All language subtitles for Secret.Life.of.Lakes.S01E01.WEBRip.x264-ION10

Lakes are living creatures.

These precious reserves of water

live and die according to
distinct natural cycles.

Their peaceful waters seem dormant,

yet the teem with mysterious life.

Lakes only reveal themselves to

the men and women who take time to

patiently linger beside their shores.

Together, we are going to
discover their secrets.

Along the shores of Lake Nasser,

Egypt seems eternal and changeless.

Yet, these landscapes are the result

of an enormous upheaval,

that happened barely 50 years ago.

This ancient temple has been moved.

These small islands used to be mountains.

And no boats ever sailed here before.

This vast expanse of water
in the middle of the desert

is actually an artificial lake,

stretching over 500 kilometers long.

A man made lake to meet human needs.

A gigantic experiment that
has transformed Egypt.

What challenges and secrets

are hidden within this lake

that has swallowed up an entire region

and at the same time,

given birth to a new ecosystem.

Lake Nasser is a very young lake.

It was born in the 1960s

after the construction of a

huge hydroelectric dam in Aswan.

Back then, Egyptian president,

Gamal Abdel Nasser, wanted
to modernize his country.

To accomplish this,

he diverted the flow of the Nile,

the second longest river in the world.

Once the Pharaonic work was completed,

the Aswan dam created an enormous lake.

In Egypt, it is called Lake Nasser,

in honor of the president who made it.

In Sudan, it is called Lake Nubia,

named after the region that

vanished beneath it's waters.

When it was created,

Lake Nasser was the biggest
man made lake in the world.

When filled to maximum capacity,

this vast reservoir contains

169 billion cubic meters of water.

A genuine treasure in one of
the driest regions on Earth.

Since it almost never rains in Egypt,

the lakes waters answer

all of the country's needs.

Before the lake was made,

Egypt lived in sync with
the Nile's flood cycle,

which could cause devastating inundations.

Now, the lake and dam

allow Egypt to regulate
the flow of the Nile

and avoid the large-scale damage

caused by seasonal flooding.

It is a strategic water bank

that has created a 30% increase

in fertile land.

Today, farmers can enjoy

two or three harvests a year.

Instead of just one, in the past.

Another benefit of the lake,

is that it enabled Egypt to escape the

major droughts that plagued Africa

in the 1980s and 1990s.

The lake and dam have transformed

the lifestyle of the Egyptian people.

But how has nature adapted

to this major change?

For Egyptian wildlife,

the lake has become a sort of El Dorado.

Fish, birds, and crocodiles

have all made the most

of this new source of life

in the heart of the desert.

A handful of men have been entrusted

to watch over and protect

this immense artificial reservoir.

Haytham Ibrahim is a
ranger and bird specialist.

Professor Gamal El-Shabrawy is an

exert in aquatic plant
life and lake sediment.

Whenever they can,

the two of them survey
the huge expanse of water.

To assess the quality of the environment,

possible changes,

and overall health of the lake.

The lakes ecosystem is
still in its infancy,

in terms of evolution.

Normally, it takes hundreds,

or even millions of years,

to strike a balance.

Lake Nasser is one the first

large-scale man made lakes,

and is a model and benchmark

for those that have followed.

Which species have disappeared,

and which have benefited from

the transformation of a river habitat

into a lake habitat?

This winter, Haytham is trying to count

the number of birds present on the lake.

Even a partial census is important

for measuring the evolution

of this brand new ecosystem.

- After the construction of the high dam,

the habitat change from
a river to be a lake.

So the water begin to fill

all the holes around the area.

And the habitat changed very dramatically.

And this really provide good habitats

for lots of birds.

Birds migrate from Europe,

and they follow specific pass way.

And one of them is

flying over the river Nile to the south.

And Lake Nasser is a fantastic area

for them to rest, to feed,

and then continue their way.

Thanks to the work

of Haytham and volunteer ornithologists,

over 130 species of birds

have been recorded on the lake.

The arrival of migratory birds in winter

coincides with a seasonal
drop in water level.

The lower waters, reveal many insects,

and larvae that they feed on.

- But some of them

like to spend the winter over here.

But they don't breed.

They spend the winter,

and then return back to Europe.

Like ducks species,
region shoveler, teals.

Also the waders.

Lake tends to cultivate,

common sandpiper,

wood sandpipers.

So Lake Nasser is very important.

Not only for the wintering species,

but also for the summer visitors

that came from Africa to the north.

