Earth's great rivers...
..from source to sea...
..make extraordinary journeys.
Carving through continents...
..nurturing ancient civilisations...
..feeding and connecting life across our world.
From the mountains and deserts of the Nile...
..to the cities and mysterious swamps of the Mississippi...
..and the steaming waters and secret worlds
of the tropical Amazon...
..great rivers are the lifeblood of planet Earth.
One river stretches further than any other on the planet...
..the Nile.
Travelling all the way from the equator,
across North Africa, to the Mediterranean.
A river that flows through astonishing hidden worlds...
..changing at every twist and turn
of its 4,000-mile journey.
A river that gave rise to great civilisations.
Its miraculous waters bring life
to where there would otherwise be none.
The source of the Nile has been a mystery for thousands of years.
Ancient Greeks spoke of it beginning
in the legendary mountains of the moon.
A name now given to a mighty mountain range...
..the Rwenzoris.
Towering over Congo and Uganda,
this is the highest and most
spectacular source of the Nile.
Torrents of rain and snow melt tumble off colossal
peaks 5,000m high.
Water that will eventually reach the Mediterranean Sea...
..but first has to embark on an incredible voyage across some
of the wildest parts of Africa.
As these Nile headwaters start to gather on the lowlands below,
they move islands of floating papyrus.
This shifting world is problematic
for those trying to make their home here.
This is one of only 150 shoebill storks left in Uganda's wetlands.
As the landscape moves around him, spotting fish is a struggle.
Nosedives just result
in a mouthful of leaves.
But, in this confusing world,
he has found an unexpected solution.
He's on the search for one of the Nile's biggest bulldozers.
By following in its giant footsteps,
the shoebill is able to spot fish
in the channels
that the hippopotamus leaves behind.
In the Nile, there are
always opportunities for those
resourceful enough to find them.
As all these early streams of the Nile gather together...
..they create a world of equatorial lakes in the heart of Africa.
The greatest of all
is called Victoria...
..a lake almost the size of Ireland.
So vast that water is trapped here for an average of 23 years,
before continuing its journey.
Here, in November, the new moon triggers one of the Nile's
most remarkable events.
One that fisherman Charles has been waiting for
with some trepidation.
Many people die on this lake.
It's dangerous.
Tonight, there are 30,000 boats out on the water...
..and the fishermen are hopeful.
At last, tiny pupae emerge from the depths,
hatches flies and gather around the light.
The perfect lure for hungry fish.
This is what the fishermen have been waiting for...
..the catch of the year.
Charles and his crew paddle home, triumphant, and the air is thick
with billions of flies.
Swarms of a biblical scale sweep across the lake.
Spiralling 100 metres high
in their final act,
a mating dance.
Welcomed, not only by fishermen, but also by the islanders.
Within a few hours, these flies' short lives
will be over, so the game is on to catch as many as possible.
A fly burger has five times more protein than a beefburger.
Understanding the cycles of this changing world
is key to existence here.
Despite thousands of streams entering the lake,
there is only one way out for all this water...
..the aptly named White Nile.
Most stay away from its perilous rapids.
But, for local mum Amina, the turbulent water
provides a lifeline.
She left school at 16 to work on her small patch of land,
but then a chance meeting changed her life forever.
I was in the village and I saw a white guy from the UK
and I was like, "Can you take me kayaking?"
And he was like, "Sure."
And that time, I didn't know anything about kayaking.
Within six months, she got a job as a kayak guide and is now able
to support her family of ten.
And today, she's trying to prove her skills in an endurance
race against world-class athletes, in a borrowed kayak,
and using a home-made paddle.
25 billion litres of water cascade down these rapids each day.
It's not long before Amina falls prey to the Nile's ferocious power.
If you go upside down, it's hard sometimes
because my wrists are a bit short, so, after seconds,
I am finished.
But Amina is nothing if not determined.
Because I am born from the Nile, nothing I can't do.
It's such a dangerous stretch of river
that competitors have to stay in pairs for safety.
When we are racing, you need to be close
so that you can save your friend if something happens.
Especially when taking on Itanda Falls.
Class six rapids, the most dangerous white water in the world.
Itanda can make me nervous because these are grade six,
it's really big,
and you are like, "Oh, my God. How am I going to do this?"
Exhausted after three hours of paddling,
Amina is approaching the finish.
Amina, go! Amina, our enemies are closer!
We go, we go! They are coming, go hard, go hard!
Amina and her partner are the first ladies team across the finish line.
The most time when I'm happy, when I'm winning,
when I'm, like, the champion,
that's why I'm called the Queen of the Nile.
Beyond these treacherous rapids, the Nile has created a barrier
even Amina can't pass.
The 50-metre-wide river is squeezed through a seven-metre chasm...
..creating one of the most powerful waterfalls in the world.
