While filming inside Monkeyland, the crew found themselves with a stick protecting the camera cart, trying to fight off half a dozen vervet monkeys who took turns charging at the lens box.
Gaia was filmed in the Tsitsikamma forest in South Africa. The forest is home to the southern most elephant population in the world. Scientists seem to agree that there is only one left.
To make the prosthetic fungi, they were picked (in a private forest), frozen, transported 600km to Cape Town, and recreated using silicone molds.
After many meetings with the production and costume designers the director felt it necessary to explore that everything their two characters in the forest used and would wear must be hand made. So all their utensils and hunting equipment were handmade, as well as the clothing and garments they wore were also hand stitched, woven or knitted.
From the early location scouts the crew felt that there is so much verticality in the forest and to try capture it the director, Jaco Bouwer, felt they should use a different aspect ratio. Not just to capture the height of the trees but also a "narrower" frame to create a sense of claustrophobia. So less negative space to create a certain oppression on the characters surrounded by forest. It is very subtle but there are actually four different aspect ratios used in the film to subliminally guide the viewer through the arc of the movie. 16:9 in the beginning, then most of the movie in 1.55 ratio, then "underscoring" the buildup to the climax it changes slowly over a few minutes to 4:3 and then the epilogue in 2:1.