When the Arctic walrus nicknamed “Wally” arrived in Kerry’s Valentia and then swam over to Wales, award-winning filmmaker Doug Allan was away working on a feature film in Nepal.
However, Allan has heard of such visits before – albeit unusual – and believes his survival chances could be “pretty good”.
He spoke about this and many other topics - including whether international mountaineering expeditions should be climbing in a country with a fragile health service like Nepal during a pandemic - in the second part of his interview with Wavelengths this week.
Doug Allan with walrus
The Blue Planet, Planet Earth, Life, Human Planet, Frozen Planet, Expedition Iceberg, Forces of Nature are just some of the many documentaries which Allan has to his name.
Known as “Sir David Attenborough’s cameraman”, he has been described by the renowned broadcaster as “immune to most of the limitations that govern other humans” and “ totally without fear in a way that comes not from recklessness but from deep knowledge and experience.”
Doug Allan filming under the ice in the Arctic
Allan, who has a house in the west of Ireland, plans an Irish tour whenever it is safe to do so. He is author of Freeze Frame, published in 2012 and available in all good bookshops and here
Listen to part two of his Wavelengths interview below and part one here
