0:00:02 > 0:00:04BBC Four Collections -
0:00:04 > 0:00:07specially chosen programmes from the BBC archive.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09For this collection, Sir David Attenborough
0:00:09 > 0:00:13has chosen documentaries from the start of his career.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16More programmes on this theme, and other BBC Four Collections,
0:00:16 > 0:00:18are available on BBC iPlayer.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03DIDGERIDOO PLAYING AND SINGING
0:01:13 > 0:01:17This placid stretch of water, starred by a few white water lilies,
0:01:17 > 0:01:20is what is known in this part of the world as a billabong,
0:01:20 > 0:01:23from which you'll guess that we're in Australia.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26If you travel about 80 miles in that direction,
0:01:26 > 0:01:28you come to a small cattle station.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32But you'll have to travel for over 100 miles in pretty well
0:01:32 > 0:01:35any other direction before you'll find another white face.
0:01:36 > 0:01:38I asked one of the men in the cattle station
0:01:38 > 0:01:43what the country was like ahead, and he said, "She's harsh."
0:01:43 > 0:01:44Well, she is harsh.
0:01:44 > 0:01:50Away from these lagoons and swamps, the country is dry and waterless,
0:01:50 > 0:01:54covered with nothing but gum trees and pandanus palms,
0:01:54 > 0:01:57and hot, dry rock.
0:01:57 > 0:02:02Behind me, you can hear the voices of over a quarter of a million geese,
0:02:02 > 0:02:04and not just ordinary geese either,
0:02:04 > 0:02:09for those geese over there are among the rarest geese in the world.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11They're the magpie geese,
0:02:11 > 0:02:13and it's the magpie geese that have brought us here.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18Beyond these eucalyptus trees,
0:02:18 > 0:02:23the huge swamp begins that is the magpie geese's home,
0:02:23 > 0:02:26and on the edge of it we've built a small hide,
0:02:26 > 0:02:30and during the past week or so we've been sitting in that hide,
0:02:30 > 0:02:34watching the geese and the other enormous flocks of water birds
0:02:34 > 0:02:36that come here during the dry season to feed.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41During much of the day, it's extremely difficult
0:02:41 > 0:02:43to get a clear view of the geese,
0:02:43 > 0:02:46for not only are they very nervous and easily scared,
0:02:46 > 0:02:49but most of them are way out in the middle of the swamps,
0:02:49 > 0:02:51feeding among the tall, reedy grass,
0:02:51 > 0:02:55and you can see little more of them than their heads and necks.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59CACOPHONOUS HONKING
0:03:04 > 0:03:08But when they've finished feeding, some of them leave the swamps
0:03:08 > 0:03:10to preen and clean themselves.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13Then you can see how very different they are from normal geese.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16Their legs are unusually long,
0:03:16 > 0:03:19only half webbed, and with long claws.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23They have a hooked bill, and a large knob on the top of their heads.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26In fact, they're so odd that some authorities have questioned
0:03:26 > 0:03:29whether they're really true geese at all.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32Their long legs and claws are of great help to them in feeding,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35for their favourite food is the bulbs of the plants
0:03:35 > 0:03:37which grow in these swamps.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40Elsewhere in Australia, they're extremely rare,
0:03:40 > 0:03:45but up here, on the north coast, they still survive in vast numbers.
0:03:45 > 0:03:47A few years ago, attempts were made
0:03:47 > 0:03:50to grow rice on a large scale here a little to the west.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54Hundreds of acres of land were cleared and sown.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56Millions of pounds were spent.
0:03:56 > 0:04:00The geese regarded this as a splendid increase in their feeding grounds.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03They descended on the fields in thousands.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05Nothing the cultivators could do would scare them off.
0:04:05 > 0:04:10Rattles, ingenious scarecrows of one sort and another were tried,
0:04:10 > 0:04:13but the area was too vast for them to be effective.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15Then the military were called in
0:04:15 > 0:04:18to keep up a regular fusillade of bullets over the swamps.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21They killed quite a lot of geese, but most of the flock simply
0:04:21 > 0:04:26flew off for half a mile or so and then settled down again out of range.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30Finally, the rice growers gave up.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32The enormous investment was written off
0:04:32 > 0:04:35and the rice-growing project was abandoned.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37The geese had won.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47There are many other things to see here as well as the magpie geese.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50In a few weeks' time, when the rains come,
0:04:50 > 0:04:54much of this country will be under water and totally impassable.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58But just now it's so dry that huge fires continually rage
0:04:58 > 0:05:02through the bush, clearing areas of grass and blackening the tree trunks.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06But even in such a scorched area as this, so recently swept by fire,
0:05:06 > 0:05:09there are still interesting creatures to be found.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18Just over there I can see something that...
