All language subtitles for The UnXplained s08e04 Mysteries of Ancient Africa.eng

[William Shatner] Mystical
lost cities

that have captivated explorers
for hundreds of years,

mysterious tunnels that draw
extraordinary adventurers

into hidden tombs,

and entire lost worlds
just waiting to be found.

Africa.

The immense size and immediately
recognizable shape

of this incredible continent

can only be described
with one word:

iconic.

Its landscape
is endlessly diverse,

holding vast,
uncharted wilderness,

mysterious, ancient ruins,

dramatic local legends,

and not to mention
paradigm-shifting discoveries

that have both challenged

and rewritten the history
of our species on planet Earth.

What is it

that continues to draw
explorers and adventurers

to expansive
and enigmatic Africa?

Well, that is what
we'll try and find out.

? ?

[Shatner] The continent
of Africa.

This majestic landmass spans

an incredible
11.7 million square miles,

a space that would comfortably
fit the United States,

China, India and most of Europe.

And Africa's massive scale

is echoed
in its natural features,

like the world's
largest hot desert,

the planet's longest river,

and Earth's highest
freestanding mountain.

Africa is also home
to the largest

and the tallest creatures
on dry land.

But even today,
the sheer size of the continent

is largely underestimated.

[Ben McGee] Africa is actually

a lot bigger
than people think it is,

and there's a reason for that.

The type of world maps
that we've used,

the Mercator map,
have effectively shrunk

the size of Africa-
'cause it's in the middle-

and stretched things
near the poles...

...making Africa look much
smaller than it actually is.

Africa is unbelievably big

and incredibly diverse
when it comes to topography.

It encompasses
giant rift valleys,

plains,

desert savannas.

Just when you move
through one area,

you get to another
that's completely different.

And, uh, this all has
the effect of lending Africa

a sense of perpetual mystery.

[Shatner] Africa's unparalleled
diversity and scale

has created a legendary allure

that has inspired
countless explorers

determined to reveal
its hidden secrets.

But might Africa's
most profound mystery

surround its role

in the very birth
of all mankind?

One of the great mysteries
of Africa is,

"Is that where
we're really from?"

Did humans come from Africa?

In 1871, Charles Darwin

took on human evolution
in his book Descent of Man.

And he theorized
that since the two animals

that were most closely
related to humans

were gorillas and chimpanzees,
and they're both from Africa,

he says that is more likely
than not where humans come from

and that Africa
is the cradle of humanity.

So the search for the origin
of our species became

this great obsession
of explorers.

[Shatner] Darwin's
monumental theory

inspired many
scientific adventures in Africa.

And more than a century
after his hypothesis,

American paleoanthropologist
Donald Johanson

was scouring Ethiopia
when he discovered

three million-year-old bones

that would ignite the attention
of the entire world.

[Karen Bellinger] In 1974,

a paleoanthropologist
working in Ethiopia discovered

a fossil that was
hugely important.

They called her Lucy.

And it was clear
from her lower body

that she walked upright.

And this was a missing link.

It was the first

kind of transitional fossil
discovered to link

ape ancestors
and early modern humans.

[Stephanie Wynne-Jones] The
discovery of Lucy

was really important,

um, because although there'd
been this long recognition

that human origins
probably came from Africa

and were to be found
within Africa,

Lucy remains that sort of moment

when that point
was proven for the first time.

[Shatner] In 2026,
exciting new fossil evidence

of early man was discovered
in a cave in Morocco,

proving that the story
of mankind is still unfolding

on this mysterious continent.

Since the 1800s,

the Western world
has been captivated

by the exciting tales
of legendary explorers

like David Livingstone,

the first European to cross
the massive continent...

...and Henry Morton Stanley,

who covered thousands
of miles of Africa's interior

and shared his adventures
in a famous chronicle entitled

Through the Dark Continent.

[Wynne-Jones] The idea

of exploring
into the heart of Africa

really goes back
to the 19th century.

There were geographers
and historians

traveling through Africa
on exploratory expeditions

to try and shed light on places

that were unknown
to European science.

