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The Cape of Good Hope,
on Africa's southerly tip.

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Here, two great seas meet.
One, the warm Indian Ocean,

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the other, the chilly Atlantic.

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And as they mingle,
so they create a billowing cloak

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that drapes the summit
of Table Mountain.

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Spectacular though this is,
the mountain's cloudy covering

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is only a hint of the
profound influence

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that these two very different oceans
have on the fortunes of life here.

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And not just here at the Cape,

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but across the length and breadth
of southern Africa.

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Two thousand miles
north from the Cape,

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beneath this sandy beach,
new life is stirring.

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Hundreds of baby green turtles

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emerge like a torrent from
the safety of their nest.

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Each one, just seven
centimetres long,

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must make a hundred-metre
sprint down the beach.

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From the moment they hatch,

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they're driven by an instinctive
urge to run to the sea.

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Few creatures start life with
the odds for success

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so heavily stacked against them.

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Yellow-billed kites.

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Pied crows.

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But so many of these hatchlings
appear together,

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that predators can't catch them all.

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Last out,
this baby might seem doomed.

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But struggling out late could just
give her a chance.

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The crows seem insatiable.

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Even those that reach
the sea aren't safe.

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This female has to make a dash
for it.

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She's still in danger,
and not just from above.

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A ghost crab may be smaller
than the hatchling,

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but it has the strength to drag
her into its lair.

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Not this time.

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At last, the sea.

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She has to catch a breath
if she's not to drown,

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but the pounding waves make it
desperately difficult.

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Beyond the surf, calmer water,

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but even here, the hatchling
is not out of danger.

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She dives.

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Just in time.

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Only one hatchling in a thousand
will survive to adulthood,

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but if she does,
she may live for 80 years.

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For now,
the ocean is there to be explored.

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As the hatchling
disappears into the deep blue,

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she swims into the waters of one
the planet's most powerful currents.

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The Agulhas.

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The Agulhas sweeps south
towards the Cape,

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transporting a hundred billion
gallons of warm water every day.

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These tropical seas are so warm,
they evaporate on an enormous scale.

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Water vapour rises until,
at altitude,

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it cools and condenses into clouds.

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As the clouds drift inland,

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they bring rain to one of the least-
explored corners of our planet.

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The mountains of Mozambique.

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THUNDERCLAP

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This the wettest place
in southern Africa.

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Decades of civil war have
kept travellers away

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from this little-known land.

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It was satellite mapping that
revealed the full extent

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of the forest that grows here,

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so now it's known to outsiders
as the Google rainforest.

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It could also be called
the butterfly forest.

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After the rains, butterflies have
emerged together in huge numbers.

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As soon as their wings dry out,
they will take to the air.

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Their goal? To find a mate.

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But how?

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There may be thousands close by,
but the foliage is so thick,

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it's difficult for them
to find each other.

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They have a remarkable solution.

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They follow rivers upstream
and travel to higher ground.

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The journey can take
hours of determined flying.

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Eventually they emerge into the only
open space there is.

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The treeless peak of Mount Mabu.

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Up here, free from the confines
of the forest,

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they hold a butterfly ball.

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Now the butterflies have
all the space they need

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for their aerobatic courtship.

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The male's strategy is simple.

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Fly higher and faster
than the competition,

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and just maybe you'll
win a virgin female.

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This spectacular gathering,
unseen by outsiders until now,

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happens for just half an hour
each morning

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and for just a few weeks
in the year.

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Once mated, the females descend back
to the rainforest to lay their eggs.

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A forest that only exists
because of moisture rising

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from the warm Agulhas current

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hundreds of miles away
in the Indian Ocean.

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The rainwater now flows southwards
from Mozambique's highest peaks

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to the lowlands of the Eastern Cape.

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And where the land flattens,
rivers slow,

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creating a vast swamp
50 miles across.

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This is Gorongosa.

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Here, all kinds of creatures
come to catch fish.

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Whiskered catfish work as a team.

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They take a gulp of air
at the surface

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and then belch it out underwater
to create a net of bubbles.

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And that traps little fish.

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There are fish for everyone.

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And each species has its own
technique for catching them.

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It's all very well
having a big beak,

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but you've still got
to know how to use it.

