All language subtitles for human.planet.s01e02.hdtv.xvid-kidkodak10

Only one creature has carved a life
for itself in every habitat on Earth.

That creature is us.

All over the world
we still use our ingenuity

to survive in the wild places,

far from the city lights,
face to face with raw nature.

This is the Human Planet.

Deserts are the hottest
and driest places on Earth.

They cover one third
of the land's surface.

Some never see rain.

We can survive two months without food...

...yet only a few days without water.

As babies, we spend nine months
surrounded by fluid in our mother's womb.

But birth pushes us
out of this luxurious water world.

(GRUNTS AND CRIES)

(BABY CRYING)

From this point on,

life for every child of the desert
is defined by the quest for water.

Yet, somehow, in this brutal land,

an incredible 300 million people survive.

These are their remarkable stories.

The Sahara is the biggest desert
on the globe.

It is the size of the United States,

and its arid interior can unleash
the mightiest sandstorms on the planet.

Ferocious winds whip up
billions of tiny sand grains,

into massive walls...

...reaching more than 5,000 metres
into the air,

ten times the height
of the Empire State Building,

covering areas the size of Britain.

Battling through this sandstorm in Mali
is 1 6-year-old Mamadou.

He's a cattle herder who left home
three days ago

on a mission to find water for his cows.

It's a huge responsibility
on his teenage shoulders.

He must endure
the fury of the desert alone,

but there's an even bigger challenge
ahead.

He's in a race against
the biggest land animal on Earth -

African elephants.

This desert herd is also
desperate for water

because Mali is gripped by drought.

It's 40 degrees Celsius.

Most of the water holes are already dry.

Only one place for 80 kilometres
will still have water...

...Lake Banzena.

And this is where both the elephants
and Mamadou are heading.

(BIRDSONG)

If Mamadou keeps up a fast pace,
he'll reach the lake by morning.

But only 50 kilometres behind him
are the greatest nomads of the desert.

(ELEPHANTS SNORT)

Elephant matriarchs guide the herd,

following an incredible mental map
of all the water holes

to be found in an area of
tens of thousands of square kilometres.

Acacia trees give them
just enough fuel to keep walking

but they can't rest, day or night.

But, for Mamadou, nightfall means
he has no choice but to stop.

Meeting elephants in the dark
could be fatal.

(INSECTS CHIRPING)

(COW MOOS)

A hurried breakfast is
the little precious milk

Mamadou can get from his cows.

It keeps him one step away
from dehydration.

But he's got to get going.

The elephant herd have walked
through the night, making up ground.

- (BIRDSONG)
- (ELEPHANT TRUMPETS)

(COWS MOOING)

(CALLS OUT)

Finally the end is in sight for Mamadou.

(COWS MOOING)

But he walks straight into trouble.

Not only have the massive elephant herd
beaten him to the lake,

but they're also blocking
his access to the water.

(RUMBLING GROWLS)

(GROWLING)

Mamadou knows the elephants could charge,

so he is careful not to get too close.

(RUMBLING GROWLS)

It's an uneasy truce
while he works out how to break through.

(GROWLING)

Suddenly an elephant charges his cows.

(TRUMPETING)

Mamadou fights back,
but armed only with sticks,

it's a battle of David and Goliath.

(SHOUTING)

(ELEPHANTS TRUMPETING)

(SHOUTS)

Mamadou's courage has managed
to shift over 50 elephants.

Luckily, conflicts like this
are very rare.

Finally Mamadou drives his cattle
towards the life-giving water.

The elephants move off
and find their own part of the lake.

(ELEPHANTS TRUMPETING)

At last, they too have
an opportunity to drink...

...and even play.

(BIRDSONG)

It will be two months
before there's any chance

of rain replenishing the water holes,

so Mamadou's struggles will go on.

But in one part of the desert,

a shrinking water supply leads to
a surprising opportunity.

Hundreds of kilometres away,
along the Bandiagara escarpment,

the sapping 40-degree heat
has sucked the life

out of the rivers of Dogon country,

leaving only isolated pools

stuffed with stranded fish.

