Okavango • 2016 • episode "S1E3" • Earth's Greatest Spectacles

Category: Nature

The Okavango Delta is one of the world's largest inland deltas - and supports a variety of life as rich as any you will see in Africa. Yet this lush wetland of islands and lagoons lies in the middle of the vast, featureless Kalahari Desert. This is the story of how it happens. Following groups of wildlife, including hippos, baboons, catfish, kingfishers, leopards, warthogs and elephants, the film reveals how the yearly flood transforms the landscape and impacts their lives. But more surprisingly, it reveals how, with the help of termites and hippos, the flood actually creates this extraordinary delta in the first place.

Make a donation

Buy a brother a hot coffee? Or a cold beer?

Hope you're finding these documentaries fascinating and eye-opening. It's just me, working hard behind the scenes to bring you this enriching content.

Running and maintaining a website like this takes time and resources. That's why I'm reaching out to you. If you appreciate what I do and would like to support my efforts, would you consider "buying me a coffee"?

Donation addresses

BTC: bc1q8ldskxh4x9qnddhcrgcun8rtvddeldm2a07r2v

ETH: 0x5CCAAA1afc5c5D814129d99277dDb5A979672116

With your donation through , you can show your appreciation and help me keep this project going. Every contribution, no matter how small, makes a significant impact. It goes directly towards covering server costs.

Earth's Greatest Spectacles • 2016 • 3 episodes •

New England

New England is the stage for the most incredible colour change on earth, when the vivid greens of summer give way to the gold’s and reds of autumn. This film reveals how this vibrant fiesta is created by the battles between the trees and the forests' inhabitants. Moose, chipmunks, rattlesnakes and a bizarre mixture of caterpillars all play a crucial role, but surprisingly the forest itself was made so colourful thanks to a combination of hard work by beavers, ants and humans.

2016 • Nature

Svalbard

Svalbard in the Arctic spends many months of the year in complete darkness, an unrelenting frozen winter with temperatures down to -40 Celsius. But when the sun finally reappears, the landscape magically transforms from an ice world into a rich tundra, full of exotic plants, birds, arctic foxes, polar bears, walrus and reindeer. This film captures the changes in all their glory and reveals how this transformation is only possible thanks to some bizarre micro-organisms that feed on ice and the stunning abilities of migrating birds.

2016 • Nature

Okavango

The Okavango Delta is one of the world's largest inland deltas - and supports a variety of life as rich as any you will see in Africa. Yet this lush wetland of islands and lagoons lies in the middle of the vast, featureless Kalahari Desert. This is the story of how it happens. Following groups of wildlife, including hippos, baboons, catfish, kingfishers, leopards, warthogs and elephants, the film reveals how the yearly flood transforms the landscape and impacts their lives. But more surprisingly, it reveals how, with the help of termites and hippos, the flood actually creates this extraordinary delta in the first place.

2016 • Nature

You might also like

Power of Plants

Power of Plants

How have some plants managed to live 5000 years? They are masters of photosynthesis and have survived on trips into space. In fact, there are now "plantimals". Perhaps it is time we learned more from plants about our world and how to live in it as partners.

S1E3 • Invisible Nature • 2017 • Nature

Fantastic Beasts: A Natural History

Fantastic Beasts: A Natural History

Stephen Fry embarks on a fascinating journey to discover the stories behind some of the world's most fantastic beasts. Mythical creatures have fascinated us for thousands of years, but why are we still captivated by these mythological beasts, even in this modern age of science and technology? With the help of scientists, historians, writers and film-makers, Stephen finds out why the world of magical animals is more popular today than ever before. By digging for dragons, meeting distant relatives of the unicorn or swimming with an unlikely inspiration for mermaids, Stephen uncovers the secrets behind some of our best-loved mythical creatures, and reveals the real-life beasts that have inspired some of the greatest legends in history, from rhinos to narwhals, vervet monkeys to manatees.

2022 • Nature

Grasslands

Grasslands cover one quarter of all land and support the vast gatherings of wildlife, but to survive here animals must endure the most hostile seasonal changes on the planet. From Asia's bizarre-looking Saiga antelope to the giant anteaters of Brazil, grassland animals have adapted in extraordinary ways to cope with these extremes. In the flooded Okavango, lions take on formidable buffalo in epic battles, on the savannah bee-eaters take advantage of elephants to help catch insects and, on the freezing northern tundra, caribou embark on great migrations shadowed by hungry Arctic wolves.

S1E5 • Planet Earth II • 2016 • Nature

Planet Ant: Life Inside the Colony

Planet Ant: Life Inside the Colony

A fascinating look at the secret, underground world of the ant colony in a way that has never been seen before. At its heart is a massive, full-scale ant nest, specially-designed and built to allow cameras to see its inner workings. The nest is a new home for a million-strong colony of leafcutter ants from Trinidad. For a month, entomologist Dr George McGavin and leafcutter expert Professor Adam Hart capture every aspect of the life of the colony, using time-lapse cameras, microscopes, microphones and radio tracking technology. The ants instantly begin to forage, farm, mine and build. Within weeks, the colony has established everything from nurseries to gardens to graveyards. The programme explores how these tiny insects can achieve such spectacular feats of collective organisation. This unique project reveals the workings of one of the most complex and mysterious societies in the natural world and shows the surprising ways in which ants are helping us solve global problems.

2013 • Nature

Creepy Crawlies

Creepy Crawlies

The ultimate guide to invertebrates, with key biological themes to show a wide range of species. Chapter 1: The Bug Buffet Bugs are the base of the food chain, food for just about everything else, but to start the process, they too must eat. Just like the bigger animals of the plains, there are grazers, scavengers, and predators that hunt them, termites growing fungi, and bees making their own honey. Chapter 2: Breeding Rutting deer and flirting love birds might be what we think of with animal courtship, but even bugs need to breed, and they face all the same challenges of winning a mate and raising their young. Some display, some caress, others fight. There are even insects that care for their young. Chapter 3: Army Few creatures have complex levels of regimented society as social insects. Bees, termites, ants, and wasps can form armies to help them build elaborate homes, defend their territories, grow their own food, raise their young and hunt their prey.

2021 • Nature

Invasion of the Land

Invasion of the Land

The next instalment describes the move from water to land. The fish that did so may have been forced to because of drought, or chose to in search of food. Either way, they eventually evolved into amphibians. Such creatures needed two things: limbs for mobility and lungs to breathe. The coelacanth is shown as a fish with bony fins that could have developed into legs, and the lungfish is able to absorb gaseous oxygen. However, evidence of an animal that possessed both is presented in the 450 million-year-old fossilised remains of a fish called a eusthenopteron. Three groups of amphibians are explored.

6/13 • Life on Earth • 1979 • Nature