1 00:00:38,254 --> 00:00:39,152 Africa. 2 00:00:40,790 --> 00:00:42,257 The heart of the world. 3 00:00:48,664 --> 00:00:51,428 An empire of space and light. 4 00:00:59,475 --> 00:01:04,777 Stand on its southern shores and picture the land rolling north. 5 00:01:15,991 --> 00:01:17,458 One continent. 6 00:01:17,727 --> 00:01:19,319 So many worlds. 7 00:01:40,716 --> 00:01:41,774 Africa. 8 00:01:41,917 --> 00:01:44,283 From the deep mystery of the forests... 9 00:01:46,255 --> 00:01:49,156 ...to the improbable vastness of deserts. 10 00:01:54,363 --> 00:01:56,763 ...folding into in the shadow of giants... 11 00:01:57,666 --> 00:01:58,826 mountains. 12 00:02:05,608 --> 00:02:07,701 A continent of waterways. 13 00:02:08,611 --> 00:02:10,579 Lakes as big as seas... 14 00:02:11,914 --> 00:02:13,779 ...the world's longest rivers. 15 00:02:20,055 --> 00:02:22,023 And the immense Savannah. 16 00:02:24,226 --> 00:02:27,992 ...the place from which our ancestors walked out across the earth. 17 00:02:36,438 --> 00:02:37,427 Africa. 18 00:02:37,773 --> 00:02:40,799 A continent from which so much life has sprung. 19 00:03:05,067 --> 00:03:06,830 Wild Africa. 20 00:03:11,607 --> 00:03:13,074 But the continent we see today 21 00:03:13,209 --> 00:03:16,906 is the culmination of 100 million years of change, 22 00:03:17,046 --> 00:03:20,209 since Africa broke free from the ancient world. 23 00:03:40,536 --> 00:03:42,595 And today, the same violent forces 24 00:03:42,705 --> 00:03:45,640 which shaped the continent are still at work, 25 00:03:45,774 --> 00:03:49,710 lifting great towers of rock high into the African sky. 26 00:03:54,850 --> 00:03:58,342 This is the story of Africa's mighty mountains... 27 00:03:58,487 --> 00:04:01,854 and the wildlife rising to meet their challenge. 28 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:39,684 Throughout Africa's history, 29 00:04:39,828 --> 00:04:42,353 massive forces deep within the earth have torn, 30 00:04:42,498 --> 00:04:45,092 crushed and buckled the landscape. 31 00:04:50,973 --> 00:04:53,965 The greatest scar of all is worn by Ethiopia, 32 00:04:54,109 --> 00:04:58,409 where molten lava - seeping to the surface over 70 million years 33 00:04:58,547 --> 00:05:03,109 has built a huge dome of rock a thousand kilometres wide 34 00:05:04,219 --> 00:05:05,982 the Roof of Africa. 35 00:05:14,263 --> 00:05:17,596 Today the fires have gone out in the Ethiopian highlands. 36 00:05:18,267 --> 00:05:23,432 Sun and rain - wind and ice now rip at their volcanic carcass. 37 00:05:36,118 --> 00:05:40,316 Four kilometres up, welcome to cold Africa. 38 00:05:48,430 --> 00:05:52,924 No ordinary baboons, these are geladas, unique to Ethiopia. 39 00:05:54,470 --> 00:05:56,995 They conquered these highlands from the surrounding plains 40 00:05:57,139 --> 00:05:58,868 a few million years ago... 41 00:06:00,109 --> 00:06:02,043 plenty of time to acclimatise. 42 00:06:15,024 --> 00:06:16,651 Protected from the cold in thick, 43 00:06:16,792 --> 00:06:19,784 furry capes, geladas are rugged mountaineers, 44 00:06:19,928 --> 00:06:24,126 roaming the moorlands in bands of up to 800 individuals. 45 00:06:31,907 --> 00:06:35,274 Most baboons enjoy a rich diet of plants and meat, 46 00:06:35,411 --> 00:06:39,404 but up here geladas have to get by on just mountain grass... 47 00:06:41,150 --> 00:06:42,583 ...a lot of mountain grass. 48 00:06:44,953 --> 00:06:49,014 Grass is so poor in calories geladas must spend most of the day grazing... 49 00:06:49,758 --> 00:06:52,454 shuffling along on their bottoms to keep warm. 50 00:06:59,768 --> 00:07:01,565 Geladas are very peaceful monkeys. 51 00:07:01,937 --> 00:07:04,804 In the cold it's a waste of valuable energy to quarrel. 