The Dogon choose this moment
for a desert fishing festival.

(GUNSHOT)

(GUNFIRE)

Thousands of competitors
are drawn to Lake Antogo,

including Dialo,
who's been coming here for 30 years.

It's a matter of pride for him
to catch a fish.

On any other day, fishing is strictly
forbidden in this sacred water.

In this way, the elders protect
an important food reserve

well into the dry season.

But today the community have a chance
to catch a symbolic last supper.

The banks are filling up quickly.

The atmosphere is tense.

Dialo has found a good spot.

But now he must wait
since Antogo has its own unwritten rules.

The ceremonial chief chants a prayer
to chase away evil spirits.

He wears a fish trap, believed to protect
the words as they are spoken.

This is Dialo's once-a-year chance.

(BELLS CHIMING)

- (GUNSHOT)
- (SHOUTING)

The free-for-all
quickly becomes a fishing frenzy.

(BELLS CHIMING)

They thrust their baskets down
to trap the fish.

Dialo has caught one,
but there's no time for politeness.

Afterjust 1 5 minutes,
there's nothing left,

and the chaos subsides.

Dialo is successful but exhausted.

Back at home, his proud catch of fish
becomes a final feast for his family

so they can survive
the last days of the dry season.

Far to the east of the Bandiagara,

it takes immense navigational skill
just to find water.

(GRUNTING)

These Tubu women must venture
across the vast sand seas of the Sahara,

in search of a miniature well
just one metre square.

It will mean the difference
between life and death.

They call this place the Tenere -
the land of nothing.

It is featureless, scorching
and unreliable.

Foni is a Tubu woman who can find her way
to water without a map or a compass.

She's brought her daughter,
Shede, only ten years old.

The well they seek
is still three days' walk away.

This is the toughest journey
they'll ever face together.

They undertake
this perilous journey for food.

They must cross 240 kilometres
just to get to market,

to trade camels for supplies
that will last them six months.

This caravan is only women and children,

since, for the Tubu, it's the women
who are the great navigators.

To the untrained eye,
a dune is just a dune.

But Foni can tell which ones to trust,
in a place where nothing stands still.

Smaller dunes shape-shift,
moving with the wind,

making them unreliable.

But larger dunes,
towering over 60 metres, are more stable,

revealing signs of a much bigger picture.

Over thousands of years,

prevailing desert winds have blown dunes
into long parallel ridges,

the only landmarks for the travellers.

The Tubu look to the sun and the ridge
line to work out which direction to go.

Then they count each ridge
to know how far they've gone.

They've been walking for ten hours
in the blazing sun.

They must rest.

They make their camp out of
a single sheet, and ration their water.

(CAMEL GRUNTS)

The camels'share is mixed with oats,
while the women drink sweet tea.

They rise early,
before the sun gets too hot.

They only carry enough water
to get to the well,

so the pace they travel is key.

This specialist understanding
of the desert is fast disappearing.

Today only a few hundred Tubu women
possess the knowledge.

Foni believes that, by teaching Shede,

she can keep it alive
for another generation.

When darkness falls,

Foni also teaches Shede
how to read the night sky.

(CHATTER AND LAUGHTER)

For now, at least,
they know they're on the right path.

(CAMEL GROWLS)

It's day three.

Today they must find the well.

While packing up, Foni decides
Shede is ready to take charge.

(CAMEL GROWLS)

But the well is so hidden

that even if she's only a few hundred
metres away, she could miss it.

(CAMEL GROWLS)

She sets them off in the right direction,

aligning herself between the ridges ahead
and the sunrise to the east.

For some children Shede's age,
just ten years old,

finding their way to school
is challenge enough.

But Shede has to find her way 20 miles
across the bleakest landscape on Earth.

But with her mother's guiding words
echoing in her head,

she strides forward.

After a gruelling 1 2-hours'riding,
the tenth ridge is finally in sight.

The lonely bush in the dip of the dune
marks the valley of the well.

Shede has found the only well
for 80 kilometres around.

She's made her mum proud.