0:05:18 > 0:05:22that might look like a snake, but I am fairly sure isn't.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26And that...
0:05:29 > 0:05:31..I think...
0:05:31 > 0:05:33Yes, it is, it's a skink.
0:05:34 > 0:05:39A lot of people confuse the skink with a death adder
0:05:39 > 0:05:42and think it's poisonous and therefore kill it unnecessarily.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46But this isn't a snake at all. Its legs are very tiny.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48In fact, it's a lizard.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52And it's quite harmless.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59They shouldn't give me any trouble at all,
0:05:59 > 0:06:01when it comes to picking him up.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15Now, the thing to do -
0:06:15 > 0:06:17although of course he's got a little bit of a bite,
0:06:17 > 0:06:19and I don't want to be bitten -
0:06:19 > 0:06:22but the thing to do is just pick him up behind the back of the neck.
0:06:24 > 0:06:25Like...
0:06:26 > 0:06:28..so.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31There you are, a rather nice beast, too.
0:06:33 > 0:06:34Whoops!
0:06:35 > 0:06:37Ah, what a nice...
0:06:37 > 0:06:38He's got a blue tongue,
0:06:38 > 0:06:42hence his name, naturally, the blue-tongued skink.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44But a very nice creature.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48Actually, you don't have to come all the way up to Arnhem Land
0:06:48 > 0:06:51to see the blue-tongued skink, it occurs all over Australia,
0:06:51 > 0:06:54even as far south as Sydney.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59And it doesn't lay eggs, unlike many lizards.
0:06:59 > 0:07:04It gives birth to live young, and there it is, a rather fine example...
0:07:04 > 0:07:07Whoops! ..of a blue-tongued skink.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11And having seen him,
0:07:11 > 0:07:15well, let's let him go again and go on with our walkabout.
0:07:19 > 0:07:20Go on.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40But although all the country around here is so waterless and harsh,
0:07:40 > 0:07:43there are nonetheless a great number
0:07:43 > 0:07:45of very interesting animals to be seen.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47But you have to be pretty careful
0:07:47 > 0:07:50when you walk around in this sort of country, because around here,
0:07:50 > 0:07:55roaming among the gum trees, are over a quarter of a million water buffalo.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59They're not truly Australian animals, they come from Asia,
0:07:59 > 0:08:04but they were introduced here over 100 years ago as beasts of burden,
0:08:04 > 0:08:07and since then they've increased enormously in numbers
0:08:07 > 0:08:08and they've gone wild.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12Indeed, they have a reputation of being extremely dangerous,
0:08:12 > 0:08:14even though they're supposed to be docile
0:08:14 > 0:08:16back in their true home in Asia.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20When we were in Darwin, the main town in the Northern Territories,
0:08:20 > 0:08:22people were continually telling us
0:08:22 > 0:08:25how dreadfully dangerous these things were.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29We met one man who had spent three hours up in a gum tree
0:08:29 > 0:08:33while an angry bull buffalo tried to knock him and the tree down.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35We met another man who had just come out of hospital
0:08:35 > 0:08:39after spending three weeks there with six broken ribs
0:08:39 > 0:08:43and a badly gored side, who had been just walking in the bush when,
0:08:43 > 0:08:47without notice, a bull buffalo charged him and knocked him down.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50He only got away by seizing the beast's huge horns
0:08:50 > 0:08:53and twisting his neck until he went away.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56We even heard of a woman who was knocked down
0:08:56 > 0:09:01and who got away by stroking the beast's muzzle and saying,
0:09:01 > 0:09:03"There, there, old thing, it's all right,"
0:09:03 > 0:09:05until eventually the beast went away.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08But even so, she was pretty badly hurt.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11So, we felt that we had to get some pretty good advice
0:09:11 > 0:09:15on how we should behave in this sort of bush, just in case
0:09:15 > 0:09:19we did come across buffalo and they looked rather angrily at us.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24And the best person, it seemed to us, to give us advice was Yorkie Billy.
