Esta cordillera se extiende por las tierras de Nepal, el Tíbet, Bután y el norte de India. Pakistán y China tie- nen el Himalaya en sus territorios en disputa con la India.
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00:00On top of the clouds, there are lost worlds, unexplored, unforgettable, wildly unpredictable,
00:29but in the great mountains of our planet, there is life.
00:42Against all odds, some extraordinary animals and exceptional people create their home in the highest places on Earth.
00:59The Himalayas, the highest mountain range on Earth, twice as high as the Rocky Mountains,
01:19four kilometers higher than the Alps, has more than 100 summits that exceed 7,000 meters,
01:2914 peaks above 8,000 meters, including the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest.
01:50It is the land of the giants.
02:00The Himalayas extends north of India, from Pakistan to the west, to Nepal.
02:08It climbs to the highest point on Earth, Mount Everest.
02:15Before entering Bhutan and ending up in China.
02:25Here, in the province of Yunnan, 2,500 meters above sea level, we find a frozen forest.
02:36Here, an exceptional animal is hidden, which is rarely seen.
02:49The black-nosed black kangaroo of Yunnan, the monkey that lives at the highest point.
02:57It does not have a nose that can freeze.
03:02Its red lips make it different from other monkeys.
03:08Its tail is 15 centimeters long, to protect it from the cold.
03:14And they need it.
03:17The temperatures can go down to 28 degrees.
03:22They must overcome this environment to get food.
03:27Lichen is the only thing that grows in winter in this frozen world.
03:40To avoid freezing to death, they have to crawl together to get heat.
03:48And for that, they need a family.
04:02This three-year-old male is all alone.
04:10He has no family.
04:13He has just been rejected because his mother has had another baby.
04:22At nightfall, the temperatures will plummet.
04:26If he can't find someone to crawl with, he won't survive long.
04:31He has only one option.
04:34He has to be accepted into a group of monkeys.
04:40He has to be accepted into a group of exiles.
04:56Like him, everyone has been rejected by their family clan.
05:01They fight to get a rank.
05:10They have huge canines, but they are not for eating.
05:14They are weapons.
05:19They are led by a fierce leader.
05:31If they reject him, he will have little chance of surviving.
05:40His first attempt to be accepted has not gone well.
05:49The lower-ranked monkeys see him as a threat to their position.
06:10He is quickly rejected.
06:28He faces 12 hours of solitude in a freezer.
06:40The night is very long and very cold.
06:54But the clouds come and isolate the surface.
06:59They prevent the temperatures from going down too much.
07:04This gives the young male another chance.
07:10At least for one more day.
07:15If they allow the dominant male to crawl, he could secure a place in the group.
07:23He is looking for the right moment.
07:26The leader is alone.
07:34But he is not alone.
07:45He lets the young male clean his fur.
07:49It is a sign that he has been accepted into the group.
07:57The young male's bet has paid off.
08:00And he has saved his life.
08:13He can now take care of his adopted family.
08:21A protection from the extreme cold of his home in the Himalayas.
08:27No matter how harsh the conditions at this altitude may seem,
08:32this is just the beginning.
08:38The Himalayas becomes harder the more it rises.
08:45It is home to the hardest climate ever recorded.
08:50Winds of 280 km per hour.
08:5440 degrees below zero.
09:00They are the highest peaks on the planet.
09:06Almost 9 km high.
09:10Among these giants are some of the most inaccessible valleys in the world.
09:16So isolated that it takes weeks to get to them.
09:25And surprisingly, there are people who live here.
09:30They are the ones who have been living here for thousands of years.
09:35The people of Kiber, in the north of India.
09:40One of the most isolated villages in the Himalayas.
09:46During the winter, snow and ice block the roads.
09:51It disconnects this village from the rest of the world.
09:56They have to be completely self-sufficient.
10:01To survive, they only have their cattle.
10:09But a mysterious beast is leaving them without animals.
10:20The wild boar.
10:24The wild boar.
10:28The villagers call it the ghost of the Himalayas.
10:39Everyone has a story to tell.
10:43One of my cows got lost.
10:47And when I found it the next day, it was missing half its body.
10:52I saw two eyes as bright as a torch.
10:57My cattle were dead.
11:00They had sucked all their blood.
11:07I'm afraid to go out at night.
11:12I could get eaten.
11:16When night falls, they are forced to lock the cattle up in their own homes.
11:33Come on, come on, come on!
11:39Come on, come on, come on!
11:45Come on, come on, come on!
11:49They live with their soul in stake.
11:57When night falls,
12:01the creature could approach the villagers looking for food.
12:15Come on, come on!
12:46At dawn, the villagers breathe a sigh of relief.
