Customer Reviews

The Living Edens - Etosha: Africa's Untamed Wilderness [VHS]

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One of the most intelligent and informative documentries I have ever seen, well worth the price. A must need for anyone even remotely interested in ecology. Be sure to look up the other episodes as well

I think "The Living Edens" videos are wonderful. I enjoy watching them repeatedly when I initially receive them, but in the case of "Etosha," watching it one time was enough. The plight of the cheetah family in this video is almost unbearable to view. The producers did a very effective job conveying the tragic circumstances the creatures in this environment must endure to exist. I watch videos for entertainment and I found nothing "enjoyable" about this one. Although the "Etosha" video seemed much harsher than the others in the series I have seen, if you can tolerate the realism and don't plan on watching with children, I believe it is worth viewing...once.

Fantastic travel. Nature is harsh, but wonder-full.

This 53-minute documentary, narrated by Lauren Bacall, details the exploits of wildlife in SW Africa's Etosha, a vast plain with a four-month wet season and eight-month dry season. Etosha is actually a lakebed, at one time housing the largest lake on Earth, until the rivers that fed it dried up.

To be expected, the documentary contains exceptional footage of wildlife in Etosha, both carnivores and herbivores -- lions, cheetahs, elephants, jackals, bat-eared foxes, ground squirrels, giraffes, spring boks and zebras. The timeless cycle and struggle of life is depicted in all its glory and ugliness -- birth & death, victory & tragedy, elation & agony. The film emphasizes both realities so don't expect some Disney fantasy made exclusively for children.

I recently saw the excellent 2005 documentary on Timothy Treadwell "Grizzly Man" (2005). Many write him off as a loon, and understandably so (you'll know what I mean if you see it), but some interesting things occurred to me while watching: Say what you want, but Treadwell successfully lived with the grizzlies and other animals for 12 summers. He became an expert on wildlife not through sitting on his butt in some stuffy abode of higher learning but rather through actual experience. He pointed out some keys to his success: You must boldly make your presence known, love the animals (i.e. pose no threat and prove yourself benign), win 'em over and show no fear. The footage clearly shows that this approach worked for 12 seasons and the only reason he was killed by one of the bears is that it was an older one who was having a hard time finding enough to eat, a bruin that Treadwell never won over, as pointed out by one of his companions.

Anyway, there's footage of Treadwell living with the bears and other animals. In particular he became "friends" with the local foxes. No kidding. The foxes would hang out with Timothy and let him pet them, etc. The same affinity you or I have with our cats & dogs Treadwell had with the foxes and other animals. There are fox in my area, and I've seen them, but I've never struck up relations with them! They're too nocturnal and shy. Yet Treadwell was able to do it. What's my point? Timothy strongly desired to live in harmony with these animals, fabricating his own Eden far away from the defilement of humans. It's like he somehow instinctively knew that this was the way it's supposed to be despite the harsh realities of the wilderness, which he would literally weep over (e.g. Male bears slaying cubs so they could mate again with the mothers, wolves killing baby foxes, etc.).

Of course, if you're of the mindset that the ugly life & death cycle of nature and all the suffering thereof is the way it's always been and the way it'll always ever be you'll likely think I'm a loon like Treadwell. I'm just suggesting that maybe -- just maybe -- it hasn't always been this way and that one day perhaps people and animals can live together in harmony and even live free of suffering and death. In fact, maybe this is the way it's MEANT to be. Interestingly, the Bible actually advocates this.

Anyway, the reason I bring all this up is that, when viewing "Etosha," one can certainly see the beauty of life in the animal kingdom but, more so, the disturbing harsh realities -- innocent prey captured and eaten, carnivores starving or thirsting to death, giant pachyderms and cheetahs perishing from unseen anthrax in the dust, etc. It's as if all creation is somehow fallen or cursed and this film effectively documents it.

A prime example from the film is the cheetah family consisting of a mother, her five cubs and adult daughter who acts as a nanny.

SPOILER ALERT! I don't know if it's possible to spoil a documentary like this but, if so, don't read any more unless you want to know the outcome of the cheetah family.

The "nanny" is killed by a lion, the mother succumbs to anthrax, three of the cubs quickly starve to death and only two of her sons are shown alive at the end wandering the parched land looking for sustenance. One brother is too frail to hunt so the other goes off seeking game for both. He encounters a bat-eared fox and tackles it to the ground. They're saved, it seems. But the fox somehow escapes and the cat tackles it once more; again the fox escapes, this time permanently, and all hope is lost for the weak brother. The stronger feline affectionately says goodbye and wanders off to see if he can somehow survive, which is the last we see of him. The frail brother gets up one last time and, waveringly, tries to walk around. The Jackals gather because they know the end is near.

Then he falls, never to rise again.