0:09:24 > 0:09:29Yorkie's camp is just half a mile up the lagoon that way,
0:09:29 > 0:09:33and Yorkie has spent all his life as a buffalo hunter.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38'Yorkie said that buffalo were very unpredictable beasts.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40'Sometimes they would just walk away,
0:09:40 > 0:09:43'but other times they charge without warning.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47'I asked him how you could tell if one was likely to be dangerous.'
0:09:47 > 0:09:51I can tell by the way they... stand up.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54They've got a bad-tempered look on them.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56DAVID LAUGHS
0:09:56 > 0:10:00So I have to look at a buffalo and try to sort out from a distance
0:10:00 > 0:10:03of 100 yards whether he's got a bad-tempered look?
0:10:03 > 0:10:04Yes, that's right.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07If he's got a very bad-tempered look, don't go near him.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11- How close is it safe to approach? - How close?
0:10:11 > 0:10:14Probably about 50, 60 yards.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17- Not closer than that? - Not closer than that.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19And supposing...
0:10:19 > 0:10:21What advice would you give me when I'm walking around this bush?
0:10:21 > 0:10:24Do you reckon it's safe for me to walk through the bush?
0:10:24 > 0:10:26Oh, it is safe, but be careful.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29See where you're going, don't walk into...
0:10:29 > 0:10:32Don't walk onto a sleeping buffalo while he's asleep
0:10:32 > 0:10:35or while he's feeding. Just...
0:10:35 > 0:10:37But that's all they do, sleep and feed.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40Well, then just go around them, if they're asleep.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46In particular, don't walk in long grass.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48That's where the buffaloes are camped of a daytime.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52I see. And what happens if I see one who's looking bad-tempered
0:10:52 > 0:10:54and he moves towards me, what do I do then?
0:10:54 > 0:10:57Well, just keep away from him.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59- Just walk away from him. - Is he liable to charge?
0:10:59 > 0:11:01Yes, he'll charge.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03Can I dodge him?
0:11:03 > 0:11:05Well, you could by getting up a tree or getting behind a tree,
0:11:05 > 0:11:07or if you have a gun in your hands...
0:11:07 > 0:11:09Well, I don't carry a gun, and I don't really like
0:11:09 > 0:11:11the look of these trees much,
0:11:11 > 0:11:14because they haven't got any low branches to get up.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17Well, if he charges you, there's another way of getting away from him.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20If he charges you and he's coming full gallop at you,
0:11:20 > 0:11:21just fall flat on the ground,
0:11:21 > 0:11:24the buffalo will jump over you and gallop on.
0:11:24 > 0:11:25- Will he? - Yes.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28I'll remember that, I shall probably pass out with fright!
0:11:28 > 0:11:32That's what I used to do when I was out on the plains.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36There are no trees within about one or two miles away,
0:11:36 > 0:11:40the nearest tree, that's what I used to do with a charging buffalo,
0:11:40 > 0:11:41fall flat on the ground,
0:11:41 > 0:11:44the buffalo would jump over me, the charging buffalo.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47Have you been with buffalo all your life, working with buffalo?
0:11:47 > 0:11:51Oh, yes, I've been on buffalo jobs, cattle stations,
0:11:51 > 0:11:54droving, on railway jobs, working.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57But you used to shoot a lot of buffalo, didn't you?
0:11:57 > 0:12:01In the early days, when the price was good, the skins were worth £15,
0:12:01 > 0:12:05up to nearly £20 a hide for an old big bull.
0:12:05 > 0:12:10- How many would you shoot a year? - Perhaps a couple of thousand.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13The licences were issued to the buffalo shooters
0:12:13 > 0:12:15to shoot a couple of thousand a year.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19- It's not worth shooting them now? - No, not worth shooting them now.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23They're protected now.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25Yes, but there's no price for the skins, I suppose.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27No price for the skins now.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31- Yorkie, were you born here? - Yes, born in Jim Jim.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33- In Jim Jim? - Mmm.
0:12:33 > 0:12:38- And who was your father, Yorkie? - My father came from Yorkshire.
0:12:38 > 0:12:42His name was William Alderson, but they called him Yorkie Mick.
0:12:42 > 0:12:44- Yorkie Mick? - Yorkie Mick, yes.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48- Because he came from Yorkshire? - Yes, nickname.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52My father was William Alderson, and my name's William Alderson.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55Have you ever thought much about Yorkshire, Yorkie?
