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There is a place on earth
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where it is still
the morning of life
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and the great herds run free
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Life streams across a land
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suspended in time
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the last refuge of the greatest
concentration of wildlife
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remaining on earth
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The Serengeti plains of East Africa
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Long before human memory
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the mountains to the east emptied
themselves into the skies
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a sea of ash settled
across the Serengeti
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leaving only scattered summits
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as stone markers of a buried world
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Across four million years
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time and the elements
turned ash to rich soil
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yielding vast grasslands
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today preserved as the most important
animal sanctuary on earth
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In a land as fertile
as it is beautiful
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dwell millions of diverse creatures
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yet a single species predominates
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a million and a half strong
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wildebeests affect the lives of
all around them
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Ungainly in appearance,
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they have been called
the clowns of the African plains
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and an animal assembled by
committee from spare parts
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But wildebeests are superbly endowed
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for a life of endless migration
in search of grass and water
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00:03:13,333 --> 00:03:16,792
Alongside an array of
other herbivores coexist
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all accommodated by the rich
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and varied vegetation
of the Serengeti
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each seeking out a different niche
of the food supply
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some may spend 2/3 of
their lives crazing
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some are fortunate enough to live
in their own salad bowl
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The equation of life
on the Serengeti is simple
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herbivores eat plants
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carnivores eat herbivores
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Lions hunt with both
might and stealth
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a decoy distracts...
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while others stalk
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Although the lioness
has made the kill
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it is the much larger male of the
pride who eats first
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The hungry wait by rank
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lionesses and cubs
are second in line
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hyenas, jackals and vultures
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quarrel to be next
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on the Serengeti nothing is wasted
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Through the plenty
of the wet season
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The wildebeest herds
have grown strong
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on the short grass plains of the
southern Serengeti
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Now in late May, drought approaches
imposing a deadly ultimatum...
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migrate or starve
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For more than two million animals
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it is a marathon race against
thirst and hunger
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Like living streams and rivers
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the herds, accompanied by
zebras and gazelles
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flow toward the north and west
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drawn by the ancient promise
of water and grass
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the great migration has begun
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The epic journey takes place
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within the two East African
Nations of Tanzania and Kenya
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The wildebeest herds migrate north
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toward the
Maasai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya
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There, they range for months until
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the rains resume
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and the herds return again to the
southern plains
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the migration runs a deadly gauntlet
of more than 500 miles
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The first weeks
of the migration coincide
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with the frenzy
of the rutting season
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bulls engage in constant battles
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over females and territories
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In a few frantic weeks
90% of the cows are impregnated
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Early in the migration northward
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herds move through the region
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of ancient granite outcroppings
called kopjes
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now they are vantage points for
waiting predators
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From a litter of four, only this
lone cheetah cub has survived
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To nourish it, the mother must
kill almost daily
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but she has not eaten for two days
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The herds have passed, but a few
straggling gazelles appear
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From this distance, there is no contest
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the cheetah is the fastest
land animal on earth
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achieving short bursts of speed
up to 70 miles per hour
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There is neither malice nor remorse
of the Serengeti
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a hunter kills to eat
and to feed its own
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nothing more
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To the migrating herds
wooded savannas now offer refuge
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from the drought-stricken plains
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But here, the migration
becomes an invasion
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for the woodlands are a permanent
home to others
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Yet most of the residents go
about their daily affairs
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little disturbed by the
trespassing multitude
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Unlike wildebeests, Maasai giraffes
need not migrate
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they feed on a hundred species of
woodland foliage
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a food supply resistant to drought
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Vervet monkeys find in trees both
sustenance and safety
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Savanna baboons roam the woodlands
in troops, roosting in trees by night
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Omnivores, like us, they feed
on almost anything edible
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Occasionally, adult males will even
feast on young antelope
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feeding on grasses adjacent
to the woodlands
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grazers come under
an ever watchful eye
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Yet there is one herbivore even
the lion gives wide berth
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the adult elephant is one of the few
Serengeti animals without an
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enemy in the wild
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Protective of their young, elephants
form extremely close bonds
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the relationship between mother and
daughter lasts up to 50 years
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Herds sometimes push on through
the night despite risk of attack
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Under cover of darkness
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drawn by lightning distant thunder
or the smell of rain
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they may travel 50 miles by dawn
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Now adversities multiply
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drought has parched
the plains tinder dry
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grass fires sweep the Serengeti
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Scoured by fire and wind
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the vegetation will regenerate
in the rains to come
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but for the moment, herds seeking
sustenance find only dust
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Now the enemies are thirst
hunger exhaustion
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and, as ever, predators
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so powerful is the urge to migrate
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The herd will push on
even when confronted by a lion
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Crouched in open ambush
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the hunter has only
to pick the moment
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In this endless contest
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nothing is guaranteed
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In daytime, only one lion hunt
in five succeeds
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00:17:10,542 --> 00:17:12,833
Finally, after months of migration
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The forward ranks
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surge into the bounty that has
Drawn them northward...
