Original subtitles

We're Starting The Reconnaissance Run Now.

Cruise: It's A Massive Expanse Of Nothingness.

I Mean, We're In The Middle Of Absolutely Nowhere.

Yeah, If You Want To Find A Lost City,

It's Not Gonna Be On A Paved Road.

Gates: We're Looking For Old Structures,

Like, Old Buildings.

Is That A Ruin?

It Certainly Looks Like It.

Ooh, Ooh, Ooh. Look At That.

Makes It A Little Hard To Search For A Lost City

When You Could Actually Be Eaten While Looking.

Whoo-Hoo!

Holy [Bleep]

Look At This!

That's Manmade.

Watch That Rock!

Okay, Let's Go Find A Lost City.

In This Age Of Gps Satellites And Turn-By-Turn Directions,

It Seems Like Any Location In The World

Can Be Found With The Push Of A Button.

But If The Tale

Of A Swashbuckling 19Th-Century Explorer Is To Be Believed,

There's An Entire City Out There That's Lost.

In 1885, A Hugely Popular

Acrobatic Daredevil And Circus Pioneer

Named G.A. Farini Undertakes A Daring Expedition

Into The Vast Dunes Of Africa's Kalahari Desert.

When He Returns To Civilization,

Farini Made A Remarkable Claim,

That He Came Across The Ruins Of A Lost City,

Half Buried In The Scorching Sands.

Many Believe He Had Stumbled Upon

A Never-Before-Described Civilization.

To Others, He Was Branded A Liar, A Circus Showman

Full Of Tall Tales.

But The Promise Of A Lost City

Lured Explorers Into The Unforgiving Desert.

Many Followed In Farini's Footsteps.

All Came Up Empty-Handed,

And Some -- Well, Some Were Never Heard From Again.

But Now A Modern Explorer Is Launching A Bold New Expedition,

And He's Bringing Some 21St-Century Technology

To The Table.

The Heart Of Africa Has Been

The Setting For Many A Fabled Expedition.

And Now I Get To Join The Ranks Of Stanley And Livingston

As I Go In Pursuit

Of The Long-Lost Ruins Of The Kalahari Desert.

My Name Is Josh Gates.

With A Degree In Archaeology And A Passion For Exploration,

I Have A Tendency To End Up In Some Very Strange Situations.

Good Lord!

[ Screaming, Laughing ]

My Travels Have Taken Me To The Ends Of The Earth

As I Investigate The Greatest Legends In History.

We're Good To Fly. Let's Go.

This Is...

--Captions By Vitac-- Www.Vitac.Com

Captions Paid For By Discovery Communications

[ Gulls Crying ]

[ Dolphins Squeaking ]

My Quest For The Truth Behind The Lost City Of The Kalahari

Begins By Following The Trail Of The Man Who Claimed To Find It.

So I'm Traveling To The Starting Point

Of His Expedition The Same Way He Did.

Welcome To South Africa.

To The South Is The Cape Of Good Hope

And The Southern Tip Of The Continent,

And Dead Ahead Is The City Of Cape Town.

It Was Originally Sighted By Portuguese Explorers In 1486,

And It's Where A Very Unlikely Explorer, A Man Named Farini,

Arrived By Ship, From England, On January 29, 1885.

I Sail Into The Same Port

That's Been Welcoming Explorers For Over A Century.

But Once Ashore, I Find A Modern Cape Town

That Bears Little Resemblance

To The Far-Flung Outpost That Farini Saw.

The Cape Town Of Today Is Magnetic And Multicultural,

Warmly Embracing Traditions From Around The Continent

And Around The World.

And Where Are You From?Palestine.

So You Are A -- You're A Palestinian

In South Africa Making Mexican Food.

Absolutely.

I Love This Town.

While Strolling The Streets,

Farini May Have Encountered Traditional Tribal Beats,

But I Doubt He Got A Taste Of Dixie Jazz.

[ Jazz Music Plays ]

Or Whatever You Call This Catchy Tune.

[ Singing In Native Language ]

[ Saxophone Playing ]

Nice Work, Boys. Nice Work.

I Take The Applause And Leave The Saxophone.

My Next Gig Is Only A Quick Stroll Away,

At The National Library Of South Africa.

I'm Here To Meet Historian Michael Main,

Who Can Hopefully Shed Light

On Whether The Lost City Is Real Or Just Legend.

The Story Of The Lost City...

It Seems To Me, Has Everything To Do With This Guy Farini.

The Man Who Trekked Through Africa

And Found The Lost City And All Of That.

I Think, To Understand That,

You've Got To Go Back And Try And Understand The Man Himself.

Right.

Most Of His Life Moved Into The World Of Theater.

Born In 1838 As William Leonard Hunt,

He Reinvented Himself As The Great Farini,

A Self-Taught High-Wire Daredevil

Who Enthralled Audiences Around The Globe.

Farini The Showman Says, In His Later Life,

That Showmanship Is All About Deception.

And Deceive He Did.

