Water.
Falling on a city.
The sound of nature all around us.
Listen to what the rain has to say.
Follow it up to the clouds
that sweep across the turning earth.
Far, far away.
To find a land
where water shapes all life.
Where nature still holds sway.
Africa!
Realms of fire and ice.
Water and wind.
Heat and dust.
Worlds within worlds.
Where we can be swept back into nature.
The rainforest.
The very heart of this vast continent.
The wettest place in Africa.
What lies hidden beneath this dense canopy of green?
The mysterious forest.
With so much sun and rain,
it grows relentlessly.
And all around the tangled forest
is the noise of numberless creatures.
More animals live here
than in any other realm.
But they're hard to find.
Hardly any light gets through.
And down here, on the forest floor,
a leaderless army of blind ants
is on the move.
Driver ants.
A swarm, five million strong.
You don't want to get in their way.
They eat everything in their path.
These tiny ants can overcome creatures
thousands of times bigger than them.
It's war.
Animal devouring animal in the darkness.
While plants struggle desperately with each other
to reach the light.
Life here can be a constant struggle.
But it's only a short walk to paradise.
In a glade in the forest,
a family rests in the sun.
Gorillas.
Some of our closest relatives.
Just like us, they live in families.
Mothers and children, uncles and aunts.
The big silverback - he's in charge.
He keeps an eye on everyone.
For this family,
the forest is really the Garden of Eden.
All the food they need is within easy reach.
They play, they talk, they quarrel,
they learn and make friends for life.
It's an idyllic place to grow up.
This is their world.
They are really comfortable here.
And if anything threatens the peace...
...the silverback is ready to protect his family.
Rain and sun made this rich forest.
But in the world beyond,
another very different realm is being forged
by a far more brutal clash of the elements.
The underworld.
The heart of a volcano.
A fiery furnace.
Where rocks melt before your eyes
at temperatures of a thousand degrees.
You're seeing the earth stretch open.
When our planet was first formed,
the whole world was like this.
Underground, the furnace still burns,
making new land every day.
A world built from sulfur and salt belched from below.
Like an alien planet.
Acid pools and choking gases.
You can't even breathe the air.
Almost nothing can live here.
But sometimes, in the realm of the volcanoes,
the fires breed life out of the poisoned water.
Lake Bogoria,
where boiling springs from the underworld
spill into a vast lake.
These waters are far saltier than the sea,
yet they draw life from hundreds of miles away.
Flamingos.
'Flame' birds.
Occasionally, when the water conditions are just right,
the lake blooms with masses of tiny algae.
A delicacy for the flamingos.
Their food contains a red pigment,
so the more they sip, the pinker they glow...
...as if they're blushing.
Now, the more they blush, the more desirable they become.
And when they're all looking beautiful...
..they start to dance.
# You
# You and me
# You # You
# You and me. #
Enflamed by the waters of the volcanic lake,
they seek out partners in the crowd.
Who will choose who in this great gathering?
Somewhere out there is the perfect match.
Out of the fires...
...comes love.
Flamingos mate for life.
They are leaving the bubbling lake
to find a place to nest.
Soon they'll be gone, the lake empty for another year.
But there are realms in Africa so dry,
they seem permanently empty.
The Namib Desert.
It's been here for over 50 million years.
One of the oldest, hottest, driest places on earth.
A great sea of sand
as restless as the ocean.
How can anything survive in this wasteland?
But some do.
Millions of years have taught them the necessary tricks.
A desert viper,
side-winding to get a grip on the loose sand.
Food's hard to find,
so the viper hides
and waits for it to come to him.
If you're going to hunt for a meal...
...it helps if you have eyes in the back of your head.
Meet the Namaqua chameleon.
He sets his sights on an armoured ground cricket.
His eyes are bigger than his stomach.
Better try again for a lighter lunch.
Delicious.
In the middle of the day,
the sand is so hot, most creatures can't stand it.
This little lizard's no bigger than your little finger
and to stop his feet burning, he's got to dance.
The shovel-snouted lizard can handle the heat,
but all that dancing works up an appetite.
