Customer Reviews

Echo and Other Elephants

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For those who owned the film on VHS - this is the original version with narration by David Attenborough and Cynthia Moss. The film is wonderfully filmed in Amboseli. Echo and Eli are of course in the centre most of the time, while some of the shots show Cynthia with Kili in the background. Very nicely done. The story is very moving and the narration by DA and CM is simply great. A real must for anybody in love with African wildlife and elephants in particular. Even better - go to Amboseli and do as Cynthia, park your 4WD in the middle of one of the herds in the swamps and turn off your engine and just sit on the roof and listen and look. Enjoy.

Readers of my reviews will know that I am a sucker for both David Attenborough and Elephants. I'm happy to see a good documentary that combines the two. This set is actually a combination of several documentaries focused on the elephants in Amboseli National Park in Kenya. Each episode was done at a different point in time, so you can actually see how Echo and the other elephants in the family grow up. Cynthia Moss, a top elephant expert, provides commentary along with Attenborough.

The second disc stars Saba Douglas-Hamilton, daughter of the famous elephant expert Ian Douglas-Hamilton. Her documentaries include a mix of elephants, experiences with locals, following researchers, and other wildlife. It goes beyond Amboseli into the Namib and other parts of Africa, which is a nice touch. My favorite scene on this disc is actually her attempt to radio-collar desert lions.

This disc is far superior to another documentary about Echo, Nature: Echo of the Elephants. First of all, it has Sir David Attenborough as the narrator, which makes a big difference (trust me, having seen both recently, I can attest there is a difference). Second, this disc has several episodes and over 5 hours of footage, whereas Nature: Echo of the Elephants only includes the first documentary (around 40 minutes).

Those of you interested in African Elephants might also want to check out:

The Elephant's Secret Sense: The Hidden Life of the Wild Herds of Africa

Elephant Reflections

Elephant Destiny: Biography Of An Endangered Species In Africa

Exceptional
The BBC's Natural Worlds trilogy of Echo and other Elephants is an amazing story (not yet finished) that will give everyone an insight to the world of this truly remarkable animal. Additional to Echo's southern Kenya homerange of Amobseli you also learn about elephants in other parts of Africa such as Namibia and the forest elephants of the Congo. Once again no one does the wildlife documentaries quite like the BBC... A compelation to treasure,

I owned "Nature: Echo of the Elephants" which included: "Echo of the Elephants" and "Echo of the Elephants The Next Generation." I bought this DVD and because I love David Attenborough (and he narrates this version). This is a two disc DVD, the first disc includes:

1. Echo of the Elephants - story of Echo and her new born calf Eli, and researcher Cynthia Moss. Hand down the best elephant DVD I have ever seen.
2. Echo of the Elephants The Next Generation- con't story of Echo and her family. Also excellent.
3. Echo of the Elephants: The Final Chapter - recap of the first two DVD and an update on what has happened to the elephants. I found this a bit slow and lots of repeating from the first two Echo stories.
4. Elephants Nomads of the Namib Desert - hour long look at two desert elephant families and their struggles living in the desert. Very good story.

Second DVD is about Saba who is also an elephant researcher in Keyna. All of these are 30 minutes long.
1 Living with Elephants: Saba helps an African woman find a herd of elephants so she can apology to them. (I didn't really care too much for this one.)
2. Nabibi's Desert Giants: also about the desert elephants, but also some great shots of other animals like Sea Lions and desert lions. (This was very good.)
3. Search for Virgo: Saba searches for an old elephant named Virgo. (Kind of of slow story.)
4. Elephants of Samburu (parts one and two): Saba and her adventures with several herds of elephants and rescuing of an abandoned baby elephant. Really enjoyed it. Lots of great footage.

I enjoyed this longer look into the world of elephants...nicely done, great for family viewing.

This DVD follow the life Echo, who lost her mother to poachers and bevame the matriarch of the clan. She had to learn the hard way how to lead her family. The story is true and it follows this clan of elephants through death of the baby elephant that could not keep up in dry, hot weather, with no food for her. Bbecause there are months of no rain Eco much keep the family moving to a place she remembers there will be food and water. You experience the wonderful, enduring closeness and real love you these highly intelligent mammals have for one another. They are fiercly devoted to each and will fight to the death to protect their family. I do no want to ruin the ending, but anyong who loved these majestic mammals, will be thrilled to have this DVD in their library.Echo of the Elephants: The Story of an Elephant FamilyElephants: A Book for Children

I got this for my wife who loves elephants. I've seen more than a few of these types of shows myself so I wasn't expecting to find it very interesting but it was quite good. She has watched it several times of course in the past few weeks which also bodes well. Get it for anyone with a love of elephants or nature documentaries.

A wonderfully written and produced series. Not only does it inform people about the life of elephants but can also teach us about life and the meaning of life. It can be used to teach children about family and the purpose of extended family, the sense of belonging to a group and the reality of belonging to something larger than oneself, the purpose of sacrificing the good of one for the good of the many, and the meaning of working together to insure the continuation of all of life of the group.

We use the video as part of our ecology unit in life science. the kids are mesmerized by the story and hav serious respect for elephants as a result of the movie. The kids also easily recognize and identify the interrelationships among the biotic and abiotic features in the elephant environment.

I bought this DVD set for my mother because she loves elephants. My mom had seen the first Echo documentary and fell in love with Echo's story. When I presented the DVD set to my mom on Mother's Day, she was thrilled to find so many elephant documentaries in one set. I am so glad I got the set. I recieved it really quickly too.