Hollywood’s new favourite playground Part 3

When your country is as beautiful as Namibia, you know the whole world would want to experience it.

Namibia offers a lot to tourists, but they are not the only ones attracted to the Land of the Brave. Filmmakers and scouts from across the globe are starting to recognise the diversity the country has to offer. Everything from the dunes of the Namib Desert to the rivers in the north makes for beautiful cinematic shots.

Producers choosing Namibia as a shooting location turned the beautiful country into an even bigger tourist destination. There is still a long way to go, but the number of projects shot in Namibia every year keeps growing. The landscapes not only attract feature filmmakers, but also documentary film crews.

Game shows like The Amazing Race have been filmed in Namibia. Channels like National Geographic, Discovery Channel and Animal Planet also took note of the diverse wildlife and plant life on offer. These programmes gave locals a whole new perspective of the country they grew up in. Join us as we take a look at some more amazing locations that attracted filmmakers.

ETOSHA NATIONAL PARK

One of the biggest national parks in the country serves as the perfect location for shows trying to journal wildlife. The park features four of Africa’s big five along with hundreds of other mammal, reptile and bird species.

One of the first documentaries shot at Etosha was by David and Carol Hughes for National Geographic and it aired in January 1981. The documentary, called Etosha: Place of Dry Water, staked out some of the park’s waterholes and introduced audiences to the drinking, mating and feeding patterns of cheetahs, lions, springboks, bullfrogs and many other animals.

The documentary opened the door for filmmakers and soon many other productions made their way to Namibia. In 1997, actress Holly Hunter also made her way to the Etosha National Park to shoot In the Wild: Cheetahs with Holly Hunter. Hunter wanted to come face to face with her favourite animal, the cheetah.

In the show, Hunter was led through the park by biologists who explained the causes of the declining cheetah populations at the time. She also took part in the rehabilitation of a cheetah and its release back into the wild. These are just a couple of documentaries shot in the park – there are dozens more.

NATURE RESERVES

Etosha is not the only park that attracts film crews. A few private nature reserves have also served as shooting locations. Erindi Private Game Reserve is one of the most prominent filming destinations. The reserve served as the setting for an episode of The Amazing Race . Contestants then went on to explore more parts of the country.

The N/a’an ku sê Lodge and Wildlife Sanctuary attracted producers and actors alike. Actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt partnered with N/a’an ku sê to start the Shiloh Jolie-Pitt Foundation. The sanctuary has also served as a shooting location for various documentaries, including the Afrikaans docuseries, Groen: Namibië . Even the sanctuary’s three-legged cheetah, Lucky, became famous after being featured in a Volkswagen Golf advert alongside N/a’an ku sê owner, Marlice van Vuuren.

Next month we continue to explore the beauty of Namibia and how it attracts big budget film and television productions from across the globe.

Barry de Klerk