Sahara - The English Patient's Desert - Go Wild

[Music] the sahara the largest desert on earth an endless sea of shifting sands and wind scoured rock [Music] here every living thing is tested to the limit by the burning heat of day the freezing night it seems unthinkable that this vast timeless wilderness was ever any different [Music] but in 1933 an austro-hungarian adventurer ladislaus almaji whose story is told in the hollywood movie the english patient made an incredible discovery deep in the libyan desert a prehistoric picture gallery here in the desert's arid heart were images of people swimming [Music] with the swimmers were giraffes and rhinos glimpses of another world herds of zebra wildebeest and elephants [Applause] did this lush african paradise once exist right here in the sahara and if so how was it lost beneath the desert sand [Music] today's sahara extends across 12 countries and is known to nomads as ba bellamar sea without water these enormous waves of burning sand are endlessly re-sculpted by the wind it seems that nothing could survive this harsh world and yet some creatures have adapted to it the avicenna viper sidewinds across the shifting dunes [Music] the desert jaboa manages to make a home and the horned viper looks for food both food and water are so scarce that desert animals must make a stark choice to stay in one place saving energy or like the tuareg to be always on the move the jaboa takes the first approach and spends its life in one small area but it would soon fry in the open it must dig some kind of shelter in the cooler sand below the surface but a house built on loose sand is never going to last for long the sand fish is a skink a kind of lizard but it gets its name from how it swims across the dunes its scaly skin is less resistant than polished steel this is a fish with toes widespread to provide thrust for sand swimming and also good for excavating insects [Laughter] but however specialized you become life on the dunes is still precarious out here where can you hide from predators for this horned viper armed with a deadly venom a sand fish is a rare chance of a meal time to submerge sidewinding is a good way to cross hot unstable sand but it's not the fastest form of locomotion and the viper's neighbors know it the fleet-footed desert fox has little to fear if it keeps its distance finding a meal looks like being an uphill battle in this silent eerie world it's hard to imagine that people ever settled here but ruins sunk beneath the sand might tell a different story the remains of once great cities from the roman empire have been long since swallowed up by sand cities similar to leptis magna near the northern coast of libya once inhabited by 80 000 people [Applause] [Music] among the houses and the temple are huge storehouses for holding grain in its heyday two thousand years ago leptus magna must have been very prosperous [Music] but not only the romans left traces in the sand [Music] this town naloot was built by the berber people 500 years ago as a giant granary for centuries these 400 storage chambers were filled with oils and cereals but to generate such wealth these cities must have been founded on fertile land so where is it now [Music] one explanation is that they were built around oases desert springs like the oasis town of khadams such places became natural crossroads for the camel caravans [Music] when almashi the english patient came to the libyan desert he was intrigued by stories of a legendary oasis named zazura mentioned in the fables arabian nights [Music] al-mashi was a pioneering aviator first to use a biplane to explore the libyan desert a veteran of expeditions to the eastern parts of the sahara he was sent to libya and egypt by the royal geographic society in london leading an assignment to survey the desert at this time maps of this remote part of the globe were very incomplete [Music] in 1933 al-marshi set off into the gilf-kibir mountains to look for the oasis of zazura [Music] his diary describes the strange isolation of this place i am no longer alone two large grey desert falcons share my loneliness what can these animals live off here the desert is full of mirages which distort reality past all recognition the traveler often has playing before him the wavy motion of the surface of a nearby lake which is however nothing more than the sky's reflection this dangerous intricate game can also spell doom for birds if they allow themselves to be further enticed into the remoter regions [Applause] [Music] in nine million square kilometers it's easy to imagine losing track of time and distance an old arabian proverb describes this overwhelming emptiness allah has removed all surplus life from his garden the desert to be able to wander around in peace whoever joins allah in his garden needs to keep a cool head the desert monitor is at the mercy of the sun cold blooded like all reptiles it's unable to control its body temperature from within but to prevent itself from overheating this reptile has a group of light sensitive cells on the top of its head these act like a thermometer and if the reading gets too high the monitor digs down into the sand for cover but it can't match these tunneling skills the desert jaboa digs a deep cool burrow and stays home during the hottest time of day it only emerges to look for food when things cool down [Music] the monitor is a predator with a big appetite it's always on the move scanning the dunes for anything that might be edible [Music] [Music] there's no one home this borough must have an emergency exit bad luck for the bully of the dunes on the other hand the arizona viper bides its time the snake relies on patience to catch its prey it can exist from months between meals so it can afford to sit and wait and it's an ambush expert with a disappearing trick [Music] muscular spasms pass through the snake's body contracting its rib cage and pushing it downwards within a few seconds there's nothing to see but a small pile of sand [Music] the eyes and nostrils are the only clues to something more sinister [Music] with shade so rare a few sparse twigs become prime real estate and to a fringe-toed lizard well worth defending against trespassers round one but this dispute's not settled yet finally the intruders down and in a deadlock he retreats but the defender's victory is short-lived [Music] all desert vipers have developed super potent venom they need to take their victim by surprise and their first bite has to be the last suddenly the