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(dramatic music)
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(gentle music)
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I'm Christopher Clark
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and I'm traveling the world to discover its true treasures:
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the UNESCO world heritage sites,
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the riches of nature and culture come together in Africa.
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This is a continent of mysterious places,
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seasoned institutions, and rituals
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whose power has survived centuries of turbulence and change.
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Great empires rose and fell here,
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and what they left behind
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is a legacy that belongs to all of us.
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{\an8}Our shared history, the history of humankind,
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{\an8}begins on this continent, Africa.
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{\an8}It borders, like Europe, on the Mediterranean sea.
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In that sense, Africa is Europe's geographical neighbor.
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But the transformation that took place here in Egypt
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5,000 years ago, would have been unthinkable
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in the Europe of that era.
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With the empire of the Pharaohs,
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a sophisticated state emerged with a ruling dynasty,
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officials, laws, priests, scholars, and an army.
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Egypt became one of the most stable empires
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in world history.
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The great pyramid of Giza
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built by the Pharaoh Cheops 4,500 years ago
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is the only one of the seven ancient wonders of the world
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that is still completely intact.
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As they say in Egypt, everyone fears time,
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but time fears the pyramids.
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(light rhythmic music)
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I'm traveling to East Africa,
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which is home to a particularly diverse group
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of peoples and cultures.
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Egypt with its legacy of the Pharaohs,
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Ethiopia with its imperial tradition
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and ancient Christian roots,
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Kenya and Tanzania with their dazzling landscapes.
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But for now, I'm staying in Cairo
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with its pyramids on the edge of a desert.
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The Pharaohs weren't the only ones who left their mark here.
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The Fatimids, later the Mamluks,
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the Ottomans, the French and the British.
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Only in 1956 did the last British troops leave the country.
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And under nearly all of these rulers, Cairo grew.
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The city's historic district
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has been a UNESCO world heritage site since 1979
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and is the largest medieval city
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where traditional lifestyles
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are still part of everyday life.
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When the great Arab scholar, Ibn Khaldun
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came to Cairo in the 14th century,
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he called the city, "the garden of the universe
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and the metropolis of the world."
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And its Arabic name, Al-Qahirah, means the glorious one.
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For centuries Cairo was the religious and economic center
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of an empire that extended from Morocco
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deep into the Middle East,
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and today with its 20 million inhabitants,
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it's the largest city of the African continent,
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a sprawling urban beast,
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in whose heart you can still see exactly
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what Ibn Khaldun must've meant.
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Today at the Khan el-Khalili bazaar
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you can still feel the many influences
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that shaped this city over the course of history:
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the Arab, the African and Asian worlds
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all left their mark here.
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Trade has flourished in Cairo since the 14th century.
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And right next door is the Al-Azhar Mosque,
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the religious heart of the Islamic old town.
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This mosque in the middle of the old city of Cairo
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was founded over 1,000 years ago.
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The university established here soon after
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is the second oldest university in the world.
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Many of the most important schools
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of contemporary global Islam
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come together in this institution
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which continues to wield a profound influence
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on Islamic thought.
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And today worshipers from the adjacent quarters of the city
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come to this place for the midday prayer,
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just as they did 1,000 years ago.
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But Al-Azhar is also a center of Islamic scholarship.
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Men have come here to learn for centuries,
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and since 1961, so have women.
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The theologians and council members here
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are involved in important religious
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and socio-political decision-making processes.
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According to Egyptian law, Al-Azhar is responsible
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for protecting and tending to the interest of Muslims.
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The hand of Al-Azhar is known as the Grand Imam
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and his position is one of the most respected
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in Sunni Islam.
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Al-Azhar was only the second mosque constructed here.
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In later centuries, Cairo would be known
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as the City of a Thousand Minarets.
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From Cairo I'm sailing up the Nile.
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At 6,695 kilometers, it's the longest river in the world.
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Neilos was the name the Greeks gave
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to the deity that supposedly inhabited this great river.
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Even 5,000 years ago,
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the Nile was already an important transport route.
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Today, it is taking me to Abu Simbel,
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to the temples of Ramses II,
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built in the 13th century BC in Nubia,
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near the border with Sudan.
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(dramatic airy music)
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Ramses II also known as Ramses the Great,
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was the most successful Pharaoh of all time.
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His ascension to the throne
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marked the beginning of a golden age,
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and he reigned for incredible 66 years.
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His rule was marked by record harvests and conquests,
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and he fathered 100 children.
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No wonder he had his own likeness
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carved into the rock face four times.
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His talent for self-promotion knew no bounds.
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The temples of Abu Simbel
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are the most important sign of his power.
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This was where for the first time in the 13th century
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the Pharaoh had himself depicted as a ruler
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possessing the dignity of a god.
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Here at the entrance he welcomes us.
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Inside, he sits as a god among gods.
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Twice a year visitors are treated
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to an extraordinary spectacle.
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(eerie rhythmic music)
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Assalamualaikum.
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Hello (indistinct).
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It's very rarely possible
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to visit this magical place alone.
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It's usually packed with tourists.
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But today I get to experience the full enchantment
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of this temple for myself.
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It's three enormous halls
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lie 63 meters deep in the rock face,
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enormous statues stand guard in the entrance hall.
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And naturally all of them have the face of Ramses.
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On Ramsay's birthday and coronation day every year,
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and only then, sun beams fall directly
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into the depths of the temple.
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For 15 minutes, the sun god Ra, Ramses himself,
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and Amun the god of fertility,
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are lit up in brilliant sunlight.
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Even back in the era of Ramses II,
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the Egyptians were gifted astronomers,
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and we can assume that this miracle of the sun
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was a precisely planned event
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to honor the shining sun of Egypt: Ramses himself.
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(mystical music)
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The reliefs and frescoes in this temple
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depict Ramses as a great and brutal general.
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In reality, the battle of Kadesh shown here
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ended in a draw or possibly even a defeat.
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Ramses signed the very first peace treaty
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in the history of the world
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with his primary enemies, the Hittites.
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But in his temples, the ambiguities are edited out.
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He appears as the victor and exemplar of Pharaonic prowess.
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Two themes above all dominate these scenes:
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violence and sacrifice.
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Ramses is defeats his enemies.
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He punishes and humiliates them.
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His foot presses the face of Lybian warrior into the earth.
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It's a world in which violence and power
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are closely intertwined.
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But the power of Ramses is also a bridge
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between the human and the divine.
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In another scene, he sits among the gods.
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As a human king, he renders sacrificed to the gods.
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As a god, he accepts sacrifice from himself.
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No other Pharaoh built more monuments than Ramses II,
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and gigantomania was still in play in the 20th century,
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when an enormous project
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practically obliterated parts of Egypt
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and its cultural heritage.
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Abu Simbel was nearly lost
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in the floods that submerged large suedes of Nubia.
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That was in the 1960s,
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when the country's president Gamal Abdel Nasser
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commissioned the construction of a dam in Aswan,
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the size of which the world had never seen before.
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The dam was under construction for 10 years,
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nearly as long as it had taken
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to construct a medium sized pyramid
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thousands of years before.
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The reservoir dam was intended to control
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the massive volumes of water on the Nile river.
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And the turbines were supposed to provide electricity
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for the entire country.
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The dam created to the enormous lake with entire villages
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and countless archeological treasures
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still resting beneath its surface.
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That temples of Abu Simbel
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might also have fallen victim to the floods,
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if UNESCO hadn't started a campaign to save them.
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The water rose higher and higher
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and would eventually have swallowed up
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the temple complex entirely.
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UNESCO decided to save it, launching a donation campaign
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that was unparalleled
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at the time collecting funds from over 50 countries
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to allow this piece of cultural heritage
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to be dismantled and rebuilt in a higher location.
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{\an8}The complex was sawn apart into more than 1,000 blocks
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weighing up to 30 tons each.
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An international consortium under the direction
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of a German construction firm
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was charged with the technical realization of the project.
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It was a beautiful example of how nations can work together
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to save a piece of shared cultural heritage.
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Above all, we owe our thanks to the thousands of laborers
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who worked here over the course of four years.
