Mirages summon up strange liquid illusions
here on a vast dry lake bed
that has been called "the place of dry water."
This is a region named Etosha in southwestern Africa.
For most of the year it may go without a drop of rain.
And in these times,
Etosha's water holes become like open-air stages.
Here, as perhaps nowhere else,
the wildlife of Africa may be intimately observed.
Much of the Etosha region is grassy plain and bushland,
and in tis center lies the Etosha Pan
a vast lake bed which is totally dry for most of the year.
Some 2,000 square miles in area,
this great expanse of clay is one of the most barren landscapes on Earth.
But this is a place of illusion and paradox.
Because here in Namibia in southwestern Africa,
the Etosha Pan is surrounded by one of the most spectacular displays
of wildlife remaining on the continent
For underground reservoirs feed permanent water holes along the edge
of the pan and on the plains beyond,
sustaining great numbers of animals the year round.
Our year in Etosha begins as the long dry season comes to an end.
The pan is baked and windswept,
and a dusty haze fills the air.
But at last, one day,
great clouds and shafts of cooling rain sweep across the plains.
Water begins to fill the pan,
flowing into this natural depression from all directions.
As the rains continue for about three months,
A huge lake gradually forms.
Suddenly, millions of catfish appear in the lake.
They have been spawned by adults that have somehow survived the
dry season buried deep in the mud.
But now these young fish become a feast for egrets and herons.
The rains transform Etosha.
The pan is now a vast, shallow lake,
fifty miles across
but barely two feet deep.
Rising water soaks the grassy plains along the edges of the pan.
A lush new season is announced by a chorus of giant bullfrogs
calling females to mate.
The bullfrog males gather together on their mating grounds.
Here they attack each other,
fighting savagely for the opportunity to mate.
This is something new for these young lions.
The small female bullfrogs take the initiative when it comes to mating.
Now two females vie for the attention of a male.
Hundreds of eggs are released by the female and fertilized by the male.
Soon vast numbers of tadpoles swarm in the shallows around the pan.
Most frog species have abandoned their young by this time,
But the male giant bullfrog is fiercely protective.
He vigorously defends them against predators like the monitor lizard.
A blaze of fresh color sweeps over the plains of Etosha.
Many animals find sufficient moisture in the succulent new growth
they're feasting on.
Now the water holes appear abandoned and deceptively peaceful.
But turtle doves do come to drink every morning and evening.
These two are unwary intent on their courtship.
The victim is overwhelmed by hungry turtles
and it's soon over.
Playing and foraging, but ever alert,
ground squirrels rarely stray far from the safety of their burrows.
Like most animals here,
the squirrels have their young in this bountiful rainy season.
On the plains, a wildebeest is giving birth.
The calf's infancy passes before this day is over
in just a few hours he'll be running with the herd.
All across the plains newborn animals are first tasting life.
Easy targets for predators, many will not live more than a few days.
The zebra mother places herself between the cheetahs and her foal
making good its escape.
The rainy season is not a total blessing for the squirrels.
They are plagued with fleas.
The squirrels use their fluffy tails as sunshades.
It's an unusual adaptation, helping them to forage in the hot sun.
The cheetah mother has four large cubs to feed.
They're almost a year old,
but not yet skilled enough to hunt on their own.
The wildebeest mother is formidable.
She confronts the cheetah and helps her frantic calf to its feet.
An elusive animal of which little is known,
a bat-eared fox tends her cubs.
She'll collect insects for them to eat
and keeps their fur clean by constant grooming.
Baby springbuck are easy prey for the cheetahs.
They can easily eat four of these small fawns in a day.
In half an hour they'll be hunting again.
Her large, sensitive ears enable the fox to detect even
the faint sounds made by insects underground.
This time she's found only a few termites.
Although considered the fastest-running animal,
cheetahs are hard-pressed to catch the swift springbuck.
Cheetahs are often frustrated
unless they can gain the advantage of surprise.
In this year of heavy rain and an abundant food supply
Pelicans have come to nest on an island in the flooded pan.
Here, their clumsy black chicks are safe from predators.
Leaving the chicks, the adult pelicans often travel great distances
to the nearest fishing grounds.
Here, they join other birds in pursuit of catfish.
The catfish have grown almost too big for this sacred ibis.
After three months the rains diminish and the pan begins to dry.
The surviving catfish are trapped in the shallows
and picked off easily by the pelicans,
lbis, and yellow-billed storks.
Newly-hatched dabchick ride along on their mother's back
when she leaves the nest.
As the male dives for food,
the dabchick mother tends her young
and the unhatched eggs, which she carefully covers over
when she's away from the nest.
