Under construction
We are currently working on our site. We will be in the air soon.
Latest: our 12 part survival/wildlife series for kids "Freek on Safari" will air from January 10th on Dutch television.
We are currently researching new projects and are open to new ideas and formats.
Merry X-mas and have a happy, succesfull and adventurous 2012.
Our motto: Play outside and live the wild life!
Herco van Houdt
Owner nuts&friends media
mail: info@nutsfriends.com
November 11th 2010
First day shooting in Zambian bush. Location: Kafue National Park, a few kilometers from Mukambi Safari Lodge.
I know this area very well. It's Africa like it was a 100 years
ago, wild and almost untouched. I spent some time as a safari bushcamp
manager here and also shot two documentary series for Dutch television.
We are a two men crew: Freek Vonk, presenter and me, cameraman/director.
It's hot as hell! + 35 degrees centigrade. My presenter,
biologist and reptile expert Freek Vonk almost bumped into a hippo this
morning (missed each other only by a few feet..) and in the afternoon a
cheeky warthog tried to headbutt him. The warthog just missed him..
Looking for snakes tonight.
November 15th 2010
Just another day in the
Zambian bush: While filming a recently killed kudu, two coughs and a
just audible growl made us aware of a leopard somewhere nearby in the
tall grass. I decided to pack our stuff and very carefully make our way
out of there. Pfew. The same afternoon we were chased by a huge male
elephant. But we also caught two big snakes and a huge nile monitor
lizard. Man these things can run! At night we are jumping on (small and
medium sized) crocs from a boat.
Filming is going well. Still very very hot here and every now and then
the heavens open up. The rains are coming!
November 19th 2010
As promised, the picture of our 'croc hunt'. This one is 1 meter. I can't believe how powerfull and fast these "small" ones already are.
Other news: we caught three more snakes, one monitor lizard and we saw elephants swimming in the Kafue river. Very nice....
It was Freek's first time... for the first time in his life he was (almost) speechless.
Going
for bigger crocs tonight. Forgot to mention that the Kafue river in
Zambia is known for it's very grumpy hippo's and "inquisitive" crocs.
News just came in that in the last two months, two small children were
taken by crocs and a third one just escaped with his life. Now in
hospital with a chewed leg. Tragic.
November 21nd 2010
Conducting experiment to see if a certain adult fish species from the Kafue river is still venomous.
Freek and I took all precautions and let him be stung by
one....Sting hurt and a lot of blood!
(I was stung by the same species, a young one, at this same river. It
hurt like hell for a couple of hours, but no permanent damage was done.
(People close to me, sometimes beg to differ...). Did the experiment
work? More later.
November 23nd 2010
Back from Kafue Nat Park. Pilot
shoot with "snake-man" almost done. Very happy with results. One
casualty. During croc catching session last night. Tyrone the lodge
manager from Mukambi Lodge jumped on a croc and got bitten in the arm.
20 stiches. Me, jumped twice, had them, but crocs got away... Tomorrow
in Lusaka looking for cobra's.
Our stay at Mukambi Safari Lodge in Kafue National Park was fantastic. Many thanks for putting up with us and all the help. It is an awesome place. Check them out at www.mukambi.com
More pictures at www.evolutionbites.com
About Herco
Natural History – adventure – conservation always played a big part in my (professional) life. I started my professional career as a radio reporter. After a few very interesting years I moved on to television news. Assignments have included the occupation of the Brent Spar, going undercover in Zimbabwe several times, and the Tsunami aftermath in Sri Lanka.After a few years I combined my work as a news reporter making natural history/wildlife television series and documentaries. Learning to operate a HDV/HD camera opened up a whole new range of possibilities and led to filming/directing new projects. *
Working and travelling in Africa had a profound effect on me. African dust got under my fingernails. I lived and worked in Southern Africa for several years, making television programs and helping friends managing a tented safari camp in the Zambian bush. Raising three warthogs and an impala in the process.
After work it’s time for (rock-) climbing, hiking, wildlife, cooking, cinema and recently surfing.
My Dutch CV
My English CV
Life is beautiful in the wild.
Please select a movie from the list to the right. Then be patient, some movies are quite large...
Some of my favourite links.
www.rtl.nl: Van Amstelveen naar Afrika
www.thecrew.nl
www.condor.tv
www.razorsharpfilms.com
www.wildtalkafrica.com
www.pacificwild.org
www.montereybayaquarium.org
www.aap.nl
www.mukambi.com
www.bontebokridge.co.za
Herco van Houdt
Herenstraat 57 II
1406PA Bussum
The Netherlands
skype: hercovanh
t: +31651105946