1 00:00:02,320 --> 00:00:04,040 BBC Four Collections - 2 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:07,600 specially chosen programmes from the BBC archive. 3 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:09,560 For this collection, Sir David Attenborough 4 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:13,040 has chosen documentaries from the start of his career. 5 00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:16,200 More programmes on this theme, and other BBC Four Collections, 6 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:18,280 are available on BBC iPlayer. 7 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:25,360 DRUMS BEAT 8 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:28,600 PEOPLE CHANTING 9 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:12,600 DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: The largest single sheet of falling water 10 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:15,120 in the world. A mile and a quarter long. 11 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:17,000 The Victoria Falls. 12 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,280 Here the Zambezi plunges over a cliff 13 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:28,040 and thunders into a chasm 350 feet deep. 14 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:34,280 The cliff into which the entire river pours 15 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:37,440 runs parallel to the line of the falls 16 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:40,320 and is only a mere 100 yards across. 17 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:46,200 Clouds of spray swirl up in such volume 18 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:49,440 that they condense on the opposite side of the chasm 19 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:51,200 to form new cascades. 20 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:53,640 But these never reach the bottom again, 21 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:57,080 for the enormous volume of water crashing into the gorge 22 00:01:57,080 --> 00:01:59,520 causes such a tremendous updraught of air 23 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:01,400 that it catches these streams 24 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:03,800 and once more blows them into the sky. 25 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:13,240 At a few places, you can scramble down into the gorge itself. 26 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:18,080 Down here, at the foot of the falls, 27 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:20,560 the spray from the tumbling water 28 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:24,080 keeps these gorges saturated in moisture. 29 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:26,840 And, as a result, all sorts of plants grow here 30 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:29,400 that are not found at the top of the falls. 31 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:32,160 These palms, for example, wouldn't grow 32 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:35,240 on the sun-baked, parched land 300 feet above. 33 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:36,840 And as a result of that, 34 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:40,560 there are all sorts of birds and animals that live here 35 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:43,480 that are not found up above. 36 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:47,000 Among them are the little hyraxes. 37 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:49,400 A hyrax looks a bit like a rabbit, 38 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:52,040 but, in fact, it's quite unrelated. 39 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:54,880 Indeed, its exact relations are something of a mystery. 40 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:57,160 But from the nature of its teeth and its feet, 41 00:02:57,160 --> 00:02:59,880 people think that it's related, perhaps, 42 00:02:59,880 --> 00:03:02,040 to the elephant, surprisingly enough. 43 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:05,880 Anyway, they live among those boulders over there. 44 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:08,800 At the moment, I can't see any at all. 45 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:11,440 But the hyrax has a very high-pitched whistle, 46 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:14,680 and I'm going to see if I can't persuade some of them to come out 47 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:17,640 by blowing on this very high-pitched dog whistle. 48 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:24,000 HE BLOWS WHISTLE 49 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:33,440 HE BLOWS WHISTLE 50 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:37,440 WHISTLING CONTINUES 51 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:45,720 Hyrax, or dassies - as they're called in these parts - 52 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:48,320 live in small, family colonies. 53 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:51,320 They're about a foot long and vegetarians. 54 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,800 But only during the night and at dusk and dawn 55 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:56,240 do they venture away 56 00:03:56,240 --> 00:04:00,720 from the security of their rocky labyrinths in order to graze. 57 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:02,600 During the daylight hours, 58 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:04,400 they spend most of their time 59 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:07,000 basking in the sun on the hot boulders. 60 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:10,360 They have few enemies. 61 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:12,200 A leopard, maybe. 62 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:13,800 Man, of course. 63 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,000 And hawks. 64 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,040 But when the shadow of a hovering, hunting hawk 65 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:20,800 drifts over the boulders, 66 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:23,600 then the hyrax quickly scamper to safety. 67 00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:32,200 On the river above the falls, there is an abundance of animal life 68 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:34,680 and of the most spectacular kind. 69 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:43,000 THROATY RUMBLING 70 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:45,800 ELEPHANT ROARS 71 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:53,640 Elephants don't like you to approach too closely. 72 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:56,960 And once they've caught your scent through their uplifted trunks, 73 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:00,440 they can behave in a somewhat alarming way. 74 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:02,680 But however threatening they may seem, 75 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:05,360 you're usually pretty safe in a boat on the river 76 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:07,400 for they seldom charge into the water. 77 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:12,280 They are immensely destructive creatures, 78 00:05:12,280 --> 00:05:16,520 and they have to be, in order to satisfy their vast appetites. 