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In this land,
family is everything.
It's the bonds within the pride,
the pack,
and the herd…
…that allow each member to succeed.
Nowhere are these bonds tested more fiercely
than in the great Kalahari Desert.
Here families are shaped
by courageous mothers…
wise elders…
…and tenacious underdogs.
All drawn to the immense oasis that lies at the desert's very heart.
The Okavango Delta.
Home to more wildlife than any other wetland on Earth…
it is seeing some of the most extreme seasonal change
on the planet.
Through the chaos and hardship of the coming year…
fates will entwine,
and incredible relationships will be forged.
Not just within families but between families.
And even with the land itself.
For a two-year-old lioness,
the strength of family comes from her pride.
She and her sisterhood control this territory…
…and their lead male reigns as warrior king.
But in the Delta, change can come suddenly
and upend a family's peaceful existence.
The chink in her pride's armor is the king himself.
Years of fighting to defend his family and territory
have taken their toll.
His weakness puts the lioness at risk.
And presents an opportunity
for two ambitious young males.
The old warrior marks his territory.
But he's frail.
And outnumbered.
Every year in the Okavango is a new and dangerous journey,
but for the lioness,
this year will be the most uncertain she's ever faced.
Every family confronts the challenges of the Delta
in its own way.
A pack of painted wolves, 24 strong.
Their strength, a testament to their great leader,
the alpha female.
She's trained them to think and hunt as one.
And to provide for all.
But the alpha is pregnant.
Her team will lose their leader,
just as the Delta faces its greatest upheaval.
It's May.
And the surrounding Kalahari Desert is facing the worst drought in decades.
Thousands of animals are fleeing the parched outer regions…
traveling for weeks.
All drawn here for one reason.
Water.
Rainwater that fell four months ago
in the Angolan Highlands to the north
has finally made its way down,
across the Kalahari and into the flatlands of the Delta.
Over nine trillion liters of fresh water
floods the vast desert…
creating
the greatest oasis on the planet.
In the flood's wake come the great herds…
joining those who live here year-round.
Everyone has a role to play
in shaping and maintaining this land.
Even a six-month-old elephant
on her first visit.
She's never seen so much water…
…and food.
With endless floodplains to munch their way through,
elephants become the natural gardeners of the Delta…
uprooting far more than they can eat.
But over-pruning can clog the waterways,
halting the water's spread.
What the gardeners have blocked up,
families of hippos bulldoze through.
Not being swimmers, they tiptoe along the bottom.
And in their wake, leave hippo-sized highways…
that connect rivers to pools and pools to floodplains…
allowing the water to keep flowing,
feeding the vibrant growth of the entire Delta.
But the flood isn't good news for all.
For the lioness,
it means a loss of hunting grounds.
And the old warrior king is nowhere to be seen.
Whether he fled or was killed,
the young invaders have usurped his throne.
Only lionesses of breeding age are allowed to stay now.
And she's not one of them.
To these new males, she's just an extra mouth to feed,
with little to contribute.
Banished and alone,
she'll need all her skill just to stay alive.
The alpha female has been housebound for weeks.
Because…
Well, who would leave this scruffy bunch?
At four weeks old, her pups venture out for the first time.
All 14 of them.
Unable to hunt for herself, she must rely on her pack
to bring the meat she needs to keep her milk flowing.
But her stay-at-home work is nonstop.
Sweeping out the den…
three weeks' worth of ticks and fleas…
landing right back where they started.
Her pack is on patrol…
without their leader.
And the floodwaters are slowing them down.
Lechwe.
Just one would feed the entire pack.
With splayed hooves and powerful legs,
they can drive on through the flood.
Without the guidance of the alpha,
the pack follow them into the deeper water.
It's futile.
And then…
a lone impala.
He lacks the paddle-like hooves and long legs of the lechwe.
They finish the job quickly to avoid a clash with competitors.
The pack often take out the weak or injured in a group,
easier prey,
with the added benefit of reducing disease in herds.
The hunters deliver their meals in the safest way possible.
In their stomachs.
Until the pups can hunt themselves,
they eat first.
Generosity is a core principle of their pack.
Though learning to share doesn't come easily.
Retiring to the den with your very first piece of meat
is about as good as it gets.
With water levels at their highest,
the Okavango becomes a true paradise.
Aquatic life from the surrounding rivers and swamps
spreads into the grassland to spawn.
Branches and trees knocked down by elephants
create protected nurseries for young fish.
During peak flood,
the Delta swells to twice its original size,
and anywhere high and dry becomes prime real estate.
Water fig trees provide perfect nesting
for an astonishing variety of fish-eating birds.
For these families, it's not so much about where you build.
It's what you build.
Only the finest construction materials will do.
If you can't find the exact fabric you're looking for…
just steal it from your neighbor.
They can always steal it back again.
