Original subtitles

NARRATOR: \hThe Liuwa Plains.

A remote grassland in the far west of Zambia.

One of Africa’s last wild places.

An extraordinary landscape.

A place of extremes.

For half the year, it’s a dry, barren plain,

a harsh land where only the toughest survive.

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

But when the rains bring relief,

the plains transform into a bountiful wetland paradise.

From the smallest creature

to one of Africa’s great herds,

life here needs to survive in two very different worlds.

It’s late October on the Liuwa Plains.

Not a single drop of rain has fallen here for over six months.

The El Niño weather system has delayed the onset of the rains

and all of Southern Africa is in severe drought.

(INSECTS CHIRPING)

Without water,

these plains are an unforgiving and barren land.

Only the toughest of Africa’s wildlife can survive here.

Wildebeest.

A hardy and resilient member of the antelope family.

Young bulls stake a claim year round

on a small patch in the center of the plains.

(WILDEBEEST GRUNTING)

Throughout the long dry season,

they struggle through in the searing heat

with little water and only poor quality grass to eat.

It may look desolate now,

but these young wildebeest bulls are taking a gamble.

They’re hoping that when the rains come

their patch of the plains will transform into lush, green grassland

and the rest of the herds will follow with females.

It will be their only chance to breed.

Throughout the long, dry months, they hold territory.

Constantly on guard...

(GRUNTING)

Loudly advertising their presence.

(GRUNTING)

They take to the higher ground to appear bigger

and flex muscles to intimidate their neighbors.

(SNORTING)

When they meet, there’s a standoff, a border dispute.

(SNORTING)

One drops to his knees,

inviting a rival to show his strength.

(BOTH GRUNTING)

These battles take place many times each day,

but are only a ritual display of dominance, and injuries are rare.

(BOTH GRUNTING)

It’s over as quickly as it began.

The loser moves off, but will be back for more.

(SNORTING)

When the rains come and the big herds follow,

they’ll have a chance to breed.

But until then,

these rowdy teenagers will chase each other all day long.

Wildebeest are one of the only creatures

that can survive here in significant numbers.

(WILDEBEEST GRUNTING)

As selective feeders, they prefer new green shoots to eat,

but, without rain, the plains are bare.

Only dry grass and dust.

The wildebeest population of Liuwa is the largest in Southern Africa,

but with food so scarce,

they are now spread far and wide.

From these great herds to dormant termite mounds,

all creatures here wait for life-giving rains.

This vast wilderness is protected

as part of Liuwa Plains National Park,

comprising 3,600 square miles of open grassland.

A floodplain of the mighty Zambezi River.

Located in the far west of Zambia on the border with Angola,

from decades of conflict and hunting.

The recovery of the wildlife is so crucial

that many of the animals have been fitted with radio collars

and are tracked year-round.

(HYENA WHINING)

For the predators of the plains,

the dry season is especially tough.

With wildebeest and other prey like oribi

spread out across the vast plain,

food is hard to come by.

And with no cover, hunting is a real challenge.

(FLIES BUZZING)

This cheetah has a 2-year-old cub.

He won’t leave his mother’s side

until he can hunt for himself

and he is totally dependent on her for food.

In these hard times,

his mother will have to make at least one good-sized kill every few days

to be able to feed them both.

Lions, however, enjoy the benefits of being social cats,

the pride hunts to feed them all.

But the once mighty Liuwa Pride

is a shadow of its former self.

Trophy hunting and persecution almost wiped them out,

but reintroductions by the international organization, African Parks,

in recent years, has led to a slow recovery.

Surviving the dry season is crucial to their continued growth.

Without a significant population of lions,

another animal has taken over as top predator,

the spotted hyena.

Hyena cubs rely almost entirely on their mother’s milk

for the first 12 to 18 months of life.

So their mother needs to hunt to keep them alive.

(HYENA WHINING)

As the dry season drags on, it’s a tough time for all the animals of the plains.

These pelicans and marabou storks are wetland birds,

and desperately need the rains to bring food.

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

Distant thunder.

A sign the long dry season may soon come to an end.

But these first storms are tantalizing and cruel.

(LIGHTNING CRACKLING)

No rain falls.

