All language subtitles for Eden.Untamed.Planet.series.1.2of6.Namib.Skeleton.Coast.and.Beyond.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org

NARRATOR:
In the South West of Africa,

where Namibia meets
the Atlantic Ocean,

lies the Namib,

a desert half the size
of Oklahoma.

In this remote and arid realm,

temperatures can exceed
120 degrees.

In places, annual rainfall

is less than a quarter inch.

Seemingly untouched by humans

in 55 million years or more,

this timeless desert,

possibly the oldest on Earth,

has given rise to more life

than any other.

Strange and marvelous
specialists...

share this wondrous Eden

with giants.

ELEPHANTS TRUMPETING

NARRATOR:
From its Skeleton Coast...

SQUEALS

NARRATOR:
...through the sea of sand...

to the haze
of distant mountains...

this apparently
forbidding desert

hides secret water sources.

And if you know where to look,

enough moisture can be found
to survive...

even thrive.

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

NARRATOR:
There are still places on Earth

that remain pristine.

Where wildlife flourishes.

These are the last regions
that could be called...

Eden.

This land appears to be so dry

that it's almost inconceivable

that it could be an Eden...

and yet, it is.

This is the only desert

that supports
a population of lions.

GROWLING

NARRATOR:
Closely monitored by scientists,

this five-year-old female
has been living alone

these past months.

She hasn't eaten for a week.

Her solitary prowling

may take her
up to 50 miles a day

in search of prey.

And finally,
she's caught up with a herd

of the only antelope

that can survive
the intense heat of the dunes.

BLEATING

NARRATOR:
South African oryx.

BLEATING

NARRATOR:
As many as 100,000 live here.

A system of blood vessels

under their
black and white faces

allows them to keep cool heads

when others can't.

GROWLS SOFTLY

NARRATOR: Standing nearly
4 feet tall at the shoulder...

they outweigh her by 100 pounds.

And those yard-long rapier horns

have been known
to impale a lion.

Without cover
to hide an approach,

the odds are stacked
against her.

GRUNTS

NARRATOR:
Over distance,

she can't outpace an oryx.

In a sprint,

she has the edge.

GRUNTS

NARRATOR: But only
if she can close the gap

to 50 feet or less.

SQUEALS

NARRATOR:
Once oryx get into their stride

at 40 miles per hour...

further pursuit is futile.

In the fine balance
between predator and prey,

the scales have tipped
in favor of the antelope...

for now.

By midday, temperatures
exceed 110 degrees.

SOFT GROWLING

NARRATOR:
If she launched an attack now,

she'd face heat exhaustion.

But she's survived this long

by listening to the rhythms
of the desert...

WIND BLOWING SOFTLY

NARRATOR:
In the early afternoon,

the sands begin to whisper.

As air is heated by the sun,
it rises...

and cooler air rushes in
to replace it.

The Namib's wind-whipped sand

skews the odds

to her advantage...

and she knows it.

WIND HOWLING

NARRATOR:
With oryx sheltering nearby,

once again
she must close the distance.

Now the drifting veil
blurs her outline.

BLEATS

NARRATOR:
The incessant hiss

muffles her footfalls.

WIND HISSING

BLEATS

GRUNTING

ORYX GRUNTING

LION ROARING

ORYX GRUNTS LOUDLY

NARRATOR:
This will supply the food

and, crucially,

the moisture a lion needs

for a week.

Uniquely, this desert

can even provide
for a big cat...

that's mastered
its mysterious ways

to triumph
in an age-old conflict.

Rolling plains make up
around half of the Namib.

They may look bone-dry
and barren...

but water still finds a way

to trigger new life
in this Eden.

This is a paradise

to the giant of the bird world.

Standing 8 feet tall...

the ostrich.

They may seem conspicuous
out here,

but mounted
on that periscope neck

are the largest eyeballs

of any land animal.

Bigger than their brains.

They can spot a predator

a mile away.

CHIRPING

NARRATOR: And since the Namib
provides scant cover

for would-be hunters,

ostriches abound here

in the tens of thousands.

Those featherless drumsticks
help radiate heat...

allowing these birds
to tolerate temperatures

of 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

With little or no competition,

they have the pick of the
juiciest insects and roots...

supplying them
with all the water they need.

But for this four-year-old male,
just coming of age...

it's females, not food,
that preoccupy him!

It takes succulent shoots

to sustain a brood of chicks.

And new vegetation

only arrives after rainfall.

Until then,

despite explicit advances...

he's got little hope
of breeding.

Yet...

his luck
could be about to change.

Storm clouds are gathering.

THUNDERCLAP

THUNDER CRACKS

NARRATOR:
A quarter inch of rainfall.

And it could be
all they get this year.

Still, it's enough.

The ostrich females

are now in the mood for romance.

