TV Review: Bertie Gregory Travels to the Serengeti to See Cheetahs Hunting Up Close in New Nat Geo Special
After tackling the depths of the ocean to get up close with dolphins and sharks, National Geographic Explorer Bertie Gregory has turned his attention to the land – more specifically, the plains of the Serengeti – in Cheetahs Up Close with Bertie Gregory.
In this new Nat Geo special, Bertie arrives in the Serengeti as the spectacular wildebeest migration kicks off. He’s here to film the fastest land animal on Earth: the cheetah. As he gets close to a mother caring for her tiny cubs and a young group of males executing phenomenal hunts as a team, he learns about the unexpected challenges the species endures. And we too most certainly learn of the struggles, through some absolutely stunning wildlife photographer. Unlike with dolphins and sharks, there's no hoping you'll be able to capture magnificent moments here. From the get-go, we're in the middle of the action as the cheetahs hunt for their prey, all while avoiding becoming prey themselves.
The special does a great job at showcasing how difficult life can be for cheetahs in the wild, who must not only find their own prey, but avoid becoming it from bigger and stronger predators like lions and hyenas. Even though cheetahs can sprint at speeds up to 70mph, they can only maintain that speed for a short period of time – meaning prey can sometimes be hard to come by. We follow a mother, who must simultaneously hunt for prey and protect her youngsters. The cheetah population has fallen by 90% in the last century, and the mother herself has only held onto 2 out of her 5 cubs from her litter. This just proves how difficult things are for cheetahs out in the wild.
But what is perhaps most spectacular about this special is the photography they were able to capture. Everything that is talked about, we also get to see. From successful cheetah hunts, to ones that end in disappointment and sometimes hunger for the cheetah. This can definitely be a harder special to watch if you're not inclined to see animals be killed and hunted, although nothing graphic is shown. It's just another example in the great big circle of life.
Cheetahs Up Close with Bertie Gregory airs Thursday, January 1st at 9/8c on National Geographic and streams the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.