by Thinus Ferreira
National Geographic will show a documentary film about the discovery of the Endurance ship at the bottom of Antarctica's Weddell Sea, go up in the Alaskan air, share a magical David Blaine discovery and investigate more crashes, ice roads and megastructures over the next few months on the yellow frame channel.
National Geographic (DStv 181) shared content highlights between now and March 2025 at a programming upfront that was held on Wednesday morning.
It included a screening of the documentary film Endurance which chronicles the discovery of this ship that sank in Antarctica in 1915 and was discovered by the SA Agulhas II during an expedition in 2022.
"Our top priorities are really a lot of brand-new stories coming to National Geographic," Tracy-Ann van Rooyen, senior manager of programming and scheduling at The Walt Disney Company Africa, said at the Johannesburg upfront event.
"We are really going for specials and life-storytelling that we haven't seen before - the first of which is Endurance. Endurance is a story of leadership, of Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew who were stuck a century ago on the Endurance."
"It's the story of how now we were able to uncover that story to really understand what happened to them and how they survived."
Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin are the directors with Dan Snow as executive producer and Mensun Bound as the marine archaeologist onboard the icebreaker SA Agulhas II that left in 2022 from Cape Town to search for the Endurance.
Endurance premieres on National Geographic on Sunday 3 November at 21:00, with a repeat on Friday 8 November at 20:30.
"Twenty years ago one of the biggest natural disasters in the world happened when a tsunami hit Asia. Tsunami: Race Against Time is telling that story in unique detail and perspective 20 years later," Tracy-Ann van Rooyen said.
Tsunami: Race Against Time follows the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the deadliest in
history, minute by minute as it spreads, with unseen archive
video and stories of survival and courage.
The 4-episode series features scientists who raced to understand the unfolding disaster and warn
the world, journalists who broke the news, and rescuers who risked everything
to save others. Tsunami will premiere in two double episodes on Thursdays
at 20:30 from 28 November and 5 December.
"It's created by the producers of the 9/11 series One Day in America, and they went through this process of uncovering unseen footage and then went to go and find those people who took the footage. Twenty years later these people are telling the story of that day."
The 8th season of To Catch a Smuggler starts on National Geographic on Thursday 28 November at 18:50 with more cases of Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security and what they find along the borders of the United States.
Megastructures Real Madrid Super Stadium will unspool on 11 December.
The film The Devil's Climb, directed by Renan Ozturk, premieres on National Geographic on Sunday 29 December at 21:00.
Rock climbers Alex Honnold of Free Solo and Tommy Caldwell set off on an epic adventure, cycling thousands of kilometres en route to a daring climb of the Devil's Thumb, a legendary Alaskan peak surrounded by old-growth rainforest.
Tommy is recovering from a career-threatening injury, making the expedition's success uncertain.
Witches is a new special about the Salem Witch Trials and how rumours created catastrophe for women in the 1800s in the United States. Plane Crash Recreated is a new series.
From the Wreckage is another new series that will start in early 2025 on National Geographic.
"Mysterious Islands is a new 10-parter series also coming in 2025. It's an absolutely unforgettable adventure to explore the most enigmatic islands on our planet. Each episode has four islands and uncovering various secrets."
"Mutant Weather takes viewers on a fun and shocking view of bizarre weather phenomena - like dry lightning, thunder snow, ice snow - just really unpacking how the world from a weather point-of-view is quickly changing."
Tracy-Ann van Rooyen unveiled No Taste Like Home with Anthony Porowski as a new series for 2025 "who speaks to people about their food journeys and their food cultures like Issa Rae, Akwafina and Justin Theroux."
Destruction Decoded "is another new series about how a major disaster can be traced back to its original spot and how nothing really happens by accident.
The 9th season of Ice Road Rescue starts on National Geographic on Tuesday 17 February 2025 at 19:40 when "the Ice Road bosses face ever tougher
challenges than before".
"Heading into blizzards in the dead of night, in
temperatures falling to -30oC, demands commitment, character and
courage. It’s time for Norway's newest tow truckers to prove that they really
are a breed apart."
David Blaine also comes to National Geographic in the first quarter of 2025.
"He comes to National Geographic and Disney+ and is an exceptional mind. His story is called David Blaine: Do Not Attempt and it will be on National Geographic in March 2025. It's a cinematic journey following him as he chooses to go to little-known parts of the world where people are experimenting with ideas of magic."
