BBC Wild Alaska Live under threat as presenter Liz Bonnin struggles to reach filming location due to weather
The BBC wildlife presenter is still attempting to reach Katmai National Park to film brown bears and wolves – will she make it?
The BBC's latest ambitious live natural history documentary is under threat – because of the weather.
BBC1 wildlife presenter Liz Bonnin is attempting tor reach Katmai National Park in Alaska in time for Wild Alaska Live beginning on Sunday 23rd July at 7pm on BBC1.
However, after two days and three separate flights, Bonnin is currently stranded 100 miles from her final destination.
"There's just one more flight to do in that direction 100 miles to the coast of Katmai," she said in a new video update from Homer, Alaska. "However, it turns out there are not one, not two but three weather fronts between here and there that have to be just right to be able to make it there."
Just in from @lizbonnin - hoping to be able to make it to @KatmaiNPS in time for the live shows! Fingers crossed... #AlaskaLive pic.twitter.com/Uj0CVUu0iF
— BBC Wild Alaska Live (@BBCAlaskaLive) July 21, 2017
She continued, "Not only that, but those weather fronts have to be good at the right time, and that is just twice in 24 hours when the tide is out and we can land on the beach.
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"So that's why I'm still here; basically those very, very, very short windows of opportunity have just not aligned with us quite yet."
Bonnin added that there was "some hope" of making the final trip later in the day – "Not worried, not worried at all" she concluded.
A post from presenter Bonnin on Friday morning UK time confirmed that she "didn't make it out today", meaning that she has just one more day to reach the filming location in time for Sunday's episode.
The BBC1 series is presented by Bonnin, Countryfile presenter Matt Baker and wildlife presenter Steve Backshall, and aims to broadcast live from Alaska in order to show "the world’s most captivating animals in one of the greatest natural spectacles in the world - the Alaskan summer feast."
Backshall and Baker are based in Tongass National Forest, over 800 miles away from Bonnin's final destination Katmai National Park. Katmai is home to roughly 2,200 brown bears and is found on a peninsula in southern Alaska. It also happens to be an active volcanic landscape.
Good luck Liz...
BBC1's Wild Alaska Live begins at 7pm on Sunday 23rd July
