Browse content similar to Rivers - Friend and Foe. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Only one creature has carved a life for itself in every habitat on Earth. | 0:00:05 | 0:00:10 | |
That creature is us. | 0:00:11 | 0:00:15 | |
All over the world, we still use our ingenuity to survive in the wild places, | 0:00:17 | 0:00:23 | |
far from the city lights, face to face with raw nature. | 0:00:23 | 0:00:28 | |
This is the Human Planet. | 0:00:28 | 0:00:33 | |
Humans have always been drawn to rivers. | 0:00:43 | 0:00:47 | |
Rivers flow through every environment, | 0:00:52 | 0:00:54 | |
bringing us the essentials of life - | 0:00:54 | 0:00:58 | |
fresh water... | 0:00:58 | 0:01:00 | |
..food... | 0:01:01 | 0:01:03 | |
..and ready-made highways. | 0:01:05 | 0:01:08 | |
But what rivers give, they can also take away. | 0:01:09 | 0:01:14 | |
They can flood, | 0:01:14 | 0:01:16 | |
freeze... | 0:01:16 | 0:01:19 | |
and sometimes disappear altogether. | 0:01:19 | 0:01:22 | |
Rivers force us to take great risks. | 0:01:25 | 0:01:29 | |
These are remarkable stories of survival | 0:01:29 | 0:01:33 | |
from the most unpredictable habitat of them all. | 0:01:33 | 0:01:37 | |
It's the monsoon season, and the mighty Mekong, | 0:02:03 | 0:02:06 | |
Southeast Asia's greatest river, is in full flood. | 0:02:06 | 0:02:10 | |
Between Cambodia and Laos, | 0:02:12 | 0:02:15 | |
the Mekong current creates the widest rapids in the world. | 0:02:15 | 0:02:20 | |
The Khone Falls are great for fishing, but also very dangerous... | 0:02:31 | 0:02:34 | |
..as Sam Niang, a local fisherman, knows all too well. | 0:02:36 | 0:02:39 | |
Migrating fish get trapped here, waiting to get up the rapids. | 0:03:08 | 0:03:12 | |
Sam Niang has to risk his life to catch them. | 0:03:17 | 0:03:21 | |
He has a family of seven to feed. | 0:03:21 | 0:03:24 | |
He starts by fishing from the riverside, near his home. | 0:03:26 | 0:03:29 | |
During the monsoon, the Mekong swells to 20 times its normal volume, | 0:03:36 | 0:03:42 | |
which brings more fish, but makes them much harder to catch. | 0:03:42 | 0:03:46 | |
After a morning, his net is still empty. | 0:04:04 | 0:04:07 | |
There is another option - an island out in the main rapids. | 0:04:09 | 0:04:14 | |
But to get there, Sam Niang must take his life into his hands. | 0:04:15 | 0:04:20 | |
In the dry season, he built a high wire across the rapids | 0:04:33 | 0:04:36 | |
out of old cable and bits of rope. | 0:04:36 | 0:04:39 | |
At this time of the year, | 0:05:01 | 0:05:03 | |
these rapids have nearly twice the flow of Niagara Falls - | 0:05:03 | 0:05:08 | |
more than 11 million litres a second. | 0:05:08 | 0:05:11 | |
He makes it to his favourite fishing perch. | 0:06:02 | 0:06:06 | |
Turbulent currents corral the fish, | 0:06:16 | 0:06:18 | |
and Sam Niang soon lands his family's supper. | 0:06:18 | 0:06:22 | |
Though the fish are plentiful here, | 0:06:25 | 0:06:28 | |
the most he can carry back is a few kilos at a time. | 0:06:28 | 0:06:31 | |
Any more, and he might lose his balance. | 0:06:36 | 0:06:39 | |
Today, Sam Niang won his battle with the Mekong. | 0:06:59 | 0:07:03 | |
Tomorrow, to keep his family fed, he'll have to fight it again. | 0:07:03 | 0:07:08 | |
It's not just the power of water that makes rivers dangerous. | 0:07:12 | 0:07:17 | |
