1 EPS X 60 MINS
YEAR:2006
SYNOPSIS:
Africa. The place where scientists say the first tiny apes dared to stand upright. A place where natural selection wrought astounding creatures.
Yet now, after several hundred million years, the continent's spectacular legacy is in mortal danger. But in a small country, the war to save Africa's singular heritage is being waged. On the western edge of the continent there is an unlikely Eden, where relentless predators stalk prey in lush forests. And clever primates, who have not yet learned to fear humans, live right alongside the mysterious forest elephant, which rules with size and majesty. This is the Eden called Gabon.
In Gabon, against all odds, one visionary African leader and a group of dedicated scientists, including Stephen Blake, decided to defy the conventional wisdom - wisdom that insists oil, mining and logging are the best way to bring prosperity. Out of the wild, they have created 13 new national parks. Now they are developing an eco-tourism industry to sustain them.
To make the national parks a real success, scientists and officials must understand and manage the complex world they now control - including animals, like the forest elephant, which are little known to us. If protecting Gabon's natural resources proves to be less profitable than exploiting them, the parks could be doomed, along with the wondrous creatures within them.
A vast, endless landscape, filled to the horizon with creatures that seem almost mythical. Once upon a time, this was the only Africa that existed. Now it's almost gone. But hope still exists in this magical, forbidding place known as Gabon.
LICENSING PERIOD: 01.12.2013 TO 17.01.2016
LICENSING RIGHTS: FREE TV SATELLITE RIGHTS FOR KUWAIT
