The Drought Wonders of the Monsoon

The monsoon.

The greatest weather system on Earth.

THUNDER CLAPS

Giver of life.

And the destroyer.

Shaping magical lands,

from the Himalayas

to Australia.

Its impact felt by giants...

the exquisite...and the bizarre.

Where spectacular nature meets the planet's most vibrant cultures.

The rains brought a time of plenty...

a time of new life.

But this is the story of the other side of the monsoon...

of what happens when the rains are gone.

When animals and people must prove their resilience...

..and confront the challenges...

of the dry season.

Australia's Red Centre,

a land of near-permanent drought.

But once in a while, in exceptional years,

monsoon rains penetrate even this far south.

Back in the summer, the monsoon drove the rain deep into the desert.

Now, in the dry season, a legacy of grass and seeds remains.

A feast...for budgerigars.

Thousands of budgerigars.

Now, their problem is not food, but finding water.

They scan the parched land for an oasis.

A rancher's wind pump draws up water from deep below ground.

It's a magnet for everyone.

80,000 budgies on the wing.

And shadowing them constantly - predators.

Black falcons.

Brown falcons.

Australian hobbies.

A confusing swirl of yellow and green.

For the raptors to make a kill,

they must make sense of this kaleidoscope.

To single out a target, they patrol the edges of the flock.

But now there's a greater threat.

The lush vegetation created by the monsoon is tinder-dry.

Wildfire.

The grass that fuelled the budgie boom now feeds the flames...

That's the real impact of the dry season.

It forces animals to move constantly.

The search for food and water never seems to end.

The dry season has a profound effect across all the lands of the monsoon.

Even on the lush tropical islands to the north.

Here, the wet season brought torrential downpours every day.

Now, rainfall has dropped by 70%.

Most of the trees will not fruit until the rain's return.

The forest still looks green...

but food is much harder to come by.

For a young bearded pig, these are the tough times.

Whilst there's still food in the canopy, little reaches

the forest floor.

PIG SQUEALS

And for a youngster, every scrap must be fought for.

There's always a bigger pig.

PIGS SQUEAL AND GRUNT

So, what's a pig to do

when there's no food at home?

He steps out of the forest... and into a different world.

The seashore is ruled not by rain and drought, but by the tides.

Perhaps, there's a chance of food out here.

Sand bubbler crabs turn over the beach as they scavenge for scraps.

But these crabs are no bigger than peas.

Simply not worth bothering with.

A hungry pig needs something more substantial.

A hermit crab.

Now, that could make a good meal.

..if only it could be opened...

Finally, a crab that's not too small and not too strong.

A ghost crab is just right.

An escape burrow appears to offer salvation.

But pigs have keen noses.

And this nose also doubles as a shovel.

And to round off his beachcombing, jelly for desert.

When the monsoon rains return, the resourceful pig will have a glut

of food back in his forest home.

But there are lean months ahead.

The dry season has only just begun.

India.

Here, the monsoon winds that brought the rains have now reversed,

bringing cool dry air from the north.

In the desert state of Rajasthan, the last rain

fell two months ago.

Surprisingly, for the people and animals who live here,

these are the good times.

It's the perfect weather...

for camels.

The brief rains brought a spray of green to the desert.

And now the animals are in peak condition.

For nomadic herders Sukhram and Surja Ram, it's time to sell.

They're heading for the biggest event of the year.

This is Pushkar.

It's a small oasis town...

..but at this time of year, the population balloons...

..as Pushkar is home to the largest camel fair in the world.

The fair attracts herders from hundreds of miles around.

Ten days, 300,000 people...

..and 20,000 camels.

Anyone who's anyone is here,

all of them in search of a bargain.

Some owners will do anything to catch the buyer's eye.

But Sukhram is so confident,

that a few well-placed garlands will suffice.

Prospective buyers try to find faults.

in an attempt to barter down the price.

CAMEL GROWLS

They even take the animal for a test drive.

Token amounts of money are offered...and respectfully declined.

THEY SPEAK IN HINDI

Sukhram has no intention of making a quick sale.

