Ningaloo Nyinggulu (2023)

In a world first, celebrated author and conservationist Tim Winton takes us to one of the Earth's last truly wild and intact places. Western Australia's global treasure, Ningaloo. A region that has supported humans for over 40,000 years, where the desert meets the sea, Ningaloo is a wonderland of biodiversity and a refuge for many species endangered or extinct elsewhere. On this personal and immersive journey, Tim celebrates some of Ningaloo's many secrets and wonders, introduces us to its protectors and custodians, goes in search of new knowledge about its three mighty ecosystems, and showcases the region's role as a beacon of hope amid our extinction crisis and climate emergency. Its First Peoples call this global treasure Nyinggulu. The rest of us know it as Ningaloo. Out on our remote and rugged north-west coast, where the tropics, the arid zone and the temperate regions overlap, Australia hangs at the edge of an oceanic abyss, at the narrowest part of our continental shelf, where the desert has its feet in the sea. This special geography has helped Ningaloo sustain and enchant humans for over 40,000 years, and today, thanks to its natural defenses, its passionate protectors and its exemplary conservation management, this desert-maritime wonderland endures and thrives. Once fated to be yet another piece of northern Australia to drill and quarry and mine, Ningaloo is the grand exception that can inspire us to fight for a better future. Ningaloo is a global lifeboat. For ancient, living cultures. For a suite of massive and intact ecosystems. And for staggering natural wealth, with levels of biodiversity that set it apart on the world stage. A repository of human artefacts of breathtaking antiquity, a living laboratory for millennia of climate change, and a refuge for many wonderful, unique, and endangered creatures - from a subterranean fish that's blind and half the size of your finger, to the biggest fish in the sea, the majestic whale shark - Ningaloo has been a longstanding source of inspiration for Tim Winton who has been exploring and defending the region for over 30 years. On this personal and immersive journey, Tim celebrates some of Ningaloo's many secrets and wonders, introduces us to its protectors and custodians, goes in search of new knowledge about its three mighty ecosystems, and showcases the region's role as a beacon of hope amid our extinction crisis and climate emergency. Over three episodes, in the company of Traditional Owners, scientists, experts and friends, Tim learns more about how this World Heritage gem was formed in deep time; discovers the ways in which, against all odds, its local and global connections continue to sustain such a welter of abundance and diversity; and reflects upon what such a vanishingly rare place might tell us about our future as we embrace the many challenges of the Anthropocene. The first in-depth documentary about one of the globe's least-known marvels, written by its most prominent champion, this is a journey full of surprises and touching encounters with the people, creatures, and ecosystems of an unforgettable place. Ningaloo Nyinggulu will astonish, inspire, and delight.