(dramatic music)
For thousands of years,
predators and their prey have blended in
with the golden landscapes of the African savanna.
But in springtime, the vegetation comes alive
and the earth explodes in a thousand colors.
The dry savanna blossoms into a Garden of Eden
and the ocean forms the last frontier.
South Africa has nearly as many biotopes
as the rest of the continent combined,
from the Kalahari Desert
to the flowering hills of Namaqualand,
and on to the Cape Peninsula,
wild animals share these multiple, colorful habitats.
(singer vocalizing)
The southwestern corner of the Kalahari Desert,
where the borders of Botswana, Namibia,
and South Africa meet is the driest part.
Nevertheless, some animals have adapted
to the hostile environment.
They can go several days without drinking.
The Kalahari Desert is home
to a number of seemingly fragile species,
like this Brant's whistling rat,
a cute rodent hunted by many predators in the vicinity.
Brant's whistling rat is mainly solitary
and needs its cautiousness and quick reflexes
to stay out of harm's way.
At the slightest alert, it rushes underground
into one of the 50 tunnels that make up its burrow,
the burrow that also shelters it from the summer heat.
Reassured, this whistling rat can now set off
in quest for food.
Because drinking water is very scarce,
it depends on plants for liquids.
Springtime brings flowers,
which it helps to pollinate with its snout.
(birds chirping)
Here, in a dry, ancient riverbed,
the acacia trees manage to capture underground water
with their long roots.
The trees provide shade and hold a little moisture
in the air, allowing other plants to grow.
And those plants attract antelope, including the springboks
that congregate in small groups of single males
or females with their young.
Accustomed to dry places, they can go days without water,
finding the bare minimum they need to survive
in young shoots of grass, leaves, or roots.
Fortunately, a number of manmade wells
provide watering places where they can drink.
In parks and natural reserves,
these water holes help animals cope with the dry season,
because even if thunderstorms are common,
they seldom bring any rain.
In the riverbeds, you also find flocks
of South African ostriches
undeterred by the bleak surroundings.
Here, they find plants to eat and minerals they need.
And if a cricket sometimes appears,
well, it's a good source of protein.
For South African ostriches in this harsh,
semi-desert environment, there are pleasures,
like sand baths for grooming their plumage.
They seem to have found the right location,
but there might be a dispute about that.
Because of their height,
ostriches can see their predators from far away.
Adults can measure two meters 30.
This probably explains why so many antelope
use the ostrich as a watchman.
If an ostrich starts to flee, there's danger on the way.
Here, the world's largest birds are often found
along another resident of arid region, the gemsbok.
The gemsbok is a ruminant whose metabolism is adapted
to drought conditions and also heat,
because its body temperature can rise
up to 45 degrees centigrade without causing harm.
Its long horns are not only for scratching
where it itches.
There is evidence that a gemsbok can kill a lion,
even if it generally prefers to avoid a fight.
To conserve energy and avoid sweating,
gemsbok limit their physical activity.
Like many members of the Bovidae family,
their favorite occupation seems to be
starting at other animals.
(birds chirping)
(wings flapping)
When gemsboks move, they have no idea
their tall horns are visible from a distance,
and they're spotted by a family of meerkats.
Meerkats are highly social creatures,
but they have lots of predators.
They're naturally suspicious and curious.
These meerkats are interested in the northern black korhaan.
The presence of the male might mean
that a female is nearby with her egg,
which would make a feast for the meerkat.
But with the father standing guard,
the scrambled eggs will have to wait.
These goings-on seem to amuse the lilac-breasted roller,
but not the vulture, who is focused on the vulture chick.
(wildebeest grunting)
The blue wildebeest
is less accustomed to extreme drought.
That's why the largest populations
are found in Kenya and Tanzania.
The blue wildebeest living here,
in small herds of only a few dozen individuals,
survive only because there are manmade water holes.
This male can drink peacefully,
overseeing his harem of females ruminating nearby.
On land with scant vegetation,
the wildebeest spend lots of time grazing.
