Back in 2001, the BBC aired a new nature documentary called Blue Planet. Narrated by the esteemed Sir David Attenborough, the show visited 35 locations over an astounding five years of filming.
We saw colour-changing walruses; the blue whale with its car-sized heart; the horror-movie style anglerfish, and we were, if you’ll forgive the pun, hooked.
Cut to present day. Attenborough is no longer just highly esteemed, but a much-loved British icon; some say the country’s grandfather. In the last 16 years, a further four series have aired under the Planet franchise.
Here at eShores, we were inspired. We’ve heard that the Attenborough’s shows have positively impacted travel and tourism around the world, and we wanted to know more.
So, we decided to find out every location that Attenborough has taken us to over the years and try to build it into the ultimate multi-centre holiday. Some places proved to be unreachable, but we managed to come up with an adventure as close as possible to walking in the footsteps of the film crew.
Along with the first series of Blue Planet, we looked at the 2006 series of Planet Earth, followed by Frozen Planet in 2011, Planet Earth 2 in 2016 and 2017’s Blue Planet II.
Here are the routes we put together for each series, along with a map showing every location of the complete Attenborough trip:
Patience was a significant characteristic required by the crew, and if you wanted to emulate them as part of the ultimate wildlife-seekers holiday, you’ll probably need some too.
On a route that would take in every location across the six series, you’d have to embark on 175 plane journeys (there are trains and car hires along the way too). The most of which comes from the locations for Blue Planet II, where you’d need to board 37 planes to emulate Attenborough’s feat in that series alone.
Best take a good book or two with you too. You’ll clock up a mammoth 373,744 miles on your Attenborough-mimicking journey, including 103,976 just to visit the locations of Blue Planet I. Think of the air miles.
As you might have guessed, this trip of a lifetime can’t be done on the cheap. Taking in flights, travel and hotel stays, we estimate the cost at £402,220!
That price also includes a selection of Attenborough-inspired excursions, just to make sure you’re actually seeing these incredible locations along the way. Included in our final costings is a 9-day safari in South Africa, a 3-day scuba diving trip of the Great Barrier Reef, and even an 18-day trek to Mount Everest base camp (along with many others).
As for other locations that the five series’ have shot at, the list is far from brief! Did you spot those methane volcanoes erupting in Blue Planet II? They are located 650 metres deep in the Gulf of Mexico. Nearby Costa Rica and the Bahamas also featured in that series.
Meanwhile, of course, its predecessor Frozen Planet was filmed in 15 much icier spots, including many in the Arctic and Antarctic.
However, the series that covered the most locations was the original Planet Earth. It covered a staggering 66 different filming spots, from New Zealand to Norway, the West coast of Scotland to the Great Barrier Reef of Australia.
The shows have undoubtedly given every viewer a renewed desire to travel and see the world. After all, it looks incredible! But overcrowding is increasingly damaging cities like Venice and Santorini, something that Attenborough explains and demonstrates in the shows.
Thankfully, the Planet series seem to be having a different effect. Experts say that people are heeding Attenborough’s warnings, and predict travellers will increasingly venture to new destinations instead. ABTA research found that one in four travellers has plans to visit a country they’ve never been to before, with around one in three travellers hoping to tick a brand new city or resort from their bucket-list this year.
The welfare of the earth and sea is not the only impact the Planet series is having, however. A brighter light than ever is now shining on the wellbeing of animals, and travel agencies are taking important steps to do their part.
As Attenborough himself said at the close of Blue Planet II, “surely we have a responsibility to care for our blue planet.” He was not wrong.
So, here’s to you, David Attenborough. Thank you for showing us not just the world, but our entire, beautiful planet.
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2nd time booking with eShores and they didn't dissapoint. Following our amazing holiday (1st booking) to Malaysia/Borneo we contacted Dave with an initial enquiry for an Australian multitrip holiday; compared to others Dave and team offered great knowledgeable, experienced advise and delivered an itinerary fully reflective of our wishlist travelling with a great airline and…
Just booked a holiday for later in year. I have total confidence on Hannah arranging yet again. Fab service given.
Consultant so helpful and so knowledgeable
My experience with eshores has been very positive, even to the point of a late evening enquiry being answered and resolved before bedtime. The holiday itinerary and choice of accommodation was excellent and the eshores staff were lovely to deal with.
Really responsive and hard working travel consultant. We are a regular customer. The consultant accommodated varied requests from our large group booking. Always patient and willing to go extra mile
The holiday that we were looking for was communicated to Eshore’s and after a couple iterations we have a holiday which meets our requirements. Looking forward to a relaxing holiday on Sicily
We have used Eshores a couple of times now and I must say they are fantastic. In particular, Laura at Eshores, was ever so helpful and changed our itinerary at our request multiple times and gave us the best prices available. It was quite a complicated multi-stop holiday with our party departing from and arriving…
My experience with Nadine has been great! She is lovely, nothing is too much trouble and she is very quick when replying to emails.
From the moment we were in contact with Emma McDonough, we had the confidence to book witheShores. Even though we had to completely change our original dates all down to ourselves, nothing was a problem for Emma. She guided us through the complete booking and we now have a tailor made holiday exactly how we…
Always a pleasure to book with these guys. Got my requirements bang on and looking forward to a great holiday in South Africa.
Booked my trip to the Philippines with Eshores. Nick was great, I had a lot of changes which he always accommodated, he made sure I was 100% happy before booking. He gave me a lot of recommendations which was really helpful. I’d definitely book with them again.
Excellent response from initial contact made and throughout the process. Nadine was patient, informative and couldn't do enough for us..brilliant customer service!!!
I would like to express my admiration for Kadie at eShores, her excellent work and efficiency. I value her tremendous expertise and vast knowledge in travel planning. I will be only too happy to express my heartfelt appreciation and gratitude for the highly professional and competent services, provided in both a friendly and accessible manner.…
A professional and experienced team that always deliver a quality service. Customer focused and willing to go the extra mile to help with planning the perfect trip! (Special mention to Michelle Porter - absolute star!)
Great service from Kelly - always spoke to same person and had her direct contact details . She tailored our holiday to exactly what we requested and within our budget. Kelly was able to answer lots of questions about the resists and included private tours and transfers. Highly recommended
Eshores was recommended to us by a friend and I am so pleased with the service. Booking our holiday and visit to family in Kenya has been made so easy and effortless. We will definitely by using you again and wish to say a big Thank You 😊
Emily has handled our Thailand holiday booking from start to finish ! She has been so accommodating and even with my constant tweets to the travel plans she has always been so helpful and reassuring that it needs to be just right ! Thanks to Emily I feel like we are now set and ready…
Shores were very easy to deal with, listened to what we wanted from our holiday and provided a very good travel package at a reasonable price. I would use them again and their representative, Dave, was never pushy or frustrated by any changes requested throughout the process.
Such an efficient service. I got in touch with a slightly complicated holiday request at quite short notice and the holiday was arranged later that day. Excellent price and very happy with all the arrangements so far
I was delighted with the quick response from Nick after enquiring about Island Hopping in Greece. Within 2 days he had got back to us with a quote for our holiday. All flights, hotels, ferries and private transport were arranged. Fantastic customer service and absolutely delighted with the standard of the hotels and the cost…
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