Like the
pink-backed pelican,

which has taken up residency
here more permanently.

Or even the African pied wagtail,

which has settled in little by little,

and now breeds on the lake.

The results Haytham has
observed in the field

tend to show that certain endemic species,

such as the Egyptian goose,

which was endangered

before the lake was created,

have greatly benefited
from this new environment.

- The long-eared owl is
now is increasing and

adapting very well, feeding on the lake,

and this is one of the good things

which Lake Nasser do for birds.

The healthy
evolution of the lake

is also a constant concern for

biologist Gamal El-Shabrawy,

aquatic plant expert.

This morning, he's heading off

in search of macrophytes,

one of his favorite subjects.

The term macrophyte,

refers to all large water plants

that can be seen with the naked eye.

They're a good gauge of a healthy lake.

- Ah, yes.

These are macrophytes.

Macrophytes are aquatic plants

considered to be the keystone

of any aquatic system.

These underwater plants

produce oxygen,

and make up a particularly
favorable environment

for the development of
numerous fish species.

Here, they're not seaweed, but plants,

with roots, stems, and flowers.

- Plant eating fish reproduce

and grow among these aquatic plants.

Here on Lake Nasser,

tilapia feed on macrophytes.

- And tilapia constitute more than

90% of the fish living in the lake.

The abundance of this

type of macrophyte in Lake Nasser,

means the water is not polluted

For Dr. El-Shabrawy,

it's a reliable indicator that

the lake is in good health.

- You know, there are bad

and there are good macrophytes.

The bad macrophytes cover

a very wide area of the lake.

And they prevent oxygen

from getting into the water.

You can find bad macrophytes

before and after Lake Nasser.

And we're lucky because

we don't find them here.

All these
macrophytes grow in cores.

In Arabic, core means "dry river."

Before Lake Nasser was created,

that's exactly what these valleys were.

Canyons, gouged out by rivers,

millions of years ago.

Today, the cores are filled
with the lake's waters.

And one can boat on them

From the sky, they look like fractals,

branching across the
surface of the desert.

The lace-like geography of the cores

has created thousands of kilometers

of river coastline.

About 740, which varies,

according the flood level each year.

It's a blessing for the fish
that feed on macrophytes.

As well as for a brand
new fishing industry

that didn't exist before.

Six to ten thousand fishermen

are estimated to work on the lake today.

Before the dam was built,

there were only a few hundred of them.

They come from Faiyum, the
delta, or middle Egypt.

Hardly any are from around here.

Many of the live in temporary camps,

on islets, or along the shores.

They stay three to six months,

before returning to visit their families

a few weeks,

and then coming back.

The creation of the lake

has not only changed the
lives of these fishermen.

It has also radically altered

those of countless types of fish.

Some have adapted and multiplied,

while others have dwindled.

Tilapia make up most of the catch.

It is the species that has most benefited

from the transformation of a river habitat

into a lake habitat.

We also find other types,

like the bottle nose fish,

or the Nile carp.

But they remain in the minority.

Tiger fish, which used to be plentiful

in the flowing waters of the Nile,

have practically disappeared.

These predatory fish,

like the Nile perch as well,

have great commercial value.

They've suffered from over-fishing

and the change in their aquatic habitat.

Most fishermen work in the cores,

but some also cast their nets

in the deep waters in the middle

of the lake at sundown.

At dawn, they pull them
up with their catch.

These fish are dried, salted, and sold,

exclusively in Egypt.

There are now three small ports

on the western coast of the lake,

Aswan, Gerf Hussein, and Abu Simbel.

Fishermen come to deliver their catch

or stock up on ice.

When they are too far from port,

some fishermen give their
fish to a fridge boat,

that comes to collect their catch.

After an auspicious period in the 1980s,

the number of fish caught today

falls short of what was expected.

According to experts,

almost half of the fish are missing.

- Today's our seventh day out,

and we've barely collected one ton.

The zone we're covering

doesn't contain many fish,

and fishermen are catching fewer

and fewer of them.

Before, the fish were a lot bigger,

but now, fishermen are using nets

with finer mesh to catch smaller fish.

That has obviously cause
a reduction in fish.

Haytham Ibrahim

and Dr. Gamal El-Shabrawy

continue their inspection of the lake.

They now arrive within sight

of the Al-Madiq Gorge.

It's the narrowest part of the lake,

Less than one kilometer wide.

