BBC Dark Night Nature Series- Nighttime World Central American Jungle

Last year a BBC film crew turned up on the beach in Tortuguero they were there to film the nocturnal activities of jaguars on the beach and their predation on nesting sea turtles. The footage was filmed between four locations, 2 in Costa Rica Corcovado and Tortuguero and Mayan Ruins sites in Guatemala and Belize.

The GVI team in Jalova was involved in the consulting and pre planning stages of the filming in Tortuguero and also helped the film crew with the complicated logistics of filming at night on such a remote location. Global Vision International is credited along with the STC and the Jalova Rangers.

Whilst they were on location in Tortuguero they stayed at the Jalova rangers station and went out every evening and filmed throughout the night. They did film footage of the GVI base and rangers station bit sadly this did not make the final cut….

Most of the Tortuguero footage was filmed from the observation towers set up at mile 15.13.5 and 12. They did get some amazing footage of the nocturnal activities on the beach…

A heat camera captured turtle nesting activity. They featured shots of  a jaguar walking past several turtles and seemingly not even noticing their presence (one can only assume it wasn’t hungry at the time). A second jaguar joins the first and they wander off back into the jungle together.

At mile 15, Justine Evans the camera woman on the project gets amazing footage of a jaguar walking a mere 2 meters from her tent in the middle of the night. The next morning we see footage of the jaguar prints in the sand.

If you would like to watch the full episode and get a glimpse of the normal day to day life that our GVI Jalova staff and volunteers experience living and working in Tortuguero National Park, follow this link to BBC iplayer http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01llxfs/The_Dark_Natures_Nighttime_Wor
ld_Central_American_Jungle/

It is so exciting for the team in Jalova to see that the work they do is of international interest!

BBC Dark Night Nature Series- Nighttime World Central American Jungle