As part of our Planet Earth Live global event, here’s an exclusive post from Andrew Chastney, Director. Andy is in Sri Lanka with the ‘Temple troop’ of toque macaques, following the activities of baby Gremlin.

Andrew Chastney

It’s been an interesting few days here in Sri Lanka, the full moon (a ‘super-moon ‘I believe) is marked by a Buddhist festival, honouring the birth and death of Buddha.

Our location, the ancient ruined city of Polonnaruwa, is one of the holiest places in Sri Lanka and attracts thousands of visitors each year to its temples, but at festival times the number of visitors explodes!

Trying to make a wildlife film in the Buddhist version of Glastonburyis tricky to say the least and it was no surprise that Gremlin and her troop decided to hang back in the jungle.

Final sound checks from Sri Lanka! Toque macaques investigate one of the Planet Earth Live microphones. Photo from Planet Earth Live team in Polonarruwa, Sri Lanka.

The monkeys are not bothered by humans, far from it, the culture here is very accepting and peaceful, it’s just that Gremlin’s troop find it easier to relax and do their monkey business in the relative calm of the forest. So our filming plans were slightly altered!  We are still getting lovely stuff though, Gremlin is a charming little macaque and even though she is pretty much at the bottom of the proverbial pecking order, she’s a plucky little thing so we are hopeful that she has a good chance of survival.

We have been pretty lucky with most of our equipment whilst we’ve been here.

A few issues with the satellite and internet system have been sorted out, and we are managing to get some of that Planet Earth gloss on the films through our use of cable dollies and jib arms. Of course, we wouldn’t be anywhere without cameras, so for those of you who are interested in all things ‘technical’ here’s what we are using:

Gremlin even gets her own Facebook page

Panasonic P2 2700 – our main camera, allows slow motion

Canon XF305 – our sync camera for Gavin’s ramblings,

Canon XF105 – has IR (infra-red) capability for night material

Canon 5DmkIII  - paired with a new 300 f2.8 this is taking the majority of stills, time lapses and some lovely video too

Canon 5DmkII – this has been converted to infra-red for night-time shots

Canon 7D – odd stills and video shots

Gopro HD hero – for those shots only gopro can get

It’s a long list! But there’s some great tools for getting great pictures! Stay tuned…

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As part of our Planet Earth Live global event, here’s an exclusive post from Jasper Montana, one of our researchers in the Samburu National Reserve, Kenya.

Elephant calf. (C) Emma Napper – Photographer: Emma Napper

Samburu, where we are filming for Planet Earth Live, is a haven for elephants. A silt-filled river runs west-east through the red sand and scrubby landscape, acting as the lifeblood that draws the elephants into the reserve to cool off in the heat of the day. At the moment in Samburu, it is a time of plenty. It is the rainy season and afternoon storms fuel sprouting grass and budding acacias – food fit for an elephant king.

We are working with a group called Save the Elephants, who have been researching the elephants in Samburu for 19 years. On our first day we set off with their head researcher, David Daballen, along one of the dusty tracks that weaves through the ‘toothbrush’ bushes along the river. We were going in search of our first close encounter with a herd of elephants. My previous experience of elephants is relatively limited, but I did know that shaking heads, thrashing vegetation and loud trumpeting calls were a warning sign that they weren’t happy, and it was time to move away.

Grace and Sky, elephant calves from The Clouds herd in Samburu, Kenya. Photo from Planet Earth Live team in Samburu, Kenya.

We’d seen herds from the car on the way in, but they were far off in the distance, so this was to be our first meeting with the Samburu elephants and I was excited to get close to them. We spotted a group in some thick bushes not too far away and drove the car off-road towards them. As we pulled up where we thought they were, we paused for a moment and heard nothing. Then all of a sudden, one of the elephants came crashing through the bushes towards us, shaking her head and calling out loudly. Another one, crashed through another bush and soon we were amongst a herd of ten or more elephants trumpeting and crashing about in the bushes. Mothers, calves and young males jousting each other with their developing tusks, the thrashing bushes, the trumpeting calls and the shaking heads were all the signs that I’d previously been told to watch out for, but these elephants didn’t seem angry at all.

I asked David what was going on. ‘They’re happy,’ he replied. ‘They have everything they need – food, water and company’. And so they did. The trees were sprouting, the river was flowing and their family were all around them. This, so I have learnt, is why they love Samburu.

Cameraman Toby Strong makes a good look out point for a meerkat. Photo from Planet Earth Live team in the Kalahari, South Africa.

As part of our Planet Earth Live global event, here’s an exclusive post from Toby Strong, Witness Cameraman.

