planet Earth four and a half billion years in the making carved and shaped by the forces of nature from the highest mountain to the deepest ocean the ultimate global journey uncovering nature at its most spectacular earth wanders on this journey we explore Africa's greatest wildlife Haven the Unger un'goro crater the awesome valleys of the Grand Canyon island paradise of Bora Bora California's Giants of the forest the mighty redwoods and Iceland's incredible volcanic glaciers but first we travel to the US Canada border land of the Great Lakes to the world's most famous waterfall Niagara Niagara is the second-largest waterfall on the planet after Victoria Falls in southern Africa with six million cubic feet of water cascading over its edge every minute these are the most powerful Falls in North America there are two sections to Niagara the most spectacular is Horseshoe Falls and so named because of its 2600 foot long horseshoe shaped arc the Falls here are a hundred and eighty five feet high more than 600,000 gallons of water enough to fill an olympic-sized swimming pool port over the edge every second Belgian Franciscan friar father Louis hennepin is credited as the first European to discover Niagara Falls his description in 1678 of the wild water beast whose noise was more terrible than thunder was instrumental in bringing Niagara to the world's attention since father Henny pin first gave this colorful description Niagara has become one of the most visited tourist destinations on earth more than twelve million people visit this site each year Niagara is an integral part of the Great Lake system which sprawls across the eastern side of North America Lake Superior Michigan Chiron Erie and Ontario form the largest group of freshwater lakes on the planet the Great Lakes were formed at the end of the last ice age 10,000 years ago the Laurentide ice sheet was up to two miles thick and covered most of Canada and a large portion of the northern United States when the ice sheet receded the meltwater filled up the basins the glaciers had carved creating the Great Lakes the combined surface area of the lakes is approximately ninety four thousand two hundred and fifty square miles larger than New York New Jersey Connecticut Massachusetts Vermont and New Hampshire combined 20% of the world's fresh water lies in the Great Lakes a huge volume of water constantly flows from Lake Erie into Lake Ontario via the Niagara River and plunges over its famous waterfalls the Falls are relatively young in geological terms and have shifted about seven miles from their original location this shift was caused as the powerful waters of the Niagara River eroded the soft shale and sandstone beneath causing the Falls to cave in on themselves and gradually retreat this created the deep gorge five hundred years ago as the Falls we were treating the river divided into two channels leaving an island between them which was named Goat Island this splits the falls into its two sections the American Falls to the east on the US side and Horseshoe Falls to its west on the Canadian side the full force of both waterfalls turns the Niagara River below into a raging torrent here it's possible to ride a series of giant whirlpools these whirlpools were formed 5500 years ago during a brief and violent geological upheaval lasting only weeks or even just days at that moment in time the Falls of the young Niagara River intersected an old riverbed that had been buried and sealed during the last ice age the rushing water surged into this Buried Gorge tore out the Glacial debris that filled it and scoured the old river bottom clean at this time it was probably not yet a waterfall at all but a huge churning rapid when it was all over it left behind a 90-degree turn in the river we know today as the Niagara whirlpool the water swirls around in a clockwise direction and reaches a depth of 120 feet Niagara has long been romanticized in movies and it's also become a magnet for Daredevils who see its sheer power and size as an irresistible challenge in 1961 stuntman Carol sucuk plunged over the Falls having sealed himself into a padded barrel incredibly he lived to tell the tale just one of many who have navigated the Falls in a variety of vessels the most miraculous Niagara story took place on Saturday afternoon July 9 1960 a local man took his young niece and nephew for a boat ride in the Upper Niagara River the boat developed motor trouble capsized and all three were thrown into the upper rapids one of them a 17 year old girl Deanne was plucked to safety just feet from the edge of the falls but the other two were not so lucky the man and a seven-year-old nephew Roger were swept onwards and plummeted over the waterfall the man was killed instantly and Roger wearing only a life jacket and a bathing suit was trapped in a whirlpool luckily the mate of the mr. boat was just making its turn below the falls but one of the crew spotted the bright orange lifejacket miraculously the boy was plucked out alive Niagara is one of the most enduring images in North America made all the more popular because it's so accessible it's a perfect example of the raw power of nature captured within our own backyard coming up an African wildlife paradise hidden in an ancient volcano in Africa's eastern Rift