All language subtitles for Okavango River Of Dreams 2019

[Narrator] There is an
eternal quest for paradise.

It always starts in purgatory.

There is a place in Africa
where there was once a

vast lake, the largest
on the continent.

It is the ancient
birthplace of Man,

60,000 years ago.

A place where we cast our
long shadows over the world

for the first time.

But the lake dried, condemning
us all to wandering,

nomads in search
of a new paradise.

It's now an annual
journey to find the river,

a voyage to reconnect,
to survive,

to thrive.

Every step we take is in the
pursuit of one single thing.

Water.

It turns us all into
fragile porcelain puppets

dancing to its whims.

Everyone wants
something from this prize,

this treasure, this
river of their dreams.

♪ Everybody's lookin'
for something ♪

♪ Some of them want to use you ♪

♪ Some of them want to
get used by you ♪

♪ Some of them want
to abuse you ♪

♪ Some of them want
to be abused ♪

Our story begins right
here, in Southern Africa.

There are two kinds of
rivers, male and female.

The ancients talk of this one
'lovingly' for her complexity,

the seductive sway of her
shallow meandering course,

as she enters Botswana,
and for her nurturing.

[snorting]

She is also dangerous,

a powerful and
unpredictable river.

It's a place where someone's
paradise is always someone

else's purgatory.

[mooing]

[snorting, grunting]

[growling]

[growling, mooing]

No one would have predicted
that the lioness's day would

have ended just so badly.

The Paradise pride waits
for days for their lioness.

Her shoulder is injured,
her ankle shattered.

They finally
leave her for dead.

[thunder, lightning]

The river itself
has a back-story.

It takes a single raindrop
at the source six months to

travel the course of her body.

Each is joined by another, and
another until she comes alive

again each year.

[rainfall]

And so begins a
journey that is legendary,

passing through the
secret underwater

windows of the river.

It goes down the
labyrinths of monsters.

Over the bones of those that
didn't survive the last flood,

capturing their nutrients,
passing them downstream to

those that can use them
and on to one of the

greatest wonders of Africa.

It's a place where every
action starts a reaction.

Like a well-crafted
Stradivarius violin,

plucked at one end,
it shivers on the other.

[birds chirping]

[leopard grunting]

Icy cold water keeps
everyone on their toes.

But this nurturing river
delivers miracles with as

much ease as she
does disasters...

The injured lioness is slowly
recovering her strength.

It's been weeks.

[growling]

The flood has come in, cutting
the lion off from her pride.

She's finally
gained enough strength.

But she's a lone
huntress with a handicap.

But this weakened lioness
has another reason for

staying alive.

Somehow the lioness has
managed to keep them alive and

secured them in the
deepest of reeds.

[meowing]

There is a phrase in Botswana:

"Fekeetsa di gkwetho"

it means: overcoming
a handicap, a challenge.

So 'Feeketsa,'
we will call her,

and her guide through paradise
will be the river itself.

There is an unusual
bird in the swamp,

one that unlike Fekeetsa
leaves her young the minute

they hatch.

There are also
nymphs living here,

flowers that offer up
soft skirts each day,

to lull you into their beauty.

It sets the stage for
some gangly chicks.

Day old African Jacanas
already know where the food is.

And they get there
on oversized feet.

The twins have no perception
of danger beneath them.

But Jacana mothers always
abandon their chicks as they

hatch, and leave them entirely
in the care of the males.

[birds chirping]

With a coded chirp, he
calls the chicks to him.

And tucks one under each wing
to walk them out of danger.

Those that survive here are
the ones that are most aware

of the sinister
hiding in the beauty.

In an instant the Jacana
family's floating home can

be destroyed by a giant.

[rumbling]

And so, it's off on a discarded
island to the next location,

a vagabond's life for them.

[rumbling]

But in elephants, the river
finds her perfect collaborator.

[rumbling]

They dominate everything,
big and small

with each step they take.

They turn the swamp
into a living mosaic.

Where elephants go,
water follows,

down channels into streams
feeding the river herself.

Without them, the river would
simply silt up and disappear.

[rumbling]

It's the perfect partnership:
she thrives on change,

and elephants provide that.

The 'freshwater plankton'
they stir up connects

the entire underwater food web.

And then, the water
starts to vibrate.

Another major
force is on its way.

Catfish.