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the rich pastures of the Maasai Mara
in Kenya
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Once more, their instincts have
brought them to a place of plenty
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Here, they will range
and graze for months
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until the life giving rains return
on the winds of October
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To the east, close by the Serengeti
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there is a place of even
greater abundance
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one of the natural
wonders of the world
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it is a microcosm of the Serengeti
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Ngorongoro crater is
a huge volcanic caldera
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encompassing 100 square miles
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a remnant of the great eruptions that
created the Serengeti plains
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00:18:21,542 --> 00:18:26,333
From cloud forests along the rim
to the crater floor 2,000 feet below
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a self-contained ecosystem provides
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abundant forage and plentiful water
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Where there is water, there is life
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00:18:58,625 --> 00:19:00,625
An object of amusement to some
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the hippopotamus can cut a crocodile
or a human in half with a single bite
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Prompting an axiom of the Serengeti...
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never come between a hippo
and its territorial waters
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Tens of thousands of
animals dwell here
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others come in migrations of the sky
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flamingos from Namibia
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storks from as far as Europe and Asia
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Like privileged cousins of the
migrating herds outside
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wildebeests and zebras within
the crater walls
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Need only wander from
pasture to pasture
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Dangers abound here as elsewhere
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zebras cluster together in
a tangle of stripes
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confusing to predators
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00:20:20,708 --> 00:20:22,958
The horses of Africa appear placid
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but they have never
been domesticated
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The black rhinoceros, for all its
formidable presence
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and frequent marking of territory
is a vulnerable giant
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poached almost to extinction
for the value of its horn
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Ngorongoro crater is one of the
few protected refuges
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where the black rhino endures
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for a baboon troop
much of the day passes
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attending to young, grooming
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and socializing
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though the job of protecting
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the lion pride and its territory
belongs to the males,
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hunting and raising young
falls to the females
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Play helps prepare the young for
the violent encounters to come
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The vaunted power of lions is matched
by a prodigious capacity for rest
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typically 20 hours a day is
spent in regal slumber
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When lions mate, however
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they do so on average
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every 25 minutes, day and night
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without feeding
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for three or four days
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It has been estimated that
3,000 mating occur
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for every cub that
survives its first year
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These lands are also
the cradle of humanity
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gashed into the eastern Serengeti
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Plains near Ngorongoro
is olduvai-gorge, one of the most
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famous archaeological sites of earth
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It bears within its layered walls
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a human fossil record spanning
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almost two million years
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Today, the proud Maasai
people dwell here
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They too, follow a nomadic existence
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along the edges of the Serengeti
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ever seeking good grazing
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for their cattle herds
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the Maasai believe
that heaven gave them
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and no other people
all the cattle on earth
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And from their treasured cattle
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they still draw a staple
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of the Maasai warrior diet...
