CLAWS ENCOUNTER
GORDON Buchanan was nervously trying to keep out of the eyeline of the hungry hyena pack as he crossed the Kalahari plains on foot, searching for his new target. The Scottish star of wildlife films had been trying to catch up with the world’s fastest land animal for seven years and, finally, the cheetah was in his sights as it moved in for the kill.
The predator pounced on her prey and the cameraman turned presenter smiled delightedly – even though the hard work had only just begun.
The Dumbarton-born animal expert has been desperate to work with the big cats for years and is celebrating ten years of his smash-hit t Family and Me series by visiting Savannah and her four tiny cubs in South Africa.
Like all of his most successful shows, there ere is an inherent struggle facing the family he follows ollows in the episodes, on BBC Two on January 5.
He said: ‘I’ve always wanted to film cheetahs. heetahs. They are extraordinarily beautiful animals mals and clinical predators, but the thing a lot of people eople don’t realise is how difficult life is for them. m.
‘They are the most efficient of all the cats s but they have this pressure from other animals imals they live alongside. They can run super-fast ast and catch food, but they’ve got to make sure they hey and their young eat as fast as they can and get t out of there before they are detected.
‘It’s like sitting down to Sunday lunch and cramming it down your neck before the bully who lives down the road kicks down your door and tries to steal it from you. It’s unbelievable what they go through.’
The 48-year-old knows his up-close adventures with some of the most dangerous animals in the world – such as walking only a few hundred feet from deadly hyenas or sidling up to a cheetah – might make him appear like a madman.
The presenter has been charged at by giant gorillas, come face-to-face with hungry polar bears and been at the mercy of wolves – all while delighting millions.
HE believes his smash-hit series ies is all thanks to the devoted ed parenting of a mid-western rn American black bear named ed Lily. Mr Buchanan said: ‘It It evolved very naturally. We were filming bears in Minnenesota, in this big study group of about 15, and naturally it just seemed to make sense that the most compelling story lay with one family.
‘So the animals really wrote that into being. Looking back now, it’s such an obvious thing, but we edited the material and it just happened to be from one family, dealing with all their trials and tribulations.
‘Afterwards, I wanted to do this with other animal families and the response we got from the Bear Family and Me series showed it really does strike a chord with people, particularly a family audience.
‘I hate using the word because it’s the job that I do, but it is a privilege to be able to follow these animals, and I realise how fortunate I’ve been to follow these animals in a way few people have been able to.’
He followed up the bear films by camping with snow wolves on Ellesmere Island, in the Canadian Arctic circle. Then there were polar bears in Svalbard – where a Perspex pane was all that stood between him and some truly massive jaws – as well as reindeer in Finland, gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and elephants in Kenya.
He then spent time with grizzly bears in Russia, and lynx, also in Russia, for last year’s series.
Most of those animals are dangerous predators, but Mr Buchanan insists that while he has had plenty of hairier encounters in his younger days, such as being shot at in Sierra Leone, there has been only one moment of real fear in his Family and Me decade.
Luckily the father of two, who has more than 30 years’ experience filming the natural world, knows how to stay on the right side of risky.
So when a massive Grauer’s gorilla named Chimanuka charged at him, he recognised it was just a test.
And when he was encircled by snow wolves, he knew they were merely curious, not sizing him up as a potential meal.
He said: ‘I’ve been working with wild animals for 30 years now and I’ve had close calls in the past.
‘But despite appearances, there haven’t been any situations making the Family and Me programmes where I thought, ‘This is it’. There was one occasion where I slept out with the bears. They just settled down and were happy with me. I’d been following them the whole day and I just went down to sleep at the edge of the forest.
‘But then at the back of my mind I wondered what would happen if a pack of wolves came walking through the forest at night looking for food and found a sleeping Scotsman on the ground. Once I got that idea in my head, I found it very difficult to drop off to sleep.’
He added: ‘With the wolves in Ellesmere, I realised they weren’t interested in me that way, they weren’t looking to hunt me.