Negotiations can go on for days,

and he's holding out for the very best price.

Sukhram's family are dependent on him.

He must make enough money to feed them through the dry

months ahead.

Sukhram holds his nerve for four days.

At last, he seems to be closing on a deal.

A result.

The equivalent of £300.

Then it's off, back into the desert.

They've made the most of the good times.

Now, they must face the seven months of drought that lie ahead.

DEEP RUMBLING

In Sri Lanka, there are animals less well adapted to the dry season.

This family of elephants can no longer

find enough to eat in their forest.

But they remember where to go.

All over the island, elephants are on the move.

DEEP RUMBLING

Minneriya Lake.

Within weeks, it will host

the largest gathering of Asian elephants in the world.

Each year in the dry season, up to 300 gather on its shores.

The lake is crucial for their survival.

As the water recedes,

it reveals fertile ground where fresh grass starts to grow.

Elephants have been coming to this spot for at least 2,000 years.

This vast lake and others like it

are actually ancient man-made reservoirs.

In Sri Lanka,

access to water has always depended on the monsoon rains.

For thousands of years, kingdoms and dynasties

were founded on architecture that best captured the rains.

With a reliable source of water all year round,

these ancient cities grew in size and sophistication.

Culture and religion flourished.

INAUDIBLE

Kings of old built vast reservoirs.

This reached its height 800 years ago with King Parakrama the Great.

During his reign, he built almost 3,000 reservoirs.

Including the largest in the ancient world -

the Sea of Parakrama.

The King declared, "Let not one drop of rain reach the sea

"without benefiting man."

THUNDER RUMBLING

WINDS WHISTLING

Today, this ancient legacy lives on -

even in the drought, Sri Lanka is a wetland paradise

dotted with more than 10,000 lakes.

Almost all are man-made.

The people who built these great civilisations might be long gone,

but the ruins are not deserted.

Tribes of macaques have reclaimed them.

As the dry season intensifies,

Sri Lanka's man-made reservoirs become a lifeline for animals.

Chital have to drink.

But to do so they must risk their lives.

Mugger crocodiles.

They know that food will come to water.

The odds are shifting in favour of the hunters.

As the heat of the day subsides, more animals become active.

GROWLING

A young leopard has recently left his mother to go it alone.

The chances of him becoming top cat here are slim.

He is inexperienced and has everything to learn.

With the drought intensifying, the night shift is particularly busy.

There should be plenty of opportunities for a young leopard.

Leopards have superb night vision.

We do not.

We must rely on infrared cameras

to experience the leopard's night-time world.

Water still remains the focus of activity after dark.

But now thirsty animals must beware of both crocs and leopards.

FROG CROAKS

Hunting takes practice.

At first he appears indecisive.

BARKING

But stalking a jackal brings an unexpected bonus.

The warm night air carries the scent of a recently killed chital stag.

The jackal must work quickly to make the most of this chance.

The leopard could chase him off the kill at any moment.

BARKING

The jackal runs,

but it's not the youngster that's spooked him.

The real owner of the carcass is returning.

A huge adult male.

GROWLING

It might be a good idea to move on.

A young sambar deer.

Another chance at a meal.

But the undergrowth is bone dry.

RUSTLING

CRACKLING

RUSTLING AND CRACKLING

CHATTERING AND SCREECHING

Rumbled.

HOOTING AND HOWLING

No-one said hunting was easy, especially in the dry season.

Tonight this young leopard goes hungry.

At least with the reservoir

he has a good place to hone his hunting skills.

Elsewhere, water is becoming increasingly scarce.

At the heart of south-east Asia is a land of monsoon forests.

But the last monsoon rains were five months ago.

Now hot, dry air sucks the moisture

out of the land, the trees, everything.

The drought is so severe that trees drop their leaves

to save themselves from drying out completely.

With no fodder until the rain returns,

cattle are released into the forest

so they can roam in search of what little food is left.

FLIES BUZZING

But the drought is just too tough for the weak.

CAWING

A cunning crow.

Always on the lookout for an easy meal.

An entire cow, all to himself.