That's good news for the Cape crows
who ride on their backs in search of insects.
(wildebeest grunting)
The male wildebeest demands obedience from his harem
and from the young, especially when danger threatens.
The herd suddenly freezes, motionless,
all senses on the alert.
Because an intruder is stealing its way to the water hole.
(suspenseful music)
(crow squawking)
The leopard is parched with thirst in the burning heat.
And it's not the crow's cry that will scare it away.
Still, the big cat remains alert,
aware that it's surrounded and watched
by all the other animals, who keep their distance
and hope that nothing serious happens.
The lappet-faced vulture, on the other hand,
would appreciate a clash
and the opportunity to eat the leftovers.
But the leopard only came to drink
and leaves as quietly as it came.
The others may be relieved,
but the vulture may have been disappointed.
A pair of bateleur eagles are the first
to return to the water hole.
Soon, they're joined by a tawny eagle.
As the sun finally sets and the heat subsides,
the animals become more active.
(birds chirping)
(crickets chirping)
Cape ground squirrels can tolerate high temperatures
because their burrow offers protection from the heat.
Outside, in the open air, they use their tails for shade.
Hot sand isn't a problem.
To the contrary, it's a good way
of getting rid of their parasites.
Or most of them.
Because they seldom have access to water,
Cape ground squirrels seek juicy plants
or fresh buds during the growing season.
They're constantly on the lookout.
Finding food in this arid region takes lots of time.
Fortunately, their powerful sense of smell
can identify roots underground,
so, all they have to do is dig,
and the resulting tunnel will add
another emergency exit to the burrow.
And if they're lucky, they can eat a few termites,
just like the crimson-breasted shrike
that's also looking for insects.
(wood clattering)
When all is quiet, you can hear
the pecking of a Bennett's woodpecker.
This male with his distinctive red skull cap
may be trying to attract a mate.
In any event, he shows excellent grooming skills,
just like the squirrel.
Fur or feather, whichever, so long as everything
is clean and glossy.
(tribal drum music)
This evening, however, the gnats are swarming,
ready to drink the moisture around the animals' eyes.
The insects also bother the greater blue-eared starlings
that gather in the trees at sundown,
especially in stormy weather.
(thunder rumbling)
(thunder cracking)
The air is charged with electricity,
thunder roars, but no rain falls.
(crickets chirping)
(thunder cracks)
(birds chirping)
After a troubled night, the animals begin to stir.
The ring-necked dove shakes off the numbness
with a bit of grooming.
As soon as the black-backed jackal finishes drinking,
the greater blue-eared starlings will be able to bathe.
These lionesses are ready to take a nap.
They'd sleep soundly were it not for the brown hyena
sniffing around.
(hyena wailing)
Attracted by the scent of the game
the lionesses killed the night before.
The hyena gets the message and doesn't insist.
Lionesses generally rest 20 hours a day.
They don't hunt every night.
Sometimes, they simply digest their huge meals
or conserve their energy.
In any event, there's always a good reason
for stretching out like this.
Unlike most other cats,
Africa's largest predator is not a solitary animal.
Females live in a close-knit group, the pride,
with kinship ties between sister, mother, and aunt.
A pride can be accompanied by one or more males
from other families.
The constant confirmation of family ties
improves the group's unity and mutual support.
Any conflict could quickly become destructive.
Their close relationship also helps
when the females hunt together.
Whenever they meet, lionesses lick each other.
They sniff, they rub, and they cuddle.
Reassured with mutual affection and harmony in their pride,
the lionesses get on with their lives.
But for other creatures,
things are different.
(bell tolls)
(playful music)
For this young
pale chanting goshawk, learning to hunt is far from easy,
especially when it attacks a more clever animal.
(switches to more suspenseful music)
(switches back to playful music)
This squirrel family seems to be defiant.
They look like they enjoy taunting the bird,
probably to keep it away from their main burrow.
(music speeds up)
(music slows back down)
But this young goshawk spares no effort.
