What are some of the challenges or precautions the crew needed to take when filming the Mali elephants?
A. Mali elephants are rarely filmed. Because there was once a long history of these elephants being hunted and killed for their ivory tusks, they are very skittish, and filming this close to them was a tremendous challenge for our team. We needed to take additional precautions to avoid being sensed by the elephants. Despite the incredibly hot climate in Mali – where it regularly reaches 48 degrees Celsius – the production team could not use shampoo, lotion, soap or detergent-washed clothing while they were there. We also had to stay constantly downwind of the elephants so as to not be detected. But cameraman Bob Poole is very skilled in filming elephants and decoding elephant behaviour. Every day, Bob went out into the herd, knowing he had to stay downwind because if he did not, there were no trees to climb and his vehicle was too far away, and if the elephants caught his scent, he was in real danger of being attacked. But Bob brilliantly pulled it off – delivering I think the finest f
