Sand, Wind and Stars Wild Arabia

For centuries

an exotic but forbidden land has captured our imagination.

Now for the first time

we can explore this place of myth and legend.

What we discover are extremes and surprises.

This is a place where the ancient past is colliding with the future.

But this land is also home to extraordinary wildlife.

This is the story of the animals and people of Arabia.

Sitting at the crossroads of the world,

Arabia is bounded on three sides by sea and ringed by rugged mountains.

But the story of Arabia must begin with her heartland - the desert.

This unforgiving wilderness covers 90% of Arabia.

From the rocky wastelands of the north to the south,

where the largest sand desert in the world smothers the land.

To understand how any life can survive here

we must take a journey through the dry heart of Arabia.

One animal above all embodies what it takes to survive

the Arabian desert.

The animal that inspired the myth of the unicorn.

The Arabian oryx.

These beautiful antelope are the ultimate desert survivors.

Getting all the moisture they need from the vegetation they eat.

Yet just 40 years ago, oryx were on the edge of extinction.

Victims of their own beauty, oryx were heavily hunted.

At one stage, only eight animals remained in the wild.

But intense efforts to protect them have been successful.

Today, over 500 roam once more in the deserts

of Saudi Arabia, Oman and The Emirates.

The key to oryx survival is keeping on the move.

They have an extraordinary ability to sniff out distant rain

and will walk hundreds of miles to find the vegetation it brings.

This same solution to desert survival was

adopted by the only people to have mastered life here.

The Bedouin nomads.

The Bedouin owe their success to a remarkable partnership.

Over 3,000 years ago, ancestors of the Bedouin tamed

the single-humped camel, the dromedary.

The camel is almost as well adapted to the desert as the oryx.

Able to travel 50 days without water.

And they carry their own food store to get through long desert journeys,

a hump made of energy-rich fat.

Although few Bedouin are now truly nomadic,

many still graze their camels in the desert.

But to find their animals enough food,

they must keep them on the move.

Salif bin Hamad Alwheebi grew up as a true desert nomad.

He watches for clues, like distant clouds, that might guide him

and his clan to fresh grazing.

Under the clear desert sky, the temperature plummets

cold enough for a campfire.

Storytelling is an ancient Bedouin tradition.

This is the land of 1,001 Arabian Nights.

Many stories are of the magical animals that avoid desert heat

by emerging after dark.

An Arabian wonder gecko, on the hunt for insects.

Large eyes are great for night vision,

but with no eyelids, a tongue is handy for keeping sand out.

An Arabian jird, searches for grass seeds.

In times of plenty, jirds will gather up to ten kilos of seeds

to store in their burrows.

One of the desert's most poisonous snakes - a horned viper.

The horns are a form of camouflage amongst the desert grass.

Most vipers lie in wait for their prey,

but in the desert, where food is scarce,

they must travel great distances.

Side-winding helps grip soft sand.

Jirds aren't travellers,

they will not stray far from their stash of food.

This makes them vulnerable.

But tonight, the threat to this jird is not from the viper.

He's in someone else's territory and he's been spotted.

Food is so scarce here

jirds will fight viciously to defend their territory.

As dawn breaks, the story of the night's drama

is left written in the sand.

A lone scarab beetle is late for bed.

Coffee originated in Arabia.

But with water so sparse,

the Bedouin drink it low volume and high strength.

Salif wants his son, Hazar, to learn the skills of the Bedouin.

The most important of which is how to control a camel.

He's been training Hazar how to handle these difficult beasts.

Now it's time for a test.

Father and son are setting off on a journey to an annual festival

where they'll compete against the best camel riders in the land.

It's a journey that will take them

through some of the harshest landscapes in the world.

But journeying is what these people do.

Bedouin have ranged all over Arabia for thousands of years,

from the vast sand dunes of the south,

to the rocky wilderness of the north.

This is the desert first mapped by Lawrence of Arabia.

