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.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25On August 4th, 1851, an obscure Scots missionary
0:00:25 > 0:00:30and a white hunter arrived here from South Africa.
0:00:30 > 0:00:31For weeks past,
0:00:31 > 0:00:34they'd been travelling through unknown territory in South Africa.
0:00:34 > 0:00:39They had come up and fringed the eastern edge of the Kalahari Desert,
0:00:39 > 0:00:44and on that day, they arrived here on the far south bank of this river.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47It was very windy, and there were a lot of waves on the river.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50They had considerable difficulty in getting a canoe to bring them over.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53But when at last they got to this village, they were greeted
0:00:53 > 0:00:55with astonishment and surprise.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57Hundreds of people gathered round to look at them,
0:00:57 > 0:01:01for theirs were the first white faces that had ever been seen here.
0:01:01 > 0:01:07This place is called Sesheke, and the big river they call the Liambi.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09The Scots missionary was overjoyed to see it,
0:01:09 > 0:01:13for although its lower reaches and its mouth on the east coast of Africa
0:01:13 > 0:01:16had been known for centuries, this was the first time
0:01:16 > 0:01:19that it had been identified in the centre of the continent.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22They still call it the Liambi today,
0:01:22 > 0:01:26but the name we know it by better is the Zambezi.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51David Livingstone was born on 19th March, 1813,
0:01:51 > 0:01:56at Blantyre on the banks of the Clyde near Glasgow.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00His father worked in the cotton mill, and as a child of ten,
0:02:00 > 0:02:01David was sent to work there, too.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04He had been reared in a devoutly religious home,
0:02:04 > 0:02:08and when he was 21, he decided to become a medical missionary.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11With his meagre savings and help from his family,
0:02:11 > 0:02:14he paid for courses in medicine and divinity
0:02:14 > 0:02:16at Anderson College, Glasgow.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20While he studied, he was accepted by the London Missionary Society.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24Robert Moffat, the most celebrated missionary of the time,
0:02:24 > 0:02:27fired Livingstone's imagination with stories of the great work
0:02:27 > 0:02:30waiting to be done in unknown Africa.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32Livingstone determined to help.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35And so, in 1840, he sailed for Cape Town,
0:02:35 > 0:02:37joined Moffat at his mission, Kuruman,
0:02:37 > 0:02:42and as soon as he could, set out for the unknown north.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45LION ROARS
0:02:47 > 0:02:49As a result of this mauling by a lion,
0:02:49 > 0:02:53he was never again to have the full use of his left arm.
0:02:53 > 0:02:58His wounds were so severe, he had to return to Kuruman to convalesce.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02There, he fell in love with Moffat's daughter, Mary.
0:03:02 > 0:03:07On 2nd January, 1845, they were married in the Little Mission Church
0:03:07 > 0:03:12and soon afterwards, accompanied by his bride, he returned north,
0:03:12 > 0:03:14preaching, studying native languages and customs,
0:03:14 > 0:03:16building missions and raising a family.
0:03:16 > 0:03:22In June 1849, he set out on an expedition to cross the Kalahari.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26The natives said it was impossible, but Livingstone did it
0:03:26 > 0:03:29and reached Lake Ngami, the first of his great discoveries.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32He was determined to follow up this triumph,
0:03:32 > 0:03:36but to do so, he would have to leave his young family.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38He decided to send them back to England.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42"When my children ask me, 'When shall we return to Kuruman?' he wrote,
0:03:42 > 0:03:46"I must reply, 'Never. The mark of Cain is on your foreheads.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48"'Your father is a missionary.'"
0:03:48 > 0:03:53Then, he set out again for the unknown north.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57On November 19th, 1853, he was back here in Sesheke
0:03:57 > 0:04:01and fired with a great ambition. Until that time,
0:04:01 > 0:04:04it had been widely believed that central Africa was covered
0:04:04 > 0:04:07by a large desert, a sort of southern Sahara.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11Livingstone already knew otherwise and he saw the Zambezi River
0:04:11 > 0:04:15as a great avenue up which the civilising influences of Christianity
0:04:15 > 0:04:20and trade might spread in order to combat the evil of slavery
0:04:20 > 0:04:23that was already rampant among the tribes of central Africa.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27So he formed an astonishingly bold plan.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31He determined that, alone, except for his African paddlers and porters,
0:04:31 > 0:04:34he would travel up the Zambezi towards its source
0:04:34 > 0:04:37and then strike out for the west coast of Africa.
0:04:37 > 0:04:42Once there, he would return down the Zambezi back here to Sesheke,
0:04:42 > 0:04:45and continue on downstream to the mouth of the Zambezi
0:04:45 > 0:04:50and the Indian Ocean. It was a journey of not less than 3,000 miles.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53Much of the country he would be going through was unknown.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57Many of the tribes he would meet doubtless would be hostile.
0:04:57 > 0:05:02Perhaps no-one but Livingstone would have dared to have such a bold dream.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06Certainly, no-one knew better than he of the dangers
0:05:06 > 0:05:08and the difficulties involved.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11And so began the long obsession with the Zambezi
0:05:11 > 0:05:14that was to dominate so much of Livingstone's life.
