Africa (2013): Season 1, Episode 2 - Savannah - full transcript

I'm flying over the Great
Rift Valley in East Africa.

And below me,
is a landscape in turmoil,

torn apart by the twisting
and buckling of the Earth's crust.

It's also a landscape of huge
and unpredictable change,

that forces animals, day by day,
season by season,

to gamble with their lives.

But for those that win,

this is one of the most fertile
landscapes on Earth.

Episode 2: Savannah
Original Air Date: January 9th, 2013

Nyiragongo, the largest lava lake
in the world...

bubbling up from nearly
ten miles beneath the surface.



Nowhere takes you closer to
the fiery heart of the planet.

Mount Nyiragongo is one of the most
active volcanoes in Africa.

Its eruptions
can be seen from space.

As magma churns
below the Earth's crust,

the land to the east of here
is being torn apart.

Volcanoes like this are continually
changing the face of Eastern Africa.

The volcanoes here
may have a violent side...

but life flows from
these infernos.

Fertile ash from countless
eruptions carpets the land...

creating the ideal conditions
for grasses to flourish,

on an immense scale.

And with the grasses come animals in
numbers found nowhere else on Earth.

Wildebeest.

Nothing stands in their way.



All this, just to reach fresh grass.

The ever-travelling herds are only
one element of life here.

Look closer
and there are new stories to tell.

Living on the savannah
is about making the most of the hand

the landscape deals you.

But here, it's always a gamble...
everything may change tomorrow.

From their vantage point,
agama lizards

wait for the arrival of the herds,
ready to seize their moment.

It's payday... over a million
wildebeest on their doorstep.

And with the wildebeest come flying
insects... billions of them.

Food...
if only they could catch them!

Time for a rethink.

This agama lizard
has spotted an opportunity.

Only one thing attracts more flies
than the wildebeest...

lions that have eaten wildebeest.

Lions are famously bad tempered...

they could swat the lizard like
the flies he's hoping to ambush.

He will need to pick his target
carefully.

Not her.

Or her.

Maybe?

But no.

To be within striking distance,
he's got to hold his nerve.

Got one!

Now he's getting his eye in.

But this might be a bit ambitious.

It may take courage to hunt
on the back of a lion...

but it takes sense to know
when to run away!

The wildebeest won't stay for long,
and when they leave,

most of the flies will follow.

Change is everywhere in East Africa.

This grassland was once covered by
a forest that ran

unbroken from west coast
to east coast.

Today, high above the plains,

swirling clouds hide mountains that
tower three miles into the sky.

These frozen summits now form part
of a mountainous barrier separating

the ancient jungles in the west
from the savannahs of the east.

Up here,
lies the largest glacier in Africa,

just a few miles north
of the equator.

These are the legendary
Mountains of the Moon.

The height of these peaks means
they create their own weather.

The local name for these mountains
is "Rwenzori"...

"the rain maker".

Meltwater flows down
from the glaciers.

And on the lower slopes, all this
water supports thick jungle...

remnants of the dense,

steamy forests that once dominated
the whole of East Africa.

But driven by a drying climate
beyond the mountains,

the forests began to wither away.

Today, only small pockets
of upland jungle remain...

home to animals
who once roamed the ancient forests.

The largest living
primates on Earth.

Mountain gorillas.

This little one's ancestors
have lived in forests like these

for millions of years.

But all around, the world
has changed to swamp and savannah.

This is the furthest
these mighty giants

now venture into Eastern Africa.

They're marooned on their islands
in the African sky.

Below the highlands,

vast wetlands cut swathes
through the open savannah.

Bangweulu Swamp is huge...

its name means,
"where the water meets the sky".

Hidden amongst
this maze of waterways

is a creature like no other.

A giant, prehistoric-looking bird.

A shoebill.

Standing well over a metre tall...

she roams these swamps...

trying to catch catfish.

Not exactly what she was after.

Deeper into the swamp, lies
the reason for all this fishing.

This chick is just three weeks old
and a little bit wobbly on its feet.

Its vast bill
means it has trouble balancing.