tables are turned and the losing lizard survives [Music] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Music] [Music] the classic image of the desert is a landscape of unbroken sand and dunes but the major part of the sahara is covered in rock and gravel overshadowed by grandiose mountain ranges like the akakos the tuarek nomads are descended from the berbers and their camel caravans have crossed this forbidding terrain for thousands of years almashi watched them pass and was astonished by their stamina two tuareg have covered on their camels a 900 kilometer long almost waterless stretch the crossing of which i am proud to have achieved with a car [Music] what are our achievements with the help of technical trappings compared to the ability of this secretive desert people [Music] no rain weathers the desert sandstone but it is eroded by the massive swings in temperature from -5 degrees at night to more than 40 in the day and biting desert winds sand blast the rock into bizarre formations [Music] the tourx ancestors probably existed here 5 000 years ago but there's no written record of their history their myths and legends filter through the centuries by word of mouth [Music] they tell the tales of an african garden of eden with elephants and wildebeest zebras and giraffes [Music] are these stories an illusion created by a mirage or are they a true record of a long lost saharan paradise even in the bleak landscape of today there are still some parts where the desert shows its softer side more clues that once this was a very different world this is awadi a long dried out riverbed still green enough to be a magnet for all kinds of desert creatures such as oryx antelopes these desert dwellers have evolved to cope with body temperatures of up to 45 degrees it's now the mating season and fresh wounds are added to the scars of previous encounters but the bucks are tough enough to take it their height was once used by the tuarek to make battle shields the weary victor hasn't spilled his blood for nothing he wins the biggest prize in auric society the role of dominant male and with it the mating privilege he alone has access to the females of the herd [Music] the wadis are a stopping off point for the turret too and a haunt of some of the sahara's most secretive creatures [Music] chameleons normally prefer thick vegetation but somehow these ones manage to survive life in the dried out riverbed [Music] [Music] chameleons are usually loners they only mingle when it's time to mate and even then they seem awkward in company [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] but they are acrobatic lovers [Music] with their grasping claws and clinging tales chameleons are typical of tree dwellers so how did these ones end up living in a group of ravaged shrubs perhaps this riverbed was once much greener than it is today were the chameleons imprisoned by the desert as the sand dunes spread [Music] today their wadi is an island in thousands of kilometers of sand and rock [Music] in this enclosed world a grasshopper is a feast for sore eyes the chase is on but these claws are designed for gripping branches not for crossing open ground normally the chameleon would freeze into position and wait for its victim to stray close enough to strike but this is just too good an opportunity to let pass by the chameleon has a long muscular tongue that can retract at lightning speed the victim doesn't know what hit it the turret also make the most of any small gift that the desert offers they've learned to read the signs that may help them survive a colony of mammals is a good sign that there's water nearby and the nomads are experts at finding it these are large tooth tie racks and they have a most surprising family tree they're close relatives of the elephant hyrax usually belong to the far south of the sahara did this isolated colony like the chameleons become trapped in the encroaching desert the alarm is sounded danger it's an egyptian cobra stretching its stiff body in the early morning sun the icy cold saharan night sends desert reptiles body temperatures plummeting sunbathing is the only way to warm back up the spiny-tailed lizard has a way to speed up this process it turns black in the morning to absorb more of the sun's rays as it soaks up the sunshine it turns back to red the lizard like the cobra is the sun's slave too little heat and reptiles become slow and rigid too much and they have to flee into the shade it's been a long cold night between the rocks hyrax enjoy their early morning sunbathe too but some predators will take advantage when their prey is sluggish alanna falcon [Music] but the cobra is now warm enough to strike its most intimidating pose [Music] it's enough to make the falcon think twice and the sunbathers relax once more [Music] after sunbathing for several hours food is the next priority for hyrax it's an agile climber picking out the young shoots from between the acacia trees thorns the sand snake is a meat eater and gecko could be on the menu covered in millions of tiny hairs the gecko's feet stick fast to almost any surface there's nowhere that it cannot run the snake's best chance is to take it by surprise um these shady gorges are a resting place for men and camels in tuareg society it's not the women but the men who wear the veil the material is thought of as a barrier preventing evil spirits from invading the man's body direct tradition states a man's veil and his trousers are brothers [Music] good the microclimate of the mountains is much more forgiving than the oven of the open desert plants thrive in the deep shade of the canyons precious water can't evaporate so fast [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] once the sun goes down however too much heat is soon replaced by too much cold the main brew tea served desert style a syrupy concoction one-third sugar [Music] the ceremony of preparing tea is an important foundation of tuareg social life but when ladislav camped here in these mountains he seems to have felt cut off from other human beings [Music] there the sound a gentle noise here next to me in the tent a scorpion no a mouse i have put a date into the circle of light and now my small visitor is approaching with utmost caution i cannot explain on what these animals feed themselves they surely never drink otherwise one wouldn't come across them in a completely waterless sandy area with no vegetation [Music] what had brought these animals here in the first place almashi was on the verge of