All language subtitles for s01e05 The Great Flood.eng

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: The power of the sun
drives the seasons,

transforming our planet.

Vast movements of ocean and air currents

bring dramatic change
throughout the year.

And in a few special places,
these seasonal changes

create some of the greatest
wildlife spectacles on Earth.

One of the most
remarkable transformations

occurs here in Southern Africa,
in the desert lands of the Kalahari.

Large herds of animals trek for months
in search of food and water,

waiting for an event that will
dramatically change their lives.

For once a year, life-giving water
turns an area of unforgiving desert

into a vast, watery paradise
known as the Okavango.

Where and when the Okavango will flood

determines the fate
of millions of animals,

making this one of
nature's truly great events.

In the heart of Southern Africa,
the desert lands of the Kalahari

cover an area
of almost 400,000 square miles.

It's one of driest places on Earth,

yet miraculously, great herds
of grazing animals survive here.

They lead a nomadic existence,

trekking huge distances
in search of food and water.

It's the start of the dry season.
It won't rain for eight months,

and so life, already hard,
is about to get even harder.

Of all the animals here,

perhaps the most resourceful
are the elephants.

Each family is led by an older female,
the matriarch,

and they all rely on her experience
to guide them through the desert.

Her years here have taught
this matriarch that, one day,

hundreds of miles to the west,
she will find a lush grassland.

But before she will find it,

her family will have to survive
many months in the desert.

The water that could
transform their lives

has its origins a thousand miles away,

in the rain clouds
over the highlands of Angola.

(THUNDER CRASHES)

The rain is so plentiful
it has the power to transform a desert.

It cascades southwards, not to the sea,
but into the heart of the Kalahari,

towards a basin shaped like a hand

known as the Okavango.

Here it will fill the swamp
that lies at its entrance.

And only if the rains
have been plentiful

will water flood out
onto the arid plains beyond,

transforming them
into the grassland paradise

that the herds so badly need.

Out in the desert, the elephants
need to find water every three days.

Thirsty elephants often race into pools,

but the matriarch knows
that her family must not rush in.

This pool is stagnant,

and the elephants have a trick
that deals with that.

Sediment settles to the bottom,

and the cleaner, fresher water
lies on the surface.

They skim it carefully from the top.

Then, as gently as elephants can,
they move forward slowly,

trying not to disturb
the stagnant layers.

But precious water like this
draws in herds from far and wide.

In the exuberance of a greeting
all their careful work is undone.

When bulls are forced together
by the need for water,

tempers can flare.

At this time of year,
food and water can often be far apart.

And so, now that
the little ones are refreshed,

the family has to head off to find food.

The distant Okavango plains that
they're heading for are still dry,

and getting even drier.

Trapped catfish
struggle in a shrinking pool.

And the burning sun
is not their only enemy.

(CAWING)

An opportunity like this
attracts eagles from many miles away.

Usually, they dive and snatch fish
from the surface of the water,

but in this drought
they won't have to work so hard.

These are prized catches.

Marabou storks and jackals
muscle in on the leftovers.

But even with this bounty of fish,

it's in an eagle's nature to
steal a meal rather than catch its own.

And all this squabbling
gives the marabou a chance.

Got it!

Only the return of the flood
can save these fish now.

All around these pools,

the grass on the Okavango plains
continues to wither and die.

But there's still some nourishment
left in the leaves,

and millions of tiny mouths
make the most of what remains.

Termites chop the dead grass
and drag it underground

to feed their colony.

They play a crucial role,

helping to return nutrients
to these poor soils.

But now,
taking the last, precious grass,

they leave dust and sand in its place.

With the grazing animals
dispersed far and wide,

it's leaner times for predators here.

Only a desperate leopard
would tackle a porcupine.

This youngster is about
to meet double trouble.

The only place to get a bite
is on their undersides.

But the porcupines work together
to watch each others' backs.

The leopard will have to flip one over.

Pin-sharp quills can easily snap off
and become embedded in flesh.

It's a highly effective defence
that can also be turned into attack.

It's a harsh lesson,

but with luck and a bit of healing time,
there'll be no lasting damage.

Two hundred miles away,

the pulse of life-giving water
has now reached the swampland

at the entrance to the Okavango.

Here, thick beds of papyrus
act like a sponge,

slowing the water's progress.

The swamp can take months to fill,

and only then, if there is enough water,

can it overflow and rejuvenate
the plains on which the herds depend.

Far to the east,

the matriarch elephants have
led their families to desert woodlands.

It seems an odd place to come -
there's no sign of food

and there's little shade for the calves.

But elephants can do something unusual.

