1 00:00:34,149 --> 00:00:35,275 The savannah... 2 00:00:35,984 --> 00:00:38,578 it is the Africa of our imagination... 3 00:00:39,588 --> 00:00:43,957 vast lands, home to the greatest herds on earth... 4 00:01:03,745 --> 00:01:06,805 It looks timeless... but it isn't. 5 00:01:14,856 --> 00:01:19,293 This is a young landscape created by remarkable events. 6 00:01:33,375 --> 00:01:36,742 Now we can see the big picture. 7 00:01:47,456 --> 00:01:48,718 Seen from space, 8 00:01:48,857 --> 00:01:53,521 Africa is dominated by great swathes of desert and rainforest. 9 00:01:54,229 --> 00:01:57,255 Caught between these extremes lies a band of grasses 10 00:01:57,399 --> 00:02:00,266 and dry woodland - the savannah... 11 00:02:02,137 --> 00:02:03,934 It's incredibly fickle. 12 00:02:04,206 --> 00:02:05,537 In the space of a few years, 13 00:02:05,674 --> 00:02:09,110 a sprinkle of trees can turn into thick woodland... 14 00:02:09,878 --> 00:02:13,609 ...or disappear altogether... leaving just grasses. 15 00:02:18,887 --> 00:02:21,481 The life of the savannah is dictated by the weather... 16 00:02:21,890 --> 00:02:23,619 and it's highly capricious. 17 00:02:26,028 --> 00:02:28,758 Every year there is a dry and wet season, 18 00:02:28,897 --> 00:02:31,525 but no two years are exactly the same. 19 00:02:35,871 --> 00:02:38,601 In drier times, grasses thrive... 20 00:02:46,548 --> 00:02:49,449 ...with heavy rain, it's trees that flourish. 21 00:02:54,923 --> 00:02:56,857 The savannah is the fastest-changing and 22 00:02:56,992 --> 00:03:00,621 most unpredictable of all African environments. 23 00:03:05,033 --> 00:03:09,333 Yet somehow it manages to support an incredible collection of life. 24 00:03:13,041 --> 00:03:15,305 It is the haunt of the big cats... 25 00:03:19,781 --> 00:03:21,908 ...but these elegant hunters are outnumbered... 26 00:03:27,489 --> 00:03:30,652 ...the herds so vast, they beggar belief. 27 00:03:36,031 --> 00:03:41,333 More animals live here than anywhere else on earth - the question is why? 28 00:03:42,804 --> 00:03:47,434 To find out, we've got to go back to the days before the savannah was born. 29 00:03:48,610 --> 00:03:52,569 For millions of years rainforest dominated much of tropical Africa... 30 00:03:53,415 --> 00:03:55,246 and then things changed. 31 00:03:55,951 --> 00:04:00,217 The climate began to dry, large patches of rainforest died, 32 00:04:00,355 --> 00:04:05,691 replaced by thickets and grassy spaces creating new food opportunities. 33 00:04:11,533 --> 00:04:14,764 Pioneers were quick to move in to the infant savannah. 34 00:04:16,772 --> 00:04:19,502 Some of the first were the ancestors of the giraffe, 35 00:04:19,641 --> 00:04:21,575 who left the dwindling jungle. 36 00:04:25,580 --> 00:04:27,548 And from the desert came others. 37 00:04:34,689 --> 00:04:37,852 Antelope thrived here and in great numbers. 38 00:04:41,696 --> 00:04:43,755 For them the savannah was a paradise, 39 00:04:43,899 --> 00:04:46,265 offering lots of easy-to-reach food. 40 00:04:49,438 --> 00:04:51,429 Some plants did fight back. 41 00:04:51,940 --> 00:04:56,604 Acacia probably developed thorns to limit the damage caused by giraffes. 42 00:05:04,553 --> 00:05:08,182 Over time, many bushes and trees were pruned and clipped 43 00:05:08,323 --> 00:05:10,848 by an onslaught of nibbling mouths. 44 00:05:30,946 --> 00:05:33,847 And then, three million years ago, 45 00:05:33,982 --> 00:05:36,849 another animal marched in from the rainforest... 46 00:05:37,519 --> 00:05:40,545 to become one of the greatest architects of all. 47 00:06:30,205 --> 00:06:34,107 Destructive yes... but also creative. 48 00:06:35,377 --> 00:06:39,404 Many different types of plant eaters were transforming their world... 49 00:06:39,781 --> 00:06:41,305 and on a grand scale. 50 00:06:54,763 --> 00:06:57,527 By trampling and breaking up bushes and saplings, 51 00:06:57,666 --> 00:07:00,134 something even more special was created... 