Original subtitles

This is one of our planet's biggest rivers.

Yet it is still a mystery.

As it runs from the heart of Asia to the Pacific

It separates two superpowers.

But its sprawling network of waterways also connects the most diverse realms.

The earth's vastest grasslands.

Its largest pristine forests rich with wildlife.

Raw moonscapes created by volcanic fire.

Steaming subtropical jungles

Unbounded flood plains and untamed wetland wilderness.

All these are drained to nurture one of the richest northern seas.

Which in turn sends rain across a river basin four times the size of Germany.

This is not just a river.

It's a sprawling network of streams and lakes, and bogs.

A waterscape of continental scale,

the Amur Asia's Amazon.

AMUR, ASIA’S AMAZON

THE FAR EAST

Impossible to tell where the sea begins and the river ends.

This is where Asia's Amazon joins the Pacific ocean

and a slow perpetual dance between river,

sea and sky.

It's the ocean's clouds that make the rivers flow

and it's the river's bounty that makes the ocean come alive.

The Amur flows into the Tartar strait which links the sea of Japan with the Okhotsk,

one of the richest fishing grounds on earth.

Sunny days are sparse along this coast.

But to many,

this place is inviting.

Rhythms and cycles govern the life of this entire ecosystem and its inhabitants.

Every four years, thousands of animals gather on the beaches around the estuary.

Eagerly awaiting a special event.

The seals are patient knowing that they will not miss what is to come

The bears are tense hoping for a first row seat at the best channel

While the seals keep patrolling the entrances to the bay.

Smart gulls stick with the bears.

Nothing happening yet.

Then almost casually a vanguard appears.

This river mouth is the halfway house of an epic journey.

All of a sudden the shallows begin to boil up.

It's the start of the biggest all-you-can-eat feast within four years.

Now they come in waves.

Hundreds of thousands of humpback salmon.

Humpbacks must spend a few days here to adjust to the fresh water.

Five pacific salmon species come to this coast to different seasons.

Some humpbacks swim up the Amur itself,

But most prefer small mountain streams around the estuary. xung quanh cửa sông.

The scenes at the mouth of the Amur are reminiscent of Alaska.

There's plenty for all,

but not everyone can afford to abandon all restraint.

Brown bear mothers keep their cubs away from the river riot.

Too many big males around.

She feelsuneasy when they come too close.

These heavyweights are smaller than Alaskan grizzlies.

The males are not to be trusted.

But the mother senses an even greater risk.

Losing her cup from sight even for a minute could end in tragedy.

Precisely because this is not Alaska.

The Russian Far East is the realm of the Amur tiger.

His breakfast could well be a little bear.

This wild rocky gulf is a crossroads of water

The Amur's mighty fresh water flow blends with the salty surf of the sea.

Just where subtropical and polar ocean currents meet.

The resulting fogs feared by navigators are sending massive moisture inland.

Prevailing easterlies push these clouds inland for thousands of kilometers.

Until they drop their watery load along the mountain ranges of North East Asia

nurturing dense woodland.

The amount of water flowing westward in the sky roughly

equals the amount flowing eastward down the mighty Amur into the sea.

One million olympic pools per day

For the first 1000 kilometers a journey up

the Amur is a journey south parallel to the pacific coast.

Hemmed in by mountain ranges the Amur is deep here some 70 meters.

In a land without roads,

rivers have long been the only transport routes

for indigenous people and colonists either on water or on ice,

And the Amur is not just a transit route for humans

Chum salmon travel up the main river for more than 1.000 kilometers

on the land side of the Sikhote-Alin coastal range,

which is their ultimate destination.

Some of the individuals fighting the current have come from as far as the coast of California.

At confluence after confluence groups of salmon leave the main river

and turn into the tributaries flowing down from the coastal range the Sikhote-Alin

Up near the Pacific watershed, these clear gravelly mountain streams offer perfect spawning grounds.

The chum salmon are returning to their birthplace to spawn

The salmon are already expected,

sex is the last thing on their minds.

Literally the last thing for salmon sex and death are almost simultaneous

when they finally spawn

These powerful fish are spent

these fast-flowing shallow headwaters near the pacific watershed

are rich in oxygen just perfect for eggs and fry.

The females choose a good spot in the gravel

and clean out the sand

Then they release thousands of eggs to be fertilized in the water

By the time the eggs hatch,

the parents will be dead.

The fry will then travel down the Amur river to the Pacific.

In four years they will be back.

