On the tracks of giant pandas

Marven and his team will come to China again for his next wildlife program.

Marven’s fascination with pandas began when, as a child, he read a book about the Great Wall that his father gave him. On the first page was a panda named Chichi, the star attraction at London Zoo and the panda that inspired Sir Peter Scott’s logo for the World Wildlife Fund.

Marven’s father took him to the zoo to see Chichi, and the young Marven was hooked.

During the shooting, Marven ate as much as he could in one sitting and then worked the following days without much food. With a team of expert trackers and heavy equipment, Marven took care to track these bamboo-eating bears, which move swiftly and can actually be quite dangerous.

After 12 days, Marven’s team hit a lucky break when they found themselves within 10 yards of a mother panda nursing her cub while leaning against a tree. Marven believes he is the first person to ever film a wild panda from so close.

“The Chinese trackers were so exited. In the banquet that night, we kept toasting to celebrate,” Marven said. “The banquet was filmed, and it was the first time that I’ve gotten drunk on television.”

In the film, he also records stories about the Panda Breeding and Research Center in Chengdu, including how researchers saved the pandas after the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008. Marven also walks through Xi’an’s Terracotta Army in the film.

“There are 6,000 terracotta warriors left and only 2,100 giant pandas,” Marven said. “We make the point in the film that losing all the world’s giant pandas would be like smashing all the remaining terracotta warriors.”

The series will be broadcast on CCTV, CETV and BBC Channel 5 in autumn. Marven and his team will move on to Hainan in October for his next project involving China’s wildlife.