Original air date: 12 March 2006
A more detailed, text version is below
This version gives a more detailed look at what takes place in the programme
Selected material:
Longest continually erupting volcano, lasting over a century (when the series was produced)
Attenborough almost at the start of the programme (after some 2 minutes) talks about the lava lake Erta Ale as “the longest continually erupting volcano on the planet, a lake of lava that has been molten for over a hundred years.” Nevertheless he, a few minutes later, claims all the Ethiopian volcanoes are dormant, introducing the Andes as active (not showing any such activity). Strange inconsistency from an otherwise impeccable production.
A snow avalanche is always a very dramatic event
The above snapshots are taken with approximately 10 seconds interval (13’25-13’56)
Snow leopards
One of the rarest and most majestic of wild animals
An adult snow leopard (left) with its one year old cub (right)
These are so hard to film, and this was actually a first for a decent sequence – a failed attempt at a hunt . . and then a successful one – not just a few seconds of practically nothing
From the ‘making of’ part of the programme (55′).
These sequences deserved a separate place in the ‘making of’ of how they actually managed to film those sequences. During the ‘making of’ the team managed to capture a magnificent shot of a snow leopard that almost feels like ‘posing’ for them. Obviously it is something more natural, like stalking a prey.