Farini Even Devised An Act

Where His Adopted Son Lulu Passed Himself Off

As A Female Acrobat,

To The Utter Amazement Of Unsuspecting Fans.

He Was The Quintessential Showman,

And A Wonderful Example Of This,

He Decided To Walk Across Niagara

Wearing A Washing Machine On His Back.

I Mean, This Is Obviously Brave But Also Seems Kind Of Crazy.

I Mean, Was He A Madman?

He Wasn't A Madman At All.

He Was So Gifted In So Many Fields --

He Helped Invent The Parachute --

He Helped Invent -- He Helped Invent The Parachute?

Yeah. Wow.

He Invented Flip-Up Theater Seats.

Wait A Minute.

So Every Time I Go To The Movies,

I Have Farini To Thank.

Thank You, Farini.

Wow.

He's An Extraordinary Man.

So, Here's The Question --

How Does This Guy End Up In The Deserts Of Africa?

He Was Always Looking For New Acts.

Right.

And He'd Heard About Pygmies In Africa.

Farini Was Fascinated By These People.

He And His Son, Lulu, Set Off

On A Journey Of Discovery Into The Kalahari.

Somewhere Along The Way,

Farini's Expedition Encounters A Fantastic Set Of Ruins --

That Is, If You Believe The Word

Of A Professional Circus Showman,

Which Many, Not Surprisingly, Do Not.

In Terms Of Seeing If We Can Verify This Story,

How Do We Do That?

All Right, There Are Really Three Things You Can Use.

Let's Start With This. This Is His Book.

Farini's Book.

This Is Farini's Book, "Through The Kalahari."

Uh-Huh.Okay.

The Second Source -- Guard This With Your Life.

This Is An Original Transcript Of The Lecture

That Was Given At

The Royal Geographical Society In July 1886.

After The Expedition,

Farini Submits A Presentation

To The Royal Geographical Society In London.

It Contains The First-Ever Mention

Of The Lost City Of The Kalahari.

The Report Also Contains Something Else --

A Hand-Drawn Map.

The Map Illustrates That Farini

Undertook A 1,000-Mile Journey From Cape Town,

Far North Into What Is Now Botswana,

To Lake Ngami, Where He Turned Around And Came Back.

He Even Marks The Location Of The Lost City.

The Only Problem?

The Map Is Rife With Geographical Errors,

And There's Nothing At The Spot Where He Marked The Ruins.

But There Is Physical Evidence Of Farini's Journey.

His Son, Lulu, Took These Very Fine Photographs.

If You Look At This One, You Can See The Two Of Them There.

This Is Extraordinary, Because This Really Is,

More Than Anything Else, A Visual Record.

And It's Unimpeachable.

You Could Go There And Verify It.

Right.

They Didn't Take Any Photographs Of The Lost City.

What We Do Have Is Sketches That Lulu Did.

There's One There.

So, This Is What Farini Claimed To See.

Exactly.

Now, Why Do You Think That So Many People

Have Gone To Look For This Place?

'Cause We Love A Mystery Like This.

We Love This.

Right.That's What We're About.

I Mean, It Is Cool.

We're Driven By Curiosity.

I Like A Challenge.

You'll Enjoy It.

Hey, Thank You Very Much.

I Really Appreciate It.

Armed With Original Copies Of Farini's Own Materials,

I Begin My Quest To Determine If The Lost City Is Real

Or Whether Farini's Theatrical Nature Duped The World.

The Trail Begins At Cape Town's Iconic 3,000-Foot Edifice,

Table Mountain.

After Farini Arrives In Cape Town,

His Son, Lulu, The Photographer,

Comes Up Here And Snaps What Really Are The First

Of The Photos From Their Now Legendary Expedition.

These Photos Are A Way For Us To Track Farini

Because We Actually See What He Saw.

And This Is Where It All Starts, Right Here.

Using Farini's Photos And Writings As A Guide,

I Can Literally Walk In His Footsteps.

By Doing That, I Can See Where He Really Went

And Hopefully Figure Out If He Actually Made A Discovery.

And I'm Not The Only One Using This Approach.

My Plan Is To Meet With An Explorer

About Halfway Up Farini's Route,

Who May Be The On The Cusp Of Determining

Whether The Lost City Is Fact Or Fiction.

To Reach Him, I'm Going To Need Something A Bit More Rugged

Than The Open-Top Ox Carts That Farini Used.

If You're Gonna Go Into The Kalahari Desert,

You Need The Right Vehicle For The Job.

This Is A Custom Land Cruiser

That Has Been Outfitted For Serious Expeditions.

Comes With Everything You Might Need Along The Way,

Including A Full Mobile Refrigerator

As Well As An Entire Mobile Kitchen.

A Stove, Cutlery, Glassware.

It's Also Got Propane Tanks That Fuel A Full Hot Shower.

This Is Really Your All-In-One Lost-City Vehicle.

Okay, Here We Go.

I'm On The Wrong Side Of The Car.

Important Note To Self --

The Steering Wheel Is On The Right,

So Remember To Drive On The Left Side Of The Road.