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This young pelican
has a lot to learn...

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..and not long to do so.

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Maybe, like the catfish,
teamwork is the answer.

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It's certainly working
for the flock,

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and this pelican seems to be
getting the hang of it.

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But surely it can't swallow
that catfish?

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Trying to was a mistake.

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The rainwater,
briefly held in Gorongosa's swamp,

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has now been enriched
with silt and sand.

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All down this coast, sediment-laden
rivers - the Zambezi, the Limpopo,

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the Save - drain back to the sea,

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and there they meet
the Agulhas current.

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And what happens to all that sand?

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Over the millennia,
the Agulhas has worked it

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into a complex underwater landscape.

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This vast sand sculpture is
the Bazaruto Archipelago,

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the oldest of its kind in the world.

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It may look like paradise,
but living here is not easy.

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For 100,000 years, the Agulhas
Current has battered

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these submerged dunes
with underwater sandstorms.

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But where the water is deep enough
to escape these storms,

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nutrients carried from Africa's
interior fuel an explosion of life.

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A rare oceanic hunter rules here.

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Giant Kingfish.

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As big as a man,
and weight for weight,

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one of the most powerful fish
in the sea.

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Despite their size, they're
extraordinarily agile when hunting.

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Normally kingfish are solitary,

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but for just a few weeks each year,
they gather at places

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like Bazaruto and prepare
for an extraordinary journey.

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One that will take them far inland.

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The Mtentu River.

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A king of kingfish
leads them upstream.

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As they travel
further into fresh water,

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they seem to change from aggressive
hunters into dedicated pilgrims.

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Now,
many miles from their natural home,

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and in response to an unknown cue,
they stop and begin to circle.

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Other marine fish that migrate
upriver usually do so in order

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to breed, but there's no evidence
that these kingfish spawn up here.

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Neither do they hunt.
So what are they doing?

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In truth, the purpose of this
strange behaviour is still unknown.

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Within a few weeks,

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they will retrace their journey back
to the ocean.

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The lives of kingfish, like those
of turtles and butterflies

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and pelicans, are influenced
by the Agulhas Current.

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But that influence can only reach
so far.

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And this is why.

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The Drakensberg mountains.

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Here, local people say that the
vultures soar so high,

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they can see into the future.

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These sheer cliffs,
rising to over 3,000 metres,

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hold back the advancing rain clouds

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and, as a result, the land beyond
them is starved of water.

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This is the greatest
expanse of sand in the world.

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A seemingly-endless desert

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that is the vast parched
centre of Southern Africa.

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Thousands of miles to the west,

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where this desert meets the Atlantic
Ocean, another current prevails.

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But the Benguela Current,
surging up the west side of Africa,

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has a very different character.

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It's extremely cold,
full of nutrients

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and it's thronged with life.

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A great white shark.

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They can raise their body
temperature to 10 degrees

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above that
of the surrounding sea.

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But doing so requires an enormous
amount of high-grade fuel.

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So this is a great bonanza
for them - the body of a dead whale.

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The carcass will draw in every great
white for miles around.

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And here, off Cape Town,
that means a lot of sharks.

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Instead of feeding in a frenzy,

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these sharks have rather refined
table manners.

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They swim side-by-side to get
the measure of each other.

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Then each takes its turn.

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This female is the biggest,
so she eats first.

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The next only feeds
when she gives way.

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The waters of the Benguela
are so rich,

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they support more great white sharks
than any other seas on the planet.

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And they are so cold,

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they attract some surprising
creatures to these African shores.

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Penguins.

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African penguins.

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This female is returning
to relieve her partner.

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Of course there's no ice here,

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but these rocks can be
almost as slippery.

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But there are more serious obstacles

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than the slippery rocks
awaiting them.

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It's his turn to feed, so he leaves
her to look after their eggs.

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Now she must tackle a problem
faced by no other kind of penguin.

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For the next 10 days,
she must protect her eggs

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from the African sun.

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A dense coat of feathers

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that keeps her warm in cold seas
now stifles her.

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On these exposed rocks,

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she must shade her eggs
instead of keeping them warm.

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Everything here seems
the wrong way round.

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For some, the soaring
temperature is too much.

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A neighbour deserts his nest.