0:05:14 > 0:05:19An obsession that at first was to lead to spectacular success
0:05:19 > 0:05:22and worldwide fame and then to bring him failure,
0:05:22 > 0:05:25deep personal grief, and finally, to mark
0:05:25 > 0:05:30the beginning of the long tragedy that was to cloud his last years.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44The people say that it was under this tree which blew down only a year ago
0:05:44 > 0:05:46that Livingstone pitched his tent.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49Already, before his journey had really begun,
0:05:49 > 0:05:53he was stricken by fever, and so weak that he hadn't the strength
0:05:53 > 0:05:56to go out and hunt for meat for himself.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00But the chief of Sesheke hospitably sent him gifts of honey and milk
0:06:00 > 0:06:02and fruit and maize.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06Weak though he was, Livingstone nonetheless found the strength
0:06:06 > 0:06:09to preach both in the morning and the afternoon, and was listened to
0:06:09 > 0:06:11by audiences of over 600.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15After four days, the fever left him
0:06:15 > 0:06:19and he felt strong enough to set out on his journey westwards
0:06:19 > 0:06:22along the river. The list of equipment that he took with him
0:06:22 > 0:06:26seems pitifully, almost ludicrously, small.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29He had three muskets for his men.
0:06:30 > 0:06:36A pistol, a rifle and a shotgun for himself, together with ammunition.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40For food, he had 20 pounds of coffee, a few pounds of tea
0:06:40 > 0:06:42and a few biscuits.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46He had with him a tin containing respectable clothes,
0:06:46 > 0:06:49so that he might look smart when he reached civilisation
0:06:49 > 0:06:51on the west coast, another with a few books,
0:06:51 > 0:06:55a sextant and a chronometer with which to plot his position
0:06:55 > 0:06:58and a magic lantern with which to help him
0:06:58 > 0:07:03in his preaching to the people. He also had a few medicines.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05He had a horse blanket on which to sleep,
0:07:05 > 0:07:08a sheepskin rug with which to cover himself
0:07:08 > 0:07:11and a tent which wasn't waterproof. That was all.
0:07:12 > 0:07:17He writes that he had "a secret scorn for impedimenta"
0:07:17 > 0:07:20and that if he failed on this journey,
0:07:20 > 0:07:24it wouldn't be through a lack of what he derisively terms "knick-knacks,
0:07:24 > 0:07:28"so extensively advertised as being essential for the traveller",
0:07:28 > 0:07:32but rather because he would have "lacked the pluck".
0:07:35 > 0:07:38A century ago, the whole of this part of Africa
0:07:38 > 0:07:41swarmed with immense herds of game -
0:07:41 > 0:07:45wildebeest, sable, eland, antelope of all sorts -
0:07:45 > 0:07:47and Livingstone rejoiced in the sight.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51On one occasion, he lay in the grass watching game for so long
0:07:51 > 0:07:53that his men, thinking he was ill,
0:07:53 > 0:07:56came up and frightened the animals away.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59Although he was not trained as a naturalist,
0:07:59 > 0:08:02he was an acute observer and regularly noted details
0:08:02 > 0:08:06of natural history that were original contributions to science.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09On his previous journey to Lake Ngami,
0:08:09 > 0:08:13he had discovered a completely new species of antelope, the lechwe.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16Now on the Zambezi, he saw it again.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18"It presents a noble appearance," he wrote,
0:08:18 > 0:08:23"as it stands gazing with head erect at the approaching stranger.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25"When it resolves to decamp, it lowers its head
0:08:25 > 0:08:29"and lays its horns down to a level with its withers.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33"It then begins a waddling trot which ends in its galloping
0:08:33 > 0:08:34"and springing over bushes.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37"It invariably runs to the water
0:08:37 > 0:08:40"and crosses it by a succession of bounds,
0:08:40 > 0:08:43"each of which appears to be from the bottom.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47"We thought the flesh good at first, but soon got tired of it."
0:08:55 > 0:08:59Birds, too, were a source of daily delight to him.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03He counted not only the number of different species he saw,
0:09:03 > 0:09:05but how many individuals of each kind.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08He noted their habits, their local names
0:09:08 > 0:09:13and he described in detail their colours and their shape.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15In their variety and number,
0:09:15 > 0:09:18he saw a manifestation of the work of the God
0:09:18 > 0:09:21to whom he had dedicated his life.
0:09:21 > 0:09:26"The welkin rings in the cool morning," he wrote in his journal,
0:09:26 > 0:09:29"with the singing of birds which, if not so delightful
0:09:29 > 0:09:31"as the merry chorus of the birds of home,
0:09:31 > 0:09:34"with which I am familiar from infancy,
0:09:34 > 0:09:39"at once strikes the ear by their loveliness and multifariousness
0:09:39 > 0:09:43"as the embodiment of joysome hearts willing the praises of him
0:09:43 > 0:09:47"who fills them to overflowing with gladness."
0:09:50 > 0:09:54The Sioma Falls mark the beginning of the great plains of Barotseland.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58Livingstone thought that the scenery here was the loveliest he had seen.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02Men from the riverside village carried his canoes round the falls
0:10:02 > 0:10:05and that night, at their request, he preached and showed them
0:10:05 > 0:10:09slides of biblical scenes on his magic lantern.