And With That, I'm Embarking On An Adventure

To Find A Daring Explorer

And, Hopefully, The Lost City Of The Kalahari.

All Right, Goodbye, Cape Town.

Desert, Here We Come.

Gates: Cape Town, South Africa.

I'm Setting Off To Meet An Explorer

Determined To Figure Out If The Lost City Of The Kalahari

Is The Stuff Of Legend Or An Undiscovered Reality.

Okay, Tricked-Out 4X4 -- Check.

Food, Water, Fuel -- Check.

Now We're Gonna Drive North,

And Then We're Just Gonna Keep Driving North.

The Plan -- To Drive Through The Last Vestige Of Civilization

In The City Of Upington,

Then Into The Vast Kalahari Desert

To Meet Adventurer Adam Cruise.

The Further I Get From Cape Town,

The Rougher The Journey -- Literally.

Okay, There Goes The Paved Road.

It Is Gonna Be Dirt Roads From Here.

This Is An Area Known As The Karoo.

It's A Word That Has A Lot Of Different Interpretations.

The Definition I Like Best Is "Empty."

Out Here, There Aren't Exactly Drive-Through Starbucks.

About The Closest Thing I Find Is This.

♪♪

An Eclectic Mom-And-Pop Operation

That Looks Like It's Right Out Of "Mad Max,"

Except Without Guys In Bondage Gear

Chasing Me With A Flamethrower.

Gates: How's It Going, Boys?

-Good. -Good, Thank You.

I'm Headed North, Up Into The Kalahari.

Never Been There. Give Me A Preview.

What's It Like?

It's Actually Less Than This.

Less Than This.Yeah.

[ Animal Chirps ]

There's Nothing Out Here. How Can It Be Less Than This?

There's Nothing, Less, And Then [Bleep]

[ Laughter ]

That's The Kalahari. That's The Kalahari.

All Right, Got It.

I Get Back On The Road,

And After A Few More Hours,

I Eventually Arrive In The Town Of Upington.

I Duck Into The Local Library To Take A Peek In Their Archives.

The Newspapers From Farini's Day

Have Been Preserved On Microfilm.

I Scan The 130-Year-Old Papers For Any Clues To The Mystery.

Baking Powder's On Sale For 5 Cents,

So That's A Pretty Good Bargain.

Eventually, I Find Just What I'm Looking For.

Here It Is.

So, This Is From The Cape Argus Newspaper.

This Is Wednesday, July 22, 1885.

This Is Just After Farini Comes Out Of The Kalahari Desert,

After His Expedition.

"Mr. Farini And His Son,

Having Just Arrived After Their Journey To The Kalahari,

He Gives A Striking Description

Of Magnificent Falls On The Orange River."

Talks A Little Bit About The Natives.

The Really Strange Part About This

Is That He Actually Makes No Mention Of This Lost City.

You Know, If You Think About This,

He's Just Come Out Of The Desert,

He's Met This Reporter, And He's Giving This Account.

The Reporter Says He's All Too Happy

To Talk About This Incredible Expedition,

And Yet He Doesn't Tell The Guy

That He's Found This Crazy Lost City Trapped In The Sand?

That Doesn't Come Up At All In This Interview?

That's Really Weird.

The Fact That Farini Didn't Shout His Find

From The Rooftops Is Suspicious.

But Then Again, He Was Planning A Book And A Presentation,

And Maybe He Was Keeping His Incredible Find A Secret.

To Find Out, I Press On To The North

And Enter The Great Untamed Kalahari Desert.

Out Here, There Are No Towns And No People,

But That Doesn't Mean It's Deserted.

Everywhere I Look, There's Wildlife.

Looks Like A Couple Of Gemsbok Coming Across The Road.

Some Pretty Serious Horns There. I'm Gonna Let Those Guys Go.

I'm Pretty Sure This Ostrich Wants To Race Me.

[ Engine Revving ]

You Want A Piece Of This? Bring It.

Most Of The Residents Are Exotic But Relatively Harmless.

Others, Not So Much.

Ooh, Ooh, Ooh.

Look At That.

[ Lion Growling ]

That Is 30 Feet From The Car.

Full-Grown Male African Lion.

Literally, That Thing Is Just

Living Out Here In The Wilderness.

Makes It A Little Hard To Search For A Lost City

When You Could Actually Be Eaten While Looking.

Hoping To Avoid Becoming Dinner,

I Carry On And Arrive At My Rendezvous Point --

A Fenced-In Lodge Where I'm Set To Meet

With Veteran Explorer Adam Cruise.

Adam.

Josh. How Are You, Man?

I'm Very Well. And You?

Nice To Meet You.Yes. My Pleasure.

So, Are You Gonna Show Me The Way To The Lost City?

Well, At Least I'm Gonna Try.

Yes, All Right, Good. You Ready?

Yeah, I'm Ready.Let's Do It. Come On.

Okay.

Adam Has Criss-Crossed The Kalahari

And Is A Seasoned Expert On Farini's Expedition.

He's Even Authored A Book On The Subject.

Adam, What Drew You To The Farini Story,

The Lost-City Legend?