52 00:07:05,307 --> 00:07:09,437 So instead they've developed more subtle ways to signal their mood. 53 00:07:17,820 --> 00:07:18,980 In gelada society, 54 00:07:19,121 --> 00:07:22,352 disputes are usually settled by just pulling a face. 55 00:07:33,936 --> 00:07:37,394 But each band of Geladas has up to 30 dominant males, 56 00:07:37,606 --> 00:07:39,938 and tensions do sometimes boil over. 57 00:08:13,442 --> 00:08:14,841 In the last million years, 58 00:08:14,977 --> 00:08:17,912 Ethiopia has been much colder than it is today. 59 00:08:18,881 --> 00:08:21,145 Glaciers once crowned these highlands... 60 00:08:21,583 --> 00:08:25,417 carving the brittle rock into a landscape of jagged spires... 61 00:08:25,721 --> 00:08:28,554 some falling 2 Kilometres to the base. 62 00:08:32,094 --> 00:08:34,221 Geladas are fearless rock-climbers. 63 00:08:35,164 --> 00:08:38,964 Each evening they move to the steepest cliffs for safety from predators, 64 00:08:39,101 --> 00:08:40,090 like leopards. 65 00:08:47,943 --> 00:08:51,401 While Gelada baboons have always lived in this region of Africa, 66 00:08:51,613 --> 00:08:55,276 it's only with time that they've been able to move up in the world. 67 00:09:02,257 --> 00:09:05,590 But Ethiopia hides many other unusual mountaineers... 68 00:09:05,727 --> 00:09:09,959 and some have colonised these peaks from much further afield. 69 00:09:15,871 --> 00:09:20,069 Walia ibex invaded Africa from Europe during recent Ice Ages, 70 00:09:20,209 --> 00:09:23,645 when the two continents were joined by a vast tundra. 71 00:09:26,381 --> 00:09:30,010 Today these rare goats survive only on the remotest pinnacles. 72 00:09:30,819 --> 00:09:32,753 In the breeding season the cliffs echo 73 00:09:32,888 --> 00:09:35,880 to the sound of males contesting dominance. 74 00:09:54,676 --> 00:09:56,337 These fights can be brutal... 75 00:09:56,478 --> 00:09:59,003 and occasionally to the death. 76 00:10:11,660 --> 00:10:15,619 Ethiopian thick-billed ravens are quick to take advantage. 77 00:10:26,541 --> 00:10:29,271 All that commotion doesn't go unnoticed. 78 00:10:35,117 --> 00:10:37,711 The Lammergeyer - or bearded vulture. 79 00:10:37,853 --> 00:10:39,047 A massive bird... 80 00:10:39,187 --> 00:10:42,884 soaring the mountain updrafts on wings two metres across. 81 00:10:52,934 --> 00:10:56,734 Despite their size, Lammergeyers don't rush in to feed. 82 00:10:57,406 --> 00:11:00,671 They bide their time, letting others do the messy work. 83 00:11:12,254 --> 00:11:15,587 Only when the meal is almost over, do they make their move. 84 00:11:43,752 --> 00:11:46,619 Lammergeyer literally means "lamb-catcher", 85 00:11:46,688 --> 00:11:49,816 but these formidable birds aren't that interested in meat. 86 00:11:50,892 --> 00:11:53,326 What they prefer, are bones... 87 00:12:07,909 --> 00:12:11,709 Bones as heavy as the bird itself are hauled off with ease. 88 00:12:15,250 --> 00:12:17,912 The Lammergeyer knows precisely what to do with them... 89 00:12:24,993 --> 00:12:25,960 bones away! 90 00:12:41,943 --> 00:12:45,606 With the bone shattered, the nutritious marrow is exposed. 91 00:12:47,983 --> 00:12:49,814 Chunks as big as your fist are dissolved 92 00:12:49,951 --> 00:12:53,079 in stomach juices as strong as an acid bath. 93 00:13:08,336 --> 00:13:09,826 Bone-breaking takes skill, 94 00:13:09,971 --> 00:13:12,633 and young birds need plenty of target practice. 95 00:13:16,144 --> 00:13:18,237 Many bones fall wide of the mark... 96 00:13:20,015 --> 00:13:21,346 ...others lack the height. 97 00:13:29,825 --> 00:13:33,784 It takes a full seven years for a Lammergeyer to get it right. 