The longer it tries, the angrier it becomes,
and it seems desperate.
The squirrels seem to be having fun.
In the distance, a jackal sees what's happening.
It, too, would like to make a meal
of one of these impish squirrels.
But the squirrels are masters in the art of dodging danger.
But maybe, just maybe, they've lowered their guard,
after defying the goshawk.
The jackal decides to try its luck
while seeming to stay aloof.
But how can he succeed where the goshawk failed,
knowing that squirrels can plunge underground
in the blink of an eye?
Is there a better strategy or perhaps an easier pray?
The goshawk has to give up the fight
and content itself with digging insects
out of a dung.
The jackal continues its waiting game.
(wind faintly howling)
The squirrels eventually emerge, and, bold as ever,
they're determined to perpetuate the species.
When you're constantly threatened,
when every breath may be your last breath,
it's important to maintain a bloodline.
(crickets chirping)
All the agitation does not impress these lions.
(bird chirping)
This young male lion would also like
to perpetuate his species.
He's stalking a female in heat
and won't let her move out of his reach.
There are only four days
during which the female will accept his advances,
so, he can't waste any time.
Displaying her feline charm,
the lioness signifies her consent.
(lion roaring and growling)
They mate only briefly,
but the coupling is repeated every 20 minutes or so
up to 40 times a day.
The young lion seems disoriented.
(lioness roars)
At least he'll have another
good reason for resting.
(bird squawking)
If the lioness conceives,
then, after a four-month period of gestation,
she will isolate herself from the rest of the pride
and give birth to a litter of one to four cubs.
She will nurse them by herself
before bringing them to the pride,
where the other lionesses will also help
to nurse and raise them.
Just opposite, the lions can hear continuous chirping
from the nest of the sociable weavers.
(sociable weavers chirping)
Sociable weavers are a passerine species
endemic to South Africa.
They live in colonies of hundreds of birds
that share a large communal nest.
Each pair of bird produces one or more chambers
which they enter from underneath.
The sociable weavers' nest is dense cluster of dry grasses
built up over generations.
It can measure several meters in height
and weigh over a ton.
With time, the weight can even break the tree
or the electric pole on which it's built.
In the northwestern part of South Africa,
going south from the Kalahari Desert,
we reach the dry, rocky landscape of the Karoo.
In a local language, Karoo means the place of thirst.
Dwarf shrubs and succulents are scattered
across the arid land.
It seldom rains on the Karoo.
(dramatic music)
And yet, the longest river in South Africa
flows through the Karoo,
from its origin in the Drakensberg Mountains to the east,
1500 kilometers away, the Orange River
runs through the desert at the bottom of steep gorges.
As if by miracle, the water seems to spring from the rock.
(water crashing)
50 meters above the waters,
we see the courtship ritual of the Augrabies flat lizard.
This, indeed, looks like lizard territory.
(birds chirping)
On the Karoo plateau, the rock prevents rain water
from seeping into the ground.
When there's not too much evaporation,
the water forms pools, allowing creatures to survive
even if they aren't really adapted to arid conditions.
These vervet monkeys live on the edge of the forest,
where they can enjoy fruit and insects in the trees
and the water pools on the rocks.
(animal screeching)
For primates living in a colony,
social links are important.
Each morning starts with grooming.
(bird squawking)
Delousing sessions are time-consuming,
but who wouldn't love to be pampered in this way?
The more conscientious the partner,
the greater the pleasure.
(animal screeching)
After the delousing ceremony is completed,
the vervet monkeys head off in search of food.
As omnivores, they appreciate whatever they find
on the ground, plants, insects, and small reptiles.
(animal screeches)
Trees provide berries, birds' eggs,
and a good vantage point for watching over their territory.
(animal screeching)
Sometimes, they bite into the bark of the acacia trees,
to suck the gum arabic with the insects
that are trapped in it.
(monkeys screeching)
Apart from the status conflict between males,
life couldn't be better for the vervet monkeys.
