2016 • 29' • French & English
Director(s): Thibaud Marchand • Producer(s): Tournez S’il Vous Plait • Coproducer(s): France Télévisions • Format(s): HD
This area of the Var département, far from the beaches, is tourist-free. One must take the time to find it... And what a find it is! A wild nature reserve of 5,000 hectares in the foothills of the Massif des Maures: A real African savannah, home to rare species, such as Beichstein’s bats, one of the rarest bats in Europe. Further north, the Verdon Gorge is one of the most beautiful canyons in Europe. One can only discover its secrets with bare hands, like the climbers who explore its vertiginous walls, followed by our camera. Beneath their feet, the horses from a breeder of the Dam of Sainte-Croix take part in an incredible transhumance. And at the other end of the Canyon, Esparron Lake, one of the largest drinking water reserves in France, is emptied and cleaned before our eyes. What lies at the bottom? Here, nature preserves other secrets, the one best kept being a XII century monastery, just recently restored. There, a community of Bethlehem nuns shows us the secret life of the monks of the Middle Ages, cut off from the world.
For a well deserved rest, one of the best chefs in the Var leads us to his own local treasures: the truffles, harvested by a friend, and the chestnuts, also cultivated in this hinterland so full of surprises.