98 00:13:59,521 --> 00:14:02,285 Lammergeyers have colonised most of Africa's mountains 99 00:14:02,424 --> 00:14:03,948 wherever they find enough food to eat 100 00:14:04,092 --> 00:14:07,892 and enough wind to lift their massive frames. 101 00:14:09,197 --> 00:14:12,098 Here in Ethiopia, conditions are perfect. 102 00:15:14,729 --> 00:15:16,560 On the southern edge of these highlands, 103 00:15:16,665 --> 00:15:19,566 towering spires give way to grassy moorlands 104 00:15:19,668 --> 00:15:22,865 home to the rarest of all African predators... 105 00:15:23,605 --> 00:15:25,232 Ethiopian wolves. 106 00:15:26,775 --> 00:15:28,572 Like their European ancestors, 107 00:15:28,643 --> 00:15:33,740 Ethiopian wolves patrol vast territories and live in tight family groups. 108 00:15:35,617 --> 00:15:37,414 But otherwise they're quite different. 109 00:15:37,719 --> 00:15:39,186 Small and fine-featured, 110 00:15:39,321 --> 00:15:42,222 they've given up chasing large animals in packs 111 00:15:43,058 --> 00:15:44,923 there isn't the prey here to do that. 112 00:15:48,830 --> 00:15:50,593 Instead they hunt alone. 113 00:15:52,334 --> 00:15:56,134 These grassy moorlands teem with more than a dozen types of rodent. 114 00:16:00,141 --> 00:16:04,373 Ethiopian wolves have evolved to become specialist rat-catchers. 115 00:16:10,719 --> 00:16:11,549 Nimble legs, 116 00:16:11,653 --> 00:16:15,714 sensitive ears and a narrow muzzle are the tools of their trade. 117 00:16:58,533 --> 00:17:01,434 Small grass rats make up most of the wolves' diet. 118 00:17:03,838 --> 00:17:07,171 But on these mountain plateaux there's a far greater prize... 119 00:17:07,308 --> 00:17:12,268 a rodent ten times bigger... ten times more nervous. 120 00:17:14,716 --> 00:17:16,206 The giant mole rat. 121 00:17:21,423 --> 00:17:23,653 Mole rats are afraid to leave their burrows. 122 00:17:24,325 --> 00:17:27,692 Like periscopes, they scan for danger as they feed. 123 00:17:28,096 --> 00:17:30,656 ...sometimes with the help of watchful hill chats, 124 00:17:30,799 --> 00:17:33,734 gathering insects from around the rats' dung piles. 125 00:17:38,907 --> 00:17:41,933 Even so, mole rats are up against an expert. 126 00:18:13,274 --> 00:18:17,040 The alarm goes off but the wolf is patient. 127 00:18:56,851 --> 00:18:58,716 There's no shortage of food up here 128 00:18:58,853 --> 00:19:02,186 'rat infested' hardly begins to describe a place 129 00:19:02,323 --> 00:19:06,020 where there are two tonnes of rats to each square kilometre. 130 00:19:09,297 --> 00:19:13,256 At the den, the pups eagerly anticipate the returning adults. 131 00:19:34,656 --> 00:19:38,387 The hunters are endlessly mobbed until they cough up the goods. 132 00:19:52,207 --> 00:19:54,767 This might seem like wolf paradise, 133 00:19:54,909 --> 00:19:59,073 but these specialised mountain predators face an uncertain future. 134 00:20:03,651 --> 00:20:06,814 The cold, alpine tundra in which their ancestors evolved 135 00:20:06,955 --> 00:20:09,480 and on which these wolves now entirely depend 136 00:20:09,624 --> 00:20:12,525 is ever-so-slowly vanishing. 137 00:20:15,964 --> 00:20:18,455 The African climate is getting warmer... 138 00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:22,559 the Ethiopian highlands steadily wearing away... 139 00:20:24,005 --> 00:20:29,136 The remaining 1000 wolves are truly marooned on the Roof of Africa. 140 00:20:40,288 --> 00:20:44,452 Every mountain range in Africa is its own unique and isolated world... 141 00:20:45,660 --> 00:20:48,561 none more so than the Atlas mountains of Morocco, 142 00:20:48,696 --> 00:20:54,191 formed as North Africa collided with Europe 65 million years ago... 143 00:20:55,536 --> 00:20:57,766 Flanked on one side by the Mediterranean... 