Well, It Started When I Was Very Young.

I Mean, Like All Boys, I Loved The Stories Of Tarzan

And King Solomon's Mines And All Those Great Stories.

And Then, As I Got Older, I Started Realizing

That Some Of These Stories Were Real.

And Then I Read A Book By A South African Author --

Famous South African Author --

Who Went On This Harebrained Scheme

Into The Desert To Look For This Lost City.

And That Was The First Time I Heard About It.

And Then I Got Hooked.

And Then I Discovered That

A Lot Of People Have Gone Out To Try And Find It.

I Read Somewhere That There Had Been More Than 30

Kind Of Full-Scale Expeditions.

Definitely More Than 30 Documented Expeditions.

I Reckon There Are Probably Hundreds Of People

Going Out There, Looking On Their Own Capacity,

Trying To Find This Thing.

The Area That This Lost City Is Situated In Is Vast.

It's A Massive Expanse Of Nothingness.

I Mean, We're In The Middle Of Absolutely Nowhere.

Despite Farini's Career As A Circus Showman,

Adam Has Become Convinced That He Didn't Invent The Lost City.

After All, In Farini's 400-Page Book On The Kalahari,

The Mention Of The Lost City Takes Up Less Than Two Pages.

It's Not A Big Sort Of Description.

There's No Fanfare To It.

He Drops It In In A Couple Of Paragraphs,

And He Continues On With His Story.

Right. It's Not Like He Leveraged It

Into Some Big, You Know, Moneymaking Scheme.

The Book Isn't Really About The Lost City.

The Book Is Just About The Kalahari.

Certainly. That's Exactly What It Is.

So It's Very Plausible And Very Possible

That This Lost City Is Still Out There.

I'm Starting To Think That Adam Might Be Right,

Especially When I See Where He's Led Us.

Okay, Josh, Just Pull Over Up Here.

This Is It?Yeah, This Is It.

Let's Do It.

Is That A Ruin?

Gates: In The Deserts Of South Africa,

Near The Border Of Botswana,

I'm Gazing At Towers Of Rocks

That Look A Lot Like The Fabled Lost City Of The Kalahari.

Looks Like A -- Like A Toppled Fortress.

"Chinese Wall After An Earthquake."

That Was Farini's Description, Right?

That Was Farini's Description.

Gates: In Farini's Writings,

He Describe The Lost City As A Tumbled-Town Wall

Made Of Tightly Fitted, Squared-Off Blocks.

We Hike In Through A Dry Riverbed

And Try To Make Sense Of The Stones Ahead Of Us.

So, Look At These. This Is What I Want To Show You.

A Lot Of Experts Have Thought That,

Based On These Square Blocks,

That Farini Mistook These As Manmade

And, Hence, A Lost City.

So, What Do You Think? Case Closed?

Okay, What Do You Think, Josh?

Does This Look Natural Or Does This Look Manmade To You?

From A Quarter Of A Mile Out, It Fooled Me, Sure.

Because It Does -- It Comes Out Of Nowhere.

You're Looking At This Flat Horizon When You See This --

What Looks Like Blocks.

But Once You're Up On Top Of It, No.

To Me, It Looks Natural.

There's Lots Of Rounded Stones Here,

And They All Look Very Weathered,

And, Really, Even The Lines Are Quite Straight.

They're Not Perfectly Straight.

And There's No Real Evidence Of Tool Marks.

So, No, I Think It Looks Pretty Natural.

Farini Might've Been A Circus Guy And Entertainer,

But He Certainly Was No Fool.

I Mean, He Was An Accomplished Botanist,

He Was An Inventor, He Could Speak A Dozen Languages.

If You And I Can Think This Was Natural,

Farini Would've Thought This Is Natural, As Well.

I Think The Lost City Is Somewhere Else.

So The Question Is, Where?

Well, I Think The Problem Is,

Everybody Who's Looking For This City

Has Based Their Search On Farini's Map.

But We Know That Farini's Map Is Very Unreliable.

It Is Flawed.

So We've Got To Try A Different Plan Of Attack.

We've Got To Figure Out Where They Were,

What Route They Took.

And Where Do You Think That Will Lead Us?

Well, I Think It's Not To The North,

I Don't Think It's Here.

I Think It's To The South.

To The South.

To The South.

Okay.

♪♪

Gates: According To Farini's Map,

His Route Took Him From Cape Town

To The Remote Shores Of Lake Ngami And Back,

Except That's Almost Certainly Not True.

So You Don't Think He Went All The Way

To Where He Said He Went.

No, The Timeframe Doesn't Match.

I Mean, There's No Ways He Could've Covered That Distance

In The Time He Was In The Area.

Farini's Steamship Tickets Confirm

That His Journey Lasted Eight Months,

Which Means He Would've Had To Cover

More Than 40 Miles A Day In An Ox Cart In The Desert.

It's All But Impossible.

But We Know That Farini Made At Least Part Of The Journey.

The Best-Case Scenario,

He Probably Went As Far As Southern Botswana.