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a mixture of milk and blood
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The age of predators still
encompasses the world of the Maasai
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From this and nearby villages
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Leopards have taken three infants
within the year
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Once the most formidable warriors
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in east Africa
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the Maasai still defend their cattle
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and families with spears
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some are born on the Serengeti
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00:28:15,833 --> 00:28:17,958
some seek it out
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00:28:19,583 --> 00:28:22,292
Today a growing human migration from
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00:28:22,500 --> 00:28:24,333
the outside world can witness
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00:28:24,542 --> 00:28:25,792
a spectacle of wildness
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long vanished elsewhere
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00:28:41,875 --> 00:28:44,125
Tanzania and Kenya have preserved
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vast areas as national parks
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00:28:46,333 --> 00:28:48,417
and game reserves, proclaiming them
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00:28:48,625 --> 00:28:51,792
a world heritage of all mankind
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00:28:59,500 --> 00:29:00,792
The support from tourism
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00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:03,042
is now indispensable to the survival
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00:29:03,250 --> 00:29:05,292
of this heritage, linking the
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destiny of the Serengeti
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with the visitors who pass in awe
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00:29:27,375 --> 00:29:30,042
The Serengeti they behold is changing
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00:29:30,250 --> 00:29:32,583
threatened by population
growth and poaching
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00:29:32,792 --> 00:29:35,750
but vigorously protected as well
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Elephant herds that once fled
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poachers are returning
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00:29:44,542 --> 00:29:47,875
now protected by an ivory moratorium
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00:29:59,417 --> 00:30:01,333
Nourished again by the Serengeti
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00:30:01,542 --> 00:30:03,292
and encouraged by greater safety
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00:30:03,500 --> 00:30:06,250
The herds are multiplying rapidly
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on the Maasai Mara
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The storms of October approach
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00:30:45,542 --> 00:30:47,333
and with the return of the rains
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the herds will resume
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the great migration
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toward their ancestral calving
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grounds in the south
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00:31:03,042 --> 00:31:06,417
But ahead they face
their greatest peril
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to reach the south
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the herd must
cross the Mara river
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now swollen by the rains
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00:31:30,250 --> 00:31:32,542
in these waters.
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00:31:32,750 --> 00:31:35,042
It is still the age of dinosaurs
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and a crocodile reigns supreme
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Many that survive the crocodiles
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00:33:38,917 --> 00:33:41,792
fall prey to the river itself
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00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:45,167
some drown. Some are trampled
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00:33:45,375 --> 00:33:46,625
some are too exhausted
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00:33:46,833 --> 00:33:49,208
to save themselves
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00:34:03,625 --> 00:34:04,792
Through the year and the course
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00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:06,083
of the great migration
250
00:34:06,292 --> 00:34:08,292
a quarter of a million wildebeests
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00:34:08,500 --> 00:34:10,333
will have died
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00:34:10,542 --> 00:34:12,583
But the migration moves on
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00:34:12,792 --> 00:34:14,417
through the long journey south
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00:34:14,625 --> 00:34:17,250
returning finally
to the short grass plains
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00:34:17,458 --> 00:34:21,167
where the miracle
of the Serengeti unfolds
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00:34:23,750 --> 00:34:26,250
The mass breeding earlier in the year
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culminates in mass birth
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00:34:38,792 --> 00:34:40,500
in the brief span of a few weeks
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00:34:40,708 --> 00:34:42,125
In the wet season
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almost half a million wildebeest
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calves are born
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a strategy that overwhelms predators
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00:34:47,833 --> 00:34:50,292
and ensures the survival
264
00:34:50,500 --> 00:34:53,125
of a new generation
265
00:35:21,833 --> 00:35:23,542
To survive in the midst of predators
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00:35:23,750 --> 00:35:25,417
newborn calves must be able to
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00:35:25,625 --> 00:35:28,625
stand within minutes of birth
268
00:35:59,500 --> 00:36:01,500
Those unable to stand
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00:36:01,708 --> 00:36:04,208
must be abandoned
270
00:36:50,375 --> 00:36:52,125
Once more on the plains
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00:36:52,333 --> 00:36:53,542
of the Serengeti
272
00:36:53,750 --> 00:36:56,708
life is more powerful than death
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00:36:56,917 --> 00:36:59,167
and there remains a place on Earth
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00:36:59,375 --> 00:37:02,667
where it is still the morning of life
275
00:37:02,875 --> 00:37:06,417
and the great herds still run free
21080
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