- Egyptian engineers
has originally planned

that they would build the dam here.

but they then realized
that most of the water

would be in Sudan and not in Egypt.

For this reason,

they built the high dam in Aswan.

Construction
of the Aswan dam

began in 1960.

In all, over 36,000 Egyptian workers

worked tirelessly, day and night.

Sometimes, in unbearable heat.

In the summer, it frequently hits

45 degrees centigrade in the shade.

This gigantic building
project lasted ten years.

At the time, this pharaonic challenge

was considered a victory of silent nature.

A victory that allowed Egypt to

achieve energy independence.

With 2.1 gigawatts of power,

equivalent to a nuclear reactor,

the hydroelectric plant has

brought light to cities and villages.

New industries have
developed along the Nile.

Up until the 1980s,

the dam provided over half

of the country's electricity.

Today, demand has increased,

and it now only provides 25%.

- When the dam was built,

Egypt's population was only

25 - 30 million.

Now, there are 90 million of us.

So, obviously consumption has increased.

Progress
and industrialization

did not come without a cost.

Once the dam was completed in 1970,

Lake Nasser began to fill,

flooding the entire Nile valley,

between Aswan and northern Sudan.

An entire region, Nubia,

and it's ancestral culture,

was engulfed beneath the waters,

like a modern day Atlantis.

At the time, over 100,000
Nubians were relocated

to temporary accommodations in the desert,

far from the Nile.

Hundreds of thousands of date palms,

their resource and treasure,

disappeared forever.

After years of exile,

a few Nubians have begun
to resettle along the lake.

Fekry Kashef, for example,

came back to live near
the temple of Abu Simbel,

where he worked as a guide.

Here, he has recreated
the Eden of his childhood,

as he remembers it before his

entire family had to leave.

He built a traditional home,

an authentic hub of life and memory

for his community.

Here, Fekry and his friends

continue to keep the
traditional Nubian songs alive.

Together, they remember
the loss of their country,

and how the course of their lives

was changed along with Egypts.

Dozens of Egyptian temples

built along the Nile

over three thousand years ago,

also risked vanishing completely.

Unesco took emergency action.

Launching an appeal to the
international community,

to salvage the most important ones.

Some 50 countries took part

in this astonishing rescue mission,

which lasted over 10 years.

This explains how the two
temples at Abu Simbel,

that of Ramesses II and
his wife, Nefertari,

were dismantled and
rebuilt 64 meters uphill.

- Here the two temples of Abu Simbel

we entirely carved into
the rock in sandstone.

Unesco did something which was their

most enormous undertaking ever,

they cut the two temples into blocks.

The pillars
were cut with very fine saws,

in the utmost of care.

The stone is so fragile,

that the mere contact with water

could turn it into dust.

- The big temple was
cut into 1,200 blocks,

and Nefertari's temple into 450.

In total, there was 1650 blocks,

weighing between 10 and 33 tons.

The blocks of crumbly sandstone,

were injected with synthetic resin,

to strengthen them.

Ramesses
II has his face amputated

and taken to a storage zone.

The distinctive rocky
landscape around the temples

had to be rebuilt exactly as it had been.

In a modern exploit,

the temples at Abu Simbel were thus moved

safely, and without harm,

down to the last piece.

Until the 20 meter tall giants,

were able to be reassembled.

The waters of Lake Nasser

threatened these monuments

of humanity's heritage.

But international solidarity

managed to save Abu SImbel,

along with about 20 other
of the most important ones.

At the same time,

another emblematic
figure of ancient Egypt,

was making the most of
this new aquatic world.

Before the creation of Lake Nasser,

crocodiles were endangered in Egypt.

The abundant fish, calm waters,

and the lace-like geography of the cores

have given them the perfect environment

in which to thrive once more.

The lake literally saved the species.

Fishermen, however,

aren't necessarily thrilled

at the demographic boom that's happened

over the past two decades.

Currently, the crocodile population

is estimated at between 15,000 - 20,000.

- We hunt crocodiles with
a big fish on a hook.

Then we put a piece of wood in it's mouth,

and tie it, with a rope.

That way, it's teeth sink in the wood

and it can't open it's jaw.

After that, we pull it ashore.

We take it's skin to sell to merchants

who pay 12 or 13 euros.

The skins are used to make bags and shoes.

The crocodiles and fishermen

settle in the same spots.

Where the most fish are found.

Inevitably, things get a little tense

between the competing predators.

- If we cast our nets
along the shore at night,

the crocodiles get caught in them,

and completely tear them apart.