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{\an8}Once the entire temple
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{\an8}had been sawn into blocks,
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{\an8}we drilled holes in the individual pieces
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{\an8}and finally put them back together.
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It was all really demanding work.
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Are you proud of the part
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that you played in this great project,
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this UNESCO project rescuing Abu Simbel?
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Yes. I'm proud to have been part of that.
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We had a huge goal to achieve.
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Is this...
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Yes, that's my name.
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Oh, that's you? Abdul Rafur?
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Abdul Rafur Ibrahim.
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This is my certificate,
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but it wasn't just an honor.
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Luckily, I also earned money.
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(both chuckling)
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Okay.
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Abdul Rafur regales me with tales of his time
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on the construction site for a while longer.
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The new location of the temple was 64 meters higher
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than the original site and 180 meters further inland.
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The most difficult part was rebuilding the temple
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in such a way that the miracle of the sun
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would still happen twice a year.
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But they succeeded.
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The second, smaller, temple of Abu Simbel
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was also relocated and saved.
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It is dedicated to Ramses queen,
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and here the Pharaoh shows us his human side.
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"Ramses, strong in truth, beloved of Amun,
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created this divine abode
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for his beloved Royal wife, Nefertari,"
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reads one of the inscriptions on a pillar.
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(pensive dreamy music)
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Originally, every wall inside this temple
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was supposed to be decorated just like this one,
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but the project was abandoned.
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You can still see here the cartoons, the drawings
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that show where the workers
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were going to engrave into the rock.
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And the last cuttings can be seen just here.
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This was a work in progress.
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The temple is an enormous memorial
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to Ramses love and respect for his wife.
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And it brings to mind the myth of Isis and Osiris.
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Isis was the goddess
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who made the Nile the source of all life.
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She married her brother King Osiris
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whom she loved more than anything else in the world.
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When he died, she brought him back to life.
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00:14:08,550 --> 00:14:10,180
And when he finally disappeared
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00:14:10,180 --> 00:14:12,200
into the underworld for good,
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00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:15,240
Isis's tears caused the river to flood.
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00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:17,730
This process has been repeated every year,
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00:14:17,730 --> 00:14:20,380
since then bringing fertility to the desert,
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through which the Nile flows.
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00:14:25,750 --> 00:14:28,610
The collective remembering and retelling of stories
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00:14:28,610 --> 00:14:31,310
is a central feature of all societies,
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00:14:31,310 --> 00:14:33,640
but especially of those whose culture is preserved
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00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:36,440
in oral traditions rather than print.
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00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:40,540
Since the 14th century, the Al-Sirah Al-Hilaliyya epic
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00:14:40,540 --> 00:14:43,230
has been passed from one generation to the next,
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00:14:43,230 --> 00:14:45,420
though today only a few Egyptian families
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00:14:45,420 --> 00:14:48,280
are left to continue to cultivate this tradition.
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00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:49,530
The epic itself,
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00:14:49,530 --> 00:14:51,670
together with the music that accompanies it,
283
00:14:51,670 --> 00:14:54,700
is among the traditions recognized by UNESCO
284
00:14:54,700 --> 00:14:57,760
as intangible world cultural heritage.
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00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:00,930
Across broad expanses of the African continent,
286
00:15:00,930 --> 00:15:04,090
as far as Mali, Niger and the Sahara,
287
00:15:04,090 --> 00:15:06,400
the epic has been known for many centuries.
288
00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:08,320
It tells the story of a Bedouin tribe
289
00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:11,330
that crosses parts of the Arab world.
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00:15:11,330 --> 00:15:13,800
Honor and revenge are central themes
291
00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:16,890
as are wars and romantic entanglements.
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00:15:16,890 --> 00:15:19,130
It's a kind of Song of the Nibelungs,
293
00:15:19,130 --> 00:15:22,440
except that this epic plays out on the Nile,
294
00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:24,060
not on the Rhine.
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00:15:24,060 --> 00:15:27,537
(light rhythmic music)
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00:15:27,537 --> 00:15:30,458
(man sings in foreign language)
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Stories have been passed down in this family
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00:15:33,250 --> 00:15:36,330
for 10 generations: three generations
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00:15:36,330 --> 00:15:38,480
are singing and playing together here.
300
00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:41,070
The Al-Hilali epic is their life,
301
00:15:41,070 --> 00:15:43,043
an important part of their identity.
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00:15:48,540 --> 00:15:50,130
It would take several days
303
00:15:50,130 --> 00:15:52,540
to perform the entire epic in full.
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After all, the story is about a long journey
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00:15:55,050 --> 00:15:56,450
through many countries.
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00:15:56,450 --> 00:15:59,393
Some of the instruments are among the oldest in the world.
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00:16:01,110 --> 00:16:05,110
(man sings in foreign language)
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00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:26,010
So tell me, what is the name of this instrument?
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00:16:26,010 --> 00:16:27,183
And what's it made of?
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00:16:27,183 --> 00:16:28,830
Name rababa. Rababa.
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00:16:28,830 --> 00:16:31,670
This is horse.
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00:16:31,670 --> 00:16:32,510
This is horse hair?
313
00:16:32,510 --> 00:16:34,030
Yes. Horse.
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00:16:34,030 --> 00:16:36,492
This is also horse hair?
315
00:16:36,492 --> 00:16:38,440
This, fish.
316
00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:39,609
This is made a fish skin?
317
00:16:39,609 --> 00:16:40,607
Yes, fish.
318
00:16:40,607 --> 00:16:42,250
This, coconuts.
319
00:16:42,250 --> 00:16:43,430
That's a shell of a coconut.
320
00:16:43,430 --> 00:16:44,263
Coconuts.
321
00:16:44,263 --> 00:16:46,919
And could you play something for us?
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00:16:46,919 --> 00:16:50,169
(pensive string music)
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00:16:55,170 --> 00:16:58,690
How many people get the chance to play an old rababa,
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00:16:58,690 --> 00:17:01,593
albeit very badly, with a Hilali family?
325
00:17:05,450 --> 00:17:07,500
With the rhythms of the Egyptian epics
326
00:17:07,500 --> 00:17:09,280
still ringing in my ears,
327
00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:12,850
I continue my journey into the highlands of Ethiopia.
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00:17:12,850 --> 00:17:16,420
I had no idea how green and fertile it would be.
329
00:17:16,420 --> 00:17:19,910
In this part of the country, gravel roads and farm tracks
330
00:17:19,910 --> 00:17:23,420
lead to scattered villages where a handful of tribes
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00:17:23,420 --> 00:17:26,260
still live cut off from the outside world,
332
00:17:26,260 --> 00:17:29,840
as small holder farmers, like most Ethiopians.
333
00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:32,860
They provide for themselves with a few cows and goats
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00:17:32,860 --> 00:17:35,083
and small patches of cultivated land.
335
00:17:36,475 --> 00:17:41,475
(birds chirping)
(light ambient music)
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00:17:44,410 --> 00:17:48,060
Ethiopia, one of the oldest nations in the world,
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00:17:48,060 --> 00:17:51,020
only came briefly under European control.
338
00:17:51,020 --> 00:17:54,000
And this is one reason why so many of its traditions
339
00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:55,410
have been preserved.
340
00:17:55,410 --> 00:17:58,650
Once racked with crises, Ethiopia has undergone
341
00:17:58,650 --> 00:18:02,240
major structural changes and the economy is growing.
342
00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:05,250
But it remains one of the poorest countries of the world.
343
00:18:05,250 --> 00:18:06,750
And here in the highlands,
344
00:18:06,750 --> 00:18:09,910
things are still pretty archaic in many ways.
345
00:18:09,910 --> 00:18:12,340
Goats are an important commodity.
346
00:18:12,340 --> 00:18:16,010
When a girl marries, her dowry is often paid in goats.
347
00:18:16,010 --> 00:18:19,253
And as in old business deals, the price is negotiable.
348
00:18:21,210 --> 00:18:22,260
If there is one thing
349
00:18:22,260 --> 00:18:24,860
that nearly all Ethiopians have in common,
350
00:18:24,860 --> 00:18:26,950
it is a deep religious faith.