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His egg will not survive.

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He's not the only one to give up.

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Some years,
not a single chick is reared.

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Penguins are adapted

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to withstand temperatures
of 40 degrees below zero,

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not 40 degrees above.

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Now, at the hottest part of the day,
the very worst time,

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her chicks are hatching.

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Just when they need her most, she's
reaching the limit of her endurance.

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After 10 days of intensive fishing,

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the chicks' father comes back
to take his turn at the nest.

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But will he be too late?

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He greets his young for the very
first time.

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The coolness of the Benguela Current
brought the penguins here

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but that very coolness
is a great disadvantage,

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because it generates little rain.

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It can, however, produce
moisture in a different form.

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A thick blanket of fog
rolls in from the sea

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and condenses on this thirsty land.

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And each year, the desert bursts
into life with a dazzling display.

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Water is so scarce that this
show will not last long,

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so plants compete to attract
their pollinators with colour.

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Here in Namaqualand,
a 600-mile strip of coastal desert

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becomes carpeted with blooms.

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The morning sun opens
a Namaqua daisy,

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and reveals a male monkey beetle
asleep inside.

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Nights here are so cold that monkey
beetles shelter within

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the closed-up petals of the daisies.

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The habit brings benefits
to both sides.

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The beetle is kept warm
and the flower gets pollinated.

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But now the beetle has urgent
business. He must find a mate.

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As he searches, he hops from bloom
to bloom, pollinating each in turn.

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At last he spots a potential mate.

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A golden princess.

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But here comes trouble.

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A rival.

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There's no time for introductions.

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But he's been too slow.

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The rivals immediately
begin to brawl.

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The female will only mate inside the
daisy,

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so they wrestle for
possession.

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They're so engrossed in fighting,
they've pushed her off.

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The challenger is ejected.

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The winner wastes no time
before getting back to business.

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At last!

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00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:27,560
Now there will be a new
generation of monkey beetles

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00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:30,280
to pollinate these
Namaqualand flowers.

247
00:38:38,520 --> 00:38:41,840
For most of the year this land
is desperately dry,

248
00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:43,840
but just occasionally,

249
00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:46,600
brief, violent storms
sweep in from the cold ocean.

250
00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:04,040
Springbok have been roaming
this desert for many months,

251
00:39:04,040 --> 00:39:08,280
searching for one of these rare
and highly localised downpours.

252
00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:34,880
The grass is sprouting.

253
00:39:39,560 --> 00:39:41,480
And that is worth celebrating!

254
00:39:54,280 --> 00:39:58,640
If you're a springbok,
that means pronking.

255
00:40:14,840 --> 00:40:22,840
MUSIC: "Waltz of the Flowers"
by Tchaikovsky

256
00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:26,240
We still don't know exactly why
they do this.

257
00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:31,960
The simplest answer is that
they're dancing for joy.

258
00:41:53,960 --> 00:41:56,280
Africa's most southerly tip.

259
00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:02,600
This is where the two great ocean
currents, the warm Agulhas

260
00:42:02,600 --> 00:42:05,680
and the cold Benguela,
crash into one another.

261
00:42:10,760 --> 00:42:15,080
And this collision, in itself,
draws in life in abundance.

262
00:42:29,880 --> 00:42:33,880
A super-pod of hunting dolphins,
5,000 strong.

263
00:42:48,840 --> 00:42:50,160
And shadowing them...

264
00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:56,080
..Africa's biggest predator.

265
00:42:59,240 --> 00:43:00,640
A Bryde's whale.

266
00:43:03,080 --> 00:43:05,960
This female is 15 metres long

267
00:43:05,960 --> 00:43:09,200
and weighs more than a whole
family of elephants.

268
00:43:21,120 --> 00:43:24,760
The dolphins are in pursuit
of sardines -

269
00:43:24,760 --> 00:43:26,440
millions of them.

270
00:43:29,720 --> 00:43:33,560
But these cold-water fish
are heading towards an impenetrable

271
00:43:33,560 --> 00:43:38,120
barrier of warm water that they will
not cross, the Agulhas Current.

272
00:43:42,600 --> 00:43:43,760
They're trapped.

