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00:00Only one creature has carved a life for itself in every habitat on Earth.
00:13That creature is us.
00:18All over the world, we still use our ingenuity to survive in the wild places, far from the
00:25city lights, face to face with raw nature.
00:31This is the human planet.
00:45Humans have always been drawn to rivers.
00:53Rivers flow through every environment, bringing us the essentials of life, fresh water, food
01:07and ready-made highways.
01:11But what rivers give, they can also take away.
01:16They can flood, freeze, and sometimes disappear altogether.
01:27Rivers force us to take great risks.
01:31These are remarkable stories of survival from the most unpredictable habitat of them
01:37all.
02:04It's the monsoon season and the mighty Mekong, Southeast Asia's greatest river, is in full flood.
02:14Between Cambodia and Laos, the Mekong Torrent creates the widest rapids in the world.
02:32The cold falls are great for fishing, but also very dangerous, as Sam Yang, a local
02:39fisherman, knows all too well.
03:03Migrating fish get trapped here, waiting to get off the rapids.
03:20Sam Yang has to risk his life to catch them.
03:23He has a family of seven to feed.
03:27He starts by fishing from the riverside near his home.
03:37During the monsoon, the Mekong swells to 20 times its normal volume, which brings more
03:44fish that makes them much harder to catch.
04:05After a morning, his net is still empty.
04:11There is another option, an island out in the main rapids.
04:17But to get there, Sam Yang must take his life into his hands.
04:34In the dry season, he built a high wire across the rapids out of old cable and bits of rope.
05:03This time of the year, these rapids have nearly twice the flow of Niagara Falls.
05:10More than 11 million liters a second.
06:04He makes it to his favorite fishing perch.
06:18Turbulent currents corral the fish and Sam Yang soon lands his family's supper.
06:26Though the fish are plentiful here, the most he can carry back is a few kilos at a time.
06:32Any more and he might lose his balance.
06:55Today, Sam Yang won his battle with the Mekong.
07:03Tomorrow, to keep his family fed, he'll have to fight it again.
07:13It's not just the power of water that makes rivers dangerous.
07:20It's their erratic nature, too.
07:24Reading a river correctly can mean the difference between life and death.
07:32The Zanskar Valley is a hidden world on the edge of Tibet, in the heart of the Himalayas.
07:40In winter, it's cut off by snow.
07:44In and out are impassable.
07:52Stanzin needs to get his two children to school.
07:56But the nearest school is a hundred kilometers away.
08:00And the only way to get there is to walk down a frozen river.
08:07It's a six-day trek, so dangerous it's got its own name.
08:13The Chadar, the Blanket of Ice.
08:19They'll have to brave sub-zero temperatures, avalanches and freezing water.
08:29Term starts in a week.
08:31It's time for the school run.
08:34A formidable trip for 11-year-old Dolkar.
08:44Dolkar's 14-year-old brother, Chosing, is coming, too.
08:54The family prepare for the journey ahead.
09:04Their mother has knitted them thick woolen socks to protect them.
09:09How are you, Dolkar?
09:11I'm fine.
09:33The brother and sister depend on their father's courage and skill.
09:39This has to be the most perilous school run in the world.
09:45Dolkar's brother, Chosing, is coming.
09:49This has to be the most perilous school run in the world.
10:15The spring melt seems to have started early, which worries Tansen.
10:45Tansen has to make sure the ice can take their weight.
10:52Tansen has to make sure the ice can take their weight.
11:10And his expertise is tested immediately.
11:22The danger is not only underfoot, there's another threat, avalanches.
11:32The danger is not only underfoot, there's another threat, avalanches.
11:42How are you, Dolkar?
11:44I'm fine.
11:47I'm fine.
11:55Seven days ago, an avalanche killed a man on the Zanskar River.
11:59The next day
12:13The unusual spring sunshine has brought another problem.
12:19The river's current has already melted the ice.
12:29Tansen has to find a way past the barrier.
12:47The only way around is a narrow ledge.
12:59The only way around is a narrow ledge.
13:07The ledge is barely 20 centimetres wide and covered with snow.
13:13There's a 10 metre drop to the freezing river below.
13:23The ledge ends with some metal pegs to climb down.
13:29Chosing makes it. Now it's Dolkar's turn.