351
00:18:26,950 --> 00:18:30,750
90% of Ethiopians belong to one religious group or another
352
00:18:30,750 --> 00:18:32,870
and nearly half a Christian.
353
00:18:32,870 --> 00:18:35,450
Ethiopia is one of the oldest Christian countries
354
00:18:35,450 --> 00:18:36,580
in the world.
355
00:18:36,580 --> 00:18:39,160
In the mountain village of Lalibela,
356
00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:42,070
2,500 meters above sea level,
357
00:18:42,070 --> 00:18:46,147
we can see how deep these Christian roots really go.
358
00:18:46,147 --> 00:18:49,230
(soft ambient music)
359
00:18:53,060 --> 00:18:56,800
I'm in Jerusalem, but not in Israel or Palestine.
360
00:18:56,800 --> 00:18:59,840
I'm in the highlands of Ethiopia where emperor Lalibela
361
00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:03,700
once planned to create a second Jerusalem.
362
00:19:03,700 --> 00:19:06,260
Christianity came to Ethiopia in the fourth century.
363
00:19:06,260 --> 00:19:07,810
And since then the religion has played
364
00:19:07,810 --> 00:19:09,970
an incredibly important role here.
365
00:19:09,970 --> 00:19:12,350
You can feel its influence everywhere.
366
00:19:12,350 --> 00:19:14,670
There are thousands of churches and monasteries
367
00:19:14,670 --> 00:19:16,150
scattered throughout the country.
368
00:19:16,150 --> 00:19:18,980
And the oldest of them are here in this town,
369
00:19:18,980 --> 00:19:21,920
which is named after the emperor Lalibela.
370
00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:24,380
When Salah ad-Din, the Islamic military commander,
371
00:19:24,380 --> 00:19:26,850
conquered Jerusalem 800 years ago
372
00:19:26,850 --> 00:19:30,240
and blockaded the pilgrimage route into the holy city,
373
00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:34,170
Lalibela decided to create an African Jerusalem.
374
00:19:34,170 --> 00:19:38,040
It became a holy place, its own unique cosmos,
375
00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:40,700
where religion and history flow together
376
00:19:40,700 --> 00:19:42,710
to form an inviolable whole.
377
00:19:42,710 --> 00:19:45,933
You can feel that energy in every moment you spend here.
378
00:19:49,330 --> 00:19:51,130
The churches are Lalibela
379
00:19:51,130 --> 00:19:53,700
built in the 12th and 13th centuries
380
00:19:53,700 --> 00:19:56,780
have been called the eighth wonder of the world,
381
00:19:56,780 --> 00:19:59,200
but can we really say they were built?
382
00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:00,940
They weren't erected from stone
383
00:20:00,940 --> 00:20:03,000
or built from the ground up after all.
384
00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:05,370
In fact, it was the other way around.
385
00:20:05,370 --> 00:20:08,730
They were carved into the rock phase from top to bottom
386
00:20:08,730 --> 00:20:10,600
and then hollered out.
387
00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:11,763
A wonder indeed.
388
00:20:16,330 --> 00:20:19,910
If the sandstone cliffs in this area weren't so soft
389
00:20:19,910 --> 00:20:23,470
and easy to work with, the 11 churches of Lalibela,
390
00:20:23,470 --> 00:20:27,513
now a UNESCO world heritage site, would never have existed.
391
00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:40,410
As you can see, these churches had to be carved
392
00:20:40,410 --> 00:20:42,230
out of the living stone.
393
00:20:42,230 --> 00:20:45,680
Of course, every single detail had to be precisely planned
394
00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:48,800
before the chisel even touch the stone.
395
00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:50,920
Archeologists, say it must have taken
396
00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:54,300
at least 40,000 laborers to complete the churches
397
00:20:54,300 --> 00:20:57,600
in the 24 years in which there were supposedly built.
398
00:20:57,600 --> 00:20:58,920
We'll never know exactly
399
00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:01,470
how these marvels came into existence.
400
00:21:01,470 --> 00:21:05,280
According to legend, king lalibela had a divine vision
401
00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:09,560
in which God told him to construct these rock-hewn churches.
402
00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:12,440
At night, hosts of angels came down
403
00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:13,980
to continue the building.
404
00:21:13,980 --> 00:21:17,540
{\an8}In Ethiopia, by contrast, with most of the rest of Africa,
405
00:21:17,540 --> 00:21:19,860
{\an8}the stories and the oldest legends
406
00:21:19,860 --> 00:21:23,453
{\an8}passed from generation to generation have Christian roots.
407
00:21:30,250 --> 00:21:33,630
Lalibela is the religious heart of Ethiopia,
408
00:21:33,630 --> 00:21:36,580
attracting pilgrims from around the country.
409
00:21:36,580 --> 00:21:39,820
The Sunday service is particularly impressive.
410
00:21:39,820 --> 00:21:41,600
It is five o'clock in the morning
411
00:21:41,600 --> 00:21:43,730
as the congregation gathers.
412
00:21:43,730 --> 00:21:46,040
This Ethiopian Orthodox service
413
00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:48,700
will last more than five hours.
414
00:21:48,700 --> 00:21:52,470
Even up here, the air is heavy with incense.
415
00:21:52,470 --> 00:21:54,760
The church has made an exception for us
416
00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:57,340
and were permitted to attend the service.
417
00:21:57,340 --> 00:21:59,150
We feel as though we've stepped down
418
00:21:59,150 --> 00:22:01,030
into an early Christian world
419
00:22:01,030 --> 00:22:03,880
we thought had disappeared long ago.
420
00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:06,940
The Ethiopian Orthodox church is the largest
421
00:22:06,940 --> 00:22:09,830
of the pre-colonial Christian churches in Africa.
422
00:22:09,830 --> 00:22:13,410
The church counts approximately 35 million faithful
423
00:22:13,410 --> 00:22:14,660
among its members.
424
00:22:14,660 --> 00:22:15,940
These African churches
425
00:22:15,940 --> 00:22:19,453
are among the oldest religious institutions in the world.
426
00:22:20,330 --> 00:22:24,220
The liturgical language is old Ethiopian,
427
00:22:24,220 --> 00:22:26,170
and their books are written in an alphabet
428
00:22:26,170 --> 00:22:28,660
that is over 3,000 years old.
429
00:22:28,660 --> 00:22:29,900
The high point of the service
430
00:22:29,900 --> 00:22:32,454
is the priest's blessing of the congregation.
431
00:22:32,454 --> 00:22:35,371
(group vocalizing)
432
00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:45,350
For the Christians of Africa
433
00:22:45,350 --> 00:22:47,970
and their descendants around the world,
434
00:22:47,970 --> 00:22:51,760
the rock-hewn churches of Ethiopia carry great symbolic
435
00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:53,980
and emotional weight as evidence
436
00:22:53,980 --> 00:22:57,083
of the continent's long religious and cultural history.
437
00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:18,710
Of course, Ethiopia's history isn't just about religion.
438
00:23:18,710 --> 00:23:21,770
Power has also played an important role.
439
00:23:21,770 --> 00:23:24,980
The old imperial city of Gondar on the edge
440
00:23:24,980 --> 00:23:27,790
of the Simien mountains in the northwest of the country
441
00:23:27,790 --> 00:23:29,373
bears witness to that fact.
442
00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:33,530
According to legend, a heavenly messenger
443
00:23:33,530 --> 00:23:36,090
appeared to emperor Fasilides
444
00:23:36,090 --> 00:23:38,569
and commanded him to build a castle.
445
00:23:38,569 --> 00:23:42,060
Fasilides abade making Gondar his residence.
446
00:23:42,060 --> 00:23:46,150
He modestly named this fortified Fasil Ghebbi,
447
00:23:46,150 --> 00:23:47,683
after himself, of course.
448
00:23:49,490 --> 00:23:52,780
For centuries, the Ethiopian emperors traveled the country
449
00:23:52,780 --> 00:23:54,340
with their royal households
450
00:23:54,340 --> 00:23:56,250
and their heavily armed military.