It won't be able to fly, or even
walk properly for several weeks.

It's entirely reliant
on its parents for food and water.

There is also a smaller chick,

who isn't doing so well.

The larger chick
pesters its mother for a drink.

While she goes off to fetch water,

it reveals a dark side to
the relationship with its nest mate.

It's three days older than
the other chick,

and has always won the race
for food and attention.

This is more than just
a scrap between two siblings.

As their mother returns, she sees
what the larger chick has done.

The smaller chick
seeks its mother's comfort.

But she has already made her choice.

Only her first-born
will get a drink.

Shoebills very rarely
raise more than one chick.

The younger chick
was only ever an insurance,

in case the elder didn't make it.

Now it's old enough,
the adults know that

they're better off
putting all their efforts

into bringing up
just one fit and healthy youngster.

The swamp's changing water levels
mean fishing

is too unpredictable for them

to gamble on trying to raise
two chicks.

Nothing here
stays the same for long.

This is the time of year when
Eastern Africa is beginning to dry.

The rivers and waterholes
are shrinking.

The land continues to dry out.

Tensions rise.

Hippos seek what relief they can.

This time of relentless drying

is also when another force of change
ravages the land.

Without warning, fires rip through
these tinder-dry plains.

The flames sweep across the savannah
at 50 miles an hour...

reaching temperatures of nearly
a thousand degrees,

consuming everything in their path.

Each year, an area larger than
Britain goes up in smoke.

But this destruction
can bring opportunity,

if you're prepared to take a risk.

Drongos, bee-eaters

and rollers bravely pluck fleeing
insects from amongst the flames.

There's little better than
a char-grilled grasshopper.

These fires may appear devastating,
but they are, in fact,

part of a natural cycle that
is essential for the regeneration

of East Africa's grasslands.

But sometimes the cycle is broken,
just when a change is most needed.

Here, on the plains of Amboseli,
in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro,

the seasonal rains have failed
for the last two years.

And this year,
they are already long overdue.

It's the hardest drought
for half a century.

Amboseli is usually
a haven for elephants.

These plains should be green
and covered with grass.

Now there is nothing but dust.

This family is forced to travel

constantly,

searching for anything they can eat.

The young must keep up, sometimes
there's not even time to suckle.

With the grass gone,

all the elephants can scratch
from the dust is withered twigs.

The adults
might just survive on this,

but it will not support
a calf for long.

Every mother in the herd

is struggling to provide
milk for her calf.

The search for food
is increasingly urgent.

As the herd moves on,
this female faces a terrible choice.

To carry on with her family,

or stay behind with her calf,

who's becoming too weak
to even stand.

They will soon be out of sight.

But her instinct is to stay.

She won't abandon her baby.

With the calf's last breath,
she knows that her battle is lost.

There are places even more hostile
than the dust-choked plains.

These alien landscapes are actually
the sun-baked salt crusts

of a chain of lakes
that run through East Africa.

The face of these soda lakes
changes day by day,

as the sun evaporates the water,
leaving the salts behind.

The waters here are toxic,
poisoned by volcanic springs.

But life does exist, even here.

The strange colours
are created by algae,

specially adapted to live in
this corrosive liquid.

And it is these algae that attract

one of the most astonishing
animals found in East Africa.

Among the steaming geysers
of Lake Bogoria,

over a million lesser flamingos
bathe and feed in the caustic water.

They gather
whenever the algae bloom.

These huge numbers

create one of the greatest
wildlife spectacles on Earth.

Almost all the world's
lesser flamingos

live on this chain of lakes,

moving from one lake to another as
the amount of algae in each changes.

All along the lake shore,
volcanic vents are a reminder

of the forces that continue
to change this land.

And a streak of colour
on the horizon

signals that relief for
the parched plains is on its way.

At last, countless storms
drench the thirsty ground.

Rain changes everything, yet again.

A crowned eagle
has been desperately waiting

for what she hopes the rain
will bring...

CHIRPING

..food for her hungry chick.

Nesting here has been
her biggest gamble.