273
00:43:49,720 --> 00:43:52,000
And that gives the whale her chance.

274
00:44:12,720 --> 00:44:14,600
But the sardines are so speedy

275
00:44:14,600 --> 00:44:17,680
that the whale only catches a few
with each pass.

276
00:44:26,040 --> 00:44:28,160
More and more hunters arrive.

277
00:44:37,840 --> 00:44:41,720
The whale needs the other hunters
to push the fish upwards,

278
00:44:41,720 --> 00:44:43,600
forcing them against the surface.

279
00:44:55,080 --> 00:44:57,040
Now they have nowhere to escape.

280
00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:17,480
With each lumbering turn
she loses precious time,

281
00:45:17,480 --> 00:45:19,960
time that favours the more nimble.

282
00:45:39,160 --> 00:45:41,080
The Bryde's whale probably knows

283
00:45:41,080 --> 00:45:44,320
that this opportunity will last less
than five minutes.

284
00:45:46,160 --> 00:45:50,320
And with the last
few lunges, she finally cashes in.

285
00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:45,600
The forces that triggered
this great event

286
00:46:45,600 --> 00:46:48,080
have also shaped the fortunes
of life

287
00:46:48,080 --> 00:46:51,000
far beyond this particular
battleground.

288
00:46:54,360 --> 00:46:57,920
Without these currents,
Southern Africa would be a desert.

289
00:47:03,120 --> 00:47:07,200
But combined, the very different
powers of the Agulhas

290
00:47:07,200 --> 00:47:09,840
and the Benguela have transformed
the Cape

291
00:47:09,840 --> 00:47:11,920
into a land where life can flourish.

292
00:47:37,680 --> 00:47:40,840
The Comoro Islands
off Africa's east coast

293
00:47:40,840 --> 00:47:43,200
are a haven for green turtles.

294
00:47:48,040 --> 00:47:51,560
Every year, a million turtles
hatch on these beaches,

295
00:47:51,560 --> 00:47:56,080
but the chances of any one of them
surviving is tiny.

296
00:48:05,080 --> 00:48:09,120
The Africa team came here to try
and capture the dramatic

297
00:48:09,120 --> 00:48:11,960
first few minutes in the lives
of these baby turtles.

298
00:48:13,960 --> 00:48:17,840
It was to be both a technical, and
surprisingly emotional challenge.

299
00:48:28,680 --> 00:48:31,600
It's only when you get down on the
eye level of the baby turtle

300
00:48:31,600 --> 00:48:34,400
that you realise what an enormous
journey it's got to make

301
00:48:34,400 --> 00:48:36,800
down over the beach, and it really
is quite epic.

302
00:48:39,080 --> 00:48:42,280
That's fine.
Oh, yeah, that's lovely.

303
00:48:42,280 --> 00:48:45,240
It's using all these complicated,
heavy bits of equipment

304
00:48:45,240 --> 00:48:46,880
which hopefully will enable us

305
00:48:46,880 --> 00:48:50,120
to get into the world of a turtle
which is just a few inches long.

306
00:49:00,600 --> 00:49:03,240
As they break out of all the soft
sand, they hit the hard sand

307
00:49:03,240 --> 00:49:05,360
and that's where the real
sprint takes place.

308
00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:08,640
They must be desperate to hit that
water,

309
00:49:08,640 --> 00:49:10,920
because you can see the sea's
just over the horizon.

310
00:49:10,920 --> 00:49:12,520
We're following them
all the way down

311
00:49:12,520 --> 00:49:15,200
and you do kind of get involved
with them and cheering them on.

312
00:49:19,200 --> 00:49:20,960
OK, slow down a bit. Slow down.

313
00:49:24,600 --> 00:49:27,080
And suddenly all these crows
come flocking in

314
00:49:27,080 --> 00:49:31,160
and start picking them off and you
just think, that's just so unfair.

315
00:49:32,520 --> 00:49:34,720
Lots more coming in.
Just loads coming in now.

316
00:49:39,120 --> 00:49:40,400
I do, God, I feel for them.