A week into our shoot and already there is a lot to tell. Myself (cameraman), Stuart (producer), Gianni (Edit Assistant) and Tracy (Editor) are based on the Southern fringes of the Kalahari Desert.

We are filming a group of twenty-five meerkats called ‘Whiskers’ led by Thunder cat and Enelie; the dominant male and female.

There are four pups, which are about a month old.  Swift, a pretty wee thing, is the size of an economy sausage roll, who flits about like a puff of thistle down. Whilst here we are the guests of the Kalahari Project, with Joff being our guide and mentor.

Due to their research spanning more than two decades, the meerkats are completely habituated allowing us a unique opportunity to follow their lives from the middle of an amazing animal family.

Whiskers inhabit a beautiful broad valley, shouldered by dunes and dotted with gnarled trees and thorn bushes.

Meerkats grooming.  (C) Sophie Lanfear – Photographer: Sophie Lanfear

Temperatures fluctuate massively calling for Harris Tweed first thing and a cooling glass of fresh lemonade at lunch.

Our day starts at about five with tea and toast before Stuart and Joff  and I head into the field to the burrow where the meerkats have overnighted.

This is my favorite time of day, as the soft fat Kalahari sun rises skyward, setting light to the long grass and backlighting the meerkats’ fur as they all stand like a furry fence warming their bellies.

Back at base Tracey and Gianni are editing and battling with all the technology necessary to transmit from this remote desert.

Their companions are a resident cape cobra, thousands of scorpions and a black widow in the loo.

We have had close calls, forays into enemy territory and run in’s with other groups and cuteness enough to take your breath away and make you go ‘ohhhhhhhhhh’.

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Planet Earth Live researcher Kiri Cashell

The rains have caused all manner of logistical nightmares – from getting our cars stuck in the mud to preventing our kit from arriving on time. In the end, it all becomes part of the adventure, but the real drama has begun with our wildlife.

Whilst driving back to camp recently, our driver spotted a mother lion and her cub playing on a fallen tree. We decided to drive closer to find out which pride they belonged to, but as we drew closer it soon dawned on us… they were totally alone. It was a lone female and her cub.

As we watched them nuzzle, play and interact with each other, everyone in the car fell under their spell, we were hooked.

Since that first encounter, we have spent everyday with them, learning what extraordinary characters this pair really are.  The beautiful lioness; a tenacious, and determined mother, and the cub; a brave, endearing bundle of joy.

This time of year is hard for any lion, especially a single mother like our female. Food is

Moja and his mother. Image Credit: bbc/Kiri Cashell

scarce, and the lean frames of both mother and cub holds testament to this. Everyday is a struggle for survival, and watching the remarkable bond this pair have, has meant the crew and I have invested a lot of emotional energy into caring about what happens to them.

Unlike pride lions our pair do not have the support and protection that pride living brings. Every other lion treats them like the enemy and they have to fend for themselves. This has meant that the cub is often left vulnerable and alone while mum leaves to hunt, and as she can’t take down big prey she has to hunt more frequently.

Watching her hunt and search for food in the midday heat, panting and uncomfortable is often unbearable.

Today, we watched on tenterhooks as she patiently stalked a warthog, every fibre in our bodies willing for her to make the kill so she could feed herself and the cub. I surprised myself, often you react to watching a kill by feeling a little sorry for the prey, but today all I cared about was our mother and cub – I knew how desperately they needed to eat, and we really wanted her to make the kill.

As the light began to fade we returned back to camp exhausted, my body shaking with adrenaline. As I dragged myself back to my tent, I spotted a visitor who looked up excitedly as I approached, I felt a pang of guilt, it was Basil – the friendly camp warthog……

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Global events like Planet Earth Live are a hugely important part of what we do.  Synchronised broadcasts unite our viewers around the world with ‘must-see’ television and allow us to deliver a truly British affair under a British brand.  So far this year we’ve already shown ‘Sport Relief Goes Global’ back in March – and will celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the music, fashion, art, culture and history of Britain’s capital city this June, with a unique season of programming ‘London Calling’.

But back to the truly magnificent Planet Earth Live – expert crews who are currently following the likes of baby elephants in Kenya, black bears in Minnesota, macaque monkeys in Sri Lanka, meerkats in South Africa, grey whales in the Pacific Ocean and lion cubs in the Masai Mara – will keep us up to date here, as the lives of the Earth’s youngest animals truly hang in the balance during the critical month of May.

Mother and baby toque macaque. Polonarruwa, Sri Lanka. – (C) Elizabeth White – Photographer: Elizabeth White

The blog posts that follow are from members of the global production team of Planet Earth Live.

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