Her chick's life depends on
the arrival of creatures

from the far rainforests
of the Congo.

Her wait will soon be over.

The largest mammal migration
in Africa is on the move.

Ten million fruit bats are drawn to
this tiny forest,

on the edge of the eastern savannah.

The bats flock here
to gorge themselves on fruit.

It's what the crowned eagle
and her chick have been waiting for.

But they're not alone.

Other eagles have flown in
from miles around...

fish eagles,

martial eagles,

and they're all after the bats.

The gamble the crowned eagle took
months ago by nesting here

has paid off.

She is the only eagle to actually
nest in this forest.

The only one who took
the risk to breed here,

well before the trees came
into fruit and the bats flooded in.

She only breeds
once every two years,

so her timing must be perfect.

In a few months,
the bats will leave,

but her gamble means her chick

will have the best possible start
in life.

These grasslands have been
grazed and burned

and have endured the harshest
drought in generations...

but with the rains,
they're beginning to recover.

And on the once dust-choked plains
of Amboseli,

there's a return to the good times.

The drought here
killed hundreds of elephants,

but the survivors
are now returning home.

And with them,
there's a surprise.

A newborn.

Surrounded by food,

the youngster can concentrate
on more important things...

like chasing egrets.

The bulls also return.

This bull has waited many years

for his chance to father
the next generation.

Now, he must
fight his way to the top.

But his rival is massive.

Each of their heads
weighs as much as a car.

They have been duelling for days.

Now in its third day,
the contest is reaching a climax.

Soon, one will be forced to concede.

The power of these clashes
can even shatter tusks.

Three days of battle is at an end.

The victor has won the right
to the females.

The process to replace what
the drought took away has begun.

Soon, the elephants will be
at full strength again.

Every day, the animals of Eastern
Africa gamble with their lives,

but despite the continual changes
they face,

their extraordinary adaptability

just tips the odds of survival
in their favour.

East Africa may seem very cruel,

but there's nowhere else that
provides such rich opportunities

for those that are prepared
to take them.

And in the end,
it was these ever-changing savannahs

that produced
the most adaptable species of all...

ourselves.

Filming in East Africa

would take the team on both
a physical and emotional journey

through the extremes
of this landscape.

These are the legendary
Mountains of the Moon,

towering over 5,000 metres
into the African sky.

Just miles from the equator,

they're the highest
mountain range on the continent

and home to
the largest glacier in Africa.

To reach the summits,
the team had to travel on foot,

the same way as climbers did
when they first reached the top

just over 100 years ago.

It would take more than two weeks,

climbing over 3,000 metres
from the valleys below.

Six days into their trek,
still well below the summits,

the team come to realise why
Rwenzori, the mountains' other name,

means "the rain makers".

Just after we set off, it started
raining, then it started hailing,

and the idea had been that
we'd stop here for an hour or two

and do some shots.
But as you can probably see,

there's not a great deal of view.

Brilliant shots of rain
and hail and fog.

Beyond that, we're pretty stuffed,
so it's becoming a bit of a theme.

For the crew and over
75 guides and helpers,

it's hard going carrying
nearly a tonne of kit

through the marshy valleys.

Mud, mud,

and just a little bit more mud.

But it's not just the bogs
they have to deal with.

There was a small, but slightly
disconcerting, earthquake last night,

so let's hope we don't get any
of those below any rocks.

The team continue to climb and,
before long, the rain turns to snow.

They eventually arrive
at the highest hut,

surrounded by ice
and nearly three miles up.

This will be base camp for the crew.

We've got a kitchen over there.

Um...

over there, down a really
treacherous precipice, is the toilet,

which is just a shack
with a big hole in the floor.

From here, they'll make
the hardest part of the ascent

right up to the glaciers.

Well, this is, believe it or not,
one of the better viewpoints

so... probably going to hang around
here for a little while,

wait till the fog clears.

But the weather isn't on their side.

So much for hoping the weather
was going to get better.

All that optimism now seems
completely ill-founded.

With the storm clouds closing in,
the team are forced to retreat.

