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Human Planet: Episode 2: Deserts - Life in the Furnace

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Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Deserts - Life in the Furnace

Episode 2

Episode 2: Deserts - Life in the Furnace

BBC One - Human Planet, Deserts - Life in the Furnace

A look at how the eternal quest for water brings huge challenges and ingenious solutions.

A look at how the eternal quest for water brings huge challenges - and ingenious solutions - for millions of people in the driest places on Earth.

We can survive for weeks without food, but only days without water: it is the essential element of life. Yet many millions of us live in parched deserts around the world. In the second episode of Human Planet, we discover how the eternal quest for water brings huge challenges - and ingenious solutions - in the driest places on Earth.

Battling through a sand storm in Mali, Mamadou must get his cows to a remote lake but desert elephants have arrived first. Can he find a safe way through the elephant blockade? Alone for weeks on end, Tubu women and children navigate the endless dunes of the Sahara. How does young Shede know where to find the last oasis, three days walk across the sea of sand? At the height of the drought we witness a spectacular frenzy: two thousand men rushing into Antogo Lake to catch the fish trapped by the evaporating water. When the rain finally arrives in the desert it's a time for flowering and jubilation - and love. The Wodaabe men of Niger put on make-up for an intoxicating courtship dance and beauty contest and the women pick the winners.

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Cinematic documentary series looking at humans surviving in extreme environments.

Human Planet, a cinematic experience, bringing you the most amazing human stories in the world today. Humans and wildlife surviving in the most extreme environments on Earth.

Simulcast of network BBC One in high definition. From 03/11/2010

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