Tons of protein and fat

arriving from thousands of kilometers away

are a boon to the local wildlife

What a break for a brown bear mother with three cubs to feed.

No fishing skills are needed when the river serves up salmon all along its banks.

Finally the mother can eat in peace.

While the sibling's meal is anything but peaceful.

The more there is to eat the greater their greed.

The many rivers from the Sikhote-Alin coastal range have ancient names: Chor, Bikin, Anyuy.

Echoing the languages of the people who have lived here for thousands of years

These wooded hills of Russia's Far East boast one of the planet's last realms of true wilderness.

Paradoxically it's the presence of humans here that's preserving the land's wildness.

Their main indigenous community, Krasni Yar

lies on the Bikin river

on the edge of the vast woodlands.

The indigenous people have lived off this land for many thousands of years.

in a way that their impact on nature remain gentle.

They are Udege,

and it is they who are making a stand against wholesale, exploitation and destruction of natural spaces.

Far from tarmac roads, railways and cities

The Udege are self-sufficient

nothing is wasted even the wrecks of off-road vehicles have a second life as barricades against wild boar and bears

But many of the younger generation don't see their future here

and often trade the harsh life from the edge of the wilderness

for what they hope will be an easier and more exciting life in a russian city

The wilderness begins on the very edge of the Udege village

with the Bikin river as the only in-road

The misty mountain woods along the Bikin are the haunt of Amba,

as the Udege called the Amur tiger.

Since time immemorial,

Amba and the Udege have shared these hunting grounds.

Their respect has always been mutual.

This ancient culture with it's deep and subtle understanding of nature is anything but primitive,

Today it's on the wane.

But the forest still feeds the Udege

Just like the salmon rivers, the forest has a four year cycle of its own.

And this is a boom year in the Bikin forest.

The boom begins right here in the tops of the korean pines.

In such a year all the forest inhabitants profit humans and all the animals.

Amba always knows what's going on in his realm.

And the Undege known that Amba is near

but they would never hurt each other.

Korean pines have to be 100 years old to grow fruit.

Each year there are some cones,

but every fourth year there are cones galore.

It's the delicious seeds in these cones that make the korean pine precious.

A single tree will produce some 20 kilos

That's about one tonne per hectare.

For rich hunting the tiger depends on many animals which in turn depend on the oil rich pine nuts.

After a pine year the wild boar population explodes

and so do the populations of chipmunks, voles and all the smaller carnivores and birds of prey that they feed.

Some hunters even jump out the food chain

rather than chasing chipmunks

The sable goes vegetarian.

Pine nuts provide a good share of the family's income.

Apart from ginseng roots there's not much else out there that can be sold.

So the self-made pinecone mill is a money machine.

A day's harvest will fetch a few hundred dollars in Khabarovsk,

the nearest city on the bank of the Amur.

But what sounds like fast money will have to last for a while.

Laying up a good winter storage will mean lots of young chipmunks next summer.

An Udeger hunter would never kill a tiger.

That would bring great misfortune.

When the harvesters are gone

Amba reaffirms that this is his domain.

Pine nuts support all his prey.

Red deer and Sikas, wild boars and bears,

There's only one big animal that's out of reach.

Just beyond the watershed on the Pacific side.

The Sikhote-Alin range drops straight down to the sea.

These cliffs are inaccessible,

except for a master climber

The goral.

Most ungulates are sprinters so that they can escape predators

Gorals are different they move about in slow motion considering every step

In a goral life there is never a wrong step.

Gorals colonize similar terrain in the Himalayas

and other rugged ranges of Asia.

This isolates the small populations.

An isolation more threatening than the tiger.

On a geological time scale, these cliffs are young.

Not so long ago this coastal range was a volcanic island arch out in the pacific

But the sea floor is gliding westward 10 kilometers every million years.

and keeps slipping under the continent.

In this process, islands are being pushed against the edge of the continent.

This is how the old Amur river was forced northward

adding 1.000 kilometers to its flow

The plant life of the Sikhote-Alin woodlands is diverse.

More so than anywhere else in the temperate zone

The monsoon sends ample rain

and the rugged land creates microclimates for both subtropical and sub-arctic trees.

In october many animals gather to their winter quarters.

Rivers are still flowing but not for much longer.

Once the wind turns, icy polar air will rush in from the north and put life on hold.

The mountaintops are first to feel the arctic freeze.

as the northerlies push in snow clouds.

A male Siberian grouse

taking a last stand against winter and marking his mating ground for next spring.

A meter of snow is not unusual.

