10 mindblowing facts about Planet Earth II

Cape Town – Planet Earth II returns 10 years after the first hit series. 

It was the first of its kind to be filmed in high definition and it was watched by over half a billion people. 

The second season which airs on BBC Earth (DStv 184) from Sunday, 5 February at 16:00 is bigger and better. 

Watch the trailer here:

Here are 10 cool facts about the show:

1. It was filmed in 40 countries, over 2089 days by a camera crew of 89. 

2. It took over 3 years to make the six episodes: Islands, Mountains, Jungles, Deserts, Grassland and Urban.

3. For the Islands episode the crew set off on a nine day journey in a sailboat to the remote island of Zavodovski.

4. 400 terrabytes equivalent to 82 000 DVDs of footage was recorded. 

5. A cameraman spent five weeks in freezing conditions in the Rockies to film an elusive bobcat.

6. For the mountains episode the crew went on three trips on successive years to film snow leopards in Ladakh. They were on location for 16 weeks and camera traps were deployed for 15 months along trailers and scenting rocks used by the leopards. This is the first time four snow leopards were filmed together.

7. The Grasslands crew saw 150 000 antelope die in front of them when a virulent disease swept the population. 

8. To write the script narrator, David Attenborough watched the footage on VHS and would rewind and fast forward multiple times to get the right words. 

Script Writer. Presenter. Legend.
Sir David Attenborough on narrating #PlanetEarth2. pic.twitter.com/JwEuUVvejV

— BBC One (@BBCOne) December 11, 2016

9. Academy Award winner Hans Zimmer composed the music. 

10. Only one person was injured onset. A cameraman was stung by a stingray.