79 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:19,160 An adult elephant munches about 80 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:21,960 five hundredweight of vegetation a day. 81 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:25,280 There are still large numbers of them on this part of the Zambezi. 82 00:05:25,280 --> 00:05:29,120 So many, in fact, that in parts they've devastated the bush. 83 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:33,120 Herds roam close to the outskirts of the town of Livingstone, 84 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:34,800 beside the Victoria Falls, 85 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:37,440 and every evening plod across the main road 86 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:39,760 on their way down to the river to drink, 87 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:42,600 so that a motorist coming fast round a corner at night 88 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:45,920 has to be ready to jam on his brakes in a hurry. 89 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:14,680 Like all game, elephants are dependent on water. 90 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:19,520 Every day they drink between 30 to 50 gallons, if they can get it, 91 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:21,240 so that in times of drought 92 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:23,920 a herd can quickly suck a waterhole dry. 93 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:29,240 The technique of drinking by putting your nose in the water, 94 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:32,920 sniffing up a trunk full, and then blowing it back into your mouth, 95 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:37,640 is not one which, apparently, comes naturally even to elephants. 96 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:40,400 The little babies, when they first come down, 97 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:43,120 take some time to learn the trick. 98 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:47,000 Occasionally, you can see a really young one imitate its elders 99 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:50,400 by dipping its tiny, stubby trunk into the water, 100 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:52,680 and then putting it straight into its mouth, 101 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:55,400 without realising that if you want to drink like that 102 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:59,120 you must take a sniff in between the two actions. 103 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:02,480 Finally, it has to give up and go down on its knees 104 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:04,560 and drink directly with its mouth. 105 00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:16,560 ELEPHANT RUMBLES 106 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:21,080 ELEPHANT RUMBLES 107 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:26,800 After drinking, the elephants attend to their toilet. 108 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:30,400 And there's nothing they enjoy more than a good mud bath, 109 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:34,320 splashing one another by swinging their feet in the black mud. 110 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:38,400 The little babies almost recklessly frolic in the wallows 111 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:41,720 between the legs of their six-tonne mothers. 112 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:44,920 It seems a miracle that none ever gets sat on. 113 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:47,840 Sometimes the adults themselves abandon their dignity 114 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:50,880 and lie down and wallow with the babies. 115 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:52,880 But usually they cover themselves with mud 116 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:54,520 simply by squirting it 117 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:57,960 with astonishing accuracy over their backs. 118 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:09,320 ELEPHANTS ROAR AND TRUMPET 119 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:34,760 When everyone is nicely covered in glistening, black mud, 120 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:37,680 then they powder themselves off with a dust bath. 121 00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:01,320 This bull, with his trunk resting on his tusk 122 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:02,880 and his forelegs crossed, 123 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:06,400 is patiently waiting for the ladies to finish their toilet. 124 00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:11,640 The lives of a whole host of creatures 125 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:14,960 revolve around elephants and their activities. 126 00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:17,000 When the herd has left the waterhole, 127 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:19,800 the ground is littered with their droppings. 128 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:23,360 And then, down come the hornbills. 129 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:27,480 For elephant dung is often full of camel thorn seeds. 130 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:30,720 The hornbills can't get these directly from the tree, 131 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:33,680 because there the seeds are enclosed in a hard pod, 132 00:09:33,680 --> 00:09:36,040 which the birds can't crack. 133 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:37,640 So, if it wasn't for the elephants, 134 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:40,800 the hornbills couldn't enjoy this particular food. 135 00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:52,040 Oddly enough, the camel thorn tree also is dependent on the elephant. 136 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:57,080 Its seeds not only have a hard pod, but an extremely tough rind. 137 00:09:57,080 --> 00:09:59,600 If they drop from the tree directly onto the ground, 138 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:01,640 few of them will germinate. 139 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:04,440 Only when they've been chewed by the elephant 140 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:08,480 and have been softened by its digestive juices will they sprout. 141 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:17,480 Elephant dung is much relished by termites. 142 00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:20,840 And in search of the termites 143 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:23,160 come troops of banded mongeese. 144 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:31,480 MONGEESE SQUEAK 145 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:34,200 Insatiably curious, they examine everything, 146 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:37,520 squeaking with excitement, turning over the dung 147 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:39,240 and eating not only the termites 148 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:42,880 but beetles and any other little creatures that they can find there. 