Fumble in the jungle

by Tom Hugh-Jones, Producer/Director – Oceans and Jungles team

I know that working on Human Planet is supposed to be a dream job and don’t get me wrong, I love what I do, but it doesn’t half try your nerves sometimes.  This is definitely not the right career path for those who suffer from stress and nothing proves my point better than my recent experiences of filming in Jungles.   I’m sure some people will disagree, but for me this has to be the most challenging environment to work in.

For a start the weather is just too unpredictable.  Ok, so you know it is going to rain, but you don’t know when or for how long.  Every day we seem to be in a never ending cycle of setting up kit ready to shoot, only to have to pack it up again as the next rain storm passes by.  Rain is an ever-present menace, but it’s the 100 % humidity that causes the serious problems.  Not only does it make for unbearably sticky working conditions, it also has the habit of rendering our equipment totally unusable. Our extremely expensive camera lenses constantly fog up, making it look as if everything’s being shot in a misty 70s dream style.  No big deal, an hour of clenching the lens in the warmth of your groin area solves that issue.  The light is better now anyway and god knows what the tribe is doing, but it looks amazing…..OK, let’s shoot! But wait, not so fast!  what’s that flashing red light on top of the camera? Oh yeah, that’s the humidity warning and now our only option is to pack the camera body away in a hot-box for a day to drive out the condensation.  Well, never mind, there’s always tomorrow.

Drying the camera in the sunshine

After a wet night we get up ready for action,  only to find that now there’s an even more serious technical issue that’s beyond the cameraman’s fixing abilities. This is when the next jungle challenge presents itself.  Jungle locations are invariably very difficult to access, making communication with the outside world close to impossible.  When things break, trying to get replacements sent in usually means sending some poor local person off on a three day hike to the nearest village to meet an aeroplane we’ve had to charter at great expense.

Everyone waiting

It isn’t just kit that falls apart in the forest; it’s the crew as well.  Rain and sweat combine to ensure your clothes and shoes are never truly dry and pretty soon the rot sets in.  Any minor cuts from the myriad of spikes and spines you inevitably encounter soon becoming gaping septic wounds.  And to top it all there’s the constant assault from leeches, ticks, mosquitoes and all sorts of other unidentified parasites that are after your blood.  With every daily wash I seem to discover a new colony of animals that have chosen to make their home on my body.

Insects attack

Each time I go on a trip in the rainforest, I swear I’ll never do it again, but somehow I keep on finding myself coming back for more.  After I’ve got back home, slept in a proper bed, had about ten baths, been to the doctor to get my various tropical infections treated and then put in my insurance claims for all of our broken cameras; I begin to realise it is all these trials that make for my most cherished memories of filming for Human Planet.

My latest trip to film with the Korowai tribe of West Papua was a perfect case in point. We had all the usual battles with the elements, technical glitches and medical mishaps but having the opportunity to spend time with this tribe was perhaps my most amazing filming experience ever.  Although their culture is about as far as you can get from our western world, the Korowai welcomed us into their lives with amazing warmth and it was just incredible to see how they managed to live such rich lives with nothing but what they found in the forest.   What’s more I think we got a pretty stunning sequence but you’ll have to judge for yourselves when Human Planet comes out in 2011.

Korowai Children

Dale Templar – Series producer, Human Planet

I have no real idea what Tom is moaning on about!  He’s clearly not been in the UK enough this summer.  Based here in Bristol most of the time I am beginning to wonder if we’ve been secretly transported to the tropics.  I’m finding it impossible to plan anything outdoors; lots of crazy unpredictable rain, some of it torrential; lots of bugs  (swine flu is  rampant).  The only big difference is that it’s so cold and I hate the cold.  Summertime in the British urban jungle is not without its frustrations!