Original subtitles

This is one of our planet's biggest rivers

Yet it's still a mystery.

When it reaches the wild shore of the North Pacific.

It has completed a 5.000 kilometer journey

through Manchuria's sprawling wetlands

Alive with colonies of waterfowl

Siberia's woodlands with a thousand untamed rivers

teeming with wildlife

and the rolling grasslands under Mongolia's big skies,

bordering on Eurasia's largest desert

Along its upper reaches two rivers claim to be its headwaters

Both spring from a sacred place

One is a grassland river forever struggling against the desert

The other its banks forever lined with luxurious green

This is a story of unequal twins

and a quest for the true source of the Amur,

Asia's Amazon.

AMUR, ASIA'S AMAZON

THE HOLY SOURCES

For two thousand kilometers,

the Amur river's middle course forms the Chinese-Russian border

The further upstream,

the wilder, the woodlands on either side.

The border ends at a confluence the most significant of the entire river system

These are the westernmost tributaries of the huge river system

The Amur's headwaters,

Shilka and Argun are two woodland rivers

A pair of nearly identical twins

From their banks

primeval boreal forest and bogs spread out into three countries

China, Russia and Mongolia

This cross-border woodland is one of the wildest places on earth

In these northern forests along the Amur's headwaters.

The top predator is the wolf

Downstream, the wild boars belonged to the tiger alone.

But here wild boar are chased and ambushed by asia's equivalent of Canada's timber-wolves.

In may strange clacking sounds echo through the underbrush

Reminiscent of Spanish castanets

Black bill capercaillie have gathered on their traditional flat.

The males go to great lengths to impress the hens

Almost all the hens feel attracted to the one magnificent and boisterous male at the center of the flat.

The hierarchy among the males has been established in violent battles before the winter

Now the male energy goes into display

The most wanted male never gets a rest in his quarters more and more hens are lining up

They all want the same

the best possible genes for their offspring.

The hens wait patiently for their turn

From the fork upstream the two headwaters of the Amur river run almost parallel for several hundred through uniform woodlandskilometers

It's hard to tell whether one is traveling up the northern or the southern twin

and nothing indicates which might be the longer one

the rightful source river of the Amur

More than 4 000 kilometers in land, clouds from the Pacific still bring sufficient rain to nurture lush woodland

But further south the woodland fades away

and it becomes obvious that the two rivers flow from different directions,

even from very different worlds

In Mongolia, the southern twin of the Amur's headwaters is called Kherlen

Along the Kherlen trees are scarce.

This is a land of big skies and distant horizons.

The Mongolian steppe is the planet's vastest grassland.

Towards south it blends into the Gobi desert

How can this dry land bring forth a river

This could be Asia's Serengeti.

Each year a million Mongolian gazelles migrate across the plains.

stretching along the Amur's upper reaches

Some herds number 10.000 individuals

Once they have left their wintering grounds

Nothing can stop their epic journey

Where are they headed?

for hundreds of kilometers hills and valleys roll on in green monotony

But the herds are traveling towards a special destination.

Following changing routes from year to year

depending on the changing climate

The animals are moving fast resting only briefly to graze.

They get all the water they need from dew on the grass

Most of the females are pregnant

Then one morning the herds slows down.

This is the place they had in mind all along

Gazelles are not the only nomads here

Mongolian herdsmen are also on the move and have been for thousands of years yielding to the rhythm this land dictates

The only way to make a living here is grazing

Domestic herds need water and must stay near the river

In contrast to the gazelles but both depend on ever fresh pastures

Mongolia is a land with hardly a road

Yet the people of the grasslands enjoy unlimited mobility

For nomads, home is a mobile home

perfectly adjusted to these wide open spaces.

Neighborhood is anywhere near the river,

where the grazing is good

Once a suitable spot has been chosen

it takes a family just an hour or two to settle down

Over a thousand years the Mongolian yet was developed to such perfection

That it has remained completely unchanged for several centuries

A tarp of camel and goat hair felt keeps the interior pleasantly cool during the short summer weeks.

and cozy during mongolia's long bitter winters

Nomadic herding requires wide open spaces

and if this empty landscape has anything to offer it's space

Mongolia is five times the size of Germany with only a twentieth of its population.

Since the days of Genghis Khan

and that's 800 years not much has changed out here

Who knows for how much longer they will stay in the saddle

In the middle of the steppe's immensity

There is only one place that may get crowded

The waterfront of the Kherlen river.