144 00:20:57,906 --> 00:21:00,500 and on the other by the vast Sahara... 145 00:21:00,775 --> 00:21:05,007 this crumpled range is one of the most unusual on the continent. 146 00:21:35,643 --> 00:21:39,909 Shrouded in ancient forest, and cloaked in a veil of snow, 147 00:21:40,048 --> 00:21:43,745 the Atlas mountains look more like the European Alps. 148 00:21:45,653 --> 00:21:50,022 But living among the giant cedars are very African survivors. 149 00:21:54,262 --> 00:21:55,854 ...Barbary macaques. 150 00:22:07,008 --> 00:22:10,034 This far north in Africa winter can be severe. 151 00:22:11,112 --> 00:22:13,979 But Barbary macaques are remarkably tough animals... 152 00:22:15,917 --> 00:22:17,612 ...their ancestors were the only monkeys 153 00:22:17,752 --> 00:22:21,188 able to cross the mighty Sahara to reach these mountains. 154 00:22:22,824 --> 00:22:25,190 The secret of their success is diet. 155 00:22:27,128 --> 00:22:30,120 Barbary macaques get by on the slimmest pickings. 156 00:22:36,070 --> 00:22:38,038 In winter, when deep snow covers the ground, 157 00:22:38,172 --> 00:22:39,605 they stay in the treetops, 158 00:22:40,208 --> 00:22:43,268 relying on lichens, leaves and bark. 159 00:22:53,755 --> 00:22:55,222 At the first sign of spring, 160 00:22:55,356 --> 00:22:56,721 the macaques leave the canopy 161 00:22:56,858 --> 00:23:00,726 to search the forest floor for fresh herbs and shoots. 162 00:23:03,464 --> 00:23:04,897 With their thick, warm coats, 163 00:23:05,033 --> 00:23:08,264 these snow monkeys are built for heavy weather. 164 00:23:27,188 --> 00:23:30,021 Only half as high as the Ethiopian highlands, 165 00:23:30,158 --> 00:23:32,592 the Atlas mountains are generally speaking 166 00:23:32,660 --> 00:23:34,287 an easier place to live. 167 00:23:37,031 --> 00:23:41,593 But the macaques' meagre diet has imposed its ownextraordinary discipline. 168 00:23:42,703 --> 00:23:45,866 Like geladas, they can't waste energy squabbling, 169 00:23:46,007 --> 00:23:48,601 so the 30 or so members in each troop invest 170 00:23:48,709 --> 00:23:51,269 a lot of time in their relationships. 171 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:09,088 To protect the troop, male macaques need to be united. 172 00:24:10,431 --> 00:24:13,798 So instead of fighting they'll often pass an infant between them... 173 00:24:14,001 --> 00:24:16,936 rather like a football... until they all calm down. 174 00:24:20,675 --> 00:24:23,007 The youngsters get an earful from both sides... 175 00:24:26,614 --> 00:24:28,104 but nobody gets hurt. 176 00:24:59,447 --> 00:25:01,938 Barbary macaques are extremely resilient. 177 00:25:03,317 --> 00:25:06,548 They've survived here for at least 6 million years, 178 00:25:06,621 --> 00:25:09,419 making the best of changing opportunities 179 00:25:09,590 --> 00:25:12,286 as the North African climate has repeatedly swung 180 00:25:12,426 --> 00:25:15,088 from hot to cold, wet to dry... 181 00:25:15,229 --> 00:25:16,389 and back again. 182 00:25:22,503 --> 00:25:24,471 But at the far end of the continent... 183 00:25:24,605 --> 00:25:26,698 down among the highlands of south Africa 184 00:25:26,841 --> 00:25:30,709 wildlife has been blessed with a much more stable past. 185 00:25:45,793 --> 00:25:49,229 The Cape highlands are Africa's oldest mountains... 186 00:25:49,363 --> 00:25:53,732 built out of the most solid rock 380 million years ago... 187 00:25:54,335 --> 00:25:57,600 long before the Africa we know was even born. 188 00:26:19,594 --> 00:26:23,428 For tens of millions of years the climate here has remained steady, 189 00:26:23,598 --> 00:26:25,896 ruled by the oceans and their currents. 190 00:26:26,601 --> 00:26:30,128 Year on year, cold winters follow dry summers. 