Colin Stafford-Johnson journeys through one of the most bewitching islands in the world featuring the wildlife and wild places that make it so special.
The ultimate two hour special on the wildlife and wild places of Cuba revealing enchanting animal behaviour set in stunning landscapes under the bluest skies in the Caribbean and all captured in 4K with the very latest camera technologies. Showcasing the natural magic of one of the Earth’s most intriguing countries, Emmy award winning wildlife cameraman Colin Stafford-Johnson takes viewers on an authored odyssey into the heart of Wild Cuba. The series reveals how sympathetic government polices allied to 50 years of blockades and isolation have preserved a time capsule of unspoiled landscapes and enchanting animals living under the bluest skies in the Caribbean.
Colin’s life-long obsession with wildlife was sparked by a Cuban stamp collection he found in his Grandfathers Dublin attic featuring exotic creatures straight out of a fairy-tale. Colin’s college thesis was on Caribbean wildlife and he is fascinated by the Irish connections with Cuba, from Che Guevara’s Irish Grandmother fuelling the revolutionary spark in that family to the stories behind the Havana Mansions still bearing names like O’Farrell & O’Reilly.
Exploring corners of this mysterious island that few outsiders have seen, Wild Cuba blends Cuba’s unique atmosphere and personality with the stories of wild places and wild animals found nowhere else on the planet — from the jumping crocodiles of the Zapata swamp to the bee hummingbird, the world’s tiniest bird, from thousands of crabs migrating en masse to giant bat eating boas that lie in wait for their easy prey. The film reveals a tropical paradise in many places as unspoiled as when Columbus first set foot on its glistening beaches over 500 years ago.
Cuba has some of the richest natural treasures in the Caribbean – 3,700kms of pristine coastline, mountain ranges still clothed in primeval forest, swamps teeming in swamp loving creatures. And much of it thriving because of Cuba’s revolution. Decades of a socialist conservation-minded government, American embargoes and minimal development have left an island largely unchanged in five decades. Whatever your politics, Cuba’s isolation has created a natural citadel in the Caribbean, an island truly apart.
Wild Cuba brings viewers back to a time just 50 years ago when the Earth’s wildlife seemed abundant and when there was still hope. It is a journey into a lost world that may soon disappear forever as outside forces focus on the sleeping prize. For all is about to change. Old rivalries are thawing, the gates are being prized apart.
Presented by Irish wildlife cameraman Colin Stafford-Johnson, the films follow him on a journey across wild Cuba from the eastern edges of the Guantanamo region to the southern reaches of the Zapata swamp. Along the way, he gives intimate personal insights into the wild animals and wild places he discovers during his journey.
The series is produced by Crossing the Line Films, the multi-award winning team behind some of the most celebrated wildlife films in the world in the last few years.
Episode 1
Colin Stafford-Johnson begins his Cuban journey in the south of the island in the great Zapata Swamp. This is the largest single protected area in the entire Caribbean and home to the very smallest bird in the world, the diminutive Bee Hummingbird. Colin ventures deep into the forests of Zapata observing this tiny creature which can be found nowhere else on earth. His next stop is Gardens of the Queen, 150 kilometres of islands, coral reefs and mangrove swamps which form one of the greatest barrier reef systems on earth. A night in Havana reveals some of the cities unlikely residents – African geckos. A long way from Ghana and Liberia this tropical house gecko stalks Havana’s city streets. Colin travels further east to the Guantanamo region where he witnesses a wildlife spectacle unique to the island – Cuban boa snakes hunting bats as they leave a cave in Humboldt National Park.
Programme 1 TX: Sunday 28th June at PM on RTÉ One