Demoiselle cranes are not amused when horses trample across their nesting ground

All along the river every few hundred meters

Another pair of cranes has staked to claim

Their clutch on the bare ground is always at risk

Horses are not known for their caution

Eventually the horses get the message.

Two eggs that's the treasure they have to guard.

If they were destroyed it would take another year until they could breed again

The summer is too short for a second brood

Both sexes take turns in keeping the eggs warm

Pairs usually stay together for many years.

The steppy may seem empty

but there are many neighbors

and not all of them are worrisome

Until a few days ago

the young steppy marmot stayed underground

Now they are old enough to explore their sunny surroundings

Marmots dig their burrows on higher ground

where they are safe from floods

and have a good overview.

This may not look like a crowded place,

but look again

Duck down in the grass are thousands of newly born gazelle calves

being invisible is their only protection

Their mothers leave them there all day

These are the calving grounds of the Mongolian gazelles

The only place where the herds stay put for a week until the calves are ready to run with the mothers.

Once a day thousands of mothers find their calves to suckle them

Each calf recognizes its mother by her voice

The young step marmots always have their mothers close

As long as the marmot and gazelle mothers are relaxed the little ones feel safe

This is one of the most peaceful places on earth

That's why the calves are born here

but as soon as the calves can run the herd moves on again

on the first great journey of their lives

In a land with no trees even birds which usually nest in lofty heights are born and raised on the ground

Three siblings in a steppy eagle nest

That's only possible in a year of abundance

For steppe eagles abundance means many marmots and ground squirrels within their radius of action

The number of predators always depends on the number of animals they can hunt

A mild winter has allowed marmots and ground squirrels to produce such numerous offspring

and that effect is moving up the food chain

The nestling's chances of survival depends on their parents hunting skills

Experienced parents succeed more often in passing on both their genes and their skills to the next generation

Young marmots also profit from their parent's experience

Older mothers can better judge what is a safe borrowing site.

In contrast to marmots, ground squirrels live in large colonies

their young stay underground much longer

Four siblings to suckle.

That puts enormous stress on a mother

for several weeks she has to produce lots of milk and eat as much as she can.

Her meals are hasty never relaxed

Ground squirrels and marmots always scan the sky

The eagles on their part constantly monitor all the dens in their territory

It is a battle of the senses

A relentless competition of many eyes

Straying too far from home is a mistake

The margin for mistakes is small for both prey and hunter

The Kherlen, the southern branch of the Amur's headwaters is a dynamic river constantly renewing itself

Each time the river rises it takes a fresh bite from the steppy creating new habitats for myriads of animals

In sharp river bends thousands of san martins will then dig new tunnels into fresh clean declines

some riverbanks are riddled with hundreds of such tubes

The fine damp sand of the steppy is the perfect building material

soft enough for tunneling and solid enough for the tunnels to last until the young birds become fledglings

The nestlings grow rapidly

from hatching to flying they only take 20 days

to achieve this they have to eat non-stop.

The lush grazing along the riverbank keeps herds of cattle nearby

And where there is livestock and dung

The air buzzes with flies so the parent birds can deliver a meal every few minutes

This is a super productive neighborhood based on the perfect interaction of river and soil

Wildlife and livestock

A delicate equilibrium which only exists as long as the river is flowing

But that can't be taken for granted

Along this narrow green band meandering through the grassland

the harsh character of the Mongolian steppy is easily forgotten

But away from the river shades of brown will soon dominate

The green depends on how far inland the rain clouds will reach

for much of the year the clouds never make it this far

and every three decades or so there are years without any rainfall whatsoever

This is a land of extremes allowing only the most resilient to survive

Summer droughts can quickly push life to the edge

Winter is just as harsh

Sandstorms blend into snowstorms

for half the year icy gales make the Kherlen flood plains inhospitable trong nửa năm những trận cuồng phong buốt giá

The best place to sit out the winter is upstream

At the southern base of the mountains

In the lee of arctic northerlies

the gazelles take refuge

by now the calves have grown up

and are hard to tell from the adults

The nomads too put up their yards here

In summer they let their herds roam freely

But now they keep them closer to their camps in fear of the steppe's monstrous blizzards

The southern slopes offer more sun and less wind

In the open plains gales can be deadly

When the wind begins to pick up the herdsmen hurry to round up their livestock

In a blizzard the wind is not the only menace

The wolves are here because the gazelles are here

and black vultures are here because of both

Wolves and gazelles together that's what vultures are looking for

All three are keenly aware of each other's presence

Bactrian camels with their thick wool and enormous body mass

seem to be the only ones indifferent to the icy temperatures

that often drop to a breath stopping 45 degrees below zero

When they feel a hellish night approaching they simply stand together stoically

and this sky has hell written all over it

driven by gale force winds the snow is sharp like ground glass

It's this kind of night the wolves have been waiting for

as the storm picks up the gazelles can hardly breathe, hear or see.

