Wild Congo | Part 1: River of Monsters | Free Documentary Nature

the Congo River a pounding pulse across Africa the deepest river in the world home to Untold Untamed creatures [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] the river is born here he blows bubbles like a baby is the Congo [Music] trekking 5000 kilometers across central Africa he grows stronger brazen ferocious only the Amazon River moves more water but the Congo is the world's deepest locals call him shambeshi he answers to many names takes on different identities touches countless lives each November this River hosts Central Africa's most swinging party [Music] [Music] the largest mammal migration on Earth starts slowly these straw colored fruit bats fly in from all over Central Africa and gather in one Grove swarms of hundreds become hundreds of thousands then up to 10 million [Music] these unconventional convention ears pass up food in their mad rush to get here a place called kasanka [Music] like a Roman origin they come to Gorge themselves and mate they cram together for safety and warmth forming one of the largest fruit bat colonies in the world the millions of bats Titus roof tiles Roost in an area that would cover just 60 football fields quiet comes to kasanka again as the sky brightens this latecomer brushes his teeth and goes to bed [Music] at Twilight they get the party started [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] the famished animals tear into their Buffet each night the 250 gram bats eat twice their weight in Fruit about 6 000 tons worth foreign with bellies full of mabola plums wild loquat and Waterbury fruits the bats add about 10 tons to each tree they cling to foreign s they've picked the Grove clean party over the bats move on spreading seeds on their trip home [Music] [Music] foreign goes back to normal just before Christmas but there's nothing normal about the Congo River who begins his journey in Zambia South Central Africa here north of kasenka the Congo suckled by bangvayuru one of the largest marshes on Earth the Bangla Wetlands cover an area half the size of Belgium [Music] thank you 17 Rivers feed it but only one drains it [Music] in cadende the local language means where the water meets the sky [Music] Wildlife thrives here just as the bang violu feeds the Congo fish from these Waters feed about 50 000 zambians locals build fishing camps deep in the swamps reachable only by Wooden pierog Boats Papyrus plants grow thick creating a mini Marshland jungle five meters tall foreign the major Predator isn't a lion but a giant bird the shoe bill he stands 1.4 meters tall and if his bill were a real shoe it'd be about a man's size three and a half but he's really a sneaker waiting for prey he can stand for hours motionless as a gargoyle near the floor of the Papyrus Forest Weavers brewed by the water the picky chicks assert their independence and want nothing to do with this worm a few meters up in the top heavy Papyrus canopy other Weavers start families of Their Own the males build their love nests to attract a mate and if she likes it she'll move in and redecorate the nursery but every motion starts the Cradle rocking until disaster strikes flinging a little one out of its nest [Music] [Music] the Weaver chick too young to fly drops in on the shoe bill for lunch assistant unfortunately for the Weavers bang Valu shoe bills will always be hot on their heels below the surface of the marsh the roots of the Papyrus jungle reach back in time to the domain of a creature that first settled here almost 400 million years ago long before the dinosaurs like the Papyrus plants the African lungfish spans Two Worlds this fish has gills but it still needs air every half hour otherwise it'll drown unlike most fish it has a primitive lung and what's more it can perform a truly breathtaking feat [Music] when the dry season comes and water turns to puddles and puddles turn into mud the African lungfish finds himself in the thick of it that's okay the secret to lungfish longevity starts with a drop-defying burrow in the mud [Applause] about 25 centimeters below the surface the fish spews mucus it solidifies to form a cocoon-like shelter that traps moisture and lets in air the lungfish enters estivation While most animals burn fat for energy to keep alive the lungfish digests muscle in its tail [Music] and survive for months until the season changes changing and salvation comes raining down upon it [Music] [Music] just a few days of rain changes everything plunging bangvayulu underwater again as the ground starts to soften the lungfish rise like zombies all over the place if need be they could have waited two years or more they climbed back to the real world with help from their modified finger-like fins and hit the water [Music] then a quick trip to the surface for a refreshing gulp of air foreign but maybe this fella should have stayed in bed [Music] the lungfish waited months to Breathe Again now he awakens to a world of familiar dangers [Music] [Music] adapted for life in and out of the water he's built for survival [Music] but then sows the shoe bill [Music] almost before the Congo River has even begun the Thirsty bang vayulu swamp sucks up 90 of its water keeping it in Perpetual second place to the mighty Amazon most of the water flowing into the Marshland evaporates or gets absorbed by plants foreign that's left leaves the swamps here as a single River luapula [Music] the Congo River wanders like a roving teenager traipsing across Africa to