And All The Photos That Lulu Took

Are Clearly Of The Area Up Until That Point.

Right.

Adam Believes That Instead Of Traveling

All The Way To Lake Ngami,

Farini Traveled Only Part Of The Way

And Turned Back Earlier,

Then Embellished His Journey

To Make It Seem Even More Far-Flung.

But Consequently,

Every Expedition That Has Sought The Lost City

Has Looked In The Heart Of The Kalahari Desert,

In An Area That Farini Probably Never Reached.

Let's Rule Out All The Areas To The North.

We're Not Sure Whether Farini Went All The Way Up There.

That's Right.

Adam Believes That Farini Saw His Lost City

Much Farther To The South, So That's Where We're Headed.

But With The Sun Setting Low On The Horizon,

We're Gonna Need To Hunker Down For The Night.

Yeah, Right Here. Good A Spot As Any, Right?

Yep.

Okay, Here We Are. Home, Sweet Home.

[ Harmonica Plays ]

I Try To Forget That We're Camping

In What Amounts To A Zoo With No Cages.

We Build A Fire For Safety,

And I Cook -- Or At Least Heat Up

Some Fancy 21St-Century Instant Meals.

Cuban Black Beans And Coconut.

Oh, Very Nice.

A Classic African Dish.

Perfect For The Kalahari.

[ Laughs ]

How Does Our Setup Here

Compare To Farini, Do You Think?

Well, He Would've Had Something Pretty Similar For 1885.

So, He Had The Latest Vehicle Of The Day.

It Was Backwagon Towed By A Whole Team Of Oxen.

But He Had All The Latest Things On It.

He Had An Awning That Came Over The Side For Shade.

He Would've Had Servants Walking Along Next To It,

Making Sure That When We'd Stop Like This,

They Would Be All Around.

What Kind Of Guy Do You Think Farini Was?

Farini Was Larger Than Life.

He Loved The Scenery. He Loved The --

Especially, He Loved The Local Tribes He Came Across.

And He Always Went Out Of His Way

To Meet Them And Greet Them, Which, For His Age,

Was Beyond His Age,

Because Most Europeans In Those Days

Didn't Treat The Local People Like That.

Right.

As Much As I Feel Like We're Looking For The Lost City,

I Feel Like I'm Looking For Farini, As Well.

This Is A Guy That Needs Rediscovery.

I Think His History Needs To Be Written.

Well, Here's To -- Here's To Farini.

Here's To Farini. Cheers.

Cheers.

Ahh.

God, I'm Gonna Be Pissed If I Get Eaten By A Lion Tonight.

♪♪

Daybreak, And I'm Happy To Report

That Nothing Has Turned Me Into A Midnight Snack.

Adam, Good Morning.

Good Morning, Morning.

How Do You Take Your Eggs?

Uh, Overeasy.

Uh, Scrambled Is The Only Thing I Have Available Right Now.

In Fact, I'm Starting To Get Pretty Comfortable

Out Here In The Kalahari.

♪♪

With My 4X4 Camper Transformer Tucked Back Into Highway Mode,

We Make Our Way To Adam's Targeted Search Area

To The South.

Now, Josh, This Is The Augrabies Falls.

Unbelievable. Look At That.

That Is Stunning. Amazing.

These -- These I Recognize From Farini's Photos, Yeah?

Yeah.

Those Are The Falls.

That Is Them.

That's It, Right?

Beyond Doubt.

And The Other One He's In, Right?

That's Farini. That's Farini.

So That's Over Here Somewhere, Yeah?

Yes, Uh...

That's Under That Lip Right There, Yeah?

Yeah, That's It. You're Right. Spot On.

So, We've Placed The Man Right There.

So The Question Becomes,

Why Look For The Lost City Here?

As You Said, Josh, Farini Was Here.

We Can Place The Man Right Here, So It's Guaranteed.

And There's Questions About The Rest Of His Journey.

Nobody Searched The One Place We Knew, 100%, Where He Was.

Right.

Okay. So How Do We Search It?

Well, That's Gonna Be Pretty Hard.

This Is More Terrain

Than We Could Cover On Foot In A Lifetime.

Thankfully, Adam Has Come Up With A Shortcut.

He Directs Me To A Nearby Dusty Airstrip.

He's Reached Out To An Aerial Reconnaissance Team

Equipped With A Special Technology Called Lidar.

Looks Like A Legit Operation Here.

Yeah. These Are The Boys.

Lidar Is A Laser-Scanning Device That Pierces Through Vegetation,

Revealing Long-Forgotten Features Underneath.

How Much Ground Could We Cover In What Time Using The Lidar?

We Will Cover About 2,500 Acres In One Hour.

2,500 Acres In One Hour.One Hour.

That's Crazy.

Gates: No Expedition Before Ours

Has Attempted To Locate Farini's City Using This Technology.

Adam And The Scanning Equipment Will Operate From The Plane

While A Pilot And I Will Perform

Some Forward Reconnaissance In...

This.

Oh, No. No, No.

What Is This?

It's Called A Gyrocopter.