Murchison Falls.
A gateway into a wild, Savannah world.
250 miles from its equatorial beginnings,
the Nile enters the land of the giants.
HIPPOS GROAN
Crocodiles up to six metres long
await carrion delivered by the river.
The Nile is the only water for miles around...
..a magnet for Africa's biggest game.
ELEPHANT TRUMPETS
This crocodile mother
has found a secluded spot to bury her eggs.
And for two long months, she has fasted,
waited, watching over them,
keeping them safe.
But she cannot hide their scent.
A Nile monitor lizard.
An egg thief.
Out of the water,
the monitor is the faster of the two reptiles...
..and knows it.
It also seems aware of the crocodile's Achilles' heel.
On land,
crocodiles can die from heat exhaustion.
Leaving the mother with a terrible dilemma.
The Nile is the only place where she can lower her body
temperature to safe levels.
If she leaves now,
her brood will be devoured.
The mother is now at near lethal temperature.
Finally, she has to choose her own life
over that of her young.
And hope that the monitors won't finish all 60 of her eggs.
But the Nile's crowded banks are home to other hungry mouths.
Marauding baboons raid what's left of the undefended nest.
BABOON SHRIEKS
Taking every last one.
Only 2% of Nile crocodile eggs
reach adulthood, due to the hordes
of hungry animals drawn together by the Nile.
Once, this was the country home of brutal dictator Idi Amin.
Known as the Butcher of Uganda,
Amin ordered the deaths of 300,000 people...
..and encouraged hunting parties, devastating to Uganda's wildlife.
Since his exile in 1979,
this lodge has supposedly been uninhabited.
But local whispers now speak of strange goings on
and of new guests...
..who play by different rules.
Filmed for the very first time,
these ruins are starting to reveal their secrets.
A family of warthog
have taken up residence in what was once the kitchen...
..whilst the baboon troop
have opted for a room with a Nile view.
As night closes in...
..the warthog family snuggle up...
WARTHOG GRUNTS
..whilst others are just waking.
A pair of porcupine are denning under the stairs...
..while some bats are reconsidering their choice of roommate.
The most exclusive name in the visitor's book
is the rare pangolin.
It's best to stick close to mum.
But one of her piglets
is bolder and more curious than the others.
ANIMAL CHATTER
In this maze of rooms,
it's easy to lose your way.
Lost and alone, the piglet is sleeping.
LEOPARD PURRS SOFTLY
PIGLET SQUEALS
A piglet is usually an irresistible snack to a predator...
..but the leopard leaves it alone, unharmed.
WARTHOG GRUNTS
Mum calls in her piglets -
all have survived the night.
Could it be that there is some truth to the rumours after all
that, within these crumbling walls,
nature does play by different rules?
As the Nile leaves the Savannah,
it comes to a pivotal point in its voyage.
In south Sudan,
the land flattens and the river transforms
into a swamp the size of England.
This is the Sudd,
Arabic for barrier.
It's this sea of plants that prevented early explorers
from finding the Nile's source.
In this floating world,
you have to learn to navigate the maze.
ELEPHANT RUMBLES
For one animal in particular,
the river's swamplands are a haven.
ELEPHANTS TRUMPET
Nile elephants seem to spend more time in the water
than out of it.
But first they need to learn how to swim.
And baby swimming classes are a family occasion.
ELEPHANTS RUMBLE GENTLY
The biggest of the family go first,
leading the way.
With little legs, this youngster is quickly out of her depth.
Surprisingly buoyant for their great weight,
her body keeps her afloat...
..allowing her to practise her trunk control.
Trunks contain 40,000 muscles...
..making them excellent snorkels.
Once she masters the skill,
she will be able to freely roam across great areas,
using the Nile as a highway.
THEY TRUMPET PLAYFULLY
No other animal seems to celebrate the Nile's waters
as much as the elephant.
But in the Sudd,
over half of the Nile's waters are lost
to the scorching sun.
And it still has over 2,000 miles to go
and a mighty desert to cross.
But events hundreds of miles to the east
are about to change everything.
THUNDER RUMBLES
This region is known as Africa's water tower.
Storms in the Ethiopian highlands
fill the Nile's greatest tributary...
..the blue Nile.
Some believe that this is the biblical river
that flowed out from the Garden of Eden...
..and some of the world's oldest Christian communities
are found on its banks.
In the ancient city of Gondar,
the Ethiopian waters of the Blue Nile
are diverted for a religious ceremony of rebirth...
..an annual event called Timket...
..a Christian festival, where thousands gather to be baptised
in the Nile's sacred water.
For Thomas Alamu,
this is the most important event of the year.
The feeling after I've been baptised
is really more than anything.
I have no words even to explain the feelings that I would have.