149 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:52,720 MONGEESE SQUEAK 150 00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:02,720 In fact, animals of all sorts swarm around the Zambezi 151 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:05,080 both above and below the falls. 152 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:12,480 Even the falls themselves provide a home for special birds. 153 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:14,720 A colony of swifts, which every day 154 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:17,160 swoop across the curtain of falling water 155 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:18,720 in search of insects. 156 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:25,920 This huge fissure in the surface of the Earth 157 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:28,760 is the creation of the river itself, 158 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:31,760 for here it flows over a sheet of basalt rock, 159 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:35,200 which is crossed by a series of parallel faults. 160 00:11:35,200 --> 00:11:38,280 And by pounding relentlessly along one of these 161 00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:41,800 the river has gouged out this gigantic trench. 162 00:11:48,280 --> 00:11:51,080 Waterfalls, from our point of view, 163 00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:53,960 seem to be very permanent features of the landscape. 164 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:57,440 This one has hardly changed at all since Livingstone discovered it, 165 00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:00,360 over a century ago, in 1855. 166 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:03,440 This picture, which was painted by Thomas Baines 167 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:06,240 only seven years after Livingstone was here, 168 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:09,680 matches almost exactly the scene as it is today. 169 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:16,480 But in terms of the geological history of the world 170 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:19,400 they're very, very temporary affairs. 171 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:23,040 The waters of the Zambezi, that have already eroded this chasm 172 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:25,400 along a line of weakness through the basalt, 173 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:28,280 have now discovered another line of weakness 174 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:31,000 which stretches from here at the western end 175 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:33,840 diagonally in that direction. 176 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:38,080 Slowly and inexorably, the waters are working their way along there. 177 00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:40,800 Already, the Devil's Cataract here 178 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:43,520 is considerably lower than the main line of the falls. 179 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:47,240 It may take many thousands of years, but eventually 180 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:49,480 the Victoria Falls will migrate 181 00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:52,160 and move into a new channel over there. 182 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:54,960 And when that happens, the present chasm 183 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:57,680 will be yet another in the line of gorges 184 00:12:57,680 --> 00:13:00,160 which follow it downstream. 185 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:13,160 Below the falls, the Zambezi, 186 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:16,440 which so recently was a mile and a quarter wide, 187 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:21,520 is now compressed into a channel no more than 50 yards across. 188 00:13:21,520 --> 00:13:23,400 Each of these zigzag lines 189 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:27,760 of the deep, desolate gorges through which the river boils 190 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:30,520 has been excavated by the river itself. 191 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:34,600 And each marks the site of the falls in bygone centuries. 192 00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:50,760 30 or 40 thousand years ago, the waters of the Zambezi 193 00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:54,200 were thundering over this line of cliffs behind me. 194 00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:56,040 It's taken them all that time 195 00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:58,840 to work their way up the seven miles of gorges 196 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:01,440 from here to the present line of the falls. 197 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:04,720 People haven't always thought that the falls were necessarily beautiful. 198 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:07,840 The Portuguese who came here in the 1870s described them 199 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:09,560 as being "sublimely horrible". 200 00:14:09,560 --> 00:14:11,960 And a Frenchman who came along in the '90s 201 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:13,840 called them "a veritable hell". 202 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:17,320 But no-one can remain indifferent to this tremendous sight. 203 00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:20,640 The Africans of Livingstone's time regarded the place as sacred 204 00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:23,960 and buried their dead on the islands above the lip of the falls. 205 00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:27,520 And there are even indications that prehistoric man 206 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:30,000 regarded the place with tremendous awe. 207 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:33,240 For all around me, on the lip of the gorge here, 208 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:36,040 there are flint implements strewn among the gravel. 209 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:40,360 The people of that time didn't make very elaborate implements. 210 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:44,920 Just simple scrapers and arrowheads and knives. 211 00:14:44,920 --> 00:14:47,760 This, perhaps, was a scraper. 212 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:49,760 And here, another one. 213 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:56,680 And this, maybe a small knife. 214 00:14:56,680 --> 00:15:00,840 But all of them unmistakably chipped by human hands. 215 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:04,800 But although these implements are so common around here 216 00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:06,840 you only have to go about a mile away 217 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:08,600 and you won't find any at all. 218 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:10,200 So it seems almost certain that 219 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:12,640 at the time that the waters of the Zambezi 220 00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:15,360 were thundering and smoking over those cliffs, 221 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:18,280 prehistoric man had a large encampment here. 222 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:21,080 Why did he select this place? 