It's their erratic nature too. | 0:07:18 | 0:07:20 | |
Reading a river correctly | 0:07:23 | 0:07:25 | |
can mean the difference between life and death. | 0:07:25 | 0:07:28 | |
The Zanskar valley is a hidden world on the edge of Tibet, | 0:07:30 | 0:07:35 | |
in the heart of the Himalayas. | 0:07:35 | 0:07:37 | |
In winter, it's cut off by snow. | 0:07:37 | 0:07:41 | |
All roads in and out are impassable. | 0:07:41 | 0:07:44 | |
Stanzin needs to get his two children to school, | 0:07:52 | 0:07:56 | |
but the nearest school is 100 kilometres away, | 0:07:56 | 0:08:00 | |
and the only way to get there | 0:08:00 | 0:08:02 | |
is to walk down a frozen river. | 0:08:02 | 0:08:05 | |
It's a six-day trek, so dangerous it's got its own name - | 0:08:09 | 0:08:15 | |
the Chadar - the blanket of ice. | 0:08:15 | 0:08:18 | |
They'll have to brave sub-zero temperatures, | 0:08:20 | 0:08:24 | |
avalanches and freezing water. | 0:08:24 | 0:08:26 | |
Term starts in a week. | 0:08:30 | 0:08:33 | |
It's time for the school run, a formidable trip for 11-year-old Dolkar. | 0:08:33 | 0:08:38 | |
Dolkar's 14-year-old brother, Chosing, is coming too. | 0:08:45 | 0:08:50 | |
The family prepare for the journey ahead. | 0:08:54 | 0:08:57 | |
Their mother has knitted them thick woollen socks to protect them. | 0:09:02 | 0:09:06 | |
The brother and sister depend on their father's courage and skill. | 0:09:32 | 0:09:36 | |
This has to be the most perilous school run in the world. | 0:09:47 | 0:09:52 | |
The spring melt seems to have started early, which worries Stanzin. | 0:10:15 | 0:10:21 | |
Stanzin has to make sure the ice can take their weight. | 0:10:56 | 0:11:00 | |
And his expertise is tested immediately. | 0:11:13 | 0:11:16 | |
The danger is not only underfoot. There's another threat - avalanches. | 0:11:30 | 0:11:36 | |
Seven days ago, an avalanche killed a man on the Zanskar river. | 0:11:52 | 0:11:57 | |
The unusual spring sunshine has brought another problem. | 0:12:13 | 0:12:18 | |
The river's current has already melted the ice. | 0:12:18 | 0:12:21 | |
Stanzin has to find a way past the barrier. | 0:12:28 | 0:12:32 | |
The only way around is a narrow ledge. | 0:12:46 | 0:12:50 | |
The ledge is barely 20 centimetres wide and covered with snow. | 0:13:06 | 0:13:10 | |
There's a ten-metre drop to the freezing river below. | 0:13:12 | 0:13:17 | |
The ledge ends with some metal pegs to climb down. | 0:13:22 | 0:13:25 | |
Chosing makes it. | 0:13:27 | 0:13:30 | |
Now it's Dolkar's turn. | 0:13:30 | 0:13:32 | |
They mustn't delay. | 0:14:42 | 0:14:44 | |
Night is falling fast, and the temperature will plummet to minus 30 Celsius. | 0:14:45 | 0:14:51 | |
Luckily, Stanzin knows a cave nearby. | 0:14:51 | 0:14:55 | |
The children need their sleep. | 0:15:19 | 0:15:21 | |
The most dangerous part of the Chadar is still ahead. | 0:15:21 | 0:15:25 | |
It's not all hard slog. | 0:15:34 | 0:15:36 | |
But Dolkar's fun can't last. | 0:15:38 | 0:15:42 | |
As the smallest, she's the first to feel the cold. | 0:15:42 | 0:15:47 | |
She starts to lag behind. | 0:15:47 | 0:15:51 | |
One little girl on a melting ice river, | 0:15:51 | 0:15:55 | |
among the greatest mountains on Earth. | 0:15:55 | 0:15:58 | |
Now for the final leg. | 0:16:20 | 0:16:22 | |
The melting ice has left just a tiny shelf. | 0:16:44 | 0:16:47 | |