Finally, Shede can water the camels.

With their thirst quenched,
she washes off three days of dust.

(GIGGLING)

Now they've got water,
they'll make it to market,

but they're still weeks away
from finishing theirjourney.

Not all deserts are swelteringly hot.

The Gobi in Mongolia is
a desert of extremes.

Lying far north of the equator,

here scorching summer highs plunge
to freezing Arctic lows.

It's February, minus 20 degrees Celsius,

and the few wells people have
are frozen over.

But, amazingly,
water appears here as snow.

The snow doesn't fall here.

It's blown over 3,000 kilometres
from Siberia.

And these bitter winds means
it never settles for long.

So, Ganbold
and his twin-humped Bactrian camels

must chase the snow
towards the mountains where it lingers.

This rare snow is a lifeline.

It's so important,

he and his family have set up
their winter camp in the foothills.

But he's taking a risk.

His herd, including pregnant females,

are now in the hunting grounds
of a voracious desert predator,

and they like nothing better
than newborn camel flesh.

Gobi desert wolves roam
over thousands of kilometres.

Their keen sense of smell
helps them shadow the herds at a distance.

If Ganbold drops his guard,
they'll attack.

He returns to camp to hear that
his son has interrupted a wolf attack.

One sheep has been killed.

(BLEATING)

As evening falls,
an icy dust storm builds.

(GROWLING)

In the warm tent,
wolves are the only topic of conversation.

At midnight, Ganbold checks
his pregnant camels one last time.

He suddenly realises
his prize female is missing

but, with the storm,
they can't look for her until daylight.

Come dawn, the search is on to find out
what has become of her

and her unborn calf.

Ganbold musters his friends.

It's a race between them and the wolves.

They find tracks.

Ganbold heads to the highest ridge,
and the scale of his task becomes clear.

More fresh tracks.

They've seen off the enemy,

but is the camel nearby?

Finally, they see a shape.

(CAMEL GRUNTS)

Ganbold's beloved camel is alive.

And she's given birth.

But the calf isn't moving.

Tchoo! Tchoo!

(CAMEL GRUNTS)

To his great relief,
the calf is breathing.

(SIGHS)

Ooh! Ha-ha-ha!

Only a few hours old,
the calf is too weak to walk back to camp.

So Ganbold gives it a lift.

(CAMEL SQUAWKS)

His son rushes out to help

and his other boys meet
the latest addition to the herd.

- (SHEEP BLEATING)
- (BOY LAUGHS)

Ganbold gives thanks for his good fortune.

Unlike the Gobi, there are some deserts
where water never exists.

In the Chilean Atacama desert, some areas
are as desolate as the surface of Mars.

This is the driest place on Earth.

Here people have been inspired by nature
to conjure water from thin air.

Cactus flowers are a source of food
for the guanacos,

the wild camels of South America.

But these cacti are also the key
to their water supply.

They're covered in furry lichen,
which traps any moisture in the air.

Orlando has taken inspiration
from the cacti's natural solution.

With his friends,
he erects a vast net six metres high.

The net's mesh is designed
to mimic the lichen hairs,

because in this coastal strip
of the Atacama desert

they have a lifeline to moisture -
the Pacific Ocean.

Here, cold sea currents cool
the hot desert air

and produce huge fog blankets.

The fog is sucked ashore...

...and sweeps over the cacti...

...and also Orlando's nets.

When the fog hits the cacti,
it condenses onto the lichen hairs,

which capture the precious water.

In no time,
the cacti are dripping with dew.

On the nets, the fog does
exactly the same.

Drop by precious drop, this miracle water
is channelled to a reservoir.

Each day, these magical nets produce
nearly 500 litres of water...

...which allows Orlando to nurture
a few plants in the sand.

But he has bigger ideas.

This is just the latest innovation

in the eternal human quest
to find water in the desert.

Around the world,
signs are etched in the landscape.

Scars show where water used to flow.

7,000 years ago, the Sahara was crossed
by a network of rivers and lakes,

which disappeared as it turned to desert.

Yet, in this now barren land,
some of this water remains

deep in rocks underground.