Stony canyons provide a sanctuary for animals

throughout the Middle East,

like Nubian ibex.

These wild goats can only survive here

because precious water bubbles to the surface in springs.

In summer, the females come to drink at these pools every day.

The pool is guarded by a male ibex.

He has exclusive access to the females who come here.

He tastes the air to see if any of them are ready to mate.

But this is such a prized spot that inevitably he has competition.

Getting the upper ground will be key.

The male's skulls are specially reinforced to take a battering.

They are evenly matched. The battle could last up to an hour.

But when a third male joins in, no-one seems to know who to fight.

The party is soon broken up by a tell-tale smell in the air.

The ibex are right to be skittish.

Bedouin have always been skilled hunters.

And there is an ancient guidebook to the best hunting grounds

written in stone.

For hundreds of years,

the Bedouin have scratched messages for fellow travellers.

Instructions on how to find grazing or herds of wild animals.

But in parts of Arabia, the rocks tell an even more astounding story.

These etchings are thousands of years old

and they reveal a fertile grassland,

filled with animals like lions and ostrich,

that no longer roam the Arabian landscape.

At the end of the last ice age, 10,000 years ago,

Arabia was green but she's been gradually drying out ever since.

And the drying of Arabia has played its part

in bringing down civilisations.

At Mada'in Saleh in Saudi Arabia and Petra in Jordan

are the breathtaking ruins of the Nabataean Empire.

Their civilisation was built on the trade of a precious substance

drawn from a desert plant.

The Nabataeans learnt that when cut,

this tree produces strong smelling resin.

At the height of their empire, this was more valuable than gold.

When burned, the resin produces an intoxicating aroma.

The sweet smell of frankincense.

The smoke has strong anti-depressant properties.

Perhaps that's why this humble sap became a religious obsession

from ancient Egypt to early Christianity,

and remains popular today throughout Arabia.

The Nabataean empire flourished on the trade of frankincense

but as the desert dried out around them,

the trade routes shifted and the empire fell into decline.

The Bedouin strategy of keeping on the move

became the only way to survive.

The rocky deserts of northern Arabia are constantly being

ground down by the heat and wind.

This creates the sand that is blown south to form

the vast sea of dunes known to Arabs as the Rub Al Khali,

or to Western explorers simply as the Empty Quarter.

This is a landscape entirely sculpted by wind.

Covering an area the size of France,

this is the largest expanse of sand in the world.

Individual dunes can be 100 miles long.

Salif and Hazar must cross just a corner of this hostile desert

to reach their goal.

This is where camels come into their own.

Feet the size of a dinner plate spread their weight

and prevent them sinking in to the soft sand.

Translucent eyelids keep sand out of the eyes.

The camels can walk on through the sandstorm

but they need their riders to navigate.

There are no landmarks here and the sand dunes Salif knew as a boy

have long been blown away and replaced.

The air temperatures here can reach 52 degrees Centigrade

and the surface of the sand can reach 70 degrees.

Hot enough to kill most animals.

The sleek scales and torpedo-shaped nose of this lizard are a clue

to its trick for escaping the heat.

But its name is the give-away.

The sandfish escapes cooking by swimming.

Stirred like this, hot sand takes on the properties of liquid.

Just 30 centimetres down, the sand is 30 degrees cooler.

The midday temperatures drive most animals deep underground.

In a special filming burrow deep in the desert

we can witness a strange relationship.

Dhub lizards share their burrows with scorpions.

The dhub lizard's skin is too thick to pierce, so he tolerates

the deadly tenant and the scorpion deters unwanted visitors.

It's a useful relationship, although good manners are optional.

If the dhub can cope with the midday heat,

he'll have the desert to himself and he has a strategy for just that.

As a reptile, he needs to warm up.

He flattens his body to absorb the sun's rays.

Black is the most effective colour for absorbing heat,

soaking up 90% of the sun's energy.

But on the scorching hot desert floor,

the lizard reaches operating temperature in minutes.

