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A sea of salt sucked dry
by the Kalahari sun

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These are the thirsty lands
of Makgadikgadi in Botswana

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Once long ago, this was one of
the greatest lakes in Africa

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Today, it's just a ghost lake

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tormented by dust devils and
shunned by all living things

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Yet, every so often,
may be only once in every 10 years

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these harsh soda flats
which cover some 4000 square
miles are transformed

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And at night, an unearthly music
falls from the sky

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bringing the lost lake back to life

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In these years of sudden floods

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flamingos from thousands of
miles away fly in to breed

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In weeks to come,
some of their chicks will
set out on another journey

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on which they will not fly but walk

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There is a mystery here

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nobody knows how flamingos
time their arrival to meet
the flood at this desolate place

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or even where they come from

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But some instinct guides them
through the night

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By daybreak, they are arriving
in their tens of thousands

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The migration includes both
Lesser and Greater flamingos

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Lesser flamingos have darker bills
and brighter feathers than
their larger paler cousins

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Hungry after their long journey,
both species feed and could live together

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Although the soda pans are flooded
for thousands of square miles,
the edges are shallow,

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allowing the birds to sift
the saline waters for algae and
brine shrimps brought to life by the rains

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Within days of arrival, the greater
flamingos head for this island

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far from the shore
in the south of the pan

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Here they will breed after
a strict formal courtship

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signaling their intentions with
turning heads and flashing wings

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Now begins a race against time

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They must pair off, nest and raise
their young before the waters dry up

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They quarrel over nesting sites

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After the female has laid her single egg,

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the male takes turns with her
to sit on the nest

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There is no shade and every day
is hotter than the last

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The shoreline has already begun to
recede as the first chicks appear

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Not all the chicks emerge at once

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while the first to hatch
are busy getting into their stride

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some adults are still seeking a mate

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The result is a multitude of chicks
of very different sizes

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The last birds to breed
find their nest surrounded by
throngs of jostling youngsters

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These chicks hungrily search
for pieces of eggshell

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The shells, rich in calcium are
an essential addition to their diet

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Lost in the forest of legs,

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this tiny chick must be protected by
its parent if it is to avoid being trampled

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Despite the clamor, each chick
can recognize its parents' call

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This means the adults can fly off
to feed knowing instinctively
that when they return,

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the chicks will respond
to their calls only

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and they will be able to
find them in the crowd

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In the late afternoon,
parties of adults begin to stream home

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from their feeding grounds
in the deeper waters to the north

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Excitement builds among the chicks
as feeding time approaches

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For some, the waiting is over

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one by one, each chick
is reunited with its parent

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Adults continue to fly in through
the night to feed their hungry chicks

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The young too are at their most active
in the hours after dark

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Food becomes energy to be used
for learning the precarious art
of walking on stilts

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The first hatched chicks are still being fed,
but they are almost ready to fledge

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Soon they'll be able to join
the dawn flights to the feeding grounds

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There the newly fledged chicks feed
for themselves and become independent

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Meanwhile on the island
the remaining chicks are becoming
increasingly restless

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They begin bunching together
to form large groups - cr¨¨ches

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A number of different species
of birds do this

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It's a way of protecting themselves,
the safety in numbers

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Unlike other African breeding areas
the Makgadikgadi pans have
virtually no resident predators

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but the chicks' urge to
form cr¨¨ches is still strong

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A large number of chicks
from the overcrowded colony
form a distinct group

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and prepare to leave
the densely packed island

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Excitement rises
as the group gets bigger

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Older flamingos encourage the momentum

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The tiny birds prepare to make a journey
of several miles to a new home

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By dividing into smaller groups
like these,

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the colony has greatly increased
its chance of survival

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As if at a given signal
they stream away

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The youngest chicks
are surrounded by older birds,

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they will soon fledge and
join the others in the north

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Here the water is deeper, and
still fresh enough to hold fish
and support pelicans

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But while the greater flamingos
find sanctuary in the north

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the lesser flamingos in the south
have only now started to breed

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The water here is rapidly
evaporating in the searing heat

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only a thin blue skin remains

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Islands of soda crust emerge like
blisters as the lakebed is exposed

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Far out on the dry lakebed, hidden
from the shoreline by the heat haze

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more than 100,000 lesser flamingos
are starting to breed

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Each pair builds a huge nest
of mud and soda

