Filming Sri Lanka’s Wild Side: Le Jardin Extraordinaire Documentary with Jetwing Eco Holidays
Jetwing Eco Holidays had the privilege of supporting the Sri Lankan episode of the renowned Belgian wildlife television programme Le Jardin Extraordinaire, produced by RTBF and hosted by wildlife filmmaker Tanguy Dumortier. First broadcast in 1965, the programme is one of Belgium’s longest running nature shows and focuses on wildlife, conservation, and environmental storytelling. During their time in Sri Lanka, the film crew travelled across the island alongside Jetwing Eco Holidays’ wildlife specialists to document the country’s remarkable biodiversity and landscapes.
The filming expedition began in Wilpattu National Park, where patient tracking and careful positioning allowed the team to capture breathtaking footage of the Sri Lankan leopard, one of the most sought after big cats for wildlife filmmakers. The journey continued to Sinharaja Rainforest, a UNESCO World Heritage rainforest famed for its extraordinary concentration of endemic species. Here the crew documented mixed species bird flocks and rainforest specialists including the Sri Lanka Blue Magpie, Red faced Malkoha, and Sri Lanka Spurfowl, while also encountering a wealth of reptiles, amphibians, and insects that thrive within this ancient ecosystem.
From the dense rainforests of the wet zone, the production moved to the open grasslands of Udawalawe National Park, where large herds of Asian elephants provided intimate wildlife filming opportunities. The expedition concluded in Kumana National Park, a remote wilderness on Sri Lanka’s eastern coast known for its lagoons, wetlands, and thriving birdlife, where the crew once again encountered Sri Lankan leopards alongside a remarkable diversity of waterbirds and raptors.
Would you like to witness Sri Lanka’s wildlife the same way the documentary crew did?
Follow the Le Jardin Extraordinaire Wildlife Photography Trail Across Sri Lanka
