Unlike most conglomerate-owned media companies, National Geographic is still pouring money into documentaries. His latest docuseries is “Africa Earth’s Wild Home,” a seven-part series that took four years to produce and employed more than 50 people. This is the first in a multi-year series that will document the planet, one continent at a time.
Nat Geo partnered with the National Geographic Society’s global community of Explorers and scientists and Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Initiative to create the seven-series series.
Nat Geo president Courteney Monroe says the partnership demonstrates “a shared commitment to protecting our natural world.”
“This is proof of what is possible when storytelling, science, and a shared sense of purpose come together,” says Monroe. “Through this collaboration, we are expanding what natural history storytelling can reveal, whose voices it can amplify, and how deeply it can connect audiences to the wonders of our planet.”
“Africa Earth’s Wild Home” is narrated and executive produced by Academy Award nominee Wunmi Mosaku. The film was shot in nearly 30 African countries and used new technology and cutting-edge CGI to reveal the forces that shaped the continent’s history and natural environment. Film crews were sent to deserts, jungles, forests, mountains and islands to capture how Africa’s diverse ecosystems shaped the animals that live within them.
Showrunner and series editor Gavin Boyland says Africa is the first continent in the multi-year series because people often associate wildlife with Africa.
“Africa has some of the best wildlife,” says Boyland. “It’s got the most spectacular scenery. It’s got charismatic animals. So what we wanted to do from the very beginning was to show people a different side of Africa. So while we definitely filmed lions and elephants and all kinds of familiar wildlife, we also wanted to show different environments, different landscapes and different species that live in those landscapes.”
Instead of reaching out to typical Western researchers and scientists, Boyland and his team went to Africa and reached out to wildlife guides, drivers, photographers, and locals who see wildlife every day.
“These people were able to manipulate us into new behaviors,” Boyland says.
“Africa Earth’s Wild Home” features never-before-filmed scenes such as the smallest crocodile bats hunting in pitch-black caves, a cranky black rain frog, a saucer bug digging a ditch to collect water from coastal fog, giant “vegetarian” land turtles preying on birds, golden wolves preying on pelicans three times their size, and a male fossa struggling to gain access to the female’s mating tree.
“The series inspires us to look closer, learn more, and engage more deeply,” says Jill Tiefenthaler, CEO of the National Geographic Society. “This is the same passion that drives our National Geographic Explorers, who work every day to understand and protect the natural world. With partners like Rolex and Disney, we magnify the impact of their work and inspire millions of people to care about our planet and its future.”
The final chapter of “Africa, the Wild Home of the World” focuses on the conservationists, photographers and scientists whose work protecting the continent forms the basis of the series. Both the episode and the series build on the 70-year partnership between National Geographic and Rolex.
“Extraordinary filmmaking across seven episodes reveals that protecting Africa’s wild heart begins with understanding its fragile ecosystems,” says Rolex executive Arnaud Boetsch. “By shining a light on Explorers and scientists working on the front lines of conservation, this series promises to ignite not only curiosity but also hope for the future.”
“Africa Earth’s Wild Home” premieres on National Geographic on October 2nd and will stream on Disney+ and Hulu on October 3rd. The series was produced by BBC Studios Natural History Unit for National Geographic.