INTERVIEW
Fully focused Biologist and filmmaker Chadden; (inset) filming emperor penguins for Frozen Planet
In conversation with...
CHADDEN HUNTER Wildlife biologist and filmmaker Chadden Hunter has worked on documentaries such as Planet Earth II and Frozen Planet – he talks to us about his passion for wildlife and travel Where did your interest in travel begin? I was born into a rather nomadic family in a remote corner of the Australian desert. My father was an exploration geologist, so I lived in places as diverse as Iran and Arizona. How did you get into filmmaking? Growing up, all I wanted to do was share my love of nature with others, so I pursued a career in academia. While completing my PhD on gelada baboons in Ethiopia, I realized my research was doing little to change public perception. Farmers considered them pests and petitioned the government to cull them, so I snuck onto an Ethiopian chat show. The response was great and prevented the cull. The next
year, Sir David Attenborough and his crew filmed my monkeys for the Life of Mammals. My drift into wildlife filmmaking began.
penguins ascending from the depths. They had never seen humans before and came closer to check me out.
What has been the most Can you tell us about your memorable moment of upcoming projects? your career? I’m working on the next One of the most magical Attenborough series for the adventures was scuba BBC Natural History diving under Unit. I just got back TRAVEL Antarctic sea ice for from the Amazon HIGHLIGHT Frozen Planet. We and Alaska. We’ve “Southeast Asia has fascinating cultures side- been filming in drilled a manhole by-side with colorful through six feet of some amazing wildlife and delicious ice and descended locati ons and it will food.” into a world that felt be ready to show in like another planet. late 2019. With visibility 650 feet in gin-clear water, I felt like we Where else would you like were floating in space. I started to visit? seeing what I thought were I’m fascinated by Tibet and the particles in the water. As they got vibrancy of its Buddhism, set bigger I saw they were emperor against a Himalaya backdrop.
What’s something that you can never travel without? I’m a bit of a coffee addict, so I never travel without a thermos. I can’t count how many places I’ve been, from the top of a mountain to Angkor Wat, when I’ve pulled out a steaming hot drink and made the travelers around me jealous. Do you have any advice on how to travel responsibly? If you see travel companies doing good things – like reducing plastic or supporting a local women’s cooperative – get on social media and support them. Corporations are the big players, so encourage those making ethical business decisions by writing them a letter or tagging them on Twitter.
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