Rapid panting prevents his brain overheating

while he plays his most extraordinary trick.

The dhub's body is now undergoing a radical transformation.

The black pigment drains away from his scales.

His new pale skin now reflects most of the sun's rays.

Making the dhub the coolest lizard under the sun.

Only one animal shares the midday desert with the dhub

and it uses a similar strategy.

The pure white coat of the oryx reflects heat.

While black markings protect its eyes

from the brilliant glare of the sun.

Oryx can travel even longer without water than camels

but even they must eventually sniff out distant rain to survive.

One male is dominant, and has sole breeding rights with the females.

But this male has become weak through lack of food,

and a rival makes a challenge.

The dominant male has been driven out.

The herd moves on without him.

The deposed male is old and must now try to survive alone.

In this brutal place, he may not last long.

With food so scarce, many desert animals live a solitary existence.

Using special filming techniques

we can recreate the drama of their lives.

A lesser jerboa.

A hunter needs super senses to find such small, sparse prey.

The Rueppell's desert fox has ears 20 times more sensitive

than our own.

The jerboa tries to hide, but the hole's not deep enough.

The fox's sensitive nose tells him exactly where to dig.

There's a sneaky back door.

If he can squeeze through.

Time for the jerboa to reveal his own secret weapon.

Leg's like a kangaroo.

The jerboa can hop more than ten times its own body length.

But long legs don't make it easy to hide.

They come into their own when the only option left is to run for it.

Sometimes getting over is tough.

Better to go under.

The jerboa's quick but the fox is quicker.

The jerboa's only hope is to out-manoeuvre

and he has one last trick up his sleeve.

Hairy feet.

A shock of hair on the sole of his feet

grips the sand for a quick turn.

Desert survival requires sensible footwear.

Tonight, the desert fox goes hungry.

The jerboa's not the only one with special powers

to survive the desert.

The Arabian fat-tailed scorpion.

Growing up to 15 centimetres long,

her powerful neurotoxins kill several humans every year.

She's hunting for beetles.

She can't move fast, but she's got some special features.

Highly-sensitive hairs can detect the faintest of movements.

And like something borrowed from the Batmobile,

she sweeps the sand with delicate chest combs,

picking up chemical signals left by her quarry.

She doesn't need to make a kill very often.

She can survive up to a year between meals.

But the scorpion is prey as well as predator.

The desert fox is still hungry and not afraid to take on a scorpion.

When the moon rises, he'll have more light to hunt

and he'll have the upper hand.

The scorpion has a trick to avoid being eaten.

To see it ourselves we must enter the ultraviolet spectrum.

In the hour before moonrise

the air is filled with ultraviolet rays, invisible to the fox.

And the scorpion has an early-warning system

to tell her that moonlight is on its way.

Chemicals in the scorpion's skin are reacting to the UV rays.

Every millimetre of the scorpion has now become a UV sensor.

Right down to her pincers,

she is feeling the strong UV rays that are invisible to the fox.

This tells her a full moon is on its way.

It's going to be a risky night to be out.

Her dinner can wait.

It's time to find shelter.

At dawn, Salif faces Mecca for morning prayer.

He and his son Hazar have nearly completed their journey.

For Hazar, his first camel festival sounds ominous.

They may be desert people,

but even Bedouin can't survive long in the sand sea.

Their supplies are limited

and ultimately, they must always find fresh water.

Luckily, Salif and Hazar are approaching their goal

near the edge of the desert.

Beyond, the land rises abruptly into towering mountains,

some over 3,000 metres high.

Here lies a secret that helps maintain life.

This natural barrier catches the clouds

and stops their moisture reaching the heartland of Arabia.

But this water isn't lost.

It filters down, deep underground and if you know where to look,

you can find it.

Zahir bin Hamad is eight kilometres inside a mountain,

cleaning a waterway dug by his ancestors over 2,000 years ago.

But this water is not for use in the mountains,

its destiny lies far inland.