It's thin. Stanzin is worried it won't take their weight. | 0:17:02 | 0:17:06 | |
As he advances, the ice starts to crack. | 0:17:14 | 0:17:17 | |
With the ice weakened by Stanzin's weight, | 0:17:34 | 0:17:38 | |
the children have to brave it on their own. | 0:17:38 | 0:17:41 | |
Dolkar's made it, now for Chosing. | 0:18:24 | 0:18:28 | |
Thanks to their dad's expertise, the children have survived the Chadar. | 0:18:39 | 0:18:44 | |
Six days out on the ice river. | 0:18:44 | 0:18:47 | |
The Himalayan town of Leh, journey's end for the children. | 0:18:50 | 0:18:55 | |
They rush straight to the school. | 0:18:55 | 0:18:58 | |
There's just enough time for a goodbye. | 0:18:58 | 0:19:01 | |
BELL CLANGS | 0:19:25 | 0:19:28 | |
Stanzin now faces the return journey on his own. | 0:19:36 | 0:19:40 | |
Melting river ice doesn't just make travelling harder. | 0:19:43 | 0:19:48 | |
When frozen rivers break up, tonnes of ice start to flow, | 0:19:48 | 0:19:53 | |
a potential disaster, even in the heart of a modern city. | 0:19:53 | 0:19:57 | |
In the Canadian capital, Ottawa, | 0:19:58 | 0:20:01 | |
spring melt turns the Rideau river into public enemy number one. | 0:20:01 | 0:20:07 | |
The danger point is a footbridge on a frozen waterfall... | 0:20:07 | 0:20:11 | |
..a bottleneck where the Rideau flows into the Ottawa river. | 0:20:12 | 0:20:16 | |
It's late February, and the ice is melting here too. | 0:20:23 | 0:20:28 | |
Ice blocks are in danger of forming a dam, | 0:20:28 | 0:20:30 | |
which might lead to devastating flooding. | 0:20:30 | 0:20:33 | |
A natural threat that needs a daring human solution. | 0:20:35 | 0:20:39 | |
Meet the ice-dam busters! | 0:20:43 | 0:20:46 | |
Their job isn't just to predict nature, | 0:20:49 | 0:20:52 | |
they have to beat it! | 0:20:52 | 0:20:55 | |
There are thousands of tonnes of ice behind the bridge, up to a metre thick. | 0:21:01 | 0:21:07 | |
The team needs to break it up to keep the river flowing. | 0:21:07 | 0:21:10 | |
Stage one - cut the ice into long strips. | 0:21:13 | 0:21:18 | |
They're still too large to flow under the bridge, so, for stage two, | 0:21:18 | 0:21:23 | |
the team uses a more persuasive force... | 0:21:23 | 0:21:27 | |
Now! | 0:21:28 | 0:21:30 | |
..hundreds of kilos of dynamite. | 0:21:30 | 0:21:33 | |
Hup! | 0:21:40 | 0:21:42 | |
Bite-size pieces now flow easily under the bridge and over the falls. | 0:22:17 | 0:22:23 | |
The centre of Ottawa is safe for another year. | 0:22:23 | 0:22:27 | |
The world's largest rivers bring the most danger to our lives. | 0:22:29 | 0:22:34 | |
Their floods can be devastating. | 0:22:35 | 0:22:37 | |
They often happen without warning, | 0:22:40 | 0:22:42 | |
and there's nothing we can do but try to escape. | 0:22:42 | 0:22:45 | |
In Bangladesh, tens of millions of people | 0:22:46 | 0:22:49 | |
can be displaced when the Ganges and her tributaries burst their banks. | 0:22:49 | 0:22:55 | |
The river is so strong, it regularly changes course, | 0:22:58 | 0:23:03 | |
brushing land aside as it goes. | 0:23:03 | 0:23:05 | |
A month ago, Mohamed Jaleel's village was 100 metres from the bank. | 0:23:12 | 0:23:17 | |
Today, his house is about to be swept away. | 0:23:17 | 0:23:21 | |
He and his neighbours have only minutes to move his home. | 0:23:28 | 0:23:32 | |
