The Zambezi River: Mozambique's Force of Life | Full Documentary | TRACKS

there is power in the ground and in the sky the Zulus dance for rain not here but a thousand miles away the dusty ground cries out for water the dancers are calling on a great force that comes to life on the other side of the continent [Music] [Applause] [Music] the power on which they call is the Zambezi the mighty African river that is the force of life [Music] the story begins with a clap of thunder over the highlands of Zambia near its borders with Angola and SIA these hills took about thirsty but the dry season is coming to an end the Thunder makes the wildebeest Restless this storm will see the rebirth of the power of the mighty Zambezi the river rises in the northwest corner of Zambia in the highlands of South Central Africa from here it follows a long southerly route through Zambia to the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe all along its course it is a force for life and for death [Music] it's birth is a quiet affair the rains form muddy river lots that gather almost surreptitiously into streams and finally into a river the recently stable landscape becomes a shifting setting for small dramas [Music] a chameleon's grip is secure but the same cannot be said for the branches it stands on in these turbulent times [Music] it sets off on a voyage into the unknown on a river that will dominate the lives of those that live along its banks stream beds that have long been dry will soon be transformed by the rains into roaring torrents the long-awaited water will bring life to most along its banks but to some as its power grows it will bring death it carries with it silt from the uplands which will enrich the lowland soils but it picks up other cargo along the way a wildebeest has paid the price of one clumsy panic-stricken day the vultures miss nothing from their vantage point in the sky but they will have to wait there are other eyes in the water [Music] [Music] [Applause] Lorena's will feed the lowland pastures but before that they will feed the crocodiles [Applause] the wildebeest carcass is vanishing before their eyes but still the vultures must wait [Applause] only when the last crocodile is sated will they get their turn the bobbing carcass still bears enough meat to feed a squabbling Assembly of Africa's Undertaker's but soon even the vultures have finished with it the river will take the rest while they saw over the landscape looking for their next meal [Music] they know them the river winds on down through the highlands whose hills it has carved over the centuries [Music] [Music] the floods have died down now leaving their casualties on the riverbanks the carcasses of drowned trees will provide shelter for the rivers smaller inhabitants here in western Zambia where Eddie's form quiet pools small fish find a place to rear their young under the storm scarred banks they're members of the cichlid family known as mouth brooders because of their unique way of protecting their babies the father carries his young in his mouth releasing them only when he feels safe suddenly he does not feel safe anymore the hideous jaws belong to the tiger fish a fierce predator the cichlid father hastily gathers his brood into the safety of his own mouth to keep them from the mouth of the tiger [Music] on a small scale but tigerfish is among the fiercest predators in the river [Music] the chameleon is too big for the little fish but there are plenty of crocodiles about and for young one a chameleon makes a convenient snack the chameleons sharp hooked claws are not adapted for swimming they're for climbing on plants but out here there are no plants [Music] the River of Life provides an escape route for the time being with the crocodile watching the chameleon dare not make a sudden [Music] finally the crocodile loses interest chameleons may not be adapted to life in water but hippos most certainly are ears eyes and nostrils are all perfectly designed for endless days of bathing under the African Sun they live in their thousands along the deeper parts of the river the only thing they don't seem to be adapted for his life in such crowded groups hippos spend most of their day dozing and the rest of the time disagreeing with each other as the current in the river slows down the tide of life begins to flow more strongly on its banks male water bucks spa together fighting for status ready for the mating season both are too well-armed for anything more than a little light fencing read bark is similarly engaged and equally cautious about accidentally injuring their opponent if this is intended to impress our watching though it's not very successful the dough is at least by an attention to the surroundings and with good cause [Music] there's enough meat on the hoof on this riverbank to keep a lioness and a litter well fed throughout the coming dry season but the antelope are well aware of the risks they take when they come to drink the read-back have made their escape but there are other drinkers at the water's edge the Dyna says three comes to feed and she needs meat for them now that they are weaned she must hunt for four but today the weather is hot and the bark are wearing the Cubs will have to go hungry the lioness has a difficult time when her cubs are this age they're too young to hunt but they're active and curious liable to disturb her quarry in their efforts to join in the chase but today there will be no more hunting a bigger disturbance than three small Cubs was just arrived at the riverbank unlike the antidote elephants have no need to feel nervous when they make their daily visit to water the Predators simply back away knowing that there is nothing for them here the lioness will lead her cubs into a shaded place where they can wait until