stumbling across the sahara's biggest secret however desert creatures first arrived here they are all now highly specialized survivors a common strategy is to postpone all business until the cool of night just like the desert hedgehog does the fat tail gerbil also comes out only after sundown as its name suggests it stores reserves of energy in its tail it may look rather curious but these emergency rations could save its life during the many times when food is short the fat tailed scorpion also avoids the light emerging only in the darkness to creep after insects spiders or lice it can inject a venom almost as lethal as that of another nighttime predator the horned viper for most small prey one death would be much like the other but pursuit is not a viper strength the sand is much too fine to grip instead it plays its trump card camouflage and waits the desert hedgehog may look harmless but it can turn the tables on at least one of the venom carriers it's not immune to scorpion venom but it can survive large doses still it's better to be safe than sorry it bites off the sting the fat tailed gerbil is busy topping up its tail it digs up plant seeds leaves and on a good night insects too the ambush killer sets its sights on any rodent but as usual it can't afford to give the game away too soon a little too slow for a fully fit running rodent it's a bumper night for desert hedgehog its second meal is a false cobra but now its time is running out the sun will soon appear on the horizon banishing night creatures back into their burrows [Music] [Music] oh sun and wind are not the only forces to have shaped the sahara petrified lava flows hint at other revolutionary changes of the past [Music] [Applause] amid black gravel there is a breathtaking reminder of sahara's turbulent history [Applause] a volcano vauanamus after it became inactive around 5000 years ago the crater collapsed in on itself and this triggered a miraculous transformation as it collapsed the crater cut into an underground reservoir deep in the earth's crust releasing a flood of fresh water today five lakes are still fed from this source [Music] for migrating birds crisscrossing africa the lakes of vana moose are a lifeline here there is not only water but plentiful food small crabs and insect larvae in their millions vauanamus is known as the oasis of the mosquitoes [Music] it's yet another piece in the sahara's puzzle could the entire desert once have looked like this thick salt crusts remain around the edges of the lakes a clue to an even more distant past ten million years ago the whole sahara region was covered by a shallow ocean as the ocean withdrew much of the sea life was trapped and immortalized in the desert sandstone seashells snail shells and the armor of sea urchins here with no layers of soil or vegetation secrets of the past are laid wide open winds loaded with sand polish the porous stone constantly exposing new fossils eradicating others the desert's history is written here for all to see ventured deep into the libyan desert he hoped to find zazura a place white as a dove and with the vast treasures in the end he found no sign of the fabled oasis but he did find treasure of a different kind [Music] something that turned our understanding of the world's largest desert on its head beneath a rocky overhang unusual markings caught almashi's eye when he looked closer they turned out to be the work of ancient artists portraits of giraffes of elephants and swimming humans [Music] almashi wrote i named the valley wadi sora which means valley of pictures my companions were more than amazed when i led them hear the next day [Music] today this site in guilf kibir lies thousands of kilometers from any water deep or wide enough to swim in but perhaps some five thousand years ago there was a lake [Music] did rivers once flow through here feeding rich savannah home to people and to africa's large animals [Music] [Music] was convinced the sahara wasn't always the lifeless sea of sand and rock it is today those climatic changes which led to a drying up and desolation can only take effect over a period of several thousands of years almashi was to be proved right [Music] decades after his discovery scientists came across another location almost 1 000 kilometers further south opening another astonishing window on the sahara's secret past [Music] [Applause] the battlements of the enerdy mountains on the border between modern day chad and sudan [Music] [Music] a ghostly chorus echoes eerily through the gorge hundreds of camels take their early morning drink [Music] this is rainwater but it could have fallen many years ago [Music] the desert sun cannot penetrate these canyons and so the water lingers longer than elsewhere in the sahara [Music] in water fertilized by camel dung algae and plankton flourish and in turn support a huge stock of fish [Music] the energy mountains are an isolated paradise right in the middle of a sea of sand here animals and birds exist that otherwise couldn't survive for thousands of kilometers around in a scene that seems more like the rich swamps of east africa a night heron goes fishing and it doesn't live on fish alone even amphibians like the giant swamp frog thrive here but here's the biggest surprise of all a crocodile here in the heart of the sahara [Music] these crocodiles are living proof of the sahara's fertile past direct ancestors of these animals lived here in the enerdy mountains thousands of years ago and this one species has survived the advance of the desert until six thousand years ago the whole sahara must have looked like this an african garden of eden for a long time scientists believe that these crocs are nile crocodiles whose ancestors were cut off by the encroaching desert but recent dna analysis has proved that this primeval reptile is a distinct species no sooner was the desert crocodile identified scientists realized it was about to disappear forever [Music] only three known individuals remain in the energy mountains not enough to try to save their species now it's just a question of time before they too are gone but why did the sahara itself change from fertile water land to arid desert even now the you

Channel: Go Wild

Views: 387,203

Keywords: orf universum, documentary, blue chip, natural history, secrets of nature, planet earth, wildlife, free documentary, watch full documentary, nature films, wildlife films

Id: iGG_3pwpY_0

Length: 49min 6sec (2946 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 12 2021