In 2019 the Mwiba Wildlife Reserve and the BBC Natural History unit built a new water source in Tanzania with the dual aim of scientific observation and ecological experimentation. The source is bristling with cameras and observation zones and the series basically chronicles what happens when, in a rapidly drying world, a new bar opens.
Each episode is in a different "season" and is a bit of a jumbled narrative smorgasbord. Sometimes Packham and Al-Shamahi crouch in the tent, surrounded by nameless folk on laptops and talk about their lists - sometimes there's a bloke in a jeep - sometimes they get in a helicopter. As much as I found the idea of a nature documentary that "just sits still and counts animals" quite relaxing and slow TVish, it clearly doesn't feel this is enough and keeps trying to throw extra stuff at you to justify what is essentially a dry (wordplay) experiment being put on telly.
Still though, I do like a bit o' Packham, there's some remarkable footage in there - it's an interesting concept and I genuinely learnt a few solid facts but it would've been nice to get an idea of the engineering behind it too, to meet some of the team, and let the experiment unashamedly be the main focus.
Each episode is in a different "season" and is a bit of a jumbled narrative smorgasbord. Sometimes Packham and Al-Shamahi crouch in the tent, surrounded by nameless folk on laptops and talk about their lists - sometimes there's a bloke in a jeep - sometimes they get in a helicopter. As much as I found the idea of a nature documentary that "just sits still and counts animals" quite relaxing and slow TVish, it clearly doesn't feel this is enough and keeps trying to throw extra stuff at you to justify what is essentially a dry (wordplay) experiment being put on telly.
Still though, I do like a bit o' Packham, there's some remarkable footage in there - it's an interesting concept and I genuinely learnt a few solid facts but it would've been nice to get an idea of the engineering behind it too, to meet some of the team, and let the experiment unashamedly be the main focus.