Temperatures drop way below zero down to 40 degrees centigrade even in november.

On the ocean side of the Sikhote-Alin coastal range

Winter is half as harsh with less snow

and temperatures rarely dropping under 25 degrees below freezing.

The Pacific is a gigantic heat deposit.

Warm water flows in from the south heating up the icy air flowing down from the Arctic

along a narrow strip of land along the coast.

Sika deer come to the coast from far and wide

They are attracted by the warmth.

But that's not the main attraction.

the surf washes lots of kelp ashore.

Giant brown algae that form submarine forests in cold nutrient-rich waters

Kelp is salty and contains many minerals

During winter the Sika find this seafood irresistible.

They know that they are vulnerable out in the open.

But their bodies yearn for minerals so they take risks.

The risk lurks at the forest edge

This tiger knows the trails of the Sika will take back up into the woods.

She has followed the deer to the coast,

knowing they will return up the hill and to the forest sooner or later.

Trails from the cliff edge down to the shore are few and far between.

Harlequin ducks are winter guests from the arctic

where the rivers have already frozen over back in october.

They spend most of their time out at sea.

But once a day they need to drink fresh water.

so they come to the mouths of the little rivers flowing down from the Sikhote-Alin range.

Even a short distance inland all the rivers are covered with thick ice

It's the warmth of the ocean that keeps the rivers flowing near the coast.

Like the sikas the harlequins are wary on the beach

They like to be in deep water

where they can dive to escape predators.

The deer only feel safe in thick vegetation.

where they can hide rest during the day

But it's on the way there the danger lurks

The snow makes it hard for deer to sprint still.

For a surprise attack the tiger has to get close

The sudden silence tells the survivors that they are safe for a while.

The tiger eats little

two hungry cubs are waiting back in the woods.

The cubs may look nearly grown up

but they still depend on their mother's hunting skills

Crows and magpies often give away a tiger's presence.

That's one thing the youngsters have to learn.

The second cub arrives.

The siblings have to eat before the meat is frozen.

With their primary teeth they even find it hard to tear the skin

It will be another year before they can fend for themselves.

The tiger mother feeds not just her cubs.

Once the land is frozen many others depend on her hunting skills.

The white-tailed eagle is a fish hunter

but the winter forces it to scavenge together with ravens, magpies and small carnivores

Without tiger kills none of them would make it through the winter.

For the majestic eagle such meals come at the cost of dignity.

This is not the sort of company one seeks when there is a choice.

For several thousand kilometers the Amur river

Its tributes and the wetlands are now sealed.

The ice is solid a meter thick

Before the first far eastern highway was built.

The frozen Amur served as a truck route between river ports.

And it's a solid bridge for wildlife and smugglers between Russia and China.

Winter is the time to walk on the water

As the indigenous people have always done.

Hacking through thick ice may be tedious,

but the real challenge is knowing where

and to sit patiently in the bitter cold for hours,

while the hole keeps freezing over

On the Amur, river people have done this for millennia.

It's that long tradition,

the knowledge of river dynamics and the habits of fish which make a successful fisherman.

The Nanai people have always lived off the river.

Selling and making almost everything out of fish,

including garments and gloves of fish skin.

The Amur river has fed many generations

and is feeding millions today.

Before the fishermen go home their catch will be deep frozen.

In the right spot a man can get a hundred prime pike a day.

Some of the catch is eaten fresh as Siberian sushi

The rest can be bought in the market of Khabarovsk

where fresh and wild is not just a slogan.

The Nanai or river people as they are called have abandoned many of their old ways.

Their numbers have declined, their language has nearly vanished

Their future is linked to that of the Amur river

where over-exploitation is threatening their way of life.

By late april nights are still bitter cold.

And the only comfort is found by the fireplaces and the homesteads of the far eastern frontier.

But the river is beginning to show signs of change.

a strong undertow is nibbling at the edges of the first openings in the ice.

Now the white-tailed eagle can reclaim its dignity.

The bothersome ravens may still follow him around.

But now they depend on him as the top predator.

Here and there the ice is beginning to stir

as the river keeps rising

ever so gently but with irresistible might.

And then suddenly the ice heaves and begins to break.

An entire landscape of ice several kilometers wide

and thousands of kilometers long is set in motion.

The Amur turns into a gigantic conveyor belt,

dwarfing all the freight trains of the trans-siberian railway.

For weeks the strange sound of drifting river ice, signals the start of spring along the Amur river.

Along its northern tributaries,

winter hangs on a little longer.

