[water rushing]
[peaceful music]
♪ ♪
[water lapping]
♪ ♪
[indistinct chatter]
Ali: Wherever water flows,
life follows.
[cows mooing]
♪ ♪
It's inside everything that lives.
♪ ♪
Over half the human body
is composed of water.
♪ ♪
And it's here
at the river's edge
where our civilization started to develop
in Africa.
[water sloshing]
♪ ♪
[playful chatter]
Lives on the banks of the Great Zambezi
still respond to its ebb and flow.
♪ ♪
[water sloshing]
When the wetlands swell...
The Lozi people take to their boats,
seeking higher ground.
[water sloshing]
This annual ritual
is called Kuomboka,
which means "getting out of the water."
♪ ♪
According to legend,
the god Nyambe
commanded man to build the first canoe
in anticipation of the flood.
♪ ♪
Each year, the Lozi leave,
reassured the soil is renewed
for a future harvest.
♪ ♪
They'll return again
when the gentle floods subside.
[water trickling]
Rivers flow like arteries,
carrying the lifeblood of existence
huge distances
across many different terrains.
[water roaring]
♪ ♪
Cascading over Victoria Falls,
the Zambezi becomes the largest curtain
of falling water on Earth.
♪ ♪
People here call it Mosi-oa-Tunya,
"the smoke that thunders."
♪ ♪
Towering clouds of mist
can be seen from miles away.
♪ ♪
Plumes of spray
soak everything in reach...
♪ ♪
Allowing lush rain forest to thrive
wherever it can take root.
♪ ♪
[water rushing]
Tumbling over the soft limestone beneath,
the Zambezi
flows for another 1,000 miles
towards the east coast of Africa.
♪ ♪
Most rivers end their journey
when the fresh water they carry
finally meets the sea.
[water splashing, birds cawing]
Oceans wrap the entire world with their embrace.
[waves crashing]
They hold over 90%
of the Earth's water,
and so the majority of life on the planet
lives in the mysterious deep.
Out at sea,
water evaporates and ascends as vapor
into the sky.
♪ ♪
On the western coast of Southern Africa,
where sea and sand dunes meet,
tiny droplets
reach land as a spray of ocean mist.
♪ ♪
[birds and insects chirping]
♪ ♪
Just the smallest amounts of moisture
allow the most resilient plants
to call the desert their home.
♪ ♪
Inland, from Cape Town to Namibia,
water in any form rarely touches
this arid region of Namaqualand.
♪ ♪
Yet one sprinkling of seasonal rain,
and this blank canvas
transforms into a masterpiece of nature.
[insects chirping]
♪ ♪
With over 3,000 different species of wildflower,
it's called the greatest garden on Earth.
♪ ♪
Dazzling but ephemeral,
flowers must compete to attract pollinators
with the intensity of their blooms.
♪ ♪
Despite so little water,
it's the most biodiverse desert on Earth.
♪ ♪
When the hot winds return,
fertilized seeds fall onto the desert floor.
♪ ♪
They wait
patiently in the dust
for the rains to return once more.
♪ ♪
[wind whooshing]
Water
is a shape-shifter.
It can flow freely
high above us as rivers in the sky.
♪ ♪
Clouds of billowing vapor
can cover hundreds of miles in a day.
[thunder rumbling]
♪ ♪
The desert people of South Africa
would summon the rain
with a ritual dance.
[thunder rumbling]
When the heavens do let loose,
tons of water pour onto the ground...
[rain pattering]
Quenching the Earth below.
♪ ♪
[insects buzzing]
♪ ♪
Every year in Botswana,
summer rains that fell upstream
four months ago
start to flow into the Kalahari Desert.
♪ ♪
[elephants grunting, footsteps stomping]
♪ ♪
These elephants
are drawn here as if by a magnetic force.
[elephants grunting]
♪ ♪
[footsteps stomping]
♪ ♪
In the dry season,
they time their migration
to the promise of seasonal floods.
♪ ♪
They can walk for 50 miles
without a drop to drink.
♪ ♪
Elephants never forget their map
of where to find water.
♪ ♪
[elephants grunting]
The eldest females remember best
and pass on this precious knowledge
to their young.
♪ ♪
Their long trek is rewarded
with the first true bath of the season.
♪ ♪
[birds and insects chirping]
[water sloshing]
[birds and insects chirping]
[wings fluttering]
When the floods fully appear,
the Okavango Delta grows
three times in size.
♪ ♪
It's one of the largest watering holes on Earth,
so large,
it can be seen from space.
♪ ♪
A multitude of other animals arrive
to share this unique
and delicate ecosystem.
♪ ♪
These wetlands give refuge
to some of Africa's most iconic creatures.
♪ ♪
[wildebeest grunting]
♪ ♪
[birds and insects chirping, frogs croaking]
Like every living thing,
we emerged from water.
♪ ♪
It is the origin
of life itself...
And creates the vibrant diversity
of our world.
♪ ♪
[birds and insects chirping]
♪ ♪
As rain and rivers,
oceans and fog...
Water's cycle never sleeps
on its epic odyssey
around the globe.
♪ ♪
[water trickling]
[birds and insects chirping]