They can eat and digest
seemingly lifeless branches.

The youngsters need to learn
that dry sticks are nutritious,

and that there is moisture in the bark.

But bark won't feed the youngest calves.

They need to drink
1 5 litres of milk a day,

so their mothers desperately
need water as well as food.

Exhaustion has got the better
of one young female.

But she won't get the chance
to rest for long.

The next waterhole
could be 30 miles away,

and the whole herd needs to get moving.

Back on the Okavango plains,

the last remnants of grass
are going up in smoke.

It's bad news
for the few grazers that remain.

A few birds collect
the escaping insects.

But fires don't help those
who need to eat grass here and now.

The Okavango plains
are at their most desolate.

Yet, out in the desert,

the elephant herds
are heading towards them.

The matriarchs guide their families
along the maze of trails

to the next waterhole.

And this time there's no hanging about.

It soon turns into a mud bath.

But elephants have a use
for the mud, too,

for mud acts both as a sunscreen
and an insect repellent.

Buffalo have learned to
follow the elephant trails to water.

There is a clear pecking order here.

Elephants take priority,

and zebra are the last in the line.

(SNUFFLING)

Even when young bulls
have drunk their fill,

they still torment the buffalo.

And they definitely know
which end to aim for.

By the time the herds face
their final trek across open desert,

the swamp has filled.

The channels which lead out
onto the parched plains

get their first,
welcome trickle of water.

Amazingly, when the plains
are at their driest,

fresh water from a distant land
spills into the parched river beds.

First it fills the dry channels,

leaving the baked plains on either side
hard and dry.

All along the route
it finds empty pools to fill.

And now, these pools
become magnets for birds,

which flock here
from the surrounding desert lands.

Red-billed quelea can now
collect those grass seeds

that the termites have missed.

For most of the year,
the quelea are nomadic,

and it's this freedom
to follow the water

that helps make quelea one of
the most numerous birds on Earth.

As the water fills the Okavango,

animals that have survived
in shrinking waterholes

begin to move in.

Female hippos
gather in the best territories.

And this male is prepared
to fight for one.

Only a dominant bull
will mate with the females,

and the current chieftain
isn't prepared to give way.

(GRUNTS)

The intimidation begins.

When neither backs down,
there can be only one outcome.

Fights can go on for hours
and can be to the death.

Forward-pointing tusks can
stab right through protective blubber.

This savage bite to the head
brings the contest to an end.

The incumbent has re-established
his right to mate with the females,

and he wastes no time.

This is a prime territory,

and he will face many more challenges
if he is to continue to hold it.

The loser is badly injured.

Hippos can die from infected wounds,

but this young male is fit
and should survive.

Ox-peckers are a mixed blessing.

They keep his wounds clean,
but they also keep them open.

Fresh water continues to pump
through the Okavango plains,

bringing life wherever it flows.

But out in the Kalahari,
water is now almost impossible to find.

A matriarch has led her family
many miles,

only to find the waterhole empty.

This year the drought is gripping hard.

Each matriarch
encourages her family onward.

The calves' lives depend on her.

And with pools so scarce now,

even when she finds water,
they won't be drinking alone.

At this time of year, some lion prides
base themselves around waterholes,

and they're always
on the lookout for a meal.

But the elephants' desperate need
to drink outweighs the risk.

The mothers are producing less milk,
and the calves are weak.

The adults try to shield them
from watchful eyes.

It's an uneasy stand-off.

In daylight, the elephants
should have nothing to fear.

The lions creep as close as they dare,
as they too try to drink.

One mistake from an elephant
and the lions could attack.

Big cats keep tired elephants
on their toes.

(TRUMPETING)

While the desert experiences
the peak of the drought,

the meandering network of channels
in the Okavango

is finally brimful.

They are ready to overflow.

Fish gather, ready to ride the flood
as a miracle begins to materialise.

And the barrier of desert sand
seems to dissolve in the magical water.

Under cloudless Kalahari skies,

fresh, sweet water at last
begins to bathe the parched plains.

Millions upon millions of litres
surge over the banks.

This is what the fish
have been waiting for.

New life returns.

And as the water
soaks deep into the sand,

it stirs dormant animals into life.

Others are more forcibly evicted.

It's all fresh food,
a banquet ready for the feasting.

Water birds follow the advancing front,
making the most of the sudden harvest.

The plains soon teem with life.

But not all are here to feed.

Some have come to breed.

No one knows where they've come from,

but within moments
of the flood's arrival,

tens of thousands of dragonflies
appear at the water's edge.

The vivid red male leads his partner
in a magical dance,

guiding her to lay their eggs
in the shallows.