12:52Their defences have resisted.
13:00But the mysterious creature is never far away,
13:04and continues to stalk its prey.
13:11The snow leopard.
13:16A mountain specialist.
13:25A thick coat to withstand the cold.
13:29Enormous lungs for this thin air,
13:33and enormous claws to distribute its weight
13:37as it walks through the forests.
13:40It doesn't like to be around humans,
13:44but winter is so harsh that it pushes it to get closer to the people.
14:11It's difficult to resist an easy meal.
14:17For this isolated community,
14:21each animal they lose is worth two months' salary.
14:26But, curiously, they don't want the leopards to disappear.
14:32Here, the Buddhist philosophy of acceptance
14:36goes beyond the limits of the people.
14:40The people of the area are very religious.
14:44They believe that life is sacred.
14:49It's incredible to have leopards here.
14:53When my daughter grows up, she'll be able to see them.
14:59With the help of the local conservationists,
15:03they've come up with a simple but ingenious plan.
15:11They've built their own sanctuary for wildlife.
15:16They've delimited areas that don't feed the cattle.
15:23This provides food for the Himalayan varal,
15:30the natural prey of the snow leopard.
15:40This entrepreneurial community has reduced the number of casualties in the cattle,
15:48and has increased the number of leopards
15:54that were in danger of extinction.
15:59Kiber is now a safe place for these big cats,
16:03some of the fewest in the world.
16:11The mountain peaks surrounding Kiber rise up to 6,000 metres.
16:17The clouds, loaded with rain, reach the southern slopes,
16:21but they can't overcome this barrier.
16:25They're forced to unload their rain.
16:40The Indian monsoon.
16:44In just four months, 300,000 million tonnes of rain will fall.
16:52At the top of the mountains, the rivers grow,
16:56digging deep valleys.
17:11In the Ganges River alone,
17:15the flow carries 40,000 tonnes of water per second.
17:24And it has devastating consequences.
17:28At the foot of Mount Machapuchare, in Nepal,
17:32the water carries so much force
17:36that it has drilled a hole in the mountain.
17:57Here, the rock is mostly limestone.
18:07The water can easily erode it.
18:17And it has created a labyrinth of caves and tunnels.
18:28Giant stalactites,
18:32moulded after thousands of years.
18:42The water has created the only place in the Himalayas
18:46where nothing changes.
18:52The temperature, both in winter and summer,
18:55is constantly five degrees.
19:00It's ideal for the most unexpected creatures in the Himalayas.
19:13In these mountains,
19:16the large bats made of masonry
19:20can only develop thanks to these caves.
19:23Down here, there's never ice,
19:27there's never snow, there's no wind.
19:32These bats are the only animals in the Himalayas
19:36that survive extreme weather simply by avoiding it.
19:54A perfect sanctuary,
19:57created by the monsoon water.
20:11But at 3,000 metres above sea level,
20:15on the northern slopes, there's no water at all.
20:19It's the driest place in the Himalayas,
20:23the Indian province of Ladakh.
20:32Because of its high peaks,
20:36it's not easy for the rain to get here.
20:41The result is a desert at great heights.
20:49For centuries, a famous trade route, the Silk Road,
20:53has crossed this hostile desert,
20:57where merchants travelled from Persia to China.
21:04To transport their goods,
21:08they depended on a mountain specialist,
21:12the Bactrian camel.
21:18Arriving from Mongolia,
21:22their wide and hard legs
21:26resist both sand dunes and rocky sections.
21:33Their thick fur grows up to 30 centimetres
21:37during the cold of winter.
21:41These camels don't have a hump,
21:44but two.
21:48Each of them contains 45 kilos of fat,
21:52as a food reserve.
22:04They are so well adapted
22:08that they have become the ultimate means of transport
22:11for these parts of the Himalayas.
22:15And they are still used today.
22:25Some Himalayan travellers
22:29go deeper into the mountains.
22:34They follow ancient routes,
22:37which are even more remote.
22:50At an altitude of 3,500 metres,
22:54the lama Dor Ye is a Tibetan monk.
22:58He climbs the Himalayas in search of solitude.
23:07He has come this far following ancient scriptures.
23:15It is important that we go to the mountains.
23:23It sharpens our vision and increases our wisdom.
23:38Behind this door, on the side of the mountain,
23:42there is a cave.
23:49For eight months, it has been the home of Dor Ye.
23:56Only some candles to warm up.
24:00Totally alone, he spends all his time meditating.
24:08Once a month, they leave him some food below,
24:12on the side of the mountain.
24:17He doesn't see anyone.
24:23Dor Ye uses the solitude of this extreme land
24:27to search for wisdom.