191 00:26:33,407 --> 00:26:37,309 This unique climate nurtures a dazzling variety of plants. 192 00:26:37,612 --> 00:26:40,445 7000 species of heathers, sedges, 193 00:26:40,615 --> 00:26:44,051 brushes and proteas make up the "fynbos" 194 00:26:44,185 --> 00:26:47,643 the world's smallest, but richest, plant kingdom. 195 00:26:53,494 --> 00:26:57,590 Fynbos flowers come in all shapes, smells and colours 196 00:26:57,698 --> 00:27:00,462 all designed to seduce their pollinators. 197 00:27:02,870 --> 00:27:05,668 These proteas hold their nectar-rich blossoms high 198 00:27:05,806 --> 00:27:08,240 to attract Cape Sugarbirds. 199 00:27:11,045 --> 00:27:13,946 Other proteas lie on the ground and smell of yeast... 200 00:27:14,081 --> 00:27:15,275 tempting for mice. 201 00:27:22,723 --> 00:27:24,748 This flower needs a bee to vibrate 202 00:27:24,892 --> 00:27:28,157 at just the right frequency to release its pollen. 203 00:27:31,966 --> 00:27:35,060 And this one just explodes it in the face of visitors. 204 00:27:41,142 --> 00:27:44,009 But the Disa orchid is the craftiest of them all. 205 00:27:44,879 --> 00:27:47,279 As the mountain pride butterfly dips for nectar 206 00:27:47,415 --> 00:27:51,181 the orchid glues pollen sacs straight onto its belly. 207 00:28:05,466 --> 00:28:09,402 Life on the Cape has been blessed with a unique mix of circumstance, 208 00:28:09,570 --> 00:28:14,030 isolation, solid foundations and a stable, nurturing climate. 209 00:28:28,823 --> 00:28:31,053 But there's a twist in this tail. 210 00:28:31,192 --> 00:28:35,060 Come the end of winter, the Cape undergoes a dramatic change. 211 00:28:35,663 --> 00:28:37,688 The cool, moist winds subside. 212 00:28:38,766 --> 00:28:41,234 The air becomes tinder dry... 213 00:28:43,671 --> 00:28:47,767 Every fifteen years or so, the mountains erupt in flames. 214 00:29:10,564 --> 00:29:13,727 Summer fires are ignited by sparks from rockfalls, 215 00:29:13,868 --> 00:29:16,530 by lightning or... controlled burns... 216 00:29:17,738 --> 00:29:19,535 It looks fearfully destructive 217 00:29:19,673 --> 00:29:23,006 but fire is actually essential to the health of the fynbos. 218 00:29:24,011 --> 00:29:26,241 Fires clear away old vegetation, 219 00:29:26,380 --> 00:29:28,940 releasing important minerals to the soil. 220 00:29:30,418 --> 00:29:32,716 For proteas, the intense heat and smoke 221 00:29:32,853 --> 00:29:36,812 are also crucial catalysts for the next generation. 222 00:29:39,393 --> 00:29:41,122 Within hours of the fire passing, 223 00:29:41,262 --> 00:29:43,890 million of seeds are released to the wind 224 00:29:44,031 --> 00:29:46,761 to await the next winter rains. 225 00:29:55,910 --> 00:29:58,003 The Cape highlands are an ancient range, 226 00:29:58,145 --> 00:30:00,545 but elsewhere on the continent fires within the earth 227 00:30:00,681 --> 00:30:04,412 are thrusting new peaks towards the African sky. 228 00:30:41,489 --> 00:30:46,017 The Maasai call it the "Mountain Of God" OI Donyo Lengai. 229 00:30:47,761 --> 00:30:51,663 Nearly 3,000 metres tall, it is a mountain in the making 230 00:30:51,799 --> 00:30:56,133 an active volcano which last erupted only thirty-five years ago. 231 00:31:10,518 --> 00:31:14,181 "Lengai" is one of a chain of volcanoes formed as lava pushed 232 00:31:14,321 --> 00:31:18,348 through the earth's surface along the edge of the Great Rift Valley. 233 00:31:20,528 --> 00:31:22,223 Clearly visible from Space, 234 00:31:22,363 --> 00:31:25,594 this 6,000 kilometre trench stretches all the way 235 00:31:25,733 --> 00:31:27,963 from Mozambique to the Lebanon. 