The rest of the villagers look on, helpless, | 0:23:49 | 0:23:53 | |
as the rising river obliterates their land. | 0:23:53 | 0:23:56 | |
In South America, floods can be so huge | 0:24:23 | 0:24:28 | |
that the entire year has to be spent planning for them. | 0:24:28 | 0:24:31 | |
In the Amazon basin, one mother prepares for the rising waters. | 0:24:36 | 0:24:42 | |
Jarnia lives by the Rio Negro in Brazil. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:46 | |
It's November, the dry season, the time of plenty. | 0:24:47 | 0:24:52 | |
Fish are so easy to catch, | 0:24:55 | 0:24:57 | |
she even has enough to feed the local river dolphins. | 0:24:57 | 0:25:01 | |
But in six months' time, when the flood water invades, | 0:25:08 | 0:25:12 | |
all these dolphins and the fish with them | 0:25:12 | 0:25:14 | |
will disappear into the flooded forest to breed. | 0:25:14 | 0:25:18 | |
When the fish are gone, feeding her large family will become a nightmare. | 0:25:25 | 0:25:29 | |
Surviving such hard times means thinking ahead, | 0:25:34 | 0:25:38 | |
and Jarnia has a four-stage plan. | 0:25:38 | 0:25:40 | |
Stage one is collecting turtle eggs six months before the floods arrive. | 0:25:43 | 0:25:49 | |
River turtles lay thousands of eggs in the dry season beaches, | 0:26:00 | 0:26:04 | |
which they leave to hatch. | 0:26:04 | 0:26:07 | |
Turtles are a reliable source of protein when the waters rise, | 0:26:07 | 0:26:13 | |
so these eggs are precious. | 0:26:13 | 0:26:15 | |
Back in the village, it's time for stage two. | 0:26:30 | 0:26:34 | |
Jarnia reburies the eggs in her turtle nursery. | 0:26:37 | 0:26:42 | |
In the wild, many eggs would be eaten by animals... | 0:26:42 | 0:26:44 | |
..but here they'll be safe. | 0:26:46 | 0:26:48 | |
By March, four months later, 3,000 eggs have hatched. | 0:26:58 | 0:27:02 | |
It's stage three - release day! | 0:27:03 | 0:27:05 | |
It's time to release the babies. | 0:27:31 | 0:27:33 | |
But will enough of them survive to feed the village in the floods to come? | 0:27:36 | 0:27:41 | |
It's June, the height of the rains. | 0:27:45 | 0:27:48 | |
The river rises seven metres. | 0:27:52 | 0:27:55 | |
Jarnia's village is transformed. | 0:27:58 | 0:28:00 | |
The forest is flooded, | 0:28:03 | 0:28:05 | |
and the nearest dry land is more than six hours' rowing away. | 0:28:05 | 0:28:10 | |
Jarnia's family is now marooned by the greatest annual flood on the planet. | 0:28:12 | 0:28:18 | |
Time for the final stage. | 0:28:25 | 0:28:28 | |
Jarnia and her sister Dora prepare to go turtle-hunting. | 0:28:28 | 0:28:32 | |
Jarnia's husband, Francisco, makes them a turtle-hunting spear... | 0:28:32 | 0:28:38 | |
..and then the two sisters set off in search of food. | 0:28:47 | 0:28:51 | |
Will their hard work bring dinner to the table? | 0:28:59 | 0:29:02 | |
At first, it's not looking promising. | 0:29:11 | 0:29:15 | |
Then Jarnia spots one. | 0:29:32 | 0:29:35 | |
Her preparation's paid off. | 0:29:53 | 0:29:56 | |
She'll be able to feed everyone. | 0:29:56 | 0:29:58 | |
Jarnia's foresight has pulled her family through another difficult flood. | 0:30:08 | 0:30:12 | |
THEY SING | 0:30:19 | 0:30:22 | |
Some river creatures pose a direct threat to humans. | 0:30:44 | 0:30:49 | |
The Zambezi river in Africa is used by elephants, crocodiles and hippos, | 0:30:51 | 0:30:59 | |