0:12:55 > 0:12:56Eh?
0:12:56 > 0:12:58Have you ever thought much about that place, Yorkshire?
0:12:58 > 0:13:00- Ever thought? - Thought about what it's like.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03Well, my father used to tell me what it's like.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05- What do you reckon it's like? - Snow country.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09- Snow? - Yes, everything gets snowed up.
0:13:09 > 0:13:11Everything had to be hand fed, cattle stock,
0:13:11 > 0:13:13everything locked in the house.
0:13:13 > 0:13:18And my father used to be a farmer in Yorkshire, grow spuds and onions.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20Oh, yes?
0:13:20 > 0:13:22Where did you meet your wife, Yorkie?
0:13:22 > 0:13:28She was promised to me first, and when her father and mother...
0:13:29 > 0:13:34I had no wife, so her father and mother give her to me as a promise.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36What do you mean, "as a promise", Yorkie?
0:13:36 > 0:13:40A promise is a tribal promise.
0:13:40 > 0:13:45It's a sort of a tribal law, it's from the tribal affairs,
0:13:45 > 0:13:47and a promise is a promise.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50We give this wife over to this man, it's your wife,
0:13:50 > 0:13:52you tell him, for ever.
0:13:52 > 0:13:58When do you make this promise? How old would be the girl?
0:13:58 > 0:13:59Oh, before they're born.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03- Before they're born? - Yes, before they're born.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05They promise...
0:14:05 > 0:14:07If a man, by tribal affairs, a native,
0:14:07 > 0:14:13if they've got an auntie or a cousin, that woman will say now,
0:14:13 > 0:14:18the first child born, if it's a girl, female or male,
0:14:18 > 0:14:20it's yours if it's a female.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22That's a promise, don't break.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24How many children have you got, Yorkie?
0:14:24 > 0:14:26I've got five.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30Two sons, three daughters.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33And who looked after your wife at the birth?
0:14:33 > 0:14:36- I attend the birth myself. - Did you?
0:14:36 > 0:14:39- Too far away from the doctor. - I'll bet.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42So you must know a fair bit about midwifery.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46- Oh, yes, I've been a midwife! - As well as everything else!
0:14:47 > 0:14:52Yorkie, this sort of country, is it pretty rich in animals?
0:14:52 > 0:14:55- Rich for...? - In animals.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59Yes, it is rich in animals, all over this country.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01What sort of things - can we see dingoes here?
0:15:01 > 0:15:05You could see dingoes, but you'd have to look for them.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07They're pretty rare now, are they?
0:15:07 > 0:15:09Yes, they're pretty scarce round this country now.
0:15:12 > 0:15:14For a bunch of years, they've been dying out,
0:15:14 > 0:15:16one thing or another, drought, no water...
0:15:16 > 0:15:18- You've been shooting them. - Hmm?
0:15:18 > 0:15:21- You've been shooting them too. - Oh, sometimes I do, for a living.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24Because there's a reward, isn't there, for a dingo?
0:15:24 > 0:15:26There's a reward, a bonus for a quid.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28A quid for a dingo?
0:15:29 > 0:15:32'Yorkie is not the only man who makes his living from the wild animals.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35'Other people, wandering in the bush, depend on them for food - '
0:15:35 > 0:15:40the aborigines. These are their graves.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42The tribes of this part of the North Coast
0:15:42 > 0:15:45are very different from the people of the central desert.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48No other Australian people erect monuments,
0:15:48 > 0:15:51comparable to these huge sculptures, hewn from tree trunks
0:15:51 > 0:15:53and decorated in brilliant colours.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57Perhaps the inspiration for them came from outside Australia.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00For seamen in canoes and prows
0:16:00 > 0:16:02have for centuries been visiting this coast
0:16:02 > 0:16:04from the islands of Indonesia in the west,
0:16:04 > 0:16:07or New Guinea in the north.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09Not only do these aborigines carve and paint,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12but they're also extremely gifted dancers.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15They dance as part of their sacred rituals,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18but they also dance for fun and entertainment,
0:16:18 > 0:16:20because they enjoy doing so.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23These playabout dances they call yoys,
0:16:23 > 0:16:27and often in them they enact the story of a hunt.