52 00:07:00,702 --> 00:07:03,500 ...the beautiful open country we see today. 53 00:07:04,706 --> 00:07:06,970 Only five to seven million years old, 54 00:07:07,108 --> 00:07:09,941 savannah is the youngest habitat of all... 55 00:07:10,278 --> 00:07:11,643 Africa's new world. 56 00:07:14,382 --> 00:07:18,182 No other landscape has been so dramatically shaped by its animals. 57 00:07:35,804 --> 00:07:39,001 In a few places, the great herds still run free... 58 00:07:40,408 --> 00:07:44,777 offering a glimpse of how things must have looked before the time of man. 59 00:08:41,770 --> 00:08:45,570 In the shadow of the great herds... came the hunters. 60 00:12:18,419 --> 00:12:23,447 Dramatic contests like these are part of everyday life on the open plains, 61 00:12:23,925 --> 00:12:28,589 but everything here is controlled by a far greater force 62 00:12:28,730 --> 00:12:30,357 the grasses themselves. 63 00:12:32,734 --> 00:12:36,465 Grasses are so adaptable, resilient and fast-growing, 64 00:12:36,604 --> 00:12:38,902 they provide important bulk food. 65 00:12:46,714 --> 00:12:48,306 Wildebeest eat nothing else, 66 00:12:48,683 --> 00:12:52,779 while most other vegetarians eat grasses at some time of the year. 67 00:13:07,335 --> 00:13:08,427 Food for the mighty... 68 00:13:09,971 --> 00:13:11,461 ...and the miniscule. 69 00:13:17,645 --> 00:13:21,706 Despite the hordes of different grazers, grasses don't really suffer. 70 00:13:22,517 --> 00:13:25,350 With regular pruning, the more robust are controlled... 71 00:13:25,586 --> 00:13:27,884 allowing a greater variety to thrive. 72 00:13:36,798 --> 00:13:39,460 Not only that, but by cutting back the grasses, 73 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:42,467 the grazers also encourage them to grow faster... 74 00:13:51,946 --> 00:13:55,347 It's like mowing the lawn... the biggest lawn in the world. 75 00:13:58,987 --> 00:14:00,852 Life is lived to its limits here... 76 00:14:01,689 --> 00:14:05,090 and it's the humble grasses that fuel all the action. 77 00:15:12,160 --> 00:15:15,527 Grasslands can be so productive that for some birds, 78 00:15:15,663 --> 00:15:17,494 like European white storks, 79 00:15:17,632 --> 00:15:20,624 they're worth flying half way across the world to reach. 80 00:15:23,738 --> 00:15:26,707 The skies also fill with great flocks of terns. 81 00:15:27,775 --> 00:15:30,539 They've all made this marathon journey for one reason... 82 00:15:30,978 --> 00:15:34,311 huge numbers of grass-eating army worms. 83 00:15:38,019 --> 00:15:41,182 There's so many that they even feed a giant among birds 84 00:15:42,924 --> 00:15:44,152 the marabou stork. 85 00:15:52,066 --> 00:15:57,163 Such a population explosion of army worms only happens every ten years or so 86 00:15:57,305 --> 00:16:00,502 and it's when just the right humidity encourages 87 00:16:00,641 --> 00:16:03,075 just the right amount of grasses to flourish. 88 00:16:04,579 --> 00:16:07,070 Because feasts like this are sporadic and moveable, 89 00:16:07,148 --> 00:16:10,709 storks have had to develop into long distance commuters... 90 00:16:15,490 --> 00:16:17,958 ...but these gatherings, built on grass leaves, 91 00:16:18,126 --> 00:16:22,688 are minor compared to those drawn in by the seeds of grasses. 92 00:16:26,300 --> 00:16:27,562 They're so nutritious, 93 00:16:27,702 --> 00:16:31,968 they attract their own crowds and they are breath-taking. 94 00:16:42,283 --> 00:16:43,580 Red-billed quelea. 95 00:17:16,417 --> 00:17:17,179 In some years, 96 00:17:17,318 --> 00:17:20,845 the rain encourages so much grass seed in just one locality 97 00:17:20,988 --> 00:17:23,786 that the birds reach breeding condition quickly. 98 00:17:27,128 --> 00:17:28,095 The result? 99 00:17:28,563 --> 00:17:33,557 One of the savannah's most fabulous sights a nesting colony of quelea. 