But even today,
there's so many places and areas

about which we have
very little knowledge.

There's so much still to know.

[Shatner] Today,
modern-day explorers

like ecologist Julian Bayliss

are continuing to explore Africa
and map the areas

that remain difficult
for humans to survey.

I've probably organized and run
over 50 scientific expeditions

in mountains, in forests,
in rainforests in Africa

because it still holds
largely unexplored areas

that humankind haven't
necessarily been to before.

And it all started

with Mount Mabu
in northern Mozambique.

I was using satellite imagery

to locate
these isolated forests.

And that area of forest
turned out to be

the largest rainforest
in Southern Africa.

And we've been finding
new species.

It was tremendously exciting.

But there are many, many dangers

in running expeditions
in-in Africa.

We have to drive
through the bush,

and it's very easy to get lost.

We have the dangerous
animal side of things,

especially
in this part of the world.

Other dangers
are things like traps.

So, the local people
use something called a gin trap,

which is like a bear trap.

They will basically
sever your foot.

And the traps are buried
underneath the ground.

You cannot see them.

So there's many risks.

[Shatner] In 2012,

Julian Bayliss made
a remarkable discovery.

Satellite imagery revealed

what he believed
was an untouched,

ancient forest in the sky

known as Mount Lico.

[Bayliss] So, immediately,

all these questions
started to come,

having seen
that first impression

of Mount Lico
on the satellite image.

Mount Lico is known
as a sky island.

It has steep sides going up
to the basin of a rainforest.

What's going on here?

Why isn't that forest disturbed?

And of course,
the only way to find out

is to go and have a look.

[Shatner] Despite the danger,

in 2018, Julian and his team

mounted an expedition
to climb 400 feet of sheer cliff

to explore
this mysterious sky island.

After their treacherous climb,
they discovered

what could only be described
as a lost world.

[Bayliss] So this forest,
potentially,

has been undisturbed

for millions and millions
and millions of years,

providing sufficient time

for the animals
that are found in there

to develop into new species.

We found a new species
of butterfly.

We found a new species of frog.

We even found
a new species of crab

in the only stream
on top of Mount Lico.

And seeing it
with your own eyes,

there's a feeling
of exhilaration, excitement,

reverence for a untouched,

magical, ancient land

that nobody, or very few people,

have ever set foot in before.

Africa

is such a unique
and wonderful place

because it still holds
a lot of mystery,

a lot of magic,
and a lot of adventure.

[Shatner] Based
on Julian's work,

hundreds of new species
have been discovered

throughout these so-called
sky islands of Africa.

But beyond the continent's
natural wonders,

Africa is also home

to legends of lost civilizations

and a mythical lost city.

[Shatner reads on-screen text]

This endless expanse
of dry savannah covers an area

of 350,000 square miles

from Botswana to Namibia
and South Africa.

Its name is derived
from Tswana words

that describe
a "waterless place"

and a "great thirst."

[thunder crashing]

But after a good rainy season,

this semidesert
becomes a thriving habitat

for thousands of diverse animals

and a magnet for curious
and courageous adventure seekers

like wildlife journalist
Adam Cruise.

The Kalahari
is a very fascinating desert.

And it's massive.

I mean, it's this big
blank space in Southern Africa.

But the most interesting thing
about the Kalahari is,

it is packed with wildlife,

especially lions.

There are a lot of lions
in the Kalahari.

Exploring and walking around

is not as easy as it could be.

You've got to be very, very
vigilant about temperatures,

about wildlife,
and about the expanse,

because it's...

it's easy to get lost there,
and I have many times.

I had always gone
into the Kalahari,

first as a boy with my family,

and gone to do, uh, safaris,

just go look at wildlife.

And then I started
reading more about

the previous explorers
into the Kalahari,

which prompted me
to go with more purpose.

The last three
or four expeditions I did

into the Kalahari was for
the sole purpose of searching

for the Lost City
of the Kalahari.

