When producer Peter Fison asked if I wanted to film cheetahs in Kenya for his new production Night on Earth, I wasn’t really interested. That’s not to say cheetahs aren’t incredible creatures – of course they are. But I have filmed them a lot… and I mean a lot. People tend to go for the same stories, and often even the same individuals. Jamie McPherson
But, as Peter explained, this would be different – and the clue was in the ‘night’ part of the title. Peter wanted me to film cheetahs in complete darkness. It would be a huge technical challenge, and it would be dangerous.
I was in!
I’ve done a fair bit of night-filming in my time, but it was all static and using cameras that created images more akin to an etch-a-sketch than anything you’d watch on TV. I loved the idea of combining my skill in tracking-vehicle work with shooting at night using the latest tech.
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Peter had been doing his homework on kit and had put together a crack team: himself, a super-talented producer and director, and owner of no warm clothing (he ended up wearing dressing gowns from the lodge to keep warm); Louis Labrom (the Shotover camera technician and second camera); and Bazil and Sammy, legendary drivers in Kenya.
Between them, Bazil and Sammy have more experience of driving for film crews than anyone else on the planet. They can spot an animal from so far away they could work for NASA’s deep space programmes. They can also drive in complete darkness, like Jedi guides, using only the faint glow from headlights covered in red filters (to avoid impacting animals whose eyes are adjusted to darkness) to navigate the rough terrain.
Well, almost. As we were about to find out, driving in the dark is relatively high risk.
When in a filming vehicle during the day, crew members tend not to wear seatbelts, as you are generally driving slowly on known tracks, and need to move around to operate cameras and to spot wildlife through the roof hatches.
Perhaps foolishly, we adopted the same approach for this shoot – only we would be driving at night, off road and at the speed of a cheetah. Which most people know is pretty fast.
We knew the cheetahs were active at night thanks to the work of Dr Femke Broekhuis of the Mara Cheetah Project. Her radio-collar studies had shown that during the full moon, cheetahs often travel great distances.
Her theory was that the cats were also hunting during this time, and we hoped to help her prove it. That cheetahs could potentially sprint at more than 60mph with only the light of the moon to guide them was an incredible thought.
We got ready for the first night’s shoot, rigging a lowlight camera into our Shotover camera system, and rigged this to the 4x4. We had a liberal application of gaffer tape, two of the best drivers in the world, a few flasks of tea and a spare dressing gown for Peter. We were all set!
The key to filming a cheetah hunt is to be in the right place at the right time. Not only did we have to keep up with the predators, but we also had to locate any prey before they did – and then line them up so we could film the chase.
There was a lot of squinting into the moonlit plains, trying to pick out topi or wildebeest before the cheetahs did. When we first spotted the five-strong coalition of males closing in on their prey, it was an incredible thing to witness.
Sammy and Bazil somehow drove as if it was broad daylight. Their skill behind the wheel was a combination of their incredible knowledge of the area and their amazing eyesight. The fact that the area had recently been ravaged by a bushfire, and all the familiar features had vanished, seemed to be no obstacle whatsoever.
Even with the latest camera tech, we could only film during the full moon and a couple of nights either side. Outside of this window, there wasn’t enough light to get decent images. So our opportunity was fleeting.
The first night went well, and we got some great shots in the bag. On the second night, we were hoping for more of the same. We were tracking alongside the males under the moon, Sammy behind the wheel. Like the previous night, he was speeding along as if it was two o’clock in the afternoon.
The males were closing in on a gazelle, and we were following every second of the action. It was incredibly exciting stuff, and our eyes were glued to the unfolding drama. Driving over the freshly burned ground, the smell of smoke was intense and the Earth so black that we had no reference to the world around us. The sensation was like flying through space!
SLAM!
Suddenly, everything went completely black and we were all thrown forwards.
Sammy had no idea there was a freshly dug ditch bisecting the plain, created as a firebreak. The 4x4 came to an abrupt and unceremonious halt, its front end angled sharply downwards.
We all groaned in the darkness and variously picked ourselves up from our positions, thrown into footwells and wedged between seats. Nobody spoke as we slowly took in what had happened. Then, one by one, we clambered out of the upended vehicle, checking for any obvious damage to crew and kit. We were all a bit shocked, especially Sammy, who had never so much as stalled his vehicle before.
Peter, still in his dressing gown, immediately did the rounds and checked everyone was OK. Luckily, nobody was hurt, and the kit seemed intact.
Miraculously, the expensive Shotover system had narrowly missed smashing into the ground due to the angle of the ditch. We hadn’t even spilled any tea. The only thing we did lose was the head of the Lego Deadpool mascot my son had donated for the shoot.
With a bit of digging, we were able to reverse the 4x4 out, dust ourselves down and have a cup of tea before heading back out to try and re-find the cheetahs.
Despite our narrow escape with the landscape, we had much to take away from our shoot. We had been able to prove Femke’s theory, capturing stunning hunting behaviour that had never been filmed before. Peter learned the value of warm clothing. And we all learned that when you feel like you’re doing warp-speed in space, it’s probably worth slowing down to check for ditches.
More by Jamie
- "We were in a small boat in the deadly, croc-infested Zambezi River, just metres from the edge of Victoria Falls. Then the engine spluttered and cut out...”
- "A flying block of ice the size of a truck nearly knocked our helicopter out of the air” – A stark reminder of the colossal power of nature
- "There was a loud ‘CRACK.‘ The filming vehicle was falling rapidly through the sea ice, and we had seconds to escape.” What you don't see on Netflix's Our Planet