100 00:17:35,636 --> 00:17:40,664 Crammed into a tiny patch of woodland are over a million breeding pairs. 101 00:17:46,647 --> 00:17:49,616 The chicks are out of the eggs in just ten days 102 00:17:49,750 --> 00:17:52,583 faster than any other bird in the world. 103 00:18:17,345 --> 00:18:20,143 All this commotion attracts marabou storks. 104 00:18:23,718 --> 00:18:26,983 For a short time, they can enjoy easy pickings. 105 00:18:48,242 --> 00:18:50,836 Quelea reproduce at a phenomenal rate. 106 00:18:51,345 --> 00:18:54,473 Their population more than doubles in just one month. 107 00:19:05,293 --> 00:19:07,090 But they can only breed in these numbers 108 00:19:07,228 --> 00:19:09,321 when there's enough grass seed available. 109 00:19:10,998 --> 00:19:14,559 It can be famine or feast in this unpredictable world. 110 00:19:26,247 --> 00:19:30,308 Both quelea and wildebeest move through the savannah in enormous numbers, 111 00:19:30,751 --> 00:19:34,380 but there's another species whose numbers are higher still 112 00:19:35,589 --> 00:19:37,750 and they're here all year. 113 00:19:41,595 --> 00:19:44,792 To find them, we must travel into the night. 114 00:19:49,470 --> 00:19:51,438 They're... termites. 115 00:19:52,807 --> 00:19:54,866 And there are so many that they provide food 116 00:19:55,009 --> 00:19:57,842 for one of the savannah's most voracious feeders. 117 00:20:00,815 --> 00:20:05,252 An aardvark a shy creature and very rarely seen. 118 00:20:33,681 --> 00:20:36,809 Male aardvarks can weigh as much as a full grown man... 119 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:42,655 ...And all on a diet of ants and termites. 120 00:20:46,594 --> 00:20:49,586 His impressive bulk shows just how many there must be... 121 00:20:50,664 --> 00:20:53,155 ...up to 10,000 per square metre. 122 00:20:53,300 --> 00:20:54,733 So what keeps these going? 123 00:20:55,369 --> 00:20:57,735 Grasses, leaves and dead wood. 124 00:20:58,038 --> 00:21:02,998 Every year, ants and termites consume a third of all the plants in the savannah 125 00:21:03,144 --> 00:21:04,611 and that's more than the elephant, 126 00:21:04,745 --> 00:21:07,009 wildebeest and zebra combined. 127 00:21:07,982 --> 00:21:12,112 But sometimes it can take an aardvark an hour or two to sniff out a nest. 128 00:21:13,554 --> 00:21:16,182 The underground colonies can be far apart. 129 00:21:23,664 --> 00:21:27,691 Aardvarks go to all this effort because they need to eat a lot of termites 130 00:21:27,835 --> 00:21:32,033 somewhere in the region of 100,000 every night. 131 00:21:52,726 --> 00:21:54,887 Termites not only feed aardvarks, 132 00:21:55,029 --> 00:21:58,430 they also benefit the whole system by recycling nutrients 133 00:21:58,566 --> 00:22:00,193 and this helps everything... 134 00:22:00,734 --> 00:22:04,727 ...from common grass rat to rare wild cat. 135 00:22:23,991 --> 00:22:28,394 Spring hares are alert to the slightest sound or hint of vibration. 136 00:22:33,667 --> 00:22:36,795 So much potential prey brings out serval cats 137 00:22:36,937 --> 00:22:40,429 whose keen hearing makes them master night hunters. 138 00:23:06,700 --> 00:23:09,567 Although aardvarks hoover up lots of termites, 139 00:23:09,703 --> 00:23:14,106 eventually the defending soldiers deter even the most determined. 140 00:23:21,849 --> 00:23:25,546 And every year, at each colony on just one magical night, 141 00:23:25,686 --> 00:23:29,520 couples take to the air looking to start their own nests. 142 00:23:41,201 --> 00:23:47,197 Savannah can be bountiful... but there are times of hunger too. 143 00:23:49,910 --> 00:23:53,311 The dry season can last eight months or even more, 144 00:23:54,281 --> 00:23:57,478 testing the survival skills of everything that lives here... 145 00:23:59,186 --> 00:24:00,881 so how do they cope? 146 00:24:08,195 --> 00:24:12,359 The Serengeti wildebeest have evolved a death-defying strategy. 