Stalking Leopards region 2 DVD

“A beautifully filmed, close-up chronicle of a male leopard’s fight for survival in South Africa’s Mala Mala Game Reserve”

Veteran filmmaker Kim Wolhuter is drawn to leopards by their absolute power, grace and beauty and the fact that they live in a world that is very difficult to penetrate.

In National Geographic’s Stalking Leopards he follows Tjololo, a four-year-old male leopard living in South Africa’s Mala Mala Game Reserve, as Tjololo comes of age in a pitiless and violent world.

He chronicles the young leopard’s fight for survival, a constant battle waged on many fronts, against many enemies.

To watch a leopard stalk is to understand the exact meaning of the word. To its prey, a leopard is everywhere and nowhere – one hundred and fifty pounds of sinuous strength and agility as silent and smooth as running water.

But for the young, inexperienced Tjololo, keeping his catch from hyenas requires skill, tough lessons and more than a few heated confrontations. Hyenas approach as he rushes to tree a freshly killed carcass, and Tjololo soon learns that success can be a matter of inches.

Stalking Leopards is an intimate story of Tjololo’s journey into adulthood: claiming territory, fighting old rivals, mating and killing. For Tjololo, amidst Africa’s wild cast of lions, water buffalo, hyena’s elephants and impalas, the only way to walk is proudly and alone.

Stalking Leopards won an Emmy award at the News and Documentary awards in 2003 for ‘Outstanding Individual Achievement’

Narrated by Keith David.

Filmed & produced by Kim Wolhuter for National Geographic (2001).

EXCLUSIVE: this DVD also contains an exclusive, 28 mins long bonus film, ‘Nights with Leopards’ filmed by Kim Wolhuter – it reveals what it took to make such a dramatic natural history documentary about this elusive cat. For nearly two years, Wolhuter lived in the bush with his wife and two young children while shadowing the solitary leopard.

Review:

“Renowned filmmaker Kim Wolhuter documents Tjololo, a young male leopard and his place in the community hierarchy. He witnesses Tjololo facing an eternal enemy, the hyena, over a hard-won kill. Leopards usually retreat, leaving the kill to the iron jaws of the hyenas. But on this memorable night, a momentary truce is declared as Tjololo refuses to concede and both animals share the carcass. Kim’s camera catches this and many other, never-before-seen behaviours of wild animals inhabiting the Mala Mala Game Reserve in South Africa. This lovely film will appeal to all big cat lovers”.

Hyena Queen region 2 DVD

“This is the intimate and amazing story of a spotted hyena clan in South Africa’s Mala Mala Game Reserve, as told through the eyes of world renowned wildlife filmmaker Kim Wolhuter”

‘Hyena Queen’ follows a true story of high drama in the Charleston clan, a family of spotted hyenas living on South Africa’s Mala Mala game park.

It’s a family drama, rife with power struggles, intrigue, sex and clan politics. The matriarch, Gork – a brutal, barren queen – is ousted from the clan. She begs to be accepted again, in heart wrenching displays of submission.

A new Queen, Nikita takes over and Gork is put firmly in her place as the lowest ranking clan member. But while Nikita accepts leadership of the clan, a huge pride of lions threatens their existence. Can she keep them alive and thriving and grow the clan?

This story is possible thanks to eight years of effort by filmmaker Kim Wolhuter, who captures the unfolding saga, achieving an extraordinary degree of acceptance by the clan. Weave in intimate personal character portrayals of clan members, the new matriarch sneaking off to mate with a nomadic male and the nightly survival strategies of this highly successful African predator, and you have an incredible and dramatic story that will give you a new appreciation for the African animal we love to hate.

- Learn how the females control every aspect of life in this matriarchal society

- Discover that the spotted hyena is closely related to the mongoose, not the dog

- Watch very intimate and close-up footage of cute hyena cubs

- Be amazed by the after-dark hunting scenes and see how a lion pride attacks the hyena clan.

Hyena Queen was nominated for the coveted Panda Award at the 2008 Wildscreen Film Festival.

To watch a short pre-view of this amazing film please have a look at the Festival website.