24:38Tibetan Buddhism was born in the Himalayas.
24:47In the Fajang Monastery, in India,
24:51the rituals based on the mountains date back thousands of years.
24:58In the centre of one of the rituals,
25:02is the very rock of the Himalayas.
25:07This is calcite,
25:11created under the mountain millions of years ago.
25:21The Tibetan monks pick it up from the slopes of the mountain.
25:33They crush it until they get a fine sand.
25:37Then they mix it with colourful dyes.
25:57Grain by grain, they carefully deposit the dust of the mountain.
26:08The monks enter a state of meditation.
26:29We leave the world.
26:33Ignoring the sensations of our five senses.
26:44Only then do we concentrate on the mind.
27:03They need more than 60 hours of work to do it,
27:07and a lifetime to master the technique.
27:27The humble calcite,
27:30is transformed into a work of art,
27:34called the Mandala of Sand.
27:48For the Buddhists, it is a symbolic representation of the whole universe.
27:54And its centre is precisely in the Himalayas.
28:00The Himalayas.
28:07We keep climbing.
28:11And at 4,000 metres, on the slopes of the Lasyok mountain,
28:15we find a burrow.
28:21Inside, there is a small animal
28:25that is going to contemplate the outside world
28:28for the first time.
28:37A young marmot from the Himalayas.
28:45It has a great task ahead of it.
28:52It must triple its weight
28:55in the next 12 weeks.
29:00When winter comes, it will hibernate for eight months.
29:04And to resist, it needs to have fat reserves.
29:13It has a lot of grass to eat.
29:17But it has competition.
29:21Here, another 50 marmots live,
29:25in the Himalayas.
29:31On this first day,
29:35it must mark its territory.
29:47The fight begins with a ritual pose.
29:55After the pose, there are no more rules.
30:26Reserving a grass area
30:30is only the first step.
30:34Because here, the marmots are on the daily menu.
30:40The Tibetan fox.
30:44The brown bear of the Himalayas.
30:51The royal eagle.
30:56They all feed on marmots.
31:00It is difficult to concentrate on eating
31:04when you yourself can be eaten.
31:18When the alarm goes off,
31:21there is only one way out.
31:35This time, it is a herd of yaks.
31:40They may be intimidating because of their size,
31:45but they have not come here for marmots.
31:51The meadow has become the setting
31:55for the mating season of the yaks.
31:59The males compete for the right to mate.
32:11Having close to one ton of animals
32:17is not good for digestion.
32:22Fortunately, the yaks are quickly exhausted,
32:26and their visit serves to help the marmots.
32:43They generate a large amount of fertilizer for the grass.
32:51And all these new sprouts
32:55are rich in calories and proteins.
33:02Very nutritious for a growing marmot.
33:13They can start storing those valuable calories
33:16that allow them to be prepared
33:20during the eight months of hibernation.
33:32At an altitude of 4,200 meters,
33:36to the east of the grass of the marmots,
33:40there are the most deserted and inhospitable lands
33:43in the Himalayas.
33:47The Tibetan plateau
33:51extends over 3,000 kilometers to the north of the Himalayas.
33:55Incredibly immense,
33:59larger than Western Europe,
34:03frozen for six months a year,
34:07dry as a desert.
34:11But some creatures have turned it into their home.
34:22The chirú,
34:26with the best and warmest wool in the animal kingdom,
34:30can withstand winters of 40 degrees below zero.
34:33The kiang,
34:37an ancient relative of the horse,
34:41can survive several weeks without drinking.
34:48But the strangest creature of all
34:52is the snake of Bailey,
34:56the snake that lives at the highest altitude in the world.
34:59Here, on the Tibetan plateau,
35:03there are thermal lagoons,
35:07heated by the magma that exists beneath the ground.
35:11The snakes have cold blood.
35:15What better way to warm up
35:19than to get into a bathtub?
35:22Living and feeding in these lagoons
35:26can seem like paradise.
35:30But beyond these thermal baths,
35:34the snakes are surrounded
35:38by hundreds of kilometers of frozen nature.
35:42They are not just animals,
35:46they are humans too.
35:49Bathing in these hot lagoons is not an option.
35:53It is the only way to survive.
35:57A paradise,
36:01and also a prison from which they can never escape.
36:20At the end of the Tibetan plateau,
36:24there is a huge mountain,
36:28so high that it surpasses all the others.
36:32It is located on the border between Nepal and China.
36:36The route to its summit
36:40is protected by a river of ice,
36:44in permanent change.
36:47The Tibetans call it Chomalungma,
36:51which means Mother of the Universe.
36:55We all know it as Mount Everest,
36:59the highest mountain on the planet.