147 00:24:13,500 --> 00:24:15,798 Since they need green grass all year-round, 148 00:24:15,936 --> 00:24:18,166 they must follow the rains... 149 00:24:24,912 --> 00:24:27,346 Every year, they move north to south, 150 00:24:27,481 --> 00:24:29,949 to east and west, and back to north 151 00:24:30,417 --> 00:24:33,944 a circuit of more than 1500 kilometres. 152 00:24:35,756 --> 00:24:37,280 It's an epic journey. 153 00:25:11,291 --> 00:25:13,350 Herds of elephant also migrate. 154 00:25:20,968 --> 00:25:24,870 Adults and their babies can march for three days without water. 155 00:25:35,516 --> 00:25:37,677 These animals have to move 156 00:25:38,152 --> 00:25:41,178 they'd simply starve to death if they stayed put. 157 00:25:53,801 --> 00:25:55,234 In this open landscape, 158 00:25:55,369 --> 00:25:59,738 animals can see and smell storms from many miles away. 159 00:26:09,783 --> 00:26:11,751 And in their search for fresh grass, 160 00:26:11,985 --> 00:26:15,443 nothing will stop the wildebeest from going there. 161 00:27:01,969 --> 00:27:07,703 Such is their drive for fresh grass that the wildebeest even mate on the move. 162 00:27:25,859 --> 00:27:27,918 The females and young keep on walking 163 00:27:28,128 --> 00:27:30,653 while the excitement among the males grows. 164 00:27:51,451 --> 00:27:54,113 In such a melee, its vital for breeding males 165 00:27:54,188 --> 00:27:57,817 to catch the eye of passing females so they dance, 166 00:27:57,958 --> 00:28:01,394 bellow and grunt to ensure they stand out in the crowd. 167 00:28:10,604 --> 00:28:12,765 It's a tiring time as they fight off rivals 168 00:28:12,906 --> 00:28:16,364 and try to woo females onto their little plot. 169 00:28:55,282 --> 00:28:58,183 Fighting and mating is repeated again and again 170 00:28:58,518 --> 00:29:00,748 until most of the females are pregnant 171 00:29:00,888 --> 00:29:03,789 and the males are exhausted. 172 00:29:10,097 --> 00:29:12,657 The mating is over in just two to three weeks 173 00:29:12,799 --> 00:29:15,632 and the relentless journey continues. 174 00:29:20,674 --> 00:29:23,142 But not all animals are able to migrate. 175 00:29:25,512 --> 00:29:27,707 In the woodlands on the edge of the grassy plains 176 00:29:27,848 --> 00:29:30,476 live animals who can't travel far. 177 00:29:33,654 --> 00:29:37,715 Buffalo are big and bulky and they must drink every day. 178 00:29:38,558 --> 00:29:41,083 Normally they can cope with the poor quality grasses 179 00:29:41,161 --> 00:29:42,253 in the dry season 180 00:29:42,396 --> 00:29:43,920 but, in extreme years, 181 00:29:44,131 --> 00:29:47,259 the grass becomes too poor even for them. 182 00:29:53,140 --> 00:29:56,109 As they starve, lions close in. 183 00:30:01,114 --> 00:30:05,813 Despite the buffalo's weakness, it's still a clash of the titans. 184 00:32:39,873 --> 00:32:43,434 Lions dominate by strength rather than numbers. 185 00:32:44,377 --> 00:32:47,278 In fact, they're more rare than you might expect. 186 00:32:51,184 --> 00:32:55,143 For every 800 plant eaters, there's probably only one lion. 187 00:33:00,060 --> 00:33:00,958 Like buffalo, 188 00:33:01,094 --> 00:33:04,086 lions aren't built to walk miles in search of food 189 00:33:04,231 --> 00:33:08,565 and their cubs can't travel far at all until they're at least a year old. 190 00:33:18,612 --> 00:33:22,343 Stuck in one place, a lion pride is tied to a territory 191 00:33:22,482 --> 00:33:26,942 where their future depends upon what they can catch in the leanest of times. 192 00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:34,752 As food gets scarce, 193 00:33:34,895 --> 00:33:38,956 the females' milk dries up so the first to suffer are the cubs. 194 00:33:43,403 --> 00:33:46,133 Sometimes whole litters die. 195 00:33:50,844 --> 00:33:54,905 Lions and buffalo have evolved the stamina to cope with most droughts. 