The Animal Kingdom

The focus of the first part of the documentary is Serengeti and Massai Mara, home of the "Big Five": elephant, rhino, buffalo, leopard and lion. In East Africa, the Rift Valley divides into two arms. The eastern reaches from the north of Kenya to the south of Tanzania. Nowhere on earth have volcanoes, fire and ashes created more beautiful. Kilimanjaro and Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Nakuru and Lake Natron, Mount Meru and Mount Kenya are places millions of people dream of as the epitome of Africa. Serengeti and Maasai Mara are home to the "Big Five" - ​​elephant, rhino, buffalo, leopard and lion. This region is at the center of the first part of the documentary and was the biggest challenge for director Harald Pokieser. No part of the earth was photographed by nature filmmakers more often. So what else can you offer the audience? Aerial photos of hunting cheetahs for example. "It was the most expensive idea I ever had," says Pokieser, "luckily nothing went wrong, otherwise I would be ruined now." The unique pictures of three cheetah brothers on the hunt were made by helicopter and special camera in the Maasai Mara in Kenya. Harald Pokieser also talks about people living in the eastern Rift Valley. There are, for example, the women and men of Iten, a small region in the Rift Valley of Kenya, from which much of the world's best marathon runners come from. A second story tells of the Maasai, the archetypal people of the Rift Valley, who live in the cool, rainy Ngorongoro Highlands as sedentary herdsmen and farmers. (Text: arte) Alternative title: Animal paradise among volcanoes /Im Paradies der Tiere.