Nat Geo’s first pan-African children’s production to inspire the next generation of conservation leaders
The Walt Disney Company Africa, together with its project partners, National Geographic, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and WildlifeDirect hosted the launch event for the highly anticipated National Geographic Kids programme, Team Sayari, in Nairobi this past weekend. The children’s series, which aims to motivate and inspire children to engage with, care for and protect the natural world, has started airing on National Geographic Wild across Africa, with an episode premiere each Saturday.
The launch event was attended by media, project partners and their families, local personalities and school youths from Nairobi, who engaged with interactive activities inspired by the programme, such as planting indigenous trees, painting reusable bags, crafting bee hotels and making molds of animal footprints. Two episodes of Team Sayari were screened at the occasion: one exploring the fascinating relationship between elephants and bees, with the other themed profiling unexpected heroes in the wild, which guests enjoyed watching with the cast of the show that had travelled from various countries to attend. Kenyan based production company White Rhino Films were acknowledged for their work in producing the series.
Team Sayari is National Geographic’s first pan-African children’s production and is hosted by twelve children from East, South and West Africa.
Led by the programme’s goal to inspire meaningful, impactful behavioural change in young viewers across the continent and create the next generation of environmental conservation leaders, each episode begins with a DNA-inspired computer named Funzi giving our young presenters missions to complete. This sets the scene for adventurous journeys, in which the wonders of the natural world, and the need to live more lightly on the planet, are revealed. On their travels, Team Sayari will meet National Geographic Explorers and trailblazers in the fields of conservation, science, nature, wildlife and the environment, learning valuable lessons regarding how to reduce their impact, protect and restore nature in a fun way.
Viewers can expect thrilling travels, intriguing discoveries, fun DIY activities and enthralling adventures every week. Viewers can also expect fascinating journeys through wild spaces such as mountains, forests and nature reserves, and encounters with wild animals from elephants to bees, from sharks to snakes, and everything in between. On their travels, they meet unexpected heroes in these far-out locations that share fascinating insights about the planet we call home.