0:16:28 > 0:16:33THEY SING
0:16:38 > 0:16:41THEY ULULATE
0:16:52 > 0:16:55This is the kangaroo yoy,
0:16:55 > 0:16:59a mimed drama portraying the killing of a kangaroo.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03It's full, not only of suspense, but of comedy.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07Their most skilful dancer, whose talent for realistic mime
0:17:07 > 0:17:10and unpredictable humour is keenly appreciated by the audience,
0:17:10 > 0:17:12plays the part of one of the kangaroos
0:17:12 > 0:17:15that eventually will be slain by the hunters.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19His hair is dyed bright red with henna,
0:17:19 > 0:17:21and slung around his neck he wears
0:17:21 > 0:17:23an ornamental ball of goose feathers.
0:17:26 > 0:17:31CROWD CHATTERS
0:17:37 > 0:17:40The kangaroos are squabbling among themselves and grazing,
0:17:40 > 0:17:44for as yet, the hunters have not appeared.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46CROWD CHATTERS
0:19:15 > 0:19:21These people hunt not only kangaroos, but also magpie geese.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24The approach to the swamps through the mangroves
0:19:24 > 0:19:26must be made in complete silence,
0:19:26 > 0:19:27and with great caution,
0:19:27 > 0:19:29for if one bird is frightened and flies off,
0:19:29 > 0:19:32the whole flock will take to the air.
0:19:32 > 0:19:37And pelicans are more efficient sentinels than most.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47The hunter uses a spear thrower to give additional force to his spear.
0:20:02 > 0:20:07One plump goose lying in the now deserted waters of the swamp.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10A goose that will provide a good meal for a complete family.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21We too spent a great deal of time wandering in the bush
0:20:21 > 0:20:25that fringes the swamps, trying to catch sight of the other creatures
0:20:25 > 0:20:29that are attracted here by the open water.
0:20:29 > 0:20:34Our attention was caught by these little pygmy geese.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37I glanced up, and there on the opposite bank stood a dingo.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40This was a real stroke of luck, for, after all,
0:20:40 > 0:20:44Yorkie had been very doubtful of our chances of seeing one.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48We stood stock still, while he stared fixedly in our direction.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52Whether he was looking at us or the birds on the lagoon, I didn't know.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55It was fortunate for him that Yorkie was not with us,
0:20:55 > 0:20:58for if he had been, the dingo would not have been able
0:20:58 > 0:21:00to trot away like this.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03The dingo is something of a mystery.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07He was certainly here long before Europeans came to Australia.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09It's thought that he arrived in the canoes
0:21:09 > 0:21:11of the ancestors of the aborigines,
0:21:11 > 0:21:14when they first came to this country thousands of years ago.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18But exactly where his original home was, no-one knows.
0:21:20 > 0:21:26But we had still failed to find our main quarry, the buffalo.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29This egret, standing on the edge of the swamp however,
0:21:29 > 0:21:32was a good sign, for egrets spend a great deal of their time
0:21:32 > 0:21:34around the buffalo herds,
0:21:34 > 0:21:37collecting insects thrown up by the buffalo's hooves
0:21:37 > 0:21:40and picking ticks and flies from their hides.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43And there they were, far out in the swamps,
0:21:43 > 0:21:48wading up to their knees in water, with egrets riding on their backs.
0:21:48 > 0:21:50They were nearly a quarter of a mile away,
0:21:50 > 0:21:53and we were filming them with telephoto lenses,
0:21:53 > 0:21:55so there was no danger of being charged.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58But on the other hand, our view of them was not a very good one.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00For the heat was so intense,
0:22:00 > 0:22:03that the air over the swamps quivered and danced,
0:22:03 > 0:22:07and we couldn't get any closer to them across the swamps
0:22:07 > 0:22:08even if we'd wanted to.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12Everywhere they went, the egrets followed them.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16The cattle egret is really a bird of Africa and Asia,
0:22:16 > 0:22:20and no-one quite knows when or how it got Australia.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23As it occurs nowhere else in the world, except in association
0:22:23 > 0:22:26with cattle of one sort or another,
0:22:26 > 0:22:29it's unlikely that it got here before the buffalo,
0:22:29 > 0:22:32and they've only been here for about 100 years.
0:22:32 > 0:22:37Some 30 years ago, no-one had recorded a cattle egret in Australia.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41In fact, an attempt was made to introduce them into Western Australia
0:22:41 > 0:22:45in the hope that they would clear the local cattle of ticks.
