Review: The Hunt

The Hunt by Alastair Fothergill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is another good tie in to the BBC series, The Hunt. Through 240 still photographs and footage from the show, the book captures the life and death moments of the hunter and the meal. In the series and the book the show’s producers and cameramen roamed the entire globe, trying to get those image that define a species. They went to the bitterly cold and bleak Arctic oceans and islands to bring us killer whales and polar bears, to the humid rainforests where Harpy eagles are one of the top predators, to the blistering heat of the African savannah following lions and cheetahs after their next meal.

The images are exquisite. They have captured and selected the best moments of the hunt, using the latest technology and cameras to bring alive the energy and effort that these animals use to survive the day. Whilst filming they made some cutting edge scientific discoveries too, and the text provides details of these. The final chapter is about how they filmed the series, with photographs of the camera crews at work, and how the final fantastic images were frequently obtained after a long period of waiting, and how those watching the hunter, almost became prey. Another good coffee table book; now to watch the series.

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