That's why we hunt them.

People hunt them because
they're really dangerous.

If they attack someone,

they kill and eat him.

They also attack our livestock

when they go near the shore.

They're not our friends.

Back in
ancient Egypt, however,

Crocodiles were venerated.

Entire temples were even devoted to them.

Like the Temple of Kom Ombo,

located a few kilometers
north of the lake.

The crocodile god, Sobek,

was intimately linked to the Nile,

and Egypt's prosperity.

- The god, Sobek, was
one of the most important

Egyptian deities in all of it's pantheon.

He was noted for many things,

but chief amongst them,

was the fact that he was a solar god,

god of the sun.

He was also associated with water,

the inundation,

and therefore, he was
important for fertility,

and, in particular, agriculture,

because you need both
the water and the sun

to make your crops flourish.

The
association with the sun,

no doubt came from the sight of crocodiles

basking along the banks of the Nile.

Like all reptiles, they constantly need

to warm themselves in
the sun's bright rays.

- Sobek was worshiped,
not just as a statue,

but also as a living god.

Here in this pool at Kom Ombo,

he was kept as a living crocodile.

And the priests of Sobek were very happy

to take care of him,

because he would be fed,

he would be given sweet meats,

he would be sung too,

he would be, perhaps, even massaged,

and he also was given
beautiful earrings of gold

and also bracelets of gold,

so he shown like the sun.

Ancient Egyptians believed

crocodiles had divinitory powers.

They remarked that the creatures

could predict how high the Nile

would rise during the flood.

- Female crocodiles would lay their eggs

at specific points along
the bank of the Nile,

and, in fact,

they knew before the flood happened,

where it would come.

So they could predict
the height of the flood

and their nests would always
be a little bit higher.

So by looking at where crocodiles

were making their nests,

the ancient Egyptians were, in fact,

able to judge the height of the flood.

The temple
of the god, Sobek,

was very important in ancient Egypt.

Pilgrims would come from
far away to be healed here.

- They would use crocodiles,

particularly for medicine,

so you would have the fat,

and the dung, and the oil,

all used for different things,

in fact, crocodile fat,

when rubbed on the hair,

was supposed to be a cure for baldness.

And, every bit of the
crocodile was useful.

Even the penis, because
some of the penises were

as much as one meter long,

so of course this was a
symbol of male virility.

And, even today, in some of
the more folkloric customs,

pieces of crocodile penis are cut off,

ground up, and mixed with black honey,

and then men eat it so they

can become very very strong.

Once the sacred crocodile had died,

the priests would very
carefully mummify the crocodile,

and either bury it in a catacomb,

or else, even in the temples.

These mummies have been
found by archaeologists,

numbering the hundreds of thousands,

and these are very useful tools

to understand the crocodile cult.

More than 2,000 years later,

these mummies have led to a

fascinating scientific discovery.

- Scientists have analyzed the

mitochondrial DNA of crocodile mummies,

as well as of live crocodile populations,

and they have found
that there are actually

two different kind of crocodiles

found in Egypt.

One is the crocodylus niloticus,

and the other one is
the crocodylus suchus.

And, it's very interesting, because,

the suchus is a much
calmer kind of animal.

It isn't as fierce.

It isn't as nasty.

Although, it looks just
like the other one.

This means, probably,

that the priests of ancient Egypt

would have kept the suchus

in the ponds in the temple,

because it was less likely to attack

and savage them, as well as the visitors.

This study has shown

that the suchus crocodile,
highly present in west Africa,

no longer exists along the Nile.

Today, all we find in Lake Nasser

are the more aggresive
and endemic variety,

the crocodylus niloticus.

- It is quite possible, based on

the scholarly findings of the DNA,

that the crocodiles that
were worshiped in Egypt,

actually were not native to the country,

but were instead brought
in from west Africa,

maybe as gifts, or maybe as
special imports for the gods.

Perhaps
these sacred crocodiles

were offered to the
Pharaoh by an African king,

but for the time being,

no archaeological clues have been found

to back up this hypothesis.

Nubians perpetuated the
cult of the crocodile,

and have maintained powerful
ties with the animal.

It's not rare to see a
stuffed or painted crocodile

on the front of their homes.

For them, it acts as a protective symbol,

and a sign of prestige.

Some of them even keep live crocodiles

in their homes for good luck.

This traditional practice is illegal,

since the Nile crocodile
is a protected species.

