Wild Australia with Ray Mears (2016–…): Season 1, Episode 6 - Desert - full transcript

RAY: I'm in Australia. One of the most
exciting places on earth.

Do you know, sometimes,
it just feels amazing to be alive

in a wild place like this.

In this series, I'm exploring six
of Australia's unique landscapes.

From the dark heart of the rainforest...

...to the tropical waters
of the Great Barrier Reef...

...and the wetland flood plains...

He's big, dangerous.

...on the trail of weird and wonderful
animals found here and nowhere else...

Woah. That's a great breach.
Wasn't that beautiful?

For a naturalist,
this is one of the most



inspirational places to visit
on our entire planet.

...as I set out on an epic adventure
into Wild Australia.

[laughs]

I'm travelling to the other side
of the globe to the Australian Outback.

It is so dry and remote
that it is one of the most challenging

environments in the world.

This is the red center of Australia.

The first settlers who came here,
the outback pioneers,

described this as a dead desert.

It's really interesting because
very few of the early explorers

of Australia paid any regard
to the Aboriginal knowledge.

But if they had,
they would have learnt that

this isn't a dead desert at all,
it is actually a place filled with life.

Australia is the driest
inhabited continent in the world,



and today, I am at its heart.

I'm starting at the Uluru monolith.

And I will pursue my journey
deeper into the interior

to the geographic center of the country.

I'm getting to Uluru by helicopter,
and from the air,

it's awe inspiring to see
this crimson earth sprawling under me

as far as the eye can see.

It feels like I am flying over Mars.

And, like the red planet,
this color comes from the presence

of iron oxide, but the big difference
is that here, there's vegetation,

and that means there is water.

The one big challenge here is finding it.

For millennia, plants, animals and people
have built their lives around this search,

and that's what I want to explore.

Coming up to Uluru now.

It's an incredibly impressive sight
in this landscape.

[majestic music playing]

The Uluru monolith,
also known as Ayres Rock,

is possibly the most striking
and recognizable landmark in the world.

It's an overwhelming presence
in the landscape,

but there's another quintessential figure
in the red center,

a creature that is built
to find water in the desert.

I'm heading now
to a red kangaroo sanctuary.

And I'm really quite excited
because they are an amazing animal

and every time I've seen one in the wild,
I've taken a look at it,

it's taken a look at me,
and the next thing,

there's been a puff of dust
in the desert, pfff and it's gone.

They can really shift,
I am doing 60 km an hour at the moment

and that's how fast they move
across the desert.

So by going to the sanctuary,
for once I'll have the opportunity to be

up close and personal with the animal
that is the Australian icon.

And here they are,
the biggest marsupials in the world.

This 36 hectare wildlife reserve has
plenty of room for them to roam freely.

For many of these animals,
their story started with a tragedy.

Brolga, founder of the sanctuary,
introduces me to two young residents.

BROLGA: I rescued Hope from road kill,
which means checking the pouches

of dead kangaroos in the street,
and that's the message

I have been trying to get through
to people,

if you see a dead kangaroo out there
on the road

- Think joey.
- Yep.

There could be a little baby
still alive in the pouch of a dead mum,

so please get out and have a look.

RAY: Amazing. And this is Patrick,
isn't it?

BROLGA: And Patrick. Patrick came
from hunting, so his mother was hunted.

He is so beautiful.

Yeah, we carry them around in these pillow
cases, it sort of replicates...

- The pouch.
- The security of mum's pouch,

and then the breathing and the warmth
of our bodies just settles them down.

- Fantastic, what a great idea.
- Yeah.

It's only in this
very early time right now

that we actually nurture them
and hold them and carry them around

'cause they would be
getting carried around in mum's pouch

RAY: So they'll still maintain
a fear of humans.

BROLGA: Yes.

RAY: Now that I've had a cuddle
with the joeys,

I can't resist
taking a closer look at the adults.

Great to be able to stand this close.
Five meters away.

Less than that, four meters away!

As a desert animal, red kangaroos
have adapted to this arid landscape.

Incredibly, they're able
to smell water underground.

It's a fantastic skill, and Aboriginals
knew they could follow them to find water.

The method by which they move
is highly efficient.

They don't burn many calories,
they can travel fast,

they can flee from a predator swiftly.

If they have to go from a water source
to another water source

that are a long way apart,

being able to do so efficiently
can have survival value.

Look at this!
Hello. A little emu!

[chuckles]
Just brilliant.

I loved every minute of this
close encounter with red kangaroos.

They're a living example
that knowing the desert means

knowing how to find water,
and I definitely want to find out more.

The best people to talk to about that
are the traditional owners of this land.

Aboriginal people,
it's astonishing, but they've travelled

across this landscape where
there's hardly a drop of water to be found

for thousands of years.