As the flood comes up, they
come out of hidden pools and

channels in a frenzy.

It's a madness of fish and it
disturbs everyone in the river.

[birds chirping]

Catfish are both hunters,
and hunted.

But eventually, the catfish
clean out the waters and have

to ride the wave the
river provides them,

to new feeding grounds.

Tiger fish mop up
behind them like hyenas

preying on the wounded.

But to drop your guard in
these waters is a mistake.

As the river now sways through
the deep papyrus she touches

one life after another
and barely looks back

over her shoulder.

In the chilly mornings,
her ghostly breath rises up

beyond her body.

When Feeketsa looks around it
is at a shrinking territory,

as the land disappears
under the rising water.

She and her cubs are
prisoners on this island now.

Swimming across this
fast flowing river

would be foolhardy.

Being in the water takes the
weight off her broken ankle.

It eases her pain.

The surge of water has pushed
lechwe antelope her way.

It's another test.

A temptation.

But running is
impossible for her now.

With her injury
Fekeetsa will have to

develop different skills.

So she starts to
hunt from the water.

Today, it's not
scarcity that's her problem,

it's abundance.

[growling]

Nomadic lions, also working
the ever-changing flood.

[honking]

Today they have a
male with them,

even more reason for
Fekeetsa to stay hidden,

but their fate is in the
hands of the river now.

The big lioness is successful.

But she's not
comfortable in the water.

She's not a swamp cat.

But the threat to their kill
doesn't come from in the water.

[growling]

[growling]

[growling]

[growling]

Wandering nomads are a
constant threat to a

young mother and cubs.

Even though they came
a long way for this,

they'll move on now.

The new water continues to flow
strongly for nearly six months,

stretching her body, making
it youthful and powerful.

Just downstream from Feeketas'
island the river passes

through fields of
waterbird rookeries.

[chirping]

[chirping]

[chirping]

The dynamic river
suddenly pools and spills,

tempting bull hippos to
gather like gladiators only to

discover that she will suck the
pool dry and move on again,

a fickle queen
that seems hell bent on

entertainment at their cost.

[grunting, growling]

[grunting, growling]

At night a whole new
world exists in the stream.

The diamonds at the feet of
giants are an outbreak of

Scavenger beetles.

They've been revived from
months in hibernation in the

mud and released by
the flood into a frenzy,

to find that ideal mate
in a crowded pond

while they have time.

One of Africa's smallest
primates now has a problem.

The flood has trapped
them on a tiny island.

The bush baby has adapted
perfectly for this exact

moment with huge eyes
for stereoscopic vision.

But those eyes are so big that
to move its eyes it has to

move its entire head.

But perhaps its best
adaptation is a behavior

generally frowned
upon in our culture,

they urinate on their hands,
for that extra stickiness to

hunt and leap around
the forest at night.

As the Okavango
ebbs and flows,

it leaves exposed sand banks,
an invitation to a rare

African Skimmer family.

Despite the odd clumsy take off,

African Skimmers are some of
the most elegant birds on the

wing and when they take to
the air it's to start fishing.

And it's with aerial precision.

It is high-risk fishing.

They blindly "feel" for fish
with their extended bottom

beaks, and if they
detect one, they grab it.

If it's too big
they can snap a neck.

[hissing]

[chirping]

[chirping]

[chirping]

Their 'endangered' status
doesn't matter to the river as

she drifts on again, peeking
into the intimate lives of one

family and moving on to
the next with no judgement.

Fekeetsa, is one of those
who is struggling to make it

against all odds.

She tests the
breeze on her face.

The satisfying scent of prey.

Another disadvantage of living
on a small island in the

Okavango is that even
the prey starts to

recognize your handicaps.

But she isn't
hunting them today.

She's meticulously
searching for something else.

It's the season
of Lechwe births.

[bleating]

To keep her young alive she
has stolen someone else's.

[cub squeaking]

For the lions, it's a real
story of overcoming challenge.

Now the river
changes faces completely.

As a part of her leaves
Fekeetsa and her success

behind, we follow her
droplets downstream.

The first indication of this
costume change is a different,

almost hesitant flow.

It is her second act.

She morphs into a slow
drifting realm on top of a

bed of sand, the same Kalahari
desert sand she once covered

as an ancient lake, now
well beyond the reaches

of the Okavango.

