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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.
19:06I can't do this.
19:10Yeah, let's just go.
19:14I'll take you home.
19:18I'm going to go home.
19:22I'm going to go home.
19:35Stern's 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,
19:53a potential disaster, even in the heart of a modern city.
19:58In the Canadian capital, Ottawa,
20:01spring 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.
20:23It's late February and the ice is melting here too.
20:27Ice blocks are in danger of forming a dam,
20:30which might lead to devastating flooding.
20:34A natural threat that needs a daring human solution.
20:43Meet the ice dam busters.
20:49Their job isn't just to predict nature, they have to beat it.
20:58There are thousands of tonnes of ice behind the bridge up to a metre thick.
21:03The team needs to break it up to keep the river flowing.
21:09Stage one, cut the ice into long strips.
21:14They're still too large to flow under the bridge,
21:17so for stage two, the team uses a more persuasive force.
21:22Hundreds of kilos of dynamite.
21:52Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang
22:22Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang
22:52When the Ganges and her tributaries burst their banks
22:59The river is so strong, it regularly changes course, brushing land aside as it goes
23:13A month ago, Muhammad Jalil's village was a hundred meters from the bank
23:18Today, his house is about to be swept away
23:23He and his neighbors have only minutes to move his home
23:46The river is so strong, it regularly changes course, brushing land aside as it goes
23:52The rest of the villagers look on helpless, as the rising river obliterates their land
24:23In South America, floods can be so huge that the entire year has to be spent planning for them
24:36In the Amazon basin, one mother prepares for the rising waters
24:42Jania lives by the Rio Negro in Brazil
24:45It's November, the dry season, the time of plenty
24:52Fish are so easy to catch, she even has enough to feed the local river dolphins
25:06But in six months' time when the floodwater invades, all these dolphins and the fish with them
25:12will disappear into the flooded forest to breed
25:23When the fish are gone, feeding her large family will become a nightmare
25:32Surviving such hard times means thinking ahead, and Jania has a four-stage plan
25:39Stage one is collecting turtle eggs six months before the floods arrive
25:54River turtles lay thousands of eggs in the dry season beaches, which they leave to hatch
26:00Turtles are a reliable source of protein when the waters rise, so these eggs are precious
26:31Back 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
26:47But here, they'll be safe
26:49By March, four months later, 3,000 eggs have hatched
26:54It's stage three, release day
27:20It's time to release the babies
27:26But will enough of them survive to feed the village in the floods to come?
27:35It's June, the height of the rain
27:39The rain is getting heavier
27:41The river rises seven meters
27:46Jania's village is transformed
27:52The forest is flooded, and the nearest dry land is more than six hours rowing away
28:01The rain is getting heavier
28:04The forest is flooded, and the nearest dry land is more than six hours rowing away
28:13Jania'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
28:34Jania's husband Francisco makes them a turtle hunting spear
28:48And then the two sisters set off in search of food
28:59Will their hard work bring dinner to the table?
29:03Or will it be a waste of time?
29:13At first, it's not looking promising
29:34Then Jania spots one
29:55Her preparations paid off, she'll be able to feed everyone
30:03Jania's foresight has pulled her family through another difficult flood
30:34The next day
30:46Some river creatures pose a direct threat to humans
30:53The 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
31:30The place they're heading for may be safe from crocodiles, but it does have a drawback
31:37They've found a safe, if slightly hair-raising, fishing spot
31:42The place they're heading for may be safe from crocodiles, but it does have a drawback
32:06The reason Josfat's fishing pools are far from safe is their precarious position
32:37At the very top of Victoria Falls
32:41Josfat's bravery and skill enable him to fish where no animal dares to venture
32:46Josfat's bravery and skill enable him to fish where no animal dares to venture
33:16People can overcome floods and even learn to fish on giant waterfalls
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
33:56Lemagus 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
34:10Lemagus 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
34:40Not even the camels can survive this long without a drink
34:46Lemagus knows there is water here, hidden underneath the riverbed
34:57But how can he find it?
35:01The Samburu have learned to rely on another nomadic creature
35:06One that usually travels at night
35:19While Lemagus and his camels rest, not far away, some giant waterfalls appear
35:30Giant water diviners are sniffing out the riverbed
35:43An elephant's trunk, its nose, is far more sensitive than a human's
35:51Which means it can tell where the water table is closest to the surface
36:01Elephants must drink a hundred litres a day, and can suck up eight litres of water at a time
36:10Having drunk, the elephants leave before dawn
36:19Early next morning, Lemagus and his camels are on the elephant's trail
36:31If you break the elephant's nose, it will the elephant's nose will bleed
36:39The elephant's nose will bleed because they don't drink enough water
36:49A year ago, Lemagus was captured by an elephant
36:52Even a dry riverbed holds water if you know where to look.
37:20They sing their thanks to the gods and the elephants.
37:40A few days later, Lemegas finally returns to his village with its permanent deep well.
37:46He doesn't forget the help he's been given in the wild.
37:54The first thing he does is to bring up precious water.
37:58Not just for his herd and his family, but for his wild friends too.
38:24He doesn't forget his nocturnal water diviners, for without them, Lemegas and his camels could
38:35never survive when they're far away from home.
38:47Over 4,000 kilometers away in Mali, another dry river, a tributary of the Niger, is forcing
38:54one man into making a difficult decision.
39:00His name is Usaman, and he's a master mason in Djenne, an ancient city made entirely of
39:08river mud.
39:16His job is to maintain the city's mosque, the biggest and oldest mud building in the
39:22world.
39:36It's the heart of Usaman's culture.
39:50Usaman's problem is this.
39:52Every year, the mosque needs a fresh coat of mud to protect it before the rains arrive.
