Cue Herzog’s unmistakable narrator’s voice, as the search unfolds with – it must be said – less personal risk and more thoughtful processes than the usual Herzog protagonist.

It will come as no surprise to the filmmaker’s admirers that Herzog relishes every step of the journey. Every digression here feels like a destination.

It’s a wise movie that combines spirit and science, championing the need for (and inherent beauty of) biodiversity while highlighting the genetic ties that bind the majestic elephants, the African men and the Western explorers.

Ghost Elephants is a factual documentary, which – in Herzog’s realm – means it is spacious enough to see beyond "the truth of accountants", as he once put it, in order to articulate elements of the "ecstatic truth" that also informs all human existence.