196 00:33:55,949 --> 00:33:58,474 But occasionally they can be very severe indeed 197 00:33:58,618 --> 00:34:01,086 especially when vital rain clouds 198 00:34:01,154 --> 00:34:04,282 from the Indian Ocean are pushed off course by changes 199 00:34:04,424 --> 00:34:07,951 in weather patterns as far away as South America. 200 00:34:12,132 --> 00:34:14,100 Then everything struggles... 201 00:34:15,202 --> 00:34:20,572 acacia roots plunge down 30 metres to tap water deep underground. 202 00:34:22,576 --> 00:34:25,101 But in the really dry years, the fight is too great... 203 00:34:25,979 --> 00:34:27,879 living trees fade away... 204 00:35:01,214 --> 00:35:03,478 If the dryness persisted eventually 205 00:35:03,617 --> 00:35:06,518 even the toughest savannah grasses would perish... 206 00:35:07,220 --> 00:35:09,620 turning the land to desert. 207 00:35:12,892 --> 00:35:17,454 When the rains finally arrive, life springs into action. 208 00:36:21,728 --> 00:36:22,524 In some years, 209 00:36:22,662 --> 00:36:25,096 the rain is so intense that the advantage swings 210 00:36:25,165 --> 00:36:27,656 back to moisture-loving trees. 211 00:36:31,404 --> 00:36:32,837 And with a run of real wetness, 212 00:36:32,972 --> 00:36:35,964 the rainforest would be quick to reclaim the land. 213 00:36:39,245 --> 00:36:42,544 The savannah seesaws between grassland and woodland. 214 00:36:43,850 --> 00:36:48,219 The changes can take a few years or... be more sudden. 215 00:37:25,258 --> 00:37:29,354 The beauty of savannah is that it responds so well to change... 216 00:37:29,729 --> 00:37:32,129 and change creates variety. 217 00:37:35,034 --> 00:37:39,437 The sweeping patchwork of plains, woods and thickets offers shelter, 218 00:37:39,572 --> 00:37:43,099 shade, water-holes, and a wide range of food... 219 00:37:44,611 --> 00:37:48,638 somewhere there's bound to be a safe and bountiful haven for animals... 220 00:37:49,149 --> 00:37:50,377 whatever the weather. 221 00:38:13,306 --> 00:38:16,503 Such a varied landscape has done one more thing 222 00:38:16,643 --> 00:38:19,441 it has encouraged animals to be adaptable. 223 00:38:25,118 --> 00:38:28,952 And lands as diverse as these have seen one group of animals 224 00:38:29,122 --> 00:38:31,716 become the masters of adaptability. 225 00:38:36,996 --> 00:38:39,965 To tell their story, we must travel back in time 226 00:38:40,133 --> 00:38:44,934 to when one primitive group of primates took up the challenge of the savannah. 227 00:38:45,839 --> 00:38:49,206 These were the ancestors of today's baboons. 228 00:38:52,946 --> 00:38:54,777 When the ancient forests were shrinking, 229 00:38:54,914 --> 00:38:57,610 fruit became a highly prized commodity. 230 00:39:01,020 --> 00:39:05,354 To get by, baboons developed into experts at eating unripe fruit 231 00:39:05,492 --> 00:39:07,687 even if it wasn't always delicious. 232 00:39:18,671 --> 00:39:21,970 Being able to exploit the meagre supply quicker than most, 233 00:39:22,108 --> 00:39:25,100 allowed baboons to move further away from the forest edge 234 00:39:25,245 --> 00:39:27,236 and well out into the savannah. 235 00:39:30,617 --> 00:39:32,915 Here they developed a taste for all sorts of food 236 00:39:33,119 --> 00:39:36,555 including meat, whenever they could get their hands on it. 237 00:40:01,047 --> 00:40:02,947 If only they'd been able to walk upright, 238 00:40:03,082 --> 00:40:05,573 they might well have taken over the savannah. 239 00:40:13,092 --> 00:40:16,186 But that was left to another omnivorous primate 240 00:40:16,329 --> 00:40:18,797 who evolved very much later. 241 00:40:24,704 --> 00:40:26,695 Just under 2 million years ago, 242 00:40:26,906 --> 00:40:33,505 our distant ancestors surged ahead to control something truly elemental. 