This Does Not Look Like Something That Flies.

Initial Glance Doesn't Instill A Lot Of Confidence,

But Believe Me, Once We Get Up There,

I'm Sure I'll Change Your Mind.

Okay. Here We Go.

Even Though I'm Worried That My Foot

Is Gonna Punch A Hole Through The Floor,

I Cross My Fingers And Hope For The Best.

Whoo-Hoo!

Our Plan Is Simple.

I'm Looking For Unusual Formations

Around The Canyons And Dry Riverbeds

Where We Know Farini Traveled.

If I See Anything,

That's Where Adam's Lidar-Equipped Plane Comes In.

The Lidar Will Scan The Landscape

With Millions Of Laser Pulses

And Then Analyze The Data To Look For Anything Manmade,

Like A Lost City.

♪♪

Gates: I'm Soaring Above The Kalahari Desert In South Africa,

Scanning For Evidence Of A Legendary Lost City,

And We've Just Spotted Some Odd Rock Formations Below.

Adam's Associates Will Use The Lidar Laser Scanners

On His Plane And Sweep Back And Forth Over The Target Area

Like A Paintbrush.

Meanwhile, My Kamikaze Pilot And I Survey The Entire Area

And Target Additional Spots For The Lidar To Scan.

And After Adam's Team Finishes Up Their Runs,

It's Time For Us To See If We've Got Any Hits.

♪♪

Back At The Airport,

The Team Has Already Started Analyzing The Data

From Our Lidar Flight.

They Invite Adam And I Over To Take A Look.

Did The Lidar Turn Anything Up?

It Did.

What You Can See,

That's The Canyon That You Guys Flew Through.

These Are All The Mountains Sitting Here.

We Remove All The Vegetation, And Basically,

What We're Left With Is What Is Actually On The Ground Itself.

Gates: The First Thing We Notice

Is That There's A Small Village In The Area,

An Indigenous Community.

So, The Community Is Basically Sitting Here In The North.

But Then There Was Something Really Interesting

I Found Just Up Here.

Ah. Now We're Talking.

Look At This, Josh -- An Elliptical Shape, Okay?

Gates: That Is Wild.

Farini Mentioned An Elliptical Wall, A Circular Wall.

That Fits This Shape Over Here.

It Totally Does.This Is Perfect.

Can You Back It Up A Bit?Sure, Sure.

Okay, Whoa! Stop Right There. Look At This.

Farini Spoke About The Ruins Being At The Base Of A Mountain.

Right. All Right?

That's A Mountain, Right?That's It, Yeah.

This Is Pretty Much What We're Looking For.

I Don't Know If That's A Lost City,

But It Doesn't Look Natural.

I Think We Should Go Look, Josh.

Yeah.

♪♪

Gates: Without Passable Roads

On The Other Side Of Augrabies Falls,

The Only Way To Get To The Elliptical Formation

Is To Use The River Itself.

Okay, Here We Go.

The Plan Is To Raft Downstream Toward The Coordinates

And Then Hike In From There.

But First, We'll Need To Get Through A Few Bumps In The Road.

Cruise: This One's Quite Big.

Okay. Here We Go!

Hang On!

To The Left?

Yeah, Keep It To The Left.

Whoa-Ho!

Whoo-Hoo!

Watch The Rock.

Paddle Forward.

Watch That Rock!

Whoo!

We're Alive.

Adam And I Survive The Rapids, And Downstream,

We Find Ourselves In Pristine Wilderness.

A Dinosaur Could Push Through Those Bushes

And I Wouldn't Be Surprised.

[ Laughs ]

It's Like "The Lost World."

Here, In The Midst Of A Desert, Is A Lush And Primordial World.

Eventually, We Approach The Closest Point

To The Gps Coordinates And Pull Over To Make A Plan.

It Looks Like We're A Couple Kilometers From The Lidar Point.

I Think We Go Straight Up There.

Yeah, Through The Riverbed.Okay.

From The Water To The Desert.

Here We Go.

Although It's Only A Bit More Than A Mile

To Reach The Crescent Anomaly, It's Slow Going On Foot,

Sandy In Some Places And Rocky In Others.

The Terrain Here Looks Like Something From Mars.

So, I Think That Peak That We Saw On The Lidar

Is Right There, Yeah?

Yeah, I Agree.

So We're Just Somewhere Inside Of That.

Yeah, We Got To Go A Little Bit To That Side.

Gates: The Lidar Revealed A Semicircular Rock Formation.

We Hike Down Over The Ridge To Approach The Coordinates,

And Suddenly, We See What We Came For.

Look At That!

Wow!

Huge Crescent!

This Is It.

This Is What We Saw On The Lidar.

It Does Look Like Blocks, Too.

It's Really Wild.

Yeah, It's This Huge Half-Moon Shape.

It's Amazing. Oh, And Lookit Here, Josh.

Look At This!

That's Manmade.

This Is A Wall.

That Isa Wall.

Signs Of Civilization, Right Here.

Absolutely.

Hey.

Awesome Work. Very Good.