Just what a lusty youngster
was hoping for.

# COMICAL MUSIC PLAYING

NARRATOR: But that's not
what she has in mind.

He doesn't know it yet...

but he's already lost
the mating game.

DEEP BOOMING CALL

DEEP BOOMING CALL

HONKS

DEEP BOOMING CALL

NARRATOR:
A booming amplified call

announces the arrival

of an alpha male.

DEEP BOOMING CALL

NARRATOR: That's how to make
a big hit with the hens.

All eyes are on him.

# ROMANTIC TANGO MUSIC PLAYING

NARRATOR:
Impeccable poise...

an elegantly executed
waft of the wing...

and a neck-dip to die for.

It's a shimmying showstopper
of a performance.

He scores a perfect ten.

Won over by his masterful moves,

a female lowers her wings
in acceptance.

He better start rehearsing
his song-and-dance routine.

He'll be ready
the next time the rains come...

in a year.

Maybe more.

Every desert yearns
for the promise of rain...

but in the Namib

it's the cue
for a magical display...

as seeds that have lain dormant
for up to 15 years...

turn desert
into wildflower meadows.

BIRDS CHIRPING

NARRATOR:
Far downstream,

another amazing transformation
takes place.

Sleeping riverbeds awaken...

and are flushed by rain

that may have fallen
two days ago...

over 150 miles away.

A long-awaited respite

from dust and drought.

For a female ostrich,

it's a baptism
for her new brood.

Now, even the largest animals
to walk the Earth

can quench a giant thirst.

Desert elephants.

ELEPHANTS TRUMPET

NARRATOR:
Around 150

have chosen to live
in the Namib.

Seeping away within days,

the runaway waters

are a fugitive memory.

But in this desert,

they continue
to make life possible.

GRUNTING

NARRATOR: It's said
that an elephant never forgets.

And to find their daily food,

this herd relies

on the 34-year-old matriarch...

GRUNTS

NARRATOR:
...and her powers of recall.

None more so than her calf.

In the driest years,

all calves may perish.

GRUNTS SOFTLY

NARRATOR: As she leads the herd
down a sunbaked riverbed...

things don't look promising.

But under their feet

lies another of the Namib's
secret water sources...

A hidden oasis.

An aquifer locks
surface rainwater

in the rock itself.

Throughout Namibia,
these underground reservoirs,

some of the largest
in the world,

sequester around
a third as much water

as flows in its rivers.

It may be more
than 100 feet down,

but one type of tree...

the Ana...

has roots long enough

to tap into
this precious groundwater.

LOUD GRUNT

NARRATOR:
And the matriarch knows

that their branches
are festooned

with succulent,
protein-rich pods.

The problem is...

someone got here first.

DEEP GRUNTING

NARRATOR:
A solitary bull.

At 14 feet tall...

plus that trunk...

he's plucked pretty much
all the pods

within his 20-foot reach.

GRUNTING

NARRATOR:
Just a few more up there.

GRUNTING

NARRATOR:
But the patient matriarch

knows she can make the most
of his impatience.

GRUNTS

NARRATOR: Pretty soon,
he'll get frustrated enough

to shake things up a little.

GRUNTS

NARRATOR:
At up to twice her weight,

he has the bulldozer-power

to dislodge all the pods
he needs...

and more.

This welcome shower of pods

does more than
whet their appetites.

It refuels the herd

for their commute
to the next food stop

the matriarch has in mind.

GRUNTING

NARRATOR:
Unlike other deserts...

the Namib's
life-sustaining groundwaters

have made possible

the seemingly miraculous
survival

of elephant families...

that pass down their wisdom

from generation to generation.

Beyond the dry riverbeds,
with their hidden aquifers...

the Namib's western realm

rolls away to the horizon.

This scorched land may never see
a drop of rain.

Braving the 120 degree
furnace heat...

a yearling black-backed jackal.

Leaving family behind,

at her age,

she has to forge a new life.

Food here is scarce...

but she knows the far horizon

offers an unexpected promise
of plenty.

After ten miles...

a breath of welcome sea breeze.

The Atlantic Ocean.

The desert stretches
for a thousand miles

along Namibia's west coast.

Treacherous seas
led early mariners

to name this place
the Skeleton Coast.

But these storm-churned waters
are fertile

and teem with fish...

making this desolate coastline
a paradise

for up to a million
cape fur seals...

SEALS BARKING

NARRATOR: ...in some of the
largest colonies on the planet.

ROARS

NARRATOR: Drawing in hundreds
of jackals from far and wide...

the pupping season
offers her the chance

to found her independence

on the biggest feeding
opportunity of the year.

SEALS CALLING

NARRATOR: So surely a jackal
can just help itself?

SOFT BARKING

NARRATOR: But some of the pups
already outweigh her...