223 00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:24,200 Well, maybe he too regarded the falls 224 00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:27,560 as places of magic and mystery and awe. 225 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:31,720 Since ancient man was here, 226 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:34,560 many migrating tribes have used the Zambezi 227 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:36,960 as a highway into the interior. 228 00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:39,320 The most primitive of the people 229 00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:42,160 living in the valley today are the Batonka. 230 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:46,240 Until recently, the outside world had touched them very little. 231 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:50,160 Even now, the women, who seldom go far from their villages, 232 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:52,960 still follow their traditional way of life. 233 00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:55,720 A Batonka girl, to look her best, 234 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:58,080 must anoint her body with red ochre. 235 00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:02,120 She must wear heavy brass anklets and bracelets. 236 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:04,440 She must mat her hair with fat, 237 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:06,200 and decorate it with beads 238 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:09,120 and a little circlet of cowrie shells, 239 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:12,000 traded up from the coast hundreds of miles away - 240 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:14,200 a coast she has never seen. 241 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:19,800 THEY SPEAK IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE 242 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:23,120 Through her nose, she must wear a length of straw 243 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:27,800 and many of the older women still smoke curious calabash pipes. 244 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:31,880 THEY SPEAK IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE AND LAUGH 245 00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:36,840 During the initiation rites, all Batonka girls are disfigured 246 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:39,640 by having their two front teeth knocked out, 247 00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:43,720 which gives even the young women an unnaturally aged look. 248 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:52,080 THEY SPEAK THEIR OWN LANGUAGE 249 00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:57,200 As the dry season advances, 250 00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:01,600 most of the creeks and swamps that flank the river dry out. 251 00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:04,520 And many water-living creatures are stranded, 252 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:06,560 so that the mud pans are littered 253 00:17:06,560 --> 00:17:10,160 with shrivelled bodies, such as this of a freshwater crab. 254 00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:15,640 But some animals have special devices 255 00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:19,040 which enable them to survive until the next rains. 256 00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:25,040 This frog, called xenopus, 257 00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:27,520 manages to prevent being dried to death 258 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:30,680 by burrowing deep into the mud as the waters fall. 259 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:33,960 Below ground, it can remain alive, 260 00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:37,440 for there, except in the worst droughts, the earth is still moist. 261 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:39,120 It's an odd-looking creature, 262 00:17:39,120 --> 00:17:41,840 rather like an ordinary frog that's been squashed flat. 263 00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:44,880 And it has the very un-froglike characteristic 264 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:46,640 of claws on its hind legs. 265 00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:04,480 But one creature has a much more complicated device 266 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:07,160 for survival than xenopus. 267 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:10,560 At the bottom of this burrow is a hard, 268 00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:14,080 almost leathery object with a tiny hole in the centre. 269 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:20,880 The mud beneath is still slightly moist. 270 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:24,680 So it's possible to crack it open and reveal the strange object 271 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:27,520 that lies cocooned at the bottom of the burrow, 272 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:31,040 shrouded in a crinkled, parchment-like skin. 273 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:48,760 If you want to see what is within the cocoon, 274 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:52,080 we can persuade it to hatch by putting it in water. 275 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:56,000 It then behaves as though the rains have come 276 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:59,160 and its swamp has once more become submerged. 277 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:03,560 For an hour or so, bubbles appear at the little hole at the top. 278 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:08,720 And then, the cocoon begins a series of convulsive shudders. 279 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:12,520 Slowly, it loses its outer hard skin, 280 00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:15,400 which is, in fact, formed of dried mucus. 281 00:19:19,120 --> 00:19:22,560 Then, at last, a head appears. 282 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:31,760 This, in fact, is a lungfish - 283 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:34,720 a fish that can live and breathe out of water 284 00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:39,920 and can survive completely dried up in its cocoon for up to four years, 285 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:41,360 without eating anything. 286 00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:47,040 When it first emerges, its eyes are milky and it seems to be blind. 287 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:50,040 It'll be several days before it regains its sight. 288 00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:53,720 While it was cocooned, 289 00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:57,400 it lived by absorbing its muscle tissues. 290 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:00,320 And after being dried up for a particularly long period, 291 00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:03,840 a fish may have consumed almost half its original weight. 