451
00:23:56,250 --> 00:23:57,820
Much like Charlemagne in Europe,
452
00:23:57,820 --> 00:23:59,910
they were emperors on tour.
453
00:23:59,910 --> 00:24:02,300
Appearing in person was the only way for them
454
00:24:02,300 --> 00:24:04,010
to demonstrate their sovereignty.
455
00:24:04,010 --> 00:24:07,280
They lived in enormous tent cities like nomads,
456
00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:11,290
until that is Fasilides I arrived on the scene.
457
00:24:11,290 --> 00:24:15,860
He founded Ethiopia's first capital city here in 1636.
458
00:24:15,860 --> 00:24:18,070
And he wanted to ensure that the power
459
00:24:18,070 --> 00:24:19,740
of the Ethiopian emperors
460
00:24:19,740 --> 00:24:22,730
was finally set in stone, so to speak.
461
00:24:22,730 --> 00:24:23,563
They looked something
462
00:24:23,563 --> 00:24:26,130
like the medieval fortresses of Europe.
463
00:24:26,130 --> 00:24:27,540
Missionaries from Portugal
464
00:24:27,540 --> 00:24:29,610
brought the Baroque elements to Ethiopia.
465
00:24:29,610 --> 00:24:32,110
And over the centuries, these Baroque details
466
00:24:32,110 --> 00:24:33,900
were joined by many others,
467
00:24:33,900 --> 00:24:37,150
from the East, from India and the Arab world.
468
00:24:37,150 --> 00:24:40,610
Here, we can see Ethiopia's cultural diversity
469
00:24:40,610 --> 00:24:42,023
as if through a lens.
470
00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:47,660
The palace recalls
471
00:24:47,660 --> 00:24:50,980
one of the golden ages of Ethiopian history,
472
00:24:50,980 --> 00:24:55,119
an era of stability and sophisticated craftsmanship,
473
00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:59,110
art and literature flourished, libraries were built,
474
00:24:59,110 --> 00:25:03,020
and Gondar became a complex cosmopolitan city
475
00:25:03,020 --> 00:25:05,940
in which people of different ethnicities and religions
476
00:25:05,940 --> 00:25:07,633
got along tolerably well.
477
00:25:18,170 --> 00:25:21,120
When it comes to their festivals and celebrations,
478
00:25:21,120 --> 00:25:24,070
today's Ethiopians are keen to live up to the pump
479
00:25:24,070 --> 00:25:26,720
and circumstance of past eras.
480
00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:29,050
Ethiopian Christians firmly believe
481
00:25:29,050 --> 00:25:32,420
that they are in possession of the Ark of the Covenant
482
00:25:32,420 --> 00:25:34,650
containing the 10 commandments.
483
00:25:34,650 --> 00:25:37,770
And even today, every church in Ethiopia
484
00:25:37,770 --> 00:25:40,770
keeps a replica of the Ark, which has paraded
485
00:25:40,770 --> 00:25:43,220
for the congregation during services.
486
00:25:43,220 --> 00:25:46,730
An early ruler, the legendary Queen of Sheba,
487
00:25:46,730 --> 00:25:49,600
is said to have conceived a child with Solomon,
488
00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:51,830
the King of Israel in Jerusalem.
489
00:25:51,830 --> 00:25:53,830
The child's name was Menelik
490
00:25:53,830 --> 00:25:57,120
and he was the forefather of all Ethiopian kings.
491
00:25:57,120 --> 00:26:01,203
He supposedly captured the Ark and carried it to Ethiopia.
492
00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:06,980
This is the new year's festival of Ethiopian church.
493
00:26:06,980 --> 00:26:09,850
It takes several days, but today is called Kidus Yohannes,
494
00:26:09,850 --> 00:26:10,860
the day of St. John.
495
00:26:10,860 --> 00:26:12,510
It's about John the Baptist,
496
00:26:12,510 --> 00:26:15,340
the man who represents the bridge between the old
497
00:26:15,340 --> 00:26:18,490
and the new covenant, the Old and the New Testament.
498
00:26:18,490 --> 00:26:21,350
It's a very beautiful and dramatic festival.
499
00:26:21,350 --> 00:26:23,710
And it's, one of the most fascinating things about it,
500
00:26:23,710 --> 00:26:25,150
is that these people are not Christian,
501
00:26:25,150 --> 00:26:27,680
because they were converted by Western missionaries
502
00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:29,570
in the 18th and 19th centuries,
503
00:26:29,570 --> 00:26:32,343
this is one of the original Christian churches.
504
00:26:33,923 --> 00:26:38,173
(group sings in foreign language)
505
00:26:40,220 --> 00:26:44,490
Why did Ethiopia become a Christian country early?
506
00:26:44,490 --> 00:26:46,250
The ancient kingdom of Axum
507
00:26:46,250 --> 00:26:49,750
maintained a close trade relationship with the Romans.
508
00:26:49,750 --> 00:26:52,900
In the mid-fourth century, the ruler of Axum at the time,
509
00:26:52,900 --> 00:26:54,690
converted to Christianity,
510
00:26:54,690 --> 00:26:57,040
which had become the established religion in Rome
511
00:26:57,040 --> 00:26:58,950
under Constantine the Great.
512
00:26:58,950 --> 00:27:01,602
But Ethiopia also identified strongly
513
00:27:01,602 --> 00:27:03,800
with the biblical Israel.
514
00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:07,070
They adopted Jewish rituals and certain religious rules
515
00:27:07,070 --> 00:27:11,270
regarding cleanliness and food, which still apply today.
516
00:27:11,270 --> 00:27:15,020
And these ingredients were blended with African traditions,
517
00:27:15,020 --> 00:27:17,673
ancient chants, and a dose of joie de vivre.
518
00:27:22,350 --> 00:27:26,470
Ancient Ethiopia is still alive and well in Gondar,
519
00:27:26,470 --> 00:27:29,010
and it's a visible part of daily life.
520
00:27:29,010 --> 00:27:32,700
The entire region is a UNESCO world heritage site.
521
00:27:32,700 --> 00:27:36,050
I'm on my way to the Debre Birhan Selassie monastery.
522
00:27:36,050 --> 00:27:40,060
It's named means Trinity on the Mountain of Light.
523
00:27:40,060 --> 00:27:43,400
The monastery was consecrated in 1694,
524
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:46,653
and the paintings in its basilica are world famous.
525
00:27:48,870 --> 00:27:52,680
This church in Gondar, Debre Birhan Selassie,
526
00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:55,760
is a treasury of images, images from the Bible
527
00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:57,710
and from pious legends,
528
00:27:57,710 --> 00:28:01,410
but particularly interesting and fine is this picture here,
529
00:28:01,410 --> 00:28:05,050
which shows, Eyasu I, the emperor of Ethiopia,
530
00:28:05,050 --> 00:28:07,820
the grandson, incidentally, of Fasilides,
531
00:28:07,820 --> 00:28:10,280
who is lying at the foot of the cross
532
00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:11,850
on which Christ is crucified.
533
00:28:11,850 --> 00:28:14,730
And you can see he's placed his crown on the ground
534
00:28:14,730 --> 00:28:16,610
as a sign of his respect,
535
00:28:16,610 --> 00:28:20,140
and particularly striking is the stream of blood th
536
00:28:20,140 --> 00:28:22,950
at you can see passing down the cross
537
00:28:22,950 --> 00:28:26,890
where it touches and awakens a stylized skull.
538
00:28:26,890 --> 00:28:29,850
That is the skull of Adam, the original Adam.
539
00:28:29,850 --> 00:28:32,860
And so what this image is really representing
540
00:28:32,860 --> 00:28:36,110
is the connection, the bridge between the old Adam
541
00:28:36,110 --> 00:28:38,820
and the new Adam, Jesus Christ.
542
00:28:38,820 --> 00:28:42,230
And that is in fact, a feature of Ethiopian Christianity
543
00:28:42,230 --> 00:28:45,440
in general, that that linkage between the old and the new
544
00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:47,210
is always central.
545
00:28:47,210 --> 00:28:51,030
The old covenant is never left in the past.
546
00:28:51,030 --> 00:28:53,893
It's always carried forwards into the present.