0:10:09 > 0:10:14Then he pushed on north, up the Zambezi, drawing this map as he went.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17In spite of heavy rains and a severe bout of fever,
0:10:17 > 0:10:20he travelled 400 miles in the next six weeks
0:10:20 > 0:10:25and reached the town of Shinte, the capital of a great chief.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28Here, he and the hundred Makololo porters who had come with him
0:10:28 > 0:10:31from Sesheke were given a splendid ceremonial reception,
0:10:31 > 0:10:36during which the chief received the obeisance of his head men.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41Chiefs in this part of Africa are still revered,
0:10:41 > 0:10:45and their people to this day pay homage in just the way that
0:10:45 > 0:10:49Livingstone described - by rubbing earth and ashes on their bodies.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12Livingstone was surprised to find women admitted to the meeting.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15Here, however, they had much more importance in tribal life
0:11:15 > 0:11:17than they were accorded further south.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21Indeed, Livingstone's guide for the past few days
0:11:21 > 0:11:25had been the chief's niece, a strapping, rather bossy girl
0:11:25 > 0:11:27whose body, Livingstone noted,
0:11:27 > 0:11:31was smeared all over with a mixture of fat and red ochre
0:11:31 > 0:11:34as a protection against the weather -
0:11:34 > 0:11:38a necessary precaution - for, like most of the ladies,
0:11:38 > 0:11:41"she was otherwise in a state of frightful nudity".
0:11:47 > 0:11:50Many of the customs of the people he encountered here
0:11:50 > 0:11:54horrified Livingstone, even though he was much more understanding
0:11:54 > 0:11:58and sympathetic about these matters than many of his contemporaries.
0:11:58 > 0:12:03In his book, he wrote, "I shall not often advert to their depravity."
0:12:03 > 0:12:07He felt that little good could come from investigating in detail
0:12:07 > 0:12:10the nature of their customs and beliefs.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14And so he wrote little for public eyes about such things.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16But it was not from ignorance.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19"The more intimately I become acquainted with barbarians,"
0:12:19 > 0:12:21he wrote in the privacy of his journal,
0:12:21 > 0:12:25"the more disgusting does heathenism become.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28"It is inconceivably vile. They need a healer.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32"May God enable me to be such to them."
0:12:33 > 0:12:38But the practices that so appalled him are still carried on today.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41When boys are taken away to be initiated by the men
0:12:41 > 0:12:43at a secret place in the bush,
0:12:43 > 0:12:47the Makushi devil still appears in the half-deserted village
0:12:47 > 0:12:49to taunt the abandoned mothers,
0:12:49 > 0:12:53and they in turn sing in reply to placate him.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22Up to this point, Livingstone and his men had been travelling in canoes,
0:13:22 > 0:13:26but north of Shinte, the Zambezi swings eastward in a huge arc
0:13:26 > 0:13:29and so Livingstone took a short cut over land.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32For five days, he journeyed through rolling hills
0:13:32 > 0:13:35until at last he saw the river once more ahead of him.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41And so, Livingstone came down yet again to the Zambezi River
0:13:41 > 0:13:43here at Cazombo in Angola.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46This was the highest point on the river that he was to reach
0:13:46 > 0:13:50and he came down across those plains over there.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53He was travelling during the rainy season, and for many nights past,
0:13:53 > 0:13:56he hadn't been able to get a clear view of the heavens.
0:13:56 > 0:14:01On this night, he did manage to take some observations of the stars
0:14:01 > 0:14:06and was much encouraged at being able to plot his position with accuracy.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08He crossed the river just over there.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11It took him four hours, he records in his journal,
0:14:11 > 0:14:14and when he came up on this, the western bank,
0:14:14 > 0:14:17he looked back and he saw those hills.
0:14:17 > 0:14:23He asked one of the local people what they were and the man said, "Piri,"
0:14:23 > 0:14:26so Livingstone duly noted in his journal
0:14:26 > 0:14:27that these were the Piri Hills.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31In fact, "piri" is just the local word meaning "a hill",
0:14:31 > 0:14:34but the "Piri Hills" they've been ever since.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37And from here, he continued westwards towards the coast
0:14:37 > 0:14:40and Luanda, the capital of Angola.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44It took him four months of hard, lonely travel
0:14:44 > 0:14:48before he reached there. And by the time he got there,
0:14:48 > 0:14:51he was broken in health.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55He had dysentery, he had had over 30 attacks of malaria,
0:14:55 > 0:14:58he was so feeble that he couldn't ride on his ox
0:14:58 > 0:15:00for more than ten minutes at a time.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02He was hoping that when he got to Luanda,
0:15:02 > 0:15:06he would find letters from his wife, Mary, who was back in England,
0:15:06 > 0:15:11and from his children, but there were no letters for him when he got there.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13There were, however, a number of English ships
0:15:13 > 0:15:17including a British cruiser, HMS Polyphemus.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20The captain of the Polyphemus
0:15:20 > 0:15:24offered Livingstone an immediate passage back home.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28To a man who had been travelling for over 14 years in central Africa,
0:15:28 > 0:15:31who was broken in health,
0:15:31 > 0:15:37such an offer must have been almost unbelievably attractive.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39And yet Livingstone refused it,
0:15:39 > 0:15:43because to accept it would mean breaking faith with the Makololo men
0:15:43 > 0:15:48who had come with him all the way from Sesheke on the Middle Zambezi.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51It never occurred to him that he could desert them.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54"Without me," he said, "they will never find their way back home."