243 00:40:46,793 --> 00:40:50,024 The use of fire helped to give them the upper hand. 244 00:40:53,766 --> 00:40:58,465 Cooking made food easier to digest and therefore much more nutritious, 245 00:40:58,605 --> 00:41:01,039 helping to fuel bigger brains. 246 00:41:02,175 --> 00:41:03,699 Further development was rapid... 247 00:41:03,843 --> 00:41:05,708 and fully developed humans were probably 248 00:41:05,845 --> 00:41:08,939 in the savannah six thousand generations ago. 249 00:41:14,654 --> 00:41:17,817 Their hunting skills were refined over millions of years 250 00:41:17,957 --> 00:41:22,553 giving their savannah prey a chance to develop ways of evading them. 251 00:41:42,649 --> 00:41:44,344 As well as fuelling development, 252 00:41:44,484 --> 00:41:48,511 fire also helped humans to mould the savannah to their liking. 253 00:41:49,255 --> 00:41:52,952 Fire clears away dead grass and opens up the bush making it 254 00:41:53,092 --> 00:41:56,994 easier to spot dangerous animals, like snakes and buffalo. 255 00:42:21,888 --> 00:42:25,324 Cattle were introduced to savannah some 5,000 years ago. 256 00:42:26,325 --> 00:42:28,520 Keeping livestock and growing food meant 257 00:42:28,661 --> 00:42:31,721 that farmers and herders used fire even more... 258 00:42:37,670 --> 00:42:40,264 Burning opens up the land for cultivation 259 00:42:40,406 --> 00:42:43,933 and encourages the growth of fresh green pastures for cows. 260 00:42:53,753 --> 00:42:56,517 And today with a growing human population, 261 00:42:56,656 --> 00:43:01,423 people are looking for room to expand and they're looking for it here. 262 00:43:07,800 --> 00:43:09,700 In these lands of boom and bust, 263 00:43:09,836 --> 00:43:12,964 large settlements of people may be bad news. 264 00:43:15,708 --> 00:43:20,168 Savannah always has the potential of turning to desert - and staying there. 265 00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:38,595 And, given that an area almost the size of Australia goes up in flames every year, 266 00:43:38,731 --> 00:43:41,996 the impact of people is already enormous. 267 00:43:51,444 --> 00:43:55,642 The savannah lands we see today have been shaped by animals and people, 268 00:43:56,182 --> 00:43:59,151 and created by geology and climate. 269 00:44:00,386 --> 00:44:03,412 Change and variety are at the heart of life here. 270 00:44:04,023 --> 00:44:05,081 This, plus the fast, 271 00:44:05,224 --> 00:44:07,590 efficient cycling of nutrients helps explain 272 00:44:07,727 --> 00:44:12,926 why so many animals are found in these vast lands - and nowhere else. 273 00:44:14,600 --> 00:44:18,798 But there's another critical reason: The huge size of Africa. 274 00:44:19,305 --> 00:44:21,796 Just over 30 million square kilometres 275 00:44:21,941 --> 00:44:25,104 Africa is nearly twice the size of South America 276 00:44:25,244 --> 00:44:27,735 and it's this that's helped buffer the continent 277 00:44:27,880 --> 00:44:29,973 from violent climatic change 278 00:44:30,149 --> 00:44:35,314 preventing recent ice ages from subduing life in these huge lands. 279 00:44:36,856 --> 00:44:38,323 And looking to the future 280 00:44:38,457 --> 00:44:43,326 space may well be the key to the survival of these vast numbers. 281 00:44:46,933 --> 00:44:50,869 Savannah animals, more than most in Africa, need space. 282 00:44:51,170 --> 00:44:53,400 Space to follow the rains. 283 00:44:54,173 --> 00:44:59,201 And space to make the most of the fickle and ever-changing opportunities here. 284 00:45:20,166 --> 00:45:22,259 The birth of Africa's newest world 285 00:45:22,401 --> 00:45:25,302 is the result of a remarkable chain of events. 286 00:45:31,477 --> 00:45:34,378 For cheetah, gazelles and all who live here, 287 00:45:34,513 --> 00:45:39,450 it's still changing... every season of every lifetime. 288 00:45:57,803 --> 00:46:01,432 The savannah is a miracle of change and regeneration... 289 00:46:01,574 --> 00:46:05,908 ...dynamic, exciting, and exuberant.