0:22:45 > 0:22:4718 birds were imported, but they all died,
0:22:47 > 0:22:51and it was thought that the experiment was a failure.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54Then a naturalist suddenly discovered that there were
0:22:54 > 0:22:56great flocks of egrets up here in the Northern Territory.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59Were they descendants of the original introduction?
0:22:59 > 0:23:03Or had they got here by themselves, by way of the Indonesian islands?
0:23:03 > 0:23:05No-one knows.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09As the heat became more intense,
0:23:09 > 0:23:12the buffaloes began to wander off into the bush.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14The only way to get a better view of them
0:23:14 > 0:23:16was obviously to follow them.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20The herd was scattered throughout the trees.
0:23:20 > 0:23:25Every time I saw one, I remembered what Yorkie had said,
0:23:25 > 0:23:28and I must admit, I found it very difficult to decide
0:23:28 > 0:23:31whether they had a bad- or a good-tempered look on them.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34All of them looked rather surly to me.
0:23:34 > 0:23:36But none of them stayed long.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39BIRD CALLS
0:23:48 > 0:23:52This was the nearest we had approached one so far.
0:23:52 > 0:23:57He was a big old bull, and he snuffed our scent rather alarmingly.
0:23:57 > 0:23:58Then he was off.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05But he didn't go far.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12His faithful egret settled once more on his back,
0:24:12 > 0:24:17and then he began to circle us at a distance of about 20 yards.
0:24:17 > 0:24:19What did he want?
0:24:19 > 0:24:23He was certainly well aware of our presence.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25Was he one of the peaceful ones,
0:24:25 > 0:24:29or one of those that Yorkie had called cranky and bad-tempered?
0:24:35 > 0:24:40Well, if he did charge, we would be fairly safe in this sort of country,
0:24:40 > 0:24:44for there were more than enough trees to dodge behind or to shin up.
0:25:26 > 0:25:31Slowly and disdainfully, he walked around us.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33And eventually he just stalked away.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38But we still wanted to see the large groups of buffalo
0:25:38 > 0:25:39that we'd heard about,
0:25:39 > 0:25:42and the place to do that was not in the bush.
0:25:47 > 0:25:49Out here, on the open plains,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52we should be seeing big herds of buffalo.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55Whereas it was hot enough in there though,
0:25:55 > 0:25:59in the shade of the gums, out here it really is baking hot.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02The sun is beating down on these flat open plains,
0:26:02 > 0:26:06and if I'd been a traveller walking for perhaps a week,
0:26:06 > 0:26:10with very little water, well, I should be looking over there,
0:26:10 > 0:26:15and I should think probably that that was a wide cool lagoon full of water,
0:26:15 > 0:26:18with trees mirrored in its surface.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21In fact it's nothing of the kind.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24It's a mirage, an optical illusion
0:26:24 > 0:26:28caused by this great, burning, beating heat.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32And over there, there's nothing but scorched mud,
0:26:32 > 0:26:35and there's no water and no trees.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49But there are the buffalo.
0:26:53 > 0:26:59A herd several hundred strong. A really impressive sight.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02They had gathered around the last shrinking waterhole on the plains
0:27:02 > 0:27:05to drink and to wallow in the mud.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09Approaching these was going to be a little more difficult.
0:27:09 > 0:27:11Slowly, we advanced towards them,
0:27:11 > 0:27:14until we were close enough to get a really good view
0:27:14 > 0:27:16of the cows with their calves.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20They looked amiable enough, and we went a bit closer.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36Here too, they were attended by birds,
0:27:36 > 0:27:40though not by cattle egrets - by pied herons.
0:27:50 > 0:27:52But then they decided
0:27:52 > 0:27:55that we had come rather too close for their liking,
0:27:55 > 0:27:59and a large group of them advanced towards us rather threateningly.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02There were no trees to shin up out here.
0:28:02 > 0:28:04If they charged, the only thing to do
0:28:04 > 0:28:08would be to take Yorkie's advice and fall flat on our faces.
0:28:12 > 0:28:17By and large, it seemed better to take the offensive ourselves.
0:28:56 > 0:29:01So, maybe the buffalo is not so dangerous after all?
0:29:01 > 0:29:06Provided that you can see him in good time, and he can see you.