0:15:56 > 0:15:59So he stayed in Luanda to try and regain his health.
0:15:59 > 0:16:03He stayed there for nearly four months, and then once more,
0:16:03 > 0:16:08with the Makololo, he turned his back on the sea and on England
0:16:08 > 0:16:12and marched back into central Africa and the Middle Zambezi.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17For much of the way, he was able to follow his previous route,
0:16:17 > 0:16:22but it still took him five months to get back to the Zambezi.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24When they did so, his men speared a hippo
0:16:24 > 0:16:27and had a great feast, for it was the first meat
0:16:27 > 0:16:31they had eaten for a long time, but the hippos nearly had their revenge.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49Fortunately, no-one was hurt and they paddled on downriver.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52They got back to Sesheke
0:16:52 > 0:16:54one year, seven months after they had left it.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00He was now on the verge of making the most spectacular
0:17:00 > 0:17:02of all his discoveries.
0:17:02 > 0:17:07When he had first arrived in Sesheke in 1851, the people had told him
0:17:07 > 0:17:11of a great waterfall which they called Mosi-oa-Tunya,
0:17:11 > 0:17:13"the smoke that thunders".
0:17:13 > 0:17:16That lay downstream, but Livingstone's mind at the time
0:17:16 > 0:17:19was set on going upstream towards the west coast
0:17:19 > 0:17:21and he never investigated it.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25But now, in November, 1855, he was back in Sesheke
0:17:25 > 0:17:27and he was going downstream.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30As he travelled in the canoe, he had with him
0:17:30 > 0:17:34this small pocket book, which is now preserved in the National Museum
0:17:34 > 0:17:37here in the town of Livingstone.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41In it, he noted down the bare facts of the journey.
0:17:41 > 0:17:43Here is Sesheke.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47These figures are the hours that he took as he went downriver.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50Up here, he's noted the nature of the rocks he passes.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53"Porphyry, with crystals covered with copper."
0:17:53 > 0:17:57And on the end here, perhaps the conversation of his paddlers,
0:17:57 > 0:18:00because he's put down a few of the local words.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03"Mor - cattle. Mor mutamin - a tale bearer.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06"Somri - the camel thorn."
0:18:06 > 0:18:10And then, on the next page, come the details of his approach to the falls.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15"Mosi-oa-Tunya bears south-southeast from Sekota islet.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18"Burly baobab, very graceful palm,
0:18:18 > 0:18:22"cedar and cypress form of motsouri."
0:18:22 > 0:18:24"Rounded masses of tropical vegetation.
0:18:26 > 0:18:31"After 20 minutes, sail thence on 16th November, 1855.
0:18:31 > 0:18:36"Saw three or five large columns of vapour rising 100 or more feet."
0:18:42 > 0:18:46And so he came to this spot and looked right over the very edge
0:18:46 > 0:18:51of the falls, the first white man ever to do so.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53Even today, this spot is seldom visited
0:18:53 > 0:18:56because in order to get to it, you have to weave your way through
0:18:56 > 0:19:01the rapids just above the edge of the falls, and when you contemplate
0:19:01 > 0:19:06what lies immediately ahead, this can be a little alarming.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09Livingstone's own comment is a typical understatement.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11"For a moment," he wrote,
0:19:11 > 0:19:14"I thought we were going to go right into the gulf,
0:19:14 > 0:19:17"and I felt a tremor, but I said nothing
0:19:17 > 0:19:22"believing I could face the difficulty as well as my guides."
0:19:22 > 0:19:26Until now, he had never used anything but the local African name
0:19:26 > 0:19:29for all of his geographical discoveries,
0:19:29 > 0:19:31but here for the first and last time,
0:19:31 > 0:19:35he broke with this rule and he called these the Victoria Falls.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55He carved his initials on this tree,
0:19:55 > 0:20:00initials that were later renewed by other visitors to the falls,
0:20:00 > 0:20:02but now they have long since disappeared
0:20:02 > 0:20:05having been overgrown by the bark.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08And then, noting that this place was continually drenched by spray
0:20:08 > 0:20:11from the falls, he thought it would be a good place
0:20:11 > 0:20:16for a garden, so he planted apricot stones, peaches and coffee,
0:20:16 > 0:20:18noting, with a rare flash of humour,
0:20:18 > 0:20:24that he thought that Mosi-oa-Tunya would be a more careful nurseryman
0:20:24 > 0:20:27and keep the place better watered than would his Makololo.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30But since that time, hippo, whose spoor
0:20:30 > 0:20:33are still very common round here,
0:20:33 > 0:20:35trampled those gardens and they have disappeared, too.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46In his notebook, he put down his first estimates
0:20:46 > 0:20:49of the size of the falls, and perhaps because he was
0:20:49 > 0:20:53so anxious not to exaggerate, he grossly underestimated.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56He wrote that they were 100 feet deep.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00In reality, at one end, they are twice that depth,
0:21:00 > 0:21:04and at the other, over three times - 350 feet -
0:21:04 > 0:21:07a fact that he was to discover when he visited the falls
0:21:07 > 0:21:11five years later, leaned over the edge and dropped a plumb line
0:21:11 > 0:21:15down into the chasm with some bullets tied to the end as weights.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21He was equally cautious in his first notes about the length
0:21:21 > 0:21:25of the falls, estimating them to be not less than 600 yards long.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30They are in fact 1,900 yards in length.
