Plot Synopsis

Written and directed by Harald Pokieser, COLOMBIA: WILD AND FREE is a two-part documentary that explores Colombia, a land of beauty and mysterious legends like El Dorado, a lost city of gold that adventurous explorers searched to find for centuries. Some of Colombia's real treasures are the rainforests along the Amazon River, the vast plains in the East, the majestic mountains of the Andes and the wild coasts of the Pacific Ocean. For decades, many of Colombia's wild places remained hidden as fighting between separatist militias and the national army made them unsafe to visit. Now safety has returned, and Colombia's stunning array of natural wonders can be explored. The two installments debut on consecutive Wednesdays in May 2022:

"Two Rivers" (Wednesday, May 18, 2022): The series opener explores Eastern Colombia, a region defined by two mighty rivers -- the Amazon and the Orinoco. The Amazon River flows through lush, dense rainforests, while the Orinoco carves its way across a landscape of grassy plains, lakes and floodplain forests. A dizzying variety of birds live in Eastern Colombia, including roseate spoonbills, black skimmers, jabiru storks and scarlet ibises. A trio of burrowing owlets provides comic relief as they play with twigs and a male wire-tailed manakin shows off his elaborate courtship dancing skills. A female jaguar watches over her baby cub, only two months old but already a predator in training. And the forest canopy is populated by close-knit, multigenerational families of squirrel monkeys and tiny Pygmy marmosets, the world's smallest monkeys.

"From the Pacific to the Andes" (Wednesday, May 25, 2022): The finale takes viewers to Western Colombia, from the largely uninhabited and wild coasts of the Pacific to the Andes, the longest continental mountain range in the world. Hidden natural wonders lie off the rugged shoreline, in the rocky inlets and mysterious depths of distant islands. Thousands of humpback whales gather to give birth in the summer, while fish hunt crabs in the roots of the mangrove trees, endangered poison dart frogs creep along the forest floor, and a mother and baby sloth hang out in the treetops. The ascent into the Andes is like a journey to a different planet. Snow-capped volcanoes known as the Los Nevados -- two of which are still active -- have delivered both deadly destruction and nutrient-rich volcanic ash soil for growing crops. The volcanos are surrounded by the Paramo, a magical and mysterious landscape of giant flowers. The mountain forests of the Andes begin just below 12,000-feet and are home to the legendary Andean condor, solitary spectacled bears and stunning hummingbirds.