‘Our world is full of these wild ghosts’: Werner Herzog’s new National Geographic documentary gives a rare glimpse of some of the world's most elusive animals

When Dr Steve Boyes first saw himself in Werner Herzog's new film Ghost Elephants at the Venice International Film Festival in August last year, he saw an intensity within himself that he didn't always realize was there.

The conservation biologist and National Geographic Explorer has devoted the past decade of his life to finding a mysterious, elusive herd of elephants in the highlands of Angola with such dedication that it immediately caught the attention of Herzog, who has since chronicled the epic journey in a National Geographic documentary.

"Watching it I thought, 'wow — I look completely deranged'," Boyes told TechRadar. For the record, Boyes is anything but deranged. He was more so referring to Herzog’s filmmaking style, which often focuses on chasing what the director calls "static truth" through protagonists with obsessive, almost mythic passions.