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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Tuesday 6 augusT 2019

Series aims to tell wildlife stories from different view

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY efforts to preserve wildlife,
Associated Press and has spent time touring
NEW YORK (AP) — Lupita the national parks of her
Nyong’o remembers clear- homeland where she got
ly the first time she touched to marvel at the beauty of
a giraffe. She was 5, and it animals up close. So when
was part of her childhood she was recruited by Si-
education growing up in mon Fuller to narrate the
Kenya to appreciate the new Discovery docuseries
wildlife around her. “Serengeti,” which follows
“They weren’t exotic, they the trials and tribulations of
were there,” she recalled. animal families including li-
Over the years, the Oscar- ons, baboons, hyenas and
winning actress has been elephants, it was an ener-
involved in conservation getic yes.

This image released by Discovery shows a Zebra stampede from episode four of “Serengeti,” a
six-part series premiering August 2019.
Associated Press
But it also attracted her for is usually about what they the story, so we were al-
another reason. do in dramatic moments ways feeding off what
“I’ve never heard any where you see something happened, when chang-
one like me narrate these happen in their lives. This is ing the story line as it hap-
documentaries,” she said, kind of more personal. It re- pened,” Downer said. “We
speaking of her African lates to human behavior,” have to start identifying
heritage, in a recent inter- he said. stories early; we have to
view with The Associated “We could see ourselves abandon story lines if they
Press. “I was really excited reflected in them, because weren’t going to work. So it
for the opportunity to nar- we see them as animals became a process of ac-
rate my own world.” as complex in many ways tually thinning out the ma-
In “Serengeti,” which de- as we are, and having to terials that we had so we
buts Sunday at 8 p.m. on make the same life choic- could tell the most dramat-
the Discovery network, es but in very different en- ic and true-to-life story that
Nyong’o’s voice takes vironments, where it’s all we could from the materi-
viewers on a journey fol- about survival of the family als that we have. “
lowing several species that and about jealousies and Drones were used to keep
were tracked in the mas- rivalries and many things track of the animals when
sive Serengeti in Tanzania. that, you know, the human regular cameras lost sight
Filmmaker John Downer, world encounters.” of them; Fuller said a drone
a veteran wildlife docu- The series produced by camera was used to cap-
menter, was tasked with “American Idol” producer ture a devastating moment
zeroing in on the familial dy- Simon Fuller, who was in- when one animal was killed
namics of various species, spired by his own experi- by a snake.
like Kali the lioness, who is ences watching wildlife While there uplifting mo-
ousted from her pride in the on safari and his own time ments, there also were
first episode because she’s spent in the Serengeti. tragedies on the Serengeti
mated outside of it. She’s They were able to film on that may bring tears to the
now forced to protect and the Serengeti Reserve, a eyes, as it did for one vet-
feed her young cubs with- private area next to the eran crew member, who
out the help of her family. national park, away from witnessed the death of a
Bakari, a baboon, is seen tourists, which helped them young member of a clan
fighting for the affection of gain unfettered access to and wished he could have
a female baboon who has the animals. been able to intervene.
given her affections to the “The beautiful thing about “(He) said ‘We couldn’t
ruler of the pack. Mean- some of these reserves is because we didn’t want to
while Tembo, an adoles- that it could be one hun- interfere with nature or that
cent elephant, is trying to dred years ago it could be scene.’ And he was sob-
find his way and place af- a thousand years ago. The bing,” Fuller remembered.
ter his mother gives birth time doesn’t exist. . it’s sud- “That’s the difference in
again. denly their world not ours,” this show. That’s the differ-
Downer said “Serengeti” he said. ence.”
differs from other nature Thousands of hours of “It’s kind of the springboard
programs because it brings animal interactions were for his entire arc in the se-
the viewer into the world of filmed over the course of ries, but what I love about
the animals in a more inti- two years and then whit- Bakari is the learning curve
mate way. tled down to six hours. he goes on,” she said. “It’s
“We’re not seeing them just “The big thing was spend- really, really, really touch-
sort of as you would within ing time with the animals ing to witness his journey,
the documentary which and letting them inform that’s my favorite.”q