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International Locations: Lakes and Rivers
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Would it be giving away too much if I said that every film, TV programme and commercial ought to have at least one scene reminiscent of Mr Darcy’s swim across Pemberley lake? Course we all know that that scene was filmed in Derbyshire but where else can handsome actors cool off or adventurous Dorises launder their smalls?
Africa/Middle East
According to Hindu legend, the God Shiva and his wife Parvati were circling the earth when Shiva noticed a beautiful, deserted island and decided to land. In the course of touching down though, Shiva spilled a few drops of the Ganges onto the island, creating a small lake. (The Ganges was balanced on his head at the time.)
That lake became Ganga Talao in Mauritius, a notorious beauty spot and important pilgrimage site. One of only two natural lakes on the island, it rests in the crater of an extinct volcano. Attention and respect obviously need to be paid to the religious significance of the area, but venture here and you’ll be rewarded with consistently warm temperatures, though you’ll need your raincoat if you plan to be there in January, February or March.
A bit less remote but equally temperate is The Vaal River in Gauteng, South Africa. The province’s main waterway, the river begins at the Vaal Dam and provides locations that vary from wide and lazy with beautiful homesteads at the edges, to fast and furious: a white-water rafter’s paradise.
The Congo is the second longest in Africa and rolls for over 4,500 kilometres through the second largest rainforest area in the world. Long sections of the river lie on either side of the equator, making its flow very stable: it’s sure to be rainy season somewhere along its length at any given time of the year.
You’ll find the Great Lakes of Africa in the truly enormous Great Rift Valley of East Africa. The most famous of these is the infinitely vast Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest lake and the largest tropical lake in existence. At nearly 69,000 square kilometres, it is the source of the Nile, itself (arguably) the world’s longest river, whose history evokes images of Pharaohs’ barges travelling contentedly down the wide river framed by desert, palm trees and a croc or two.
Closer to home, the United Arab Emirates’ Dubai Creek echoes this cultural feel. The creek divides Dubai into two parts - Deira Dubai and Bur Dubai – and is 14 kilometres long. Strangely, only wooden ships are allowed to enter the creek, but this makes it a perfect environment for filming traditional scenes.
The Americas
The USA and Canada are of course home to the notorious Great Lakes: Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario and Superior which boast a sparsely-populated shoreline of over 16,000 kilometres. These lakes are so huge that they are sometimes referred to as inland seas and indeed one of the newer lake pastimes is diving to take a look at any of the 300 wrecks which are purported to be there.
California’s deepest freshwater lake is Lake Tahoe, situated in the awe-inspiring Yosemite National Park. The state of Minnesota is nicknamed The Land Of Ten Thousand Lakes and promises an abundance of lake settings and views, whilst north Utah’s Great Salt Lake offers harsh, striking primeval shots befitting the remnants of a much larger prehistoric lake.
The USA is also rich with rivers that are laden with folklore and history. Of them, surely the Mississippi must be the most filmed and written about. As well as trickling past the Rockies and Appalachians, it snakes its way through (or borders) Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico about 160 kilometres downstream from New Orleans. Now you can’t say that won’t give you a decent choice of locations.
Heading south, you’ll find that Yucatan, Mexico, has a unique network of over 3,000 underground rivers, or ‘Cenotes’, as well as a variety of lagoons. Dzitnup Cenote, for example, is beautifully adorned with ancient rock formations. In Argentina, almost every sort of river can be found running across the thousands of kilometres of diverse landscape. Foamy rivers cut through pine-covered mountains and tropical rivers wind through plains, forests and cities on their way to the sea.
Angel Falls in Roraima, Venezuela is the world’s highest waterfall and is undeniably breathtaking, with its stark jet of water erupting from craggy rocks and landing in dense jungle nearly a kilometre below.
Chile’s Lake District is renowned for its gorgeous setting of deep blue mountain lakes, contrasting with majestic snow-capped volcanoes and surrounding forests. There are twelve main lakes in this area, which covers La Araucania and Los Lagos, plus a network of smaller lakes, rivers and waterfalls.
Asia/Australasia
Six of Australia’s precious World Heritage listed areas can be found in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, which is conveniently hot and humid in the summer and mild and pleasant during winter. Covering something like 50,000 square kilometres of land, it is bordered by the Camden Haven River in the south and the Tweed River on the Queensland border in the north. Taking in Lord Howe Island in the east and then sweeping all the way inland to the rural towns of Armidale and Glen Innes in the west, the district has eight major rivers which empty themselves into the Pacific.