SQUEALING

NARRATOR:
They have teeth at one end.

BABY SEAL SQUEALING

MOTHER SEAL GRUNTS DEEPLY

GRUNTING

MOTHER BARKING

BABY SQUEALING

NARRATOR:
And she can't risk tangling

with 250 pounds of angry mother.

Youngsters are just not
experienced enough

to hunt on their own.

GROWLING FIERCELY

NARRATOR:
Could she join a pack?

FIERCE GROWLING

SHRIEKING

WHIMPERING

ROARING

GROWLING

NARRATOR: This family is not
about to share their kill.

She needs a different strategy.

Jackals are
the ultimate scavengers...

a service that can help limit

the spread of disease.

CALLING SOFTLY

NARRATOR: Since as many
as one in five seal pups

die of natural causes...

CALLING SOFTLY

NARRATOR: ...it's a trade-off
between species.

CALLING SOFTLY

NARRATOR: Yearlings
are feeding on carcasses...

and they're too hungry
to care about hierarchy.

GROWLING

Now she can eat...

and slake her thirst.

GRUNTING

NARRATOR: But jackals are not
at the top of the food chain.

This brown hyena

comes equipped with a jaw

that can crack bones.

JACKALS SQUEALING

NARRATOR:
He takes any kill he wants.

HYENA GROWLS

NARRATOR: And she can't afford
to be reckless.

HYENA GROWLS

JACKALS WHIMPER

NARRATOR:
She may have lost her meal...

but she's found her place
in the social order here...

and has proven she can make it
on her own...

thanks to this annual offering

from ocean to desert.

But, by remarkable alchemy,

the chill waters of the Atlantic

have a more profound effect
on life in this desert Eden.

Here, vital fresh water

is offered up to creatures
far inland.

Rolling away from the sea
for as much as 40 miles

and cresting 800 feet high...

the tallest dunes on the planet.

By the withering heat of day,

without a scrap of shade...

they're seemingly uninhabitable.

Yet, as night falls

and the Namib's temperatures

drop to a comfortable
50 degrees Fahrenheit...

they come alive...

to become the richest
dune habitat on Earth.

The size of a ping-pong ball...

the desert rain frog.

To avoid frying to a crisp,

by day this amphibian
hides deep in the sand...

But when the conditions
are just right,

he emerges to feed.

Trudging up to 50 yards...

he calmly noses around
for insects.

While a Namaqua Dwarf Adder...

primes itself for ambush.

This tiny snake

can only strike prey
closer than four inches.

A parabuthus scorpion

uses hairlike feelers

to detect the tiniest movement.

And frogs are also on his menu.

The frog mustn't stir...

or he'll trigger a deadly attack
from that stinging tail.

But waiting
is what he's good at.

FROG GULPS

NARRATOR:
At last!

A colony of termites

busily harvesting dune grass.

They're packed
with protein and fat.

He'll force down
up to 100 in a sitting.

But lingering can be dangerous.

It's just a harmless golden mole

snaffling his share
of the termites.

Before he can go back
into hiding,

the frog must hold his nerve

and wait until dawn draws near.

Only then will the desert
give up

its most precious gift...

Coastal fog...

creeps up to 40 miles inland

over the dunes.

As it condenses
on grass stems...

dew droplets wet
the ground below.

Pressing his belly
onto the damp sand,

this amphibian absorbs
all the moisture he needs

through his skin...

before retreating

into the safety of his burrow
once more.

For a few hours at dawn,

before the sun burns
higher and hotter...

the dunes are bathed
in the cool sea mist...

dousing this thirsty land

with twice as much water
as rain...

for 100 or so days a year.

At least 48 different creatures

rely entirely on the fog,

many found nowhere else
on Earth.

A headstand beetle hikes
to the highest

and wettest point of the dune.

The equivalent of you or me
climbing Mount Everest...

twice.

It tips hard-won dewdrops
down its back...

and provides
the mouthwatering meal

a Namaqua chameleon
needs to survive here.

Incredibly, the Namib's fog

also offers life...

to giants.

Towering 19 feet high,

the tallest animal
on the planet,

even a giraffe can get
all the moisture it needs...

from fog-drenched leaves.

With the help
of this most ethereal

of the Namib's water sources...

around 360 giraffes prosper

in one of Africa's
most hostile regions.

In the past,

their numbers were managed...

by lions.

Our solitary female
and her family

specialized in hunting

these 1.5 ton herbivores.

Old habits die hard.

But without backup,

she has no chance
of taking one down.

Over the years,
human persecution

not only took the lives
of her pride...

but brought Namib's lions

to the very brink of extinction.

Now, with careful protection,

the population is stable

at around 150.

But today,

there's an even greater threat.