In Ba'amar, central Algeria,

their extraordinary skill
is to tap into this ancient water.

(CHANTING)

But you have to know how to harness it.

Mafourdi is 70 years old,
and committed to a life in the desert.

Every morning after prayer,
the men head off to find water.

With stubborn devotion and very
simple tools, they have dug a well.

It's taken them six months to carve out
a shaft through the desert rock.

Only now are they ready
for their most dangerous mission.

As the oldest and the most experienced,
Mafourdi climbs down alone.

It's a sheer nine-metre drop.

(SHOUTS)

At the bottom lies knee-deep water
in hand-dug passages.

Mafourdi knows they are vital
to keep the water supply flowing.

But many men have been buried alive
down here, when the walls have collapsed.

The water seeps from the rocks themselves.

Mafourdi has released it from
thousands of years trapped in the rock.

This ancient water

is all that's left of the rivers
that used to flow across the land above.

But one well isn't enough.

The real trick is to connect several wells

and create
an underground channel of water.

Mafourdi's neighbour, Abdullah,
has also been digging a well

for the last six months.

Today's the day they're going to join up.

But Abdullah must leave Mafourdi.

Joining the tunnels
is the most dangerous part.

With so much earth removed, 30 foot
of rock could collapse at any moment.

It would crush Mafourdi,
with no hope of escape.

Back at the surface,
Abdullah prays for Mafourdi.

(PRAYING)

Finally, Mafourdi has broken through.

But will the walls hold?

(PRAYING)

This new channel is just part
of a much bigger system.

Every generation for the last 700 years

has been digging new wells
and connecting them up.

There are over 800 wells here now,

channelling water
60 kilometres under the desert floor.

The passages are cut so that the water
continually runs slightly downhill.

When it reaches the surface,
it's divided up

to sustain a village
that otherwise wouldn't exist.

With his share of the water, Mafourdi
has created an oasis to grow date palms.

And this attracts
all sorts of surprising visitors.

Once you have a permanent water supply,
anything's possible.

In America's state of Nevada,

Las Vegas pushes desert living
to the extreme.

It breaks all the rules.

It is one of the fastest growing cities
in the US,

using more water per person
than almost anywhere else in the world.

Is this humanity realising
an impossible dream?

Or is it just a neon mirage?

The deserts of the world are littered with
ruins of boom-and-bust civilisations

where the water ran out.

Petra in Jordan was an ancient city
which once had an aqueduct system

delivering 40 million litres of water
a day to 20,000 people.

For most desert dwellers,
life revolves around the meagre rains.

Only with rain can they hope
to survive the next blazing year.

But in Mali, desert rains are
anything but reliable.

Some years, they don't come at all.

(CHATTER)

But if they do,
the villagers know they come violently

so they must make their granaries
watertight.

(CHATTER)

The rains are preceded by sandstorms,

so now people watch the skies,
waiting for a rampaging wall of dust.

At 50 kilometres wide, and advancing
at a speed of 1 00 kilometres an hour,

the sandstorm engulfs the village
in minutes.

But people know
this darkness is ultimately a good sign.

Finally the rain is unleashed.

1 5 centimetres falls in 20 minutes,

turning the desert into
a network of streams.

Having waited all year,
it's suddenly a moment to rejoice.

(CHATTER)

In deserts across the world,
rains transform the landscape.

This is the one moment when life is
no longer about the quest for water.

The pressure's off.

For the Wodaabe people
of Niger, West Africa,

this is their window of opportunity
for love.

(COWS MOOING)

When the rains are good enough,

they can abandon
their normally isolated lives.

There's enough food and water
to support a few hundred Wodaabe

coming together for one of
the most extraordinary gatherings

of fertility and flirtation in the world.

In this hive of activity is Djao.

He's walked 80 kilometres to be here,
for a contest called Gerewol.

It's a courtship dance for sex.

Winning means he'll get a new lover.

This year is special.

It's the first Gerewol
after six years of drought,

so expectations are running high.

Djao is already married,
and his wife Tembe is here too.

