Arabian camels and nomadic people are the most recent in a long line of Saharan pioneers. The history of this great region is told in ancient rock art, glimpses of a vanished world. Just a few thousand years ago, this desert was still wet enough to s...
The Arabian camel--not even a native , was domesticated in the deserts of Asia and brought to Northern Africa as a means of transport. In the past , Tuareg nomads used camels to move slaves, gold and ivory between West Africa and the Mediterranean. T...
But this hasn't always been so. Over the last 15 million years, Africa's climate has repeatedly swung from wet to dry and back again as Ice Ages have come and gone. At times the Kalahari has been much drier than it is today, its sands stretching as f...
Teamwork has helped the weavers find a neat solution to the problems posed by the Kalahari sun. But some creatures are even better equipped. Ground squirrels have ready-made parasols. Under the shadow of their fluffy tails, they can resume foraging w...
Cheetahs are sprinters, not made for a long-distance chase. So they must get close. But springbok have keen senses. True to their name, springbok can leap two meters high. It's jumping with a purpose. It signals a warning to the others and confuses t...
Living underground, mole rats are sheltered from the Kalahari's worst extremes of temperature. We think of deserts as hot places. But nightly temperatures can fall well below zero. At dawn, meerkats need to soak up the warmth of the rising sun to get...
Its the wettest of all African deserts, the great Kalahari. The sands of the Kalahari cover more of southern Africa than any other desert. But the higher rainfall here gives it a very distinctive appearance. More like a savanna, its sandy ridges carp...
Within a month, the spring blooms are finished. The plants now set their seeds, taking advantage of the warm summer winds which sweep the desert. For a while, the karoo just glows. But trouble is stiring. Triggered by the rains, an all-devouring army...
In spring , the desert undergoes a remarkable transformation. For just a few weeks a year, the flowers of over 3, 000 different plant species turn this desert into the Garden of Africa. This dazzling variety of color has evolved over time for a very...
On certain nights, the secret is revealed. Warm, damp air moving in from the mid-Atlantic is transformed to fog as it crosses the cold coastal current. A vast blanket of moisture steadily rolls across the desert. This veil of mist is the saving grace...
Each melon is a valuable package of moisture and seeds. The plant also benefits from this plunder as its seeds may be carried for fifty kilometers in the elephant's stomach before being dropped in a pile of fertilizing dung. But the Nara needs more t...
With the spider exposed, it's now a battle between the wasp's paralyzing sting and the spider's jaws. But the wasp has quick reflexes. Cornered, the spider now plays its trump card. Hurling itself down the dune, it flips into a wheel. Traveling at ov...
Pinning the ants to the hot sand surface, the spiders first cook them to death before dragging them under. In the Namib, even the toughest animals struggle with the heat. Gemsbok trek to the crests of the highest dunes to seek relief in the breeze. W...
In this barren sea of sand, it's harder for larger animals to find enough to eat. You've got to be a real specialist, like the Namib sand snake. By sidewinding, it can swim its way up the dunes. But in such an open arena, ambush is tricky, it's speed...
Africa is dominated by deserts, from the Kalahari in the south to the mighty Sahara in the north. These are fascinating worlds, each one unique, all a challenge. Yet life can conquer them and in the most surprising ways. This is an epic journey acros...