The latest data suggests
the temperature here

has increased
by almost three degrees.

The precious and unexpected
water supplies

that sustain this place
could dwindle and disappear.

From this ancient landscape

has sprung one of the most
marvelous collections

of desert creatures on Earth.

With our help...

the ageless rhythm of life...

could prevail...

in this magical mirage

of an Eden.

NARRATOR:
Filming over a period of a year,

the Eden team braved
the hostile conditions

of the Namib desert.

It's very easy
to get caught out here

and get completely cut off.

NARRATOR:
They came here to capture
ground-breaking behaviors...

from the small and rare....

the plentiful but wary...

Do I look utterly ridiculous?

NARRATOR: ...and the
largest mammal on Earth.

The team's greatest challenge
was to tell the intimate story

of how a family of desert
elephants finds sustenance...

in an unforgiving landscape.

With only 150 inhabiting an area

of 50,000 square miles...

the first job is working out
where to look.

So the crew team up

with wildlife field guide
Paul Brehem,

who has been living and working
in the Namib desert

for over 30 years.

Yeah, we've got fresh tracks
here from the south.

You guys can turn
and come back and help us, yeah?

MAN OVER WALKIE-TALKIE:
Copy that. Coming back.

There's a huge amount
of pressure to get enough food,

to get enough water
in this area,

so the pressure's on them.

Their search takes them through

one of Africa's
remotest regions.

Across the roughest of terrains.

But cameraman Louis Labrom

has come equipped with
a specialist camera system

that's designed
for just this sort of task.

LOUIS: This is
a gyro-stabilized gimbal,

more commonly found
on helicopters,

but in this instance
we're using it

on a vehicle with this arm

that will take out most of
the bumps, it's spring-loaded.

This really allows us to get

some intimate shots
that otherwise we might miss.

NARRATOR:
As Paul's team guides them

to the most likely area
to find elephants...

a dried river bed...

a desert miracle unfolds.

There's a river in the desert.
Quite bizarre.

It is really weird

to hear the sound
of running water in the desert.

This is absolutely amazing.

NARRATOR:
Then the last thing

you'd expect to happen
in a desert...

Getting stuck in the mud!

We under-anticipated
how deep this little patch was

and we need to dig ourselves
out the back

in order to reverse out.

NARRATOR:
As the water levels rise,

Louis is concerned
about his precious camera.

Just can't get enough traction.

Just need to try and get out
as quickly as possible.

ENGINE REVVING LOUDLY

Go, go, go! Yeah.

NARRATOR:
At last their luck changes.

Fortunately,
the appearance of water

has brought an elephant herd

right to the film crew.

LOUIS: A really lovely moment
and it's really nice to see

elephants actually having life
a little bit easier.

Yeah, it looks really happy.

NARRATOR: But In a matter
of days, the river dries out.

For desert elephants, the quest

for food and water is endless.

Sometimes leading
these intelligent mammals

to cash in
on more reliable sources.

With increased human settlement
and farming,

more and more bore holes
are being sunk

to tap into the Namib's
groundwater reserves...

drawing these thirsty giants
into villages.

At times,
this can cause conflict.

Efforts are underway
to promote tolerance

and learn how best
to live alongside

such an imposing neighbor.

HENDRICK: I've come
to teach you about elephants.

HENDRICK:
Education school children,

you are investing in the future.

When children are not having
a lot of fear,

they are very easy
to live with elephants

and they'll take care of them.

NARRATOR: Fortunately,
the herd that resides

in the riverbed

has knowledge,

passed from generation

to generation,

that allows them
to make the most

of what this desert
has to offer.

And they lead the crew...

to a grove of Ana trees,

laden with protein-rich pods.

A welcome meal

for even the youngest members
of the herd.

After four weeks
of tireless tracking,

Louis finally gets
the shots he needs.

LOUIS: Amazing to see someone
so little being able to survive

in what seems like
a really inhospitable place.

It's testament to their mother
because obviously

the matriarchs know
where the water is,

where the food is.

And so without them,

they would all
pretty much just perish.

NARRATOR:
And Hannah's reward

is a close encounter

with a curious mother elephant.

HANNAH: Gosh, that is
a very close elephant.

Oh my word.

Hello.

Hello.

ELEPHANT RUMBLES

HANNAH: It's okay.

It's okay.

Wow!

That was amazing.

NARRATOR: This miracle Eden
has existed in harmony

for millions of years.

Today, with fewer than 150

of these highly-specialized
desert elephants

living in the Namib,

it's critical that this place

is kept safe
from both human expansion

and the rigors
of climate change.

The key is to protect
the whole ecosystem

for all of the species
that exist here.

And I think
what's really important

is to start seeing
places like these

as a World Heritage

for the entire planet,

to all the people
in all the future generations,

this is really important
to protect.