317
00:49:40,400 --> 00:49:42,000
You know it's really quite upsetting

318
00:49:42,000 --> 00:49:44,440
and particularly when you're
looking through the camera

319
00:49:44,440 --> 00:49:47,200
and I'm just filling frame with
a turtle running down the beach,

320
00:49:47,200 --> 00:49:50,440
then suddenly from nowhere, a beak
comes in and whoosh, that's it.

321
00:49:52,840 --> 00:49:54,160
That turtle's no more.

322
00:50:00,040 --> 00:50:03,640
The turtles that escape the perils
of the beach

323
00:50:03,640 --> 00:50:06,240
still have to face pounding surf.

324
00:50:12,880 --> 00:50:15,000
But, at last, they're
in their element.

325
00:50:21,080 --> 00:50:23,680
More than can be said for the crew.

326
00:50:23,680 --> 00:50:26,080
They're faster than you,
aren't they? Yep.

327
00:50:26,080 --> 00:50:27,520
It's a bit embarrassing.

328
00:50:28,800 --> 00:50:31,040
Beaten by something
that's less than a day old.

329
00:50:34,040 --> 00:50:36,120
When you see hatchlings
get off the beach

330
00:50:36,120 --> 00:50:39,720
and going in the white water, you'd
think they'd just get obliterated.

331
00:50:43,160 --> 00:50:46,480
They just punch through the water -
they do get flung around

332
00:50:46,480 --> 00:50:49,280
but then they just right themselves,
keep on swimming and they're

333
00:50:49,280 --> 00:50:52,720
ahead of you, coming out the back
of the wave and it's amazing.

334
00:50:55,280 --> 00:50:58,080
You're seeing all these baby turtles
getting picked off,

335
00:50:58,080 --> 00:51:00,520
left, right and centre,
but they just keep going.

336
00:51:00,520 --> 00:51:02,280
They are just so resilient.

337
00:51:09,080 --> 00:51:12,280
And that made what happened next
so distressing.

338
00:51:16,040 --> 00:51:18,760
A particularly high spring tide
flooded the beach.

339
00:51:20,680 --> 00:51:24,480
Any baby turtles still in their
nests would be lucky to survive.

340
00:51:25,840 --> 00:51:27,840
See it bubbling out as well.
Yeah. See the air.

341
00:51:30,720 --> 00:51:32,760
Well, it means that basically
anything below

342
00:51:32,760 --> 00:51:34,080
that line's going to be gone.

343
00:51:34,080 --> 00:51:35,640
Let's hope and pray it's not, but...

344
00:51:37,880 --> 00:51:39,960
As you say, we don't know,
let's wait and see.

345
00:51:49,160 --> 00:51:52,160
All across the world,
turtles are in decline.

346
00:51:53,360 --> 00:51:54,800
Their eggs are stolen,

347
00:51:54,800 --> 00:51:58,040
the adults are hunted
for their flesh

348
00:51:58,040 --> 00:51:59,840
and they drown in fishing nets.

349
00:52:01,840 --> 00:52:04,720
But here in the Comoros,
they have friends.

350
00:52:06,840 --> 00:52:08,480
It's amazing here in Itsamia.

351
00:52:08,480 --> 00:52:11,320
It's just a really heartening
story of how the local people

352
00:52:11,320 --> 00:52:14,280
are doing everything
they can to protect sort of

353
00:52:14,280 --> 00:52:16,560
what they think of as their turtles.

354
00:52:18,000 --> 00:52:21,760
And some of the baby turtles
have survived the flood tide.

355
00:52:49,560 --> 00:52:52,320
The whole village
comes to help the hatchlings.

356
00:52:54,440 --> 00:52:56,640
But the most important effort is to
protect

357
00:52:56,640 --> 00:53:00,160
the adults from outsiders who would
hunt them for their meat.

358
00:53:04,400 --> 00:53:07,200
They've taken it upon themselves
to really police the beaches

359
00:53:07,200 --> 00:53:09,960
around here and make sure that
poaching is kept to a minimum.

360
00:53:13,880 --> 00:53:17,480
The selfless protection these people
provide means that this is

361
00:53:17,480 --> 00:53:20,120
one of the few places in the world
where turtle numbers

362
00:53:20,120 --> 00:53:22,120
are actually increasing.

363
00:53:25,720 --> 00:53:29,800
And remarkably, here in Itsamia,
the population has in fact

364
00:53:29,800 --> 00:53:31,840
doubled in the last decade.