Valley nestled in the midst of the great Serengeti plains is the in Goro Goro crater measuring 12 miles across this enormous natural Bowl is formed in a massive extinct volcano it's the largest intact caldera in the world not filled with water the immense crater encloses a natural paradise from the forests covered rim 600 feet above the caldera floor the crater walls sweep down towards a great expanse of savanna sprinkled with woodland this 100 square miles of preserved grassland swamp and forest is teeming with wildlife the in Goro Goro crater is home to Africa's famed big five lion leopard elephant rhino and Buffalo the dense array of animals and prodigious bird life living within the Haven of the crater gives it the impression of a latter-day Garden of Eden around two and a half million years ago a huge volcano even higher and wider than Mount Kilimanjaro erupted with an earth-shattering explosion the cone of the volcano collapsed inwards as the molten lava within it subsided what was left was an enormous crater with intact walls over time the volcano became inactive and the volcanic rock weathered and was covered with soil and grass now the crater walls rising from the surrounding Plains trap passing rain clouds the forest around the rim acts like a sponge soaking up rainwater and releasing it into streams Springs and pools right across the crater this ever-present moisture ensures the growth of plants all year round with food and water always available it's a perfect habitat for wildlife a rich ecosystem has developed here and has remained largely unchanged for hundreds of thousands of years Kurds of gazelle wildebeest and Buffalo that graze the plains of King Goro Goro have no need to migrate in search of water and remain in the crater all year round they in turn provide food for a wide variety of predators and scavengers who stop the grasslands in fact the un'goro goro crater has the highest density of predators in Africa and is inhabited by approximately 25,000 large animals in all black rhino one of Africa's most endangered species can be found within the crater these solitary animals have a reputation for aggression and will charge if they sense a threat although they have no natural predators adult black rhinos fight each other an incredible 50 percent of males die from combat related injuries bull elephants also roam the bottom of the crater sometimes challenging each other for superiority the rest of the herd shelter in Woodland on the higher slopes big cats are not the only predators found and in Goro Goro jackals and spotted hyenas also roam the grasslands spotted hyenas are not just scavengers but expert hunters in their own right taking anything from birds and fish to large mammals they'll gorge on food eating a third of their body weight in one sitting the Craters human guardians are the nomadic Masai tribe their lives revolve around their herds of cattle their most important possessions for many generations Maasai have taken their cattle to graze in and around the crater where they have to compete for space with the wild animals the in Goro Goro crater is one of the best places to spot Africa's most exciting wildlife a safari here will almost guarantee sightings of some or all of the big five up on the rim a series of spectacular lodges look down on the crater below at in Gong Goro the volcanic forces of planet Earth have created a unique and spectacular environment the grave of a long-dead volcano is flourishing an african paradise bursting at the seams with life coming up on earth wonders the great coastal forests of the world's tallest trees on the west coast of the USA where California meets the Pacific Ocean are the mighty redwood forests the last stronghold of the world's tallest trees stretches from Big Sur to the Oregon border these trees are among the oldest and largest living things on the planet reaching as high as 370 feet two and a half times the height of the Statue of Liberty the Redwood National and state park system with its 37 miles of untouched coastline and a hundred and fifty-seven thousand acres of protected forest land is unique these majestic giants have flourished here since prehistoric times in 1980 the United Nations named the redwood forests of northern California a world heritage site there were once more than 2 million acres of old-growth redwoods between Northern California and Oregon although most of these trees were logged in the last two centuries several important ancient forests remain protected within the redwood parks Rangers such as chief Fire Warden John McClellan keep a watchful eye over them for this is the last stronghold of the mighty redwood tree individual redwoods can be hundreds of years old some reach back as much as 2,000 years at dawn as the warm air over land meets the cold air over the Pacific Ocean thick mists form and drift Shore words this beautiful daily event is the key to the survival of the coastal redwoods the life-giving fog herbs and flows like the ocean waves as it creeps inland breathing the treetops in a smoky haze redwoods depend on this fog for a third of their water needs especially during the summer months as well as the daily fogs this coastal strip can get a hundred inches of rain a year the Redwoods white reaching root systems absorb huge