[Shatner] The Lost City
of the Kalahari

is the stuff of myth and legend,

an ancient metropolis
believed to be hidden

somewhere in Africa's
great southern desert,

constructed in antiquity

by an unknown civilization.

And the fascinating tale
of this mysterious place

began in 1885

with the exploits
of a famous Canadian entertainer

turned explorer named
William Leonard Hunt,

who often went
by the self-proclaimed name

The Great Farini.

[Cruise] The Great Farini.

He was a showman.
He was a circus man.

But he wanted to be an explorer,

and that's why he found himself
in the Kalahari.

And he thought
he would write his name

among the greats by crossing
the Kalahari and back

and documenting it.

So Farini charts his journey
through the Kalahari.

He has a companion with him

who was an early photographer.

He photographed the dunes,

documented the great waterfalls
called the Augrabies,

he photographed the trees
and these massive nests

that basically
take up a whole tree.

There was no doubt
that Farini was there.

So, Farini comes back
from his trip to the Kalahari,

and he writes a lengthy,
galloping book

about his exploits,
Through the Kalahari.

Three-quarters
through the whole story,

he drops in the fact
that, one day,

they stumbled across some ruins.

He talks about a circular wall

about three-quarters
of a mile long.

He talks about a fluted column.

And then there's an altar.

He can't find any inscriptions,

and because they're
running out of water,

he says they have to leave.

And that is
the first full description

of the Lost City
of the Kalahari.

And from that description,
there were hundreds of people

trying to find
this mythical place.

[Shatner] Farini's
tantalizing tale

electrified
the public's imagination,

and soon a new wave
of fearless explorers,

motivated by fortune and glory,

ventured into
the great sandy abyss

of the Kalahari
in search of this lost city.

[Andrew] One of the people
that became involved

with the search
for a lost civilization

in the Kalahari
was Joshua Norman Haldeman.

He was the grandfather
of Elon Musk.

And from 1953 onwards,

on 12 separate occasions,
he would go

to the Kalahari with his family

and they would search
for evidence

of some kind of, um,
you know, civilization.

[Lance Geiger] In 1964,

there's an explorer
by the name of A.J. Clement.

He publishes his narrative
of the expedition.

And A.J. Clement concludes that

Farini was lost the whole time,

that he didn't know
where he was.

And A.J. Clement does come upon

a bunch of natural rocks-
dolerite-

which he thinks
might be what Farini saw.

So, maybe it was dolerite,

and Farini just didn't know
what he was seeing,

or maybe he found something
that is, right now, buried

under the sands of the Kalahari.

[Shatner] For those inclined
to take on the challenge,

the possibility of discovering
a mythical lost city in Africa

is a seductive proposition

that could rewrite
Africa's ancient history.

But to this day,
no one has managed

to confirm Farini's claims.

And based on his background
as an entertainer,

many have wondered,
was his monumental discovery

just part of the act?

[Geiger] The Great Farini
made his fame

walking on tightropes
across Niagara Falls.

And he becomes very famous
as a performer,

and then he makes
the very odd choice

to go and explore Africa.

[Cruise] The unexplained mystery
with this Lost City

of the Kalahari
is the man Farini himself.

His job was to entertain.

His job was to fabricate.

So the question is,
did he really see something,

or was he entertaining us?

He knew how to tell a story.

Was it a real one,
or was it fiction?

[Shatner] Was the Lost City
of the Kalahari

a complete fabrication concocted
by a convincing storyteller,

or could it be
a very real place?

Perhaps clues can be found
in the ancient stone structures

that dot this epic landscape.

Throughout Southern Africa,
there are magnificent ruins.

One just has to think
of the Great Zimbabwe ruins.

This was once a huge city.

Mapungubwe in South Africa
comes to mind.

Another walled city,
and they are all over the place.

So, if they are there,
there's a good chance

that there could have been
something similar

in the Kalahari.

If there is a lost city
to be found,

you cannot afford
to not go and look for it.

Imagine having that
to your name.

I'll definitely be
going back to the Kalahari.