547
00:28:55,620 --> 00:28:58,620
(soft dreamy music)
548
00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:04,210
Heads of winged angels look down on visitors
549
00:29:04,210 --> 00:29:06,870
even from the wooden ceiling of the monastery.
550
00:29:06,870 --> 00:29:09,250
The famous wall and ceiling frescos
551
00:29:09,250 --> 00:29:12,493
are among Ethiopia's most valuable cultural treasures.
552
00:29:19,130 --> 00:29:21,730
Gondar with its churches and palaces
553
00:29:21,730 --> 00:29:24,570
is a truly unique ecosystem of traditions
554
00:29:24,570 --> 00:29:26,620
that deserves to be protected.
555
00:29:26,620 --> 00:29:29,440
And thanks to UNESCO, it will be.
556
00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:31,430
This basin was more
557
00:29:31,430 --> 00:29:34,070
than just a swimming pool for the emperors.
558
00:29:34,070 --> 00:29:36,680
Baptisms were also carried out here.
559
00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:38,930
The Ethiopian rulers took a few liberties
560
00:29:38,930 --> 00:29:41,490
with Christian values in other areas there:
561
00:29:41,490 --> 00:29:43,700
as soon as a new ruler ascended the throne,
562
00:29:43,700 --> 00:29:46,670
his brothers and all of his other male relatives
563
00:29:46,670 --> 00:29:49,090
would suddenly disappear behind the bars
564
00:29:49,090 --> 00:29:52,000
in a mountaintop prison for the rest of their lives.
565
00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:55,640
The idea was to prevent anyone from usurping the throne.
566
00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:57,770
It wasn't until it emperor died,
567
00:29:57,770 --> 00:29:59,340
that the next in line to the throne
568
00:29:59,340 --> 00:30:00,830
was released from prison.
569
00:30:00,830 --> 00:30:02,440
The others had to stay put
570
00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:05,593
and usually they ended up dying in confinement.
571
00:30:08,370 --> 00:30:12,000
Ethiopia is more than just a country of mythical emperors
572
00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:15,130
or the birth place of an ancient Christian Church.
573
00:30:15,130 --> 00:30:17,430
It's also home to the reason
574
00:30:17,430 --> 00:30:20,633
why Africa is considered the birthplace of humanity.
575
00:30:26,100 --> 00:30:29,610
Manmade climate change is one of the most burning issues
576
00:30:29,610 --> 00:30:32,830
of the 21st century, but the climate also changed
577
00:30:32,830 --> 00:30:35,540
long before humans ever inhabited the earth.
578
00:30:35,540 --> 00:30:39,570
6 million years ago, climate change gave evolution
579
00:30:39,570 --> 00:30:41,000
a decisive boost.
580
00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:44,510
Here in East Africa, there were once lush rainforests,
581
00:30:44,510 --> 00:30:47,470
and our ancestors who still looked like apes,
582
00:30:47,470 --> 00:30:49,290
swung from tree to tree.
583
00:30:49,290 --> 00:30:52,260
Until suddenly the drought arrived.
584
00:30:52,260 --> 00:30:54,850
Large swathes of vegetation died off,
585
00:30:54,850 --> 00:30:56,970
and our ancestors were forced to travel
586
00:30:56,970 --> 00:31:00,480
the longer distances between trees on the ground.
587
00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:04,970
By necessity they had to learn how to walk upright.
588
00:31:04,970 --> 00:31:07,970
In 1974, fragments of a skeleton
589
00:31:07,970 --> 00:31:09,620
were discovered in Ethiopia.
590
00:31:09,620 --> 00:31:11,510
Scientists estimated that these fragments
591
00:31:11,510 --> 00:31:14,350
dated back 3.2 million years.
592
00:31:14,350 --> 00:31:17,180
They appeared to have belonged to a young woman
593
00:31:17,180 --> 00:31:20,510
of small stature about one meter seven in height.
594
00:31:20,510 --> 00:31:22,360
This is how her skull looked
595
00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:25,410
and it contained a brain that was already bigger
596
00:31:25,410 --> 00:31:26,830
than a chimpanzee's.
597
00:31:26,830 --> 00:31:29,970
That primordial mother of mankind had been found.
598
00:31:29,970 --> 00:31:31,523
And she was an Ethiopian.
599
00:31:32,750 --> 00:31:35,770
Today we know that the ancestors of modern humans
600
00:31:35,770 --> 00:31:38,640
also lived in Kenya and Tanzania.
601
00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:40,563
Kenya is my next destination.
602
00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:50,340
Millions of years ago that climate changed slowly over eons.
603
00:31:50,340 --> 00:31:53,030
Today, that change is happening much more quickly.
604
00:31:53,030 --> 00:31:56,363
And the African continent has not escaped its effects.
605
00:31:57,320 --> 00:32:00,570
How much longer will this delicate place,
606
00:32:00,570 --> 00:32:04,600
where animals roam free, continue to exist?
607
00:32:04,600 --> 00:32:08,100
(pensive rhythmic music)
608
00:32:14,273 --> 00:32:16,640
The number of weather based catastrophes
609
00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:19,990
has multiplied rapidly in the last 25 years.
610
00:32:19,990 --> 00:32:23,103
And yet, here at Amboseli national park,
611
00:32:23,103 --> 00:32:26,660
a UNESCO biosphere reserve, you still feel
612
00:32:26,660 --> 00:32:29,900
as though you are visiting a corner of paradise.
613
00:32:29,900 --> 00:32:31,730
Even if the hyenas are on the lookout
614
00:32:31,730 --> 00:32:33,870
for the next antelope to feast on
615
00:32:33,870 --> 00:32:37,640
and a large family of baboons is challenging another
616
00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:38,663
for the best tree.
617
00:32:46,010 --> 00:32:49,750
The habitat for animals in Africa is changing drastically
618
00:32:49,750 --> 00:32:53,350
as a result of industrialization, population growth,
619
00:32:53,350 --> 00:32:55,130
and climate change.
620
00:32:55,130 --> 00:32:57,810
Even the snow on the summit of Kilimanjaro
621
00:32:57,810 --> 00:33:00,640
has almost completely melted away.
622
00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:02,910
If average global temperatures increased
623
00:33:02,910 --> 00:33:06,440
by just 1.5 degrees Celsius,
624
00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:11,280
Africa could lose 30% of its plant and animal population.
625
00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:14,420
The number of lions in East Africa has dropped by half
626
00:33:14,420 --> 00:33:19,420
since the 1990s, and every time an animal species declines,
627
00:33:19,470 --> 00:33:21,770
nature has to compensate.
628
00:33:21,770 --> 00:33:25,480
Even the numerous hippos living in Amboseli national park
629
00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:28,390
rely on this ecological equilibrium.
630
00:33:28,390 --> 00:33:29,920
They need enough water
631
00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:32,523
to cool their massive bodies during the day.
632
00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:45,100
Amboseli means salty and dusty.
633
00:33:45,100 --> 00:33:47,120
Volcanic ash from Kilimanjaro
634
00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:49,700
made the ground here like that.
635
00:33:49,700 --> 00:33:52,710
But as you can see, there's also a lot of water here
636
00:33:52,710 --> 00:33:53,680
from the rain, of course,
637
00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:57,070
but also from the melt waters of Kilimanjaro itself.
638
00:33:57,070 --> 00:33:59,640
And that's what makes Amboseli national park,
639
00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:03,793
which is a UNESCO biosphere reserve, so unique.
640
00:34:10,460 --> 00:34:13,050
The elephants love the vast amounts of water
641
00:34:13,050 --> 00:34:14,420
in this place, too.
642
00:34:14,420 --> 00:34:16,110
That's why there are so many of them here
643
00:34:16,110 --> 00:34:18,140
in Amboseli national park.
644
00:34:18,140 --> 00:34:20,200
The ancestors of today's elephants,
645
00:34:20,200 --> 00:34:23,490
350 different species of them,
646
00:34:23,490 --> 00:34:25,300
populated the continents of earth
647
00:34:25,300 --> 00:34:27,720
about 55 million years ago,
648
00:34:27,720 --> 00:34:30,470
long before homo sapiens existed.