volumes of moisture as much as 500 gallons of water a day a plan that can reach thirty seven stories high gets very thirsty beneath the bark of each tree which can be a foot thick is a sappy layer called cambium that wraps around the entire trunk spread out the cambian layer would be half the size of a football field every year a mature tree adds one ton of new wood to its size the famous highway 101 runs through the park from north to south leading off our small roads winding through the old-growth forests where the trees keep out the light and the only sounds are the whispers of the breeze and faint birdsong some of the biggest trees can be found in stout Grove and Jedediah Smith redwood State Park the so-called stout tree measures 26 feet around its base while walking the trails in this magical and timeless world it's easy to feel dwarfed by these primeval Giants nowhere within the Redwoods park system is more reminiscent of the age of the dinosaurs as fern canyon it's steep walls are lined with exotic firms and dripping moss huge fallen trees straddled a valley floor and the sun's rays filter through redwoods towering hundreds of feet overhead you have to expect an ancient creature to lumber out of the mists it's no wonder that this was one of the settings for Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park films where the dense forests opens out beautiful prairies have formed at Belk prairie herds of Roosevelt milk have left the cover and shade of the forest to make the most of the good grazing it's the end of the summer and the male's some of which weigh in and over a thousand pounds are starting to rut they make it clear to the females around that mating season has begun the prairies provide a rare chance to stand back and appreciate the full scale of the redwood trees from top to bottom just outside the park a cable car ride allows visitors to skim the forest canopy and get a bird's-eye view of the patchwork of giant trees Redwoods aren't the only tall trees in these forests Sitka spruce and Douglas firs can also reach hundreds of feet they can act as a protective wall buffering the redwoods from the salty coastal air a thick fog moves in from the sea to envelop the magical hills and forests once more and provides another life-giving drink for the mighty redwood trees coming up on earth wonders the giant glacier with a volcano at its heart Iceland lies in the North Atlantic Ocean just south of the Arctic Circle the islands vana you couldn't glacier is the largest ice cap in Europe it covers over 5,000 square miles the size of Connecticut in places it's over 3,000 feet deep and it covers everything from Iceland's tallest mountain to its deepest Valley the glacier is so vast they can clearly be seen from space covering 8% of Iceland's landmass but vatnajökull is not a typical glacier because encased within its thick ice coating are active and volatile volcanoes in 2010 the volcano beneath the neighboring IFE at Lucas glacier erupted huge ash cloud spewed into the atmosphere and led to the cancellation of thousands of flights worldwide and that was just a small one beneath the crushing weight of the massive vatnajökull ice field are much larger volcanoes awaiting their moment to erupt the most potentially destructive of these volcanoes is grímsvötn its last major eruption was in 1996 the heat of the erupting lava caused the thick Shield of ice above the volcano to collapse this released huge amounts of churning glacial melt water which cascaded like a tsunami over nearby roads and buildings destroying everything in its path at one point 13 million gallons of water per second flowed from the melting glacier making it for a brief moment the second largest river in the world today this deadly volcano is resting and the huge mass of water remains stable frozen in the ice field but the people who live around Fatih you could all are constantly aware that grímsvötn could really confined ice has been played out for centuries the vana you coddle glacier formed two and a half thousand years ago when the North Atlantic cooled snow fall collected in the area at a faster rate than it could melt creating a glacier the oldest ice in the glacier today first fellas snow a thousand years ago just 100 years ago the glacier reached its maximum size and has been slowly shrinking ever since today the average thickness of the ice is just over 1,000 feet but at its thickest it's over 3,000 feet deep twice the height of the Empire State Building the sheer size of the glacier is breathtaking from its center the ice appears to stretch into infinity in every direction the only way to explore is by snowmobile more customized Jeep the colossal weight of the glacier combined with its gradual grinding movement has helped to carve through the rock base and create a series of valleys the interaction between volcano and ice has created a unique landscape there's no better place to see it then Sparta Foss murky waters from the glacier mix with the pure waters of underground cold springs and tumble over black hexagonal rocks these strange-looking rocks are made from basalt cooled lava that spewed out from a nearby volcano this lava cooled at a faster rate horizontally than vertically causing the rock to fracture into these distinctive shapes it's