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Arabia: Sand, Sea & Sky 1986-1990
First Broadcast: Discovery Channel, National Geographic and the BBC
Distribution: McKinnon Films
Running Time: Approx 3 x 53 minutes
An FF and McKinnon Production
Series Synopsis:
Filmed over three years, Arabia Sand, Sea & Sky is the first in-depth television series on the Arabian Peninsula's unique natural history. The three programmes; Eye of the Camel, Red Sea Rift and The Mountain Barrier, explore the rich and extraordinary wildlife heritage as well as the topography, geology and evolution of the Peninsula.
Series Awards:
Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, USA 1991.
The series was awarded ‘Best Limited Series’.
5th International Festival of Documentary Films, Italy 1991.
The series was awarded the Potstone Vase for ‘an exceptionally high level of cinematography’.
Book available for purchase- Click Here
1) Eye of the Camel
   
The immense sand desert in Southern Arabia is known as the Rub al-Khali, the Empty Quarter, because for six months of the year it is empty of people. No one dares enter its burning sands.
In this film we journey with a Bedouin family on their winter migration into this desolate landscape and investigate the extraordinary strategies of survival adopted by the desert animals and plants. Camels, gazelle, oryx, plants, insects and the astonishing desert shrimp are all uniquely adapted for coping with extreme heat and the absence of water.
We learn much of the husbandry of camels and the old method of hunting with Saluki dogs and observe the wildlife of the ancient al-Hasa Oasis.
However, the prosperity of the modern age has profound implications for all wildlife and the ecology of the central Arabian deserts is undergoing rapid change.
Locations:
Rub al-Khali Desert, Saudi Arabia
Main species:
Camel, Arabian Sand Gazelle, Arabian Oryx, Tadpole Shrimp, Date Palms, Tribulus, Scorpion, Goat, Hare, Saluki Dogs.
Eye of the Camel Awards:
Wildscreen International Wildlife Film Festival, UK 1990.
‘Eye of the Camel’ won a Special Award in the category ‘Man and the Environment’.
DVD and Video available for purchase- Click Here
Producer / Director: Michael McKinnon
Narrator: Richard Kiley
Photography: John Bulmer
Editor: John Hackney
Composer: Robert Boyle
Associate Producer: Muhammad al Edrisi
An FF and McKinnon Production
2) Red Sea Rift
  
Thousands of miles of coral walls, atolls, fringing reefs and sheltered lagoons give the Red Sea some of the most spectacular underwater landscapes on earth. The film emphasises marine behaviour characteristic of each zone starting in the plankton-rich southern waters around the Farasan Islands. Tiny filter-feeding organisms, trigger fish, goat fish, gobies and prawns up through vast schools of jacks and barracuda preyed upon by sharks are all part of the remarkable chain of life.
At the edge of the deep coral canyons of the central Red Sea, schools of giant manta rays gather to feed on reef-generated plankton. Their extraordinary aggregate feeding behaviour has never been filmed before, nor has the life-cycle of the recently discovered Midas blenny, so successful was it's disguise among the red anthias.
On the sandy-bottomed reef shelf in the north, garden eels anchor in the deep sand and many endemic creatures adopt astonishing disguises in order to survive.
Locations:
Red Sea coastal regions of Saudi Arabia - Farasan Islands
Main species:
Midas Blenny, Giant Manta Rays, White Reef Shark, Red Anthias, Garden Eels, Coral Reefs, Trigger Fish, Goat Fish, Goby, Prawn Jack, Barracuda, Carpet Anemone, Harlequin Shrimp, Sally Lightfoot Crabs, Fiddler Crabs, Rockskippers, Sergeant Major Fish, Sea Urchin, Dotty Backs
Red Sea Rift Awards:
Sanedodoro Festival 1992.
Red Sea Rift was awarded ‘The Golden Dolphin’ Award.
I.Ci.Mar Festival, Italy 1991.
‘Red Sea Rift’ was awarded the Gold Medallion.
National Educational Film & Video Festival USA 1991.
‘Red Sea Rift’ was awarded the Silver Apple Award in the ‘Evolution and Biodiversity’ category.
DVD and Video available for purchase- Click Here
Producer / Director: Michael McKinnon
Narrator: Richard Kiley
Principal Photography: Peter Scoones
Editor: John Hackney
Composer: Robert Boyle
Associate Producer: Muhammad al Edrisi
An FF and McKinnon Production
3) The Mountain Barrier
  
Much of Arabia's wildlife is concentrated in the high Sarawat mountains of Western Arabia. Rising to 13,000 feet the mountains extend for 1,000 miles along the entire length of the Red Sea. High juniper forests are fed by moisture rising from the Red Sea and support large troops of Hamadryas baboons. Exotic African birds, hornbill and Abyssinian roller share this isolated region with endemic wildlife including the yellow cobra, Agamid lizards and 13 species of bird found nowhere else in the world.
Wildlife has also moved into the abandoned mountain village of al-Fawqa. Fruit bats, sunbirds and weaver birds flourish, but behind the mountain wall in the vast volcanic moonscape of ancient lava flows, this barren landscape explodes with spring growth and provides a nursery for millions of migrating birds.
Preserved in the mountain barrier is the living memory of an ancient time when much of Arabia was teeming with wildlife.
Locations:
Asir and Hijaz Mountain regions of Western Saudi Arabia
Main species:
Hamadryas Baboons, Abyssinian Roller, Little Grey Hornbill, Yellow Viper, Reef Heron, Cream Coloured Courser, Arabian Sand Gazelle, Fruit Bats, Weaver Birds, Juniper Forest
DVD and Video available for purchase- Click Here
Producer / Director: Michael McKinnon
Narrator: Richard Kiley
Photography: John Bulmer / Tony Bomford
Editor: John Hackney
Composer: Robert Boyle
Associate Producer: Muhammad al Edrisi
An FF and McKinnon Production
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