They have an incredible,
detailed knowledge of how to navigate

this landscape going from water and food
resource, from one to another.

And I have to spend some time here
with aboriginal people

if I'm really going to understand
that intimate relationship

with the desert itself.

It's good out here, I like this place.

This is Sammy Wilson.

He and his ancestors
have called this place home

for thousands of years.

They have managed to survive
in this difficult landscape

by being incredibly ingenious...

SAMMY: A lizard.

RAY:... and eating everything they can,

like this giant lizard,
a sand goanna,

that they would typically cook
on the fire.

RAY: That's some country isn't it?

All this knowledge has been passed on
from generation to generation,

and the next one is ensured
with Vance and Justin, who are joining us.

RAY: Is this the waterhole? Look at this!

So this fills up obviously
when there's rain?

SAMMY: Yeah, when you got good rain,
it come up.

RAY: Look at that.

There are several types of waterholes.

This one is a natural cavity
where water collects.

It's been particularly dry lately,
so right now it's empty.

It shows just how hard it must have been
for those who relied on these sources.

RAY: How far would you have to go
from here to your next source of water

if you were travelling on foot?

100 k.

Really? Between water sources?
100 kilometers? It's a hard life!

SAMMY: Yeah.

RAY: When you stand in a place like this
and you understand how important water is

in the desert,
I can't help thinking

that all the generations of people
who have come here

and you see the stone tools here.

Like the shiny rock here.
Is this where someone has been grinding?

SAMMY: Grinding seeds.

RAY: To make a damper.

SAMMY: They grind them and bake it
and eat. Good people, smart people.

RAY: Very smart people,
they had to be very clever.

SAMMY: Yeah.

RAY: Before night falls,
we make our way to the campsite.

I prepare my bed for the night
while Sammy is setting a fire.

Simple swag!

In the old days,
the pioneers travelling

through the country
and workers on the out stations,

they used to carry their swag
across their shoulder with a strap,

over the other shoulder their food bag.
The tucker bag.

And that's how they travelled,
one counterbalancing the other.

In their bedroll, they also carried
any spare clothes that they needed.

It's a very simple way to sleep
in the desert.

It's a brilliant way to sleep
in the desert.

If the clouds clear, we'll see.

Then it's not five star luxury,
it's a billion star luxury.

It really doesn't get any better.

[melodic music playing]

I think the sky has cleared, I see a star!
It's good to see it clear.

Sitting around the campfire,
Sammy opens up

about living
with his ancestral knowledge.

I am old now and I am learning more

and I am still learning for today
and tomorrow.

RAY: You've actually guided
the Dalai Lama?

- SAMMY: Yeah, yeah.
- RAY: And what was that like?

I think I was going like this,
and he go, nah,

I'm going like this.
This is your country. Oh, thank you!

[laughing]

RAY: And what did he say?

Keep your culture strong.

Learn the modern way
and keep your culture strong.

RAY: Profound words.

If I had it my way,
I would spend weeks with Sammy,

but the night calls with the promise
of more adventures in the morning.

It's half past four in the morning
and the temperature is already reaching

24 degrees Celsius.

Despite being a desert,
it is definitely not a dead landscape.

There is life
for those who know where to find water.

It's an extraordinary place.

Well that was a wonderful night.

Something special
about sleeping out in the desert.

The sun comes up really quickly here,

it's almost like the light's
been turned straight on.

There was no dawn chorus to speak of.

Just one mournful cry
from a bird over there.

And that just is a reflection
of the aridity of this landscape.

It's a very difficult environment.

Time for me to move on.

To find life in the desert,
I'm pursuing the water

and heading deeper into the center
of the country

where mountain ranges channel the rain

and where underground water
collects near the surface.

So, I've driven about five hours north
from Uluru,

and the terrain here is quite different.

I can see the vegetation just changing,

but the most dramatic change
is the landscape.

As you can see, we've got
more mountainous, more rocky terrain.

Rocky areas in the deserts
often hold moisture,

and that attracts all sorts of life.
So that's exactly what I need.

As I start walking into this terrain,
I come across a common wallaroo;

a marsupial that is often referred to
as a euro.

It's amazing!

If the red kangaroo is the Ferrari
of their species,

built for speed in open land,
then the euro is the quad bike,

stocky and adapted to all terrain.

This close, I can see
that it's a male euro.

You can see the fur is quite rough,

it enables them to live
in much wider range of condition.

You can see he is young.
It may also be why I'm so close to it.

Young animals are a little bit more naïve
than the older, more experienced ones.

Let's see how close I can get.

[suspenseful music playing]

Dare I take another step?

Cute.

[laughs]

That's fantastic!

It's not every day you get to play
hide and seek with a euro like that.