Illegal hunting of
crocodiles on Lake Nasser

has increased since the 2011 revolution.

Most of the poachers come from Cairo,

or the gulf countries,

and are willing to pay a premium

to kill several specimens.

Poaching isn't just a
problem for crocodiles.

Some types of birds are
also targeted by hunters.

This is especially true

for birds of prey.

Haytham Ibrahim wants to see

if there are still falcons

in the temple of Wadi es-Sebua.

In the past, he has seen
several of them nesting here.

This small temple beside the lake,

is associated with the falcon god, Horus.

Symbol of the rising sun

and war-like power.

- So birds make lots
of feces on the temple.

This is mainly for
swallows and maybe ospreys.

Sometimes, doves of bigger size.

So between the rocks
and in the little holes

we can see lots of nests.

A good number of ospreys
are breeding inside here.

But I can't see any falcons.

The presence of
so many sparrows and swallows

is a sure sign that no falcons
are nesting here anymore.

- People used to catch falcons

and sell to others who were hunting,

and they train the falcon for hunting.

So this strong and small-sized falcons

really bring good money,

if they catch a juvenile one

and they still have a
chance to be trained.

But on the other hand,

if you catch a kestrel which is not good

for hunting or training,

they kill it, stuff, and
then sell as a decoration.

So this really effects the number,

the total population of this species

around the area here.

Once his inspection
of the lake is complete,

Haytham remarks that there
are a lot fewer birds

than in previous years.

- We try to understand why.

Maybe, because we have
a really cold winter

than the last five years.

Also the hunting is still
going in Lake Nasser,

which really affecting lots of species.

Each year,

the water levels of Lake Nasser

rises several meters during flood season.

This seasonal phenomenon,

originates each summer in Ethiopia.

Heavy rains swell the Nile
into a gushing torrent,

that sweeps away the
black soil in Ethiopia.

The current used to distribute silt

along the Nile valley,

all the way to the Mediterranean Sea.

This silt is what enabled Egypt

to become a great agricultural
civilization in antiquity.

Because the Nile carried this fertile soil

to the heart of the desert.

But today, the Nile has been stopped

cold in its tracks,

and dumps most of it's precious sediments

into Lake Nasser.

Egypt has tamed the Nile

and put an end to this natural cycle.

But what is the actual
impact of this progress?

- The sediment is a long story.

We have many effects in
Egypt from these sediments.

Only 3% of the sediment

can pass through the high damn,

and considering that the lake

receives one hundred million
tons of sediment yearly,

you can imagine what this sediment can do.

Samples
and scientific analyses

have shown that over the past 40 years,

an incredible amount of alluvium

has been deposited in Lake Nasser.

Over 96 million cubic meters per year.

The sediment is deposited mainly

in the middle of the lake.

- In the southern part of Lake Nasser,

the sediment has raised the level

of the riverbed,

but 50 meters.

Little by little,

Lake Nasser is being smothered,

asphyxiated by the
alluvium deposited in it.

All lakes gradually fill this way,

but the phenomenon is particularly

pronounced in reservoirs,

and especially in Lake Nasser.

If sedimentation continues at this pace,

the lake could be completely filled

in less than 300 years.

Much faster than engineers predicted

at the time of its creation.

The sediment is now beginning

to form a new delta in Sudan,

at the mouth of the Nile, in Lake Nubia.

Consequently, there is a serious shortage

of it elsewhere further north.

Bereft of it's silt,

the Egyptian delta is slowly disappearing.

It's natural erosion
is no long compensated

by the regular arrival of fresh soil,

endangering the countries

largest agricultural zone.

To make up for the absence of silt,

Egyptian farmers use a lot
of chemical fertilizers.

This practice further pollutes the river

and impoverishes the soil.

Egypt will need to find a solution

to the this problem in the years to come.

- This piece of silt deposit

comes from a village along the Nile.

It's from 1962, the last
flood before the dam.

For Nubians like Shaaban,

who grew up along the Nile,

before the lake was created,

silt was much more than just fertilizer.

- Silt is a fertilizer,

but Nubians also used it as medicine.

We used it to make masks

for protection from the intense heat.

We used it for pregnant women

to treat constipation.

All you had to do was eat a piece of it.

Silt is Egypt.

If there's no silt, Egypt doesn't exist,

because Egypt has always been

an agricultural country.

In Arabic, the word "dam",

"sadd", means to block.

How can something that blocks be positive?

Another huge dam on the Nile

could completely change the
stakes in years to come.