365
00:53:38,640 --> 00:53:40,680
As the shoot was coming to the end,

366
00:53:40,680 --> 00:53:44,640
cameraman Kevin Flay noticed
that some of the turtles

367
00:53:44,640 --> 00:53:47,880
that made it through the surf
faced one last danger.

368
00:53:48,960 --> 00:53:51,240
I'm getting shots of a kite
which is flying down

369
00:53:51,240 --> 00:53:53,800
and taking turtles off the water
surface.

370
00:53:53,800 --> 00:53:56,120
That was a part of the story
we had to tell.

371
00:53:58,360 --> 00:54:02,400
The aim is for us to be underwater,

372
00:54:02,400 --> 00:54:04,640
looking straight up as this happens,

373
00:54:04,640 --> 00:54:10,080
and that's actually
really quite hard.

374
00:54:11,360 --> 00:54:14,160
OK. Three, two, one...

375
00:54:16,440 --> 00:54:18,800
Undeterred,
the crew got into position.

376
00:54:25,560 --> 00:54:27,000
There we go, the kite's up.

377
00:54:41,640 --> 00:54:44,240
You can't see where you're going
because my head's glued

378
00:54:44,240 --> 00:54:47,400
to this viewfinder, so I'm banging
into rocks and things like that.

379
00:54:47,400 --> 00:54:50,200
I'm really just trying to keep
the turtle in shot.

380
00:55:07,560 --> 00:55:08,920
Something came in then.

381
00:55:08,920 --> 00:55:12,240
She came in and swooped down
over the water's surface.

382
00:55:12,240 --> 00:55:13,880
And you could see
the kite from underwater?

383
00:55:13,880 --> 00:55:15,520
I could see it,
I could see the shape.

384
00:55:15,520 --> 00:55:17,040
In frame and you were running?
Yep.

385
00:55:20,920 --> 00:55:23,000
Didn't take the turtle.
Didn't take the turtle.

386
00:55:23,000 --> 00:55:25,480
Probably that's the best of both
worlds, because we got

387
00:55:25,480 --> 00:55:28,280
our lovely underwater shot of a kite
and the turtle gets away!

388
00:55:31,280 --> 00:55:33,600
This lucky hatchling
isn't the only one.

389
00:55:35,040 --> 00:55:38,600
With the help of the village
of Itsamia, thousands more

390
00:55:38,600 --> 00:55:40,960
have a chance to make it
to the open ocean.

391
00:55:42,480 --> 00:55:45,320
It's only really local populations
that can actually support

392
00:55:45,320 --> 00:55:47,000
and sustain this conservation work.

393
00:55:47,000 --> 00:55:51,080
If it comes from the roots upwards,
then it's got a chance of success.

394
00:55:51,080 --> 00:55:53,760
You know, I think it's amazing,
I really do, the fact that they

395
00:55:53,760 --> 00:55:56,600
do this and you know we should see
it more often around the world.

396
00:56:00,080 --> 00:56:03,040
It's hard not to admire these
extraordinary little creatures

397
00:56:03,040 --> 00:56:05,600
as they battle against such odds.

398
00:56:12,080 --> 00:56:14,920
This baby turtle
won't touch land again

399
00:56:14,920 --> 00:56:18,880
until she returns to the very same
island to lay her own eggs.

400
00:56:20,560 --> 00:56:23,600
With luck, she'll find the beach
is still protected

401
00:56:23,600 --> 00:56:26,960
by the people of Itsamia.

402
00:56:35,120 --> 00:56:38,920
Next time, the vast cauldron
of the Sahara Desert.

403
00:56:45,800 --> 00:56:47,360
This colossal wilderness

404
00:56:47,360 --> 00:56:50,320
covers one-third of the entire
African continent.

405
00:56:54,920 --> 00:56:58,000
To survive here, life is stretched
to its very limits.

406
00:57:03,840 --> 00:57:05,640
Simply being tough isn't enough.

407
00:57:06,800 --> 00:57:09,680
Only the most extraordinary
creatures will triumph.

408
00:57:36,640 --> 00:57:39,000
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

409
00:57:40,305 --> 00:57:46,922
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