Season One: Nepal's Great Himalaya Trail
What dreams may come… For a high altitude trekker, this is it! A long-form documentary series surveying the unparalleled grandeur and extraordinary rigors of Nepal's Great Himalaya Trail, the longest and highest alpine trekking route in the world. Winding for 1700 kilometers through the planet’s loftiest peaks in an otherworldly, high altitude land of mountain and glacier, green valleys and arid peaks, ancient villages and open space. The full traverse has been attempted and completed by little more than a handful of intrepid souls and has never before been cinematically photographed in its entirety.
Episodes 10 X 60'
The GHT stretches the entire length of the Himalaya Range in Nepal, from the district of Taplejung in the East to Humla in the West. It is divided into ten distinct cultural and geographic regions, each represented in Season One as a complete and unique episode. Production begins March One, 2016.
Trekking Planet Earth will track the experiences of an international team of geo-adventurers as they traverse these exotic lands on foot. We can expect that boundaries will be tested and team members will be challenged by; the elements, exhaustion, cultural barriers, altitude sickness, intestinal parasites... unpredictable events and objective hazards. These are authentic experiences - reality testing of the highest order.
Expedition Members
No reservations, no turning back. For this group, the ideal candidate is street smart and mountain savvy, with uncommon cross cultural sensibilities. They'll be responsible for negotiating and organizing logistics with in-country agents to outfit their expedition, from hiring guides and porters, to procuring food and provisions. In this endeavor, cooperation is valued over competition. Wisdom and experience are the coin of the realm.
Season Two: Kilimanjaro to the Sea
Inspired by adventurer and author Rick Ridgeway's chronicle of his trek from the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro to the Indian Ocean, through Kenya's famed Tsavo Park. Season Two promises a gripping account of how it feels to be charged by an incensed elephant and kept awake at night by the roaring of stalking lions. The pace of walking allows time to contemplate the great themes and the great men and women who have struggled with the conundrum of whether man can live at peace with the beasts.”
Brand Integration
In contemporary media creation - this model has surfaced as being among the most effective ways to secure media across all sectors including television and the internet. In addition to traditional revenue streams, brand integration will be employed by the creators of this series as a means to enable the brands that are visible throughout these global adventures to invest in and support the humanitarian spirit of independent trekking worldwide.
The Series
Each sixty minute episode offers a rare glimpse into the geography and culture of some of the most inaccessible regions on the planet. In successive seasons we'll invite our audience to trek the Chinese approach to K2 and climb Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, explore the Inca Trail and the Trail of Genghis Khan. Whether traversing the high Atlas Range of Morocco, or the Torres del Paine in Patagonia - Trekking Planet Earth will seek to reveal the extraordinary breadth and width of these life affirming encounters. Genuine adventure begins with a dream; cultures, faces and landscapes reflect the common humanity we share. Let us create a series that embraces this value with integrity, intelligence and wit.
The Story of dZi
We're trekking for the dZi Foundation! The dZi Foundation partners with underserved communities in remote regions of the Himalaya to build sustainable locally-driven programs that improve quality of life through advancing education and health, while reducing poverty.
Making a difference in the lives of over 25,000 individuals over the past decade, dZi Foundation has partnered to build schools and provide better opportunities in life, by providing an alternative to the dangers of child labor. Other dZi programs include building toilets and clean water taps for communities with histories of water-borne diseases.
The story of the dZi Foundation is one of painstakingly and over time, successfully cultivating beneficial, proactive relationships with Himalayan communities.