A new Netflix series focuses on one of the most powerfully beautiful aspects of our country: its national parks. And bonus: it will be narrated by former President Barack Obama.
Besides the parks in the US, the series will also cover other countries’ national parks, such as Tsavo National Park in Kenya, previously known as the Taru Desert, and Gunung Leuser National Park in Indonesia, one of the richest tropical rainforests in Southeast Asia.
Higher Ground Productions, formed by Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama in 2018, produces the series with Wild Space Productions and award-winning wildlife filmmaker James Honeyborne. Honeyborne has worked on many nature-based documentaries, including ‘The Meercats,’ ‘Africa,’ ‘Wild New Zealand’ and ‘Big Blue Live.’ Honeyborne’s ‘Blue Planet II’ broke all records in the UK as the “most-watched wildlife documentary series for over 20 years” says the website for his company Freeborne Media.
The series will launch alongside a ‘Wild For All’ nature protection campaign from the Wildlife Conservation Society, Freeborne Impact, and Higher Ground, powered by Count Us In, a climate change education organization. The goal is to get more people to feel awe at nature’s wonders, and to protect it.
In the recently-released trailer for ‘Our Great National Parks’ which shows spectacular footage of landscapes and creatures, Obama says, “This is a journey through the natural wonders of our shared birthright.” He says the national park ecosystems are a “hotbed for scientific research” and notes that researching the sloth — despite its associations with the DMV — can help us fight cancer, malaria and antibiotic-resistant superbugs. “This sleepy sloth might just save us all,” he says.
‘Our Great National Parks’ will air April 13 with the release of all five one-hour episodes.