But it's not that simple.

The crow's beak can't puncture the hide.

White-rumped vultures are no use.

Not even these formidable-looking birds can open a carcass.

SCREECHING

They're all waiting for a specialist.

The red-headed vulture.

A sharp re-curved beak is perfect for opening the thick hide.

The other birds will have to wait in line.

Unless he does something about it,

crow could lose out altogether.

But this is a crow with a plan.

He's going to start a fight.

With the vultures distracted, crow makes his move.

But he's too late.

Jackal spoils everything.

Now everyone must wait.

The mob strips the carcass to the bone.

Everyone's had their fill.

Except crow.

Poor old crow.

Too clever for his own good.

As the drought wears on,

every day, dryness and heat build.

Death stalks the parched land.

But out of death grows new life.

A litter of four desert foxes

in the Rann of Kutch, Northern India.

In the last monsoon, onshore winds were so strong

that they pushed seawater deep inland,

creating a vast salt marsh.

But for the last six months,

desiccating winds have blown from the north,

leaving 12,000 square miles of barren salt pans.

An area the size of Belgium.

But for the enterprising, this is a land of opportunity.

ENGINE APPROACHES

The baking heat attracts seasonal migrant workers.

They're here to exploit a rich harvest.

The Kutch provides salt for almost a billion people.

HORN HONKS

Which means a lot of traffic.

And a free lunch for the foxes.

Roadkill is everywhere.

With ready meals all around them, there's plenty of time to play.

For now, life is good.

But there's a change on the way.

The days are getting longer.

More sunshine begins to drive vast updrafts.

The winds switch, sucking in moisture from the south.

Now the humidity makes the heat even harder to bear.

Most animals would do anything to get out of the sun.

But one does the exact opposite.

Indian blackbuck face the drought as the ultimate test of endurance.

A display of resilience proves they are fit to mate.

For this young buck, it's a chance to show his strength.

He needs to secure a small patch of territory called a lek.

Anyone can have a lek in the dusty salt marsh.

But nearby there's prime real estate, offering golden grasses.

There are plenty of females, but also much more competition.

To win a desirable lek, he's going to have to fight.

GRUNTING

He announces his arrival.

This large buck already has the prime spot.

He's in peak physical condition.

He's so popular, the females jostle for his attention.

The young buck isn't ready to take on the big guy just yet.

For now, he'll sit it out on the sidelines.

The temperature hits a searing 45 degrees.

The resident must stick it out,

exposed on the bare lek.

Whilst the young buck takes time to build his energy.

For now, he keeps his cool.

But the heat is only one of the challenges

competing males must face.

The haze conceals another threat.

Indian wolves.

They patrol the lekking ground,

looking for signs of injury or exhaustion.

For healthy bucks, it's a test of nerve -

if they run, they lose their lek.

The young buck sees an opportunity.

His opponent looks weak from exposure to the sun.

Fighting in the heat is the ultimate test.

So the bucks battle at high noon.

This is no time to pick up an injury.

Any sign of weakness, and they'll pounce.

The defeated resident makes a swift exit.

Victory for the young buck.

But this is only the first of many challenges.

He still has to convince females that he's worth mating with.

He can't do that until the lek takes on HIS scent...

..and that will take weeks.

Guarding his territory in the scorching sun.

The drought is almost over.

Humid winds bring the promise of rain.

But first, Sukhram and Surja Ram must endure the most extreme

consequence of the desert drought.

They've been roaming the sands

for seven long months.

Now, daytime temperatures reach an unbearable 55 degrees.

Relief is on the way.

But ahead of the rains comes the drought's last gasp...

..dust.

A storm is coming.

The winds that now carry dust will soon bring monsoon rains.

And the balance of life will change.

Lush new growth will bring the parched land to life.

The rains will come.

An ancient cycle of renewal, as old as the land itself.

THUNDER CRASHES

Yala National Park, Sri Lanka.

The Monsoon team have come

to the home of the world's largest leopards.

GROWLING

The biggest, weighing in at almost 100 kilograms, is one-eyed Ivan.