find himself beautiful he makes his way into the Democratic Republic of the Congo a country inaccessible to most and dangerous to many the river starts at a height of one thousand meters [Music] it snakes through the acacia trees of the African Bushland which provide a comfortable habitat for guys like this [Music] the African rock python the biggest snake on the continent and one of the largest in the world [Music] over his 20-year lifespan he'll never stop growing and could reach up to seven meters he lacks venomous fangs but the constrictors deadly Embrace does the trick he can even sneak up and crush a full-grown monkey caught napping but today no such luck if need be he'll hang out inconspicuously on the tree for hours right now the actions on the ground where helmeted guinea fowl scratch for a meal of Their Own this small family mob searches for seeds worms and insects they're also on constant lookout for danger ready to squawk at the slightest threat one would make a nice snack for the python but predator and prey don't seem to notice each other [Music] two days later the snake is still hungry he's in the middle of molting his smooth scales turning flaky and until the scales fall from his eyes it's as if he's looking through a plastic shopping bag he sniffs out a path to the river nothing like a cool bath to soothe dry flaky skin the guinea fowl which never lived far from the water head there too they're hard to miss the snake could be in luck the guinea fowl huddled together squawking formidable mob the python can probably feel the vibration on the ground but his blurred vision keeps him from locking onto just one to call dinner the guinea fowl aren't defenseless if pressed they'll gang up and attack the snake in his current state he's at a real disadvantage the peeling python backs down no matter how hungry he might get during the molt this Hunter's off his game all the more reason to hit the water and soak off that skin a molting snake is a vulnerable snake at least he still has his tongue to sniff with for now at some point even his tongue will shed but by then he'll be able to see again in just a few days he'll be rid of his scales and back in business and very hungry traveling through the Democratic Republic of the Congo the river goes by the name lulava about 2 000 kilometers from its birthplace the wide and lazy river hastens its pace crosses the equator and plunges over the edge of the world [Music] The boyoma Falls marked the end of the river's Untamed course from this point on nature and commerce share the water on the other side of the boyoma falls the Wayward River reaches maturity becomes navigable and is at last called the Congo the city of kisangani directly down river of the falls marks the start of a 1700 kilometer trade route to Kinshasa the capital the ancient and the modern converge when the fishermen from the viganya tribe come into the City and sell their catch thank you the fishermen who live by the Rapids have tied their fate to the fast-flowing waters for centuries the vagina have built large wooden frames to hang their traditional braided fish traps foreign [Music] s of kilometers of dense jungle Thicket borders these Banks [Music] further north jungle surrenders to Savannah and becomes garamba National Park The Watershed that forms the Park's northern border feeds the Congo and his sister the Nile garamba three times the size of Los Angeles is one of Africa's First National Parks established by Belgium in 1938 [Music] but Decades of Civil War and poaching have not been kind to the inhabitants foreign grassland which attracts huge numbers of animals invites and even swifter enemy [Music] when fire comes to garamba the breeze can whip the Flames into Frenzy foreign but the news isn't all bad The Blaze is a boom to Yellow build kites which flock to catch insects fleeing the fire it's a risky mission [Music] [Music] but it satisfies a hankering for a lightly toasted Locust like rain or the ebb and flow of the garamba river fire is simply part of the Savannah's rhythm [Music] during the current dry season the riverbed pokes through and that means cramped quarters for the 2000 or so hippos living here a single bull rules each herd but when the water's this low and space gets tight tensions build and to top it off this Bull's looking to mate his age and size wins him the top mating spot he picks the best place to impress the cows and secure his dominance hippos spend most of the day keeping cool in the water they're buoyant and can walk along the bottom but can't really swim the bull Parks himself by the bank where he can mate without the cows getting in over their heads when he wants to mark his territory the poop hits the fan [Applause] he makes his point Among The Herd when dusk Falls the hungry herd wants to leave the water to graze but the stubborn old bull blocks their way a Young upstart Moves In to challenge his authority and take the boss down a peg game on the Challenger faces off against the old bull foreign [Music] foreign [Music] the unhappy hippo holds his ground his rival retreats all right the old bull proving he's still the chief hippo in charge confidently Lumbers onto land the others hesitate respecting his space eventually they'll follow his lead foreign [Music] they'll eat their fill of grasses then return to the water Before Sunrise in other parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo hippos face Extinction hunted and poached for meat and illegal ivory from their teeth here