I've got the Lost City fever,

and I think, unfortunately,
uh, it's a permanent one.

Finding the Lost City
of the Kalahari

remains a lofty goal
for many explorers.

However, if it's discovered,

will a never-before-known
civilization

need to be added
to the history books?

Who can say?

But there is another
actual city in Africa

sitting in complete ruin,

and no one knows why,
centuries ago,

it was mysteriously abandoned.

[Shatner reads on-screen text]

Scattered along the majestic
330-mile coastline

lies the remnants
of a once thriving

medieval trade network.

Among the 116 historic
Swahili settlements

are the major port city
of Mombasa

and the breathtaking beaches
of Malindi.

And nestled between them,
in an ancient rainforest,

are the ruins of a mysteriously
abandoned town called Gedi.

[Wynne-Jones] When Gedi
was first discovered,

it wasn't
a completely unknown site.

The people who live around
Gedi have always known

about the ruins.

There are many local stories

about the association
of the site with spirits,

and many of the Swahili
on the coast

think of Gedi as being the site
of many of their ancestors.

And then some
of the other local groups

believed that it was
the home of ancestral spirits

and should be avoided.

It was first excavated
starting in the 1940s,

by the pioneering archaeologist
of the Swahili coast

called James Kirkman.

And there was a written account
of Kirkman's excavations.

And actually,
it was the first Swahili site

ever to be excavated.

The inhabitants of Gedi

are definitely part
of what we understand

as the Swahili
coastal tradition.

But there are no histories
that relate to Gedi,

um, which is quite unusual,
because there are histories

that relate
to other towns nearby.

Who exactly came to Gedi
in the 11th century,

um, we don't completely know.

Kenyan archaeologist
Dr. Freda Nkirote,

with the National Museums
of Kenya,

has been studying
the settlement for decades

and has uncovered many clues
about the prosperous culture

that once thrived there.

[Wynne-Jones] We have found
glazed ceramics

from the Islamic world,

porcelains that had come
all the way from China.

They'd been trading
far and wide.

It had once been

this sort of central point
in Indian Ocean trade.

Over many centuries,
it grew as a center of wealth.

[Shatner] The nature
of the exotic artifacts

discovered at the Gedi ruins

suggest it was once
a booming trade town.

But for centuries,

archaeologists
have yet to uncover

what caused thousands
of people to flee

such a well-built
and successful city.

[Wynne-Jones] The big question
about Gedi

is why it was abandoned.

Mombasa and Malindi,
two of Gedi's nearest neighbors,

not only continued
to be occupied

but thrived in later centuries.

They're still
major centers today.

So why Gedi became unlivable

is something that we don't know.

We can only speculate.

[Shatner] What could have caused

an alleged mass exodus?

While some theorize
it was disease

or fresh water drying up

or perhaps even
a disruption in trade routes,

what's confounding is that based
on archaeological evidence,

many believe Gedi was deserted
practically overnight.

[Shatner] Did the residents
of Gedi

really grab as much
as they could carry and run?

And if so,
what were they running from?

Well, local folklore suggests
a haunting possibility.

It is said
that the people of Gedi

may have been
escaping evil spirits.

[Bellinger] The idea

that evil spirits
had something to do

with Gedi's abandonment
comes from

a-a real and deeply embedded
spiritual belief

in creatures known as jinn.

The jinn inspires curiosity

and a certain amount of fear,
even today,

among local tribespeople
in the Gedi region.

[Nkirote reads on-screen text]

[Shatner] Was the belief in
powerful, supernatural creatures

somehow responsible
for the abandonment of Gedi?

It's just one of many questions
yet to be answered

about the history of this
African archaeological enigma.

Will the ruins of Gedi
ever reveal the secret

of why this city was abandoned,

of why this city was abandoned,

or will its history remain
a fascinating tale of folklore?

With so many different cultures,

Africa is brimming
with intriguing local legends,

including tribal tales
of mysterious blue stones

that are said
to be rarer than diamonds.