some of the continent's most dangerous animals. | 0:30:59 | 0:31:02 | |
Fisherman Josphat and his brothers have found a safe, | 0:31:06 | 0:31:09 | |
if slightly hair-raising, fishing spot, | 0:31:09 | 0:31:13 | |
a place where they can catch lunch without becoming dinner themselves. | 0:31:13 | 0:31:17 | |
The place they're heading for may be safe from crocodiles, | 0:31:40 | 0:31:44 | |
but it does have a drawback. | 0:31:44 | 0:31:47 | |
The reason Josphat's fishing pools are far from safe | 0:32:07 | 0:32:11 | |
is their precarious position... | 0:32:11 | 0:32:13 | |
..at the very top of Victoria Falls. | 0:32:37 | 0:32:40 | |
Josphat's bravery and skill | 0:32:59 | 0:33:01 | |
enable him to fish where no animal dares to venture. | 0:33:01 | 0:33:06 | |
People can overcome floods and even learn to fish on giant waterfalls, | 0:33:30 | 0:33:36 | |
but there's one face of a river that's virtually impossible to survive. | 0:33:36 | 0:33:42 | |
When a river dries up and disappears, all life drains away. | 0:33:45 | 0:33:50 | |
Lemagas is a Samburu camel herder in northern Kenya. | 0:33:54 | 0:33:59 | |
No rain has fallen here for eight months. | 0:33:59 | 0:34:03 | |
It's a severe drought, and the Milgis river has vanished. | 0:34:03 | 0:34:08 | |
Lemagas has been forced to range deep into the desert, | 0:34:09 | 0:34:12 | |
searching for fresh food for his precious camels. | 0:34:12 | 0:34:16 | |
Now they are far away from home, and they've run out of drinking water. | 0:34:18 | 0:34:23 | |
Not even the camels can survive this long without a drink. | 0:34:40 | 0:34:45 | |
Lemagas knows there is water here, hidden underneath the river bed. | 0:34:45 | 0:34:51 | |
But how can he find it? | 0:34:56 | 0:34:59 | |
The Samburu have learned to rely on another nomadic creature, | 0:35:05 | 0:35:10 | |
one that usually travels at night. | 0:35:10 | 0:35:13 | |
While Lemagas and his camels rest, | 0:35:23 | 0:35:26 | |
not far away, some giant water-diviners are sniffing out the river bed. | 0:35:26 | 0:35:32 | |
An elephant's trunk - its nose - is far more sensitive than a human's... | 0:35:41 | 0:35:46 | |
..which means it can tell where the water table is closest to the surface. | 0:35:49 | 0:35:54 | |
Elephants must drink 100 litres a day | 0:36:00 | 0:36:04 | |
and can suck up eight litres of water at a time. | 0:36:04 | 0:36:09 | |
Having drunk, the elephants leave before dawn. | 0:36:10 | 0:36:14 | |
Early next morning, Lemagas and his camels are on the elephants' trail. | 0:36:20 | 0:36:25 | |
Even a dry river bed holds water if you know where to look. | 0:37:14 | 0:37:18 | |
They sing their thanks to the gods...and the elephants. | 0:37:18 | 0:37:22 | |
A few days later, Lemagas finally returns to his village | 0:37:38 | 0:37:42 | |
with its permanent deep well. | 0:37:42 | 0:37:45 | |
He doesn't forget the help he's been given in the wild. | 0:37:45 | 0:37:48 | |
The first thing he does is to bring up precious water, | 0:37:53 | 0:37:56 | |
not just for his herd and his family, but for his wild friends too. | 0:37:56 | 0:38:01 | |
He doesn't forget his nocturnal water-diviners, for without them, | 0:38:27 | 0:38:32 | |
Lemagas and his camels could never survive | 0:38:32 | 0:38:35 | |
when they're far away from home. | 0:38:35 | 0:38:37 | |