Instead, lightning strikes bring one of nature’s most destructive forces.

Bushfires.

The grasslands are tinder dry

and it only takes a small spark to set them alight.

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

Fires create a bounty for birdlife,

feasting on insects fleeing the flames.

(CHIRPING CONTINUES)

But hyenas are pushed away from their hunting grounds

as the fires destroy everything in their path.

The land is left scarred.

As dry grasses build up at the end of the dry season,

more and more fires sweep across the plains.

But for the wildebeest that depend on grass for survival,

destruction clears the ground for new life to emerge.

All the land needs now is rain.

Until it comes,

the wildebeest are forced to search far and wide

for the last of the green grasses.

(WILDEBEEST GRUNTING)

These scattered groups consist of tight family units.

(GRUNTING)

Groups of mothers with calves

and resident males.

Rump rubbing and head rubbing

help keep the herd hierarchy in order.

The dominant male’s main role is to be strong

and to protect the entire group from all the predators that hunt on the plains.

This calf has was born only days ago.

His birth synchronized with the seasons,

in the hope that the rains will arrive

and bring new green grasses.

He still has an umbilical stump

that will fall off in his first two weeks of life.

He’ll stay close by his mother for protection.

And milk.

If separated,

they will recognize each other by individual smell,

and a unique call.

(CALF SNORTING)

The calf will begin to nibble on grass

when only a few days old,

but will still rely on his mother’s milk for the next 16 months.

(SNORTING)

(WILDEBEEST GRUNTING)

This is the most important bond for his survival.

(WILDEBEEST GRUNTING)

Finding green grasses at the end of the dry season is not their only problem.

In these small, scattered groups,

the whole herd is vulnerable.

Wildebeest are the favorite prey for hyenas,

the apex predator of the Liuwa Plains.

Hyenas hunt by being constantly on the lookout.

Observing each individual animal

for any sign of weakness.

The old,

the injured,

and the very young.

Spread out in small isolated herds

because of the dry conditions,

the wildebeest are vulnerable.

Without extra eyes, ears and noses,

the small group often won’t spot a hyena until it’s too late.

(HYENA YAPPING)

(WILDEBEEST GRUNTING)

For the hyenas in the dry season,

this kill is much-needed food for their clan

and will allow them to nurse their pups.

They’re one of Africa’s most abundant and efficient predators.

They’ll eat the entire carcass in less than an hour,

leaving only hair and horns.

(FLIES BUZZING)

(BUZZING CONTINUES)

Dry season temperatures here

exceed 100 degrees in the middle of the day.

(PANTING)

Keeping cool in the open plains is a constant challenge.

(PANTING CONTINUES)

Shade is a scarce resource, and the best spots are taken.

(GROWLS)

An Anchieta’s cobra,

unable to internally regulate its own body temperature,

desperately needs to cool down.

It takes cover underground.

In the heat of the day,

any place that offers relief from the burning sun is a precious resource.

Small patches of forest fringe the plains.

(WILDEBEEST GRUNTING)

The trees may give the herd some shelter from the sun

and allow them to stay out of sight from hyenas,

but for the creatures that live here,

the forests are far from safe.

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

Every creature here is a potential meal for someone else,

and each has its own strategy for survival.

Some take cover in the leaves and blend into the background.

Others keep deathly still.

A praying mantis mimics its surroundings

and waits for prey to pass by.

In the shade of a tree,

a toad shelters from the midday heat

and waits for the safety of the night to hunt.

The western green snake

stands out on the forest floor,

but only ventures here to hunt frogs, lizards and insects.

In the trees, its colors are the perfect camouflage.

And it needs to keep still when snake eagles are about.

But someone else is taking cover in these forests.

It’s the cheetah mother.

Renowned for speed, not stamina,

cheetahs hunt over short distances

and the forest edge provides her with perfect cover

to get up close to prey on the open plains.

(WILDEBEEST GRUNTING)

Cheetahs will take wildebeest calves.

But this hungry mother isn’t hunting.

She’s lying low, using the long grass as camouflage.

She doesn’t want to draw the attention of other predators.

She killed a small antelope in the night.

This is much needed food for the cheetah family.

It should keep her and her cub going for several days.