37:09Today, a group of athletes have gathered on their slopes
37:13to participate in the highest race in the world,
37:17the Everest Marathon.
37:28For Mira Rai, a Nepalese runner,
37:32it is her first attempt.
37:36I never thought I would have the opportunity
37:39to run in the Everest Marathon,
37:43but the time has come.
37:47I hope to do it well.
37:51I will try to make everyone in Nepal proud.
38:01The start of the race is at 5,200 meters,
38:05in the base camp of Everest.
38:09To get here, you have to walk for 10 days,
38:13but that is not the main problem of this extreme place.
38:19At higher altitudes, there is less pressure in the air.
38:27Each breath contains only half the oxygen
38:31that is obtained at sea level.
38:35Mira and the other athletes
38:39can feel the oxygen deprivation
38:43as they descend the highest mountain in the world.
38:47The body suffers until it is at rest.
38:51Headache and nausea come,
38:55blood vessels break,
38:59the heart rate doubles,
39:03and all this happens before you start running.
39:06The medical advice is not to force your body.
39:25Good luck to everyone!
39:29The athletes immediately feel the hardness of this altitude.
39:37Normally, this level of oxygen deprivation
39:41occurs when someone is seriously ill.
39:49The aggressive mountain terrain
39:53causes the group to disperse.
40:07Mira gets on her head.
40:16Like everyone who lives in the Himalayas,
40:20her body has transformed to withstand the environment.
40:30Her blood has 50% more hemoglobin
40:33that allows her to transport more oxygen
40:37and increase her ability to keep running.
40:53I love this feeling,
40:57running in the descents.
41:01I feel like I'm flying.
41:14Everyone who lives in these mountains
41:18knows that a false step can end in disaster.
41:24You have to listen to your body to know where to step.
41:31Keep your balance,
41:35and keep running.
41:42In this race, the seven first runners are Nepalese.
41:48Despite the fact that these local farmers
41:52are competing against well-trained Western athletes.
41:56Many people in the Himalayas have genetic adaptations
42:00that allow them to face extremely low oxygen levels.
42:06Mira was also born in the mountains.
42:12She dominates this environment in a natural way.
42:26The finish line is already in sight.
42:30Namche Basar, the highest-ranking population in the region.
42:47She has not only reached the finish line,
42:51she has won the race in the women's category.
42:55She has won the race in the men's category.
43:09As you ascend beyond the Everest base camp,
43:13the mountain becomes an inhospitable world.
43:17It seems impossible that something can live in this place.
43:21But there is life.
43:25At 6,700 metres,
43:28the animal lives at the highest altitude in the world.
43:35The Himalayan salamander.
43:39With only 4 millimetres in size,
43:43it can be tiny, but it has enormous superpowers.
43:46It has eight eyes that provide it with 360 degrees of vision.
43:50Its body can cool down to 20 degrees below zero.
44:02And small hooks on its legs
44:06help it jump from rock to rock.
44:09From rock to rock.
44:15It can jump 50 times the length of its body.
44:24But its biggest advantage is its size.
44:31Being so small, it can cling to rocks.
44:35They are charged with the heat of the sun,
44:39and that creates a layer of hot air that measures one inch.
44:43The perfect microclimate for a little hero.
44:54But it is missing something very important.
44:58Up here, there is nothing it can eat.
45:05It depends entirely on the lost insects that the wind brings.
45:19Little to eat, and a horrible climate.
45:25It seems like a strange place to create a home.
45:29But there is a good reason.
45:32As no other animal lives here,
45:36no other animal can eat it.
45:41It may be small, but here, in the Everest,
45:45it is at the top of the food chain.
46:03Above the spider, at 8,000 meters,
46:07there is an area where nothing can live.
46:18Climbers call it the dead zone.
46:26The only living beings that climb to this height are humans,
46:29helped by modern technology.
46:35Beyond this point, the oxygen level drops so much
46:39that the body begins to die.
46:49Fighting against an implacable asphyxia,
46:55climbers resort to what little courage they have left.
47:00And they get their prize.
47:15Climbing to 8,848 meters,
47:20the highest point on the planet.
47:24But because of the extreme conditions of the mountain,
47:28they can only stay here for 15 minutes.
47:31For many, climbing the Everest is their greatest achievement.
47:35But for those who live here,
47:39there may be a better way.
47:44A better way to live.
47:48A better way to eat.
47:52A better way to live.
47:56A better way to eat.
48:00A better way to live.
48:04An even greater achievement.
48:08To live among these mountains
48:12and face their extreme circumstances every day.
48:16To do so is to face a world in constant change,
48:20where every day you have to be determined
48:24to start again.
48:34To be continued...
49:04To be continued...