This was one of the most challenging and meaningful films I produced while Senior Producer of National Geographic‘s Explorer documentary series. It took over two years of planning to pull this film off. Working with Wildlife Conservation Society biologist Mike Fay and National Geographic photographer Nick Nichols, we masterminded a way to film this remarkable 1500-mile arduous journey through the dense jungles of Central Africa. Mike Fay was determined to document the wildlife in a straight line from the interior to the coast. Outfitted with small digital cameras, Mike and Nick both shot video diaries of themselves. This was supplemented with 16mm wildlife footage shot by one of the Congolese scientists. In addition, I arranged for two-person crews to ‘parachute’ into the jungle at several key stages along the way. The result: over 450 hours of footage, unsurpassed coverage of an extraordinary adventure, and an award-winning film. Our documentation was instrumental in convincing heads-of-state to designate 12% of this area for wildlife refuge.
Watch the trailer:
(video)