Indeed, this festival
is full of married couples.

Wodaabe culture allows both men and women

to set aside their marriage vows
without stigma for these few days.

Tembe is up for a fling herself.

(BABY GRIZZLES)

But she knows
her husband is also a great catch.

(TEMBE LAUGHS)

But, for this flirting contest,
it's the women who choose

and, surprisingly, the men who dress up.

Djao's beauty, dancing and singing
will be scrutinised.

His big performance is just hours away.

The men decorate themselves
with coloured clays from the desert...

...with the crushed, charred bones
of egrets for their black lipstick,

and with perfumes from desert plants
to make themselves irresistible.

It's time for Djao to face the music.

- (CHANTING)
- (BELLS CHIMING)

(CHANTING)

The men come under close scrutiny
from an opinionated crowd.

(CHANTING)

As one line of dancers leave,
Djao steps into the arena.

He's desperate to be chosen
by one of the three girl judges

for a night of desert passion.

(CHANTING)

The girls are looking for specific things.

He must keep great poise, like an egret.

He must show his teeth,
flutter his lips and sing from his throat.

He must dance in time

and use his shoulders
to keep his position in the line.

(CHANTING)

The pressure's on for Djao.

Any slip now, and he'll lose
what he's waited seven years for.

After five hours,
it's the moment of truth.

All three judges approach
to choose their champions.

The first walks up the line

and, with a subtle gesture,
indicates the man of her dreams.

But she doesn't choose Djao.

Neither does the second.

Nor the third.

Djao has missed his chance.

His best efforts weren't enough
to win a lover.

It'll be at least a year before he has
the opportunity to dance again.

Tembe is looking for Djao.

Many new couples are hanging out,

but at least Djao and Tembe
still have each other.

So, the men and women disperse,
some with new lovers, some with old,

but all have been touched
by the flush of fertility and community

before they return
to the isolation of the desert.

Deserts are landscapes
of brutal simplicity.

They provide so little and demand so much.

But, with courage,

with endurance and intelligence...

...with devotion and ingenuity...

...desert people have found ways
to conjure life from so little water.

- (GUNSHOT)
- (BELLS CHIMING)

Against the odds, they have turned
a life of thirst into a thirst for life.

The only way to reveal
the truly epic nature

of the Tubu women's Sahara crossing
was to film from the air.

The best tool for this job
was a Cinebulle -

a hot-air balloon with a small motor.

But temperamental technology
and cantankerous camels

combined to make this
the hardest desert shoot of all.

It took three days of hard driving

before cameraman Toby Strong and the crew
could reach the women and start filming.

(SHOUTS)

Driving in the desert, it's so difficult.

You've got all these ridges, troughs.

The guys are going down stuff like this
and we're getting stuck all the time.

That means everyone stopping,
everyone out.

It's frustrating, but it's the nature
of the beast. We're here in the desert.

They reach the launch site
and start assembling the Cinebulle.

Dany Cleyet-Marrel designed it
specifically for filming.

With only a small engine,
it flies best in the cool morning air

with no more than a light breeze.

This is my first time up in a...
in a Cinebulle.

I've got two friends, two cameramen,
who've been up in this.

The first one, they crashed into a tree,

and on the second occasion,
that caught fire, the actual engine.

What I think we're gonna do is go up,

and I might have lied a little bit
about how heavy I am,

so we might find out
that he needs a little more gas.

Kind of a bit of test flight, like that.

But the camels haven't read the schedule
and they've gone to the four corners.

Every night, the camels are released
to search for food.

So, each morning, it takes time
to round them up again.

OK, we have to go, we have to go.
It will be too late after.

When the camels are finally ready,

Toby and Dany set off
to film the women loading up.

But the shoot doesn't go well.

What happened was, the balloon took off,

the butane gas has been cold overnight,
and the burner was cutting out.

They almost came down
within the women and the camels.

And then the balloon came down,
bounced, took off again,

completely freaking out the camels.

So, not a very good start to the morning.

TOBY: We lost the burner four times,

plummeted down over the camels,
the Tubu women and the kids.

