a golf ball. For some reason, I found a group of about a hundred and fifty of them– it was the most extraordinary sight. I thought they’d make a wonderful display at London Zoo, so I gathered up about a hundred or so and put them in a sack. That night, I had to stay in a hotel. In the middle of the night they found a hole in the sack and by morning they were all gone. I went out into the corridor there were pill millipedes everywhere and I had to go dashing around picking things up. I got into a lot of trouble for that!”
We are very happy to report that he did nothing BUT endear himself to the Owner Management at the Blue Cottages where he stayed during his visit to Hoedspruit and certainly did not feel the need to bring any of the little creatures (termites and Matabele ants) that he was filming during the day into his room at night.
Calli Williams– owner of the Blue Cottages says that “Having Sir David Attenborough stay with us for five days at Blue Cottages was a dream come true, the highlight of 30 years in the catering and hospitality trade. What a giant of a man. He was warm, gracious and modest. He was incredibly appreciative of every small gesture in making his stay a comfortable one. He ate with great enjoyment and loved trying our best South African wines.
He really amazed me with his huge energy, up long before light, and out into the field with the camera crew until mid-morning, with packed breakfast, then back for an hour or two before heading out yet again until dusk and then still sitting up with the rest of the crew until fairly late talking, laughing and sharing his many experiences across the globe.
On leaving us he was flying on to New Zealand to film glow worms in caves and onto Australia to film the giant earthworm and various spiders... now isn’t that just remarkable? And all this in a man in his late 70’s. Sir David, I salute you... I am now even more of a fan than ever... and it was a TOTAL pleasure to have you stay.”
During his film shoot in Hoedspruit, assistance was requested from Sean Thomas from Cape Town, and our own local expert Donald Strydom from Khamai Reptile Park in the filming of incredible interactive experiences between Matabele ants and termites. As can be seen in the production of this, his latest series, Sir David is not only fascinated and committed to saving the larger “cuter” or more “attention grabbing” species, but puts just as much energy and commitment into drawing attention to the smaller, lesser regarded species. “The only way to save a rhinoceros is to save the environment in which it lives because there is a mutual dependency between it and millions of other species of both animals and plants. And it is that range of biodiversity that we must care for– THE WHOLE THING– rather than just one or two stars.
It is not just that we are dependent on the natural world for our food and for the very air we breathe– which is, of course, the case– and that the very richness of the natural world continues to provide us with all kinds of assistance. But it’s a moral question about whether we have the right to exterminate species and leave a world that is more impoverished than the one we inherited– simply because of our carelessness and greed – to our grandchildren. People must feel that the natural world is important and valuable and beautiful and wonderful and an amazement and a pleasure”. Words of a wise man...
by Debby Thompson, Kruger Times
He visited Hoedspruit, on a week’s stop over in South Africa, to film a segment of his latest series– “Life in the Undergrowth” based on invertebrates, their trials, relationships, interactions and adaptations, before continuing onto various other exotic destinations for different segments within the documentary.
Meeting someone of Sir David’s calibre was an absolute honour and a total pleasure. He is even more of a gentleman than he appears on screen, and to be able to hear that voice in person, is an experience one will never forget.
It is due to his innovative and enterprising activities as a young man that Natural History Documentaries have become so popular and so successful over the years– he is a true leader in this field. I’d even venture to say that men like Sir David are largely responsible, not only for the interest and the awareness of Nature and all her complexities, but also the passion that he has been able to create in many a young mind, for our earth and all her creatures large and small, and thus has added decided influence on the increased protection and conservation status, that is continually been added to, in many areas around the world- Hoedspruit included.
David Attenborough joined the BBC’s fledging television service in 1952, with his first documentary series– “Zoo Quest”– a breakthrough wildlife series that established the international reputation of the BBC Natural History Unit at Bristol. The first of these, “Zoo Quest for a Dragon”, established Attenborough as an intuitive performer, so prepossessed by his fascination with the subject at hand and unconcerned for his own dignity in front of the camera that he seemed to sweat integrity– a sense of daring has always surrounded him both on and off screen.
Sir David’s Natural History Documentary Career has spanned four decades and during that time he has travelled to some of the world’s remotest regions. He took his first international flight in 1954, before the world was shrunk by jet engines and modern navigational aids. Since then, he has flown in a variety of aircraft and rested his weary head in countless hotels (as well as many that could barely be called hotels).
Like anyone who has flown for a number of years, he has many tales to tell- trips to New Guinea for instance could take weeks to arrive. However, it is his stories of Nature and his many and varied encounters with all her creatures and inhabitants that are the most fascinating. There can hardly be a person alive that can claim to have seen, witnessed and experienced all that he has during a single life-time surely there can be no-one more knowledgeable on all the many incredible facets from micro-interactions to macro, as Sir David.