Finally,
a nest ready to hold their most treasured possessions.
Gently turned…
and shaded from the scalding sun.
Eggshell? Snail shell?
He's a first-time dad.
Everyone is in a race to raise their young
before the floodwaters recede…
and the nests lose their island protection.
The lioness has been struggling to make a kill.
In drier conditions, a reedbuck or lechwe would be a good bet.
But not in the flood,
not by herself.
And she's got competition.
Time to push back on her rivals.
It's pure intimidation.
She won't eat the carcass.
The pack would be wise not to test her patience again.
By September, the temperatures rise,
and water levels begin to drop,
leaving shrinking pools crowded with fish.
Perfect timing.
The adults get to work…
feeding their precious little monsters.
New pools form each day as the flood recedes.
Everyone has their own special technique
to go with their own special bill.
Pelicans favor the fishing net.
Pied kingfishers…
use the dive-bombing system.
Openbill storks have snail-plucking down to a science.
And the rather theatrical black egret
uses its cape to mimic shady spots where fish like to hide.
Bravo.
Different approaches with one purpose.
To build up their chicks' strength
as quickly as possible.
Pelican chicks are the greediest.
They need up to 30 feeds a day.
The tireless adults all know
the golden rule of family life in the Delta.
The stronger your young, the greater their chances of survival.
As the floodwaters recede
and the desert heat builds,
hunting grounds dry out…
…shifting the balance of power back to the predators.
But alone, the lioness' kill rate is still dangerously low.
She's growing weaker by the day.
To complicate matters,
she's come into season.
Her scent will carry to any lions in the area.
Including those she most wants to avoid.
The young males who destroyed her family.
But with the hunting grounds opening up,
another even bigger male is drawn to the area.
His dark mane and deep call
are signs he's in his prime.
It's risky.
But if they join forces,
he could offer protection and hunting support.
Her newfound alliance is short-lived.
The stranger moves on after only a few days.
Alone, once more,
but this time pregnant.
She won't be hunting for just herself anymore.
Every family in the Delta
is intimately connected to the rhythms of the changing seasons.
The water levels are plummeting,
turning to mud.
Fun for a calf…
…but it's a sign her herd should move on.
With the dry season taking grip,
the herds need to make the most of whatever grazing is left.
She learns from watching.
But some things, she has yet to perfect.
Such as paying attention, so as not to get left behind.
She's being taken to a special place.
A stand of fan palms.
They thrive where salts have been left behind
by the evaporating flood.
And the fruits that sit at the top
are revered by elephants.
Harvesting such lofty treats
is a trick that only a four-ton bull can pull off.
Each shake releases hundreds of fruits at once.
He knocks down enough for everyone.
This precious meal
is not just for this family and not just for today.
Elephants are the chief distributors
of fan palm seeds.
-The calf's ancestors left this fruit.
And now she will do the same for those to come.
The herd will carry the seeds for many miles.
Wherever they release them in their dung, they can take root.
Just another of the herd's vital contributions
to the Delta.
It will be their last decent meal.
From here on,
the increasing scarcity of food and water will drive their every move.
The painted wolves have made it through the flood,
but not entirely intact.
One team member already killed,
and now the best hunters have deserted the alpha and her pups.
Too many new mouths to feed
and not enough food to go around.
It's time for the rookies to move out of the den
and begin searching for food.
The pups' first great adventure.
Their first patrol with the grown-ups.
Though, they are more of a hindrance than a help.
Their little legs will carry them up to 15 kilometers a day.
The alpha must rebuild her team into a peak hunting machine…
and teach her pups the ways of the pack hunter.
The receding floodwaters
have created perfect conditions to unleash a plague.
Locusts.
The building heat triggers a mass hatching.
Ten million greedy mouths devour the drying vegetation.
Ancient termite mounds seem to be the only things impervious
to the great forces now at play in the Delta.
It's October.
In two short months,
the drought has transformed a verdant paradise
into a barren dust bowl.
All the herds are searching for water
wherever they can find it.
They are easy pickings for the two young males.
Who grow bigger and stronger every day.
They follow the buffaloes' every move.
Tracking the same herds,
the lioness must stay a safe distance from the males.
In her delicate state, she desperately needs to eat.
But taking on prey the size of a buffalo all by herself
is next to impossible.
At best, she can pick up scraps left by the males,
scavenging the bare minimum she needs to stay alive.
All the herds and their predators
are being drawn in by the drought,
coming together in the heart of the Delta,
where the last water sources remain.
The calf and her herd
have to travel further with each passing day.
Their eyesight may be poor, but with highly attuned hearing and smell,
elephants can sense danger from miles away.
Nile crocodiles.
Some up to six meters long, weighing three-quarters of a ton.
But most are pretty small, only a meter or so.