He'd better be careful, though.
Not everything here is what it seems.
Tempting-
But is it safe?
That was too close.
Time for a vanishing act.
With so little moisture in the dunes,
there's only a sprinkling of life,
and all of it's small.
But if there's rain, even a little,
the water can change the whole character of a place.
East of Namib lies the realm of the scorched plains.
Water occasionally softens the earth,
but now the land is bone dry.
It's a desperate time for elephants.
They have to drink more than any other animal on earth.
To find enough water
at this time of year,
the family must trek
huge distances.
The smallest just have to keep up.
This is a family of females with their young.
One mother is in charge.
She has an incredible memory.
She can remember the few places
where there might still be water.
They can't afford to rest until they find a drink.
They must push on through the night.
It's a dangerous time.
There are hunters about.
Leopards, hyenas, lions.
To keep their babies safe,
the family needs to stick together.
Another family nearby have not been so careful.
This youngster has strayed too far.
Our family has survived.
The mothers were wise to keep their babies close.
Together their search continues.
Water at last.
The mother has led them to a special place
where there's water underground.
To reach it,
the elephants have dug wells
with their feet and tusks.
Some of them are pretty deep,
so the longer your trunk, the better.
A few mouthfuls can make all the difference.
Especially when you're small.
Thirsty bulls barging in for a drink.
Fortunately, the family's drunk enough
and the mother knows somewhere nearby where they can all relax.
Too dirty to drink, but perfect for a mud bath.
A quick cool-off, a splash of the muddy sunscreen
and it's time to move on again
to find food and more fresh water.
Someone needs a bit of help.
Generations of elephants
have gone on journeys like this and survived,
passing on their knowledge and their courage.
They'll keep on travelling.
Always on the move, always thirsty...
...until the rains arrive.
Fresh water is what brings the dry kingdoms of Africa to life.
These fingers of mist don't promise healing showers,
but they beckon us towards another magical realm...
...just beyond these sands.
The sea.
An eternal, restless empire
at the boundaries of what we know.
Battering the shoreline of Africa
from all points of the compass.
Barracuda.
Cruising in a shoal.
They seem to sense the path to take.
The traffic of the deep.
Ocean travellers, moving as one
towards a wonderful creation of the sea.
The most vibrant of all Africa's realms.
A coral reef.
Reefs can only grow at the perfect temperature,
at the perfect depth and with plenty of sunshine.
So they're rare.
But when it all comes together,
you get this.
A crowded city under the sea.
A hawksbill turtle looking for food.
Like any human city,
there are lots of different places to live.
And being so crowded,
it pays to get along with the neighbours.
A quarter of all life in the sea lives on coral reefs.
It may be beautiful,
but don't let the bright colours dazzle you.
Like most cities, the reef has its darker side.
When you leave the light behind,
you never know quite what you'll find.
These sweeper fish like to shelter in caves.
But they seem pretty spooked.
A gang of lionfish on the prowl.
Beautiful, but deadly.
Their spines are highly poisonous.
And the stripes warn others not to mess with them.
Lionfish use their outstretched fins
to corner their prey against the walls.
Sunbeams pierce the depths
direct from the heavens.
Ride them to a kingdom in the sky...
...among a sea of clouds
to reach the top of the world.
A realm of ice and snow, right on the equator.
Mount Kenya, towering over three miles high.
Hidden among these snow-capped peaks
is a secret world of strange plants.
# Carry me Oh, carry me
# Oh, strong wind, carry me
# Through the misty cloud
# Through the misty cloud... #
Life up here beats to a magical rhythm.
# On the road to the mountain
# Through the valley and the stars
# You'll find me there
# Sittin' in the starry sky
# Thinkin' on the reasons why
# I'll be here forever... #
As night falls, temperatures plunge.
And this whole place becomes a crystal kingdom.
