General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Our Great National Parks

Our Great National Parks is a five-part nature documentary series released on Netflix on April 13, 2022, narrated and executive produced by former United States President Barack Obama. Produced by Wild Space Productions in association with Obama's Higher Ground Productions and Freeborne Media, the series travels across five continents to profile national parks and wild spaces through the lives of their animal residents.¹

Key fact	Detail
Format	Five-part documentary limited series, TV-PG, streaming on Netflix²
Release	April 13, 2022, all five episodes²
Narrator	Barack Obama, also executive producer¹
Production companies	Wild Space Productions with Higher Ground Productions and Freeborne Media¹
Featured locations	Chilean Patagonia, Tsavo National Park (Kenya), Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (California), Gunung Leuser National Park (Indonesia)³
Emmy	Outstanding Narrator, 2022 Creative Arts Emmy Awards (Barack Obama)⁴
Critical reception	100% Tomatometer from 7 reviews; 82% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes²

Spoilers

Episodes

The five episodes, all released on April 13, 2022, are:³

A World of Wonder, a survey episode running from Africa's beaches to Japan's islands to Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
Chilean Patagonia, covering a region that encompasses 24 national parks and is described as rapidly becoming one of the most protected places on the planet.
Tsavo, Kenya, following thousands of elephants across the park's landscape along with hippos, rhinos, and hornbills.
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, USA, focusing on California's coastline and the balance between wildlife and humanity.
Gunung Leuser, Indonesia, in a park home to some of the most endangered species on Earth, including the rare Sumatran tiger.

Four episodes each concentrate on a single park, while the opening episode takes a broader view of protected regions worldwide.⁵ A Costa Rican location, Manuel Antonio National Park, also appears, with an episode telling the story of its sloths, whose fur supports algae and some 80 microspecies; the series explains that fungus produced by the sloth's fur could help humans fight cancer, malaria, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.⁶

Production

The series came from James Honeyborne, whose UK-based company Wild Space Productions had produced Blue Planet II for the BBC Natural History Unit; Wild Space connected with the Obamas' Higher Ground Productions through Netflix.⁶ Honeyborne served as executive producer alongside Obama and Higher Ground's Tonia Davis, with Sophie Todd as series producer.² The project was announced in February 2021 among a slate of Higher Ground projects for Netflix.⁷

Producer Sophie Todd described the series as a "conservation success story," and the producers said the Obamas were involved from development onward, reviewing footage and discussing which parks to feature. The team deliberately chose a range of habitats to reflect that national parks exist in any type of environment, from leopard seals in Patagonian fjords to bison in Yellowstone.⁸ Many locations were selected because of Obama's personal connection to them, Honeyborne said.⁶

Composer David Schweitzer wrote the score. In early conversations the producers said they did not want a classic natural-history style score but a more wondrous and evocative mood with warmth and inviting melodies.⁵

Narration and the Obama connection

Obama narrates the series and appears on camera as host, introducing each park with an overview of its location and characteristics, often highlighting rewilding and conservation efforts, before each episode moves to stories of individual animals and animal families.⁹ Producers cited his conservation record as the reason he was a natural fit: as president he protected more public lands and waters than any other U.S. president in history.¹^•⁶

The narration opens with the history of the idea itself: "In 1872, Yellowstone, in the western United States, became the first national park in the world." Executive producer Honeyborne said the series is not a historical account and did not include fuller histories of the parks.¹⁰ Obama never mentions his own presidency in the series, though the choice of locations, including Hawaii, Kenya, and Indonesia, drew commentary about their connection to his biography.¹⁰^•¹¹

Reception and awards

At the 2022 Creative Arts Emmy Awards, Obama won the Emmy for Outstanding Narrator for the episode "A World of Wonder"; the series was also nominated for Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program for the Chilean Patagonia episode.⁴ The award made Obama the second U.S. president to receive an Emmy, after Dwight Eisenhower, who received an honorary award in 1956 for becoming the first president to conduct a televised news conference.¹²

Critics received the series favorably. Rotten Tomatoes recorded a 100% Tomatometer across 7 reviews and an 82% audience score.² Reviewers highlighted Obama's narration; the San Jose Mercury News called him an ideal, engaging tour guide, while a Metacritic-critique noted the series carries the message that more must be done to preserve natural habitats, though one critic saw the style as close to David Attenborough's formula.³^•¹³ Later roundups of nature programming continued to recommend it, describing it as among the most soothing nature documentaries on television.¹⁴

Conservation context

The series frames itself around the growth of the global park movement. Producer Sophie Todd noted that it was 150 years since Yellowstone opened its gates and that there are now over 4,000 national parks around the world; Honeyborne added that 50% of all national parks in the world have been founded in just the last 50 years, calling it a current movement rather than a historical one.⁸ According to figures cited in the series' promotion, 15% of land and 8% of the world's oceans are now protected.⁶

The producers chose an optimistic tone, in contrast to nature documentaries focused on climate-change direness. Honeyborne said the series does not shy away from the issues but wanted to highlight solutions, many of which have been employed in national parks.⁸

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026