Now she shades the eggs and fans them vigorously
guarding against the hot sun.
Both adults must work constantly to keep up
with the chicks' demands for food.
The rains have ended now,
and pools along the edges of the pan are fast evaporating.
By the thousands, young bullfrogs emerge from the water.
They have voracious appetites and eat everything in sight.
Often there is no food but one another
Many bullfrogs may reach maturity without eating anything
but their own kind.
For the frogs that escape each other, there are other enemies.
This bushsnake recognizes prey only when it moves.
If the frogs remain still, they're safe.
Through the rains, most animals of Etosha enjoyed a bountiful time.
Strengthened and renewed, they are now prepared for the long,
harsh season that lies ahead.
As the plains dry, the rutting season begins.
A wildebeest bull eagerly approaches a group of females.
But the bull is not entirely welcome.
Rival males will take full advantage
when he drops his guard and attempts to mate.
A male springbuck courts a female by gently touching her flanks.
Only when ready will she allow him to mate.
This is called "pronking."
Adult springbuck pronk after being chased by a predator,
Perhaps as a signal to regroup the herd.
But in these young, is seems simply a delightful form of play.
Daily it's growing drier.
The pan becomes a mire of soggy clay,
and then hardens under the harsh Etosha sun.
High and dry,
the pelican colony is no longer an island and no longer a sanctuary.
Jackals and hyenas raid each evening.
The flightless young pelicans soon are scattered across the pan,
many dead or dying.
The new grass brought by the rains matures and dries.
The great herds that have flourished here on their breeding grounds
now move on in search of fresh grazing.
Probably such migrations have continued for thousands of years
triggered by the onset of the long dry season.
Some herds will travel 100 miles and more.
They must follow trails leading from one water hole to the next.
And at the water holes wait the predators...
A zebra herd is halted in sight of water by two resting lions.
The lions have recently fed,
but they will see that nothing drinks here today.
They're old companions,
and have hunted together for years.
It would seem that nothing could come between them
except perhaps, a lioness.
It's mostly noise and little damage is done.
The victor has established his right to the lioness.
The loser seems to accept his lit in life,
and is ill prepared when a second lioness comes on the scene.
After three dry months the water holes become increasingly essential
and perilous for the animals of Etosha
More and more often, and more urgently
they are impelled here to drink.
Elephant are among the few animals that come fearlessly to water.
These bull elephants normally keep to themselves.
But occasionally they join up with a breeding herd
of cows and calves like this one.
When a very young calf is with the herd.
Even elephant can be edgy.
This calf is probably less than ten days old,
and it seems the entire herd unites to protect it.
Udu are infinitely cautions when coming to drink.
They are alert for the slightest scent or sound of danger.
A powerful lioness in the prime of life is accompanied by her three cubs.
Lions have a bad reputation as parents
cubs are often neglected, or even savagely abused,
Because of conflicts within the pride.
But this lioness proves an attentive and careful mother,
possibly because she has no female rivals and enjoys the attentions
of the three male lions in the area.
The cubs are only about four months old.
And would be quite helpless on their own.
They'll continue to rely on their mother for the next two years.
A flock of queleas makes a hit and run raid on the water hole
their safety lies in speed.
The lioness has caught a young warthog for her cubs.
Now she leads them to where she has left it.
But there's a surprise in store for the cubs.
The mother will not help.
Inept as they are, they must learn how to kill.
This is a rare and striking glimpse of how the means of survival
are passed on in the wild.
It's growing hotter and drier by the day.
Though always aware of danger,
animals are drawn more frequently to the water holes
starting even in the cool of early morning.
They can probably smell the lioness,
but they're also thirsty.
It's been six months now without a drop of rain.
Flocks of guinea fowl scratching for seeds add to the choking haze
that hangs over Etosha.
It sometimes appears that the entire area is smoldering
on the brink of bursting into flame.
Now comes the time of the "light rains"
showers that may fall in scattered spots across the plains.
They're only a teasing foretaste of the real rainy season,
still two or three months away.
Soon after the light rains, acacia trees blossom.
For kudu, giraffe, and other browsers,
their fresh, new leaves offer some relief.
But for other animals the scanty rains bring little benefit
the plains are still brown and bone-dry.
Now, the great grazing herds being to retrace their
migration routes across the plains.
By the time the rains begin in earnest,
they will have found their way back to the same breeding grounds
they occupied the year before.
On the way, herds gather to drink at a water hole on the edge of the pan.
And so it goes on as it has for millions of years.
The ancient perpetual cycle of the seasons,
the endless pursuit of predator and prey,
of death and renewal.
All will have come full circle
as thunder echoes across Etosha
and the rains come again at last.