649
00:34:30,470 --> 00:34:32,570
Researchers at the foot of Kilimanjaro
650
00:34:32,570 --> 00:34:35,490
are systematically studying elephant behavior
651
00:34:35,490 --> 00:34:38,120
and have been for nearly 50 years.
652
00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:41,820
Norah Njiriani knows almost every single animal
653
00:34:41,820 --> 00:34:44,360
in this area, individually.
654
00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:47,275
Her work at the world famous elephant research project
655
00:34:47,275 --> 00:34:51,563
has given her a reputation as a sort of elephant whisper.
656
00:34:54,120 --> 00:34:56,690
Elephant lives as family, just like human beings.
657
00:34:56,690 --> 00:34:57,900
They live in families.
658
00:34:57,900 --> 00:35:01,110
But anyway, talking about family, it's only female who stay
659
00:35:01,110 --> 00:35:03,080
the rest of the life with a family.
660
00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:05,240
But the males, they go independent,
661
00:35:05,240 --> 00:35:08,020
when they are 10 to 15 years, they leave the family.
662
00:35:08,020 --> 00:35:12,410
So the family is consist of a cousin, grandmother, sisters.
663
00:35:12,410 --> 00:35:15,240
They live together the rest of the life.
664
00:35:15,240 --> 00:35:17,900
The elephants here live up to 40 years,
665
00:35:17,900 --> 00:35:19,280
which gives them ample time
666
00:35:19,280 --> 00:35:22,260
to pass their knowledge onto the next generation.
667
00:35:22,260 --> 00:35:25,260
As a result, the elephant herds of Amboseli
668
00:35:25,260 --> 00:35:27,160
are particularly stable.
669
00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:28,890
They are also carefully monitored
670
00:35:28,890 --> 00:35:30,453
and protected from poaches.
671
00:35:32,710 --> 00:35:35,660
Is climate change an important issue for you
672
00:35:35,660 --> 00:35:37,180
and for the elephants in this area?
673
00:35:37,180 --> 00:35:39,570
We get the water from Kilimanjaro underneath
674
00:35:39,570 --> 00:35:41,204
and push up with the soil.
675
00:35:41,204 --> 00:35:42,037
And now, because-
676
00:35:42,037 --> 00:35:43,650
Is it the melt waters from Kilimanjaro?
677
00:35:43,650 --> 00:35:47,040
{\an8}It's very fresh water from Kilimanjaro, it's very fresh.
678
00:35:47,040 --> 00:35:49,673
{\an8}But you come up in Amboseli, push this soil.
679
00:35:49,673 --> 00:35:52,150
{\an8}Now the soil is so salty,
680
00:35:52,150 --> 00:35:54,993
{\an8}so it's killing the vegetation because it's so salty.
681
00:35:56,910 --> 00:36:00,080
And that puts food sources for all the animals,
682
00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:01,863
including elephants, at risk.
683
00:36:05,680 --> 00:36:07,800
When the last elephant dies,
684
00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:11,230
{\an8}the earth will wither, thus an ancient saying,
685
00:36:11,230 --> 00:36:13,820
{\an8}meaning crimes against elephants
686
00:36:13,820 --> 00:36:15,280
{\an8}are crimes against humanity,
687
00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:17,960
{\an8}because the world grows poor every time
688
00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:22,220
{\an8}one of these marvelous witnesses to evolution is lost.
689
00:36:22,220 --> 00:36:24,300
{\an8}30,000 elephants are killed
690
00:36:24,300 --> 00:36:26,410
{\an8}by poachers in Africa every year.
691
00:36:26,410 --> 00:36:31,050
Humanity's voracious demand for ivory continues unabated.
692
00:36:31,050 --> 00:36:33,620
At one time, millions of these creatures,
693
00:36:33,620 --> 00:36:35,920
now the largest living land animals
694
00:36:35,920 --> 00:36:38,220
wandered the savannas of this continent.
695
00:36:38,220 --> 00:36:41,283
Today only 400,000 of them remain.
696
00:36:46,490 --> 00:36:49,660
I'm beginning to understand Ernest Hemingway,
697
00:36:49,660 --> 00:36:53,510
who once wrote, "We have not left Africa yet,
698
00:36:53,510 --> 00:36:55,080
but when I would wake in the night,
699
00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:58,597
I would lie listening, homesick for it already."
700
00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:03,330
We are visiting the Maasai people
701
00:37:03,330 --> 00:37:06,010
in their homeland around Kilimanjaro.
702
00:37:06,010 --> 00:37:08,040
The mothers of the young men in this tribe
703
00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:09,880
have gathered in the village.
704
00:37:09,880 --> 00:37:13,770
The most important ceremony of the year is happening today.
705
00:37:13,770 --> 00:37:17,200
They have made a huge exception in allowing us to attend.
706
00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:18,810
After training for 10 years,
707
00:37:18,810 --> 00:37:22,810
their sons have now earned the status of true warriors.
708
00:37:22,810 --> 00:37:25,650
The mothers sprinkle milk on their son's heads
709
00:37:25,650 --> 00:37:27,513
and then shave them completely bald.
710
00:37:39,950 --> 00:37:43,570
For the mothers, this is a day to say farewell.
711
00:37:43,570 --> 00:37:46,520
For the sons it means saying goodbye to their freedom
712
00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:48,140
and adventuring in the Bush.
713
00:37:48,140 --> 00:37:51,320
Now it's time for them to take up their responsibilities
714
00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:52,910
to start a family.
715
00:37:52,910 --> 00:37:56,380
Many of the boys struggle with the transition to manhood.
716
00:37:56,380 --> 00:37:58,420
They fall into a kind of trance
717
00:37:58,420 --> 00:38:00,790
and their bodies seem to fight back.
718
00:38:00,790 --> 00:38:03,400
The natural narcotics they consumed in the Bush
719
00:38:03,400 --> 00:38:06,510
during the previous month seemed to play a role.
720
00:38:06,510 --> 00:38:08,500
At times it can look alarming,
721
00:38:08,500 --> 00:38:10,990
but the parents seem to take it in their stride.
722
00:38:10,990 --> 00:38:12,833
And the boys recover quickly enough.
723
00:38:15,240 --> 00:38:16,370
Once their heads are shaved,
724
00:38:16,370 --> 00:38:18,450
they're rubbed with red pigment -
725
00:38:18,450 --> 00:38:19,720
a sign that the young men
726
00:38:19,720 --> 00:38:22,063
are now fully fledged Maasai warriors.
727
00:38:28,280 --> 00:38:31,730
In the past, new warriors had to kill a lion.
728
00:38:31,730 --> 00:38:34,340
Luckily, this tradition no longer exists.
729
00:38:34,340 --> 00:38:37,150
Initiation festival lasts several days
730
00:38:37,150 --> 00:38:38,723
and ends with this chant.
731
00:38:39,635 --> 00:38:43,468
(men sing in native language)
732
00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:48,260
First steps into a new life.
733
00:38:48,260 --> 00:38:50,700
UNESCO has listed these Maasai rituals
734
00:38:50,700 --> 00:38:52,783
as intangible cultural heritage.
735
00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:56,670
Is it easy to sustain this tradition in the modern world?
736
00:38:56,670 --> 00:38:59,000
Or are the Maasai facing difficulties
737
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:00,810
in keeping this tradition going?
738
00:39:00,810 --> 00:39:03,975
{\an8}We are just keeping this tradition to be going on.
739
00:39:03,975 --> 00:39:06,180
{\an8}We don't want to reduce.
740
00:39:06,180 --> 00:39:09,040
{\an8}You see, everyone, they like our tradition.
741
00:39:09,040 --> 00:39:10,650
So, we don't like to reduce that.
742
00:39:10,650 --> 00:39:13,803
It's just going still going on and on.
743
00:39:15,537 --> 00:39:18,450
But the Maasai way of life is under threat.
744
00:39:18,450 --> 00:39:21,490
As herders, they used to own the best grazing land
745
00:39:21,490 --> 00:39:23,260
in Kenya and Tanzania.