The wolves close in

The gazelles panic knowing the wolves are close Linh dương hoảng loạng

but where?

coming from every side it seems

The gazelle's flight is literally senseless

At daybreak the wolves have vanished.

The black vultures have just been waiting for this morning to arrive

These are among the world's biggest birds

Here in the steppe they live on frozen meat for half the year

The harshest of winters is their season of plenty

Thanks to the wolves a pair of black vultures will defend their territory and their meals together

They are partners for life

For more than half the year rivers and lakes are frozen solid

The air is as dry as in the middle of the Gobi desert

People and fish are the only ones out here who depend on liquid water to survive

On sunny windless days the herdsmen go out to fetch river ice to be melted

Little by little by the fire in the yurt

The water storage has to last for a while

There will be days when it's impossible to leave the yurt because of the gales

For thousands of years bactrian camels have been the best and often the only means of transport in central Asia.

The climate can hardly get more continental than here in the cold dry steppes of Mongolia

There are only two seasons and the change comes overnight

After half a year of bitter cold all living things yearn for summer.

But some summers on the Kherlen river are even harsher than Mongolian winters

Plants and animals have not only been longing for warmth but also for water

But every 30 years or so the long narrow oasis of the Kherlen struggles against the encroaching desert

When fewer and fewer clouds from the Pacific reach the heart of the continent, the Kherlen is in for lean years

The death gets more severe with each summer

Until the river slowly dries up

Where millions of fish have thrived for well over a decade

The countless lakes and ponds along the Kherlen are now sucked dry by desert winds

when the desert invades the steppe, only salt crusts are the only bitter reminders of vanished wetlands

The last remnants of water are bitter unfit to drink

Where morning mists used to drift along the river

The wind now drives salty dust across the steppe

During such years of drought the Gobi desert creeps north and eastward

The Kherlen, the Amur's longest headwater has run dry. Sông Kherlen, dòng đầu nguồn

Now the one remaining headwater of the Amur river

It is the Onon, the northern twin is shorter than the southern one

But it's the reliable one of the two

Along its valley summers are always green

This is South Siberia near the Mongolian border

When the Kherlen's wetlands dry up

Many animals migrate to the wetlands of the Onon

Where amphibians and fish are safe from the 30 year cycle of boom and bust

Grebes and coots ducks and teals, terns and plovers cranes and geese all gather in one of the planet's liveliest riverscapes

Along the Onon's green band of active river arms, oxbows, islands and bogs

wetland dwellers can survive the drought years that plague the south những cư dân đất ngập nước có thể sống qua

During such years otter territories up north can get crowded

putting amphibians under pressure.

birds can quickly react to a drought and shift their breeding grounds from south to north for a few years

The climate cycle keeps animals on the move and forces them to adjust and readjust

For most of its length the onon runs through Russian territory

On its banks Russian pioneers built a village

They have been here for three centuries

Far from any city, paved road or railway are more than 5.000 kilometers east of Russia's capital

This outpost is still self-sufficient

A generous nature supplies whatever the people need

Life out here has not changed much over time

it's never been extravagant

There's no need for a nomadic lifestyle along the Onon

For 200 years before the trans-siberian railway was built

Boat traffic along the Amur river was the lifeline that connected Russia's pioneer communities of the wild east

In summer traders and troops travelled on water

In winter on solid ice

Long distance migration is still going on

Under the river's surface,

fishes from the Amur's middle course come a long way to the upper reaches to spawn

The fast-flowing Onon with its pure cold and oxygen rich water

and its gravelly riverbed offers ideal conditions for eggs and larvae

The biggest of these migrants is the Tai men

Taimen reach a length of one and a half meters and weigh 40 kilos

This pair has already chosen an attractive spawning dell in the riverbed

A good spawning spot should have rough gravel with pebbles

Just the right size to hold the eggs and with just the right force of current to keep them free of sand and silt

Good vibrations male and female synchronize their bodies in order to simultaneously release eggs and sperm

Gravel plays a major role in the life of the Onon river

Underwater as well as above

Along the river's upper reaches gravel is what habitats are made of

The ringed plover could be called a gravel bird

It breeds on bare gravel its camouflage blends into gravel

and it feeds in gravel finding tiny worms and crustaceans

Young plovers can run and find their own food from the moment they hatch from their eggs

This gives their parents a chance to relax and preen in the sun

But as soon as clouds darken the sky

The chicks come running for a warm-up

This is one of the Onon's natural wonders,

an eight-legged bird.

