With ‘Wild & Wide – Kenya & Tanzania Thru My Lens’, Roland Steffen delivers a breathtaking ode to East Africa that transcends travel documentary conventions. This film is clearly a devotional act, captured with cinematographic grace and cut with tasteful precision. Steffen, both director and cinematographer, takes viewers on a journey through Kenya and Tanzania, offering not just visuals, but reverence.
The production value is frankly astonishing. Every shot pulses with beauty: sweeping aerials of Amboseli’s elephant herds beneath the shadow of Kilimanjaro, the ethereal quiet of Samburu’s rare zebra and giraffes, the poignant closeness of orphaned elephants at Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Steffen’s camera worships the land. Think BBC Natural World, but through a deeply personal lens.
The editing is flawlessly poetic, interwoven with an atmospheric score that lifts the soul as high as the soaring birds of Lake Naivasha. The film’s pacing is also on point – never rushed, always immersive. There’s space to breathe, to wonder, to feel.
This is not a documentary for tourists alone. It’s for dreamers, conservationists, visual purists – for anyone who’s ever longed to feel the soul of a landscape. ‘Wild & Wide’ deserves to be projected, preserved, and praised. Bold, mesmerising, and crafted with exquisite care – this is visual storytelling at its most reverent. A splendid watch.
