The Great Rift: Africa's Wild Heart

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The Great Rift: Africa's Wild Heart
BBC Natural History Unit
Animal Planet
Original release
NetworkBBC Two
Release24 January (2010-01-24) –
7 February 2010 (2010-02-07)

The Great Rift: Africa's Wild Heart (released in the US as The Great Rift: Africa's Greatest Story) is a British nature documentary series, which began airing on BBC Two on 24 January 2010. A BBC/Animal Planet co-production, the three-part series focuses on the landscape and wildlife of the Great Rift Valley in East Africa. At the end of each fifty-minute episode, a ten-minute featurette, Inside The Great Rift, takes a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges of filming the series.

The series made its US broadcast premiere in August 2010 on Animal Planet, as a two-hour special with the shortened title Great Rift. Hugh Quarshie narrated both the BBC and Animal Planet versions.

Episodes

Episode 1: "Fire"

UK broadcast 24 January 2010, 2.05 million viewers (7.3% audience share)[1]

The opening programme shows how life has adapted to the volcanic highlands bordering the Rift Valley. Volcanic activity created the

montane widowbird, the Temple's chameleon and various monkey beetles. The final scenes show mountain gorillas in the Virunga Mountains. Inside the Great Rift shows how the crew enlisted the help of a local Maasai tribe to film inside Mount Suswa's cave.[2]

Episode 2: "Water"

UK broadcast 31 January 2010, 1.81 million viewers (6.7% audience share)[3]

The second episode explores

thermal vent with fatal results. Aerial shots show the million-strong colony of lesser flamingos on Lake Bogoria. At its northern extreme, the Rift Valley plunges into the Red Sea. The final sequences show the diversity of marine life off the coast of Djibouti, including a group of whale sharks filter-feeding at Ghoubet. Inside the Great Rift shows how a submersible ROV was lowered into a reef crack to capture shots of deep sea life.[4]

Episode 3: "Grass"

UK broadcast 7 February 2010, 1.73 million viewers (6.5% audience share)[5]

The final programme documents the Rift Valley's

chimpanzees are confined to forested areas such as Kibale in Uganda. The final scenes suggest that the Rift Valley, where our human ancestors stepped out of the forest, is the "cradle of humanity". Inside the Great Rift reveals the challenges of capturing the first starlight footage of sleeping chimps.[6]

References

  1. ^ "'Being Human' tops '24' Day 8 premiere". Digital Spy. 25 January 2010. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
  2. ^ Produced by Phil Chapman (24 January 2010). "Fire". The Great Rift: Africa's Wild Heart. BBC. BBC Two.
  3. ^ "'Being Human' dips below 1 million mark". Digital Spy. February 2010. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
  4. ^ Produced by Phil Chapman (31 January 2010). "Water". The Great Rift: Africa's Wild Heart. BBC. BBC Two.
  5. ^ "'24' hits season low of 434000". Digital Spy. 8 February 2010. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
  6. ^ Produced by Verity White (7 February 2010). "Grass". The Great Rift: Africa's Wild Heart. BBC. BBC Two.

External links

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