Over 4,000 kilometres away, in Mali, another dry river, | 0:38:45 | 0:38:50 | |
a tributary of the Niger, | 0:38:50 | 0:38:52 | |
is forcing one man into making a difficult decision. | 0:38:52 | 0:38:56 | |
His name is Ouseman, and he's a master mason in Djenne, | 0:38:58 | 0:39:02 | |
an ancient city made entirely of river mud. | 0:39:02 | 0:39:08 | |
His job is to maintain the city's mosque, | 0:39:14 | 0:39:17 | |
the biggest and oldest mud building in the world. | 0:39:17 | 0:39:21 | |
It's the heart of Ouseman's culture. | 0:39:34 | 0:39:38 | |
Ouseman's problem is this - every year the mosque needs | 0:39:48 | 0:39:53 | |
a fresh coat of mud to protect it before the rains arrive. | 0:39:53 | 0:39:56 | |
Down in the dry river bed, the mud is blended with rice husks, | 0:39:58 | 0:40:03 | |
and then left to ferment. | 0:40:03 | 0:40:05 | |
But this year, the mix hasn't reached the right consistency, | 0:40:13 | 0:40:18 | |
and now the rains are almost upon him. | 0:40:18 | 0:40:22 | |
Dust storms are blowing in, | 0:40:27 | 0:40:30 | |
the first signs that the wet season is about to begin. | 0:40:30 | 0:40:34 | |
The sacred building desperately needs a new storm-proof skin. | 0:40:36 | 0:40:42 | |
Two days later, Ouseman and his friend Ibrahim return to the river. | 0:40:51 | 0:40:56 | |
THEY CHAT | 0:40:57 | 0:41:00 | |
It's a big decision. | 0:41:19 | 0:41:21 | |
Word spreads fast, and everyone comes down to help. | 0:41:21 | 0:41:25 | |
Everyone in Djenne has been waiting all year for this special day. | 0:41:29 | 0:41:33 | |
The built-in palm logs are perches for the plasterers. | 0:42:25 | 0:42:30 | |
The whole town mucks in to protect the mosque for another year. | 0:42:53 | 0:42:58 | |
There's been a mud mosque in Djenne for 700 years... | 0:43:10 | 0:43:14 | |
..the sacred heart of a city fashioned from river mud. | 0:43:15 | 0:43:20 | |
CHEERING | 0:43:35 | 0:43:37 | |
Our relationship with rivers is never easy. | 0:43:44 | 0:43:48 | |
Their waters can give us so much | 0:43:48 | 0:43:52 | |
but can also take everything away. | 0:43:52 | 0:43:54 | |
We will always be at the mercy of their wild and unpredictable nature. | 0:43:54 | 0:44:00 | |
But one culture has found an inspiring way of mastering their savage rivers. | 0:44:05 | 0:44:12 | |
In northeast India, a giant cliff leads up into a hidden world... | 0:44:14 | 0:44:19 | |
..Meghalaya. | 0:44:21 | 0:44:22 | |
Nearly two kilometres high and buffeted by monsoon storm clouds, | 0:44:25 | 0:44:30 | |
this is possibly the wettest place on Earth. | 0:44:30 | 0:44:34 | |
Once, 25 metres of rain fell here in a year, the world record. | 0:44:39 | 0:44:45 | |
Living here poses an unusual problem, | 0:44:47 | 0:44:51 | |
and it's not just keeping dry. | 0:44:51 | 0:44:53 | |
Nearly all the rain falls during the summer monsoon. | 0:44:57 | 0:45:02 | |
Rivers switch from gentle streams to raging torrents. | 0:45:03 | 0:45:08 | |
They become wild and unpredictable and almost impossible to cross. | 0:45:13 | 0:45:20 | |
Harley and his niece Juliana are busy cultivating a cunning solution. | 0:45:29 | 0:45:34 | |
30 years ago, Harley planted this strangler fig | 0:45:45 | 0:45:49 | |
on the river's edge, and today, he's teaching Juliana how to care for it. | 0:45:49 | 0:45:54 | |
