| | |  Entertainment | April 2009 
PBS's Nature Travels for You
 Denise Duguay - Canwest News Service
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| | 'Nature will show you great moments from all around the world.' | |
Stop me if I've told you this story before, although it does bear repeating - or so The Boyfriend believes since he's told it about kazillion times, most recently near the swim-up bar at our Cuban all-inclusive. Also, apparently, it gets funnier with each telling.
A few years back, we were at another all-inclusive, this one in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. And we decided to take a break from that swim-up bar to go whale-watching. Great guys, those tour operators, even let me steer the sailboat until it got too close to the rocks. But once we were out in open water, I pulled out the camera and realized that I needed to reload film (I like to roll old school).
Anyway, having smartly packed extra film, I was deftly reloading, head down, when the boat rolled something fierce. I looked up to a boat load of faces with pop-eyes and gaping mouths. In the direction of what was now a white churn of water, I had missed the only photo of the day: the once-in-a-lifetime sight of a gigantic humpback whale breaching so close to the boat that even the skipper was freaked out.
There are several morals here, the least of which is that film cameras are passe. The most important message is to put the camera down and pay attention.
And if you can't, tune in Sunday nights to PBS to watch Nature.
You will love life a little more after watching any one of the episodes.
Take the recently rebroadcast episode called Andes: The Dragon's Back.
There's a scene from Chile that shows about 100 flamingos dancing in a mass, moving as one, like a Looney Tunes ballet.
Another shows geoglyphs or immense images etched into the earth about 1,500 years ago, including a monkey the size of a football field.
These are gorgeous and awe-inspiring, whether viewed on regular TV or in a slightly less luminous image online in the Nature video player.
True, Nature is no Globe Trekker, giving you insight into great places to stay and what to eat and drink when you get there.
Nor is it Rudy Maxa, with tips on which museums you must see.
But it will show you some great moments from all around the natural world.
Sometimes, it will even provide an inspiring guide, as will be the case on Sunday, May 3
(8 p.m., channel 56, cable 67), when wildlife filmmaker Gordon Buchanan returns home to the Scottish isle of Mull.
His job is to film white-tailed sea eagles, which are tended to by nearby residents since their reintroduction during his 15-year absence.
He also hopes to see otters, whales, dolphins and basking sharks.
But it's not all work for Buchanan as he reconnects with his home.
Sounds lovely, doesn't it?
To watch video of past Nature programs and check out other fun online stuff, go to www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/ and click on "Video."
I would also like to give another in my many plugs for Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. Like all world-famous chefs and many travel-TV show hosts, Bourdain is a little much sometimes. Actually, he's a LOT much.
But the guy can pick 'em, both destinations and friends.
In this now four-season-long exploration of the most excessive eating and drinking pleasures that the world has to offer, Bourdain calls on friends in locales as seemingly mundane as his New Jersey hometown to Iceland and demands to be fed and watered.
It is always a trip.
Season 4 is airing on both Discovery Channel Canada and the specialty channel Travel + Escape, giving both basic and fancy cable subscribers plenty of options to check him out. |
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