0:21:31 > 0:21:36In structure, they are unique, and at first sight, puzzling,
0:21:36 > 0:21:40for the river plunges into a long trench in the Earth's surface,
0:21:40 > 0:21:43from the middle of which a very narrow gorge leads off
0:21:43 > 0:21:45to carry the waters on downstream.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48Livingstone speculated in detail in his book
0:21:48 > 0:21:53about the geological factors that had created this formation.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57He believed that this chasm had been produced by some great earthquake
0:21:57 > 0:21:59which had cracked the Earth's surface,
0:21:59 > 0:22:02and that the Zambezi had then simply tumbled into the crack.
0:22:02 > 0:22:07He didn't realise that this gorge has been created by the river itself,
0:22:07 > 0:22:10eroding along a line of weakness crossing its bend.
0:22:13 > 0:22:18Only at one point among all these mathematical facts and sober theories
0:22:18 > 0:22:22does his description of this astounding place become lyrical.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25"No-one can imagine the beauty of the view
0:22:25 > 0:22:28"from anything witnessed in England," he wrote.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32"It had never been seen before by European eyes,
0:22:32 > 0:22:36"but scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon
0:22:36 > 0:22:38"by angels in their flight."
0:22:41 > 0:22:45Below the falls, the party once more encountered huge herds of game.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48Livingstone had 114 Makololo carriers with him,
0:22:48 > 0:22:53and although he himself hated killing, his men had to be fed.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57In the past, he had described with compassion the sufferings of animals
0:22:57 > 0:23:01hunted by Africans who drove them into pits where they died
0:23:01 > 0:23:02in a welter of blood and spears.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07Now, his men speared a baby elephant
0:23:07 > 0:23:10and then slaughtered its mother
0:23:10 > 0:23:13when she tried to protect her young with her own body.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15In his journal, he wrote,
0:23:15 > 0:23:17"I turned away from the spectacle
0:23:17 > 0:23:19"of the destruction of these noble animals
0:23:19 > 0:23:22"which might be turned to such good account in Africa
0:23:22 > 0:23:24"with a feeling of sickness."
0:23:27 > 0:23:31They marched on downstream until they reached Zumbo.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34The Portuguese had been settled around the mouth of the Zambezi
0:23:34 > 0:23:39since the 16th century, and Zumbo, 500 miles upriver,
0:23:39 > 0:23:42was the farthest point that they had penetrated inland.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47Here, in the 17th century, they had built a tiny fortress.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49But when Livingstone reached it,
0:23:49 > 0:23:52the place had already been deserted for 50 years.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55It must have looked much the same then as it does today.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58As he wandered around the crumbling ruins,
0:23:58 > 0:24:01he asked the African inhabitants why the Portuguese had left.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03The people wouldn't tell him,
0:24:03 > 0:24:06but Livingstone, doubtless, knew well enough.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10Hidden in the hills outside Zumbo
0:24:10 > 0:24:12there still remains a hole in the rock
0:24:12 > 0:24:15that can be sealed with boulders.
0:24:15 > 0:24:17This is a slave pit.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20In it, hundreds of Africans were kept imprisoned
0:24:20 > 0:24:23until they were collected by Arab traders.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27The Portuguese inhabitants of Zumbo had not only condoned this practice
0:24:27 > 0:24:30but sometimes played an active part in it.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33As a result, they had been in a continual state of war
0:24:33 > 0:24:35with the local people.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39No wonder they were eventually driven out of the settlement.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41The slave trade, however, still flourished.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44Arabs still travelled among the people of central Africa
0:24:44 > 0:24:47setting one tribe against another, taking prisoners from both
0:24:47 > 0:24:51and then leading them down to the slave markets on the coast.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54The dreadful savagery and cruelty of this iniquitous practice
0:24:54 > 0:24:58shocked Livingstone deeply, and its extermination
0:24:58 > 0:25:01became as important an aim of his explorations
0:25:01 > 0:25:04as the spreading of Christianity.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07Around here, Livingstone encountered great numbers of buffalo -
0:25:07 > 0:25:10aggressive creatures that could beat off a lion
0:25:10 > 0:25:11and sometimes attacked men.
0:25:16 > 0:25:21RUMBLE OF BUFFALO STAMPEDING
0:25:21 > 0:25:23SHOUTING
0:25:23 > 0:25:27The porter who was tossed in this charge, although badly hurt,
0:25:27 > 0:25:32revived after what Livingstone described as "a good shampoo",
0:25:32 > 0:25:35and after only a week, he was able to hunt again.
0:25:38 > 0:25:43A few miles downstream from Zumbo, Livingstone ran into trouble.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47During the night, his encampment was surrounded by the local people.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50In the morning, he found himself threatened
0:25:50 > 0:25:52by armed warriors with spears.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55The local witchdoctors came out and lit fires
0:25:55 > 0:25:57in which they burnt spells
0:25:57 > 0:26:00and they uttered strange and horrible incantations
0:26:00 > 0:26:03in an attempt to frighten Livingstone's porters.
0:26:03 > 0:26:04Livingstone met the threat
0:26:04 > 0:26:08with his usual mixture of piety and practicality.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10He wrote in his journal,
0:26:10 > 0:26:13"We resolved to wait and put our trust in him
0:26:13 > 0:26:16"in whose hands lie the hearts of all men."
