Original subtitles

[water rushing]

[peaceful music]

♪ ♪

[water lapping]

♪ ♪

[indistinct chatter]

Ali: Wherever water flows,

life follows.

[cows mooing]

♪ ♪

It's inside everything that lives.

♪ ♪

Over half the human body

is composed of water.

♪ ♪

And it's here

at the river's edge

where our civilization started to develop

in Africa.

[water sloshing]

♪ ♪

[playful chatter]

Lives on the banks of the Great Zambezi

still respond to its ebb and flow.

♪ ♪

[water sloshing]

When the wetlands swell...

The Lozi people take to their boats,

seeking higher ground.

[water sloshing]

[water sloshing]

This annual ritual

is called Kuomboka,

which means "getting out of the water."

♪ ♪

According to legend,

the god Nyambe

commanded man to build the first canoe

in anticipation of the flood.

♪ ♪

Each year, the Lozi leave,

reassured the soil is renewed

for a future harvest.

♪ ♪

They'll return again

when the gentle floods subside.

[water trickling]

Rivers flow like arteries,

carrying the lifeblood of existence

huge distances

across many different terrains.

[water roaring]

♪ ♪

Cascading over Victoria Falls,

the Zambezi becomes the largest curtain

of falling water on Earth.

♪ ♪

People here call it Mosi-oa-Tunya,

"the smoke that thunders."

♪ ♪

Towering clouds of mist

can be seen from miles away.

♪ ♪

Plumes of spray

soak everything in reach...

♪ ♪

Allowing lush rain forest to thrive

wherever it can take root.

♪ ♪

[water rushing]

Tumbling over the soft limestone beneath,

the Zambezi

flows for another 1,000 miles

towards the east coast of Africa.

♪ ♪

Most rivers end their journey

when the fresh water they carry

finally meets the sea.

[water splashing, birds cawing]

Oceans wrap the entire world with their embrace.

[waves crashing]

They hold over 90%

of the Earth's water,

and so the majority of life on the planet

lives in the mysterious deep.

Out at sea,

water evaporates and ascends as vapor

into the sky.

♪ ♪

On the western coast of Southern Africa,

where sea and sand dunes meet,

tiny droplets

reach land as a spray of ocean mist.

♪ ♪

[birds and insects chirping]

♪ ♪

Just the smallest amounts of moisture

allow the most resilient plants

to call the desert their home.

♪ ♪

Inland, from Cape Town to Namibia,

water in any form rarely touches

this arid region of Namaqualand.

♪ ♪

Yet one sprinkling of seasonal rain,

and this blank canvas

transforms into a masterpiece of nature.

[insects chirping]

♪ ♪

With over 3,000 different species of wildflower,

it's called the greatest garden on Earth.

♪ ♪

Dazzling but ephemeral,

flowers must compete to attract pollinators

with the intensity of their blooms.

♪ ♪

Despite so little water,

it's the most biodiverse desert on Earth.

♪ ♪

When the hot winds return,

fertilized seeds fall onto the desert floor.

♪ ♪

They wait

patiently in the dust

for the rains to return once more.

♪ ♪

[wind whooshing]

Water

is a shape-shifter.

It can flow freely

high above us as rivers in the sky.

♪ ♪

Clouds of billowing vapor

can cover hundreds of miles in a day.

[thunder rumbling]

♪ ♪

The desert people of South Africa

would summon the rain

with a ritual dance.

[thunder rumbling]

When the heavens do let loose,

tons of water pour onto the ground...

[rain pattering]

Quenching the Earth below.

♪ ♪

[insects buzzing]

♪ ♪

Every year in Botswana,

summer rains that fell upstream

four months ago

start to flow into the Kalahari Desert.

♪ ♪

[elephants grunting, footsteps stomping]

♪ ♪

These elephants

are drawn here as if by a magnetic force.

[elephants grunting]

♪ ♪

[footsteps stomping]

♪ ♪

In the dry season,

they time their migration

to the promise of seasonal floods.

♪ ♪

They can walk for 50 miles

without a drop to drink.

♪ ♪

Elephants never forget their map

of where to find water.

♪ ♪

[elephants grunting]

The eldest females remember best

and pass on this precious knowledge

to their young.

♪ ♪

Their long trek is rewarded

with the first true bath of the season.

♪ ♪

[birds and insects chirping]

[water sloshing]

[birds and insects chirping]

[wings fluttering]

When the floods fully appear,

the Okavango Delta grows

three times in size.

♪ ♪

It's one of the largest watering holes on Earth,

so large,

it can be seen from space.

♪ ♪

A multitude of other animals arrive

to share this unique

and delicate ecosystem.

♪ ♪

These wetlands give refuge

to some of Africa's most iconic creatures.

♪ ♪

[wildebeest grunting]

♪ ♪

[birds and insects chirping, frogs croaking]

Like every living thing,

we emerged from water.

♪ ♪

It is the origin

of life itself...

And creates the vibrant diversity

of our world.

♪ ♪

[birds and insects chirping]

♪ ♪

As rain and rivers,

oceans and fog...

Water's cycle never sleeps

on its epic odyssey

around the globe.

♪ ♪

[water trickling]

[birds and insects chirping]