The flood spills ever onwards,

until it finally reaches
the outer fringes of the Okavango.

The catfish, miraculously,
still cling to life.

Within moments, the life-giving power
of fresh water revitalises them.

And now, on the plains
that appeared so lifeless,

some of the most beautiful
and colourful changes occur.

Within days,
fields of lilies burst into life.

They provide pollen for the early bees,
and a hiding place for reed frogs.

And it's only now that the most
crucial gift of the flood, the grass

that the desert herds need so badly,
begins to grow.

Hippos bulldoze their way
towards the sprouting grasslands,

their paths opening up new arteries
that help keep the water flowing.

In just a few weeks,

thousands of square miles
of dry desert plains

are turned into
a watery green grassland.

The network of hippo paths
benefits all kinds of other animals,

from predatory crocodiles
to the grazing herds.

This fresh grass is what the elephants,
and indeed all the grazing animals,

have been waiting for.

Their pace quickens.

For months, they have only known
the dry smell of the desert.

And now, they can catch the scent
of fresh grass in the wind.

Red lechwe are the first
to take advantage of the young shoots.

The lions are no threat here.

They're not very fast in water,
and their prey seem to know it.

Lechwe revel in the safety
the flood brings.

Soon they will be joined
by the herds of elephant and buffalo.

And the lions seem to know
they're not far away.

Baboons don't enjoy
getting their feet wet,

but the banquet of flowers
and juicy snails is just irresistible.

But they are at
their most vulnerable here

from lurking crocodiles,

so they keep an ever-watchful eye.

Babies just cling on tight
and hope the water doesn't get too deep.

At their feet, the flooded plains
are now a vast fish nursery,

teeming with life.

Predatory fish follow.

But they too will have to be wary.

For the Okavango now puts on
one of the finest bird shows

to be seen anywhere in the world.

The rising waters
create thousands of tiny islands.

Safe from predators, surrounded by fish,

these are the perfect place
to raise chicks.

This is the miracle of the Okavango.

Once a year,
it provides a magical time of plenty

at the height of the dry season,
in the middle of a desert.

Only now, with the grasslands
at their most productive,

do the great herds arrive,

and they've timed it to perfection.

The herds grow larger
as elephant families and buffalo

converge from all over the desert.

But as they all get closer
to the flooded grassland,

there is one final challenge to face.

Lions have chosen this thick cover
to lay their ambushes.

Their favourite prey is the buffalo.

Adult buffalo are powerful
and can easily trample lions,

so the lionesses seek out weaker calves
that fall behind the herd.

A nervous buffalo mother
spots their approach

and the herd stampedes.

One lioness takes a gamble,
moving in on a well-protected calf.

The buffalo close ranks,

and suddenly,
the lionesses beat a hasty retreat.

(ROARING)

In the panic, calves are
separated from their mothers.

Amid the confusion,
a lioness darts in and grabs one.

Many buffalo will fall to lions here.

Lions are opportunists,

and even an unguarded elephant calf
can be vulnerable.

The elephants are nervous.

The scent of lion is all around,
yet they can't see them.

A lioness is following them,

trying to separate the young straggler
from the herd.

(TRUMPETING)

One adolescent fights back,
confronting its enemy.

In a panic, the family stampedes.

The straggler is taken.

After months of arduous trekking,

this elephant family has lost
one of its young ones.

But most of the elephants,
at last, have made it through,

and the great flood awaits.

Older elephants have been here
many times before,

but the newest calves have never seen
so much refreshment.

At last, they get that first drink
of sweet, fresh water.

Thousands of buffalo and zebra

have also made it
to the magical Okavango wetlands.

Somehow, these remarkable elephants
have learned how to find a flood

from hundreds of miles away,
and to time their arrival just right.

If it wasn't for this annual gift
of precious grass,

the herds couldn't
survive the dry season

in the surrounding Kalahari.

This year the Great Flood
has lived up to its name.

The lives of these elephants

are dominated by this annual rhythm
of wet and dry,

a seasonal cycle
driven by the power of the sun.

The Okavango River
has no great lake to flow into,

nor does it ever reach the sea.

Its life-giving waters simply evaporate

into the great emptiness
of the Kalahari sky.

In a few months,
some may fall as rain far to the north,

and, once again,

become part of this miraculous event
in the Okavango,

that is the Great Flood.

In the making of ''The Great Flood'',

the biggest challenge
for the filming team

was to capture the magical moment

when new floodwater
first transformed the desert.

But to do this would mean crossing

some of the most challenging terrain
in the world,

pitting themselves against
the very water they'd come to film.

We're right in
the heart of the delta right now.