(animal screeching)
One small antelope species is fully adapted
to life on the rocks, the klipspringer.
With sharp, pointed hooves,
klipspringers seem to skip on tiptoes.
This allows a secure foothold on hard, steep surfaces.
They usually live in couples or with a single offspring,
but this solitary female doesn't seem to mind
being on her own.
There aren't many predators capable of following her
up the side of a cliff.
(dramatic music)
Late August, at the start of the southern spring,
a natural miracle occurs.
If there was enough winter rain,
the dull, gray ground erupts in a palette of colors.
The bare rock is covered by a carpet of flowers.
Dew have fallen in the cool night air
and the petals of daisies will open
with the first rays of the sun.
(birds chirping)
For wildlife that endures so much,
surviving through heat and drought,
springtime is a short-lived period of grace.
Food becomes more plentiful and life flourishes.
(wind rustling)
It's amazing to see gemsboks in this lush setting.
Gemsboks typically live in arid zones
and now they enjoy a few weeks' relief.
There's no water hole in the vicinity,
so, they feed mainly in the morning
to take advantage of the dew on the leaves.
Flowering plants are a most spectacular site,
but Namaqualand is home to over 3500 plant species,
nearly a third of them found nowhere else on Earth.
Gemsboks have few predators,
apart from the unobtrusive leopard,
so, they can ruminate in peace.
Still, the six weeks in bloom shouldn't make us forget
that this is a hostile land,
where only well-adapted animals can survive.
Here's a klipspringer,
always at ease in mountainous regions.
Flower petals are a real treat for this small antelope
whose normal diet is shrubs.
Klipspringers are cautious.
They take turns protecting each other.
While one member of this couple is eating,
the other is on the lookout for danger.
This arrangement seems to work well
since, unlike most antelope species,
klipspringers mate for life.
(orchestral music)
Further to the west,
under the influence of the Atlantic Ocean air,
the carpet of flowers is even brighter.
With so many appetizing plants,
the angulate tortoise doesn't know which way to turn.
It wants to reach the flowers,
but without staying too long in the open.
If anything goes wrong, the booted eagle is ready.
(suspenseful music)
So, the tortoise has to get over the crest
without tipping over and without getting stuck in the sand.
The tortoise finally manages to haul its two kilograms
over the soft sand and rushes for shelter.
The booted eagle will have to settle for a smaller victim,
such as a lizard.
This reptile, the dwarf Karoo girdled lizard,
might be sunning itself, but it's being careful nonetheless.
The lizard itself is a formidable predator,
capable of capturing large grasshoppers.
The hardest part is swallowing them.
The process could take several minutes.
This lizard, the southern rock agama, is sunning itself,
camouflaged on rocks just as colorful as the lizard itself.
It's ready to catch any passing insect
that comes too close.
It's midday when the flowers open completely
and the hills of Namaqualand explode with color.
(regal orchestral music)
(singer vocalizing)
This flowery paradise is guarded by a family of rock hyrax.
At the slightest alert, this rock hyrax
frantically marks his territory.
The rest of the family remain on the lookout.
And with a pair of eagles overhead,
they have every reason to be alarmed.
But luckily for them, the eagles have turned their attention
to another prey.
Why are the animals so edgy?
Is it the wind off the ocean
that's only a few dozen kilometers away?
The Benguela Current, which originates
in the depths of the Atlantic,
sometimes drives a cold wind
over the western coast of South Africa and Namibia.
The rare springboks living here are used to the wind,
but the northern black korhaan seems to be having trouble.
One animal that the wind doesn't disturb
is the red hartebeest, whose narrow snout lets it choose
exactly which grasses it's interested in.
(dramatic orchestral music)
Then, once it's eaten its fill,
it seems high on the wind,
and leads the herd in a mad dash.
(switches to upbeat orchestral music)
After racing through the valley twice,
at over 50 kilometers an hour and climbing up the slopes,
the red hartebeest has had a strenuous workout.
Time to catch its breath and replace the calories it burned.