‘It was on TV recently. I turned it on at a random point and I almost shocked myself. There was this family of nine wolves all around me and I’m just happily walking across the tundra. If that was someone else I was watching, I’d think, “That person is a madman”.
‘But it’s only because I’d got to
I’ve slept out with bears and had a pack of wolves all around me
know them that I could do that. On social media, people have said some things are insane but they’ve seen something out of context and don’t realise it’s a process of getting to know the animals and where those lines are.’
Mr Buchanan has been gaining that experience since his teens.
Raised on the Isle of Mull by his mother, he loved wildlife at a young age and was taken with the idea of animal photography. He started his career at the age of 17, working in Sierra Leone with cameraman Nick Gordon. Since then he has filmed all over the world, making his name as a fearless explorer on series such as Big Cat Diaries and Planet Earth.
It was while making the Lost Land series with Steve Backshall in Guyana and New Guinea that we first got to see Mr Buchanan’s personality stepping out from behind the lens.
The follow-up series, Lost Land of the Tiger, shot in Bhutan, won him the hearts of the nation, after he broke down in tears at finally capturing the majestic cats on camera for the first time.
Since launching his own series, he has had to get used to fame and celebrity, and was made an MBE earlier this year.
He said: ‘It’s odd to begin with, when people start recognising you.
‘I’m hugely appreciative if people are watching these programmes because it’s my job and my passion.
‘People said I was the “bear man” – then I was “the polar bear man” and “gorilla man”. It keeps coming but the bears is the one that people seem to remember the most.
‘I never wanted to be a presenter but, over the years, I’ve realised that’s what I do. My job is about trying to convey that experience to people and definitely not to overshadow the animals.
‘I wouldn’t want to sit down and watch me on screen, I’d want to see these animals. But I’ve realised that people relate to human stories.’
As well as shooting to fame, Mr Buchanan has had to get used to becoming a festive fixture, with his early January slot an annual highlight for fans.
As a family man – he has a 17-yearold daughter, Lola, and son Harris, 15, with TV producer wife Wendy – he appreciates the popularity of his slot with viewers of all ages.
He said: ‘It’s a happy coincidence that the first one went out over the festive period and it became a thing, and then we started delivering for Christmas.
‘It’s a time of year when lots of people are with families and it’s great that we get people from the age of four to 94 watching these programmes. It’s the wildlife answer to Morecambe and Wise or Only Fools and Horses.’
The Scot is now being touted as a potential successor to Sir David Attenborough – once the Living Planet host eventually stops filming – with the 94-year-old broadcaster himself endorsing the younger man as ‘terrific.’
MR Buchanan said: ‘Just to be on his radar is amazing. I grew up watching his programmes and he’s my ultimate inspiration, so to find out he watched my programmes and values the work that I did, I was beyond flattered.
‘They say you should never meet your heroes but he’s just as wonderful as you can imagine.
‘As far as someone ever replacing David Attenborough, the best way to describe it is if you took the Mona Lisa off the wall in the Louvre and had to decide what to put up in its place. There’s no one like him who can be as relevant from the start of his career to the present day. He’s irreplaceable.’
Like Sir David, Mr Buchanan’s commitment to the natural world is total, and he has clearly been moved and affected by every encounter.
He fears for the future of the gorillas in the Congo, because the war-torn state’s instability makes vital eco-tourism harder to achieve, leaving the animals at further risk.
He is furious about the continuing trade in ivory, which threatens the elephants he spent time with in Kenya, and about the lack of effort to fight climate change which affects so many species.
Thankfully, the snow wolves are blissfully free of human interference, and he saw Russian grizzlies returned successfully to the wild.
While he became attached to all of the animals he has filmed, he has a clear pick for his favourite Family and Me moment.
He said: ‘The highlight of the last ten years was taking Wendy and the kids out to Minnesota and actually introducing them to the animals that I’d been filming.
‘In the last three years, my wife’s company has produced the Family and Me series, so she’s gone from enjoying watching these programmes to being the boss.’
My show’s the wildlife answer to Only Fools and Horses at Xmas
My Cheetah Family and Me will be on BBC Two on January 5 and 6 from 9pm.