0:26:16 > 0:26:18Then he made some preparations for any battle.
0:26:18 > 0:26:23He killed an ox to give his men a good meal of red meat
0:26:23 > 0:26:25and put good heart in them.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27That certainly worked because one of his men said to him
0:26:27 > 0:26:31in a rather bloodthirsty way, "You've seen us with elephants.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33"Wait till you see what we do to men."
0:26:33 > 0:26:37Livingstone himself hadn't much doubt about the outcome of any battle
0:26:37 > 0:26:41because he writes rather grittily, "If the chief attacks,
0:26:41 > 0:26:45"he will find that it's the worst mistake of his life".
0:26:45 > 0:26:46But it didn't come to that.
0:26:46 > 0:26:51The chief sent over two old men and they asked Livingstone who he was.
0:26:51 > 0:26:55Livingstone replied, "I am a Lekoa," meaning an Englishman.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59The old men said, "We don't know a tribe called the Lekoa.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02"We thought you were Mazunga" - meaning Portuguese.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06To show that he wasn't Portuguese, Livingstone bared his chest
0:27:06 > 0:27:08and showed his white skin.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12The old men marvelled and said they had never seen skin so white.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15Surely Livingstone must be a member of that white tribe
0:27:15 > 0:27:17who loved the black men.
0:27:17 > 0:27:19Livingstone said that he was.
0:27:19 > 0:27:21So peace was established.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24The chief told him that the way down to Tete,
0:27:24 > 0:27:27the Portuguese settlement 200 miles further downriver
0:27:27 > 0:27:30on the north bank, over there,
0:27:30 > 0:27:34was a hard trek over the mountains
0:27:34 > 0:27:38and it was much easier to cross onto this southern bank of the Zambezi.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41That afternoon they gave him canoes.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43Livingstone and his party made the crossing.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46But it was too late to get right across
0:27:46 > 0:27:50so they camped for the night on one of these islands
0:27:50 > 0:27:52And, just in case there was any treachery,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55Livingstone and his men slept in the canoes.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58The next morning, they completed the crossing.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01Livingstone was so grateful to get over to this southern bank,
0:28:01 > 0:28:04that he sent gifts over to the chief.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06Two spoons and a shirt.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10Had he but known, in crossing the Zambezi at this point
0:28:10 > 0:28:12he was sowing the seeds of catastrophe.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18And so the party marched on in a great semicircle,
0:28:18 > 0:28:20crossing gently rolling country
0:28:20 > 0:28:25and leaving the Zambezi away to the north, hidden by mountains.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28Although the going was now comparatively easy,
0:28:28 > 0:28:31it nevertheless took them six weeks to reach Tete.
0:28:33 > 0:28:38Then, as now, the little town of Tete was clustered around its fortress.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42As Livingstone neared it, he was so weak from exhaustion and starvation
0:28:42 > 0:28:44that he could scarcely walk.
0:28:44 > 0:28:48So the Governor of Tete sent out a party of men with a hammock
0:28:48 > 0:28:52to carry the explorer into town across those plains.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54His great journey was now virtually over
0:28:54 > 0:28:58for, although the coast still lay some 200 miles away,
0:28:58 > 0:29:00the way there was comparatively well known
0:29:00 > 0:29:04and there were several Portuguese settlements that could give him help.
0:29:04 > 0:29:08So, Livingstone stayed here and rested for six weeks
0:29:08 > 0:29:10to try and regain his strength.
0:29:10 > 0:29:12Then, leaving his Makololo porters here
0:29:12 > 0:29:15with the promise that he would be back to collect them
0:29:15 > 0:29:18to take them back home to the centre of Africa,
0:29:18 > 0:29:22Livingstone got into a canoe and sailed down to the coast.
0:29:22 > 0:29:27He reached Quelimane on the coast on 20th May, 1856.
0:29:27 > 0:29:30His great journey had taken him almost three years.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33He had walked across a continent.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36He had filled in huge spaces on the map.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39He had brought back detailed and accurate observations
0:29:39 > 0:29:41of the animals and the plants,
0:29:41 > 0:29:44the rivers and the rocks, the people and the climate.
0:29:44 > 0:29:46And he had done it alone.
0:29:46 > 0:29:48It was perhaps the greatest journey
0:29:48 > 0:29:51in the whole history of African exploration.
0:29:51 > 0:29:55At the coast, a British man o' war was awaiting him to take him home
0:29:55 > 0:29:59and when he got home, he was given a hero's reception.
0:30:00 > 0:30:04The Royal Geographical Society presented him with its gold medal.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07The Royal Society elected him a fellow -
0:30:07 > 0:30:10the highest academic honour of all.
0:30:10 > 0:30:12Queen Victoria received him at the Palace
0:30:12 > 0:30:15and the public mobbed him in the streets.
0:30:15 > 0:30:17He wrote an account of his travels
0:30:17 > 0:30:20in a book that instantly became a bestseller
0:30:20 > 0:30:22and went through eight editions.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25He was made a Freeman of the cities of London, Glasgow and Edinburgh,
0:30:25 > 0:30:29and learned scientific societies vied with each other
0:30:29 > 0:30:32to persuade him to take part in their excursions.