(wind rustling)
(birds chirping)
Now things are peaceful again,
the helmeted guineafowl come out into the open.
They're always on high alert
and eat anything within reach of their beaks,
seeds or berries or ticks and insects.
(dramatic orchestral music)
The sun sinks below the horizon,
joining the flowers in an orange glow,
and petals slowly close.
The wind has died down and the silence is broken
only by the cry of guineafowl.
(guineafowl squawking)
(birds chirping)
100 kilometers further south,
the day breaks over a totally different landscape,
a forest of aloe dichotoma, also known as the quiver tree.
This species of aloe is relatively rare
because it grows only in the most arid conditions
and then, only in certain soils.
The trunk grows slowly and the tallest specimens
can reach a height of eight meters,
an exceptional size for a plant
that has to content with its leaves drying out.
(waterfall roaring)
In this rocky place, however,
there is water where no one would expect.
If it can't reach a watercourse,
rainwater flows over the stone to form pools,
or it seeps into the ground around the rocks,
where it is immediately absorbed by flowering plants.
In some places, the presence of water is constant enough
to attract shorebirds like the blacksmith lapwing.
(bird chirping)
When the water can neither run off nor seep into the ground,
it forms small pools that are quickly colonized by plants.
This is a reed bed, where a noisy bird colony
has decided to settle.
The Cape weaver is in the midst of nesting season
and the frenzy of the males is at its peak.
The purpose of this agitation
is to attract as many females as possible.
And the male weaver knows
that female weavers can't resist the appeal
of a cozy nest.
To improve his chances, he builds as many nests as he can.
Nearby, a southern masked weaver
also demonstrates his skills as an architect and builder.
Each of his females requires her own nest.
He begins by slitting a reed in order to insert a stem,
which he knots with all the dexterity his beak allows.
To consolidate the frame of the nest,
he wants to weave several reeds together.
He has woven grass around one reed
and wants to join it to the second reed.
But it won't hold together.
The wind's too strong for the time being.
That's frustrating.
Nearby, it's also breeding season
for the southern red bishop.
Most of the year, males and females
have similar brown feathers,
but during the breeding season, the male changes radically,
turning bright red and black.
He can be proud of his appearance,
but the southern red bishop male
relies on something else to seduce his many partners,
his skill in building nests.
The next day, the wind has died down.
This Cape weaver is showing his nest to a female,
hoping she'll find one to her liking.
Alas, she didn't seem to be impressed.
But he perseveres and adds a few finishing touches
to the entrance.
And now, the female returns.
She'd only gone to find something to improve the interior.
She likes the nest, and the male is overjoyed.
(Cape weaver squawking)
(orchestral music)
The mountain plateaus of Western Cape Province
receive their rainfall from the Atlantic Ocean,
so, flowers are more abundant here.
On the farmland, you can see blue cranes.
These beautiful birds are sadly becoming rarer,
even in their native South Africa.
Some of the cranes look ready for a fight.
Are they annoyed by the wind
or is it simply breeding season?
(singers chanting in foreign language)
In the next view, the sacred ibis are much more peaceful.
They're looking for insects and small reptiles.
But the wind in these high plateaus
is too strong for hunting,
and the birds decide to move on to a better location.
The ibis fly lower, joining some cattle egrets
on the flowering plains.
Unlike other members of the heron family,
cattle egrets are not restricted to wetlands,
as they feed primarily on the insects they find
with herds of cattle or antelope.
Their eyesight is so good
that they can spot the smallest insect
from a distance of several meters.
The presence of cattle egrets indicates
that this meadow is frequented by large herbivores.
In fact, this little paradise is home to zebras,
springbok, and wildebeest.
Food is abundant and the nearby Atlantic Ocean
brings its brisk, bracing air.
The bontebok is endemic to the Cape region,
but is now quite rare because of over-hunting
in the 19th century.
Today, bonteboks number about 3,000
and the species is now protected.
Here, the male can feast on the new shoots
while watching over his harem.