292 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:11,280 The changes necessary in its body chemistry 293 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:15,240 to enable it to digest food again are so complicated 294 00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:18,240 that it will be a week or so before they're complete, 295 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:20,480 and it can eat normally once more. 296 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:26,800 But when they do start feeding, they put on weight fast, 297 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:30,280 for they're aggressive creatures with a very powerful bite, 298 00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:32,640 and they can grow up to three feet long. 299 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:45,240 There are few creatures whose lives are not governed by the water supply, 300 00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:48,680 and none are more dependent on it than the big game 301 00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:52,920 wandering across the hot, open plains of central Africa. 302 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:56,360 The herds of wildebeest come down every day to the water holes, 303 00:20:56,360 --> 00:21:00,360 usually in the mornings and again in the evenings, 304 00:21:00,360 --> 00:21:06,400 their lives one constant trek from pastures to the water and back again. 305 00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:09,360 The daily procession is a marvellous sight, 306 00:21:09,360 --> 00:21:12,480 and if you can find a reasonably concealed position, 307 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:14,960 with the wind blowing in your face 308 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:18,120 so that the approaching animals can't catch your scent, 309 00:21:18,120 --> 00:21:20,240 then you may sit there all day 310 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:23,640 as the herds queue up to take their turn to drink. 311 00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:32,720 With these wildebeest came a family of warthogs - bold, cheeky creatures 312 00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:36,440 who will barge their way through any antelope to get to the water. 313 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:54,560 The loveliest of the antelopes on the Zambezi must surely be the sable. 314 00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:57,400 In Kenya and Uganda, the sable is so rare 315 00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:01,960 that catching sight of one is something to talk about for days. 316 00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:03,880 But the Zambezi is their homeland, 317 00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:06,920 and here, these splendid, heraldic creatures 318 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:12,080 come down to the water holes in herds up to a hundred strong. 319 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:15,040 This male is chasing a reluctant female 320 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:18,120 who apparently doesn't welcome his attentions. 321 00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:45,000 The sable, wherever they go, are accompanied by tick-birds. 322 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:47,800 And when the antelope come down to drink, 323 00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:50,400 the tick-birds sometimes hop off their hosts 324 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:52,360 and take a drink themselves. 325 00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:56,560 Often, too, they move onto other animals, 326 00:22:56,560 --> 00:22:59,600 so that the water hole is a sort of railway junction 327 00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:01,200 for tick-bird passengers, 328 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:04,360 where they can change from one conveyance to another. 329 00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:17,840 Here comes the male sable again to claim a place at the water. 330 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:25,880 Eland, the biggest of all the antelope. 331 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:28,480 They, too, bring tick-birds down with them. 332 00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:40,960 The tick-birds are of service to their hosts 333 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:44,560 by eating not only cattle ticks which may infest the animals 334 00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:47,400 but also by removing other insect pests. 335 00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:52,320 Most beasts submit to their attentions uncomplainingly, 336 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:55,560 though one can't help feeling it must be extremely irritating 337 00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:58,600 to have a bird crawling not only into your ear, 338 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:00,320 but right over your eye. 339 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:10,280 But the birds are something of a mixed blessing, 340 00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:13,360 for often if an animal has a wound or a sore, 341 00:24:13,360 --> 00:24:17,000 then it's precisely here that flies will lay their eggs, 342 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:18,760 and here that the tick-birds 343 00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:21,080 will therefore find their richest meal of grubs. 344 00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:25,240 But because they peck so continuously at the sores 345 00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:29,160 they often keep them open long after they would otherwise have healed. 346 00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:32,400 But, whether the animal appreciates the bird or not, 347 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:36,120 there is little any of them can do to rid themselves of their guests. 348 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:56,360 Although the middle of the Zambezi remained unexplored 349 00:24:56,360 --> 00:24:59,600 until Livingstone came here a century ago, 350 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:02,720 the mouth of the river was well known to the Portuguese, 351 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:07,120 who by the 15th century had mapped the coast with astonishing accuracy. 352 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:12,320 Vasco da Gama skirted round the continent 353 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:14,800 on his way to India in 1497. 354 00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:18,680 He sailed up the east coast and landed, 355 00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:22,400 but the local people attacked him, so he didn't stay long. 356 00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:27,120 Nevertheless, East Africa was now open to European exploitation. 357 00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:32,200 The Portuguese were soon back in force, 358 00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:35,280 and this time they came to stay, 359 00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:38,680 for from here they could control a sea route to India. 360 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:43,920 Where they could, they made treaties with the local chiefs. 361 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:46,080 Everywhere they built forts. 