The flood's been in here
for a couple of weeks,

but the real action's
happening out west,

across 20 kilometres of deep swampland.

And our mission right now
is to get this crane rig out there

to where the action's really happening,

and see if we can get a great new
perspective on the flood coming in.

ATTENBOROUGH: To achieve this new look,

the team were using
some of the latest camera technology.

But first they had to find
the advancing flood,

and the only way to do this
was from the air.

Mike has worked here
for more than 20 years,

and knows that this will be
a race against time.

The flood was already well advanced,

and wasn't going to wait
for a film crew.

Mike pinpointed the water's edge,

and on his way back,
laid a GPS trail to follow.

The flight took only 20 minutes,

but it would take the ground crew
at least three days or more

to get there.

And there was no guarantee
they'd get through the swamps.

-Are you watching for crocodiles?
-Yeah.

Okay, good.

ATTENBOROUGH: Fortunately,
at this cooler time of year,

crocodiles are less active
and wouldn't pose a serious threat.

The reason Richard's wading
in crocodile-infested waters

is that we're on this side,
and we need to be on the other side,

and he's wading
so that we can see how deep it is

for this vehicle to cross.

ATTENBOROUGH: These trucks
are specially adapted

to cope with such extreme conditions.

They can drive in water
up to seven feet deep,

and cross all but the boggiest terrain.

Unfortunately, not all the equipment
fared so well.

I don't think this is gonna be
much use to anyone.

ATTENBOROUGH: But even the vehicles
weren't immune to such punishing use.

Problems always arise
when you least expect it.

This truck, which is our swamp truck,

has decided

to give us problems again.

The dif has basically collapsed on us.

We're running out of daylight
at the moment,

so we got to swap this out.

ATTENBOROUGH: To film here,
you have to be a jack of all trades,

a filmmaker, a tracker and a mechanic.

Despite some on-the-spot bush repairs,
a replacement part had to be ordered in.

Hello.

(GROANS)

It's going to be a long night
in the bush.

ATTENBOROUGH: All the crew could do now
was wait.

With the nearest garage
over two days away by truck,

there was only one way
the new part could be delivered.

Now the crew could get back on the road
and start making up for lost time.

-Are you all right?
-MAN: Yeah, I'm good.

ATTENBOROUGH: But they would have
to choose their route carefully.

The best way to pick a path
is where the elephants cross,

because they've got regular routes
that are the shallowest places.

But often where they've crossed,
it's churned up the mud as well,

so we try and stay slightly off
to the edge of the path.

But once you get into
the middle of that,

it's just hope like hell and keep going.

Because it's probably deep
and very soggy in the middle.

Okay, this is getting a bit silly.
We're officially stuck.

ATTENBOROUGH: Mike's concerns
proved well-founded.

The shallower route
was simply too boggy.

That left the crew with no choice
but to tackle the longer, deeper route,

and hold their nerve.

MAN: It's coming over your windows.

(EXCLAIMS) I'm getting wet.

(EXCLAIMS) Water's coming in!

It's a little damp in here now.

That was interesting,
but we made it across the swamp!

ATTENBOROUGH: Success!

Mike and the team
had finally got ahead of the flood.

They were now
in a truly privileged position,

ready to capture
the amazing transformation

that was about to unfold.

Okay, so drop the camera
over the middle of the pool there.

The flood had arrived.

Here it comes.

Three, two, one...

ATTENBOROUGH: Using cranes and specially
developed close-up camera systems,

the Nature's Great Events team
could finally set about

bringing the advancing flood to life.

This is one of
those magical transformation moments,

where you've got a landscape
which is asleep that way,

and you've got the flood,
which is like the catalyst

which is going to
bring the landscape to life.

And it's happening right in front of us,
which is amazing.

And we've got a bit of macro kit

that exists nowhere else in the world,

and we're able to just follow it
at the really tiniest level.

ATTENBOROUGH: This was the Great Flood,

but filmed on a scale
that had never been seen before.

Seems like my hole is filling up.

I'm going to get wet, Rick. I'm going to
drown in three inches of water.

ATTENBOROUGH: Each year, the magical
flood rewards Mike with something new.

Despite years of filming here,
he'd never seen so many dragonflies.

It's amazing, that, isn't it?

Have you ever watched
this happen before?

It is amazing.

I mean, you think this is going on
all over the delta.

Miles and miles and miles
of water just spreading everywhere

at this rate.

Incredible.

ATTENBOROUGH: And the team
had managed to capture

just a tiny part of it,

revealing in intimate detail
the character of the Great Flood.

Repair and Synchronization by
Easy Subtitles Synchronizer 1.0.0.0