nightfall and better chances to hunt along the riverbanks the elephants can find plenty of food even in the dry season trees here plunge their roots deep into the ground so that even when the river is running low they can reach its life-giving water the baby of the family is not particularly hungry or thirsty such is the Plenty in this part of the river he is content to watch his elders one female carries out a little do-it-yourself dentistry on a sore gum [Applause] the youngster learns by everything he sees perhaps he will need the same remedy in years to come grass is a seasonal foodstuff here when the dry season takes over it will be in short supply the adults make hay before the Sun shines too strongly and the young ones follow suit the river attracts other drinkers warthogs are the preferred prey of a number of large predators but they come to the Riverside apparently without a care in the world the young elephant is not quite sure what to make of them the adults have seen it all before at this time of day where the Lions are sleep in the shade the riverbank is a peaceful place the cool damp grass is a refreshing midday snack for elephants and warthogs alike but other animals are feeding in the river itself the african fish eagle is a graceful and powerful hunter found all over the continent [Music] it's swooping flight and unerring aim make it the emblem of these waterways it's plaintive call the voice of wild Africa [Music] even while it is feeding high in the trees beside the river it watches the water for its next meal all along the Zambezi and on lakes and large water holes all over Africa fish eagles have carried out their precision raids since long before there were human eyes to admire them [Music] now the Zambezi has become a calm meandering stream winding its way through the endless reed beds and papyrus of west-central via through the lowland swamps here it is the source and support of all life among the told papyrus the local people make the most of the rivers generosity the passing fisherfolk are watched calmly by the greatest fishermen in Africa but the river is not all generosity jaws lurk along its banks in this trackless maze of reeds it is as well to know exactly where one is going and how to get home again and who your neighbors are there's enough fish here to satisfy the crocodiles so they rarely worry the people and the wondering isin is more likely to be eaten by a crocodile than to trouble the boys in their canoe familiarity breeds not contempt but ease in surroundings that would seem forbidding to an outsider something has disturbed the squawk Oh heaven a heavy rustling in the reeds but the boys know what makes that noise the people here live not only among the reeds but in them their houses are fetched with them cut from among the endless reed beds the reeds is strong and light and waterproof if they're properly selected and set up and they're free the lousy people have been living here since about 1600 when they left their former home in Angola to settle among the swamps here the livin is easy in a gentle climate the broad Zambezi is their highway their larder and their building supply store as well they're not alone of course all around them animals have also made use of this generous home feeding and making their homes under the enormous lowland skies chief among them not surprisingly our fish eating birds the swamp is home to countless egrets and cormorants nesting in the reeds and fishing in the river no one has ever tried to work out how much fish they eat some live and breathe here while others come from far and wide on seasonal migrations the river can supply them all and in despair as the expectant army of egrets waits on the bank the river teams and swirls with fish catfish rise through the debris on the bottom and splash on the surface comments are quick to pick off the younger smaller fish catfish feed on the bottom feeling for their prey with the whiskers that give them their name will come to the surface to catch insects when they often find an unlit wedding as their huge yellow eyes suggest stone curlews are mainly nocturnal by day they stand dreamily about on the riverbank as if they were watching the egrets fishing boys from the nearby village disturb the birds but not for long all are equally members of the vast local ecosystem dependent on the river for all that they need the force of life here in the huge swamp stretching far south to the Okavango Delta is slow and gentle offering a rich and peaceful life to all its inhabitants [Music] it will not always be this quiet the river has a violent future not far downstream [Music] [Music] here though hippo still have a peaceful life they may be built like wrestlers down to water they become ballerinas weightless in their own element all animals are specialized for their own way of living from the burly hippo to the elegant fish eagle but some are specialized in unexpected ways [Music] the little reed cormorant is like any other cormorant but for one thing because of its life among the reeds it needs to be able to perch better than others of its kind it has long flexible toes to adapt it to its Reedy home the riverbanks of the watering place for the animal with the worst reputation for violence in the whole of Africa cape buffalo have been feared ever since white hunters first came to the continent they might look rather like large cattle but they are fiercely defensive of their young and very dangerous when cornered an anonymous French author said long ago this is a very vicious animal if you attack it it defends itself while they drink the Buffalo need to keep their eyes open the river is home to some of Africa's largest crocodiles which would be quite capable of dragging an unwary Buffalo into the water by its snout