Five of camera man Doug Allan's most memorable wildlife encounters
THE wildlife cameraman Doug Allan was described by David Attenborough âas the toughest in the businessâ. Aged 65, he has filmed an extraordinary range of animals, including snow leopards in the Himalayas, orcas attacking gray whales off California and a pod of killer whales working together to kill a seal.
To get his shots, he has endured temperatures of minus 55C. He has had to dive to depths of 75m under ice and risked the dangers of upsetting white sharks, wolf packs and an attack by a walrus.
Having grown up in Dunfermline, Scotland, Allan, studied marine biology at university and worked as a pearl diver before drifting into filming. His big break came in the early 1980s when the BBC bought some footage he had from wintering with emperor penguins in 24-hour darkness in Antarctica.
He has won several Emmy awards since, and worked on most of Attenboroughâs seminal documentaries, including Planet Earth, Life and Frozen Planet. He is sharing his remarkable experiences of observing the animal kingdom on a nationwide lecture tour. Amid the tales of derring-do, he also has a message to impart to his audiences.
âI would like to make people realise they are connected to the planet. Even if you live in a town or a city, youâre still relying on the environment if nothing else for the air you breathe, the water you drink. Whatâs causing the big problem is the amount of stuff â clothes, phones, cars, and so on â weâre consuming, and the energy it takes to build that stuff and move it around. We could drive a bit less. We could cycle a bit more. Back in the 1960s, The Beatles told us âAll You Need Is Loveâ. My catchphrase is âAll You Need Is Lessâ â less of the stuff people try to persuade us to have.â
The wonderful @DougAllanCamera speaking at the MCS AGM about his life as a wildlife cameraman. Absolutely outstanding. #scottishseas pic.twitter.com/NwplXHVLcC
— Marine Conservation Society (@mcsuk) October 26, 2016
Here are a few of his most memorable wildlife encounters:
1. Swimming with a 45ft whale
âIt was my first encounter with a big whale underwater, which happened in 1988. I met a very friendly southern right whale down off the coast in Argentina. I was there to film the mammals but I didnât expect to see them mating underwater. I didnât expect that when the female finished she would come over and want to spend the next half hour in my company. She came in very close and we looked at each other. She was curious about me and I was curious about her and we swam around together.
âThat was a very exciting experience because whales are intelligent, very gentle, but theyâre also so big. You really canât see a whale until you get in the water with it.
âWhen a 45ft mammal choses to come and spend itâs time with you, itâs a great privilege.â
2. Polar bears in the Arctic
âWe were at a location no other film crew had visited before. We were given special permission by the Norwegian government, which controlled this particular island, to go there. It was really exciting as weâd been there about five weeks. We thought that somehow that there were no polar bears on the island that year because the flow of sea ice might have affected their movements.
âIt was a massive relief to finally get a day when they opened up, came out of their den with their young cubs, and went for a walk around about, and gave us what we wanted. Polar bears are big, sexy, charismatic animals, but they will also eat you so you need to be careful around them.
This brings its own excitement. When youâre close up to a predator you have to watch out that you donât get eaten but itâs also important that you keep the actual predator safe. You donât want to get in a situation where you have to injure or worse kill the predator just because itâs threatening you.
âSo walking around polar bears, keeping them relaxed and at the same time youâre safe and at the same time the polar bear is safe from you, thatâs very satisfying.â
3. Whale sharks in Indonesia
âI do like my animals big. About a month or two ago, I was out in Indonesia swimming with some whale sharks. Whale sharks are the biggest fish in the sea. Theyâre about 10m long. Theyâre not whales; theyâre actually sharks. Theyâre sharks that feed on plankton so theyâre not going to do any harm to you.
âIn the open ocean, most animals if you annoy them they just swim away. They donât usually attack unless theyâre territorial and theyâre defending their young. Whale sharks are different. Theyâre even shier than whales. Youâve really got to have plenty of time so you take your time approaching them because they have to learn who you are too.
âAnimals, when you initially approach them are quite wary but if you can go and spend a lot of time in the water round about them and do it not just for one day but several days then the animal becomes a lot more approachable than they were at the start.
âBy the end, with these whale sharks we were able to work really close to them and see them feeding.â
4. Mountain gorillas in Rwanda
âMountain gorillas are great because they are completely wild, but they allow a small number of tourists or filmmakers to be in their company for about an hour every day.
âWe went up filming with a presenter with us and we found the mountain gorillas and they had some youngsters in the group.
âIt was wonderful to be in the company of completely wild animals for an hour or so and just sit and quietly film them. It was natural and theyâre laidback animals.â
5. A wrestle with a walrus
âI was snorkelling with the camera off the ice edge up in Canada when a walrus came up from the depths and grabbed me.
âWalruses normally feed off mussels, clams and shellfish, but sometimes they change their diet.
I think I must have looked like a seal swimming around in the water because suddenly â by complete surprise â he grabbed me by the legs, and held me.
My immediate reaction was to look down and punch out with my hands, and luckily the walrus let me go. It would normally kill a seal by drowning it, crushing it between its tusks or sucking its brains out.â