Channelled over 30 miles,

this water is bringing life to the desert.

An oasis.

This water is precious.

And wherever there is treasure, there will be conflict.

Zahir is the referee.

He controls the flow of water to each farm

using a system devised by his ancestors.

He uses a sundial to decide who gets what and when.

Each rock marks a share of only 15 minutes.

Not long, Zahir must get it spot on.

Everyone trusts Zahir's time-keeping.

After all, he's relying on a celestial authority.

As the sun-dial shadow swings into position,

Zahir releases the treasure.

Water that fell as rain over 30,000 years ago

is now turning the heart of Arabia green once more.

Every oasis is a haven for wildlife.

Herons and greenshanks feed in the pools.

Thirsty travellers migrating between Europe and Africa

come to drink, including Imperial eagles.

Asiatic honeybees also come to drink daily.

But their journey to the water is fraught with danger.

Blue-cheeked bee-eaters are on the look-out.

The bee-eaters arrive at the oasis each spring

with one thing on their mind.

Breeding.

Males try to win the females' favour by offering insect titbits.

If she's suitably impressed, he gets his reward.

Oasis villages also provide one vital ingredient that has fuelled

every Bedouin journey for thousands of years.

A fruit so valuable that expert pickers risk 20-metre climbs.

Dates.

Dates hold six times the energy content of other fruits

and preserve so well that they last for months.

The annual date harvest is

the busiest time of the year in every oasis.

Bedouin women come in from the surrounding desert to help.

Without this simple fruit the Bedouin would never have been

able to make their epic desert crossings.

And oases play another crucial role.

Filling stations.

After a long desert journey,

a camel will drink up to 200 litres of water.

Oasis towns provide a meeting point for far-flung Bedouin clans.

Salif and Hazar have arrived in the Omani desert town of Al Mintarib

for the Eid camel festival.

The whole town has come out to watch as rival clans compete

to show off their camel-riding skills.

Few youngsters these days grow up learning

the ancient art of camel control.

And the camels don't exactly respond well to an inexperienced hand.

So far, the competition doesn't look too strong.

But soon the premier riders get going.

This is not a race,

it's a competition to show off your control.

The goal is to ride camels in synchronized pairs, side by side.

Running your camels in a straight line.

Hazar has never had to control a camel in such a frenzied atmosphere.

But Salif knows just how to calm their animals down.

Everything Salif has taught his son

will be tested in the next few minutes.

Salif reaches out his arm to show the crowd

how close he and Hazar ride.

Father and son win the day.

MUSIC PLAYS

The ancient Bedouin knowledge

has been passed on to another generation.

Now it's time to party desert-style.

The relationship between man and camel

has proved an enduring strategy for desert survival.

But the Bedouin can't claim to be the true masters of the desert.

Without oases to sustain them

they would never survive their journeys through the hostile dunes.

Surely the master of desert survival is the animal that came

so close to disappearing for ever from this landscape, the oryx.

Their ability to keep moving through the blistering heat,

find food and ultimately thrive in this harshest of landscapes

is truly extraordinary.

Hopefully, now that they have returned to the desert

where they belong, oryx will remain the living emblem

of this mighty sea of sand long into the future.

Filming in the desert posed many challenges for the Wild Arabia crew.

Blistering heat and blinding sand storms played havoc

with their equipment.

But their greatest challenge came from filming cantankerous camels.

CAMEL GROWLS

Just getting to the Bedouin's camp, deep in the deserts of Oman,

threw up their first hurdle.

The thing is, I'm an excellent driver.

-Are you going to drive it?

-Yeah.

There's very little that could go wrong.

This is Toby's ninth attempt at crossing the sand dune.

Oh no!

Never been so embarrassed in my life.

I'm handing over the driving to a ten-year-old. No!

But this is no normal ten-year-old.

This is Hazar and he knows these dunes like the back of his hand.

CAR BEEPS

This is the team's first clue that they won't get very far

in this desert without the help of their Bedouin hosts.