Before the baptism takes place,
Thomas prays in an all-night vigil.
The crowd is waiting for the priest's sign
that the water is blessed.
When the cross takes the water,
it means the baptism is just beginning
and everybody will jump up and is baptised.
It's the biggest celebration of the year,
bigger than Christmas.
Worshippers believe that the Nile's waters
have extraordinary powers
of rebirth and transformation.
They feel like they are baptised and that's true.
When they get holy water,
they feel like their sins go away.
Thomas takes his time...
..savouring the moment.
After I jump into the water
and just coming out - wow!
It puts a smile on my face
and I feel amazing.
I don't know how I can explain it,
but I feel like I am a peaceful man.
As the Blue Nile leaves its sacred beginnings,
it transports its rich waters across Ethiopia.
Its banks are some of the most fertile land in Africa...
..making them the perfect place for a bird
who relies on the greenest plants to win a mate.
Male village weaver birds build intricate nests
and display their skills to scrutinising females.
The freshest, greenest nests
are the most alluring.
Females fly from nest to nest,
giving everything the complete once over.
Brown, older nests
are of little interest,
so these males will have to undo all of their hard work
and start over...
..whilst other males will use every trick in the book
to avoid a rebuild,
disguising the brown with fresh strands of vegetation.
Not that every female is so easily deceived.
This young weaver is trying to build one of his first ever nests.
It can take a couple of years to perfect
this intricate and delicate task
and, so far, this novice has only succeeded
in tying his foot to the papyrus.
A neighbour has particularly impressive building skills.
He makes trips to the water to get the very best nesting material
that the Blue Nile can provide.
And he has got the art of tying knots down to a T.
He's clearly a hit with the ladies.
This romantic interlude is the perfect opportunity
for the novice to steal some nest material.
But, however hard he tries,
he can't seem to get it right.
Perhaps next year he'll be more successful
in using the Blue Nile's fertile waters to his advantage.
The replenishing Blue Nile finally joins the depleted White Nile
1,000 miles downstream in Khartoum.
Their combined power allows them to tackle the final
but most challenging leg of the journey...
..crossing the Sahara,
an expanse of sand the size of China.
Life seems like an impossibility.
But the Nile persists...
..a fragile ribbon of blue in an ocean of sand.
The only permanent river in the whole of Egypt.
ANIMAL CALLS
One animal has an incredible ability
to take the Nile's water with it, wherever it goes.
Able to consume 200 litres in just three minutes,
camels can then go months without drinking again...
..allowing them to venture deep into the desert.
A moving oasis.
The perfect pack animal.
For over 2,000 years,
they have provided shepherds with transport, milk and food.
SHEPHERDS SING
But they also provide in another, more unexpected way.
Water is so sparse out here
that even the moisture inside camel dung is sought after.
Dung beetles...
..brought in from far and wide by their incredible sense of smell.
And once they have found it,
the game is on to seize the prize and run for the hills.
It's a feat equivalent to a human
pushing a car up a steep slope...
..but worth the exertion.
This may be the only moisture that this beetle comes across
in its entire lifetime.
But the human need for water is so critical
that civilisation in the Sahara is chained to the river.
And remarkably, life not only survives
along the Egyptian Nile,
it thrives.
95% of the country's population
live on the river's banks...
..making Cairo one of the most densely populated places on Earth.
Home to 20 million people,
it's the biggest desert city in the world.
Famous for its vibrant, exotic markets...
..with an abundance of produce grown from the Nile.
But the demands on the Nile's waters
are starting to exceed its supply.
By 2025,
Cairo is predicted to be running dry.
The Nile's future hangs in the balance...
..because, in this great desert,
the river's waters are everything.
Just as true now as it was 5,000 years ago,
when the Nile gave rise to one of the greatest kingdoms
in Earth's history...
..Ancient Egypt.
Lasting 3,000 years,
this was one of the world's longest-running civilisations.
Pharaohs claimed they had power over the Nile's waters
to win the obedience of the Egyptian people...
..who knew they were utterly dependent on the river's flow.
They called the Nile the Mother of all Men...
..and worshipped its miraculous ability to bring life
to where there would otherwise be none.
Still today, the Nile's incredible journey is celebrated
all along its great length...
..from its mountainous beginnings,
to its desert ending.
Those that live in the remarkable worlds of the Nile
use its waters in varied and astonishing ways.
And after 4,000 miles of voyaging through Africa,
the Nile finally completes its journey
in the Mediterranean Sea.
The miracle river that brings life to all it touches.
The Nile team were enticed to Uganda
by rumours that Idi Amin's ruined lodge
might still be harbouring guests.
Producer Lydia Baines takes her first steps inside.
It's quite incredible. This place is actually steeped in history
and you can feel it walking around.
It's quite mind-blowing.