hard to believe that these hexagons have formed naturally they're almost geometrically perfect thousands of years later when the glacier formed the melted waters from the ice began to flow over these formations carving out a wondrous waterfall protruding from the main body of the ice cap our smaller glaciers called glacier tongues the slow-moving force of their abrasive ice can still carve out massive valleys the heavier and more compacted the ice and the glacier tongue is the deeper the valley it creates at Yukos our loan the weight of the glacier tongue has carved a hole so deep it is flooded with seawater creating a lagoon the lagoon is only 75 years old it was created when vana you coudl began shrinking after reached its peak 100 years ago since its creation the lagoon has doubled in size and is still growing colossal icebergs that are broken off from the glacier tongue float around in its waters although the iceberg said peacefully in this winter paradise they are a huge threat while some get stranded on the black volcanic sand to the beach others get caught by the tide and float menacingly out into the open seas icebergs have given the North Atlantic one of the most dangerous sea lanes in the world numerous ships have had fatal collisions with icebergs such as these most famously the Titanic in 1912 Iceland is known as the country of fire and ice and for good reason no where are the powerful forces so closely linked than in Vantaa you could hear volcano and ice are entwined creating an awesome breathtaking beauty coming up a heavenly island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean 2,600 miles due south of Hawaii a breathtaking slice of paradise rises from the South Pacific the magical island of Bora Bora this remote volcanic Hall is a perfect example of an exotic South Sea Island steep green hills rise from a turquoise lagoon enclosed by circular coral reef bora-bora saturated tropical colors and rich flora and marine life paint a picture of unparalleled beauty a true pearl of the Pacific colossal forces of nature have created this vision of heaven out of what was once a vision of hell bora-bora used to be a lava-spewing volcano rising 18,000 feet from the ocean floor the volcano has now become extinct and the towering peaks of Mount Bahia and Mount Otto Manu are all that's left of the craters towering rim the crater itself is now a magical Blue Lagoon filled with palm-fringed islets a necklace of spectacular coral reefs marks the volcanoes perimeter bora-bora is a tiny island only 14 and a half square miles that's smaller than Manhattan but it's the most famous of the 118 islands that make up French Polynesia a French territory that spans an area of ocean as large as Europe the Polynesians of Bora Bora maintain a strong connection with nature they have always relied on the sea to survive this has inspired a deep respect for the creatures that live in it and has led to some very unusual relationships they are the stingray can be a dangerous marine creature for me to come in and be a close cousin of the shark stingrays have a barbed tail they use in self-defense these can inflict incredible pain and in rare cases cause death but to the people of Bora Bora these animals are friends and appear very gentle while being hand fed in the shallow Lagoon it was naturalist Charles Darwin who provided the first scientific explanation as to how bora-bora was created an atoll is a ring of coral and coral islands that encircle a lagoon how such a formation developed in the middle of a deep ocean was a mystery in Darwin's time because the tiny coral polyps that make up a coral reef can only grow in warm shallow water Darwin came up with a solution the answer he said was a volcano it would have begun under the ocean and built up over time until it broke the surface and became an island like the islands of Hawaii coral polyps found the perfect place to grow into reefs in the warm shallow water all around the edge of the huge mound once extinct the sheer weight of the volcano sent its sinking back into the sea while the coral reefs continued to grow bora-bora is still sinking at a rate of half an inch every 100 years one day the island will disappear completely all that will remain will be the necklace of coral reefs today 8,000 people live along the small corridor of land that fringes the volcanic peaks and thick forests the locals have become used to sharing their small slice of paradise since world war ii tourism has steadily grown now most of Bora Bora spallation relies on the tourist industry everything including drinking water has to be shipped in but that doesn't stop the steady stream of guests who want to stay in the islands at Dilek floating guest houses these over water bungalows are a trademark of French Polynesia especially Bora Bora from your bungalow on Bora Bora you can dive straight into the water amongst a coral reef at night the echoes of Polynesian drums pulsate across the island for decades after Christians arrived the evocative colorful dances and musical traditions of the Polynesians were taboo now tourism has brought about a revival the heartbeat of Polynesia has returned it's difficult to comprehend that this magical place will one day disappear beneath the waves until then with its soaring volcanic