236 00:31:30,538 --> 00:31:33,405 And bursting from the hot, dry plains of Tanzania, 237 00:31:33,541 --> 00:31:36,476 is the monarch of all African mountains 238 00:31:39,113 --> 00:31:40,410 Kilimanjaro. 239 00:31:41,649 --> 00:31:43,776 It's a colossus of three volcanic peaks 240 00:31:43,918 --> 00:31:46,944 towering nearly 6,000 metres high... 241 00:31:47,655 --> 00:31:50,886 crowned by the snow-capped summit of Kibo. 242 00:32:01,602 --> 00:32:06,562 Kilimanjaro is only a million years old, but in the prime of its life. 243 00:32:17,651 --> 00:32:20,245 The summit is a hostile, arctic world, 244 00:32:20,387 --> 00:32:24,016 wherethe temperature can plunge to minus 20 Celsius. 245 00:32:24,925 --> 00:32:28,224 The thin air carries half the oxygen of sea level. 246 00:32:28,929 --> 00:32:31,056 Nothing can live here permanently. 247 00:32:36,270 --> 00:32:39,137 But Africa's Rift volcanoes are not immortal. 248 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:42,365 Built of brittle lava and soft pumice, 249 00:32:42,710 --> 00:32:44,735 they are very vulnerable to the elements. 250 00:32:51,118 --> 00:32:56,852 Further north is a volcano three times older than Kilimanjaro... Mt. Kenya. 251 00:32:57,891 --> 00:33:03,090 ...To the local people it is Kirinyaga... the "Mountain of Brightness." 252 00:33:19,146 --> 00:33:21,444 Time has weathered Mt. Kenya's slopes 253 00:33:21,615 --> 00:33:24,140 and allowed the toughest animals and plants the chance 254 00:33:24,284 --> 00:33:26,718 to conquer its alpine moorland. 255 00:33:29,857 --> 00:33:33,384 Each evening cabbage groundsels bunch up against the cold... 256 00:33:34,395 --> 00:33:37,922 their special leaves secreting a film of antifreeze. 257 00:33:49,643 --> 00:33:53,943 Above 4,000 metres any moisture in the ground turns to ice... 258 00:33:54,748 --> 00:33:56,215 heaving the soil... 259 00:33:56,650 --> 00:33:59,517 making it tricky for plants to get a firm hold. 260 00:34:05,292 --> 00:34:08,989 To survive, some mosses have lost their roots altogether... 261 00:34:09,129 --> 00:34:11,689 and ride over the icy carpet. 262 00:34:17,171 --> 00:34:22,268 On Mt. Kenya it is winter every night... and summer every day. 263 00:34:25,713 --> 00:34:28,739 Here on the equator... 4 kilometres up... 264 00:34:28,882 --> 00:34:31,749 the power of the tropical sun is intense. 265 00:35:08,222 --> 00:35:10,713 The giant lobelia's coat of downy leaves 266 00:35:10,858 --> 00:35:13,691 help protect its delicate flowers from the cold. 267 00:35:16,463 --> 00:35:19,159 But this unusual plant has only conquered Mt. Kenya 268 00:35:19,299 --> 00:35:22,666 with the help of scarlet-tufted malachite sunbirds... 269 00:35:23,003 --> 00:35:25,164 they're high-altitude pollinators. 270 00:35:29,676 --> 00:35:33,407 In exchange the sunbirds get especially-rich nectar... 271 00:35:33,614 --> 00:35:36,640 crucial fuel on these chilly moorlands. 272 00:35:43,190 --> 00:35:46,887 Mt. Kenya's moorlands provide little comfort for large mammals. 273 00:35:47,261 --> 00:35:51,698 But highland rock hyraxes can survive among the shelter of rocky outcrops. 274 00:35:58,472 --> 00:36:01,532 Though bigger and hairier than their plains-dwelling cousins, 275 00:36:01,642 --> 00:36:04,543 these hyraxes can still feel the twinge of cold... 276 00:36:05,279 --> 00:36:07,076 especially the newly born. 277 00:36:16,156 --> 00:36:20,559 East Africa's Rift mountains are like islands in a sea of cloud. 278 00:36:21,662 --> 00:36:23,823 Battered and whittled away by the elements, 279 00:36:23,964 --> 00:36:26,262 their lives are very short indeed. 280 00:36:35,909 --> 00:36:39,470 Mt. Kenya once stood much higher than even Kilimanjaro, 281 00:36:39,613 --> 00:36:41,376 but today it is shrinking. 