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These raised mounds protect
the eggs from the windblown water

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and keep them above
the pan's scorching surface

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Magnificent in their full
breeding plumage

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and with feathers fluffed out
in territorial display

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the birds shift from one leg to another

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shaking off the clinging
soda sludge before settling down

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At noon, the heat of the sun
is almost beyond endurance

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but the parents incubate
their egg for 30 days

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Those birds that are released from
incubation duty, fly off to feed

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It's the only time in the year
that they travel in daylight

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Flamingos normally fly
over dry land at night

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and by now this part of the pan
is more land than water

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Returning birds find noticeable changings
as the remaining water rapidly disappears

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By now, these first chicks have hatched
and are now forming cr¨¨ches

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They're still far from being
able to look after themselves
and time is running out

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Conditions change rapidly now

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The last of the water is almost gone

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and the colony is marooned
in a cloying sea of mud

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Small groups of adults remain as guides

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They fly low over the chicks
encouraging them

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They must be ready
for the ordeal to come

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Ahead lies the cruelest of migrations,

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a 50-mile forced march across one of
the most inhospitable places on earth

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The pan is now an oven

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Its bed baked to a soda crust
in the blinding heat

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where recently blue water
stretched to the horizon,

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there remain only these strange telltale
signatures imprinted in the soda

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that show where the flamingos
have been feeding

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Some 15 miles out, a tiny pool
has briefly fortified the living
island of 40,000 chicks

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From now on,
there will be no more water

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until they reach their destination,
still several weeks away

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Horizons melt in the furnace heat

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Hot winds race across the pan sending
clouds of stinging salt crystals
thousands of feet into the sky

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For the chicks,
there is no turning back

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Marching north into the void,
they must cross the Makgadikgadi or die

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The pace is beginning to tell

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Fatigue pulls the close knit ranks
into long straggling columns

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At midday, the surface temperature
is 65 degrees centigrade

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Yet still the chicks struggle
along step by painful step
across the jagged soda crystals

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The sun is merciless

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already it has claimed
its first victims

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The rest struggle along
as best they can

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The exodus of the lesser flamingos has
left their breeding place deathly quiet

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Yet among the deserted nests and
addle eggs, there is still life

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This chick is hatched too late
to join the migration

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Its parents still fly in
at night to feed it

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but the innocuous looking mud
is laced with crystals of caustic soda

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Once mired in the quick setting mix,
its fate is sealed

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Even the water here is lethal

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A super saturated soda solution
that crystallizes on muddy legs
and set rock hard,

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layer upon layer
in cement-like anklets

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There is no escape

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even birds old enough
to fly are dragged down

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as surely as if they were shackled
with a ball and chain

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Caught up in a waking nightmare,
these chicks face a hopeless future

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The nesting place that gave them
life has now become a prison

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And each night their parents
still feed them

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innocent accomplices
in a trial of endurance
with only one outcome

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In the north, the long march of
the flamingos is almost over

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Miraculously more than
3 quarters are still alive

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Nothing can stop them now

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with mounting excitement
those old enough to fly

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take to the air as they
approach their journey's end

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Incredibly they have made it

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Here there is water, drinkable water

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For most of these birds,
it's the first taste of water in their lives

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In a remarkably short space of time,
even the weakest regain their strength

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These fragile birds have shown
an extraordinary resilience
by surviving this amazing journey

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They will soon join the thousands
of adults in the shallows

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Yet even here, the water cannot last

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Soon it too will dry up,
leaving nothing but mirage
in the hot desert air

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Then one night, the flamebirds
of Makgadikgadi will fly off

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as mysteriously as they came
into the vast African night

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During the making of this film,
many young flamingos died,

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victims of the crystalline anklets

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Normally natural history filmmakers
don't interfere with their subjects

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but on this occasion, Tim Liversedge
and his crew could not help
but act to save this baby

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It was a tricky job,

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the soda solution has set to
a consistency almost as hard as cement

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It had to be chipped and prised off

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and they had to be very careful not to
damage the young flamingo's fragile leg

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Then the bird was released into
the seemingly inhospitable waste

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And Tim Liversedge was able to
keep sight of that single bird

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it did manage to join up with
the other young flamingos
on their long march

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And so in all probability, it survived

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Subtitles by Andrew and Hattie
www.mvgroup.org