It's Not Clear What This Is,

But It's Something That's Been Constructed Deliberately,

And It's Obviously Old.

This Could Be A Hut. Yeah.

It Could Be A Cattle Enclosure.

It's Clearly Very Old.

Couple Centuries, At Least?

At Least A Couple Of Centuries -- Maybe More.

Who Knows?

This Enclosure Is A Clear Sign

That A Society Of Some Kind Was Living In These Deserts

Hundreds Of Years Ago.

But We'll Need To Continue Exploring

If We Have Any Hope Of Figuring Out

What Exactly This Is

And Whether It's Related To Farini's Lost City.

Oh, Look At That.

Hey, That's A Wall.

Big Wall. Look At That.

We've Just Come Across The Largest Ruin Of The Site --

A Wall That Stretches For More Than Half A Mile.

Just Goes On And On.

What's Really Crazy Is That So Much Of It

Actually Matches Farini's Description.

This Is Very Good.

Let's See How Far We Are From That Community We Spotted.

We Got To Be Fairly Close To Them, Right?

We Are About...3 1/2 Klicks.

And That's Gonna Be In That Direction Over There.

Let's Make Our Way Over There,

See If They Know Of Any Other Structures In The Area

Or See If They've Seen Anything Else.

Good Idea.

Yeah? This Is So Cool.

♪♪

The Lidar Scan Revealed A Small Indigenous Community

Living A Few Kilometers From The Rock Formations.

We Trudge Across The Sweltering Sands For An Hour,

But Finally, We Catch A Break.

Oh, There's People.

What? Where?

Yeah. See The Guy? Oh, No.

Unkies.

♪♪

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Gates: I'm In Southern Africa,

Trekking Through The Kalahari Desert,

Hot On The Trail Of A Lost City.

We've Just Spotted The Last Thing

I Expected To See Out Here.

Oh, There's People.

What? Where?

Yeah. See The Guy? Oh, No.

Unkies.

♪♪

Hey! Hey!

Hey!

Hey.

How Are You?

How You Guys Doing?

Oh, Fine. And You Guys?

Where You Coming From?

We're Coming From The Community At Mfasma.

You're The First People I've Seen Out Here.

First People.

It's Very Quiet Out Here.Yeah.

Well, We're Looking For Old Structures,

Like Old Buildings.

You Understand?

Yes, Yeah. Like, Manmade.

Anything Like That Around Here?

I Will Ask My Friend. He Knows Better.

[ Conversing In Native Language ]

Old Structures, Yeah.Old Structures?

He Said Maybe 30 Kilometers From Here, Yeah.

What Language Are You Speaking?

We Speak Damara-Nama.

Do You Know This Language?

I Don't Know It.

I Know Of It, But I Don't Understand It.

It's, Like, One Of The Click Languages.

It's Got A Click. You Heard Him When He Speaks.

It's Very Good, Eh?It's Very Cool-Sounding.

Yeah.

Man: You Want A Ride?

Yeah, I'd Love A Ride. Are You Kidding?

In This Heat? We'll Be Happy To Take A Ride.

-Just Climb Up, Hey? -Yes.

Gates: And We're In.

Yes.

[ Donkey Brays ]

This Is What We Call The Kalahari Ferrari.

[ Laughs ]

I Love It.

We're Not Exactly Tearing Across The Desert,

But It Certainly Beats Walking.

We've Only Been Riding For A Few Minutes

When Something Catches Adam's Eye.

Hey, Josh, Look At This Tree Here.

I'm Sorry. Don't You Want To Just Stop Here For A Second?

-Yes. -Just For A Second.

Josh, I Just Want To Show You Something.

There's Something Interesting About Farini.

Lulu Took A Picture Of Farini And Somebody

Standing Underneath A Tree Exactly Like This.

-Really? -Yeah.

Do We Have The Photos?

I've Got The Photos In My Backpack.

All Right, Let's Have A Look.

Here We Go. Look At This.

That's Almost A Dead Match.

Yeah, Look At That.

It's Proof That Farini

At Least Passed Through An Area Like This.

At Least He Got This Far.

Well, Another Clue Checked Off.

[ Donkey Brays ]

Gates: The Fact That Farini Passed Through This Area,

Combined With The Fact That We've Already See Stone Walls

And Structures Might Mean That We're On The Right Track.

The Question Now Is, What Else Is Out Here?

Stop, Stop.

Gates: Is This It?

Yes.

Where? Where Is It?

Right There.By The Hill?

Yes.

I Can Show You It. -That'd Be Great.

Okay, Let's Go. Come On.

Let's Go.

Gates: Our New Friend Lionel Agrees To Take Us

To What He Claims Are Manmade Structures.

Adam And I Are Incredibly Curious

To See What's Hiding Out Here.

That Is, If The Heat Doesn't Kill Us First.

We're Coming Up On 5:00 P.M.,

And It's As Hot As It's Been All Day.

Cruise: Yeah.

Hasn't Cooled Off One Degree.

It's Not Far From Here.

Not Far.

Something Up Here.

Yeah, Look At This.