They arrive at dusk

in time to see the camels being brought back to camp for the night.

Salif, the best camel rider in the land, is a man of few words.

Toby tries to break the ice by offering him a coffee

made with his new-fangled coffee making machine.

Hazar, will you grind for me?

Perfect grinding, Hazar.

Coffee originated in Arabia, perhaps this is a way to impress.

Then again, perhaps not.

Salif and Hazar's race is less than a week away.

And the team know they'll only get one chance to film the action.

The next day they head to a practice run to get

a feel for what lies ahead.

It's mayhem at the start line.

And it seems the team are attracting unwanted attention.

Filming these races is not going to be as easy as the crew had hoped.

There's a lot more people, a lot more camels,

and there's a lot more tension, and I'm only able to sit right back.

I can't seem to get close, because it's...the local guys are saying

I'm skitting out the camels by my presence.

So I don't know what to do. We need to find a solution.

This practice session has not gone well.

The team decide to take the locals' advice.

We're clutching at straws now, we're getting desperate.

So I'm going to dress up like the local guys to see if that helps.

This is perfect. This is like what Salif wears.

What you think, guys?

They may be dressed for the task,

but to fully blend in on race day they want to gain a better

understanding of the Bedouin and their camels.

They're invited to camp with their hosts.

INDISTINCT SPEECH

Bedouin are famous for their hospitality.

To survive in the desert, you need to look out for each other.

HE SINGS

Male bonding in the outdoor kitchen is coming along nicely.

But perhaps the most sensitive task

will be engaging the women in the family.

No-one is better placed to do this than camerawomen, Sue Gibson.

So I'll hold that there, OK. I'm not doing my job properly.

This is a rare opportunity to discover

a more intimate side of Bedouin life.

Long time?

Salif wants Toby and Chadden to understand what it takes

to ride a camel.

We're supposed to learn how to run these camels.

I don't think I've ever ridden on a camel let alone raced it.

And do we need to make a special noise?

Sort of like an angry frog, isn't it?

HE MIMICS A CAMEL

Abdullah, what's the name of my camel?

-The name is Samha.

-Samha?

-Samha.

Samha.

I've just had the names interpreted and my one means fast and strong

and Chadden's means broken tractor.

Oooh, he's off! Oh, Lordy.

Salif is yet to be impressed.

Walking is one thing, he decides to up the ante.

TOBY AND CHADDEN LAUGH

Ah, time to get down. Oh, yeah.

Shukran. Shukran. Well done.

The day's duties are not yet over.

Tomorrow is race day and the stars of the show

are booked into the salon.

I've never spent as much time doing my own hair as I just

spent doing hers, but I think she appreciates it.

The crew are settling into their Bedouin lifestyle.

Who better to share stories with on a warm Arabian night.

It's really lovely to get a moment like this to sit round the fire,

and have some coffee, share some dates,

and just spend some time with these guys who've been so kind to us.

So it's these moments that make it really special.

Tomorrow is race day.

Hundreds of camels and their riders are here to compete

in the grand finale of the Eid festival.

But will the team's decision to blend in pay off?

Since we've started wearing the headgear and the dish-dash,

I know it sounds ridiculous but it really does seem as though

we've been accepted more and there's a lot more intimacy with

the men we are working around.

Even the camels seem to startle less and be more accepting of us.

I think that was a really good call.

Salif and Hazar's moment has arrived

and Toby gets himself into prime position.

For the crew, it's a thrill to witness this spectacle.

And everyone's pleased to see Hazar ride so well.

But it's only back at the camp

that they get to share in the family's success.

And their hosts get a chance to see some action replays.

The team have made new friends in the Arabian desert

and even Salif is pleased with their results.

THEY ALL LAUGH

Next time on Wild Arabia...

We journey into the mysterious waters

and rich mountains on Arabia's southern coast.

There is more life here than anywhere else in Arabia.

Life that's sustained by a magical secret.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd