Chimanuka– a 200kg male silverback Grauer’s Gorilla gently grooms his 3 year old sons back, carefully picking out the burs and ticks…meanwhile wildlife filmmaker Gordon Buchanan captures the most amazing sequences of these gentle giants in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park, one of the last retreats of these elusive Gorillas. Can you imagine watching this in 360… live? This might become a reality very soon…
If you’ve all been watching the superlative “Gorilla Family and Me” on BBC 2 over Christmas, I am certain you’ve fallen for the protective 30 year old male silverback of the 25 strong group of Eastern Lowland Gorillas (or Grauer’s) and his adorable son, Marhale. The bond between these two is emotively captured in this compelling new series by executive producer Ted Oakes, DOP David Johnson and cameraman Gordon Buchanan.
As a lead contributor to this beautiful, heartfelt piece of storytelling, Ian Redmond OBE– (wildlife filmmaker, conservationist and ambassador for the protection of wildlife) has developed a pioneering way in which to view these amazing apes from the comfort of your own home. Yep you heard me, ZERO risk of being sat on by a Grauer, bitten by parasite ridden mosquitoes or blown to bits in a potentially volatile conflict. vEcotourism (http://www.vecotourism.org/) is a virtual reality project that uses interactive on-line tours connects you at home with conservation projects and local communities in ecologically and culturally sensitive areas worldwide.
Founded in 2004 by director Mark Laxer, current vEcotours are primarily being produced in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Indonesia to highlight the plight of the great apes in those countries, but as they grow they intend to tackle the challenge of conservation world wide. Ian films, presents and narrates all the content that is being brought to you on-screen on his travels and conservation work in these areas.
It’s innovative and fresh– allowing you to interact and take control of the content you want to see and find out in certain hot spots. Together with a team of volunteers (including myself), we are using our skills as editors, scriptwriter and social media associates to help Ian to be able to host these virtual eco tours and spread the message about the plight of the great apes.
What we’re looking to do is have LIVE tours of these beautiful biodiversity hotspots of the world, where you can join Ian and a co-host via 2 virtual live streams and pan the virtual 360 world of the apes. With these panos (panoramas) you have the power to be able to zoom in/out during the tour, whilst having a team of wildlife experts guiding you. Interactive chat boxes allow you to ask questions with live feedback from Ian throughout the tour. You can take a look at some of the content (non-live tours) and where Chimanuka and his family live RIGHT NOW!
http://www.vecotourism.org/panos/prototours/kahuzi_stump/
Of course, there’s nothing that can beat a real-life encounter with these magnificent great apes, but such virtual reality tours are a fantastic way to learn about the fascinating behaviour and life of an incredibly threatened species…the hope is it will inspire you to help protect the environment in which they live, take up a career in research or simply share your love for these gentle giants.
Time is running out for the largest Gorillas Species, as civil unrest continues to take its toll in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In the last 50 years, its range has decreased from 8,100 square miles to 4,600 square miles today…and less than 9000 individuals remain. Please do what you can for this remarkable species and donate/share if you can:
https://secure.gorillas.org/save-me?platform=hootsuite
REMEMBER tonight on BBC Two (27th December at 9pm to 10pm) is the last episode of the beautiful “Gorilla Family and Me.” So much emotion and storytelling with the 25 strong family, led by the charismatic Chimanuka silverback male. Shout out to my roommate who was the assistant editor- Charis May!