362 00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:51,840 Between 1505 and 1507, working from their base on Mozambique Island, 363 00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:54,280 they erected a network of fortifications 364 00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:56,360 around the coast and up the rivers. 365 00:25:57,560 --> 00:26:00,960 Some of the forts still stand to this day, 366 00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:05,680 like this one at Tete on the Zambezi 200 miles up the river. 367 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:15,400 None of them are big, 368 00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:19,800 just simple rectangular strongholds 100 yards or so square, 369 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:22,600 which, in times of trouble, 370 00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:25,160 could house a garrison of a few hundred men. 371 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:28,760 All are heavily fortified with thick stone walls 372 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:30,240 which were easily proof 373 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:33,320 against the arrows and spears of the local people. 374 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:40,600 Cannonballs still litter these ramparts, 375 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:44,800 and indeed, in the 16th century, the Portuguese had to be well armed 376 00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:47,040 and had real need of these fortress walls, 377 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:50,520 for there was more or less continuous battle and warfare 378 00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:52,520 with the local African tribes. 379 00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:55,120 Again and again, the Portuguese settlements were overrun 380 00:26:55,120 --> 00:26:56,880 and all the inhabitants slaughtered. 381 00:26:56,880 --> 00:27:00,040 But the rewards for staying here were great. 382 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:04,160 For one thing, there were slaves to be captured and taken down river 383 00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:07,480 to be sold in the great markets of the east coast of Africa. 384 00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:08,960 And then there was ivory. 385 00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:12,560 300 years ago, no part of Africa was richer in elephant 386 00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:15,120 than this part of the lower Zambezi. 387 00:27:15,120 --> 00:27:18,640 And across the Indian Ocean in the Portuguese colony of Goa, 388 00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:21,440 the craftsmen were clamouring for ivory. 389 00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:24,400 But above all, there was gold. 390 00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:28,440 Away to the south lay a great African kingdom, 391 00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:30,320 the kingdom of Monomotapa, 392 00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:33,160 and from it came a steady trickle of gold. 393 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:35,920 The Portuguese were sure that there was much more down there, 394 00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:39,720 because down there, they believed, lay King Solomon's mines. 395 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:43,120 And the Arabs, who came up from the south, 396 00:27:43,120 --> 00:27:46,880 brought stories of a great stone city that was rich in gold. 397 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:51,040 DRUMBEATS 398 00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:58,040 Such a golden city really did exist away to the south, 399 00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:00,800 although it's unlikely that the Portuguese ever reached it. 400 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:03,960 Indeed, it wasn't until the end of the 19th century 401 00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:07,360 that men from the outside world set eyes on this, 402 00:28:07,360 --> 00:28:10,000 the citadel of Great Zimbabwe. 403 00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:26,240 By the 19th century, the existence of the kingdom of Monomotapa 404 00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:28,880 had largely been forgotten, and no-one could believe 405 00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:32,480 that these astonishing ruins were the work of an African people. 406 00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:36,080 After all, the local tribesmen built only simple mud huts. 407 00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:38,240 How could they ever have understood 408 00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:41,400 the complicated technique of building in stone? 409 00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:45,200 And so, to explain these ruins, some fanciful antiquaries 410 00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:48,760 remembered once more the stories of King Solomon's mines. 411 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:50,520 Perhaps these were they, 412 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:54,160 or maybe this was the golden city of Prester John. 413 00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:56,880 Some felt certain it was a fortress built perhaps 414 00:28:56,880 --> 00:28:59,800 2,000 years ago by the Phoenicians. 415 00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:02,600 And others, recalling the pinnacle towns on the Red Sea, 416 00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:05,440 suggested that it might have been built by Arabs. 417 00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:10,440 But one thing was certain, 418 00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:14,480 whoever had built Zimbabwe was certainly rich in gold. 419 00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:16,760 The first European visitors to the place, 420 00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:19,960 perhaps with the thoughts of King Solomon's mines 421 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:24,400 fresh in their mind, ransacked the place in search of gold. 422 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:27,280 There was even a company set up to seek for treasure. 423 00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:30,280 It was called the Ancient Ruins Company Ltd. 424 00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:32,440 One man, by his own admission, 425 00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:37,000 took out over £4,000 worth of gold from these ruins. 426 00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:40,600 And even today, after the rains of the wet season 427 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:42,760 have washed away another layer of earth, 428 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:45,840 sometimes you can pick up little golden beads 429 00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:47,560 or little blocks of gold. 430 00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:50,400 Like these. 431 00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:56,040 Today, much of the mystery that once shrouded Zimbabwe 432 00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:57,760 has been unravelled. 