HOTEL LIVING
During his travels, Sir David has not always endeared himself to hotel management. “The main problem I used to have staying in hotels is that I used to collect all these animals; and of course we used to have to smuggle them into the rooms. We put pythons and anacondas in sacks under our beds, armadillos in the bath and had bats hanging up on the curtains! Of course everything would always escape and get out in the middle of the night”.
He tells a story of a trip to Madagascar– “I remember I found some marvellous things called pill millipedes which are about the size of a golf ball. For some reason, I found a group of about a hundred and fifty of them– it was the most extraordinary sight. I thought they’d make a wonderful display at London Zoo, so I gathered up about a hundred or so and put them in a sack. That night, I had to stay in a hotel. In the middle of the night they found a hole in the sack and by morning they were all gone. I went out into the corridor there were pill millipedes everywhere and I had to go dashing around picking things up. I got into a lot of trouble for that!”
A DREAM COME TRUE
We are very happy to report that he did nothing BUT endear himself to the Owner Management at the Blue Cottages where he stayed during his visit to Hoedspruit and certainly did not feel the need to bring any of the little creatures (termites and Matabele ants) that he was filming during the day into his room at night.
Calli Williams– owner of the Blue Cottages says that “Having Sir David Attenborough stay with us for five days at Blue Cottages was a dream come true, the highlight of 30 years in the catering and hospitality trade. What a giant of a man. He was warm, gracious and modest. He was incredibly appreciative of every small gesture in making his stay a comfortable one. He ate with great enjoyment and loved trying our best South African wines.
He really amazed me with his huge energy, up long before light, and out into the field with the camera crew until mid-morning, with packed breakfast, then back for an hour or two before heading out yet again until dusk and then still sitting up with the rest of the crew until fairly late talking, laughing and sharing his many experiences across the globe.
On leaving us he was flying on to New Zealand to film glow worms in caves and onto Australia to film the giant earthworm and various spiders... now isn’t that just remarkable? And all this in a man in his late 70’s. Sir David, I salute you... I am now even more of a fan than ever... and it was a TOTAL pleasure to have you stay.”
MATABELE ANTS AND TERMITES
During his film shoot in Hoedspruit, assistance was requested from Sean Thomas from Cape Town, and our own local expert Donald Strydom from Khamai Reptile Park in the filming of incredible interactive experiences between Matabele ants and termites. As can be seen in the production of this, his latest series, Sir David is not only fascinated and committed to saving the larger “cuter” or more “attention grabbing” species, but puts just as much energy and commitment into drawing attention to the smaller, lesser regarded species. “The only way to save a rhinoceros is to save the environment in which it lives because there is a mutual dependency between it and millions of other species of both animals and plants. And it is that range of biodiversity that we must care for– THE WHOLE THING– rather than just one or two stars.
It is not just that we are dependent on the natural world for our food and for the very air we breathe– which is, of course, the case– and that the very richness of the natural world continues to provide us with all kinds of assistance. But it’s a moral question about whether we have the right to exterminate species and leave a world that is more impoverished than the one we inherited– simply because of our carelessness and greed – to our grandchildren. People must feel that the natural world is important and valuable and beautiful and wonderful and an amazement and a pleasure”. Words of a wise man...
by Debby Thompson, Kruger Times
Labels: hoedspruit
posted by Kruger2Canyons.com at
Sunday, April 10, 2005
2 Comments:
On the Matabele ant issue and article on David Attenborough it would have been nice to mention the name of the reserve that allowed the filming of the ants (unless the reserve did not want to be mentioned).
We saw them a few times in the area while we were riding around on bikes and I believe they were quite successful in their effort specially near the runway on the particular reserve.
It was quite strange for us we were looking for larger things like the Ground Hornbills that had just arrived and here were a bunch of guys looking for the Matabele ants that we just took for granted each time we saw them.
Good Article and a good advert for Hoedspruit
Stuart
Sir David has just returned to South Africa to film for his next epic wildlife documentary, provisionally entitled "Life in Cold Blood", and slated for release in 18 months.
He worked with Donald Strydom again, filming spitting cobras, puff adders, pythons, bushveld lizards and beetles, as well as getting up close and personal with a crocodile at Tshukudu.
The first trip saw filming take place, largely very early in the morning, mainly on the Lissataba Reserve. This is where, I imagine (and given your comments about cycling around in the bush), you saw them at work.
It is a private shareblock situated on the Olifants river outside Hoedspruit. I believe that water monitors have also been filmed for the previous series there.
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