2018
1 x 52 min
Director, Script, Camera: Johannes Berger and Stephan Krasser
A co-production by ORF, ARTE, NDR and WEGA Film in association with ORF-Enterprise and BMB.
Over 3000 Greek islands rise out of the Mediterranean Sea. Only just over 100 are permanently inhabited, leavingplenty of space for nature. The Greek islands were created by volcanism and tectonic shifts. Due to repeated falling and rising sea levels during recent geological history, the islands and mainland have been repeatedly connected or disconnected. This constant interplay of fusion and isolation has spawned many animal and plant species over the millennia that live nowhere else. The volcanic island of Milos is located in the southern Aegean Sea and is an ideal resting place for migratory birds – but also home to the Milosviper – a sophisticated bird hunter. Crete, Greece’s largest island, is wild and full of surprises. Here, the southernmost high mountains in Europe rise steeply. In its ravines lives the last population of the Cretan wild goat – the Kri-Kri. In a single small bay in the Peloponnese lives a population of African chameleons. They were probably introduced in ancient times by mariners from Africa and have survived to this day. Antikythera, a small, almost uninhabited island, becomes the scene of a great natural spectacle every autumn. Over 2500 Eleonora falcons breed on their cliffs. On the island of Rhodes, millions of butterflies gather in a valley every summer to survive the hottest time of the year. The underwater world of Greece also has spectacular inhabitants. The cuttlefish communicates through its skin – in seconds it changes color, shape and pattern.