13:59It's okay, it's okay, it's okay.
14:04It's okay, it's okay, it's okay.
14:28It's okay, it's okay.
14:34It's okay, it's okay.
14:42They mustn't delay.
14:46Night is falling fast and the temperature will plummet to minus 30 Celsius.
14:52Luckily, Tansen knows a cave nearby.
15:04It's okay, it's okay.
15:20The children need their sleep.
15:24The most dangerous part of the Chadar is still ahead.
15:34It's not all hard slog.
15:40But Dolkar's fun can't last.
15:44As the smallest, she's the first to feel the cold.
15:48She starts to lag behind.
15:52One little girl on a melting ice river
15:56among the greatest mountains on earth.
16:04Now for the final leg.
16:08Now for the final leg.
16:39Yeah.
16:45The melting ice has left just a tiny shelf.
17:03It's thin. Tansen is worried it won't take their weight.
17:09As he advances, the ice starts to crack.
17:31With the ice weakened by Tansen's cold,
17:35the children have to brave it on their own.
18:06It's okay, it's okay.
18:26Dolkar's made it. Now for Cho Sing.
18:36Thanks to their dad's expertise,
18:40the children have survived the Chadar,
18:44six days out on the ice river.
18:48The Himalayan town of Leh,
18:52journey's end for the children.
18:56They rush straight to the school.
19:00There's just enough time for a goodbye.
19:06Come on.
19:10Come on.
19:14Come on.
19:18Let's go.
19:26Come on.
19:30Come on.
19:34Stearns Inn now faces the return journey on his own.
19:43Melting river ice doesn't just make travelling harder.
19:48When frozen rivers break up, tonnes of ice start to flow,
19:52a potential disaster, even in the heart of a modern city.
19:58In the Canadian capital, Ottawa,
20:00spring melt turns the Rideau River into public enemy number one.
20:06The danger point is a footbridge on a frozen waterfall,
20:12a bottleneck where the Rideau flows into the Ottawa River.
20:22It's late February and the ice is melting here too.
20:26Ice blocks are in danger of forming a dam which might lead to devastating flooding,
20:33a natural threat that needs a daring human solution.
20:41Meet the ice dam busters.
20:47Their job isn't just to predict nature, they have to beat it.
20:57There are thousands of tonnes of ice behind the bridge, up to a metre thick.
21:02The team needs to break it up to keep the river flowing.
21:08Stage one, cut the ice into long strips.
21:13They're still too large to flow under the bridge,
21:16so for stage two, the team uses a machine.
21:20They're still too large to flow under the bridge,
21:23so for stage two, the team uses a more persuasive force.
21:31Hundreds of kilos of dynamite.
21:50Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom
22:20Rivers now flow easily under the bridge and over the falls.
22:24The center of Ottawa is safe for another year.
22:30The world's largest rivers bring the most danger to our lives.
22:36Their floods can be devastating.
22:41They often happen without warning and there's nothing we can do but try to escape.
22:48In Bangladesh, tens of millions of people can be displaced when the Ganges and her tributaries
22:54burst their banks.
22:59The river is so strong it regularly changes course, brushing land aside as it goes.
23:14A month ago, Mohammad Jalil's village was a hundred meters from the bank.
23:18Today, his house is about to be swept away.
23:30He and his neighbors have only minutes to move his home.
23:52The rest of the villagers look on helpless as the rising river obliterates their land.
24:19In South America, floods can be so huge that the entire year has to be spent planning for
24:32them.
24:38In the Amazon basin, one mother prepares for the rising waters.
24:43Jania lives by the Rio Negro in Brazil.
24:49It's November, the dry season, the time of plenty.
24:56Fish are so easy to catch, she even has enough to feed the local river dolphins.
25:09But in six months' time when the flood water invades, all these dolphins and the fish with
25:15them will disappear into the flooded forest to breed.
25:26When the fish are gone, feeding her large family will become a nightmare.
25:36Surviving such hard times means thinking ahead, and Jania has a four-stage plan.
25:45Stage one is collecting turtle eggs six months before the floods arrive.
26:01River turtles lay thousands of eggs in the dry season beaches, which they leave to hatch.
26:09Turtles are a reliable source of protein when the waters rise, so these eggs are precious.
26:32Back in the village, it's time for stage two.
