Original subtitles

There is a place on earth

where it is still the morning of life

and the great herds run free

Life streams across a land

suspended in time

the last refuge of the greatest concentration of wildlife

remaining on earth

The Serengeti plains of East Africa

Long before human memory

the mountains to the east emptied themselves into the skies

a sea of ash settled across the Serengeti

leaving only scattered summits

as stone markers of a buried world

Across four million years

time and the elements turned ash to rich soil

yielding vast grasslands

today preserved as the most important animal sanctuary on earth

In a land as fertile as it is beautiful

dwell millions of diverse creatures

yet a single species predominates

a million and a half strong

wildebeests affect the lives of all around them

Ungainly in appearance,

they have been called the clowns of the African plains

and an animal assembled by committee from spare parts

But wildebeests are superbly endowed

for a life of endless migration in search of grass and water

Alongside an array of other herbivores coexist

all accommodated by the rich

and varied vegetation of the Serengeti

each seeking out a different niche of the food supply

some may spend 2/3 of their lives crazing

some are fortunate enough to live in their own salad bowl

The equation of life on the Serengeti is simple

herbivores eat plants

carnivores eat herbivores

Lions hunt with both might and stealth

a decoy distracts...

while others stalk

Although the lioness has made the kill

it is the much larger male of the pride who eats first

The hungry wait by rank

lionesses and cubs are second in line

hyenas, jackals and vultures

quarrel to be next

on the Serengeti nothing is wasted

Through the plenty of the wet season

The wildebeest herds have grown strong

on the short grass plains of the southern Serengeti

Now in late May, drought approaches imposing a deadly ultimatum...

migrate or starve

For more than two million animals

it is a marathon race against thirst and hunger

Like living streams and rivers

the herds, accompanied by zebras and gazelles

flow toward the north and west

drawn by the ancient promise of water and grass

the great migration has begun

The epic journey takes place

within the two East African Nations of Tanzania and Kenya

The wildebeest herds migrate north

toward the Maasai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya

There, they range for months until

the rains resume

and the herds return again to the southern plains

the migration runs a deadly gauntlet of more than 500 miles

The first weeks of the migration coincide

with the frenzy of the rutting season

bulls engage in constant battles

over females and territories

In a few frantic weeks 90% of the cows are impregnated

Early in the migration northward

herds move through the region

of ancient granite outcroppings called kopjes

now they are vantage points for waiting predators

From a litter of four, only this lone cheetah cub has survived

To nourish it, the mother must kill almost daily

but she has not eaten for two days

The herds have passed, but a few straggling gazelles appear

From this distance, there is no contest

the cheetah is the fastest land animal on earth

achieving short bursts of speed up to 70 miles per hour

There is neither malice nor remorse of the Serengeti

a hunter kills to eat and to feed its own

nothing more

To the migrating herds wooded savannas now offer refuge

from the drought-stricken plains

But here, the migration becomes an invasion

for the woodlands are a permanent home to others

Yet most of the residents go about their daily affairs

little disturbed by the trespassing multitude

Unlike wildebeests, Maasai giraffes need not migrate

they feed on a hundred species of woodland foliage

a food supply resistant to drought

Vervet monkeys find in trees both sustenance and safety

Savanna baboons roam the woodlands in troops, roosting in trees by night

Omnivores, like us, they feed on almost anything edible

Occasionally, adult males will even feast on young antelope

feeding on grasses adjacent to the woodlands

grazers come under an ever watchful eye

Yet there is one herbivore even the lion gives wide berth

the adult elephant is one of the few Serengeti animals without an

enemy in the wild

Protective of their young, elephants form extremely close bonds

the relationship between mother and daughter lasts up to 50 years

Herds sometimes push on through the night despite risk of attack

Under cover of darkness

drawn by lightning distant thunder or the smell of rain

they may travel 50 miles by dawn

Now adversities multiply

drought has parched the plains tinder dry

grass fires sweep the Serengeti

Scoured by fire and wind

the vegetation will regenerate in the rains to come

but for the moment, herds seeking sustenance find only dust

Now the enemies are thirst hunger exhaustion

and, as ever, predators

so powerful is the urge to migrate

The herd will push on even when confronted by a lion

Crouched in open ambush

the hunter has only to pick the moment

In this endless contest

nothing is guaranteed

In daytime, only one lion hunt in five succeeds

Finally, after months of migration

The forward ranks

surge into the bounty that has Drawn them northward...

