Wild Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is raw and untamed. The savannas pulse with wildlife, while Victoria Falls crashes with awe-inspiring power. Ancient ruins tell stories of lost civilizations, and local cultures are as vibrant as the landscapes. Zimbabwe is where adventure and nature collide.

iFit commissioned us to create a documentary series in Zimbabwe during the height of the pandemic. Challenges came with the territory. Cancelled flights turned travel into chaos. Every layover brought another PCR test. Heavy rains flooded airstrips, and thick foliage made tracking wildlife nearly impossible.

The mission? Produce six half-hour walking experiences for iFit users. Tight deadlines, flooded locations, and a ticking clock. We landed in Harare ready to go.

Victoria Falls

First stop: Victoria Falls. It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve been—Victoria Falls always hits with the same awe. The roar of 600 million gallons of water thundering over the edge every minute is overwhelming. The rainy season only amplified the spectacle. Timing our shots between the mist and finding the perfect angles was key. This place demands respect. Its power and scale make everything else feel small.

After we experienced the sheer grandeur of the falls we hiked down into the gorge. Above us, bungee jumpers leapt off the metal bridge toward the raging Zambezi. Built in Britain in 1905, this ornate steel railway bridge is an engineering marvel. This bridge was part of Cecil Rhodes' grand vision for a railway line stretching from Cape Town to Cairo.

Malilangwe Reserve

Next, we headed to Malilangwe Reserve, home to one of the highest rhino populations in Africa. The Malilangwe Scouts, an elite anti-poaching unit, are the backbone of the reserve’s security. Over the years, their swift action has intercepted countless poaching attempts, protecting these endangered rhinos and other key species. These scouts are more than just protectors—they're experts, working hand-in-hand with wildlife departments to monitor the reserve’s ecosystem.

We spent time with the scouts, filming their day-to-day patrols. Their focus and discipline showed why Malilangwe remains a stronghold amidst the poaching crisis. Seeing them at work makes you understand just how critical this team is for the survival of rhinos in Southern Africa.

Wilderness Survival Episode

While at Malilangwe, we also filmed a wilderness survival episode. The rainy season made the animals tough to track, but patience is part of the game. We spent the day chasing leads on sightings, only to arrive too late each time. Finally, as we were wrapping up a scene, we took one last look at the river—and there they were. A herd of elephants, bathing in the water. Pure gold. These moments are pure euphoria and make all of the hard work worth it.

Here is our trailer for the Zimbabwe Walking Series on iFit:

Skeleton Coast

The Skeleton Coast is a dramatic clash of elements—where the churning ocean battles the relentless desert sands. Wind carves rippling dunes around shipwrecks and whale bones, relics of thick fog and treacherous shores. This remote, untamed stretch belongs to fur seals, seabirds, and the hardy oryx.

Travel to Namibia’s Skeleton Coast often involves chartered airplanes or helicopters to reach remote wrecks, departing from towns that seem perched at earth’s edge. The journey evokes a sense of insignificance and awe, offering a powerful rebuttal to humanity's belief in its own dominance. Over a 3-week trip we witnessed the iron- and steel-hulled ships, subsumed by sand, crumbling into rusty flakes. The Skeleton Coast reminds us of the planet’s true balance of power, where nature reigns supreme.

The Universal Story

At the heart of every story lies a dream. It's the aspirations, struggles, and hopes of everyday people that connect us all. When we focus on these universal truths, the barriers of culture and circumstance fall away, leaving stories that resonate long after the film ends.

My first film, Border Jumpers, took me to the heart of a tense feud between Zimbabwe and Botswana in 2004. Robert Mugabe had driven Zimbabwe’s economy into the ground, leaving shelves bare and families desperate. Thousands of Zimbabweans crossed the border to survive, and that’s the story Peter Hutchens and I set out to tell.

In Botswana, we met Mary, a Zimbabwean mother of four cleaning houses to get by. New to documentary filmmaking, we weren’t sure how to frame her story. The situation was bleak, but we knew we needed something more. We needed viewers to identify with her, care about her, and root for her. That’s when it clicked—the key wasn’t the hardships; it was her dream. Mary had a beautiful voice and dreamed of becoming a "superstar singer." By focusing on her aspirations, we made her story relatable. Hopes and dreams cut through the complexity of circumstances and make characters feel real. They transcend culture, language, and background. It’s a foolproof formula that works every time.

That approach still drives our work today. No matter where we are in the world, whether it’s the streets of a city or the remote corners of a country, the hopes, dreams, and struggles of the people we meet connect us all. When we tap into these shared human experiences, we cut through the noise and get to the heart of the story. Those relatable moments—aspirations for a better life, the fight for dignity, the dream of something greater—strike a chord. It’s these elements that make our films resonate on a personal level, no matter the location or context.

Border Jumpers aired on PBS Wide Angle in July 2005.

On location with Mary in Francistown, Botswana 2004

General Butt Naked

During Liberia’s brutal civil war, General Butt Naked was notorious for leading his troops into battle. Completely naked, he claimed this made his child soldiers invincible. Born Joshua Milton Blahyi, his name became synonymous with terror. Fueled by drugs and violence, he boasted of ritual sacrifices, and claimed responsibility for over 20,000 deaths.

Then, the twist: Blahyi found Christianity. He now preaches redemption and asks for forgiveness. His mission? To save the very souls he once terrorized. But for anyone who knows his past, the contrast is jarring.

Filming him recounting the moment of his conversion was one of the most surreal experiences of my career. We stood with Blahyi, Pastor Kun, and Senegalese, his former bodyguard, at the exact spot where he claims this transformation took place. He described how Pastor Kun had walked right past his bodyguards, undetected, straight into the barracks at the height of the civil war. Blahyi wanted to kill him on the spot but found himself unable to move. In a fit of rage, he blasted Senegalese’s legs off for letting Kun through.

The Redemption of General Butt Naked is available here for rent. Winner of the 2011 Sundance Cinematography Award.