For me, Yala is the place to see leopards.

It's the best place in the world.

There are more leopards here than anywhere else on Earth,

and the ambition is to film one of these big cats hunting.

The trouble is that leopards hunt mostly at night.

And if you're not a leopard, you're potential prey.

With an open-backed vehicle and a variety of night-vision cameras,

the team enter the park before dusk,

hoping to encounter nature's

ultimate night-time predator.

The driver switches to night vision.

The infrared car lights are invisible to the naked eye.

So it's a very odd experience,

we're driving along at night

in, to our eyes, at least

complete darkness.

The driver is wearing night-vision goggles,

but we've just heard they're not working very well, so...

that's a little bit alarming!

A waterhole.

Infrared search lights scan for life.

Nothing is drinking here.

But this could be a good sign for the crew.

A big male.

On that first night when I saw that first leopard,

I was taken aback by how big it was.

But something's caught the leopard's attention.

As it first started approaching,

I was thinking, "Oh, wow, this'll make a really nice shot."

We were using these tiny monitors to film and see the leopard,

but what we didn't realise at the time was that those monitors

were lighting us up like a Christmas tree.

The only light in the darkness are our faces. I'm not surprised

the cat was interested to come and have a closer look.

That leopard was coming closer and closer.

I remember turning to Paul Stewart and saying...

Leopards can leap three metres in one bound.

If it had wanted, it could've jumped in the back of the truck with us.

-BLEEP.

-That's close!

It was when I tilted the camera down to that point

that I realised the cat was right underneath us.

That's when I started asking Paul...

So I grabbed that, passed it to Paul,

Paul flashed it up and that startled

the leopard just enough that he headed off in another direction.

That was kind of unwelcome, torn between filming a lovely stalking

shot and thinking,

we'll have the leopard on our lap in a minute!

-Is anyone keeping an eye out?

-I am. I've got it.

If nothing else,

it's a promising sign that this leopard is keen to hunt.

But in the darkness, the big cat gives them the slip.

Stop!

Yeah, he's totally behind me.

-Can we back up a bit more?

-Back a little bit.

What the driver didn't tell us was the back lights weren't working,

and he was so keen to get us the shot, he reversed blind.

TYRES SCREECH

Wait, wait, stop!

Stop! CRASH

'I could feel my heart pounding. I didn't know what had happened.

'All I knew was that the vehicle was tilting on its side.'

In the darkness, they reversed off a bridge.

'It was really, really worrying because

we really didn't want to get out of that vehicle,'

but we had no choice.

Just keep scanning further...

Radio for backup.

Jumping out the car in the middle of the night with a leopard

on the ground wasn't to be taken lightly.

-I think we've got a leopard in the area...

-Watch out.

ANIMAL NOISES

INDISTINCT SPEECH

It takes 30 tense minutes before backup arrives.

Despite being the best place to find leopards,

it takes a whole week before the team even see another one.

But then, they get lucky.

A youngster, keen to hunt, becomes the star of the film.

We'd trailed our leopard for over half an hour as it was stalking.

(He's coming for the pigs...)

Wild pigs - the opportunity that they've been waiting for.

We were in the back of the vehicle, cameras rolling, we were sure that

that leopard was going to go off on a hunt.

And our leopard was ready to go.

Sitting there watching each one go past.

'He's not going to risk it, they're way too big.'

It's not unknown for pigs to kill leopards.

Gradually, night after night, the team piece together

the remarkable story of a young leopard learning to hunt.

What's interesting is they're always looking for a chance.

Which is probably why the leopard on the first night

paid so much attention to us.

A young leopard has to work out if it's worth the risk,

and not risk their life.

It was the reality of what this leopard was facing,

and I think it's a real insight.

Instead of a hunt, it was a much more intimate glimpse of just

how tough it can be for a predator -

especially a young leopard in the dry season.

Next time, a journey into the heart of the monsoon.

A weird world of primeval jungles, and remote islands.

BIRD SQUAWKS

Where the monsoon meets the fires of the underworld...

RUMBLING

..and nothing is quite as it seems.