(WILDEBEEST SNORTING)

But with young wildebeest calves nearby,

the resident bulls aren’t comfortable

with the predators at such close range.

(WILDEBEEST SNORTING)

(SNORTING)

The bull’s snorting gets the attention of the cheetahs,

but they stay at their kill.

(SNORTING)

Digging at the ground is a big show of strength from the bull.

(SNORTING)

But it takes a direct charge at the cheetah family to tip the balance,

and force a retreat.

(GRUNTING)

They’ll return to their kill when the herd’s moved on.

Cheetahs frequently lose kills to larger predators,

so they have a limited window of time to eat what they catch.

It’s now early November

and the rains are more than a month late.

As the dry season drags on,

all the wildebeest herds are struggling.

And lions make the most of the opportunity.

The calf is hardwired not to leave his mother’s side,

but his mother has been killed,

and he remains close to her body.

(GRUNTING)

For now, these two lions aren’t interested in the calf.

But alone, he has little chance of survival.

The wildebeest kill has enough meat

to keep the lions satisfied for a day or two.

But when they’re hungry again,

the calf will make a quick and easy meal.

It’s the harsh reality of life here

at the end of the dry season.

(VULTURES SQUAWKING)

In this open landscape,

vultures can spot a kill from up to 20 miles away,

and flock to the carcass.

(LION GROWLING)

(GROWLING)

They will have to wait until the lions have finished.

When the lions have had their fill,

the vultures swoop in to pick off leftovers.

Red lappet-faced vultures have a wingspan of nine feet

and stand more than three feet tall.

They’re outnumbered by their white-backed cousins,

but as the biggest and most dominant vulture here,

they still manage to get a decent share of the spoils.

Vultures can strip an entire carcass in 30 minutes.

Using their curved beak like a butcher’s blade,

they can consume one-third of their body weight in a single sitting.

These persistent scavengers ensure nothing goes to waste on these plains.

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

For all life on the Liuwa grasslands,

it’s been a brutal dry season.

But relief is on its way.

The rains have finally arrived.

(WILDEBEEST GRUNTING)

The beginning of the wet season

signals the start of a remarkable event.

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

The flight of the termites.

The ground softens with the first drops of rain,

allowing these winged insects to emerge in their thousands.

It’s their once-in-a-year chance to breed and propagate.

The termite colony has been waiting for this moment.

Winged queens and males fly out.

In the air, females release pheromones

to attract males from different colonies.

Pairs mate in the air, then land,

shedding their wings to burrow underground and begin a new colony.

And this event provides a feast for other creatures.

Red ants attack the termites as soon as they land.

(FALCONS SCREECHING)

Amur falcons pick off flying termites on the wing.

One bird species flies 5,000 miles

all the way from Russia to feed.

Pratincoles.

Massive flocks swarm above the plains

to take advantage of this brief annual feast.

(PRATINCOLES CHIRPING)

(CHIRPING CONTINUES)

The plains are reborn with an explosion of life,

triggered by just a few drops of rain.

It’s the first sign that the transformation of the Liuwa Plains has begun.

These early rains begin to fill empty waterholes.

Dotted across the landscape,

they’re an oasis in a desert of dry grass.

At the start of the rains, these precious waterholes are still few and far between.

They’re a magnet for many species

that visit throughout the day.

Crowned cranes,

spur-winged geese,

wood sandpiper,

and Liuwa Plains’ last few remaining lions.

A precious pride, recovering from decades of persecution.

Hyenas come to rest after a long day hunting.

Exhausted, the cool water is welcome relief.

(GRUNTING)

A small herd of wildebeest

has walked all morning to drink.

The hyenas are an unwelcome addition.

(HYENA YAPPING)

(WILDEBEEST SNORTING)

(HYENA YAPPING)

One brave mother approaches nervously to check that it’s safe.

(SNORTING)

She tests the hyenas with a sudden movement.

If the hyenas are in the mood to hunt,

this action will trigger a chase.

But they’re too sleepy to respond.

Now it seems safe to approach.

The calf and the rest of the herd come closer to drink.

(WILDEBEEST GRUNTING)

The wildebeest herd,

having dealt with the sleeping hyenas,

now has another problem.

(SNORTING)

A cantankerous lone bull

that doesn’t want to share his waterhole.