0:30:33 > 0:30:38He preached before huge congregations at Oxford and at Cambridge
0:30:38 > 0:30:41and in a sermon that stirred all Britain,
0:30:41 > 0:30:44he called for help in the fight against slavery.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48"I beg to direct your attention to Africa," he cried,
0:30:48 > 0:30:52adding prophetically, "I know that in a few years
0:30:52 > 0:30:56"I shall be cut off in that country which is now open.
0:30:56 > 0:30:59"Do not let it be shut again.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02"Do you carry on the work that I have begun?
0:31:02 > 0:31:03"I leave it with you."
0:31:03 > 0:31:05The whole world was at his feet.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10But from now on, the fates seemed to turn against him.
0:31:10 > 0:31:14The London Missionary Society, in whose service he had crossed Africa,
0:31:14 > 0:31:17decided that it was time that he stopped his wanderings
0:31:17 > 0:31:20and settled down on a mission station somewhere.
0:31:20 > 0:31:24But Livingstone's heart was still here on the Zambezi.
0:31:24 > 0:31:29For one thing, his Makololo porters were waiting here in Tete for him.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32And, for another, he had not yet demonstrated conclusively
0:31:32 > 0:31:35to the world that the Zambezi was navigable -
0:31:35 > 0:31:40that it was, indeed, God's highway to the centre of the dark continent.
0:31:40 > 0:31:43So Livingstone resigned from the Missionary Society
0:31:43 > 0:31:46and instead took an appointment from the Foreign Office
0:31:46 > 0:31:49as her Majesty's Consul to the Coast of East Africa.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53And once more he set out for the Zambezi.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57This time, instead of having a band of African tribesmen with him
0:31:57 > 0:31:59he had six Europeans -
0:31:59 > 0:32:03a geologist, a botanist, a naval officer as a navigator,
0:32:03 > 0:32:06a marine engineer, an artist - Thomas Baines -
0:32:06 > 0:32:08and his brother Charles,
0:32:08 > 0:32:13whose function was somewhat vaguely described as being "moral agent".
0:32:13 > 0:32:16And instead of canoes, they had a metal ship
0:32:16 > 0:32:21that was brought out from Scotland in parts and assembled on the coast.
0:32:21 > 0:32:24They called the ship after Livingstone's wife.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27Down in South Africa, she had been known to the local people
0:32:27 > 0:32:31not by her own name but the name of her firstborn son.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34So they called the ship the Ma Robert.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38And it was this very different collection of people and equipment
0:32:38 > 0:32:41who, on September 8th, 1858,
0:32:41 > 0:32:46anchored down in the Zambezi, here below this fortress in Tete.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51His reunion with the Makololo was heart-warming.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54They rushed into the river and carried him ashore singing.
0:32:54 > 0:32:57Livingstone was in tears.
0:32:57 > 0:33:00But from then on, everything seemed to go wrong.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03In the hot, sultry climate tempers frayed.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06Livingstone, who had such astonishing influence over Africans,
0:33:06 > 0:33:09seemed to have no talent for leading men of his own race
0:33:09 > 0:33:12and the expedition was rent with quarrels.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16The naval commander refused to take orders and had to be dismissed.
0:33:16 > 0:33:17Livingstone's brother Charles
0:33:17 > 0:33:21did little except spread malicious gossip among the party.
0:33:21 > 0:33:24Baines began to paint a series of pictures of Tete
0:33:24 > 0:33:26and its festivals, that are splendid evocations
0:33:26 > 0:33:31of the curious, hybrid society created here by the Portuguese.
0:33:31 > 0:33:34But Livingstone considered that this was a waste of time,
0:33:34 > 0:33:36and the two men quarrelled bitterly.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40The Ma Robert consumed such prodigious quantities of wood
0:33:40 > 0:33:44that they had to refuel with maddening frequency.
0:33:44 > 0:33:45Yet her engines were so feeble
0:33:45 > 0:33:48that she couldn't keep up with a native canoe.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52And her hull was so thin that it dented with alarming ease.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55And when, at last, they coaxed her upriver, beyond Tete,
0:33:55 > 0:33:57to the section of the Zambezi
0:33:57 > 0:34:00that Livingstone had bypassed on his way down
0:34:00 > 0:34:02at the end of his previous expedition,
0:34:02 > 0:34:04they came to the biggest disaster of all.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10This was what he had imagined would be merely a few rapids.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14This, he had planned to clear out of the way
0:34:14 > 0:34:17with a few judiciously placed charges of dynamite.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20This was the Kebrabasa Gorge,
0:34:20 > 0:34:22as great a barrier to navigation
0:34:22 > 0:34:25as the Victoria Falls themselves.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28The party made several despairing reconnaissances.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30Baines drew many sketches.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33But the conclusion was obvious and inescapable.
0:34:33 > 0:34:35They were impassable.
0:34:36 > 0:34:39Livingstone saw the gorge at the end of the dry season,
0:34:39 > 0:34:42when its basalt fangs are exposed.
0:34:42 > 0:34:44Rocks like these stretch upstream,
0:34:44 > 0:34:48creating a succession of whirlpools and cataracts
0:34:48 > 0:34:50that stretch for 50 miles
0:34:50 > 0:34:53and that no-one has ever managed to negotiate
0:34:53 > 0:34:55in a canoe or anything else.
0:34:56 > 0:34:59This discovery was a devastating blow for Livingstone.