40:00Born in the dry riverbed, the mud is blended with rice husks and then left to ferment.
40:15But this year, the mix hasn't reached the right consistency, and now the rains are almost
40:22upon him.
40:29Dust storms are blowing in, the first signs that the wet season is about to begin.
40:39The sacred building desperately needs a new storm-proof skin.
40:52Two days later, Usaman and his friend Ibrahim return to the river.
41:21It's a big decision.
41:23Word spreads fast, and everyone comes down to help.
41:31Usaman and Djenne has been waiting all year for this special day.
42:17The built-in palm logs are perches for the plasterers.
42:41The whole town mucks in to protect the mosque for another year.
43:11There's been a mud mosque in Djenne for 700 years, the sacred heart of a city fashioned
43:20from river mud.
43:46Our relationship with rivers is never easy.
43:50Their waters can give us so much, but can also take everything away.
43:57We will always be at the mercy of their wild and unpredictable nature.
44:07But one culture has found an inspiring way of mastering their savage rivers.
44:16In northeast India, a giant cliff leads up into a hidden world, Meghalaya.
44:27Nearly two kilometers high and buffeted by monsoon storm clouds, this is possibly the
44:33wettest place on earth.
44:37Once, 25 meters of rain fell here in a year, the world record.
44:50Living here poses an unusual problem, and it's not just keeping dry.
44:59Nearly all the rain falls during the summer monsoon.
45:05Rivers switch from gentle streams to raging torrents.
45:15They become wild and unpredictable, and almost impossible to cross.
45:30Harley and his niece Juliana are busy cultivating a cunning solution.
45:46Thirty years ago, Harley planted this strangler fig on the river's edge, and today he's teaching
45:53Juliana 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.
46:16When they reach the other side, they'll take hold there.
46:21This is the basis of a structure that will survive any deluge, a living bridge.
46:33It's an epic project that no man can complete in one lifetime, so Harley is passing on his
46:39knowledge to Juliana.
46:50Each year, Juliana will need to tend the roots, making them stronger.
46:57If she stays and completes her bridge, it will become part of the commuter route here,
47:03a network of dozens of living bridges that connect the valleys of Meghalaya.
47:28Some of them are many centuries old.
47:32There are even double-deckers.
47:57With Juliana to look after it, the future of this young bridge looks secure.
48:10Sustainable living architecture that will live and grow for generations.
48:26One of the very few examples in the world where humans have come up with a successful
48:32and natural solution, a way of working with nature to overcome the problems a wild river
48:41can cause.
48:54For the Human Planet Rivers team, filming on the Mekong River at the height of the monsoon
49:00raised many challenges.
49:03Mainly, how do you capture a remarkable event without losing your camera, your crew, or
49:11your star fisherman, Sam Yang, to the river?
49:22The cold falls have more water flowing over them than any other waterfall in the world.
49:36A narrowing of the mighty Mekong River funnels the migrating fish and provides a dangerous
49:42if lucrative opportunity.
49:57The crew's here to capture the extreme lengths that locals will go to to catch fish.
50:05Sam Yang is lucky.
50:07He has access to his own small island for fishing.
50:11But to get to his prime spot, he must risk life and limb.
50:41To capture the spectacle of Sam Yang's high wire feet, the crew have chosen a gadget
50:53that runs on wires and that controls the camera electronically, known as a cable dolly.
51:20But rigging such a high-tech system over a raging torrent is no easy feat, and it requires
51:26a specialist rigger.
51:27We're just trying to get the cable across for the dolly, so the local guy's just shimmied
51:35across the wires as he does every day.
51:44Whilst Tim works on the cables, the rest of the team concentrate on filming the rapids
51:49from every other angle, even shooting in the rapids themselves.
51:59Mikko Hsieh was the first man ever to navigate the entire Mekong from Tibet to southern China.
52:07It's the man to capture a fish-eye view.
52:30But even he succumbs to the full force of the Mekong in surge.
52:37His kayak is sucked under by the powerful current and swept downstream.
52:56After a few worrying minutes, Mik reappears back in control, safe but shaken.
53:24With newfound respect for the Mekong's power, the crew stick to solid ground.
53:31Using a four-metre jib, they follow Sam Yang as he negotiates a treacherous rocky outcrop
53:38to cast his net.
53:50By now, Tim has the rigging ready for the dolly.
53:58But no sooner than it's in place, the heavens open.
54:02It's the last thing they need.
54:04Highway filming stops for technical and safety reasons.
54:32There's just a little spot of rain. I think rain's stopping play.
54:43Our power station right here is getting completely rained out.
54:49We're actually trying to download clips so we can film tomorrow.
54:52But the rain's threatening to cut off the view from our camera and everything.
54:57Yeah, because electronics really survive the rain really well.
55:07The next morning, it's clear that, as feared, water 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.
55:23We 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.
55:30This is how we've done it for years.
55:33So the new modern technology is ousted by the old school way?
55:36Absolutely, yeah.
55:45So we'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 Yang all have to work in unison.
56:10Go!
56:16We turned it the wrong way.
56:23OK, Tim.
56:29No.
56:31Nearly, nearly.
56:33Bring it all back, yes.
56:35Go.
56:37No.
56:39Still no.
56:43Sam Yang looks really happy, though, doesn't he?
56:46My heart's in my mouth every time he has to go over that rope.
56:52You look really happy and I'm really worried.
56:58The sun breaks through the clouds and finally it all comes together.
57:05Yeah, we got a keeper!
57:10That's great!
57:12That's a lovely keeper.
57:14Yay! We got a keeper! That's great! Thanks very much Hugh. Yeah! What a relief!
57:44Despite the odds, the Human Planet team have triumphed.