[Shatner reads on-screen text]

This small
coastal country is known

for its stunning natural beauty,

diverse ecosystems, and
a wealth of mineral resources.

Since 1930,
an estimated $15 billion

worth of diamonds have
officially been mined here,

including
the massive 969-carat rock

known as
the Star of Sierra Leone.

But in 1990,
a geological discovery

of a very different kind
would dazzle rock experts

and launch
a stone-hunting adventure

that has spanned over 30 years.

[Andrew] In 1990,

an Italian geologist

by the name of Antonio Pitoni

went into Sierra Leone,

and he found himself talking
with one of the chiefs

of the Fula tribes
in that region.

They started talking
about where diamonds came from,

and this chief said
that they came from the sky,

they fell from the sky.

Pitoni said to him, "Well,
what else falls from the sky?"

And the chief said to him,
"We can show you."

And a shaman took him
to a location,

and he started
digging up the ground

and showed him
these blue stones,

or skystones,
as they're also known.

And the shaman said
that these fell from the sky.

[Shatner] Stones that fell
from the sky?

While the origin story was easy
to dismiss as local mythology,

the rocks' jagged shape

and unusual blue patina
was intriguing.

And when gemologist
and rare meteorite collector

Jared Collins saw
these enigmatic stones

for the first time,
it would set him

on a 12-year quest to answer one
simple question-

what are they?

[Jared] In 2013,
I was in Hong Kong

for the yearly gem show,

and a dealer had invited me
to his house

to see his collection
of rare gemstones.

I see a blue rock.

The blue is very striking.

And I picked it up, and I knew

there was something unusual
about this.

And I asked the guy,
"What is this?"

And he said, "That's skystone,
that's skystone."

This is an object

that supposedly came
from the heavens

and was thrust into the Earth.

I asked him
if he would sell it to me,

and he said no.

And this is a guy
that would sell anything.

I think for almost a year,
I bothered this guy.

He finally agreed
to sell me one gram,

the small piece.

And as soon
as I got ahold of it,

I immediately cut it in half

and I sent half of it over

to University of Washington
Earth and Space Sciences.

And Dr. Tony Irving did
what I think is

the best analysis done to date.

And he found

that the stones are essentially
calcium orthosilicate.

So it could be natural,
but his analysis was

that it is probably artificial,

it is a man-made material.

He was not able
to identify the blue colorant.

It's not like a pigment.

You can't paint with it.

The blue colorant
remains unknown.

[McGee] The most anomalous
characteristic is,

why is it blue?

There are ways
you can add a dye,

but we have no idea how

that would have been
achieved there.

When the stone is sampled
and pieces are broken off,

the color kind of
falls apart with it,

and so we have no idea

what whoever made the skystones
used to turn them blue,

and that's pretty cool.

[Shatner] After
the initial analysis,

Jared sent skystone samples
to 15 labs around the world.

While the properties
of the blue coloring

of the rocks
remain inconclusive,

the extensive scientific tests
seem to suggest

that the stone itself
was somehow

forged by man.

[McGee] The data produced

when the skystones were analyzed
provides a match,

and that's with what we call
a geopolymer-

in other words,
concrete or cement.

According to the numbers I saw,
this could be anywhere

from a few thousand to tens
of thousands of years old.

We don't know.

And so, maybe

it's a mystery concrete
from civilization past.

[Shatner] The analysis
of this mysterious material

raises a fascinating question.

Are the blue skystones
the product

of an ancient
African lost technology?

[Jared] One thing
that we do know is

that whatever created it
needed a high temperature

for a sustained period of time.

That would require
having a kiln in Sierra Leone

5,000, 6,000, 7,000,
8,000 years ago,

which I'm pretty sure
that they didn't have.

We know that the Mesopotamians
were the first

to invent kiln technology.

That would be
around 5000 or 6000 BC.

So,

is it a lost technology?

The science keeps saying

that it is potentially man-made,
artificial.

What is this material doing
in Sierra Leone?

I've spent more
than 12 years now

trying to get
to the bottom of this thing.