Wonderful. It was doing that thing
at the end where he was like,

I'll pretend to eat... caught you!
[chuckles]

Moving further into the boulders,
I come across another type of marsupial,

a rock wallaby.

Actually,
it's not just one, it's a whole colony!

[chuckles]

It's a fantastic sight.
Their camouflage is astonishing.

It really is.

It is dusky shades of brownie grey
that has little moods in it,

like the shadows in the rocks themselves.

Wonderful, if they weren't moving,
it would be very difficult to spot.

Different adaptations to suit tiny
little different windows in the ecosystem.

Windows of opportunity for a life form.

[adventurous music playing]

A little further along,
I spot more vegetation, more bird life,

like a little oasis;
a sure sign of water.

It could be a river;
I'm going to follow the lead.

When you come down to one
of these rivers, this is what you find.

The vegetation that you saw
from a distance.

All these large red gums, and then,
it's dry and sandy.

And it's tantalizing. There's moisture
here but can you actually access it?

I've spent a great part of my life

honing the craft of how to survive
in a place like this.

By reading the landscape,
I can tell that even though

we can't see the water,
it probably runs underground

following the river bed.

But that doesn't mean anyone
could start digging and find water.

One of the best things, though,
that the beginner can do

is use a polythene bag to trap water
transpired by vegetation.

I'll show you what we do.

The secret to this technique
is that the tree can put down roots

to moisture in the sand we can't access.

Tie that up really securely.

Now, as the plant goes about
its process of photosynthesis,

moisture is transpired from the leaves
and will be trapped in this bag,

which is acting a little bit
like a green house.

Now you can already see moisture
starting to be built up,

and when you feel these leaves,
you wouldn't think

there was any moisture there at all
but they're all giving off water,

and that will collect on the underside
of the polythene,

run down into the reservoir.

Now all I need is sun and time
for the alchemy to operate.

There you are, that's after four hours,
and you can see we've got some water.

That can save a life.

There we go, not bad for four hours.
On previous occasions,

I've managed to get 750ml in a day
from a bag over a branch like that.

And that's pretty good, four or five
of those and you're really sitting pretty

It's great to be able to tap
into water resources,

and it's clear that I'm not the only one
to have spotted the potential

of this riverbed.

You can see here along the edge
of the river there are fresh dingo tracks,

a nice thing to see if we get the chance.

Very often you just get
a fleeting glimpse of dingoes,

but they're coming along the river
just as people once did, looking for food,

because obviously water draws in game and
improves their chances of finding a meal.

Dingoes have been nicknamed
the Australian wolf.

They hunt in packs
and they don't bark, they howl.

In the past, I have heard them calling
each other at night, it's impressive.

I'd love to track one down

So there are lots of dingo tracks here,
different sized animals.

So a family group moving together.

What do you do when you come across
a big massive track like this?

You can't follow them all so...

What you do is you look for one
that's particularly fresh

and you follow that.

I have got nice fresh tracks going off
in this direction here.

There's been a lot of activity here.

You can see where one of the dingoes
has been lying down here.

That's why it is so smooth and flat there.
And the soil here is moist.

There was a thunderstorm last night.

Maybe they are lying there
because it is a little cool.

Also really quite good position
to watch the landscape.

I'm starting to think
that there might be a den site here.

Dingoes raise their pups in dens.

If there is one near here, I have a shot
at finding one of the parents.

There's our dingo! Fantastic!
Look at that! You see a dingo, just there!

He's going to disappear
because their camouflage

will blend right in with that grass.
Awesome.

I'll see if we can call him over.

There's a bit of curiosity going on.

Fantastic, it's a female.

She's come to see what I'm doing

and you can see,
I think she's been feeding young recently.

She looks a little bit low on body weight.

She's come really close, that is such
a privilege! That's lovely! Look at that!

Woah. She's 30 meters now.

Wonderful thing to see!
Australia's wild dog. Awesome.

And she's off.

That's magical.

There you go, it just goes to show:

by taking the time to read the landscape
like the locals

and following the moisture,
it is possible to find wildlife here.

And my journey in search of water comes
to a dramatic end in this amazing setting.

After a long, hot day,
this is exactly what you want to find,

a waterhole like this one,
permanent water.

30 meters deep, fed by the oldest river
in the world, the Finke River.

This is a magnet, as you can imagine,
for all sorts of wildlife:

birds, animals, including, people.

When the weather is pushing 40 degrees,
I tell you, that's irresistible.

Ah! Fantastic!

This journey through the red desert
has been a fantastic adventure.

From sharing a fire under the stars
with Sammy,

to coming face to face
with amazing marsupials,

and of course,
catching sight of the elusive dingo.

It's in moments like these that it feels
like there is no better place on earth

than Wild Australia.

That's fantastic.
[laughs]