746
00:39:23,260 --> 00:39:25,080
The expansion of the national parks
747
00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:27,960
and nature reserves has cut back their radius,
748
00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:30,730
and the Maasai don't have a political lobby
749
00:39:30,730 --> 00:39:33,520
to represent their interests and concerns.
750
00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:35,980
Slowly but surely they are being deprived
751
00:39:35,980 --> 00:39:37,340
of their livelihood.
752
00:39:37,340 --> 00:39:39,063
They face an uncertain future.
753
00:39:44,410 --> 00:39:48,820
The savanna with its complex ecosystem of plants and animals
754
00:39:48,820 --> 00:39:53,320
stretches across 40,000 square kilometers of East Africa
755
00:39:53,320 --> 00:39:56,943
from Kenya to Tanzania and into the Serengeti.
756
00:39:59,950 --> 00:40:01,810
The Serengeti has been a UNESCO
757
00:40:01,810 --> 00:40:05,660
world natural heritage site since 1981.
758
00:40:05,660 --> 00:40:08,460
More than 1.6 million herbivores
759
00:40:08,460 --> 00:40:10,363
and thousands of carnivores live here.
760
00:40:12,446 --> 00:40:15,696
(uneasy ambient music)
761
00:40:21,130 --> 00:40:24,750
The indigenous peoples call this region Serengetu,
762
00:40:24,750 --> 00:40:26,250
or endless plains.
763
00:40:26,250 --> 00:40:28,530
It's one of the last ecosystems in the world
764
00:40:28,530 --> 00:40:30,677
that is still largely intact.
765
00:40:30,677 --> 00:40:34,620
The 15,000 square kilometers of national park
766
00:40:34,620 --> 00:40:36,450
are strictly protected.
767
00:40:36,450 --> 00:40:37,560
The Serengeti is one
768
00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:40,540
of the most spectacular UNESCO world heritage sites
769
00:40:40,540 --> 00:40:41,773
in existence today.
770
00:40:45,080 --> 00:40:47,440
The natural world in this part of Africa
771
00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:48,680
doesn't have seasons
772
00:40:48,680 --> 00:40:51,570
like spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
773
00:40:51,570 --> 00:40:54,900
The climate has shaped by alternating dry seasons
774
00:40:54,900 --> 00:40:56,520
and rainy seasons.
775
00:40:56,520 --> 00:40:58,310
When the planes begin to dry out
776
00:40:58,310 --> 00:41:00,950
and fresh grass and water becomes scarce,
777
00:41:00,950 --> 00:41:03,430
everything here begins to move.
778
00:41:03,430 --> 00:41:05,690
The great migration begins.
779
00:41:05,690 --> 00:41:08,210
Twice a year, this place becomes the backdrop
780
00:41:08,210 --> 00:41:12,915
for a natural spectacle unparalleled anywhere in the world.
781
00:41:12,915 --> 00:41:15,665
(dramatic music)
782
00:41:26,970 --> 00:41:30,470
It's one of the largest migrations on the planet.
783
00:41:30,470 --> 00:41:32,957
Every year around 2 million gnus, zebras
784
00:41:32,957 --> 00:41:35,680
and other hoofed animals follow the rain,
785
00:41:35,680 --> 00:41:37,400
traveling thousands of kilometers
786
00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:40,020
from south to north and back again.
787
00:41:40,020 --> 00:41:42,650
And where there's rain, there's also fresh grass.
788
00:41:42,650 --> 00:41:45,820
Predators follow the herbivores on their journey.
789
00:41:45,820 --> 00:41:49,183
It's an eternal cycle of eat and be eaten.
790
00:41:55,300 --> 00:41:58,500
The region is also under threat from climate change
791
00:41:58,500 --> 00:42:00,330
and the population boom.
792
00:42:00,330 --> 00:42:02,300
UNESCO watches over the Serengeti,
793
00:42:02,300 --> 00:42:05,520
so that this paradise will be preserved for its residents
794
00:42:05,520 --> 00:42:06,953
and generations to come.
795
00:42:09,300 --> 00:42:11,130
In this fascinating region,
796
00:42:11,130 --> 00:42:13,130
interactions between human beings
797
00:42:13,130 --> 00:42:14,810
and their natural surroundings
798
00:42:14,810 --> 00:42:17,283
are increasingly fraught with new challenges.
799
00:42:19,140 --> 00:42:22,020
In the last few decades, growing numbers of people
800
00:42:22,020 --> 00:42:24,360
have moved to the fringes of the Serengeti,
801
00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:26,500
particularly the Maasai herdsmen
802
00:42:26,500 --> 00:42:30,030
who graze their animals on the plains of the national park.
803
00:42:30,030 --> 00:42:32,820
Unfortunately, these domesticated herds
804
00:42:32,820 --> 00:42:36,160
compete with the wild animal populations of the Serengeti
805
00:42:36,160 --> 00:42:38,120
for scarce food resources.
806
00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:40,510
And climate change is another threat,
807
00:42:40,510 --> 00:42:43,530
meaning less precipitation, higher temperatures
808
00:42:43,530 --> 00:42:44,773
and longer droughts.
809
00:42:51,590 --> 00:42:53,660
Kenya's incredible diversity
810
00:42:53,660 --> 00:42:57,090
is also on display along the coast of the Indian ocean
811
00:42:57,090 --> 00:42:59,050
on the lamu archipelago,
812
00:42:59,050 --> 00:43:01,780
far from the savanna and the big cities.
813
00:43:01,780 --> 00:43:04,530
Are completely unique Swahili culture
814
00:43:04,530 --> 00:43:06,430
has developed here over the centuries.
815
00:43:07,280 --> 00:43:12,170
(group sings in native language)
816
00:43:12,170 --> 00:43:15,050
In the past hundreds of these dhow boats
817
00:43:15,050 --> 00:43:19,050
would set off from here to ply the Indian ocean trade.
818
00:43:19,050 --> 00:43:21,940
They traded with Arabia, Persia, and India,
819
00:43:21,940 --> 00:43:25,950
and all these influences are still palpable here today.
820
00:43:25,950 --> 00:43:27,650
The historic district of Lamu
821
00:43:27,650 --> 00:43:30,460
is a UNESCO world heritage site.
822
00:43:30,460 --> 00:43:34,770
Gold, ivory, sandalwood, ebony, spices,
823
00:43:34,770 --> 00:43:37,420
the Swahili traded in all these goods
824
00:43:37,420 --> 00:43:40,490
and they traded in human lives as well.
825
00:43:40,490 --> 00:43:43,880
The Swahili, who's named means coastal dwellers,
826
00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:45,900
were formidable slave hunters.
827
00:43:45,900 --> 00:43:48,980
Their language alone, a blend of Bantu and Arabic,
828
00:43:48,980 --> 00:43:50,830
struck fear into the hearts of those
829
00:43:50,830 --> 00:43:52,450
in the interior of the continent.
830
00:43:52,450 --> 00:43:55,220
When the Swahili captured the human prey,
831
00:43:55,220 --> 00:43:57,120
they shipped growing numbers of slaves
832
00:43:57,120 --> 00:43:59,820
across the Indian ocean, but they also kept some
833
00:43:59,820 --> 00:44:03,260
for themselves to use as masons and artisans.
834
00:44:03,260 --> 00:44:05,460
Slaves built the city of Lamu
835
00:44:05,460 --> 00:44:07,290
and they were an important pillar
836
00:44:07,290 --> 00:44:10,600
of the Swahili culture that is so admired today.
837
00:44:10,600 --> 00:44:12,130
For the elites of this region,
838
00:44:12,130 --> 00:44:15,890
the trade in and use of slaves became a kind of addiction.
839
00:44:15,890 --> 00:44:17,990
They simply couldn't manage without it.
840
00:44:17,990 --> 00:44:21,670
And after 1907, when slavery was banned all together,
841
00:44:21,670 --> 00:44:24,563
Lamu entered a period of gradual decline.
842
00:44:29,660 --> 00:44:33,700
Lamu became so powerful that the island declared itself
843
00:44:33,700 --> 00:44:35,980
a city state in the 14th century,
844
00:44:35,980 --> 00:44:38,840
independent of the Kenyan kings of the time.
