Lyndal Davies had originally conceptualised a programme called Animal Angels, which was about going across the globe meeting inspirational people who had done charitable work with animals, revealed Mark Strickson, director of the Lyndal’s Lifeline series.  

Davies had done a programme in Sierra Leone, about the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary run by a man named Bala Amaraskaran. Incidentally, “Amaraskaran” meant “leader of the angels”, and hence the title Animal Angels. 

Davies and Strickson then worked on that concept which later became Animal Lifeline, which, in Asia, is called Lyndal’s Lifeline. 

Being a global channel, Animal Planet wanted to cover as many countries across as many continents as possible, and the result was six programmes in six different countries from South America and Europe to Asia and Africa. 

“And everywhere you go in the world, it’s the same problem,” said Strickson. “And that problem is that animals are losing their habitats; they’re losing their place to live. In Australia, they’re cutting down the forests. In England, there is such a big population and there are roads, railways, and the animals don’t stand a chance. In Thailand, it’s deforestation, as is in Brazil. In Sierra Leone, it was the civil war, and so many of the animals suffered terribly in the war, as did the people.” 

Strickson and his team had their own heart-stopping moments during the making of Lyndal’s Lifeline. 

“The most dangerous situation we faced was when our coach crashed in Sri Lanka because our driver fell asleep,” said Strickson. “It’s always the travel that’s going to be the problem. In general, when people get killed making natural history programmes, it is because of travel accidents. We travel to very remote areas and the transport is often very unreliable.” 

In terms of animals, Strickson and his team were almost flattened by an elephant during the shoot in Sri Lanka. 

“We were filming elephants on one side of the park, and we didn’t realise that the other half of the herd was on the other side, because we were surrounded by long grass,” Strickson explained. “The other half of the herd wanted to get to the other side and they saw our jeep as a threat. Suddenly, three elephants ran out and faced us and trumpeted and stamped their feet.” 

They quickly realised that that was only a dummy charge when a big male appeared and actually charged the jeep, only to stop 30cm from the vehicle. 

“As our Sri Lankan guide said, there is no way that an animal that weighs that many tonnes can stop that accurately,” said Strickson. “Then the elephant backed off and we got out of there as soon as we could. It was just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” 

The cameraman had continued filming so that footage is included in the programme. 

“It was very frightening, but once you got over the fact that you’re still alive (laughs), to see a big elephant like that charge at you is an unforgettable experience,” said Strickson. “And you also think ‘What a fabulous animal!’” 

But the proudest and most satisfying moments for him are seeing how his team had helped to make a difference in the lives of the animals. 

“We came to Thailand with our US$10,000 (RM38,000) and three weeks later, those sun bears were out of that fish market and were in a fantastic new enclosure,” said Strickson. “And they have a completely different way of life. For me, that’s why I do my job. To see that in just three weeks is just so amazing.”