(BOTH GRUNTING)

(GRUNTING CONTINUES)

The bull moves the herd on and keeps all the water for himself.

With the onset of the rains, new green shoots emerge.

Within a few days, dry, barren plains transform.

After good rains,

grasses can grow an inch a day.

The vast grasslands of the Liuwa Plains

are the foundation of the entire ecosystem.

Birds pick at seeds and insects amongst the new growth.

And with the greening of the plains,

the wildebeest no longer need to spread out.

With the abundance of food,

small herds join up in the safety of increasing numbers.

(WILDEBEEST GRUNTING)

(GRUNTING CONTINUES)

In the cool light rain of the evening,

the boisterous males take the opportunity to train the calves

in a game of predator avoidance techniques.

These quick and agile maneuvers

could save their lives when attacked.

At the end of the day the herd rests,

but sunset also means that danger is approaching.

(WILDEBEEST GRUNTING)

(HYENAS YAPPING)

(BIRDS WARBLING)

At night, the herd stays alert and keeps close together.

With poor night vision, the wildebeest are vulnerable.

Their strategy is to form a tight defensive line,

making it hard for a predator to pick out and surround an individual.

But this doesn’t stop the hyenas from trying.

(HYENA YAPPING)

Running at the herd scatters them,

revealing the weak and vulnerable.

(HYENAS YAPPING)

As long as the herd stays tight together, they’ll be safe.

But any stragglers who wander away from the group are defenseless.

An easy meal for the hyenas.

(HYENA WHINING)

As the season rolls on,

storms release more and more rain.

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

Large areas of the plains become shallow wetlands.

Under the surface,

another amazing transformation begins.

Pools of water become a haven for aquatic life.

Herons extend their necks like a harpoon to catch fish.

Monitor lizards hunt in the shallows.

(BOTH YAPPING)

(WILDEBEEST GRUNTING)

The wildebeest have plenty of places to drink

and the plains abound with fresh green grass.

(WILDEBEEST GRUNTING)

With thousands of wildebeest now streaming in from across the plains,

the gathering of the herds is complete.

They will remain together here for the next few months,

eating as much as they can

to get into top breeding condition.

The young bull who stayed to defend his patch

is now surrounded by a herd of several thousand.

It’s the chance he’s been waiting for.

The daily battles with his neighbors

have given him confidence.

He puts his training into action,

showing a rival bull his strength and prowess.

Scraping at the ground with his hooves and his horns, he hopes to intimidate.

(SNORTING)

(SNORTING)

(GRUNTING)

(SNORTING)

But it will take a lot more than digging up dust

to overthrow a seasoned dominant male.

With all the action of the bulls jostling for position,

the wildebeest could be distracted,

and there are still predators about.

A big herd concentrated in one place

is a magnet for lions and hyenas.

The herd needs to remain vigilant,

but they have another line of defense.

Zebra.

Grazing together means there are more eyes and ears

to detect danger lurking in the long grass.

It’s now much harder for hyenas to single out an individual.

(WILDEBEEST GRUNTING)

(GRUNTING CONTINUES)

But they try their luck, regardless.

The herd now has the advantage,

strength in huge numbers.

(YAPPING)

The hyena tries to create an opportunity

by setting the herd in motion.

(ZEBRA BARKING)

(WILDEBEEST GRUNTING)

(HYENA YELPING)

The strategy fails.

This hyena is outnumbered

and will have to hunt another day.

With the herd gathered together,

the persistent hyenas will return day and night

to pick off the weak and the vulnerable.

For all the young bulls who remained and held territory

here throughout the dry season,

a few months remain to fatten up

and attempt to take on a dominant male.

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

Throughout the rainy season, these battles will continue.

If he mans-up enough,

the precocious bull might succeed.

But if not, he’ll have to tough it out again

through yet another dry season

before he wins the chance to breed.

The rains are now in full flow

and the landscape completes its transformation.

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

With water everywhere

and the plains covered with green grass,

it’s good times ahead for the herd

and all the creatures of the plains.

The older bulls have inspired the young calves.

They show their strength, preparing for future battles.

All wildlife here makes the most of the brief months of rain,

before the life and death struggles of the dry season return.