BBC’s 'Human Planet: Deserts–Life in the Furnace' on News TV

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.

 

This Saturday on GMA News TV, BBC’s “Human Planet” discovers 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, 16-year old Mamadou must get his cows to a remote lake, but desert elephants have arrived first. Mamadou must somehow find a safe way through the elephant blockade, or his cows will die of thirst.

 

Alone for weeks on end, Tubu women and children navigate the endless dunes of the Sahara. How does 10-year old girl Shede know where to find the last oasis, three days walk across the sea of sand?

 

At the height of the drought, Human Planet witnesses a spectacular frenzy: two thousand men rushing into Antogo Lake to catch the fish trapped by the evaporating water.

 

And in Niger, when the rain finally arrives, it's a time for flowering and jubilation - and love. The Wodaabe men put on make-up for an intoxicating courtship dance and beauty contest.

 

Narrated in Filipino by multi-awarded documentarist Kara David, Human Planet’s “Deserts – Life in the Furnace” airs this Saturday, January 26 at 10PM only on GMA News TV.