SERIES ONE
ADVENTURES TO THE EDGE
Episode 1: Kilimanjaro
Sean and his friends begin their ascent up the highest mountain in Africa – the majestic yet perilous Kilimanjaro. As the eight-day, 6,000-metre climb takes its toll on the team, they struggle to push forward to finish their goal, uncovering the effects of climate change along the way.
Episode 2: The Big Tuskers
Sean learns just how complex and engaging African elephants are as he tries to capture them on film in Zimbabwe and Kenya. In the process, he learns about their current plight as one “big tusker” is poached every 15 minutes. Via insightful interviews with leading lights in the world of conservation, from the Big Life Foundation, Amboseli Trust for Elephants, and other concerned NGOs, Sean uncovers why elephant tusks are ending up in ivory shops across Asia and looks at a potentially positive future for these majestic and elegant animals.
Episode 3: The Orphans
As thousands of elephants are being slaughtered for their ivory tusks, many more traumatized orphans are left to fend for themselves every year. Here, Sean explores the work of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, which has raised more than 150 orphans and rehabilitated them back into the wild. Starting at the Trust’s headquarters in Kenya’s capital Nairobi and travelling on to the wilder grounds at Ithumba, Sean mingles with the lovable orphans and explores their journey through rehabilitation and back into the wild. In the process of making new lifelong elephant friends, hopeful possibilities are uncovered via expert interviews, including a private audience with world-renowned orphanage founder Dame Daphne Sheldrick.
Episode 4: Rhinos
As the illegal trade of rhino horn continues to rise, Sean travels to several well-known conservancies in Kenya to find out all about the rhinoceros. At venues like Lewa and Ol Jogi, he sees endangered black rhinos in the wild and being intimately cared for by 24-hour keepers. During a moving stop at Ol Pejeta, Lee-Davies gets up-close and personal with the last three Northern White Rhinos on the planet. When he’s not meeting with key conservation figures, capturing breathtaking pictures of this iconic species or talking to a reformed poacher, Sean ends up running for his life when he pretends to be a poacher hiding from guards and their well-trained hunting dogs.
Episode 3: Lions
Imagine a planet without big cats like lions and cheetahs. Is sound impossible? Due to human-wildlife conflict in Africa and trophy hunting, their decrease in numbers is happening faster than many people could have imagined. In between stalking lion prides across the plains and photographing cheetahs within purring distance, Sean uncovers a new link between the traditional ways of Kenya’s Maasai Mara warriors and the revolutionary new method through which a species may be saved.
Episode 5: Whale Sharks
Sean embarks on his biggest photographic challenge yet as he attempts to take breathtaking shots of Whale Sharks underwater in the Philippines. Today, 70 million sharks are killed a year due to a barbaric process known as shark finning. In this episode, Sean talks to experts about why the practice is so prevalent—especially in Asia—and what needs to happen in order for sharks (and other marine life) to thrive in the future. That is, when he’s not trying to come to grips with the one of the largest marines species in the ocean.