There is a mystery in here

that is not yet
revealing itself,

and I would really like
to find out what that is.

Whatever the blue skystones are,

they're undoubtedly
extremely rare and exotic.

But there's another
African mystery,

even more ancient,
that has captivated the world

for more than 2,000 years-

the yet-to-be
discovered location

of Cleopatra's tomb.

[Shatner reads on-screen text]

This arid land is home

to the world's longest river,
the Nile,

and many ancient civilizations,

including the kingdom of Kush
in modern-day Sudan,

the Aksumite Empire in Ethiopia,

and the powerful
and mysterious realm

known as ancient Egypt.

[Geiger] This great civilization
of Egypt-

we don't always really think
about that as Africa, but it is.

It left behind the pyramids
and the Sphinx,

all these great structures

that have lasted thousands
of years.

But one of the reasons
that it so captivates us is that

there's still so much
we don't know.

[Shatner] Evidence
of a once advanced

and thriving empire can be found

in the extraordinary
engineering at Cairo,

the grand temples

and immaculate royal tombs
of Luxor,

and the captivating ruins

of ancient Egypt's last center
of power, Alexandria.

[Shatner reads on-screen text]

30 miles west of Alexandria.

According to renowned
archaeologist Kathleen Martinez,

who has led excavations here
for 20 years,

this massive two-square mile
temple complex could unravel one

of the greatest
enduring mysteries

of the ancient Egyptian world.

[Martinez] This is
an ancient temple, very sacred.

And nobody

thought it was
an important temple

because it was
completely destroyed, abandoned,

and there was very little
information about this place.

It was the only temple in Egypt

where you don't know
to whom it was dedicated.

So I've said
we need to excavate.

It could be
the final resting place

of Queen Cleopatra.

[Shatner] Uncovering
the mysterious life and death

of Queen Cleopatra-
the last pharaoh of Egypt-

has been the ambition
of countless explorers.

After ascending the throne
in 51 BC at just 18 years old,

Cleopatra became the richest,
most powerful woman on Earth.

Cleopatra VII was the last ruler
of Egypt, the last queen

at a time when men were
really dominating all

of the most important
political positions.

She was a powerful woman
in her own right.

Cleopatra's job really was
to advocate

for the needs of Egypt,
which at this point

was very much
being ruled by Rome.

One of the key ways
in which Cleopatra did this was

by aligning herself romantically
with Rome's leaders.

So she was very clever.

But Cleopatra remains
mysterious to us

because she was written about
by Roman writers,

and Roman writers had a tendency
to denigrate her

and to paint her
in a very particular light,

which may or may not be true.

And of course

we don't know
where she was buried.

[Naunton] The question
of the whereabouts

and the nature
of Cleopatra's tomb is one

of the great problems
for Egyptian archaeology.

It seems almost like an anomaly.

We are led to believe that
that tomb was in Alexandria.

But we have, in fact,

just about no archaeological
evidence for that tomb.

[Shatner] For centuries,

archaeologists and explorers
have searched the ancient city

of Alexandria for the legendary
lost tomb of Cleopatra

with no success.

But based on her discoveries
at Taposiris Magna,

many believe
Kathleen Martinez may be close

to locating the great queen's
final resting place.

[Martinez] Plutarch, one of the
most important ancient writers,

said that Cleopatra was buried
in a temple of Isis.

I've been excavating now
for 20 seasons.

In the second season,

we were able to discover
that this is an ancient temple

dedicated to goddess Isis.

We have uncovered more
than 3,000 artifacts,

and most of the objects

that we have discovered are
from the time of Cleopatra.

We have discovered more than
600 coins portraying the queen.

We have 21 catacombs,

and most of those catacombs are
from the time of Cleopatra.

And who was buried there?

Generals, officials,

high-rank people
around the queen.

We have several statues of Isis,
including one

that experts believe
could have been a statue

of Queen Cleopatra herself.

All the evidence
that we are getting

confirm the link
of this temple to the queen.