433 00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:01,040 Systematic excavations by archaeologists have shown 434 00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:04,400 that this was once the capital and the ritual centre 435 00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:06,600 of a great African kingdom 436 00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:09,920 that reached its heyday about the 15th century. 437 00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:13,800 There are signs that this rock mountain 438 00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:16,360 was inhabited from the earliest times, 439 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:20,000 but it wasn't until about 1100AD that the people living here 440 00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:23,240 invented the curious and individual style of building 441 00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:25,480 that's characteristic of Zimbabwe. 442 00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:28,960 They began to improve the shelter provided by the granite boulders 443 00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:32,520 by laying lines of stone walls on the rocks themselves 444 00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:34,640 without cement of any sort. 445 00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:37,800 And they continued to develop and improve their technique 446 00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:40,720 during the next 300 or 400 years. 447 00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:45,480 During that time, 15,000 tonnes of granite were knocked into shape 448 00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:48,840 and carried up the hill to construct these walls. 449 00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:50,920 But what was this place, 450 00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:54,480 and why was it built so laboriously on the top of the hill? 451 00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:55,880 Judging from what we know 452 00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:58,920 of the rituals and beliefs of other African people, 453 00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:02,120 it seems certain that Zimbabwe was a highly sacred place, 454 00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:07,200 a sanctuary inhabited by a king who was almost a god. 455 00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:08,920 Such a being was so sacred 456 00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:11,800 that he was shut away from the eyes of his people. 457 00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:14,000 It's unlikely that any common folk 458 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:17,040 were allowed to come up to this hilltop citadel. 459 00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:19,120 They waited in the valley below 460 00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:23,000 while sacrifices were being made up here in the temple. 461 00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:29,080 Along these narrow stone corridors, 462 00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:33,360 the divine king would once have made his way to perform the rituals 463 00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:36,320 believed necessary to bring rain after drought 464 00:31:36,320 --> 00:31:38,520 or to ensure the fertility of the land. 465 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:46,360 And from this position up here 466 00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:51,880 it's possible that the priests, unseen, spoke to the people. 467 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:54,320 For these huge granite boulders around me 468 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:57,720 produce the most extraordinary acoustical effects. 469 00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:01,000 And it's quite possible for a man standing here 470 00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:04,840 to speak in a normal voice and be heard and understood 471 00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:08,200 in the great enclosure across the other side of the valley 472 00:32:08,200 --> 00:32:09,600 half a mile away. 473 00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:13,960 Down there in the valley, 474 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:17,720 it's still an eerie experience 475 00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:22,960 to hear a voice come floating down to you from the sky. 476 00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:31,000 This impressive wall of the great enclosure down in the valley 477 00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:34,040 was constructed somewhat later than the buildings on the hill. 478 00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:38,200 When the masons began to erect the gigantic wall, 479 00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:41,640 at this point, their technique was at its most refined. 480 00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:44,360 Here the stonework is laid in narrow courses, 481 00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:47,080 beautifully regular and elegantly shaped. 482 00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:49,600 The granite was quarried from the hillside, 483 00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:52,160 and the labour involved must have been immense. 484 00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:54,520 There's as much masonry in this one wall 485 00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:57,720 as in the whole of the hilltop buildings put together. 486 00:32:57,720 --> 00:32:59,960 But it seems that, as the work proceeded, 487 00:32:59,960 --> 00:33:02,440 the masons lost heart in their enterprise, 488 00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:04,520 for as they worked their way around the wall, 489 00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:07,240 which at its beginning is over 30 feet high, 490 00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:09,800 it becomes lower and the workmanship less fine. 491 00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:26,440 And here, where so many of the passages 492 00:33:26,440 --> 00:33:28,480 inside the great enclosure converge, 493 00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:31,000 and where I can look through one of the gateways 494 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:34,560 straight across the valley to the holy of holies up on the hill, 495 00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:37,240 is this big platform of stone. 496 00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:38,840 When it was first discovered, 497 00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:41,320 it was buried beneath a lot of decaying leaves. 498 00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:43,640 But when they cleared the rubbish away, 499 00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:47,520 they found that on top of it were a large number of ox bones 500 00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:50,000 and a great quantity of charcoal. 