Wild Spain

Spain is one of the world’s most popular holiday destinations. But sandy beaches and world famous towns like Seville and Granada are just one side of Spain. Between the rugged Atlantic coast in the north and the sun-kissed Mediterranean coast in the south one can find a diversity of species rarely found in other regions of Europe. The two-part documentary Wild Spain portrays the extremely diverse nature from the green north of Galicia and the Basque Country to the south, between Andalusia and the Extremadura. The original filming on the Iberian Peninsula took place over a period of two years. Nature filmmaker Hans-Peter Kuttler used highly stabilised Cineflex cameras and Octocopters for the aerial views, camera rails, underwater and slow motion cameras to capture and portray the nature and the animals from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean as strikingly as possible. From the dreamlike Mediterranean and spectacular canyon landscapes of Andalusia, to the expanses of the Extremadura with its holm oak forests. Even in the south of Spain, highly popular with holidaymakers, there is still much waiting to be discovered. Genets hunt for prey under cover of night. And nowhere else in Europe are there as many vultures as here in Spain. Within a fraction of a second the European Chameleon shoots out his half-a-metre-long tongue to catch insects. The unmistakeable hoopoe is also pleased with the rich variety of insects on offer. But it’s underwater, where the wealth of animals reaches its zenith: weird sea slugs of almost alien appearance, graceful sea horses and elegant blue sharks all have their habitat here. From the reedy areas in the Basque Country, via the Cantabrian mountain range, to Galicia with its spectacular coasts: This is the North Spanish wilderness. The Cantabrian mountain range is habitat for around 140 Cantabrian brown bears - Western Europe’s greatest bear population. Above the timberline is the Kingdom of the Cantabrian chamois.