Big Cat Live 2008
Big Cat live
After 12 years of broadcast, Big Cat went live! An unprecedented three weeks of live webcasting meant that you could follow the fortunes of Africa's biggest predators and their prey 24-hours a day. With live webcams, daily videos and reports from the crew's mobile phones and a week of live television beamed directly from the heart of Kenya's Masai Mara game reserve, the big cats came closer to you than ever before.
Two new presenters, newsreader Kate Silverton and local Masai guide Jackson Looseyia, joined Simon King and Jonathan Scott at their camp next to the Mara River. With a supporting cast of hyenas, hippos, jackals, wildebeest and of course the cats, anything could happen at any time.
Like domestic cats, lions have superb night-vision. Their prey didn't see them coming but you did, as infra-red technology revealed what went bump, howl and roar in the African night. The Big Cat Live webcams even managed to catch what we believe is the first live lion kill broadcast on the internet.
Big Cat history
Big Cat has followed the lives of the lions, leopards and cheetahs in the Masai Mara since 1996. Since then, Jonathan Scott and Simon King have recorded the fortunes of several families of leopards, lions and cheetahs, sharing their expert insights into the lives of these often elusive animals.
Saba Douglas-Hamilton joined the team in 2002 bringing a new perspective gained from her own remarkable upbringing amongst Kenya's wildlife. Two years later, the show's format changed from a weekly to nightly one, stripped across a week.
2006 saw the emergence of spin off programmes Big Cat Uncut (on BBC Three) and a 10th anniversary special. Family history programmes featuring single characters continue to be made and shown on BBC Two.
Video
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