From Soda Lakes and Inland Seas

The second part of the documentation highlights the role of water in the region. It makes the difference between the eastern and western parts of Rift Valley. The east of the Rift Valley lies in the rain shadow of the mountains, the dry season is long and hard. The western rift, on the other hand, is green, tropical and fertile, stretching from Lake Albert in the north to the cloud forests of the Ruwenzori Mountains and the Virunga Mountains to the Malawi Lake in the south. There are rainforests and the third largest freshwater lake in the world with a breathtaking variety of fish, Lake Tanganyika. Lake Tanganyika is more than 670 kilometers long, only 70 kilometers wide, and its deepest point is 1,740 meters below the water level. Here Harald Pokieser worked together with his friend and colleague Erich Pröll. The legendary nature filmmaker served the underwater camera in Lake Tanganyika and also delivered the fantastic shots of chimpanzees in the Mahale National Park. In the eastern Rift, with its shallow, salty lakes, only one animal family feels really well - the flamingos. They pull from one lake to the next in their millions and filter out tiny algae and bacteria from the salt water. At the Nakuru, British cinematographer Richard Jones gets one-off shots: he films hyenas hunting for flamingos. The second coup Jones landed in Ruaha National Park in Tanzania. He arrived in time for an elephant birth and filmed the first minutes of life and attempts of the little pachyderm. (Text: arte) Alternative title: On the shores of the Great Lakes /Sodaseen und Binnenmeeren.