Obviously, freaked them out.
Freaked me out a little bit.

So, that wasn't great on the first flight.

After a few more flights,
Toby becomes acutely aware of the wind.

TOBY: Working with Cinebulles
is almost exactly like a boat.

You've got the wind going
in that direction

and, although the Cinebulle's got a motor,
you can't really go against the wind.

So, you've really only got
one pop at each shot.

Difficult with the wind.

TOBY: We're fighting the wind, engine's
rewing and there's vibration and shake.

I've only got a very limited arc
to pan around.

So, there's a huge amount of skill
involved from Dany

and the guys on the ground
getting the camels going the right way.

So, it's a massive logistical operation.

In the beginning we had
a problem with the gas,

and after, a problem with the wind.

But tomorrow will be better.

(CHUCKLES)

The next day, after an early flight,
they face another problem.

The Tubu women don't hang around
for the crew to pack up the Cinebulle.

They only have enough provisions
for a normal trek across the desert,

so the team has to play catch-up.

TOBY: We've no idea
where our camels have gone.

There's 25 camels out there, you'd think
we'll find them, but it's not...

you know, you look around and it is
just like an ocean with a gentle swell.

So we're just driving round peak to peak,
seeing if we can spot them.

Good news, we've hit
the main caravan route,

which is a bit like...bit like the M6,

and even better news, there's a few groups
of camels coming this way.

The boys, with better eyes than I, say
they think that this is some of our group,

so it's good news.

With the camels in place,

Toby and Dany at last see the opportunity
for getting some really good shots.

- DANY: Not so bad.
- TOBY: It's nice.

I think we've got some nice shots.

And then at the end,
we went up really high,

and to see the whole desert opened up
was extraordinary.

That was a good flight.

They've had some success,
but the biggest challenge lies ahead -

filming the women's arrival at the well.

But on a dusty night,
the stars of the show go missing.

TOBY: We've just been using
our big spotlight as a beacon,

because three of the women
and six of the camels

didn't make it into camp tonight

and here in the desert, there's
a very good chance of people getting lost.

Thankfully, it worked, so everyone is
safely into camp for the night,

which is brilliant news.

It's only when the sun's gone down

that Toby has time
to deal with a domestic problem.

We brought out 30-odd cases from England.

One bag didn't turn up,
and that bag was my clothes.

So, couldn't wait for it,
had to come into the desert,

and that is why I'm washing my shirt
quite regularly

in, er...my allowance of water.

None of this goes to waste. This water
will be used for...for tea tomorrow.

No, it won't.

The next morning
is the most important one.

The women are due to arrive at the well

after days of navigating
across the desert.

It's crucial that Toby gets shots
of them arriving,

but, as usual, there are difficulties.

The logistics involved
of finding where the well is

and then driving the whole way round
so as not to get any tyre tracks.

Dany having to guess
where the wind's coming from.

The whole logistical operation of getting
right here, for this point, is enormous

and we've just about managed
to get it right.

We're all here, we're ready to go.

The wind is perfect. Dany got it spot-on.

And the camels are maybe 45 minutes away.
So, it's...it's massively frustrating.

Now it's absolutely perfect. No camels.

Yet again, the camels have gone off
foraging in the night,

then, at last, as the sun rises,
they appear over the horizon.

Everything comes together.

The women and the camels are ready,

and, with no wind, Toby is able
to move around them in the early light,

capturing a magical scene.

As the women close in on the town of Fachi
at the end of the trek,

the crew can finally relax,
with their problems behind them.

Nice. It was a very, very nice flight.
Nice light. Good speed of wind.

We've got a problem.

I thought we landed far enough away
from town to be out of everyone's way.

But lurking to the horizon...and there are
hundreds of specks

running this way.
I reckon we've got three minutes

before we're completely engulfed.

OK, I think Dany's off to, er...
intercept the hordes.

Those kids must be so excited.

I think Dany's got a bit of a treat
for them.

(WHOOSH)

To the delight of all, the crew
have triumphed against the odds...

and the stubborn camels.

(CHEERING)