"What would David Attenborough do?” Gordon Buchanan on coming face to face with big cats
The wildlife filmmaker on his close call with a polar bear and why hanging out with big cats is less scary than driving.
The wildlife filmmaker on his close call with a polar bear and why hanging out with big cats is less scary than driving.
The most ferocious of felines are the stars of Big Cats 24/7, a BBC documentary in which the nocturnal behaviour of lions, cheetahs and leopards is captured in depth for the first time, using military-grade thermal imaging cameras.
Following the success of Series One, Series Two begins on Friday 27 February with the programme's team of elite filmmakers returning to Botswana to check in with the same animals that were featured in the 2024 series.
Wildlife filmmaker Gordon Buchanan, 53, is one of the presenters. “People always ask if I would ever go back and revisit animals I’ve spent time with,” he says. “That’s the great thing about a returning series like Big Cats 24/7 – the audience is keen to know what happens next to a particular character. You can find out if that little cub reaches adulthood, and what happens to those big pride males.”
While we wait to be transported back to Africa, Saga Magazine caught up with Gordon about his life and career so far.
“I've spent a long time working with big cats over the years, and they’re big scaredy-cats really. The first time, it’s nerve-wracking and you’re concerned about your safety, but you realise they’re very risk averse.
“Lions and tigers have been persecuted by people for tens of thousands of years, so they're wary of humans. But while cats are cautious, bears are curious. That can put you at risk, especially with polar bears, because they’re at the top of the food chain. A weedy little human being doesn’t concern them.
“Once, while filming in Svalbard in Norway, we built a see-through Perspex box that we called ‘the ice cube’. But there was one bear who was cheeky. She was the fattest around, which is a compliment for a bear. We called her 'Fat Frieda'. I was in the cube when she showed up, and, instead of hunting seals, she spent a good 40 minutes hunting me, trying to find a weak spot in the box. That clip went viral, and it’s been seen by many millions of people over the years.
“I was outwardly calm, but inwardly terrified. Still, I thought, ‘Let’s just do my job’: capture the images, tell the story, describe the experience. There’s a real adrenaline surge being in a situation where you're so close to an animal that could quickly end your life. It’s easy to let panic take over, and that’s when you make mistakes."
“In my head, I thought, ‘What would David Attenborough do?’ Well, he wouldn’t have got himself into that situation in the first place!
“The ultimate truth, though, is that people scare me far more than lions, tigers and bears.
"I spent several months last year in lion country, but today I’m doing the most dangerous thing I’ve done for a while: driving on the motorway for six hours. That’s genuinely much more dangerous than hanging out with lions in a vehicle with no roof and no doors.”
“I feel embarrassed when people suggest that I’m the next David Attenborough. It’s like winning the dads' race at sports day, even though you’re a little out of shape, and then someone coming up and saying: ‘You could be the next Usain Bolt.’ It’s always a thrill for your name to be in the same sentence as someone so legendary, but those shoes are impossible to fill.
“It’s flattering, but even if I’m still working at the same age as Sir David, he's utterly irreplaceable. If the Mona Lisa was to go missing from the wall of the Louvre, what would be put in its place? Nothing. It would remain vacant.
"They say not to meet your heroes, but there are exceptions to every rule, and Sir David did not disappoint. He’s got that intellect and wit and status and real enthusiasm. Even after everything he’s seen, he was fascinated by my work. I realised I’d had experiences that even he hasn’t had. While we’ve laboured in the same vineyards, we might not produce the same vintage of wine.”
“Out of all my BBC series, the Lost Land documentaries were especially remarkable, because we got to find new species of mammal. It was mind-blowing. We discovered the world’s largest species of rat, in the crater of the extinct volcano Mount Bosavi in Papua New Guinea.
“It was about a metre and a half from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail. I’ve seen some fairly large rats in Glasgow, where I live, but nothing as big as this. It was the size of a King Charles spaniel, with an infinitely longer tail.”
“Growing up on the Isle of Mull, I was always building dens and swings, out on boats, climbing trees, getting dirty. It was this amazing playground. I struggled at school, as I’m pretty sure I’m dyslexic, which would account for my lack of engagement and my propensity to daydream.
“Nature was an escape from a turbulent home life. My folks divorced when I was about three years old, and my mum remarried a really violent man. That was something we were witness to for much of my childhood – he was around from when I was eight to when I was 15. I feared my mum was going to be killed by this man. It was deeply troubling but never discussed. I ran away to the outdoors as a form of distraction.
“I’ve carried that desire to explore into my adult life. I’m just exploring far-flung corners of the wild world instead of local islands and mountains.”
If you want to follow in Gordon's footsteps and go in search of big cats, Saga has a selection of luxury safari holidays, some of which will give you the chance to spot the Big Five - lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo
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“Juggling my job and family has sometimes been a struggle. I’ve seen many failed marriages in the wildlife film industry, because people would put their work before their families. I always wanted to be there for my wife and kids, but my career took off just as we had children.
“Thankfully, I realised quite quickly that it wasn’t sustainable to be away as much as I was. Back in 2011, I had a bit of a breakdown caused by burnout. I reassessed my work-life balance and, since then, I think I’ve got it as good as it could possibly be.
“I would be away for four months of the year, but for the other eight months I was essentially a stay-at-home dad, while my wife Wendy, now 56, worked full-time (she runs her own TV company). I’ve got a great relationship with my kids, Lola, 22, and Harris, 20. In the early years, Wendy would worry about my safety, but now she trusts that I know what I’m doing.”
“Having more confidence. At 53, I definitely don’t feel mature. Anyone who knows me well would not call me a grown-up.
“Getting old does not mean you have to grow up.”
“I wish I’d checked in more often with loved ones. Thirty years ago, mental health wasn’t widely recognised, and there have been times when I didn’t see that people needed some help.”
“Community before career. The people that will pick you up when you fall – they're the most important.”
“Meeting Ann Gordon, a restaurant owner. One rainy winter night, I knocked on her door to ask for a job in her kitchen, and that changed the course of my life because her husband, Nick, was a wildlife filmmaker who invited me to be his assistant in Sierra Leone.
“It was pure luck that her house just happened to be on my street – there were lots of other restaurant owners I could have tried, but she was closest.”
(Hero image credit: NHU / BBC Studios / Lindsey Parietti)
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