19 May 2025

A captivating, unfiltered wildlife film series, Big Cats 24/7 was on Saturday premiered at Gaborone’s Masa New Capitol Cinema.
The film, translated into Setswana, is a six-episode 60 minutes BBC Studios Natural History Unit’s ‘Project Songbird’ initiative, co-produced with PBS. It promotes a more sustainable, equitable and inclusive global wildlife filmmaking industry.
Big Cats 24/7 captures the dramatic lives of the Okavango cats in the delta. Their way of life is narrated and exposed as the viewer is taken through the battle for survival by the big cats; the lion, leopard and cheetah. From how these wild cats hunt, fend for their cubs and their instinctive ability to hunt even when it proves not to be easy.
It further gives the viewer insights into the behaviour of the cats, particularly at night. The night scenes shown from the cutting-edge premium footage, gives the viewer a new approach or insight of how the lions are sometimes trapped in desperation for food as they fend for their young ones; where they find themselves attempting to even hunt for animals they would not often target, such as the porcupine.
“Through the Setswana translation, we want Batswana to have a sense of identity and patriotism,” said Seetsele Sets Nthomiwa, an on-screen presenter on BBC Studios NHU’s Big Cats 24/7. An award-winning Botswana wildlife cinematographer, Sets, who has been doing wildlife film for five years now, shared some of his moments during filming. He said it could be a scary experiment at the beginning, but with time it eases.
“We are trained to understand the behaviour of animals,” said Sets, who has also worked on a Netflix wildlife drama, Surviving Paradise, which explores the power of family to survive, as well as BBC Dynasties: Meerkats (BBC1), Whispers of the Delta.
The Big Cats 24/7 series has a cast of animals with Setswana names such as Pobe, Mathata, Sepoko, Magogo and some in English such as Big Toe, which Sets explained were meant for the benefit of the foreigner to be able to pronounce. He also explained that animals were often named according to significance of their character and resemblance.
To promote inclusivity, the film will also be screened in communities across Maun and in the Okavango Pan handle, starting from Gudigwa. ENDS