Filmed by Kim Wolhuter.

Narrated by Dilly Barlow.

Produced for National Geographic in 2006.

Reviews:

“Beautifully filmed story of these often reviled, yet very social predators. Kim Wolhuter’s close relationship with this hyena family has resulted in extraordinary footage. He set out to debunk the negative stereotypes that have long plagued hyenas by showing how intelligent, adaptable and social they are. Kim captured their story and shows us a dramatic and unusual year in the clan’s life.”

“Hyena Queen has some of the best close-up action that you will ever see in an wildlife documentary. You can almost touch the hyena cubs! I love this film, even though it is a bit graphic and gory, at times. See the world through the hyena’s eyes and discover another side of these very devoted mothers. The night time scenes are among the best I’ve come across. I don’t know how this filmmaker does it, but he sure knows how to come up with something unique.”

Predators at War region 2 DVD

“Table manners are out. Follow Africa’s five mega-predators as they struggle for survival in a cruel season of deprivation on South Africa’s Mala Mala Reserve”

To survive they must compete for the same resources using every physical and psychological weapon in their respective arsenals. Who will emerge as top predator? What will it take to survive?

Enter their minds, see through their eyes, and prepare to experience the battle for survival as never before in this stunningly filmed operation into the eat or be eaten world of Predators at War.

Award-winning wildlife photographer and former game warden Kim Wolhuter is ‘embedded’ with Africa’s five super-predators as drought ravages the once lush Mala Mala Private Game Reserve.

Now, as territories shrink, and the usual ‘rules of engagement’ explode into conflict, predator is pitted against predator in an all-out war for the area’s dwindling resources.

Witness an extraordinary clash of lions, hyenas, leopards, cheetahs, and African wild dogs as they unleash every weapon of their extraordinary biological arsenals in the epic struggle for survival.

From the perspective of the very creatures now pitted against one another, Predators at War reveals the ultimate inside look at animal survival through groundbreaking images, innovative story-telling and the visual language of war.

This is a double-length DVD, containing two programmes:

Part 1: The Survivors (approx 51 mins)
Part 2: The Combatants (approx 52 mins)

WARNING: contains graphic, real animal violence that may not be suitable for young children.

Narrated by Mike Secher.

Filmed & produced by Kim Wolhuter for National Geographic (2004)

Review:

“Watching these two episodes set my hairs on end. Incredible filming, lots of it close-up. I love the scene where a huge group of vultures steal a carcass from two cheetahs! A true ‘predators apocalypse’ with buffalo, impala and kudu being pursued relentlessly by lions, leopards, hyenas, cheetahs and wild dogs.”

Opp og sta, opp og ga – i dag gar ferden til Mala Mala, ei lita oy uti havet her. Like ved finner du oya der Tom Hanks spilte inn den filmen, Cast Away, om jeg husker rett.

Mala Mala

Ble henta pa resorten og frakta ut til marinaen. Der sa jeg en bat med norske flagg, og da kjente jeg at jeg savna hjem littegrann

Captain Cook Cruises

Sa gikk vi pa en bat, og 40 min etterpa var vi pa oya. Der snorkla vi litt, bada litt, kajakka litt, spiste litt, og spilte volleyball litt. Sa digg a vare der ute!

Pa turen hjem spilte de gitar og vi sang og koste oss.

Gitar og sang

Vel hjemme fikk jeg lane litt vaskepulver og fikk satt pa varmtvannet sa jeg kunne vaske litt klar. Var greit a fa litt reine klar. Sa fikk jeg tatt meg en varm og deilig dusj, de foregaende hadde vart meget kjappa da vannet har vart meeget kaldt.

Etter en voldsom middag og en deilig fijiol ble jeg narmest sjekka opp av en fyr. En fyr av typen som selger seg selv og sier akkurat det en tror du vil hore. Og jeg da, sto der og nikka og smila. Var jo helt ode her og ingen andre a snakke med. Kl var halv atte, sa jeg kunne ikke si jeg skulle sove. Kvart pa atte ga jeg opp og gikk og la meg. Ma jobbe litt med a avvise sanne folk. Tips og triks mottas med takk!