282 00:36:47,621 --> 00:36:51,148 In another 3 million years it may even look like this 283 00:36:52,626 --> 00:36:54,355 the neighbouring Aberdares range 284 00:36:54,494 --> 00:36:56,724 more ghost of mountain than mountain 285 00:36:56,864 --> 00:37:00,664 studded with ancient lava stumps called the "Dragon's Teeth". 286 00:37:05,639 --> 00:37:07,300 A kilometre lower than Mt. Kenya, 287 00:37:07,441 --> 00:37:11,172 the summit of the Aberdares is often buried among the clouds. 288 00:37:14,781 --> 00:37:19,241 Rainwater - draining off its moorlands feeds many of Kenya's major rivers. 289 00:37:44,611 --> 00:37:45,305 In the Aberdares, 290 00:37:45,445 --> 00:37:49,814 water is the principal force carving away at the flanks of the range. 291 00:38:10,304 --> 00:38:15,606 As the water flows downhill it washes important minerals from the volcanic soil. 292 00:38:17,311 --> 00:38:19,006 Forest animals, like bushbuck, 293 00:38:19,146 --> 00:38:22,047 can't get enough sodium and potassium in their diet, 294 00:38:22,182 --> 00:38:26,414 so they need to visit special places where the salts are more concentrated. 295 00:38:31,325 --> 00:38:35,762 These clearings are an important meeting ground for all sorts of animals. 296 00:38:43,670 --> 00:38:45,467 Elephants are great earth-movers, 297 00:38:45,605 --> 00:38:50,804 using their delicate trunks and fork-lift tusks to excavate the rich soil. 298 00:39:14,034 --> 00:39:18,027 The gentle, weathered slopes of the Aberdares make them an easy climb. 299 00:39:18,972 --> 00:39:21,532 Herds of elephants frequently wander up to the moorlands, 300 00:39:21,675 --> 00:39:25,975 especially in the dry season, when food down below is scarce. 301 00:39:30,117 --> 00:39:33,575 In the shadow of Mt. Kenya, they come to feast on heather. 302 00:39:34,354 --> 00:39:36,151 Not the usual ground-dwelling shrub 303 00:39:36,289 --> 00:39:39,986 but giant bushes, twice as tall as the elephants. 304 00:40:06,553 --> 00:40:10,319 There's not much to tempt large predators up to this chilly moorland, 305 00:40:10,457 --> 00:40:12,448 but serval cats are common. 306 00:40:14,361 --> 00:40:15,658 In amongst the tussock grass, 307 00:40:15,796 --> 00:40:17,559 there's plenty to catch their eye. 308 00:40:43,423 --> 00:40:46,415 Catching mice requires real stealth and patience. 309 00:40:47,994 --> 00:40:50,792 But in the Aberdares, there's another local delicacy... 310 00:40:51,031 --> 00:40:52,396 even more challenging. 311 00:41:01,041 --> 00:41:02,099 ...moles. 312 00:41:38,645 --> 00:41:42,012 Mountains, because of their isolation from other environments, 313 00:41:42,149 --> 00:41:44,242 are places of real surprise. 314 00:41:44,851 --> 00:41:48,343 Here in the Aberdares, half the servals are totally black 315 00:41:48,488 --> 00:41:51,252 the product of a rare gene which has multiplied 316 00:41:51,391 --> 00:41:53,416 among this confined population. 317 00:41:54,928 --> 00:41:56,919 Because they have so few competitors up here, 318 00:41:57,063 --> 00:42:00,555 mountain servals probably don't need the camouflage of spots, 319 00:42:00,667 --> 00:42:04,728 and may benefit from the extra warmth absorbed by a black coat. 320 00:42:11,678 --> 00:42:15,273 But lurking in the forests of Mt. Kenya and the Aberdares... 321 00:42:15,415 --> 00:42:17,246 an even greater surprise... 322 00:42:19,152 --> 00:42:23,213 ...the black panther... a rarely-glimpsed version of the leopard. 323 00:42:26,526 --> 00:42:28,994 Though spotted leopards are found across the continent, 324 00:42:29,129 --> 00:42:31,120 their magnificent black counterparts seem 325 00:42:31,264 --> 00:42:34,961 only to arise on Africa's giant Rift mountains. 326 00:43:09,069 --> 00:43:11,663 Isolation can play all sorts of tricks. 