26:38Jania re-buries the eggs in her turtle nursery.
26:42In the wild, many eggs will be eaten by animals, but here they'll be safe.
26:59By March, four months later, 3,000 eggs have hatched.
27:05It's stage three, release day.
27:30It's time to release the babies.
27:36But will enough of them survive to feed the village in the floods to come?
27:44It's June, the height of the rains.
27:54The river rises seven meters.
27:59Jania's village is transformed.
28:05The forest is flooded, and the nearest dry land is more than six hours rowing away.
28:14Jania's family is now marooned by the greatest annual flood on the planet.
28:26Time for the final stage.
28:29Jania and her sister Dora prepare to go turtle hunting.
28:35Jania's husband, Francisco, makes them a turtle hunting spear.
28:49And then the two sisters set off in search of food.
29:00Will their hard work bring dinner to the table?
29:13At first, it's not looking promising.
29:34Then Jania spots one.
29:54Her preparations paid off.
29:57She'll be able to feed everyone.
30:09Jania's foresight has pulled her family through another difficult flood.
30:27Some river creatures pose a direct threat to humans.
30:50The Zambezi River in Africa is used by elephants, crocodiles, and hippos.
31:00Some of the continent's most dangerous animals.
31:08Fisherman Josfat and his brothers have found a safe, if slightly hair-raising, fishing spot.
31:14A place where they can catch lunch without becoming dinner themselves.
31:18The place they're heading for may be safe from crocodiles, but it does have a drawback.
31:30The place they're heading for may be safe from crocodiles, but it does have a drawback.
31:42The place they're heading for may be safe from crocodiles, but it does have a drawback.
31:48The reason Josfat's fishing pools are far from safe is their precarious position.
32:14At the very top of Victoria Falls,
32:18At the very top of Victoria Falls,
32:42Josfat's bravery and skill enabled him to fish where no animal dares to venture.
33:07Josfat's bravery and skill enabled him to fish where no animal dares to venture.
33:32People can overcome floods and even learn to fish on giant waterfalls.
33:38But there's one face of a river that's virtually impossible to survive.
33:46When a river dries up and disappears, all life drains away.
33:56Lemagas is a Samburu camel herder in northern Kenya.
34:01No rain has fallen here for eight months.
34:05It's a severe drought and the Milgis River has vanished.
34:11Lemagas has been forced to range deep into the desert searching for fresh food for his precious camels.
34:19Now they are far away from home and they've run out of drinking water.
34:26We have no drinking water.
34:42Not even the camels can survive this long without a drink.
34:46Lemagas knows there is water here, hidden underneath the riverbed.
34:56But how can he find it?
35:04The Samburu have learned to rely on another nomadic creature.
35:10One that usually travels at night.
35:14While Lemagas and his camels rest,
35:18not far away some giant water diviners are sniffing out the riverbed.
35:34An elephant is lurking in the bushes.
35:39An elephant's trunk, its nose, is far more sensitive than a human's.
35:47Which means it can tell where the water table is closest to the surface.
35:59Elephants must drink a hundred litres a day and can suck up eight litres of water at a time.
36:08Having drunk, the elephants leave before dawn.
36:18Early next morning, Lemagas and his camels are on the elephant's trail.
36:38The elephants are not afraid of water.
36:42They can drink up to two litres of water.
36:48The elephants are not afraid of water.
36:52They can drink up to two litres of water.
36:56They can drink up to two litres of water.
37:01They can drink up to two litres of water.
37:15Even a dry riverbed holds water if you know where to look.
37:19They sing their thanks to the gods and the elephants.
37:31A few days later, Lemagas finally returns to his village with its permanent deep well.
37:37He doesn't forget the help he's been given in the wild.
37:45The first thing he does is to bring up precious water,
37:49not just for his herd and his family, but for the elephants.
37:56The first thing he does is to bring up precious water,
38:00not just for his herd and his family, but for the elephants.
38:04The first thing he does is to bring up precious water,
38:08not just for his herd and his family, but for the elephants.
38:13When I was a child, I didn't know how to swim.
38:17When I was a child, I didn't know how to swim.
38:21Now I know how to swim.
38:28He doesn't forget his nocturnal water diviners,
38:32for without them, Lemagas and his camels could never survive
38:36when they're far away from home.