The older elephants show the calf how to get to the water
by navigating this strange obstacle course.
At last.
And if you still haven't mastered the art of the trunk,
face drinking is always a good fallback.
The calf is learning…
the hard way.
This water hole is the herd's savior.
Elephants also use it to protect their skin from the sun.
The mud cools their overheated bodies as it evaporates.
And the dust settles in the cracks and crevices of their skin,
acting as sunblock.
A spot like this is highly sought-after.
But the herd aren't ready to move on from their mud spa just yet.
Such difficult times teach the growing pups many things.
Harassing a well-fed vulture must be a good lesson in… something.
A lone hyena…
makes for a more serious education.
Testing their stress levels helps prepare them
for future confrontations with competitors.
But they still need to learn the most important lesson.
The art…
of the hunt.
With the alpha now back in charge…
she directs the team to drive their prey into the thick mud
to slow them down.
Her coaching is paying off.
They're learning who to target…
and who to leave.
The pack is growing wiser and closer each day.
By late October, temperatures have soared to 45 degrees Celsius.
Not a drop has fallen.
In recent years, the dry seasons here have been getting longer,
the heat more severe.
This year is fast becoming the drought of the century.
Every day becomes a gamble
to find enough water to keep the whole herd alive.
The calf and her mother need it the most.
She's a prisoner in these lands
that only a few months ago offered her so much.
Her survival is entirely in the hands
of the wise, old leader.
The herd's matriarch.
She's been traveling these pathways
since she, too, was a young calf.
Her brain, infused with memories,
holds an ancient internal map
of where the last pockets of water might be found.
Family is more than just the herd.
Family is memory…
and that's what's making the difference
between life and death.
The old family knowledge leads them
to one of the last remaining water holes
in the entire Delta.
Every muddy drop is a lifesaver.
But their little one can't get to the water.
So she simply gets into the water.
Getting out, not so easy.
For a clumsy calf, a loving family is her most powerful ally.
There's no time to waste.
They need more water,
and they'll chase the storm front to find it.
-Finally, clouds begin to form.
Giant storm cells.
Elephants are able to hear the low frequencies of distant thunder
and detect storms up to 200 kilometers away.
But in a region that's gone seven months with barely a drop of rain,
the tinder-dry grasses are a ticking bomb.
The adults in the herd have seen fire before.
Each year, up to 4,000 square kilometers of the Delta burns.
They know to stick close together as they try to navigate the flames.
The fires are devastating…
…but don't devour everything.
The grazers have thinned the amount of fuel available to burn.
And the scorched areas will create new pathways
for next year's flood to access.
The Delta has always found a way to heal
because its residents never stop playing their part.
At last, the skies yield.
The greatest drought in living memory
is finally broken.
Over the next five months,
half a meter of rain will fall here.
Any ground scorched by the fire
will be revitalized.
The herds are released from their water holes.
-And the predators spread out.
Keeping the grazers on the move,
giving the new shoots a chance,
and preventing any one area from becoming depleted.
Balance…
is maintained.
And with the arrival of the rains…
come four new cubs.
The flush of green has prompted a baby boom.
She moves her cubs every few days…
to prevent their scent from attracting enemies.
But her latest move hasn't gone unnoticed.
The young males have picked up their trail.
They will not tolerate the presence of another male's cubs.
She's half their size and outnumbered.
They're trapped.
Her instinct is to lead her babies to safety.
But the cubs have no idea who they're up against.
She's lost track of a cub.
She'll fight to the death for her family…
…but the males won't risk further injury.
Thanks to their mother's bravery,
three of her cubs have survived.
She can't rest for long.
She's all they've got.
For the painted wolves, life again is sweet.
Their mother has risen
to the greatest challenge she's ever faced.
Bringing a pack cut to half its size
through the perils of the drought
and transforming a hapless bunch of rookies
into a hardworking, successful team.
Their comeback is complete.
The gutsy little calf
has chalked up her first year in the Delta…
and she herself has contributed to its upkeep…
with every reed she's trampled,
every palm seed she's left.
If she can survive another 30 or 40 more years
of increasing extremes,
fires, floods, and famines…
…she will finally become a matriarch
and pass on everything she's learned
to the next generation.
Now, four months old,
the lioness's cubs are getting stronger
and more able every day.
Single-handedly, she's kept them all well-fed.
Their games are practice for real life.
To teach them how to catch prey like their mother.
She once lost what was most precious to her.
But now, has a little pride to call her own.
Her cubs will soon learn the vital importance of family.
Just one of a myriad of families whose presence sustains their land.
These animals will continue to adapt
as best they can…
to the growing threats they face.
The world's climate changing…
becoming increasingly hostile,
more extreme.
Their greatest weapon in their fight to survive is each other.
For their fates are bound together with this great wilderness.
The magnificent,
ever-changing
Okavango Delta.