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We live on the most diverse
planet in the solar system.

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Its vast richness is revealed
when we explore the variety

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of our world's landscapes.

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This is an adventure
of discovery

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to seven of the planet's
most dramatic landscapes

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and natural wonders.

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Perhaps these are the greastest places

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Some five billion years ago,
our solar system took form.

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More than
200 million years ago

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Earth's supercontinent,
Pangaea, began to separate.

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New coastlines, continents,
islands and mountain ranges

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were formed in massive upheaval.

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The greatest places
began to take shape.

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Greenland became
the largest island in the world.

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Africa became
a separate continent.

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The Okavango Delta and the Namib
Desert Regions were formed.

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Severed from Africa,
South America was carved in part

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by the rivers Amazon
and Iguazu.

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India collided with Asia

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uplifting the great plateau
of Tibet.

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Madagascar separated
from Africa

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and became an island...

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one of the greatest places.

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Set adrift
by the forces of geology

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Madagascar became a time capsule

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where, for 40 million years,
life evolved in isolation.

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This island ark carries life
found nowhere else...

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Living treasures of place

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and time.

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This is the kingdom
of the lemur.

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Madagascar is the only place
on earth where lemurs are found.

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On the mainland, the lemur's
ancestors were out-competed

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by later-evolving monkeys.

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But left alone on Madagascar,
these ancient primates thrived.

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Here grow the most species
of the upside-down tree...

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Looking like its roots
are in the air...

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the baobab.

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This giant lives
for a thousand years

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on the island where
nearly two-thirds

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of the world's species
of chameleons stalk their prey.

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Of all the world's islands

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Madagascar has
the most native species.

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Here, where a cactus may grow
as tall as a tree

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the ring-tailed lemur has
adapted from forest leaf eater

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to connoisseur of cactus.

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Millions of years
of rain and wind

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have exposed
limestone pinnacles...

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silent reminders of the forces
that shaped Madagascar

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from the time it was torn
from the bedrock of Africa.

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Madagascar's isolation

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allowed the lemurs
to flourish and to diversify.

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Numerous species exist,
including the black lemur

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whose males are jet black.

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But the females of the species
are rusty brown.

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And the ring-tailed lemur,
the most social.

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And the shifak,
called the ghost of the forest.

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It's one of the few lemurs

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that sometimes comes down
from the trees.

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With a tongue as long as its
body, the chameleon dines.

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The island ark of Madagascar...

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one of the greatest places.

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Where India and Asia collided

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the world's tallest mountains,
the Himalayas

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were uplifted with the highest
plateau in the world, Tibet.

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As large as Western Europe

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the plateau is higher than
the tallest peaks

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of the Rocky Mountains.

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Yet people have lived
for thousands of years here

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in the place they call
the Chong-Tong

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the Lonely Place.

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The Buddhists of Tibet
believe in the sacred connection

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between people
and the world of nature.

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Prayers are written on flags

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to be carried
by the mountain wind.

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Living as nomads,
people conserve the land

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by constantly moving to feed
their yaks, sheep and goats.

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Their very survival is closely
bound to their animals.

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People trade for barley

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but their lives are sustained
by the yak.

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The yak carries
all their belongings

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and gives milk,
butter and meat...

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almost everything they need

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to survive.

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In the land where temperatures
can drop

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80 degrees Fahrenheit
in one day

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yak hides
even provide wool and shelter.

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For an endangered people

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who are among the last
of the nomads

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their shelter means
survival and home.

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Their prayers are written
inside prayer wheels

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to spin to the heavens.

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As part of their connection
to the land and their religion

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pilgrims travel
hundreds of miles

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in walking meditation
to monasteries and holy sites.

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Some lakes in Tibet
are considered holy

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and are headwaters to
Asian rivers that irrigate land

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to feed a quarter of humanity.

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Many pilgrimages end
at great monasteries...

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monasteries that serve
as centers of learning.

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As an act of devotion

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Tibetans walk around holy sites
as faithfully

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as the earth moves
around the sun.

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All people are linked
to the place they live

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through their culture

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but for all of us everywhere,
the natural landscape

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is what sustains
the dance of life.

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Tibet,
the world's highest plaeau.

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Across the world

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flows one of the Earth's
most powerful features...

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the river...

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and the greatest river of all
is the Amazon.

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It crosses more than two-thirds
of the South American continent

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and is joined
by a thousand other rivers

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as it brings a way of life
to the people of the river.

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Rivers everywhere
are arteries of life

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for great cities
as well as small villages

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bringing food, water to drink
and to grow crops

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and for transportation.

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The Amazon River Basin
is a vast landscape

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of river and forest

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almost as large as
the continental United States

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encompassing nine nations.

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People here follow
the ebb and flow of the river

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learned in the journey
of a lifetime.

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In the Amazon, people are
only one of millions of species

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linked to the greatest watershed
on Earth.

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Beetles the size
of a person's fist

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miniature geckos

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venomous caterpillars

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and spiders that walk on water.