they do not stay around when a crocodile is near without the element of surprise the crocodile is harmless but the Buffalo are taking no chances they have only one real enemy in the African bush lions regularly take their calves when the two species meet the hunger on the Lions face is matched by the new hostility on the buffaloes the lion yawns in frustration but it watches for a chance to attack the Buffalo seems to be waiting for it to try all cats signal frustration by waving their tails the lion is no exception cats have another thing in common when they are thwarted at potato they weren't really interested anyway as the herd makes its way from the river it's very close to permanent human settlements but the Buffalo are no threat to the inhabitants who give them a wide berth the country here in central Zambia is open wooded Savannah with wide clearings dotted with acacia trees good for agriculture where it is watered by the river the people keep goats and grow crops in the clearings but they have very little impact on the wildlife near one of the favorite watering places the colony of carmine bee-eaters has set up home [Applause] [Music] the birds ignore the comings and goings around them they've become familiar with people and their domestic animals down centuries to the beat as people are no more of a threat than Buffalo they carry on their urgent business under the very feet of the locals digging you up nesting tunnels in the bank of the river home locals are likely to get a face full of SAP as one woman comes to the bank the birds fly out in a dense swarm but this has nothing to do with her movements beaters perform these mock panic flights even when they don't know anyone is there it might be to reassure them that the colony is not too crowded they soon returned from their mass exodus the Carlisle bills are in other parts of Africa is a migrant moving from the cooler northern and southern extremes of the continent to normal parts where it breeds but it lives in Zambia all year round breeding between September and November at this time of year it's joined by a rarer relation the white-fronted Peter which also shows no fear of people in fact all the birds are content to use the bundles of reeds as purchase and to search them for any insects from Midas or shelter inside as the people work around them the birds have an occasional aerial census if that's what their apparent panic attacks are really for [Applause] the mighty zambezi is at its most drowsy now forming oxbow lakes as it meanders lazily between the reed beds the people who live here were not always River dwellers they're descended from Bushmen who fled here in the 18th and 19th centuries to escape men who captured them and sold them into slavery the descendants of those men are dancing now far downstream for rain the zoodles were always a warlike tribe dominating those around them with their ferocity and aggression for the peaceable Bushmen there was no alternative but to seek refuge in the deep bush along the banks of what became to them the river of life [Music] the Zambezi waters the dry Savannah along a broad swathe on both banks a band of plenty winds across the plain at its heart the silver ribbon that is the river for the river people as for their neighbors upstream the Zambezi is highway and Lada well and wash house like ratty in Wind in the Willows they live by and on and often in the river the river is there a source of building materials - it's tall reeds are ideal for fencing and for the walls and moves of houses in this gentle climate the villagers have friendly neighbors in the bush vervet monkeys that have become tame and trusting though often somewhat liked fingered when there's food about the houses are well built and the monkey roof but the open village square is too inviting to ignore beside an empty box with a very apt logo the monkeys forage for scraps in the heart of the village for the small boys they're a constant source of affectionate amusement safe with its prize in the trees high above the village the monkey can feed at leisure while the boys play below their dance is strangely similar to that of the Zulus once the scourge of their lives but now far away and no longer a threat down by the river while their mothers wash the dishes the children go fishing the fish here are small but enough of them will make a nourishing meal the abundance of the river enables the whole family to play a part in village life as evening approaches the children play while their mothers prepare the evening meal the men and the older boys will soon be home from their day on the river under the watchful eyes of the vervet monkeys another quiet day draws to a close the river is bigger and bolder now tree-lined and more powerful when it wounded slow length through the reed beds here another population of hippos find a perfect home in the clear shallows they plied as if weightless through the water tiptoeing delicately along followed by a cloud of fine silt their life is quiet and restful here where the river is wider and they have more space there seems to be less conflict among the fleshy editable Giants than there was further upstream [Applause] the river is their life they go ashore only at night to graze on the lush grass along the banks they glide about underwater not in search of food but looking for relief from the Sun in spite of living in some of Africa's hottest climates hippos are martyrs to sunburn further downstream the vervet monkeys are much wilder than those that live in the village unaccustomed to people they have to find their own living among the trees without the benefits of scraps of human food they spend almost their whole time high above the ground only rarely venturing down to drink and occasionally to socialize on the riverbank