Pangolin: Kulu's Journey

So many rare animals have been poached and killed for their body parts for 'traditional medicine' (said 'medicine' loosely) or sold as exotic pets. SO cruel.

I am thankful there are those kind humans and scientists and government officials out to stop poachers and this horrendous trade. All pangolins are vulnerable to critically endangered on all land masses. I hope these efforts are successful, and make people realize how important our living records of ancient life are, like these pangolins.

Thank you for making such an informative and natural documentary about an amazing animal, and the amazing people trying to protect them.

I absolutely loved this. It touched me deeply and left a lasting impression. Pangolins are such gentle, innocent animals - there's something so pure about them. Watching this made me realize how vulnerable they are and how much they need our protection.

The whole experience felt intimate and real. It wasn't just a documentary - it was emotional, beautiful, and meaningful. I could feel the love and care behind every scene, and it really pulled me in. I found myself completely absorbed from start to finish.

Honestly, I could watch a whole series like this. I'd love to see more stories about pangolins being rescued, healed, and released. These kinds of films are so important, not just to raise awareness but because they remind us of the quiet beauty of nature and the power of compassion.

So grateful I watched this. It stays with you - highly recommend it.

I truly loved this documentrary. Reading through some of the more negative reviews on here, I feel like a lot of folks have overlooked some key points the film was trying to make about the difficulties of the rewilding process. I think that those who feel that the Pangolin's walker, Gareth, was being too hands on or cuddling the Pangolin too much need to also take into account that the Pangolin was literally just a baby when it was rescued from the illegal wildlife trade and needed to, not only gain the weight to help him survive the wild before release, but, also, needed to learn the skills that would help protect him from future predators. A baby pangolin needs 24/7 round the clock care. I can't imagine that a total lack of nurturing would have benefited the Pangolin. Kulu also needed to have a certain amount of familiarity with Gareth as he was taking Kulu out on the reserve every day for months to forage and learn to be wild again. In the film Kulu was shown to often be making a run for it, so I never got the sense that he was being conditioned to " not be afraid" of humans. I think that it must have been difficult to give Kulu the space he needed to learn how to be wild, while at the same time helping him avoid the electric fences and other dangers. The rewilding process here was not at all a simple or straightforward feat, and I feel the film did a good job of explaining this. "There was a fear of failure". They were open about the fact that there were learning curves, but their previous, less hands-on attempts to rewild the Pangolins had been failing and they needed to change their approach. I was personally fine with the amount of screentime and backstory that Gareth had in the film, and enjoyed his narration and his commentary that Kulu helped him change the way he saw the world was moving. He volunteered over a year of his life for Kulu's rewilding, and is now working on projects to modify electric fences to help further save Pangolins. I enjoyed hearing a little bit about the people who are helping these beautiful creatures. I loved this documentary and can't wait for Pippa Ehrlich's next one!

First of all, this story does not justify its 88-minute runtime, sorry. There's simply not that much content in it, at least in this form. It could easily have been told in a ca. 40 minutes and would have made a great short doc.

The pangolin, while undeniably adorable, has limited behaviors and therefore limited filming possibilities - although the cinematography is superb. But after a while, it feels like you're watching the same happenings and same shots on repeat.

The human character is a kind and nice person, but not particularly charismatic or compelling. I felt that almost any of the other people involved in the rewilding effort could have made for a more engaging protagonist.

It feels like the creators tried to follow a similar formula to My Octopus Teacher, though with a different narrative, but this time it just didn't work. Especially not at this length.

Fantastic story of a selfless person giving everything to help another harmless species suffering at the hand of the human race, and the pangolin in return providing the guiding star during a time of need back to Gareth.

The cinematography was brilliant, showing scenes of untouched nature in the beautiful landscapes of South Africa, very impressive lightning and thunder storms, and some what seems to be crazy nights spent under the stars in a world of predators.

It was really well portrayed, directed, and edited throughout providing a thorough, emotional, and gripping story from start to finish.