The sudden change
in water speed,

deposits nutrients that now
feed everything as the river

flattens and spreads out.

And then she hits a wall.

A wall of thousands of
island in a flat landscape.

It is the first
sign of her weakness,

and she wallows now
in limbo, uncertain,

searching for direction.

But the secret to
this transition from

Paradise to Limbo

lies at the very center
of each and every island.

There are forces
at work down here,

building
underground fortresses,

blockades against the
rising water table.

Termites!

They fight back her strength
with saliva and calcrete.

And it works.

But once a year, these termites
start their nuptial dances.

They flush from underground
homes to fly and within seconds,

find a mate before
they can be eaten.

Downstream in this realm of
limbo a male lion awakens to

the flutter of
millions of termites.

This mating dance fills the
air and starts one of the

most magical
relationships in nature.

One that dominates the entire
story of the Okavango as she

becomes a delta, because
while millions don't make it,

millions do.

They land at the feet of
giants and start to build

towering castles of clay right
across Northern Botswana.

Trees attach themselves,

stabilizing these
islands even more.

[chirping]

When carmine bee-eaters get
restless it's because they can

smell the water and they
sense the exploding air

that's coming.

[thunder, lightning]

Dry storms flash messages of a
different opportunity for them.

The Carmines follow the
smoke to the intense

forced flush of insects.

It's a dance with death.

The exploding oil-packed reeds
are the fire to the flood that

makes up the
duality of the Okavango.

The fire cracks seeds open and
hands them over to the river,

to tumble down, and to
settle on termite mounds.

The mounds grow and flatten
into the ideal high ground for

male lions to thrive on,
working their hunting grounds,

strutting their dominance.

These islands are an
opportunity for some.

A hyena family has been busy renovating
an old den they found.

It may not look like
much but it is dry,

and with multiple rooms for
the different sized cubs.

Their cuteness has
been reserved for when

they are very young.

And they soon grow out of it.

[sniffing]

Someone else is eyeing
these secret chambers today.

And quite simply moves in.

[squeaking]

And then they come to
some kind of agreement

on a working solution.

Hyena den during the day and
at night when they are out

hunting the
warthogs are in residence.

The advantage of this unusual
arrangement is that there is

always someone with a
different sleep cycle on watch.

[snorting]

The reason for the warthog's
sheer determination to be

close to the hyenas is soon
revealed from the catacombs.

[squeaking]

[snorting]

In just a few weeks warthog
numbers more than double.

Their evolved tactic is to
flood the plains and confuse

the predators with
so many choices.

Having one baby at a
time would be a mistake.

[squealing]

[growling]

So while he fights
an impossible battle,

his siblings are guaranteed
a few more days at least.

[squealing]

This face of the river may
seem to be a dispassionate one

but she teaches
us to understand,

that the odds don't always
favor the bold and the brave.

Soon she is at full capacity.

But the
perfection of this river,

is that halfway
through the year,

just as she is at her peak,
it is the Southern Hemisphere

winter and grazing
starts to brown.

[rumbling]

[rumbling]

It triggers a massive movement
of wildlife from the drying

rainwater pools away from the
delta straight towards her.

[splashing]

[rumbling]

As elephants charge
around, they bash open paths,

but once again, it
works in her favor,

it gives her the opportunity
she has been waiting for.

The river floods in around
the termite mounds islands,

winning ground, changing
direction, unblocking,

staying alive, and keeping
everything else alive too.

Sated by fresh floodwater,
elephants turn to something

highly sought after, up ahead
of them on those islands.

They don't seem to mind being
crowned by rock hard nuts.

Those seeds germinate in the
perfect incubation 'oven',

in an elephant's gut, and then
afterwards are deposited for

the river to
nurture even further.

[trumpeting]

Long lines of palm trees,
whole islands are 'planted'

like this by elephants and
the river working together.

The palm and termite islands
also attract one of the

most endangered canines,

the painted dogs.

Today the Zarafa
pack is not happy.

They have a small problem.

[squeaking]

Usually only the alpha
female is allowed to breed,

but someone slipped
by them this year and

two females fell pregnant.

So they have
16 small problems!

And it's affecting family
life because the alpha dog

has simply kidnapped
all the puppies.

But she's
struggling to feed them.

She refuses to share the
burden or abandon any pups.