327 00:43:12,138 --> 00:43:15,005 On Mt. Kenya some of the pied colobus monkeys 328 00:43:15,141 --> 00:43:16,836 are virtually albino... 329 00:43:27,354 --> 00:43:29,083 It's evolution in action... 330 00:43:29,623 --> 00:43:30,920 but it's hard to guess what if any 331 00:43:31,057 --> 00:43:33,582 advantage this flamboyant white coat might 332 00:43:33,660 --> 00:43:36,220 bring in a cold mountain forest. 333 00:43:48,074 --> 00:43:50,406 Africa's mountains play a fundamental role 334 00:43:50,543 --> 00:43:53,376 in generating new forms of life on the continent. 335 00:43:55,448 --> 00:43:58,246 As they rise and fall they create temporary barriers 336 00:43:58,385 --> 00:44:02,344 to the movements of animals and plants and isolate them in unique 337 00:44:02,489 --> 00:44:04,354 and challenging environments... 338 00:44:05,692 --> 00:44:08,160 promoting change and evolution... 339 00:44:21,608 --> 00:44:26,136 Humans have always resisted the challenge of settling on Africa's mountains. 340 00:44:28,615 --> 00:44:31,277 But one of our closest and most charismatic relatives 341 00:44:31,418 --> 00:44:34,319 has found a home above the clouds. 342 00:44:38,258 --> 00:44:39,725 Right in the heart of the continent, 343 00:44:39,859 --> 00:44:42,157 sandwiched between the mountains of East Africa 344 00:44:42,295 --> 00:44:44,627 and the rainforests of West Africa, 345 00:44:44,764 --> 00:44:46,163 are the Virungas 346 00:44:46,299 --> 00:44:51,236 a range of active volcanoes towering more than four kilometres high. 347 00:44:56,509 --> 00:44:58,033 Cloaked in thick vegetation, 348 00:44:58,178 --> 00:45:04,117 the lush slopes of these mountains are home to a very special creature indeed. 349 00:45:11,925 --> 00:45:13,552 ...the mountain gorilla. 350 00:45:22,202 --> 00:45:25,569 Mountain gorillas are the largest primates in the world. 351 00:45:26,139 --> 00:45:27,902 With their massive frames and thick, 352 00:45:28,041 --> 00:45:31,204 dark fur they're well-built for mountain life. 353 00:45:42,389 --> 00:45:44,983 These gorillas have very particular needs... 354 00:45:45,725 --> 00:45:47,352 they can only live on unstable, 355 00:45:47,494 --> 00:45:49,962 volcanic mountains where the regular turnover 356 00:45:50,096 --> 00:45:54,055 of soil encourages the growth of rich herbs and vines. 357 00:45:57,003 --> 00:45:58,698 And this is their problem... 358 00:45:58,972 --> 00:46:01,236 the soils of the Virungas are so fertile 359 00:46:01,374 --> 00:46:07,609 that today's mountain gorillas face a new form of isolation - agriculture. 360 00:46:09,582 --> 00:46:10,742 But these terraced fields 361 00:46:10,884 --> 00:46:13,216 and the Volcanic slopes on which they lie 362 00:46:13,353 --> 00:46:15,651 are under two million years old... 363 00:46:17,590 --> 00:46:20,252 and gorillas are ten million years old. 364 00:46:22,429 --> 00:46:26,763 They were in this part of Africa long before the Virungas were even born... 365 00:46:27,133 --> 00:46:31,160 Iooking for opportunities... responding to change... 366 00:46:31,604 --> 00:46:34,630 colonising new and emerging highlands... 367 00:46:39,446 --> 00:46:41,607 In the future the descendants of these gorillas 368 00:46:41,748 --> 00:46:44,581 will certainly face many more challenges... 369 00:46:44,651 --> 00:46:46,118 and not just from us... 370 00:46:47,687 --> 00:46:50,781 but also from their dynamic mountain home. 371 00:47:46,312 --> 00:47:50,578 The extraordinary wildlife that we see on Africa's mountains today 372 00:47:50,717 --> 00:47:53,049 is the product of a living landscape... 373 00:47:54,020 --> 00:48:00,016 ...ever-shaping and always creating... a great, unfolding drama of life...