But by the end of may the wetlands come alive

The long silence is broken.

Millions of Dybowski's frogs are busy producing more millions of Dybowski's frogs.

They have no time to waste for lengthy courtship

Mandarin ducks are not quite so hasty

This female needs a few reminders of the brevity of life or at least spring.

The trick is to push her under water for a while.

Always works for ducks as well as frogs.

Now it's time for refreshments

And this season it's easy to catch a frog with its pants down.

The hard bit is getting it down

before the next bride flies by

Night frosts are over now,

but alders and Mongolian oak still keep their buds from bursting.

While the sun can still warm the forest floor.

Wildflowers like the Amur adonis or the Boreal star flower beckoned to the first insects.

Morning mists drift into the dried out woods along the river bringing moisture.

Soon the lower Amur with its countless islands, channels and oxbows will be bustling with migrants.

stopping over on their way to the arctic,

And breeding birds that will spend the summer in the wetlands.

These plains are called floodplains for a good reason

All plants and animals inhabiting the wide Amur valley

have to cope with several floods each year

And the first one comes with the snow melt way upstream

Flood waters lap at the banks along thousands of kilometers of waterfront

and carry an enormous sediment load downstream.

Flood after flood the riverscape changes its face

When the floods recede large sand islands are exposed

These sands have come all the way from Mongolia

from Korea and from the mountain's way up north in Siberia

This is what the terns have been waiting for

Sand and sun is all they need to breed

In the middle of the river their clutches are safe from wild boar, foxes or raccoon dogs.

But nothing here is ever safe from the whims of the water.

Growing up and learning to swim and fly is a race against time.

A matter of god willing the river don't rise

Rising it will inevitably

And the high water mark reveals which clutches were laid by young inexperienced pairs.

This youngster has escaped to the river

but possibly not fate

Unwittingly it's trespassing on one of the no-go zones surrounding each nest.

Breeding pairs won't tolerate another pair's offspring in their space Những cặp đang sinh sản sẽ không

No exceptions are made.

Mission completed.

In good years four out of five chicks reach adulthood.

Even after the brutal attack this chick is among the lucky ones.

But there are also years when the Amur keeps five out of five

Deep channels between the islands are the haunt of a veritable monster.

The Amur's kaluga the biggest of several members of the sturgeon family.

Lies in wait for fish on the river bottom.

Old individuals can weigh one ton and reach a length of six meters.

Because its unfertilized eggs are a prized delicacy in luxury markets across the world.

The Amur's kaluga has been hunted down to near extinction.

It is now endangered and protected.

At least legally.

One thousand kilometers upstream from its estuary.

The Amur is not a single channel

but a labyrinth of branches, islands and swamps up to 50 kilometers wide when the water is low.

Over nearly 5 000 kilometers no dam slows down its flow and nothing curbs.

The elbow room of one of the planet's last naturally dynamic waterways.

It's crossed by only two bridges.

The bridge at Khabarovsk was built at the turn of the millennium

replacing the trans-siberian railway bridge built in 1916.

The construction of the transit and the foundation of the river port of Khabarovsk

expressed russia's determination to stay on the Amur for better or for worse.

But clearly for good.

The world's longest railway line

10 000 kilometers finally linked Russia's Far Eastern outposts to Europe

All the cargo, civilian travelers and troops moving between Vladivostok and Moscow passed over this bridge. Toàn bộ hàng hóa, người đi lại và các đoàn quân

Thanks to the transit the old Cossack military base on the south bank of the Amur river boomed into a frontier city.

When the Cossack General and Governor Muravyov signed a border treaty between the Russian empire and China's Qing dynasty,

he cannot have imagined today's urbanity in the middle of the amur wilderness.

Today one century after the first bridge was built across the Amur,

Khabarovsk is a modern city numbering more than half a million Russians

from all over the former Soviet Union.

Khabarovsk is a frontier town in more than one sense,

located at the confluence of two border rivers the Amur and the Ussuri,

It marks the border between Russia and China.

It also separates the Amur's lower and middle reaches with endless pristine woodland stretching downstream

and wild wetlands and floodplains sprawling upstream.

From here onward over two thousand kilometers

The river itself is the borderline between Russia and China

Perhaps inspired by the way the river slowly writhes like a creature from an ancient legend.

Here the Amur has a Chinese alias: Heilong Jiang the black dragon.

(This English subtitle was automatically made by Youtube and synchronized, correted by Tepriu) ---- End of episode 1 of 3 ----