[rumbling]

The exhausted dogs barely give
way to a bull elephant off a

sugar high from a palm nut
binge but they simply cannot

ignore the
nagging alpha female.

She needs food for her pups.

[squeaking]

Painted dogs test everything.

It's a strategy to
find weaknesses.

If they don't see it
quickly, they move on.

It's also a tactic
of bait and switch,

divide and conquer.

[snorting]

The alpha male calls it.

They just don't
have the energy now.

And there will always be
someone else in trouble.

[squeaking]

There is a single rare
antelope who risks

crossing the river today.

He is so rare that
he's one of a kind.

There has never been
another like him seen

anywhere in the world.

Ever.

His mother was a lechwe.

But his father
was a waterbuck.

So we'll call him a "Wachwe"
in honor of both parents.

What the pack doesn't know
is that if they succeed today

they will have killed the
only "wachwe" on the planet.

But he's not a complete loner,
he's found his half-brother.

A real waterbuck.

And the reason the desperate
pack doesn't just chase in

after them now, is because the
river has given the antelope

some prickly guardians.

[snorting]

The two antelope possibly
chose the hippo pool for this

exact reason and they find
safety in limbo somewhere

between the riverbank
and the deeper water.

[bleating]

[squeaking]

It's a standoff between an
endangered predator and an

antelope that
doesn't yet exist.

Hippos aren't
always belligerent.

They sometimes, at least,
"tolerate" company.

Black Egrets have a special
technique of blocking out the

shine on the water, to catch
fish disturbed by the hippos.

Small minnows come to
forage, and craftily,

the egrets use their
bright yellow feet as lures.

It's such a good tactic that a
glossy ibis poaches under the

umbrella without
any shame at all.

But the birds have to keep a
wary eye out for things you

would least expect to
be a threat to them.

The teenage lions of the pride
test anything just for fun.

Both of the Limbo
Males are following today,

an indication of
trouble for someone.

Being down in the water-grass
gets hot and confusing,

so these swamp cats
take frequent breaks.

It's cool in the trees but
these heavy-set lions have to

get that balance just right.

And it's not just the
lionesses that can climb,

but he does stick out a bit.

He needs to get
down fast or stay up, silently.

[mooing]

[snorting]

[mooing]

[roaring]

[mooing]

Now it's important for
the male to be still.

As inconspicuous as possible!

[trumpeting]

Suddenly there are
elephants in the mix,

and they're irate.

[mooing]

[trumpeting]

[rumbling]

On the left flank, some
of the younger lions have

their own troubles now.

[growling]

[growling]

As the evening air cools,
the river releases tiny nymphs

that have been waiting
for a year under water.

It's a hatching the little
Bee-Eaters know exactly

what to do with.

[insects chirping]

By dawn, the pride has
regrouped behind the herd,

still on their island.

[mooing]

[snorting]

They're going to need
something different today or

it will end up in
the trees again.

It's going to take a hero.

An unlikely hero after
yesterday's performance.

And then, just as the herd hits
the first reeds and escape,

the second male flies into
action alongside his brother.

[growling]

[trumpeting]

[rumbling, trumpeting]

[trumpeting]

When elephants smell death,

they react as if any
death is personal.

Perhaps it is.

The Tuskless cow may have lost
a calf of her own in the past.

[rumbling]

[trumpeting]

[growling]

And then without any
obvious reason at all,

the herd suddenly settles down
and allows the pride to feed.

[birds chirping]

Red billed quelea, in their
millions start to flock at the

end of the flood.

These are the most abundant
birds on the whole planet.

[chirping]

[wings flapping]

The battle of opposing forces,
water and dry will change the

lives of the
nearby leopard family.

[chirping]

There are two cubs.

A composed little female and
her brother who is much more

interested in how
things in the world work.

[buzzing]

He hasn't learned the
dangers of being curious yet.

Bored with killer Bees, he
takes to simply irritating his

more serious twin sister.

It's the season of the
sausage tree flowers.

The ideal place for the
twin's mother to hang out.

It's why we call her
"Moporota" the local name

for sausage tree.

She's not resting,
she's waiting.

[grunting]

[growling]

Rest is impossible,
so within minutes,

she heads back to the trees.

[squealing]

She can't choose, so grabs up
two piglets, one for each cub,

but the cries
attract unwanted attention.