The fig's tangled roots help to prevent the bank being washed away. | 0:45:54 | 0:45:59 | |
He teaches Juliana to coax the roots across what is now just a stream. | 0:46:08 | 0:46:14 | |
When they reach the other side, they'll take hold there. | 0:46:14 | 0:46:18 | |
This is the basis of a structure that will survive any deluge. | 0:46:19 | 0:46:24 | |
A living bridge. | 0:46:26 | 0:46:28 | |
It's an epic project that no man can complete in one lifetime, | 0:46:31 | 0:46:36 | |
so Harley is passing on his knowledge to Juliana. | 0:46:36 | 0:46:41 | |
Each year, Juliana will need to tend the roots, making them stronger. | 0:46:49 | 0:46:53 | |
If she stays and completes her bridge, | 0:46:56 | 0:46:58 | |
it will become part of the commuter route here, | 0:46:58 | 0:47:02 | |
a network of dozens of living bridges that connect the valleys of Meghalaya. | 0:47:02 | 0:47:07 | |
Some of them are many centuries old. | 0:47:26 | 0:47:30 | |
There are even double-deckers. | 0:47:30 | 0:47:33 | |
With Juliana to look after it, the future of this young bridge looks secure... | 0:47:55 | 0:48:01 | |
..sustainable, living architecture | 0:48:07 | 0:48:12 | |
that will live and grow for generations... | 0:48:12 | 0:48:15 | |
..one of the very few examples in the world | 0:48:24 | 0:48:28 | |
where humans have come up with a successful and natural solution, | 0:48:28 | 0:48:33 | |
a way of working with nature | 0:48:33 | 0:48:37 | |
to overcome the problems a wild river can cause. | 0:48:37 | 0:48:42 | |
For the Human Planet Rivers team, filming on the Mekong river | 0:48:52 | 0:48:57 | |
at the height of the monsoon raised many challenges. | 0:48:57 | 0:49:01 | |
Mainly, how do you capture a remarkable event without losing your camera, | 0:49:03 | 0:49:09 | |
your crew or your star fisherman, Sam Niang, to the river? | 0:49:09 | 0:49:13 | |
The Khone Falls have more water flowing over them | 0:49:21 | 0:49:25 | |
than any other waterfall in the world. | 0:49:25 | 0:49:27 | |
A narrowing of the mighty Mekong river funnels the migrating fish | 0:49:35 | 0:49:39 | |
and provides a dangerous, if lucrative, opportunity. | 0:49:39 | 0:49:43 | |
The crew's here to capture the extreme lengths | 0:49:55 | 0:49:59 | |
that locals will go to catch fish. | 0:49:59 | 0:50:02 | |
Sam Niang is lucky. He has access to his own small island for fishing. | 0:50:04 | 0:50:09 | |
But to get to his prime spot, he must risk life and limb. | 0:50:09 | 0:50:14 | |
To capture the spectacle of Sam Niang's high-wire feat, | 0:50:47 | 0:50:51 | |
the crew have chosen a gadget that runs on wires | 0:50:51 | 0:50:54 | |
and that controls the camera electronically, known as a cable dolly. | 0:50:54 | 0:50:59 | |
And the idea is, it's one of our most exciting and sought-after shots, | 0:51:02 | 0:51:07 | |
so we can follow someone walking across the tightrope, | 0:51:07 | 0:51:10 | |
so the camera moves with them and then pulls out to reveal the angry water. | 0:51:10 | 0:51:16 | |
But rigging such a hi-tech system over a raging torrent | 0:51:18 | 0:51:23 | |
is no easy feat, and it requires a specialist rigger. | 0:51:23 | 0:51:27 | |
We're just trying to get the cable across for the dolly, | 0:51:27 | 0:51:32 | |
so the local guy's just shimmied across the wires, as he does every day. | 0:51:32 | 0:51:38 | |
Whilst Tim works on the cables, the rest of the team | 0:51:42 | 0:51:46 | |