In mid-summer millions and millions of fish larvae hatch from their eggs

All along the Amur's northern headwater

Soon the shallows are swarming with fry

For local fish like Amur minnow,

a multitude of migrant fry means opulence

voraciously they invade the taimen and trout spawning grounds

The minnows wait for the current to wash out eggs and for larvae to hatch

They may devour up thousands of eggs but as long as the Onon river remains natural and productive

Millions of larvae will still continue to fill the amur's middle reaches with life

The life of a great wild river has its ups and downs

Some are extreme, some come in regular cycles

After years of drought along the southern twin of the Amur's headwaters

The dry spell is broken

Once again a sweeping Pacific cloud front pushes inland across the clear blue skies

advancing all the way to the Mongolian steppe

The downpours can be massive

within days the parched grasslands turn green

Herds can return water brings back life

Hundreds of lakes are filling up

The Kherlen, the southern twin is a headwater once again

The news spreads fast between clouds and river,

tens of thousands of migrants arrive to take advantage of what may be the opportunity of their lifetime

Once again wetlands are spreading out

After years without offspring wildlife is making a fresh start

Young animals are everywhere

Wildlife populations are growing from year to year until all good habitat is occupied

The young Demoiselle cranes stay with their parents through the entire summer

The parents show them the best feeding grounds meadows full of little reptiles

In autumn they will lead them on their first long journey

from Mongolia across the Himalayas all the way to India

After years of dusty monochrome bursts of bright colours light up the floodplains and the sandy steppe

Fire lilies, primulas, orchids and steppy iris,

their roots and bulbs all have survived the dry years deep in the sand

waiting for the rains to trigger their fireworks

The wetlands of the Amur's two headwaters play an important role in the migration patterns of many birds.

On their long journeys the migrants need resting places where they can safely refuel

Among these birds the swan geese stand out

Their feeding habits are unique,

they dig deep craters into the mud to get to the tender roots of bog plants

No other bird competes for this food source

In contrast avocets scan the shallows near the bank for small crustaceans and aquatic insects

This way there is no competition and plenty of food for all

Black-tailed godwits poke deeply into the fine silt for mollusks and worms

The migrants stop for just a few days before and behind them are journeys of thousands of kilometers

But the Kherlen itself a river running through hundreds of kilometers of arid steppe where does it come from

And the northern branch of the Amur river's headwaters,

The Onon where is its source

Upstream the unequal brothers begin to look like real twins again impossible to tell apart

and indeed they spring from the very same mountain

It is the highest elevation far and wide densely wooded at its base, its valleys secluded and nearly inaccessible

This summit is the true source of the Amur river

A Mongol holy mountain near the Russian border

A forbidden place known only to its keepers

Mighty demons are said to watch over this source of water and life

This is where Genghis Khan, Father of the Mongols was born and lies buried

Before he died he decreed this to be holy ground

Its wild nature never to be touched

For eight centuries the Mongols have respected the Khan's command

The sacred mountain of Genghis Khan milks the very last clouds drifting inland from the Pacific

and feeds the two source rivers of the Amur

These rivers link the arid steppe of Mongolia to the pristine woodlands of Siberia and Northern China

From their confluence downstream the Amur river runs through the planet's largest unbroken forests

The river soon gathers momentum

An immense network of streams, tributaries of all degrees

draining an enormous catchment area pours more and more water and sediment into the Amur's swelling main channel

Along its middle course the Amur forms the world's longest river border

with Russia's endless wetlands and wild woods along the left bank

On the bank opposite China's richest farmland feeding millions of people

Flowing north from the border the Amur becomes the biggest river in Russia's Far East,

Near the Pacific in steaming summers animals from the subtropics meet with others from Siberia

The stately Amur drains into the Okhotsk sea

which boasts the richest ecosystem of the Pacific ocean

and this is not the end of the river's journey

The big cycle begins anew with Pacific clouds drifting inland

and feeding the Amur's network of waterways, Asia's Amazon.

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