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Located within a few degrees
latitude of the equator

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the Amazon basin receives
nearly direct sun all year.

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Heat from the morning sun
evaporates moisture

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and causes humid air to rise.

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By late morning,
it condenses into clouds.

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Cloud droplets gather mass
and then fall as rain.

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The daily rhythm of the rain
replenishes the river.

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Moving with the currents
are floating meadows...

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a seasonal mass of plants
and debris...

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islands of life.

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Some meadows become
part of the landscape

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and support even trees

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and the most colouful life
in this lush environment.

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Where the powerful river
exposes clay banks

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macaws and parrots fly in
for a meal.

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They eat the clay as an antidote
to toxic seeds in their diet

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and for its life-sustaining
minerals.

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Great rivers flow
across the planet

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and the Amazon is the greatest.

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Rivers everywhere meet
disruptions to their flow.

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When they flow across a boundary
of hard and softer rock

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there can be great disruptions.

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The world's greatest waterfall
is Iguazu...

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four times wider than Niagara.

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South of the Amazon basin

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at the border of
Brazil and Argentina

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Lava once flowed
from ancient volcanoes.

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When the hard lava ends,
less-resistant rock has eroded.

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Here, the Iguazu River plunges
into more than 200 waterfalls

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Along the southwest coast
of Africa

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the Namib is a desert
in motion.

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Across this
80 million-year-old desert

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prevailing winds build

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the earth's
tallest sand dunes

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dunes over a thousand feet tall

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that migrate
a grain of sand at a time.

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Of all the deserts

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the Namib contains
the greatest variety of life:

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Beetles that collect moisture
on their backs

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at the top of the dunes.

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Adders that store water
between their scales.

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And venomous scorpions.

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The Namib is even graced
with large mammals

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like the gemsbok.

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Everywhere on earth

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the interaction
of the same basic elements...

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Land, air, water and life...

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has created landscapes
of dramatic diversity.

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The Namib is one of the world's
five west coast deserts

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that stretch to a cold sea.

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As warm wind passes over
cold water, fog forms

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bringing life-giving moisture
that never falls as rain.

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But the fog of Namib
also brings death

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scattering bones along
the treacherous Skeleton Coast.

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A cold southern current
from Antarctica

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and the warmer Atlantic Ocean
mix to create a fertile sea

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and bring abundant life.

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At this ocean oasis,
fur seals feed all year

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and warm themselves
from the frigid water

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at the edge of the hot desert.

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The Namib

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desert of the great dunes.

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At the Arctic Circle,
the largest island in the world

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lies covered by
a permanent landscape of ice.

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Beneath the enormous weight
of the Greenland ice cap

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the world's oldest landscape
has sunk below sea level.

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At the sea,
glaciers calve into icebergs...

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floating mountains of ice

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that are five times more massive
under water than above water.

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Only the narrow ice-free coast
supports life.

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Here, the musk ox is cloaked in
one of nature's warmest coats

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even in summer's bloom.

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Greenland's storyteller,
the drum dancer

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celdbrates
the thousands of years

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people have survived
at this icy edge.

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This is life near the coldest
limit of human existence.

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Survival here is dependent on
people inventing what they need

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like the harpoon, the dogsled
and the kayak.

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Even at 40 degrees below zero

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people have
successfully adapted.

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Greenland a cold extreme
of earth's diversity.

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In Botswana, southern Africa

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the Okavango River Delta
is Africa's greatest oasis.

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Flowing from the north,
the Okavango River

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has carried millions of tons
of sand and debris

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to create one of the largest
inland river deltas

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in the world.

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It forms a maze
of land and water.

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This river never flows
to the sea.

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Instead, it spreads
across the Kalahari Desert

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and the desert blooms with life.

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This massive, landlocked
river delta

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depends on water
hundreds of miles away

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that travels half the year
to reach the dry, lower delta.

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Everywhere, water restores life.

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In this Eden of Okavango

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as in all places

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diversity of life is linked
to the land, air and water

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and the patterns
of landscape they form.

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Every thing is interrelated.

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Even the wild dogs of Okavango
are linked together from birth.

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Only one male and female mate
to produce a litter of pups

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the entire pack will raise.

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In dynamic equilibrium,
one generation follows another.

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In the Okavango, and everywhere

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the procession of life is
a reflection of the landscape.

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Only on this planet have
elemental processes combined

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to create so many great places,
inanimate features of land

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which make possible
the drama of life.

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In the unending partnership
of predator and prey

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one life gives way
to many others.

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Here, in the cradle of Africa,
and everywhere

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we are both witness
and participant

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in the Earth's
most intricate patterns

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of the land and life.

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00:36:23,247 --> 00:36:27,809
This rich variety of landscapes
is found only on one planet.

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To explore these greatest places

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is to recognize
our common bond

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that we share
a miraculous home

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the most diverse planet
in the solar system

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perhaps the most diverse
in the universe.

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Earth

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the greatest place of all.