That Is Really Weird.

Definitely Not Natural.

No.

This Is Totally Lined Up Here.

Yeah, And It's Almost Like It Was...

It's Like A Piece Of Road.

Like A Floor Or A Pavement Or Something.

Yeah, I Was Gonna Say It Looks Like A Piece Of Road.

Yeah.

These Are Really Fine Stones.

Yeah, They're Very Flat, They're Very Smooth.

Yeah. And It Almost Looks Like

It Was Built As A Platform Or Something, Right?

It's Kind Of What Farini Described.

Gates: Yet Another Strange Structure --

More Evidence Of A Lost Culture In The Kalahari.

Anything Else That You Think Is Manmade Here?

Manmade, Yes.

It's Artwork.

-Artwork? -Artwork.

Artwork? Where?

It's Somewhere 500 Meters From Here.

That I Want To See.

-Let's Go Look. -Here We Go.

♪♪

Gates: As We Continue Through The Blistering Desert,

Lionel Guides Us Onto A Jagged Hill.

Really Strange Rocks.

Cruise: They Are Funny, Hey?

Yeah.

Gates: The Environment Looks More And More

Like Farini's Descriptions, And As We Crest The Ridge,

I Can't Help But Feel As Though We're On The Cusp Of Answers.

♪♪

Oh, Look At This. Josh, Look At This.

Oh, Wow!

Want To Know More About Tonight's Expedition?

Then Set A Course For Travelchannel.Com,

Where You Can Go Behind The Scenes With Exclusive Photos,

Never-Before-Aired Footage, And More.

Atop A Rocky Outcropping In The Kalahari Desert,

Explorer Adam Cruise And I

Are Searching For Signs Of A Lost City,

And We've Just Hit The Jackpot.

Oh, Look At This. Josh, Look At This.

These Are Wild. These Are Etchings.

Now, These Are Etchings,

And These Are Really, Really Old.

How Old Do You Think These Are?

More Than A Thousand.

More Than A Thousand Years.

You Can Make Out The Kinds Of Animals, As Well.

Right.

This Is A Giraffe.

Yes, Yeah.

I Think This Is A Human.

Yeah, It's A Human, Right.

This Is Typical Of The Hunter-Gatherer Society

In Southern Africa.

Gates: It Goes Without Saying

That 1,000-Year-Old Art Carved With Such Skill

Is Extremely Rare In This World, But Finding It Here,

In This Remote, Harsh Environment

Is Nothing Short Of Incredible.

And This Site Is Even More Remarkable

Than We First Realized.

This Is Very Interesting.

Oh, Wow. Okay.

Totally Different-Looking.

We've Got This Kind Of Star With A Circle Around It Now.

Almost Like A Diamond.

They're Not Just Drawing What They See

In The Environment Anymore.

They're Actually Doing Something That's More Imaginative.

Correct. That's Exactly What It Is.

And This Also Tells Us Something Else.

It Means That The Societies Are No Longer Hunter-Gatherers.

They're Starting To Become More Sedentary.

They're Starting To Stay In One Place.

Right.

And This Is A Sign Of Those Walls

That We Probably Saw Earlier Today.

A Sign Of Civilization.

Absolutely.

I Have To Say, I'm Pretty --

I'm Pretty Stunned That We've Arrived Here, You Know?

We've Gone From Following This Eccentric Explorer,

And, Really, By Following Him, We've Come To This,

Which Is A Really Significant Discovery, Actually.

Gates: The Rock Walls, The Circular Huts,

The Paving Stones -- All Of Them Are Clear Signs Of Civilization.

Explorers Have Scoured The Deserts

For Signs Of Some Soaring, Vanished Empire,

But It Turns Out, The Lost City

May Have Been Right In Front Of Them.

You Know, 30 Different Expeditions

May Have Just Been Walking Over

What Farini Found In The First Place,

Which Is Extraordinary.

They Were Looking At It All The Time,

But What They Were Looking For Was Something --

Some Grand European Civilization

Or Mediterranean Civilization.

Some Greek Temple.

Correct.

Instead Of An African Civilization.

And That's What This Is.

Yes.

This Isa Lost City.

This Is A Lost Civilization.

That's Correct, And That Is What Farini Saw.

Right.

♪♪

Gates: Analysis Of The Early Rock Art

And Stone Structures We Examined

Confirms That They Were Made More Than A Millennia Ago,

Built By The Hands

Of A Little-Known African Civilization.

As For The Great Farini,

He May Have Exaggerated His Route,

But There's Little Doubt That He Saw These

Or Similar Stone Structures.

His Discovery Isreal,

And He Deserves Credit For Voyaging

Into One Of The Most Punishing Environments On Earth

And For Cataloging The Wondrous Things He Saw There.

To Me, Farini, Like The Lost City,

Is In Need Of Rediscovery.

He Was A Brilliant Showman And An Intrepid Explorer.

His Journey, I Hope, Will Inspire Others

To Forge Their Own Paths Into The Kalahari

And To Dig Up The Secrets Still Hiding In The Sands.