Nat Geo's animals Up Close with Bertie Gregory films at Misool
A brand-new National Geographic series called Animals Up Close with Bertie Gregory dropped on Disney + this September and the final episode - Devil Ray Islands - was filmed in its entirety in Misool.
Host Bertie Gregory and the crew stayed with us for three weeks in October 2022, exploring the Misool Marine Reserve while learning about Misool Foundation’s mission to protect the world’s richest reefs. It wasn’t without challenges and the crew encountered bad weather and jellyfish in droves, but that didn’t stop them creating 50 magnificent minutes of television that perfectly illustrates why we dedicate our lives to conserving this incredible place. Here are some of our highlights.
Blacktip reef shark. (National Geographic for Disney+/Bertie Gregory)
A Shiver of Sharks
Shark lovers will be pleased to know that although the episode centres around Bertie’s journey to encounter a Devil ray (also known as mobula ray), sharks are some of the lead characters. The episode opens with a night scene, shot off the jetty in front of Misool Resort. At one point, we counted 11 Black tip reef sharks gliding through the dark water. These individuals were very likely born in the North Lagoon and now enjoy the spoils of a thriving and protected reef system. We admire any imagery that shows sharks in a fair light and highlights their prowess and grace, rather than painting them as man-eaters, especially on Disney + that has the reach to inspire many new shark lovers.
Sharks lit by camera light. (National Geographic for Disney+/Dan Beecham)
Misool House Reef by Night
Our House Reef is one of the best dives in the world (not independently verified – but if you know, you know) and at night it is teeming with life. Bertie and crew spent a lot of time there showing the thrilling side of multiple black tip sharks patrolling. One of the best quotes of the sequence is ‘Whoah, this is sharkie, alright!’ They also filmed incredible sequences of the corals fluorescing under UV light. What a technicolour trip in high definition! If you are visiting us as a diver or snorkeler, we recommend making the jetty your number one destination after dark.
Gorgonian fan and Bertie Gregory. (National Geographic for Disney+/Dan Beecham)
World-class Dive Sites
It was a joy to watch Bertie glide past collosal fans at Gorgonian Passage, encounter a cleaning manta at Magic Mountain, and become engulfed in high octane hunting activity at Barracuda. The shimmering clouds of anchovies typical of September and October are simply breath-taking, as are the hunting bluefin travelly, giant travelly, barracuda, and skipjack tuna. These scenes capture the phenomenal biodiversity and biomass that await our guests. Importantly, they beautifully illustrate the results of the Misool Foundation team’s hard work, especially our Ranger Patrol.
Bertie Gregory chats to a member of the Misool Foundation crew. (National Geographic for Disney+/Spencer Millsap)
Meeting the Misool Foundation Team
We were exceptionally proud to see Misool Foundation team members - Ayub, Kyra and Jalna - on film. Bertie took a trip to the Ranger Station on Kalig Island to learn more about the work of the Misool Ranger Patrol. Ayub, who manages the patrol team, did an excellent job of explaining how the No-Take Zones that we established in 2005 have led to an increase in fish numbers and, that due to the spillover effect, these increases improve fishing for local communities who reside nearby. Bertie concludes the interview with ‘I think what you do is absolutely incredible and please keep doing it.’ We couldn’t agree more!
Bertie Gregory filming jellyfish. (National Geographic for Disney+/Dan Beecham)
Those Jellyfish
Despite the crew making it seem flawless, the conditions during their three-week shoot were some of the worst we have ever seen. October is typically nutrient rich, bringing in a lot of predators and the devil rays that the crew were here to film. However, last year, due in part to La Niña, the big creatures were spending time in deeper water and swathes of jellyfish and murky, warmer water made an appearance. Joe Faithfull, who was the Dive Safety Officer on the trip, gives some behind-the-scenes insights:
“Natural history filmmaking is challenging at the best of times, but having had the privilege to visit and dive the reefs of Misool on multiple occasions over the years, I arrived with the National Geographic film crew confident that they’d have it all in front of them and it would just be a matter of having Bertie and the team film the spectacle that I know Misool always delivers.
They say never work with children or animals.
On dropping in for their first dive, we were in for a surprise of a quite unwelcome kind. Green water, low vis and even more strangely, an invasion of large jellyfish which neither I nor anyone at Misool had ever seen there in 15 years of diving!
How on earth were we going to get the footage to make the awe-inspiring documentary that this team of world leading filmmakers had travelled halfway around the globe to produce? Often the directors of natural history shows like to introduce an element of jeopardy to draw the audience in, but this was entirely unscripted.
We did the only thing that there was to do; we dived and filmed and moved and dived and moved and filmed and slowly but surely, the currents, the conditions and the visibility began to return to characteristic Misool - spectacular. The film crew were able to capture the amazing shots you see in the episode, and the director had their jeopardy.”
A ray in the water. (National Geographic for Disney+/Bertie Gregory)
Finally, the Elusive Devil Ray
The team put their all into achieving their mission of a devil ray encounter. It seemed impossible at times, but when they finally found one, it was glorious. Series Producer Jennie Hammond from Wildstar Films comments: “There was always a worry that even if the team did manage to film the elusive devil ray, could it match the charisma and energy of the pumas, elephants, and wild dogs in the other episodes? We should not have been concerned! Seeing a devil ray hunt amongst the pulsing clouds of anchovies was truly spectacular. And by having Bertie right there in the heart of the action you get the full experience – something that makes this series really exciting and special.”
Bertie Gregory swimming through a shoal of fish. (National Geographic for Disney+/Dan Beecham)
The six-part series is available now on Disney + and we thoroughly recommend you enjoy every episode. Thanks to Bertie and the team at Wildstar Films for showing not only the beauty of Misool but sharing a window into the behind-the-scenes conservation work that protects this truly unique place.