501 00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:53,080 It seems certain, in fact, that this was an altar 502 00:33:53,080 --> 00:33:57,640 on which sacrifices of oxen were made to propitiate the rain god. 503 00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:03,800 So this was the palace of the king of Monomotapa, 504 00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:07,240 built by Africans about 500 years ago. 505 00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:13,800 But although, through the work of archaeologists, 506 00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:17,600 we now know so much about Zimbabwe, about who built it, 507 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:20,040 when it was built and what it was used for, 508 00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:22,760 there are still a lot of unsolved mysteries here, 509 00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:26,120 and not the least of them is this tower. 510 00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:29,080 At the end of the 19th century, 511 00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:31,640 one investigator, perhaps in search of gold, 512 00:34:31,640 --> 00:34:34,720 tried to tunnel down from the top in case it was hollow, 513 00:34:34,720 --> 00:34:36,640 but he found nothing but rubble. 514 00:34:36,640 --> 00:34:41,320 Later on, a trench was dug beneath it to see if there was anything there. 515 00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:42,960 They found nothing. 516 00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:46,320 And so it remains a total enigma. 517 00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:49,160 Zimbabwe still guards some of its secrets. 518 00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:54,560 RAPID DRUMBEATS 519 00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:12,880 MACHINERY RUMBLES AND BUZZES 520 00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:36,120 In 1955, engineers and mechanics, geologists and construction workers 521 00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:39,040 descended into the Zambezi Valley 522 00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:41,840 at a place where the river wound its way through a gorge 523 00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:44,400 which the local people called the Trap. 524 00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:54,760 Here, the newcomers built 525 00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:58,120 the most impressive construction since Zimbabwe - 526 00:35:58,120 --> 00:35:59,880 the Kariba Dam. 527 00:36:08,560 --> 00:36:10,880 Behind the huge, curving wall 528 00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:14,000 stretches the largest man-made lake in the world, 529 00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:17,360 which flooded the valley for over a hundred miles upstream. 530 00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:23,080 Water now covers land that once was parched desert and desolate scrub. 531 00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:26,680 Whole forests were drowned. 532 00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:32,440 Herds of hippopotamus now swim above the country 533 00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:35,560 where once the Batonka planted their cassava. 534 00:36:40,160 --> 00:36:44,160 The bulls open their vast jaws in what looks like a yawn 535 00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:47,840 but is more probably a display of their might to the rest of the herd. 536 00:37:07,680 --> 00:37:10,840 Out on the lake, the Batonka are given lessons 537 00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:13,240 by government-trained instructors. 538 00:37:13,240 --> 00:37:18,000 For these people, resettled on the shores of the vast new lake, 539 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:19,480 had no traditional knowledge 540 00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:22,400 of how to exploit the riches on their doorsteps. 541 00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:26,240 And so the techniques of fishing in deep water with nets 542 00:37:26,240 --> 00:37:27,840 had to be explained to them. 543 00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:32,680 MEN CHATTER IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE 544 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:37,800 The harvest they reap is indeed a rich one - 545 00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:41,560 catfish, bream, tiger fish, and all of them good eating. 546 00:37:42,760 --> 00:37:46,040 The fish inspectors note carefully the weight of the yield 547 00:37:46,040 --> 00:37:47,520 and the types of fish 548 00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:50,440 so that the biological progress of the lake can be charted. 549 00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:52,640 - 23. - 23. 550 00:37:55,680 --> 00:37:59,160 Many of the Batonka men had worked on the building of the dam 551 00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:02,040 and had learned the ways of the outside world, 552 00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:04,680 so most of them now wear European clothes. 553 00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:09,560 But the women, whose job it is to gut and scale the fish, 554 00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:12,760 have still remained secluded in their villages, 555 00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:16,000 and they are still dressed as they've always been. 556 00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:18,880 WOMEN CHATTER 557 00:38:21,800 --> 00:38:23,520 The engineers of Kariba 558 00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:27,080 control not only life upriver but downriver as well, 559 00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:30,040 for by the operation of the floodgates 560 00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:32,480 they can bring drought or flood 561 00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:34,920 to the people farther east in Mozambique. 562 00:38:49,720 --> 00:38:54,960 And so the Zambezi approaches the end of its 2,000-mile journey. 563 00:38:54,960 --> 00:38:58,320 It began as a tiny stream in the heart of Africa. 564 00:38:58,320 --> 00:39:01,120 Its water has given life to the herds of elephants 565 00:39:01,120 --> 00:39:03,880 and antelope that browse along its banks 566 00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:07,320 and abundant fish to the people who live beside it. 567 00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:10,200 The Portuguese and the explorers who came after them 568 00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:12,480 used it as a highway to the interior, 569 00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:15,320 and modern man has harnessed its waters 570 00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:17,760 to bring power to central Africa. 571 00:39:17,760 --> 00:39:20,240 But now the river is old. 572 00:39:20,240 --> 00:39:22,920 It drops its burden of sand and silt 573 00:39:22,920 --> 00:39:26,080 in a series of sandbanks that clog its mouth. 574 00:39:26,080 --> 00:39:28,560 It meanders sluggishly on, 575 00:39:28,560 --> 00:39:32,120 threading its way between the sandy islets of its estuary 576 00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:34,480 until it reaches the coast. 577 00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:39,080 And then, at last, it loses itself in the Indian Ocean. 578 00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:42,720 PERCUSSIVE DRUMBEATS AND AFRICAN CHANTING 579 00:39:42,720 --> 00:39:45,360 SOLO MALE VOICE CHANTS 580 00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:56,440 MASSED VOICES JOIN IN CHANT