Africa: Eye To Eye With the Unknown [Blu-ray]

The movie starts in the Kalahari Desert first, and uncovers things about the desert that most of us never knew. They also show one perfect scene where so many different animals have congregated close together by a rare source of drinking water. It almost reminds you of the biblical account of the Garden of Eden, with so many different animals getting along so peacefully, until a pride of vicious marauding lions suddenly appear out of nowhere and interrupted the peace. They looked crazed while even attacking each other, before chasing the other peaceful animals away. The show also highlights a group of desert Giraffes, and shows one Giraffe being knocked out in slow motion, by another Giraffe that was competing for a female Giraffe to mate with. This documentary makes you feel that you're on an actual journey in Africa, all from the comfort of your living room sofa. It is much more than just the same old coverage about wildlife in Africa; this documentary is different because it gives you extensive detailed information about every region they visit. This film shows how the sand dunes in the Sahara desert, is constantly changing its shape in a time-lapse video replay. We also learn for the first time that there is a hidden underground lake in the Sahara Desert that is hundreds of feet deep, which may run the entire length of the desert. From there the series takes us on a journey to the Savannah, and sheds light on the largest lava lake in the world. This is a six part documentary, and after every part is over they take at least another 10 minutes to explain how they made this series and the video shots they captured, which makes the series even more interesting. With the near perfect video shots, and the perfect lighting effects, this is what sets this film apart from others in the same naturalist field. This is another must have, for your collection of the BBC Earth Series documentaries.

This documentary strikes a perfect balance between entertainment and education. The film shows events that have never been filmed before like an unforgettable fight between male giraffes over territory, which just sticks in my mind. This is like no other documentary I have ever seen. It concentrates more on the unique behaviors of animals by region as they interact with their own and other species. It shows some less well known animals and interweaves them with the more common ones by showing their dependence on each other, like lizards waiting for lions to sleep to catch flies off their faces. Unlike many documentaries, all the action here takes place against gorgeous panoramic terrain backdrops of endless blue skies, desert sands, and rain forests. Some parts are funny, heart warming and make you feel like hopping a plane to Africa just to see all of this. Others scenes are so unique and amazing that you'll have to replay them just to believe what you saw. The 6th episode, "The Future" is more sobering as you realize that all of this great beauty and diversity could just cease to exist. There are also a couple stories that are sad and even distressing, where you wish the photographers would just do something. At the end of each episode are 10 minute "Eye to Eye" segments that explain how the filming was done. Africat is as in depth as previous BBC series with more of a focus on animal behavior. It is well tied together with excellent and informative narrative and the video and audio will blow you away. It does not repeat footage from previous BBC series. The use of slow motion photography and outstanding macro work really show off HDTV capabilities and blu-ray technology and allow one to silently marvel at the form, adaptation, and splendor of these rarely seen in nature animals. David Attenborough is at the top of his game and while he appears in a some of the scenes his main function is as a trusted and familiar companion joining us on this magnificent adventure that was four years in the making. NOTE: This series aired in January on the Discovery Channel but with a different narrator, Forest Whitaker. Some scenes were cut in order to allow for commercials and the length of the time slot. UK RELEASE: This has also been released in the UK but as a 3 disc set with an UV and digital copy. It is also narrated by David Attenborough and contains the same 6 episodes. It appears that the episodes are just spread more across the 3 discs. I heard it contains the same extras BUT the run time is 15 minutes shorter than the US version? (UK digital copies are not playable outside the UK)

Beautiful, informative, excellent! Very clear and crisp Blu-ray video on a wide range of African wildlife and geography. Although this covers some familiar ground, it also introduces new video and facts. Very memorable. I think I will always remember this one!! I really got to know how the geography affects climate and then life. I used maps of Africa to follow along. I found that helped a lot. Some things to look for: --Antelopes or gazelles running through a mountain gap during a change of topic. --Drop of water on a leaf acting as a lens through which you can see a flying insect. --Social life of rhinos. --Kite diving down captured from under water. --Butterflies flying upstream to meet at a mountaintop. --Many more. One of the best!!

The slice of life animal scenes are so poignant that you get the impression that it must have taken months of pacience to capture. They clearly didn't just give a high resolution camera to a couple of interns and ask them to film whatever they could in Africa. Cinematography, direction, and editing are first rate. The 2-DVD set divides Africa into its major geographic ecosystems, and is a very entertaining tour of the uniquely wild and pristine swaths of land within this amazing continent. A "making of" third disc is included. The fact that legendary naturalist David Attenborough is involved and is the narrator is the icing on the cake. He doesn't appear on screen as often as in the classic productions that he orchestrated in decades past, but he does appear occasionally and his voice and delivery are as captivating as ever. I highly recommend it.

Je possède pas mal de documentaires dans cette collection BBC Earth (anciennement BBC-2E). Pour ce qui concerne l'Afrique, j'ai déjà 1 bluray : The Great Rift, peu connu en France. Ce coffret Africa est composé de 3 blurays avec 7 chapitres : -disque 1 : Kalahari- Savannah -disque 2 : Congo-Cape -disque 3 :Sahara-The Future-Outs of Africa Filmés en HD et publiés en 2013, les chapitres reprennent la forme classique de cette collection Earth. La durée du chapitre proprement dite est d'environ 48-50 mn, suivie d'un making-of de 10 mn, soit au total 58-60 mn pour chacun des 7 chapitres. La qualité de l'image la beauté des paysages et le fait de prendre des vues aussi proches des animaux me bluffent toujours. Pour ce coffret, c'est toujours Sir David Attenborough qui fait la narration. Gros problème : l'audio est anglaise , et les sous-titres pour malentendants sont également en anglais. Jusque là pas trop de problèmes en ce qui me concerne pour comprendre. Mais dans ce coffret la BBC a compliqué l'audio en rajoutant de l'audio descriptif non sous-titré ! Attention à se retrouver dans cette arborescence. Coproduite avec France Télévision, et déjà diffusée me dit-on sur France 5, l'éditeur aurait pu faire l'effort de mettre des sous-titres français. En attendant pour un prix pas trop élevé (19-20 € sur Amazon France) ne vous privez pas de ce magnifique coffret en bluray sur cet énorme continent où la faune est en danger. Vous serez récompensés par la qualité du spectacle sur vos écrans HD.

Loved it, thanks!. Grate film. Lots of information and interesting footage in colour!

Premesso che BBC EARTH è già di per sè una garanzia, mi permetto di affermare che questa è un opera che non dovrebbe mancare nella videoteca di un cultore o appassionato del documentario naturalistico.La narrazione è coinvolgente e stimolante e firmata da un divulgatore scientifico che è un riferimento in materia e non ha bisogno alcuno di presentazioni (David Attenborough), la qualità tecnica dei filmati e delle riprese è di assoluta eccellenza, strepitosa a dir poco, sequenze che a 1080p lasciano spesso letteralmente a "bocca aperta". Aggiungere altro non serve, bisogna solo godersela quest'opera davanti ad un buon televisore Full HD.

Excelente en todo: la calidad de la producción, los animales seleccionados, la edición, la narración, el "como se hizo" al final de cada capitulo.... Attenborough en su máxima excelencia. Y esa escena de las jirafas es sublime!. Una obra maestra en documentales de naturaleza

日本盤のアフリカが少々高額だったので、 不安ながらもインポート盤を購入しました。 一言で言えば購入して良かったです😄 BBC好きの私には納得のいく 素晴らしいBlu-rayです。