This enormous weather front's
come in, as isn't entirely unusual.

So we're just coming down
as the thunder bursts around us.

So, glad to get back and go
and get inside the hut

and hopefully weather it out.

After days of climbing and finding
the peaks hidden by fog,

filming the summits is looking
increasingly impossible.

It can be pretty frustrating
at times.

There's a group of maybe 70 people that
we've involved for doing this directly.

You get all the way up here,

and then we can't film anything
because of the weather.

So, it is just a matter
of sitting it out and waiting.

You have to sort of hope that things
come right in the end.

The "rain makers" are certainly
living up to their name,

but by complete contrast,

other parts of East Africa
were gripped by drought.

At the beginning of the production,
Mark Deeble travelled to Amboseli,

just a few hundred miles
from the Rwenzoris,

to film the plight
of the animals there.

I mean,

I've never seen anything
quite as bad as that drought.

And we talked to
some of the Masai elders.

They said it was the worst drought
they'd seen in 50 years.

Amboseli is famous for
its huge herds of elephant,

but the drought
had dispersed them far and wide.

Those that remained were struggling
to find what little food was left.

When we first saw the group,
we could tell instantly

that they were in
a really serious condition.

They were thin
and obviously starving.

Mark knew that many of the calves
would not survive.

Although desperately painful
to witness,

nothing would convey
the cruel power of the drought

more than this mother's struggle
to keep her baby alive.

The thing about filming
a situation like that...

You know, when
an elephant calf dies,

is that when
you're actually filming it,

you're so caught up in the moment.

But it was only after filming,

when I put the camera away
and I looked there,

and there was this dead calf and
the mother standing there grieving,

that the full impact
of what I'd just filmed hit me.

People often say to me, you know,

"Could you not have intervened
in a situation like that?"

There are times when you can help,

but in that time in Kenya
there was no food available.

Now, you have to also consider
the mother.

If we'd gone in there and tried
to... to take the calf away,

it would have been absolute mayhem,
she'd have got incredibly stressed,

and that would probably have
jeopardised her survival.

In that particular situation,
when everything around us was dying,

there was absolutely nothing
we could do

to help that young elephant.

Although too late to save the calf,

a few months later,
the rains did finally return.

When we returned, it was amazing.
It was lush and green again.

And the elephants in the rains,
they all tend to come together,

so it was like all these groups
which had been dispersed,

which had been just somehow
coping on their own,

all got back together again,

so it was almost a sort of
festival type atmosphere.

That was when, essentially,
they come together,

they mate and then, after that,
lots of young calves are being born.

Since the end of the drought,

over 220 calves
have been born in Amboseli,

and that number is still rising.

It's the biggest
elephant baby boom on record.

I think what's lovely to see
in that situation

is that having been through
such a terrible drought,

to see the way in which, you know,
if you let things alone,

you know, they do have
incredible capacity to bounce back.

Back in the mountains,
and several failed ascents later,

the team were still battling
through the whiteout.

They try one last time.

There's cloud below us
and cloud above us.

It somehow seems slightly
like we're heading nowhere slowly.

Then, as they reach the top,
finally, the clouds begin to part.

♪ I am the king of my own land. ♪

It was absolute magic here.

We've just come through
the densest, densest cloud,

having absolutely no idea
what's surrounding us.

The past few days have just been
rain and cloud and rain and cloud,

and, as if by magic,
there's the most spectacular view

of ice and glaciers and mountains,

that you just wouldn't think
was on the equator.

It's just amazing.

It's the most spectacular
mountain scenery I've seen,

and to think it's in Africa
is just mind-boggling.

These mysterious mountains have
finally unveiled their secrets,

and on the plains beyond,

the elephants have returned
to their home.

Despite having been explored
by film-makers for over a century,

East Africa still has the power
to enchant and surprise us all.

Next week, we go deep into
the tropical jungles of Africa...

to see the rarest animals...

the last wild beaches...

dark forest secrets...

violence...

beauty...

majesty...

and drama.

Congo.

Sync and corrections by n17t01