In the dusty heart of Australia, Lake Eyre is a remarkable environment, which is actually only filled with water about once every eight years. During this marvellous occurrence the area transforms into a thriving ecosystem, attracting wildlife and migratory birds to feast on poor fish whose eggs have waited patiently in the salty earth before hatching. Lake Eyre is an amazing place, wet or dry, and the dry, smooth bed has been used for many notorious events, including the world land speed record in 1964.
In the North Island of New Zealand the Waikato is a region of lush, green hills, bush and farmland, where beautiful Waikato River carves its way through the landscape; which also includes stunning waterfalls and hot mineral pools. In the South Island there are also hot pools at Hamner Springs and the picturesque Lake Wakatipu, one of a number of cool glacial lakes that have an amazing milky green-blue hue, caused by their high mineral content.
While you’re in that part of the world, don’t forget the sparkling crater lakes, such as Lake Toba in Sumatra, and the glorious cascading rivers in Borneo such as the Mahakan, Kapuas and Apokayan. Parts of Apocalypse Now were filmed by the hot, cold and soda water pools of Hidden Valley Springs in the Philippines, which are surrounded by a forest of giant fruit trees and tropical shrubs.
Europe
The infamous Italian Lakes are some of the best known in Europe, arranged in a sequence of deep valleys set against the breathtaking magnitude of the Alps. Director John Irvin filmed A Month By The Lake at Lake Como, arguably the most ‘conventionally charming’ of these lakes. Lake Garda’s contrasting views are of majestic mountains at the northern end and gently rolling hills at the other.
Another captivating set of lakes can be found in the Trebonsko region of South Bohemia, Czech Republic, where you can find traditional linked fish-farming ponds, against a gentle backdrop of woodland.
In Germany, the Bavarian region is bestowed with a multitude of natural lakes, especially in the Fünfseenland, South Germany’s equivalent to the English Lake District.
As you’d expect, Scandinavia has an extremely distinctive coastal system of lakes, rivers and fjords. Finland, for example has thousands of lakes and islands, predominantly along the southwest and southern coasts, with Lake Saimaa the largest of all. Norway also boasts a variety of lakes nationwide, and in Sweden, Skåne’s largest and deepest stretch of water is Lake Ivösjön, where prehistoric fossils have been discovered.
Geographically similar, Iceland’s rivers are characterised by swift and voluminous currents, particularly in July and August when the rivers south of Vatnajökull constantly change course, and many roads are regularly swept away. Waterfalls in this area are also very impressive and Lake Myvatn is world famous for its scenery and wildlife.
These idyllic settings make spectacular natural locations for productions, but Europe also offers less conventional offerings. For something a bit different, head to Fuente de Piedra in Spain, which is home to a number of salt beds during the summer. Van Gölü, a saline lake in Turkey, is snowy and cold in winter but completely transformed in the summer. June to September is the best time to shoot this dramatic location with the added bonus of dormant volcanoes completing the backdrop. Alternatively, for a more urban setting, try Hamburg, whose central Alster lakes dominate the city centre, as do those in Lucerne and Geneva, Switzerland.
For rivers of a different ambience, try the winding banks and gorgeous views of the Loire in summer which offers leafy islets, tropical flowers, shifting sandbanks and an array of wildlife; or perhaps the Neckar River in Muenster, which is host to dozens of charming hamlets.
The Guadalquivir is the second longest river in Spain (after the Tagus) and begins at Sierra de Cazorla, passes through Córdoba and Seville and ends in a (surely film-friendly?) village called Bonanza, before flowing into the Gulf of Cadiz. The river is the only navigable one in Spain - currently up to Seville, but in Roman times it was navigable all the way to Córdoba.
The tranquil Bug River wanders from Ukraine westwards through Poland past a number of picturesque villages. Russia’s main rivers include the Moscow and the Volga, of boatmen fame, as well as the Don, Kama, Lena, Nothern Dvina, Ob, Irtysh, Yenisei, Angara and Amur rivers. The Karelian Lake District, located on the Russo-Finnish border, is notable for lakes with distinctive rocky banks and unusual boulders, interconnected by short channels and rivers.
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