38:43Over 4,000 kilometers away in Mali,
38:47another dry river, a tributary of the Niger,
38:51is forcing one man into making a difficult decision.
38:55is forcing one man into making a difficult decision.
38:59His name is Usaman, and he's a master mason in Djenne,
39:03an ancient city made entirely of river mud.
39:08What I love...
39:10His job is to maintain the city's mosque,
39:14the biggest and oldest mud building in the world.
39:30It's the heart of Usaman's family,
39:35It's the heart of Usaman's culture.
39:47Usaman's problem is this.
39:51Every year, the mosque needs a fresh coat of mud
39:55to protect it before the rains arrive.
39:59Down in the dry riverbed, the mud is blended with rice husks
40:04and then left to ferment.
40:14But this year, the mix hasn't reached the right consistency.
40:20And now the rains are almost upon him.
40:28Dust storms are blowing in,
40:33and the wet season is about to begin.
40:39The sacred building desperately needs a new storm-proof skin.
40:53Two days later, Usaman and his friend Ibrahim return to the river.
41:03How are you?
41:07I'm fine.
41:09What's your name?
41:11I'm Melani.
41:13What's your name?
41:15I'm Melani.
41:21It's a big decision.
41:23Word spreads fast, and everyone comes down to help.
41:27Everyone in Jenai has been waiting all year for this special day.
42:28These logs are perches for the plasterers.
42:32The whole town mucks in to protect the mosque for another year.
43:02There's been a mud mosque in Jenai for 700 years.
43:18The sacred heart of a city fashioned from river mud.
43:32Our relationship with rivers is never easy.
43:48Their waters can give us so much,
43:52but can also take everything away.
43:56We will always be at the mercy of their wild and unpredictable nature.
44:02But one culture has found an inspiring way of mastering their savage rivers.
44:14In northeast India, a giant cliff leads up into a hidden world.
44:22Meghalaya.
44:26Nearly two kilometers high and buffeted by monsoon storm clouds,
44:30this is possibly the wettest place on earth.
44:40Once, 25 meters of rain fell here in a year.
44:44The world record.
44:50Living here poses an unusual problem, and it's not just keeping dry.
44:54Nearly all the rain falls during the summer monsoon.
45:02Rivers switch from gentle streams to raging torrents.
45:12They become wild and unpredictable, and almost impossible to cross.
45:16Harley and his niece Juliana are busy cultivating a cunning solution.
45:2030 years ago, Harley planted this strangler fig on the banks of a river.
45:24It's been around for a long time.
45:28It's a very old plant.
45:32It's been around for a long time.
45:36It's been around for a long time.
45:40It's been around for a long time.
45:44It's been around for a long time.
45:48Harley planted this strangler fig on the river's edge.
45:52And today he's teaching Juliana how to care for it.
45:56The fig's tangled roots help to prevent the bank being washed away.
46:10He teaches Juliana to coax the roots across what is now just a stream.
46:14When they reach the other side, they'll take hold there.
46:19This is the basis of a structure that will survive any deluge.
46:26A living bridge.
46:31It's an epic project that no man can complete in one lifetime,
46:36so Harley is passing on his knowledge to Juliana.
46:45Each year, Juliana will need to tend the roots, making them stronger.
46:53If she stays and completes her bridge,
46:55it will become part of the commuter route here.
46:59A network of dozens of living bridges that connect the valleys of Meghalaya.
47:04Some of them are many centuries old.
47:07There are even double-deckers.
47:12And at the top of the deck, a giant slug of sand.
47:18A giant slug of sand.
47:22It's a giant slug of sand.
47:28It's a giant slug of sand.
47:30There are even double-deckers.
47:56With Juliana to look after it,
47:58the future of this young bridge looks secure.
48:08Sustainable living architecture
48:12that will live and grow for generations.
48:15One of the very few examples in the world
48:28where humans have come up with a successful and natural solution.
48:33A way of working with nature
48:37to overcome the problems a wild river can cause.
48:45For the Human Planet Rivers team,
48:55filming on the Mekong River at the height of the monsoon
48:59raised many challenges.
49:04Mainly, how do you capture a remarkable event
49:07without losing your camera, your crew,
49:10or your star fisherman, Sam Yang, to the river?
49:15The cold falls have more water flowing over them
49:25than any other waterfall in the world.
