Wildest Islands

Situated 1000 kilometres west of Ecuador in South America, the Galapagos archipelago contains 13 main islands and a hundred or so smaller rocks and reefs. The region’s wilderness is so pristine and rich in life it altered our entire view of the natural world. Gigantic tortoises, sea-swimming lizards and cormorants that have evolved to no longer fly, are just some of the bizarre and unique creatures found here. Human influence has been so limited across the islands it allowed one man, Charles Darwin, to study and rethink the laws of Nature.

This film uncovers how all life on Sri Lanka centres on one precious resource: water. Unusually, two different monsoons visit the island each year, drenching the windswept coastal plains with weeks of torrential rain. For the rest of the year, the animals of the plains must endure months of drought. Elephants numbering in their hundreds gather on the shores of a vast lake in search of water. Bold Sri Lankan leopards stalk spotted deer visiting waterholes. Mugger crocodiles, confined within small pools, choose the dry season to mate. Bee-eaters dig nesting tunnels in the dusty ground, and troops of toque macaques battle for status and hierarchy in the island’s ancient Buddhist monuments.

Lying just off the coast of West Scotland, the Hebrides archipelago is made up of more than 500 islands and islets. Over 35,000 Grey seals choose one small beach to give birth and do battle for breeding rights. On other isles, some of the world’s largest gatherings of sea birds engulf precipitous cliffs in a bid to raise their young. On the Isle of Rum, Britain’s largest land mammal, the red deer, prepares for the annual rut, while Golden eagles patrol the skies anticipating their next meal. For thousands of years, people have battled with the Hebridean elements – the most treacherous on the planet and the roar from the world’s third largest whirlpool can be heard up to 16 kilometres away