[laughing]

One is better than nothing
in a place where what was

yesterday cannot be relied
on tomorrow: in a realm where

even the water
disappears around you.

[squawking]

Oxygen levels
start to drop now.

The fish that recognize that
turn and head back upstream.

And those that don't, and that
leave it too late get cut off,

isolated in shrinking pools.

All the way to the end
the river clutches to life.

The old Limbo male knows the
pressure of disappearing water

better than most.

He was once a young male
walking into someone's

territory expecting a fight,
just like these new intruders.

He must either expel them
immediately or fall victim to

a slow erosion
of his authority.

[growling]

[growling]

[roaring]

[roaring]

Today he wins and casts them
out into the wilderness with

his rebuke
ringing in their ears.

There is no underestimating
the power of one,

small niggling voice
to get things going.

It's a ripple effect,
a movement,

a race to not get left in
this perpetual tension at

the end of the river.

[rumbling]

The air is so dry that it
turns the grasses brittle

under their feet.

The elephants are now
moving upstream away

from the stagnant water.

[rumbling]

[splashing]

[grunting]

This stage of the great
river is all about movement.

Moporota can't move.

She's a great huntress but
survival dictates that she

scavenges now.

What she finds is even bigger
than she probably thought.

[flies buzzing]

Young hyenas, still
nearly twice her size,

have had the same idea.

[laughing]

The Moporoto twins panic.

One to the tree, the
other to the bushes.

[meowing]

The little male is safe.

But now she has a problem.

And it's largely
one of communication.

She somehow tells him to
stay in the trees but tries to

encourage the little
female back from the bushes.

[grunting]

Her call should instill confidence that
she owns the night.

[grunting]

Finally, the lost little
female is convinced and

comes back to her mother.

[grunting]

[squawking]

[squawking]

[laughing]

[growling]

[meowing]

The little male is a lot
more difficult to convince.

The horrors only he witnessed
during the night will stick

with him, at least for a few
moments while he figures out

exactly how to descend.

She's ready to ambush him,

so a little route
change is necessary.

[branch cracking]

The river only exists because
of the dry land it cuts through,

light from dark,
wet from dry.

Paradise only real
because of the inferno.

[grunting]

Catfish have evolved a
way to breathe actual air,

but it won't be
enough for them now.

Those on the top
layer simply bake.

At this far end of life,
a desert leopard ekes out

a living by finding
the impossible.

Next week she may
well be eating hippo.

[wind blowing]

The intense hot
air rises and cools.

As it drops down the air
triggers a cycle of the most

extraordinary contrasts.

It is the eternal
journey of life from death,

water from dry and motion
from the static stifling heat.

They run just on
the promise of rain,

the collective hope of
a river being reborn.

[thunder, lightning]

[rainfall]

And the dusty landscape is
transformed by the water from

the river, this time
not from the flood,

but having been sucked
up over months and

deposited again from the sky.

It unlocks them
all from purgatory.

Even the ancient lake beyond
the river has a brief annual

revival, if only for a few
days and just ankle deep.

[braying]

The zebras gather
to find a mate,

eat salt, fight for the right
to a herd and give birth in

the safety of thousands,
before the journey back

to the heart of paradise.

A spectacular
splash of pink arrives,

like the first smears
on this perfect canvas.

Flamingos go where the
best shrimp is served.

[squawking]

[squawking]

[squawking]

[squawking]

Within months they float away,
a brightly colored figment of

our imagination.

It triggers a return for many
to the heart of the river,

all on that perpetual
quest for that one thing,

water.

Each of her droplets dances
gleefully with the next,

reconnecting after a long
journey like old friends,

meeting one another.

[growling]

And in her effervescence,
we find meaning.

And we'd be
right to be in awe.

Anything that dwarfs an
elephant is humbling.

She is a philosophy and a
reflection of our own

journeys in life.

The Okavango is part illusion,
part dream and will only exist

in the real world
into the future,

if we nurture her now,

as she has done for
millions of years

and protect her, as a jewel.

♪ Sweet dreams are
made of this ♪

♪ Who am I to disagree? ♪

♪ I've traveled the world
and the seven seas ♪

♪ Everybody's lookin'
for something ♪

♪ Some of them
want to use you ♪

♪ Some of them want
to get used by you ♪

♪ Some of them want
to abuse you ♪

♪ Some of them want
to be abused ♪♪

[music plays through credits]