Peaks deserted islets and perfect Lagoon Bora Bora will remain the very essence of all that we imagine paradise to be coming up the most famous geological site of them all cutting through the arid Colorado Plateau in northern Arizona lies the world's most famous geological wonder the Grand Canyon stretching for 277 miles this immense Gorge is one mile deep and at its widest point eighteen miles across at the foot of the canyon is the force responsible for its creation the Colorado River over time it is worn down through thousands of feet of solid rock providing the most dramatic example of erosion anywhere on the planet an incredible variety of rocks has been exposed by this erosion some dating back nearly two billion years the colorful layers of the canyon walls reveal a clear record of how the region has developed over time Grand Canyon is geology on a spectacular scale each new day the creeping dawn light reveals the glory of the Grand Canyon a vast patchwork of colors and textures and shadows the maze of twisting valleys and rifts creates rock islands called beauts the eroded cliffs display clearly defined rock strata tracing the history of the plateau like an enormous geological Museum 94 different rock types have been discovered at the Grand Canyon descending through the layers takes you further back in time about 70 million years ago what is now the Colorado Plateau was gradually squeezed up as the Pacific continental plate collided with the North American plate the plateau is much older than the canyon that cuts through it which is thought to be between 6 and 13 million years old the Colorado River running west from the slopes of the Rockies began to carve a groove into the plateau aided by rainstorms flash floods and snow melt the sediment-laden River and it's tributaries gradually sliced down into the rock layer by layer this silt and gravel they carried acting like sandpaper millions of years of this process has deep in the canyon while water runoff from the rims has widened it with little vegetation to protect the soil in Rock the erosive power of the water has made a massive impact most of the rock layers here are sedimentary layers of mud sand and tiny sea creatures were deposited when the area was covered by warm shallow seas and prehistoric beaches and swamps that is a little bit of a climb um yeah that looks like the edges of clams these fossil filled rocks make fascinating finds for today's visitors to the canyon I think that is on the brain that is a sponge it was an earlier visitor here who helped forge the nation's love affair with the Grand Canyon President Theodore Roosevelt declared it the one great site that every American should see visitor numbers to the Grand Canyon started to swell in 1901 with the opening of a new railway line back then apart from stagecoach it was the only way to get here the El Tovar hotel followed four years later built by the Santa Fe Railway Company Alto bars purpose was to attract more rail passengers this historic hotel has been serving guests for over a century the Grand Canyon National Park now receives five million visitors each year the majority enjoy the canyon from the top only the more Hardy venturing down inside it the Bright Angel Trail has miles of bending switchbacks which winds into the gorge it's a two-day hike down to the Colorado River and back from the South Rim since the 1800s visitors have relied on another way to make the tough journey a little easier okay your mule is gonna be with Shelby one goes right we stopped holding right books left left mules combine the strength of a horse with the sure-footedness of a donkey early prospectors at the Grand Canyon soon realized there was more money to be made from tourism than from mineral deposits and so hired out their mules for trekking more than a hundred years later and the mule trains are still a daily sight in another part of the park the 5000 foot descent can be made by G the lower you get into the canyon the warmer and more desert like it becomes the temperature can be 20 degrees hotter at the bottom than it is at the rim it's a harsh environment but there's still life to be found on the barren rocky slopes bighorn sheep are well adapted to this deep and treacherous terrain where they seek cover from predators such as mountain lions and coyotes they feed on shrubs and grasses and also taken minerals at natural salt licks the Colorado River drops a total of 2215 feet on its journey through the canyon keeping its flow fast and steady and creating more than 100 Rapids the Vishnu schist rock it's now cutting through dates back nearly 2 billion years it's much harder than the rocks above it so as drastically slow the rate of downward erosion the rapid sideways erosion of the softer Canyon walls is continuing eventually the canyon will open out and become a wide flat plain it will never in the future look as spectacular as it does today you as the evening draws in the air gets cooler this is one of the best times to marvel at the canyons sheer size and beauty the creeping dusk mirrors the slow march of time that has formed this most famous of natural wonders these are just some of the many geological treasures to be discovered as we explore the most extraordinary locations on our planet in search of Earth wonders
