Cookson Adventures elevates storytelling with launch of Cookson Productions

Cookson Adventures, the leader in ultra-luxury experiential travel, is expanding its creative capabilities with the launch of a new production arm: Cookson Productions. The division will continue crafting cinematic films for private clients while expanding into conservation-focused mini-documentaries that spotlight impactful projects across the globe.

It draws on the in-house team’s filmmaking expertise, which includes award-winning video editors, widely published photographers and project managers that have worked on National Geographic productions.

In celebration of this, Cookson Productions, has released ‘A Land for Giants’, a short documentary directed by environmental filmmaker Byron Pace. It follows the ambitious translocation of 26 elephants by overland on extremely challenging roads across the border from Namibia’s Okonjati Game Reserve to the Cuatir Conservation Area in southeastern Angola. This groundbreaking project was partly funded by a Cookson Adventures client and marks a brand-new chapter for conservation in Angola.

This difficult mission, totalling four trips of 700km each way, was crucial to accomplish. According to Alex Oelofse, owner of Namibia’s Okonjati Reserve, the elephant population had grown to more than twice the reserve’s capacity, destroying the local habitat for other species. Meanwhile in the vast Cuando Cubango province in southeastern Angola, decades of civil war had left local wildlife populations severely depleted. The 200-square-kilometre private reserve, painstakingly restored by Namibian-born conservationist Stefan van Wyk, now offers a rare expanse of secure habitat for wildlife in an increasingly crowded world.

With the family group thriving in its new environment, even growing with the birth of five calves since they arrived, this translocation has proved to be a huge success. The elephants’ presence is deeply symbolic of a new positive approach to conservation in Angola, which is opening up to tourism again.

A DOCUMENTARIAN APPROACH

Since 2007, Cookson Adventures, has integrated conservational and philanthropic elements into trips, matching clients with causes they are passionate about. This means guests not only get to go behind the scenes – getting hands on and educating their friends or family – and make a genuine difference to truly impactful projects.

Cookson Adventures has an in-house team, including award-winning video editors, widely published photographers and project managers that have worked on award-winning wildlife productions, are joined by a collective of the world’s best travel shooters. Whether capturing a mountain drone shot or underwater filming on a diving trip, not a precious or dramatic moment is missed, no matter the challenges posed by the location.  

To find out more about Cookson Productions and to watch ‘A Land for Giants’ as well as ‘Keystone’, a short film capturing the translocation of 14 rhino in northern Kenya click the link below.
 
 
Watch the film