Mexico: Earth’s Festival of Life, New Series on the BBC

The BBC begun to broadcast a three-part series about Mexico’s natural habitats starting on May 7th, 2017—which is part of its award-winning BBC Earth Programs.

Skilfully titled Mexico: Earth’s Festival of Life, the series brings focus to an aspect of Mexico that is not immediately apparent to people unfamiliar with these lands: the country’s depth, breadth, and height of its extraordinary natural diversity.

The first program explains how Mexico is situated where three tectonic plates meet, and is thus host to some twenty active volcanoes—part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt—and while this makes the region prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, its topography is also a giver of abundant life: a combination of climates and rich volcanic soils make this region among the most fertile on the planet.

The opening scenes lay the groundwork for the central theme of the program, which explores how Mexico’s bountiful natural environments have shaped its wild habitats, and influenced the human civilizations who have come to pass here.

The first part of the series focuses on Mexico’s mountainous central plateau, with attention brought to the mysterious ancient city of Teotihuacán, the breath-taking Copper Canyons, the phenomenal Monarch Butterflies, and the distinguished (and active) Popocatépetl volcano that watches over the capital: towering nearly 18,000 feet above sea-level, it’s Mexico’s second-highest mountain after Pico de Orizaba.

In true BBC-style, the program is elegantly produced, creatively showing-off the vibrant colors and rugged beauty of natural Mexican landscapes including impressive close-up detail of wildlife, and extensive aerial footage which gives viewers outstanding perspectives of the remarkable places to be found across Mexico.

The second part of the series focuses on the Yucatán Peninsula, and the third and last part of the series heads north—to Mexico’s driest desert terrains to discover how even in the most challenging conditions, life thrives.

The program is being aired on BBC Two, and is also available on the BBC iPlayer for several weeks after initial broadcast.