Joining her are cameramen Stuart Trowell and Mark MacEwan.
This is the first film crew to enter these walls.
They have no idea what secrets or horrors the lodge maybe hiding.
Any of Africa's wildlife could be lurking inside.
Every corner you turn, your heart's racing,
just waiting to bump into something.
It is incredibly nerve-racking.
I did just hear something.
HE LAUGHS
They continue their search...cautiously.
I just put my head in here because we could hear some noise
and I was kind of expecting a hyena to come leaping out at me,
but the best thing is just round this corner.
It's a large porcupine and I've never really seen one
in the wild before, so this is quite exciting.
But what you don't want to do is get charged by one.
Oh, look, he's sleeping.
There's two porcupines.
It's not quite what I expected to find, if I'm honest.
And down here, a whole bat cave. Look, all the way down.
There are bats everywhere.
Convinced that these walls are harbouring more secrets,
the crew place 12 camera traps around the site.
But navigating all corners of the lodge is proving tricky.
I'm actually just drawing a map.
The main reason is, this place is absolutely huge.
It's kind of like a labyrinth.
There's so many nooks and crannies
that we kind of need to see what's around.
We've got no idea of what's actually living here and using this place,
so we've littered the place with camera traps
and we are marking down where we've put them.
And every time we find something or spot an animal,
we'll mark down on the map where each one was located.
It's too dangerous to remain here overnight,
so the team set the cameras and retreat.
Who knows what they'll find when they return at dawn?
Just come to collect our camera traps
and this one has been pretty totally destroyed.
They've done a pretty good job on chewing it up,
but there might be some stuff on the card.
The card still looks intact, so...
They were obviously enjoying themselves last night
at our expense.
The culprit should be revealed if the card still works.
SHE LAUGHS
I see him. That's the end of it.
This is what it must feel like to be eaten by a hyena.
He's lying down and chewing it.
SHE LAUGHS
Despite being outwitted by the hyenas,
the team is excited to find evidence of predators in the lodge.
So, now we are going to put out the more expensive cameras
and put them a little bit higher up,
so they don't get chewed, so they don't end up like this one.
But higher up doesn't work when you have baboons in town.
And it soon becomes clear that this hotel
has a large number of guests,
all with a taste for technology.
The wildlife are running rings around the film crew,
who are settling in to their daily checks and repositioning of cameras.
Just as the crew are starting to feel a little more at home,
they get a rather big surprise.
So, we've just got this camera trap fitted in,
and we just saw a hyena on the front doorstep looking out,
looking a bit worried.
We were wondering what it was and now a lion has just walked
straight into shot, through the front doorway.
And we know there's lions in this park,
but we did not think they'd be going near this building.
It's the first time we've seen or heard of one around here
and the rangers haven't seen lions around here before.
Had we known there'd been lions around here,
we might have been a little more cautious
coming into some of these rooms.
Every single clip, we go... This is 8.07, and we go to the next clip,
it's 8.09, and it's a hyena walking through the same area.
I've just never seen anything like it.
So many predators living in such close proximity.
We've just checked out the warthog room as well,
which is where the warthog has got all its babies,
and it's still there with its little ones, and these lions
have walked right past it - and those babies are noisy.
The lions haven't gone for them.
It's... I just don't understand what's going on
in this crazy, crazy place.
Both Stuart and I are sitting here,
and every time there's a rustle in the bushes, we're...
..just checking it out, cos it could be a lizard, it could be a lion.
Everyone is going to be a little bit more wary from here on in...
DISTANT BARKING
..especially as it's not only lion
that the team have started picking up on the cameras.
It's pretty amazing, we've put up a camera trap in a room
following the family of warthogs,
and that happened to catch a piglet in another room
and, out of nowhere, a leopard just walks in.
And it does nothing, just sniffs it and then just walks off,
which is crazy because it's an easy meal right there...
..but it just goes and leaves it.
This place is amazing.
But neither the leopards nor the team's presence
puts off the lodge's regular guests.
Quite the opposite.
It seems the crew have finally been accepted
and footage of over 20 species
starts coming in thick and fast.
So we've been putting camera traps out for quite a few days now
and getting hyenas, porcupines, a leopard,
warthog, mongoose, you name it.
I think the most incredible thing about all of these animals
being found together is they seem to be living in harmony.
It's like they have some sort of amnesty.
It's a hotel of peace, it seems like,
which is incredible, especially considering its history.
Although the goings on in these ruins are not easily explained,
through further investigations,
scientists are hoping to unravel the mysteries
of this intriguing animal hotel.
Next time...
..the massive, muddy Mississippi,
a vast river system
gathering water from nearly half of the USA.
From surprising beginnings in remote mountain streams,
to the steaming swamps of the deep South,
nothing connects and unites the states of America
like the Mississippi River.