[Naunton] The kinds of things
that Kathleen has found

strengthen the idea

that this was a temple
connected to Isis.

And we also know that Cleopatra
went to great lengths

to associate herself with Isis

and to present herself as a kind
of manifestation of Isis.

So it was very interesting

that there's that clear
association with the site

and Isis and, therefore,
perhaps by extension, Cleopatra.

[Shatner] Could Taposiris Magna
be the location

of Cleopatra's lost tomb?

While there are at least
20 more catacombs to unearth,

the possibility became
more plausible

with an underground discovery

that would change the course
of the search

and perhaps history
as we know it.

[Shatner reads on-screen text]

After years searching

for the lost tomb
of Queen Cleopatra,

archaeologist Kathleen Martinez

discovers
something extraordinary-

a mysterious, ancient tunnel

hiding beneath
this enormous temple complex.

[Martinez] The discovery
of the tunnel

was with
archaeological excavation,

systematic excavations.

But we didn't know

that this shaft
will go down 25 meters,

and it was really hard
to go down and to excavate.

So we had to continue
excavating with our hands.

Encountering cobra,

different type of snakes
and scorpions,

which make it very difficult.

But we continue,

because the tunnels go

from the temple
to the Mediterranean Sea.

It opened
to the Mediterranean Sea,

leading me to understand that

the temple was connected

to another structure
that today is underwater.

So we are going
to continue excavating

and working in the sea.

So there's a lot of work to do.

The tunnel will be the key

to discover the tomb
of Queen Cleopatra.

[Naunton] We have to remember
that with ancient Egypt,

the bodies
of deceased individuals

were often placed in chambers
at the bottom of deep shafts,

hidden away and protected
for all eternity.

So the presence
of shafts and tunnels

at the temple area immediately
puts us in mind

of perhaps a monumental tomb
of some kind.

And of course, until we know
exactly where it goes,

it's very difficult
to say what it might be,

but it is at the very least
very intriguing.

[Shatner] While excavation of
the tunnel is far from complete,

the search
for Cleopatra's lost tomb

has attracted
another famous explorer,

Dr. Robert Ballard,

who famously found the sunken
wreck of the Titanic.

[Martinez] Now we are working
on land and underwater

with Dr. Robert Ballard,

and we recently
make a major discovery-

the port to the harbor
of Taposiris Magna.

We are writing pages of history.

What kind of structures
could be now underwater?

Could be another temple,

could be a town.

We don't know, but we believe

this is the beginning
of another important journey.

There's so much that people
don't know about Cleopatra,

and this is one of the things
that we're trying to change.

I'm convinced
that the discovery of the tomb

will be the greatest discovery
of the century.

[Bradshaw] If the tomb
of Cleopatra is discovered

within our lifetime, it would be

unspeakably exciting.

Partly, this is because
people have been looking

for it for so long
but more importantly

because of what it can reveal
to us.

How did she die?

What did she look like?

Royal tombs for Egyptian rulers
were statements

about how they wanted themselves
to be perceived.

So we get Cleopatra's
perspective on things, finally.

[Shatner] Will Cleopatra's
elusive lost tomb

soon be discovered?

Like many mysteries in Africa,
scientists, explorers

and adventurers continue
their never-ending quest

for answers in the birthplace
of all mankind.

[Nkirote reads on-screen text]

[Wynne-Jones] When you work
in Africa,

you're often literally
writing the history

for that place and that time.

I think there are many
more stories to be told because

each time we go out there,

we're telling something new

'cause there's still so much
to discover.

Africa is a magnificent land,

the cradle of civilization,

offering
unprecedented diversity.

It's also home to lost cities
and forgotten cultures,

along with
otherworldly treasures buried

in its endless deserts
and dense jungles.

And to think that scientists
and explorers could be

on the precipice
of a great discovery

that could forever change
the history of mankind-

well, it makes
the hidden mysteries

of this continent
even more exciting.

What might be uncovered?

The possibilities are
as monumental

as Africa itself

and for now remain...

unexplained.

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