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The Planet Earth Diaries Season 1 Episodes
Season 1 Episode Guide
11 Episodes 2006 - 2006
Episode 1
Eye in the Sky
10 mins
Using the unique overhead heli-gimble camera the crew set out to film a pack of African wild dogs hunting in the Okavango Delta. It came down to the final hour of the final day of filming before they got the shot they wanted.
Episode 2
Snow Leopard Quest
9 mins
Over the course of three years the Planet Earth team tried to film the elusive Snow Leopard deep in the mountains of Pakistan. Their patience was eventually rewarded with the world's first footage of a Snow Leopard hunting.
Episode 3
Diving with Piranhas
9 mins
Cameraman Peter Scoones is on a mission to film Piranha in the wetlands of Brazil. They are considered the most dangerous freshwater fish, but prove difficult to track down, until Peter finally finds himself immersed in a feeding frenzy.
Episode 4
Into the Abyss
8 mins
The team spend a month amongst an enormous mound of bat guano in Gomantong Cave as they film the hundreds of thousands of cockroaches and other inhabitants that live there. The amazing Lechuguilla Cave of New Mexico provides a whole other set of challenges.
Episode 5
Wild Camel Chase
9 mins
The Gobi desert is home to the last truly wild Bactrian camels and their fear of humans makes them extremely difficult to capture on film. After weeks of trying the crew were becoming frustrated, but their expert local tracker wouldn't let them down.
Episode 6
Alive in the Freezer
10 mins
Cameraman Wade Fairley braved temperatures of minus 50C and near hurricane force winds as he filmed a breeding colony of 20,000 emperor penguins in the Antarctic. At the other end of the Earth on a Norwegian island, cameraman Doug Allan and assistant Jason Roberts get a bit closer to a polar bear than they bargained for.
Episode 7
Shot in the Dark
10 mins
Lions hunting elephants has only ever been seen by a handful of people, so the crew were up against it when trying to film this rare behaviour. Using infrared technology they were able to track a pride of lions through the African night, but when they finally got the shots they wanted it was a saddening experience for all.
Episode 8
Trouble in Paradise
10 mins
Looking at the challenges the team faced filming birds of paradise in Papua New Guinea.
Episode 9
Shark Quest
9 mins
Great white sharks capture their slippery seal prey by rocketing out of the depths and delivering a massive hit at the surface. To record a breach like this in ultra slow motion, which in real-time lasts just a second, was a supreme challenge for cameraman Simon King.
Episode 10
Forest Fliers
10 mins
The Planet Earth crew attempted to film the extraordinary baobab trees in Madagascar by attaching a camera - and cameraman - to a hot air balloon. With normal ballooning the idea is to go high, well above obstacles. When filming trees, however, it's better to get really close to your subject for the most dramatic shot possible. Not too close though.
Episode 11
Ocean Wanderers
10 mins
The camera team of Doug Anderson and Rick Rosenthal were determined to film oceanic whitetip sharks without a cage, relying only on observation, nerves and experience to dictate how long they stayed underwater in their company. The powerful sharks were initially shy of the dive team but, as more sharks arrived, they became bolder - their behaviour changing to that of the hunter.