0:34:59 > 0:35:02For years, he had dedicated himself
0:35:02 > 0:35:04to showing to the world that the Zambezi was,
0:35:04 > 0:35:07"God's highway to the interior".
0:35:07 > 0:35:11And now, the Zambezi, HIS river, had failed him.
0:35:13 > 0:35:16But then, with astonishing tenacity and resilience,
0:35:16 > 0:35:19he changed his field of exploration.
0:35:19 > 0:35:21He retired downriver to Shupanga,
0:35:21 > 0:35:25close to the junction of the Shire River and the Zambezi,
0:35:25 > 0:35:28and turned his efforts into exploring north up the Shire.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31The contributions he made to geographical knowledge
0:35:31 > 0:35:36were of immense importance, for he discovered Lake Nyasa.
0:35:36 > 0:35:39And his work laid the foundations
0:35:39 > 0:35:42for what was to become Nyasaland, and is now Malawi.
0:35:43 > 0:35:48But for Livingstone, one suspects, this was only second best.
0:35:50 > 0:35:52In the years that followed,
0:35:52 > 0:35:54disaster succeeded disaster.
0:35:54 > 0:35:56The Ma Robert sank.
0:35:56 > 0:36:00His own expedition was rent with bitter quarrels.
0:36:00 > 0:36:04A universities expedition that came out as a result of his preaching
0:36:04 > 0:36:07at Oxford and Cambridge to settle up the Shire River
0:36:07 > 0:36:11was badly mismanaged and the missionaries died of fever.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14And then, Mary Moffat, his wife,
0:36:14 > 0:36:16came out to join him here at Shupanga.
0:36:16 > 0:36:18In nearly 20 years of married life,
0:36:18 > 0:36:23she'd spent barely four with her husband in a settled home.
0:36:23 > 0:36:26And three months after she arrived, she died.
0:36:36 > 0:36:41And so, this remote spot on the banks of his beloved Zambezi
0:36:41 > 0:36:46became, for him, the saddest place in all the world.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52Nine months later, Livingstone left the Zambezi for ever.
0:36:53 > 0:36:57After a year in England, he returned again to Africa,
0:36:57 > 0:36:59but not, this time, to the Zambezi River,
0:36:59 > 0:37:02but farther north to the great lakes of Nyasa and Tanganyika.
0:37:03 > 0:37:08And so began the long, lonely wanderings of his last years.
0:37:08 > 0:37:10In a way, it was quite like the old times.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16Livingstone was once more alone, except for his African porters,
0:37:16 > 0:37:19and once more, he was striving to exterminate the slave trade.
0:37:19 > 0:37:21He was now an old man,
0:37:21 > 0:37:25and the long years of hard living had taken their toll.
0:37:25 > 0:37:29In a letter to his daughter, Agnes, he wrote that his teeth were now
0:37:29 > 0:37:32"broken through tearing at maize, and some were missing".
0:37:32 > 0:37:35And with a touch of the old, sardonic humour, he added,
0:37:35 > 0:37:36"If you expect a kiss from me,
0:37:36 > 0:37:39"you must take it through a speaking trumpet."
0:37:40 > 0:37:43Five years after he had disappeared into the interior,
0:37:43 > 0:37:45Stanley came out and discovered him
0:37:45 > 0:37:47living on the shores of Lake Tanganyika.
0:37:47 > 0:37:51Ironically, he was now dependent for food and protection
0:37:51 > 0:37:55on the very people he had come to exterminate, the Arab slavers.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58Livingstone refused to return to civilisation with Stanley.
0:37:58 > 0:38:01For now, he was obsessed with an idea.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04He wanted to find the source of the Nile.
0:38:04 > 0:38:07In fact, Burton and Speke had already discovered it,
0:38:07 > 0:38:10but Livingstone refused to accept their findings.
0:38:10 > 0:38:12The Arabs had told him of a hill
0:38:12 > 0:38:15where four fountains or springs took their rise,
0:38:15 > 0:38:18two flowing north and two flowing south,
0:38:18 > 0:38:20and Livingstone was convinced that the northward-flowing ones
0:38:20 > 0:38:23were the source of the Nile.
0:38:23 > 0:38:24The idea obsessed him,
0:38:24 > 0:38:26as he staggered and waded through the swamps.
0:38:26 > 0:38:28And the day before he died,
0:38:28 > 0:38:31he was carried into a village, by his porters, in a hammock.
0:38:31 > 0:38:33And he summoned the elders
0:38:33 > 0:38:35and he asked them if they knew of such a hill.
0:38:37 > 0:38:38They didn't.
0:38:38 > 0:38:40But such a place does exist.
0:38:40 > 0:38:42It lies right in the heart of Africa,
0:38:42 > 0:38:45and the two northward-flowing streams
0:38:45 > 0:38:48are the source not of the Nile, but of the Congo.
0:38:48 > 0:38:53And it could be that, in striving to reach it in his last days,
0:38:53 > 0:38:56Livingstone was once more obsessed, though unwittingly,
0:38:56 > 0:38:57with the river that had brought him
0:38:57 > 0:39:00his greatest triumphs and his deepest tragedy.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03Because the two southward-flowing streams from that hill
0:39:03 > 0:39:06form this, the Zambezi.
0:39:08 > 0:39:10BIRDSONG