Life is more of a challenge for these gemsboks,
who constantly defend their status
through ritual combats.
(dramatic music)
The fighting stops as soon as one gemsbok
acknowledges defeat.
The loser withdraws from the winner's territory.
There is no real violence or attempt to inflict injury,
but simply the need to assert one's status.
The angulate tortoise is a solitary creature
and takes the world at its own steady pace.
In the thick, low-lying vegetation,
it clears a path with its beak,
feasting on the delicate petals.
(insects chirping)
The tortoise may often encounter
the elegant Cape spurfowl,
a species of pheasant endemic to the Cape Region.
And the Cape spurfowl has spotted
the very discreet spotted thick-knee,
a member of the curlew family.
Much more impressive
because it's the size of a water buffalo,
the common eland lives in herds
of several dozen individuals.
They have no objection to the cattle egret,
as the bird removes their parasites.
A group of female greater kudu along with their calves
prefer to stay away from the elands.
The solitary males roam at a distance from the herd.
This flowering valley is a Garden of Eden
for animals accustomed to much drier climates.
The only reason this protected area still exists
is because it has been made a nature reserve.
As civilization spreads through the best areas
for farming, most of the wild animals
that once lived here had to flee northward
to the arid lands of the Kalahari Desert.
Fortunately, thanks to the parks and nature reserves
in the temperate regions of South Africa,
animals can continue to reproduce,
passing on the torch of life.
Here, they are free from thirst and dust
and suffocating heat.
Here, the young bonteboks climb green hills,
sometimes for the simple pleasure of admiring the view,
a spectacle that is unimaginable
for their cousins in the desert.
(dramatic orchestral music)
(waves crashing)
On the Atlantic Seaboard,
rolling waves crash violently against the coast.
But in the coves and bays, protected from waves,
lagoons are host to many species of wading birds.
(gulls crying out)
At low tide, these greater flamingos wade along the shore.
They spend a long time filtering the water
with their beaks, as they feed on tiny,
aquatic invertebrates.
Here on the shore,
a couple of white-fronted plovers are mating,
under the nonplussed gaze of a Kittlitz's plover.
(water faintly splashing)
Still further to the south,
the entire Cape Peninsula is a nature reserve.
It's surprising to see ostriches
living right next to the ocean.
But their strong legs mean they are pretty well-adapted
to this mountainous area.
They can climb up the slopes if they need cooler air.
From the summit, the view stretches
to the entire southwestern tip of Africa.
The climate is Mediterranean but with more storms,
because the warm currents of the Indian Ocean
meet the cold currents of the Atlantic.
The result is an exceptional area of shrubland
called fynbos.
The fynbos biotope includes
thousands of endemic plant species,
70% of which are found nowhere else on Earth.
(bird chirping)
Taking delight in the flowers
is this pair of orange-breasted sunbirds.
While feeding on nectar, they also pollinate the flowers.
Red-winged starlings tend to be fruit-eaters,
but this female, recognized by her gray head,
doesn't disdain insects when the opportunity arises,
stealing a prey that's also coveted by this lizard,
a southern rock agama.
A lizard starts to mark his territory with head movements,
but with the arrival of a berg adder,
he becomes more discreet.
Finally, the sun sets in silence
over this unique spot at the end of the world.
(dramatic music)
The light takes on a reddish glow,
as the evening turns to flame
and the ocean runs with gold.
(waves crashing)
Nowhere is nature more beautiful than in southern Africa.
Yet nature can be hostile,
with harsh climate and extreme drought.
Everywhere, life is fragile,
but faces the elements with courage.
(bird tweeting)
Like this couple
of African oystercatchers that seem to defy the ocean.
Wild animals have no choice, so, they persevere,
they adapt, they face danger.
Yes, nature can be harsh and cruel and unfair,
but animals take only what nature can give.
They humbly consume no more than they need.
And when they are fulfilled,
the oystercatchers perch upon the rocks,
gazing at the spectacle that lies before them.
(singers vocalizing)