the rich pastures of the Maasai Mara in Kenya

Once more, their instincts have brought them to a place of plenty

Here, they will range and graze for months

until the life giving rains return on the winds of October

To the east, close by the Serengeti

there is a place of even greater abundance

one of the natural wonders of the world

it is a microcosm of the Serengeti

Ngorongoro crater is a huge volcanic caldera

encompassing 100 square miles

a remnant of the great eruptions that created the Serengeti plains

From cloud forests along the rim to the crater floor 2,000 feet below

a self-contained ecosystem provides

abundant forage and plentiful water

Where there is water, there is life

An object of amusement to some

the hippopotamus can cut a crocodile or a human in half with a single bite

Prompting an axiom of the Serengeti...

never come between a hippo and its territorial waters

Tens of thousands of animals dwell here

others come in migrations of the sky

flamingos from Namibia

storks from as far as Europe and Asia

Like privileged cousins of the migrating herds outside

wildebeests and zebras within the crater walls

Need only wander from pasture to pasture

Dangers abound here as elsewhere

zebras cluster together in a tangle of stripes

confusing to predators

The horses of Africa appear placid

but they have never been domesticated

The black rhinoceros, for all its formidable presence

and frequent marking of territory is a vulnerable giant

poached almost to extinction for the value of its horn

Ngorongoro crater is one of the few protected refuges

where the black rhino endures

for a baboon troop much of the day passes

attending to young, grooming

and socializing

though the job of protecting

the lion pride and its territory belongs to the males,

hunting and raising young falls to the females

Play helps prepare the young for the violent encounters to come

The vaunted power of lions is matched by a prodigious capacity for rest

typically 20 hours a day is spent in regal slumber

When lions mate, however

they do so on average

every 25 minutes, day and night

without feeding

for three or four days

It has been estimated that 3,000 mating occur

for every cub that survives its first year

These lands are also the cradle of humanity

gashed into the eastern Serengeti

Plains near Ngorongoro is olduvai-gorge, one of the most

famous archaeological sites of earth

It bears within its layered walls

a human fossil record spanning

almost two million years

Today, the proud Maasai people dwell here

They too, follow a nomadic existence

along the edges of the Serengeti

ever seeking good grazing

for their cattle herds

the Maasai believe that heaven gave them

and no other people all the cattle on earth

And from their treasured cattle

they still draw a staple

of the Maasai warrior diet...

a mixture of milk and blood

The age of predators still encompasses the world of the Maasai

From this and nearby villages

Leopards have taken three infants within the year

Once the most formidable warriors

in east Africa

the Maasai still defend their cattle

and families with spears

some are born on the Serengeti

some seek it out

Today a growing human migration from

the outside world can witness

a spectacle of wildness

long vanished elsewhere

Tanzania and Kenya have preserved

vast areas as national parks

and game reserves, proclaiming them

a world heritage of all mankind

The support from tourism

is now indispensable to the survival

of this heritage, linking the

destiny of the Serengeti

with the visitors who pass in awe

The Serengeti they behold is changing

threatened by population growth and poaching

but vigorously protected as well

Elephant herds that once fled

poachers are returning

now protected by an ivory moratorium

Nourished again by the Serengeti

and encouraged by greater safety

The herds are multiplying rapidly

on the Maasai Mara

The storms of October approach

and with the return of the rains

the herds will resume

the great migration

toward their ancestral calving

grounds in the south

But ahead they face their greatest peril

to reach the south

the herd must cross the Mara river

now swollen by the rains

in these waters.

It is still the age of dinosaurs

and a crocodile reigns supreme

Many that survive the crocodiles

fall prey to the river itself

some drown. Some are trampled

some are too exhausted

to save themselves

Through the year and the course

of the great migration

a quarter of a million wildebeests

will have died

But the migration moves on

through the long journey south

returning finally to the short grass plains

where the miracle of the Serengeti unfolds

The mass breeding earlier in the year

culminates in mass birth

in the brief span of a few weeks

In the wet season

almost half a million wildebeest

calves are born

a strategy that overwhelms predators

and ensures the survival

of a new generation

To survive in the midst of predators

newborn calves must be able to

stand within minutes of birth

Those unable to stand

must be abandoned

Once more on the plains

of the Serengeti

life is more powerful than death

and there remains a place on Earth

where it is still the morning of life

and the great herds still run free