49:35A narrowing of the mighty Mekong River
49:38funnels the migrating fish
49:40and provides a dangerous, if lucrative, opportunity.
49:45The crew's here to capture the extreme lengths
49:59that locals will go to to catch fish.
50:04Sam Yang is lucky.
50:06He has access to his own small island for fishing.
50:09But to get to his prime spot,
50:12he must risk life and limb.
50:16Sam Yang, Mekong River Fisherman
50:20I'm happy that it's raining in June.
50:25I can't go fishing this time of the year.
50:30I have to wear my fishing gear.
50:37I have to go fishing.
50:39If I go fishing,
50:41I can't catch any fish.
50:47To capture the spectacle of Sam Yang's high wire feet,
50:51the crew have chosen a gadget that runs on wires
50:54and that controls the camera electronically,
50:57known as a cable dolly.
51:02The idea is it's one of our most exciting
51:04and kind of sought-after shots.
51:07So we can follow someone
51:09walking across the tightrope,
51:11so the camera moves across with them
51:13and then pulls out to reveal the angry water.
51:20But rigging such a high-tech system
51:22over a raging torrent is no easy feat,
51:25and it requires a specialist rigger.
51:29We're just trying to get the cable across to the dolly,
51:33so the local guy's just shimmied across the wires
51:36as he does every day.
51:40Whilst Tim works on the cables,
51:42the rest of the team concentrate on filming the rapids
51:45from every other angle,
51:47even shooting in the rapids themselves.
51:52I'll just go here. It won't be a long run.
51:54It'll take me two or three minutes.
51:56Miko Hsieh was the first man ever
51:58to navigate the entire Mekong from Tibet to southern China,
52:03just the man to capture a fisheye view.
52:06Just the man to capture a fisheye view.
52:29But even he succumbs to the full force of the Mekong in search.
52:36His kayak is sucked under by the powerful current
52:39and swept downstream.
52:55After a few worrying minutes,
52:57Mick reappears back in control,
53:00safe but shaken.
53:07MUSIC PLAYS
53:24With newfound respect for the Mekong's power,
53:27the crew stick to solid ground.
53:30Using a four-metre jib,
53:33they follow Sam Yang as he negotiates
53:36a treacherous rocky outcrop to cast his net.
53:49By now, Tim has the rigging ready for the dolly.
53:52Do you want this up here?
53:54There's a massive cloud come over.
53:58But no sooner than it's in place, the heavens open.
54:01It's the last thing they need.
54:03Dolly filming stops for technical and safety reasons.
54:32THUNDER RUMBLES
54:38There's just a little spot of rain.
54:40I think rain's stopping play.
54:45Our power station right here is getting completely rained out.
54:49We're trying to download clips so we can film tomorrow.
54:52But the rain's threatening to cut off the view from our camera
54:55and everything, so God knows we're having a hard time.
54:58Yeah, cos electronics really survive the rain really well.
55:01Yeah, yeah.
55:07The next morning, it's clear that, as feared,
55:11water has got into the electronics.
55:18So what's gone wrong with it now?
55:21Basically, we have not got a motor on this thing now.
55:24We should have been able to drive it backwards and forwards on the cable.
55:27Now we're going to use a counterweight to pull it across.
55:31This is how we've done it for years.
55:33So the new modern technology is ousted by the old-school way?
55:36Absolutely, yeah.
55:45We're going to go up there now and we'll put the camera on.
55:50Oh, my... Whoa, OK.
55:52The crew finally get the cable dolly working,
55:55so now it's time to get creative.
56:00The light, the dolly, the safety team and, most importantly, Sam Nian
56:05all have to work in unison.
56:09Go!
56:16We turned it the wrong way.
56:26OK, Tim.
56:32No.
56:34Nearly, nearly.
56:36Bring it all back, yes.
56:38Go.
56:40No.
56:42Still no.
56:46Sam Nian looks really happy, though, doesn't he?
56:49My heart's in my mouth every time he has to go over the wall.
56:54You look really happy and I'm really worried.
57:00The sun breaks through the clouds
57:03and finally it all comes together.
57:24Yay, we got a keeper!
57:29That's great.
57:31Thanks very much, you.
57:34Yeah.
57:36What a relief.
57:53Despite the odds, the Human Planet team have triumphed.