Planet Earth II, the follow-up to the award-winning BBC nature documentary series we waited ten long years to see, opens with an appropriately epic shot: A solitary hot air balloon floats over a jagged, snow-capped mountain range. As we zoom in, we see Sir David Attenborough—still spry at 90, hair blowing in the alpine wind—standing in the balloon, introducing us to the series, as a rousing theme by rousing-thememaker Hans Zimmer crescendos. This, you realize just a minute in—the attention to detail, the blockbuster-like cinematography, the sheer scale of the show—is why it takes a decade to make a Planet Earth sequel.
The wait is worth it, not just for the mouth-agog wonder experienced from your couch, but also for the wanderlust—that realization that despite the extraterrestrial look of a lizard, wings spread, gliding across the canopy or the close-up of an albatross that looks so detailed it appears to be computer-generated (it's not), this is all on our planet. It can be hard to remember that these places exist and—most of the time—they aren’t actually that hard to visit. We talked to Planet Earth II executive producer Mike Gunton about some of his favorite filming locations for the series.
Chamonix, France
It was Gunton's idea to send Attenborough up over the French Alps in a hot air balloon for the show's opening shot—something Gunton says Attenborough was immediately game to try (this is perhaps unsurprising, considering that the veteran naturalist and broadcaster has a 65-year career of around-the-world badassery under his belt). To visitors, Chamonix is best known for its skiing and mountaineering, but Gunton has a particular fondness for the dramatic changes that can occur from season to season. "It's a place with two lives," he says. "In the spring those dramatic barren cliffs erupt in wildflowers." Plus, it's not all that hard to experience the rugged terrain, even if you're not outdoorsy. "Even if you’re down in one of those big towns, you can get into a cable car and suddenly be at the roof of the world," he says. As for hot air ballooning? It's a lot easier than it looks. As Gunton puts it, "It's one of the most hardcore experiences that’s actually easy to get.”
Madagascar
"Madagascar's unique place in biological history means that it has an enormous number of endemic creatures," says Gunton. That's why he's been there so many times through his years at the BBC. Still, he concedes that the biggest stars of the island are the lemurs, which play a large role in the series. We see a baby lemur learning to navigate forests of spiny branches with its mother in the "Islands" episode, and in "Jungles" we follow an Indri lemur (the largest of its kind) swinging from tree to tree, resulting in some of the most remarkable footage of the whole series. Perhaps not so high up on the globetrotter's bucket list: a swarm of more than one billion locusts decimating huge swaths of land in "Deserts." There's a good reason Madagascar is featured so heavily in the series, says Gunton. It's that diversity of terrain—from the arid south to the lush jungles and pristine beaches of the north—that make it unlike anywhere else on Earth.
Komodo Island, Indonesia
The Komodo dragon, the largest lizard on the planet, can grow up to ten feet long and weigh more than 155 pounds. They're only on Komodo island along with a handful of other nearby islands, stretching east of Java in Indonesia. You can watch two dragons fight to the near-death in the "Islands" episode—and then get within feet of these dinosaur-like predators in the wild, with the help of a ranger guide. Armed with just a stick, the ranger holds it out as a way to keep the dragon at bay, while you watch it bask in the sun, warming up its blood enough for the next hunt. Gunton adds that the island is actually also known as one of the best dive sites in the world. He recommends making a larger trip out of it, flying into Bali and island-hopping east for a mix of spectacular dives and the kind of back-to-basics experience that you can only get from staring a giant, steak-knife-toothed predator in the eyes.
Namib Desert, Namibia
The Namib, meaning 'vast place,' is "best viewed from the air," says Gunton. The Planet Earth II team does just that, naturally, using advanced aerial photography, including drones to offer a rarely-seen perspective of the desert, home to some of the largest dunes in the world. The Namib's uniqueness comes from its location, on the southwest corner of Africa, where you can stand on a dune and see desert to the horizon in one direction, and then, separated by a single two-lane road, the open ocean. Gunton recommends a south-to-north trip in Namibia to see it all. Start in Lüderitz in the south, home to large populations of penguins and dolphins, and make your way slowly over 700 miles north to the Etosha pan, where you can spot four of the Big Five (buffalo are the only ones you won't find here). On the way, stop along the Skeleton Coast (think: shipwrecks obscured by dense fog) and at Sossusvlei, where you can scale sand dunes over 1,000 feet high.
Northern Territory, Australia
"It's one of the natural wonders of our world," says Gunton of the Australian termite mounds in the "Grasslands" episode. If a termite mound doesn't sound like a wonder of the world, then you haven't seen these yet. These mounds are six-and-a-half feet tall—that's more than one million times the size of their creators—and stretch across the plains as far as the eye can see. The builders are known as 'magnetic termites' or 'compass termites' because the monoliths they create, as a rule, point north-to-south. It's a phenomenon that scientists still don't quite understand. Using camera stabilizers, the Planet Earth II crew offers 360-views of the intricate architecture and drones lend a bird's-eye-view of their scope across the landscape. For Gunton, who's seen his fair share of amazing things, this city of termite mounds "was one of the most memorable places I've ever been." The good news is that it's easy to get to: Just rent a car in Darwin and head south.
Planet Earth II airs on BBC America every Saturday through March 25.
