National Geographic : 1992 Apr
On Television Crater and Delta: Life and Death for African Wildlife At once a paradise and a prison for its lions and other animals, Tanzania's cliff walled Ngorongoro Crater "concen trates the essence of wild Africa under extraordinary circum stances," British filmmaker Richard Matthews says. Matthews calls the plight of one young hyena the saddest scene he saw in six months inside the hundred-square-mile caldera while filming "Crater of the Rain God." "The hyena-alone and lost dashed across the sunlit savanna. Out of the grass emerged other hyenas from a clan whose territory it had breached. The defenders brought down the interloper" lethal evidence of the struggle to survive in crowded Ngorongoro. The struggle has comic moments. Lured by the remains of a hippo, a lioness swims-reluctantly-to a mud bar. "No doubt about it," Matthews says, "these big cats detest water." One predator with no aversion to a watery hunt is the elusive Pel's fishing owl of Botswana's Okavango Delta. Recalls Botswanan Tim Liversedge, who made the film "Savage Paradise," "As a boy I read a description of fishing owls that said: 'A very large and rare owl ... reputed to eat fish and make a noise like the cry of a lost soul falling into a bottomless pit.' " His film reveals for the first time the fishing, breeding, and parenting behavior of this nocturnal bird. Daytime in the world's largest inland delta brings a new menag erie: the rapacious African fish eagle; the giant kingfisher; the horrific giant water bug. To capture it all, Liversedge devised camera stations "to observe delta activity by day and night, in the air and beneath the surface." "CRATER OF THE RAIN GOD," APRIL 12, AND "SAVAGE PARADISE," APRIL 19, WILL AIR ON EXPLORER, CABLE NETWORK TBS, 9 P.M. ET Four Alaska Families Brave Winter and Wilderness Meet the Korth family, the Haydens, the Wilsons, and the Browns. They're not exactly the people next door. Living far north in the remote interior of Alaska, miles apart, they receive mail only a few times a year-and may be America's most isolated families. Producer Mark Stouffer "set out to film the stories of some of the most remote inhabitants of North America, who are also living closest to pure subsistence." He ended up with a film that documents people and wilder ness in a remarkable study of the pioneering spirit. Stouffer found the families loving and gracious, inventive and tough-and fulfilled by their decision to go it alone. "I've eaten moose-brain-and-beaver-tail casse role," Stouffer says. "I've listened to hair-raising survival stories. These families lead lives as extreme as any you can imagine." "BRAVING ALASKA," SPECIAL ON PBS, APRIL 29, 8 P.M. ET MARKSTOUFFER NATIONALGEOGRAPHICEXPLORERAIRS ON CABLENETWORKTBS, SUNDAYSAT 9 P.M . ET. NATIONALGEOGRAPHICSPECIALSAPPEARON PBS; CHECKLOCALLISTINGS.