Meerkat Manor is a television series filmed on the Kuruman River Reserve, home of the Kalahari Research Centre (KRC) and the Kalahari Meerkat Project (KMP), in South Africa's Northern Cape. Meerkat Manor tells the story of the Whiskers meerkat group, led by its fearless leader, Flower, and the Whiskers’ neighbouring rivals. Presented in the style of a ‘docudrama’, Meerkat Manor, is based on the real lives of the charming meerkats at the KRC with dramatized reenactments of actual events and narration that romanticized and humanized the meerkats' lives. The unique combination of this soap opera-like presentation with its traditional nature documentary filming techniques and up-close access to the meerkats proved highly successful.
Produced by Caroline Hawkins for Oxford Scientific Films, the original Meerkat Manor television docudrama first aired on the UK's BBC and on Animal Planet in the US over four seasons from 2005-2008. Globally distributed by Banijay Rights, the 13-part series became a worldwide hit, reaching 204-million households in more than 160 countries. A television film, Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins , documenting Flower's birth and rise to matriarch of the Whiskers, aired on Animal Planet on May 25, 2008.