# You'll find me there
# Sittin' in the starry sky
# Thinkin' on the reasons why
# I'll be here forever
# You'll find me there
# Sittin' in the starry sky
# Thinkin' on the reasons why
# I'll be here forever
# You'll find me there
# Dancin' in the starry sky
# Thinkin' on the reasons why
# I'll be here forever... #
To avoid freezing,
the plants wrap themselves in a blanket of leaves.
Like snuggling under a duvet.
As they sleep, everything around them turns to ice.
It's winter every night.
# Oh, when love comes
# There's nothing we can't do... #
Each morning, the sun brings the mountains back to life.
# When love comes
# We'll find another day... #
It's summer every day.
# Oh, when love comes
# There's nothing
# We can't do
IOh
# When love comes
# We'll find out... #
IOh
# When love comes
# There's nothing we can't do. #
Across the highlands, everyone's waking up.
Geladas.
They live only up here, in the mountains of Ethiopia.
Woken by a touch of the sun,
as has been the way for millions of years.
Their luxuriant fur has kept them warm at night,
but needs a lot of attention to keep it clean.
Pwoah!
Life up here is all about simple routine.
Easy days beneath the eternal sky.
As the day heats up, everyone heads off to find food.
Families join up in their hundreds,
searching for the best grass.
With so many monkeys together,
things sometimes get a bit out of hand.
Most of the time, no-one comes to any harm.
It's just the males showing off.
All part of the daily routine.
As the day ends,
it's time to find somewhere to sleep
and huddle from the cold.
The same as every night
they can ever remember.
Winter, then summer.
Summer, then winter.
Like a whole year in a day.
On and on...forever.
From a land where each day and each night
are the same as those before
comes a world of constant change.
This is how rivers are born.
Drop follows drip follows drop,
a trickle that becomes a flow and then a stream.
And then it goes on and on.
Always downhill.
Always looking for the lowest level.
Africa's rivers create a mercurial realm
of great highways.
Legends like the Nile, Congo, Zambezi.
Victoria Falls.
The smoke that thunders!
Even the wildest rivers calm down eventually.
This place might look peaceful,
but don't be fooled.
Wildebeest.
Always on the move looking for fresh grass.
But they have to stop to drink.
This is the closest thing to a dragon you'll ever see.
The biggest crocodiles in Africa.
Some weigh over a tonne.
Monsters like these have been around
since the time of the dinosaurs.
They have the most powerful jaws of any animal on earth.
It's been almost a year since these crocs last ate
and there's no guarantee the herds will come back.
Even if they do, they might drink elsewhere.
It's a long and winding river.
But if there's one thing crocodiles are good at...
...it's being patient.
The wildebeest have to drink eventually.
Even the biggest crocs in Africa can't stop them all.
They have to keep moving
to find a place
where there's fresh grass.
That means chasing the rain.
It's hard to predict
when the rain will come to the savanna,
but the animals seem to know.
They follow the clouds.
And they come into a world being created anew.
A world at the tipping point.
The sun and the rain, the light and the water...
...have come with a miracle.
A transformation.
Rain brings the world into flower.
And every living thing blossoms too.
Something extraordinary is about to happen.
Africa.
Bursting into life again.
A happy ending after so many difficult journeys.
The long search for water is over
and there is joy in the world once more.
Endless delight in being alive.
# There's a wild wind blowing
# Down the corner of my street
# Every night there the headlights are glowing
# There's a cold war coming
# On the radio I heard
# Baby, it's a violent world
# Oh, love, don't let me go
# Won't you take me where the streetlights glow?
# I can hear it coming
# I can hear the sirens sound
# Now my feet won't touch the ground... #
We can be swept back into nature
and feel the joy of it...
...if we let the world show us the way.
# Time came a-creepin'
# Oh, and time's a loaded gun
# Every road is a ray of light
# It goes on
# Time will leak and lead you on
# Still, it's such a beautiful night
# Oh, love
# Don't let me go
# Won't you take me where the streetlights glow?
# I can hear it coming
# Like a serenade of sound
# Now my feet won't touch the ground... #
The natural world is so powerful,
so enchanting,
that even here,
even in the city,
we can be swept back into nature.
It's all around us.
And in every one of us.