the garamba's remoteness protects them the garamba River Winds its way hundreds of kilometers through the Savannah before heading back into the jungle and joining the Congo [Music] foreign here the mighty River grows wider and more powerful a super highway fed by hundreds of tributaries that sand and sediment hitch a ride on over the centuries the Congo has grabbed it to build elaborate sand castles foreign [Music] the largest is almost as big as Munich The Towering island of sediment stands like a fortress [Music] small streams managed to cut into the remote Center but they pay a toll along the way the jungle plants steal almost all the nutrients in the water [Music] this is an island of small highly specialized creatures [Music] [Music] cut off from the nourishing Waters of the Congo the residents of this nutritional desert had to evolve cunning ways to scare up a decent meal [Music] foreign butterfly fish gets its name from its wing-like pectoral fins but this little fish owes its life to the shape of its body it's flat straight back lets it sneak close to the surface hunting without sticking out its eyes Focus ahead and above not down into the sides like most fish that lets it lurk under the foliage with its eye trained on what's above things are looking up for the butterfly fish the Congo Basin is the world's second largest rainforest many plants and animals in the Basin live nowhere else on Earth but this is no perfect Paradise just like any place else the law of the Jungle never changes kill or be killed the African mantis a hunter by stealth survives by blending in [Music] the taxi cab Beetle named for its markings doesn't realize he's about to pick up a fatal fear [Music] [Music] the Mantis lost the battle but not the war months ago she laid a walnut-sized egg Sac by the banks of the Stream [Music] hundreds of freshly hatched mantis nymphs greet the world each the size of an ant [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] very few of the nymphs will reach adulthood if food is scarce they may even devour each other while the butterfly fish patrols the surface the eel catfish prowls the lower depths but this catfish is no ordinary bottom feeder if it can't find food in the water it'll dine out it's flexible in another remarkable way too [Music] [Music] thank you an extraordinarily Supple spine enables the eel catfish to bend its head down to eat a trick most fish can't muster this kind of evolutionary breakthrough helped vertebrates conquer the land the Congo Basin is like a giant lab for evolution the dense rainforest and the river's depth speed and rugged landscape keep species apart so they adapt unique ways to thrive in small niches west of kisangani the Congo River Embraces hundreds of sand Islands over the next 1700 kilometers dense forest thickets grow right up to the water's edge [Music] this is the zanga river as it merges into the Congo even in a part of the world brimming with life the zanga rainforest takes the prize with more species of plants and animals than almost anywhere else besides providing an all-you-can-eat salad bar to gorillas and others rainforests generate more than 20 percent of the world's oxygen in a forest of herbivores plants need to defend themselves they wage a bitter battle by tasting bad or being toxic or hard to digest sometimes it works but in the war between plants and animals one heavyweight as a secret weapon [Music] along the Sango River the dense and seemingly endless jungle gives way to a huge clearing the jungabye the village of elephants forest dwellers travel far to visit this Dusty 125 square meter plane [Music] unlike most elephants these African Forest elephants have almost completely straight tusks to keep from getting tangled in the dense forest foreign the wide open space or even the water aren't what draws them here they've come to jungabai for one thing [Applause] the mud jungabai is like a spa with minerals and salts the animals need for their health but can't get enough of from the plants or the water the minerals in the mud also neutralize caustic compounds in some of the plants they eat an antidote to their poison the elephant squabble over the best places it's not just the large ones who bicker the young want their share too mothers and their calves try to keep clear of the commotion while still managing to scarf up their minerals foreign the grass also contains the nutrients the elephants need this young calf could use a bit of practice those who haven't mastered the grass cutting technique simply vacuum up the minerals from the surface here it's perfectly okay if the kids eat dirt elephants aren't the only Foodies to find this spot they're just the biggest there's plenty of dirt to go around [Music] foreign [Music] as the Congo Ripples and Roars over its 4 800 kilometer course changing everything in its path it can often be harsh but it always takes care of those tough enough to survive [Music] [Music]

Channel: Free Documentary - Nature

Views: 1,924,714

Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), nature documentary, Free Documentary Nature, Nature, Wildlife Documentary, Wildlife, Animals, Animal Documentary, Wild Congo, Cong River, Congo Basin, Congo River Documentary, Congo Documentary, Congo Wildlife, King Kong's Lair, King Kong, Lowland Gorilla, Lowland Gorilla Documentary, Gorilla Documentary, Congo Gorilla, Africa Wildlife, Wildlife Africa

Id: _wZoM4L9qmc

Length: 48min 0sec (2880 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 07 2022