concentrate on filming the rapids from every other angle, | 0:51:46 | 0:51:49 | |
even shooting in the rapids themselves. | 0:51:49 | 0:51:54 | |
I'll just go here. It won't be a long run. | 0:51:54 | 0:51:56 | |
It'll take two or three minutes. | 0:51:56 | 0:51:58 | |
Mick O'Shea was the first man ever | 0:51:58 | 0:52:00 | |
to navigate the entire Mekong, from Tibet to southern China - | 0:52:00 | 0:52:05 | |
just the man to capture a fish-eye view. | 0:52:05 | 0:52:08 | |
But even he succumbs to the full force of the Mekong in surge. | 0:52:28 | 0:52:33 | |
His kayak is sucked under by the powerful current and swept downstream. | 0:52:35 | 0:52:40 | |
After a few worrying minutes, Mick re-appears, back in control, | 0:52:53 | 0:52:59 | |
safe but shaken. | 0:52:59 | 0:53:01 | |
With new-found respect for the Mekong's power, the crew stick to solid ground. | 0:53:23 | 0:53:29 | |
Using a four-metre jib, they follow Sam Niang | 0:53:29 | 0:53:33 | |
as he negotiates a treacherous rocky outcrop to cast his net. | 0:53:33 | 0:53:38 | |
Over and down, OK? And on... Good. | 0:53:38 | 0:53:42 | |
By now, Tim has the rigging ready for the dolly. | 0:53:48 | 0:53:51 | |
Do you want this up there? | 0:53:51 | 0:53:53 | |
There's a massive cloud come over. | 0:53:53 | 0:53:55 | |
THUNDER RUMBLES | 0:53:55 | 0:53:57 | |
But no sooner than it's in place, the heavens open. | 0:53:57 | 0:54:00 | |
It's the last thing they need. | 0:54:00 | 0:54:03 | |
Dolly filming stops for technical and safety reasons. | 0:54:03 | 0:54:07 | |
There's just a little spot of rain. I think rain's stopping play! | 0:54:36 | 0:54:42 | |
-Cos electronics survive the rain well(!) -Yeah. | 0:54:57 | 0:55:00 | |
THUNDER CRASHES | 0:55:01 | 0:55:04 | |
The next morning, it's clear that, as feared, | 0:55:07 | 0:55:10 | |
water has got into the electronics. | 0:55:10 | 0:55:12 | |
So what's gone wrong with it now? | 0:55:17 | 0:55:19 | |
So the new, modern technology is ousted by the old-school way. | 0:55:33 | 0:55:35 | |
I'm going to go up there now and, um, put the camera on! | 0:55:45 | 0:55:49 | |
Oh, my... Whoa! OK. | 0:55:49 | 0:55:51 | |
The crew finally get the cable dolly working, so now it's time to get creative. | 0:55:51 | 0:55:57 | |
The light, the dolly, the safety team and, most importantly, Sam Niang, | 0:55:59 | 0:56:05 | |
all have to work in unison. | 0:56:05 | 0:56:07 | |
Go! | 0:56:09 | 0:56:11 | |
We turned it the wrong way. | 0:56:15 | 0:56:18 | |
OK, Tim. | 0:56:28 | 0:56:30 | |
No. | 0:56:34 | 0:56:36 | |
Nearly, nearly. | 0:56:36 | 0:56:38 | |
Bring it all back, yes. | 0:56:38 | 0:56:41 | |
Go. | 0:56:41 | 0:56:43 | |
No. Still no! | 0:56:43 | 0:56:47 | |
Sam Niang looks really happy, though, doesn't he? | 0:56:48 | 0:56:51 | |
My heart's in my mouth every time he has to go over that rope. | 0:56:51 | 0:56:55 | |
You look really happy, and I'm really worried! | 0:56:57 | 0:57:00 | |
The sun breaks through the clouds, and finally it all comes together. | 0:57:03 | 0:57:09 | |
Yay, we've got a keeper! | 0:57:27 | 0:57:30 | |
That's great! | 0:57:32 | 0:57:34 | |
Thanks very much, you. | 0:57:34 | 0:57:38 | |
Yeah! | 0:57:38 | 0:57:39 | |
What a relief. | 0:57:39 | 0:57:40 | |
Despite the odds, the Human Planet team have triumphed. | 0:57:55 | 0:58:00 |