Located in Ethiopia,

2,000 kilometers upstream
from Lake Nasser,

the Renaissance Dam is slated

for completion in 2017.

When it begins operating,

a large artificial lake
with be formed in Ethiopia.

For the decade or so it takes

to fill this new reservoir,

it will have a decisive
impact on Lake Nasser.

On the plus side,

the lake will receive less sediment.

On the down side,

the flooding of the Nile

will bring a lot less water.

The lakes water level is likely

to drop drastically,

to the point of losing
part of it's ecosystem,

the cores, the lace-like
branches of the lake,

where most of the fish breed.

And that's exactly what
worries Dr. El-Shabrawy.

- When the dam in Ethopia is completed,

it will be a disaster for Lake Nasser.

Particularly for the littoral area.

The level of the lake will drop a lot,

maybe more than 20 meters,

and we will lose thousands
of kilometers of littoral.

The tilapia depends on these areas

for breeding and as a nursery ground.

Dr. El-Shabrawy thinks the

fishing industry on the lake is going to

sorely feel the effects.

But he has an idea to counter-balance

this eventuality.

The middle of the lake holds

an extremely high concentration

of zooplankton.

But not many fish species feed on it.

- There is a great deal of plankton here,

which settles as organic
matter in the sediment.

So, we would like to have this consumed.

His idea is to introduce

a new type of fish,

a freshwater sardine,

which feeds specifically on

this type of zooplankton.

- It's a species of sardine

that has been introduced
into other African lakes,

and it increases the
production of these lakes,

and it's providing a catch

for more than 10,000 fishermen.

Nevertheless,
Dr. El-Shabrawy

is aware that this kind of operation

is quite complicated

and carries certain risks.

- To introduce a new species into a lake

is very very dangerous.

We should do all the research concerning

its feeding habits,

and the its affects on the
water quality beforehand,

to see how it interacts
with other species,

to see if it reproduces
in the lake or not.

This is very important.

We need two or three years of study

before we can introduce
it safely into the lake.

Lake Nasser's water

is a strategic issue for Egypt.

And yet, this precious resource

continues to dwindle.

Close to 8% of the lake's water

evaporates each year
before it reaches the dam.

Meanwhile, the country
must use more and more

to meet the needs of its
constantly growing population.

In less than 40 years,
the population of Egypt

has increased from 30 to 90 million.

Most of it's inhabitants are
gathered along the Nile Valley,

the country's only fertile zone.

Which only represents 4%
of the Egyptian territory.

This enormous demographic
and environmental pressure,

has given rise to the new valley project.

This huge undertaking
was inaugurated in 1997,

but former president Mubarak.

It's ambition,

to create a new fertile valley,

by pumping water from Lake Nasser.

Billions have already been invested.

But no one is able to
give an exact figure.

First, a gigantic pumping station,

the second largest in the world,

was built and set beside the lake.

The water is first filtered
into a large basin,

then pumped and directed to

and open-air canal heading
straight into the desert.

After 70 kilometers,

the canal divides into three sub-canals.

At it's inception, the new valley project

was meant to bring

hundreds of thousands
of hectares of new land

forth from the sand.

And relocate six million Egyptians.

But for the moment,

this vast project is on hold.

Only a few pilot farms are
using water from the canal.

They grow dates, mangoes,
alfalfa, and grapes,

right in the middle of the desert.

The even attempt to raise sheep.

But for the time being,

these farms are making
no profit whatsoever.

The project is turning out to be

much more difficult to fund

and make happen in the field

that it's developers had foreseen.

Temperatures can drop from
50 - 0 degrees Celsius

between noon and midnight.

Farmland must be watered constantly

to prevent the salt in the soil

from rising to the surface.

The extreme dryness of
the desert and dust storms

complicate things even more.

If the level of Lake Nasser
drops in years to come,

due to the Ethiopian dam,

the new valley project will
be jeopardized even further.

50 years ago, Lake Nasser was the solution

to Egypt's problems, Today,

it is at the heart of the huge challenges

the country faces.

Will Egyptians manage
to preserve this lake,

which provides the water,
electricity, and fish they need?

- What we see today in Lake Nasser,

might not see tomorrow.

There's all of these changes

which are going on for several miles

in other countries.

Lake Nasser is one of the biggest lakes

made by man.

So, it's really got to be here,

witness to the changes which
happened around the lake

and it's a unique example to study

the man/nature reactions.

We should really work
hard to protect this place

before we lost it.