845
00:44:38,840 --> 00:44:41,730
It all started with traders who settled here.
846
00:44:41,730 --> 00:44:44,230
The Swahili are their descendants.
847
00:44:44,230 --> 00:44:46,120
Arabian traders from Oman
848
00:44:46,120 --> 00:44:48,670
brought more than just goods to the Island.
849
00:44:48,670 --> 00:44:50,600
They also brought Islam.
850
00:44:50,600 --> 00:44:54,448
Today, nearly the entire population of the island is Muslim.
851
00:44:54,448 --> 00:44:58,531
(group sings in native language)
852
00:45:14,268 --> 00:45:18,170
As you wander the labyrinthine alleyways of Lamu
853
00:45:18,170 --> 00:45:22,410
you will still find doors that were carved by slaves.
854
00:45:22,410 --> 00:45:25,240
For thousands of years until the early 20th century,
855
00:45:25,240 --> 00:45:28,620
Lamu was a hub for the slave trade.
856
00:45:28,620 --> 00:45:31,460
Slaves was sent to the orient rather than Europe,
857
00:45:31,460 --> 00:45:34,290
even after the formal abolition of the slave trade
858
00:45:34,290 --> 00:45:35,820
in the 19th century.
859
00:45:35,820 --> 00:45:38,250
The profits were simply too tempting.
860
00:45:38,250 --> 00:45:41,270
Trade in gold and ivory continued as well, of course,
861
00:45:41,270 --> 00:45:44,710
and with it came a lively cultural exchange.
862
00:45:44,710 --> 00:45:47,900
The 18th century palace of a successful merchant
863
00:45:47,900 --> 00:45:49,633
bears witness to this history.
864
00:45:50,840 --> 00:45:53,460
These little palaces looked like something
865
00:45:53,460 --> 00:45:56,780
straight out of a tales of 1001 Nights.
866
00:45:56,780 --> 00:46:00,030
And they tell the story of a glorious past.
867
00:46:00,030 --> 00:46:01,900
Lamu on the east coast of Kenya
868
00:46:01,900 --> 00:46:04,060
was probably the most cosmopolitan place
869
00:46:04,060 --> 00:46:05,690
in the whole of Africa.
870
00:46:05,690 --> 00:46:09,280
The Swahili people who have lived here for over 2000 years
871
00:46:09,280 --> 00:46:11,970
used to salient Indian ocean as traders,
872
00:46:11,970 --> 00:46:15,020
plying wares, such as gold, tortoise shell,
873
00:46:15,020 --> 00:46:17,750
and quotes from the interior of the continent.
874
00:46:17,750 --> 00:46:20,130
But the city's real heyday didn't start
875
00:46:20,130 --> 00:46:22,960
until the 7th century, when here in East Africa,
876
00:46:22,960 --> 00:46:26,040
along this coast, the slave trade began.
877
00:46:26,040 --> 00:46:29,740
At least 15 million people were transported from here
878
00:46:29,740 --> 00:46:33,560
to the Islamic countries, to India and to China.
879
00:46:33,560 --> 00:46:37,373
Globalization did not begin in the modern era.
880
00:46:38,631 --> 00:46:41,798
(soft dramatic music)
881
00:46:48,410 --> 00:46:52,230
This whole is testimony to those interactions
882
00:46:52,230 --> 00:46:54,620
between these people of the East African coast
883
00:46:54,620 --> 00:46:57,500
and their visitors who came to trade with them.
884
00:46:57,500 --> 00:47:01,767
For example, you have traditional timber artifacts,
885
00:47:01,767 --> 00:47:06,500
whose technique is actually borrowed from India.
886
00:47:06,500 --> 00:47:10,850
We have a plaster motifs, most of which can be traced back
887
00:47:10,850 --> 00:47:12,860
to the Arabian peninsula.
888
00:47:12,860 --> 00:47:16,720
You have Chinese porcelain
889
00:47:16,720 --> 00:47:20,040
{\an8}that was important from China and Chinese pottery.
890
00:47:20,040 --> 00:47:22,510
{\an8}So it's actually a testimony of that interactions
891
00:47:22,510 --> 00:47:25,290
{\an8}between the East African coast and the rest of the world
892
00:47:25,290 --> 00:47:27,653
from say, the 14th century.
893
00:47:30,860 --> 00:47:33,980
Lamu feels like a city from another era.
894
00:47:33,980 --> 00:47:37,363
There are no cars on the island and no mass tourism.
895
00:47:38,830 --> 00:47:41,413
(bright music)
896
00:47:45,770 --> 00:47:47,680
When the people hold a festival,
897
00:47:47,680 --> 00:47:50,960
it feels as though a door has opened into the past.
898
00:47:50,960 --> 00:47:52,970
The Swahili dances on display here
899
00:47:52,970 --> 00:47:54,670
have existed for centuries.
900
00:47:54,670 --> 00:47:58,040
No one knows how long the Swahili culture will survive
901
00:47:58,040 --> 00:48:01,180
but the people here are committed to keeping it alive,
902
00:48:01,180 --> 00:48:03,530
and UNESCO support these traditions
903
00:48:03,530 --> 00:48:06,259
as intangible cultural heritage.
904
00:48:06,259 --> 00:48:10,509
(group singing in native language)
905
00:48:28,010 --> 00:48:30,448
Swahili today continues to evolve.
906
00:48:30,448 --> 00:48:32,397
It is picking up a lot (indistinct),
907
00:48:33,690 --> 00:48:36,920
it's picking out of new contributions
908
00:48:36,920 --> 00:48:40,030
to constantly develop and enrich this culture
909
00:48:40,030 --> 00:48:42,830
that has always been known as the Swahili.
910
00:48:42,830 --> 00:48:45,100
So today it is really evolving
911
00:48:45,100 --> 00:48:47,390
and it is picking new attributes
912
00:48:47,390 --> 00:48:49,000
that continue to be fused
913
00:48:49,000 --> 00:48:51,724
and to be part of the Swahili culture.
914
00:48:51,724 --> 00:48:55,807
(group sings in native language)
915
00:49:12,432 --> 00:49:15,182
(dramatic music)
916
00:49:26,780 --> 00:49:28,930
Egypt, Ethiopia and Kenya
917
00:49:28,930 --> 00:49:31,700
{\an8}are just three of the 54 African states
918
00:49:31,700 --> 00:49:34,820
{\an8}but they capture something of the profound diversity
919
00:49:34,820 --> 00:49:37,380
{\an8}and cultural resonance of this continent.
920
00:49:37,380 --> 00:49:40,900
The journey from Egypt through Ethiopia into Kenya
921
00:49:40,900 --> 00:49:44,570
confronts us on the one hand with a tremendous antiquity
922
00:49:44,570 --> 00:49:48,400
and historical depth of African institutions and cultures,
923
00:49:48,400 --> 00:49:49,480
and on the other hand,
924
00:49:49,480 --> 00:49:52,810
with the sublime drama of African nature,
925
00:49:52,810 --> 00:49:55,810
a legacy of great value, not just to Africans,
926
00:49:55,810 --> 00:49:57,030
but to the world.
927
00:49:57,030 --> 00:50:00,320
It's this symphony of history and nature
928
00:50:00,320 --> 00:50:02,050
that makes Africa unique.
929
00:50:02,050 --> 00:50:05,820
The real African miracle is that so much of value
930
00:50:05,820 --> 00:50:09,160
has survived the ravages of European imperialism.
931
00:50:09,160 --> 00:50:12,320
In this capacity to regenerate damaged cultures
932
00:50:12,320 --> 00:50:14,720
and societies, to move forward
933
00:50:14,720 --> 00:50:17,790
without breaking entirely the bond with the past
934
00:50:17,790 --> 00:50:21,470
lies a bright prospect for Africa's future.
935
00:50:21,470 --> 00:50:23,480
Turn your face to the sun
936
00:50:23,480 --> 00:50:26,773
and the shadows will fall behind you.
937
00:50:26,773 --> 00:50:29,606
(dramatic music)
74084
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