Wild Africa

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Wild Africa
Title card, Savannah episode
Picture format	16:9 (anamorphic)
Audio format	Stereo
Episode duration	50 minutes
Creator(s)	BBC Natural History Unit
Executive producer(s)	Patrick Morris

Narrated by	Fergal Keane
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
First shown on	BBC Two
Original run	7 November– 12 December 2001
No. of episodes	6

Wild Africa is a BBC nature documentary series exploring the natural history of the African continent, first transmitted in the UK on BBC2 in November 2001.

The series comprises six episodes. Each concentrates on a particular environment. The producers use aerial photography and wildlife footage to show how natural phenomena such as seasonal changes influence the patterns of life.

Wild Africa was co-produced by the BBC Natural History Unit and the Discovery Channel. It was produced by Patrick Morris and narrated by Fergal Keane.

The series forms part of the Natural History Unit's Continents strand. It was preceded by Andes to Amazon in 2000 and followed two years later by Wild Down Under.

1 Production
2 Episodes
3 Awards
4 Merchandise
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Production

Wild Africa typifies the style of blue-chip documentary series on which the Natural History Unit has built its reputation, with its high production values, strong visuals and dedicated musical score. To achieve this took 18 months of principal photography on 53 filming trips to 22 countries, starting in September 1999. The filmmakers were assisted by a production team of 16 and around 140 scientists and field assistants^[1]. The experienced camera team included Peter Scoones, Gavin Thurston, Owen Newman, Martyn Colbeck and Simon King^[2], all of whom have contributed to many other BBC natural history films.

The filming team travelled from the lowest point on the continent, the Danakil Depression in Ethiopia, to the highest, the summit of Kilimanjaro. Successes included rare footage of huge feeding groups of manta rays, and Walia ibex locking horns in the Simien Mountains.

[edit] Episodes

Mountains
Savannah
Deserts
Coasts
Jungle
Lakes and Rivers

[edit] Awards

Wild Africa won two awards at the 2003 Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival for Best Limited Series and Best Cinematography (for the Episode 'Mountains')^[3]

Wild Africa DVD cover

[edit] Merchandise

A book, soundtrack CD, and DVD are all available to accompany the TV series:

A Region 2 and 4, 2-disc DVD set was released on 18 July 2005 (BBCDVD1700) featuring all six full-length episodes along with a bonus 30 minute documentary, Wildlife on One: The Super Herd. Wild Africa is one of four series which comprise the Region 1 DVD box set BBC Atlas of the Natural World: Europe and Africa, released on 2 October 2007.

The accompanying hardcover book, Wild Africa by Patrick Morris, Amanda Barrett, Andrew Murray and Marguerite Smits van Oyen, was published by BBC Books on 1 November 2001 (ISBN 0-563-53790-6).