NEW YORK — At 83, Werner Herzog is still spotlighting the “dreamers,” men who have made their indelible mark pursuing seemingly impossible tasks.

His new documentary for NatGeo “Ghost Elephants,” on NatGeo March 7 and streaming on Disney+ and Hulu March 8, follows South African explorer Steve Boyes’ decade-plus pursuit.

The world’s largest mammal, a century-plus elephant nicknamed Henry, was killed in 1955 and is on permanent exhibit at the Smithsonian. We see, brought up from storage, Henry’s skull and tusks which, weighing tons, are too heavy to be part of the exhibit.

Boyes, a conservation biologist designated a National Geographic Explorer, has been searching Angola’s highlands for a mysterious, elusive herd of what have been named Ghost Elephants deep within its forests. His hope? To get a DNA match between these elusive pachyderms and Henry.

Last Thursday, as part of a nationwide theatrical broadcast of “Ghost Elephants” they discussed their mission.

Herzog and Boyes met in “A restaurant in Beverly Hills,” Herzog explained in his distinctive accented English.

“Richard Snyder, who is here, said, ‘Come meet this man.’ Within minutes of talking, I knew this was a really big story.

“Originally, I didn’t plan to make this film. Steve invited me to come to Namibia and be an advisor because it was a South African crew. Quite good, quite good people but they didn’t know how to handle the thing.

“So I was in Namibia and on the second day, it was clear. I had to step in. I had such a clear vision.

“Everybody kept pushing me, ‘Please, please take over.’ I didn’t want to take over the film from someone else. But it manifested itself in such a clear way.

“Of course, we started shooting and it’s quite a lot of traveling and for some of the tasks, I’m simply too old for Angola, too old for running after wild elephant bulls.”

Cinematographer Rafael Leyva then worked closely with Herzog. “He was my left hand, my right hand, my legs. He immediately understood the style, the reasoning behind it, the deeper story.

“Of course, it’s not just an expedition report, it’s a film about the dreams, about ghosts, about spirits.

“The deep underlying question throughout the film is — and it’s throughout human lives anyway — is it not better sometimes to have your dreams and never fulfill them?

“Is sometimes it’s more beautiful, more exciting to have the ghosts and the spirits?

“At the end of the film, you’d see in a regular movie they would high five everyone. They would cry in emotion that they had finally encountered the elephant.

“Not so in my commentary. I’m saying, ‘Now, Steve has to live with his success.’ ”