for them the ground is not a regular source of food but often the place of danger bother young monkeys Flay their parents keep a close eye on them and watch for danger even fallen trees close to the ground are more secure than the open riverbanks they offer a ladder to safety out of reach of predators the monkeys are really at ease only when they are high in the trees even here they take it in turn to practice lookout while the others feed they don't need to go to the ground even to find water cracks and clefts in large branches often contain a few drops to drink even if they have to be winkled out with the monkeys long fingers they watch each other all the time to see what food there is or where others have found water the trees not the river are their highway among all their busy activity at least one pair of eyes is always open to the approach of danger when it appears the response is immediate [Music] the Python is no direct threat to the monkeys could all snakes are potential enemies to all primates and the fear of them is instinctive reason doesn't come into it for monkeys any more than for most humans [Music] when the snake crawls back into the grass the panic is over and silence returns to the tall trees the river broadens out a little further along its course to form wide marshes where Lech we are at home with their broadly splayed hooves they don't sink into the muddy ground but seemed to float over it without getting bogged down [Music] elephants in spite of that great weight also have very wide feet so that they too can walk safely in this treacherous terrain where the ground is dryer and an elephant can stroll unhindered through the grass the vibration of its heavy tread awakes another of the area's residents Lions find it difficult to hunt on the marshy ground but because of the large numbers of animals attracted by the abundant water and lush grazing they're always in evidence they wait for animals on their way to and from the river but not for Elephants the lioness finds a fresh patch of shade to wait for a cooler time of day loving water as they do elephants find this part of the Great River Valley an ideal place to live they gather in their family parties at favorite drinking and bathing places total immersion is the favorite form of bathing here in the river the elephant's show total enjoyment - this is elephant heaven water cool and sweet and why their baths over the family moves off into the grasslands to find something to eat [Applause] but the Great Rivers Idul is about to come to an abrupt if temporary end the Cataclysm begins innocently enough as the river is split by shows of little islands in midstream here as in the highlands where it was born it's not sweeping aside sand and mud but eating away at rock each island diverts the flow a little challenging the river to where it down the channels flow faster as the river is constricted between the islands water flowing at this speed has enormous power it erodes the rock over the centuries carving a channel through the softer strata and leaving the harder layers standing proud the Zambezi has eaten away at the edge of the plateau as he dives more than 300 feet into the gorge below this is the Victoria Falls the largest waterfall on earth even in the dry season in November in December it carries more than 7,000 cubic feet per minute in times of flood it can exceed 24 million in the local language it's called mosey what um be the smoke that thunders the plume of spray can be seen and heard from miles away the Falls are nearly six thousand feet wide but in places the chasm into which they plunge is less than 200 feet across [Music] the first European to see the falls in 1855 was the Briton whose name became synonymous with African exploration in the nineteenth century David Livingstone he named them after the Queen of England at the time above the gorge the cliffs are shrouded in perpetual mist people come to marvel at the sight that Livingstone said would cause even an angel to wonder Livingston believed that the Falls were created by a massive earthquake that caused a huge rift in the Earth's crust but geologists today know that they were formed over millennia by the erosive power of the water itself the spray drifts over the surrounding land to create a patch of dense tropical vegetation home to chameleons that feed on the abundant insect life in the mist forest water buck find a fitting home here and people too drawn by the hypnotic power of the tempestuous stream the rains that fall on the far-off Angolan border feed the mighty power of the river here in Zimbabwe a world away from the muddy stream that gives it birth this deep gorge patiently carved from the living rock bears witness to the pent-up energy of water that has traveled 600 miles across Africa the monkeys that live here are in a different world from their relatives in the peaceful village all those that live in the tall trees by a sleepy river far upstream [Music] the Falls carve a huge gorge 45 miles long and 400 feet deep a thousand miles beyond it lies the sea [Music] 700 miles downstream still far from the Indian Ocean people rely on the massive power of this river that rises so far from their home [Music] [Music] deep into the night the zulus dance to the power that is in the earth the power that comes from the sky the mighty power of the Zambezi the force [Music] [Music] you

Channel: TRACKS

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Keywords: nature documentary, wildlife documentary, nature documentaries - topic, animals - topic, African wildlife, african nature, zambezi river, exploring africa, africa facts, TRACKS, tracks travel channel, tracks travel

Id: F_u5rQkd5ik

Length: 49min 46sec (2986 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 30 2019