Three elephants walk in a line across Namibia's desert, a sandy landscape with rocky mountains and dunes in the background. The scene unfolds in a dry, arid environment under a clear sky.
Silhouette of a giraffe reaching for leaves on a tall tree branch amid Namibia's desert. The background is a misty landscape with sparse trees and bushes, creating a serene, natural scene.
In Namibia's desert, a lioness stands alert in the sandy landscape beside a fallen or resting animal. Sparse vegetation and paw prints etch stories in the background.

Namibia’s Desert Kingdom

Nature & Wildlife·1 x 53 min·Completed

In Namibia's harsh desert, animals like elephants, giraffes, and lions survive along sand rivers. This documentary follows their seasonal struggle for water.

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Genre
Nature & Wildlife
Duration
1 × 53 min
Definition
HD
Audio
5.1
Status
Completed
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Synopsis

Additionally available in Spanish

Sand dunes a 1,000 feet high, shimmering mirages and scorching temperatures – these are the deserts of northern Namibia. Although this place looks totally inhospitable, there is a remarkable diversity of life found in the sand rivers that dissect the desert dunes.

This is the seasonal story of the sand rivers that for 99% of the year hold nothing but sand, yet harbour elephants, giraffe, lions, and baboons. How do these animals survive in the sand rivers of Namibia?

This stunning blue-chip documentary will be filmed over the course of a year in the sand rivers of the Kaokoland in Northern Namibia.

The film starts in the peak of the dry season. Remarkable heat hazes shimmer off the sand. Mirages fool the eye into believing there are lakes of water everywhere. But the illusion has proved to be fatal to many.

Although the dunes are barren, the slender lines that dissect the dunes – the dry riverbeds – show signs of growth. Bushes and plants grow here. And out of the heat haze a vast shape appears. Then another – 27 in all. A herd of desert elephants amble along the dry riverbed scenting the ground with their lazy trunks. These remarkable creatures can smell the water underground and senior members of the herd know where to find it.

The herd pauses and the matriarch’s trunk sways back and forwards over the sand – her own inbuilt water diviner. She starts digging, deeper and deeper until water gushes from the ground. It is eleven months since any rain fell here and then it only lasted a few days. Members of her immediate family share the life giving water whilst other older elephants begin digging their own wells.

The abandoned wells attract a troop of chacma baboons, a small herd of oryx and springbok in a short time and finally a group of jackals. None of them has seen the pride of desert lions lying in wait.

Months without rain and even the desert-adapted elephants are finding it hard. Thunderstorms are rumbling in the Angolan highlands 500 miles to the north – all the desert life here in Namibia is dependent on the rain. But in some years it never arrives – and every creature of the sand rivers awaits its fate.

Team

Written and directed by Mike Birkhead
Executive producers Ivo Filatsch, Sabine Holzer
Production Companies Produced by Mike Birkhead Associates for Terra Mater Factual Studios

Awards & Recognitions

Lihula, Estonia Matsalu International Nature Film Festival Best Photography (Category: Nature) 2014
New York, USA New York Festivals® International TV & Film Awards Gold World Medal (Category: Nature & Wildlife) 2014
Bois-de-Villers, Belgium Namur Nature Festival Best Film Award 2014
Bethesda, USA CINE Golden Eagle Awards Televised Documentary & Performance Division – Environment & Nature 2013
Sondrio, Italy Sondrio Festival Town of Sondrio/Stelvio National Park Award 2014
Eckernförde, Germany Green Screen Festival Best Post-production 2014
Rotterdam, Netherlands WFFR - Wildlife Film Festival Rotterdam Nomination 2017
Missoula, USA IWFF - International Wildlife Film Festival Nomination 2017
Albert, France Festival International du Film Animalier Finalist 2014
Wyoming, USA Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival Nomination (Best Cinematography) 2013
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