Visit extreme locales — from the highest mountain to the greatest canyon — and learn how these places test their inhabitants to the limit. On Mount Everest, a Sherpa has to rope a route across the notorious Khumbu Icefall in time for the hundreds of foreign mountaineers who will arrive for climbing season. In the Grand Canyon, conservationists desperately try to ensure the survival of one of America’s few surviving condor chicks. And, on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, farmers fight pitched battles with elephants in the dead of night.
Across our planet, there are a handful of places that truly astonish, like Mount Everest, the Grand Canyon and Victoria Falls. These wonders seem to have little in common other than - literally - taking your breath away. But they share one other thing: they pose extraordinary challenges for their inhabitants. This landmark series combines stunning photography and compelling human drama as it reveals 12 remarkable places, and uncovers the stories of people fighting to survive - and even triumph - in Earth's natural wonders.
Witness wonders created by the force that makes our planet unique — life itself. In the Amazon Rainforest, two 9-year old boys must prepare themselves for a terrifying rite of passage involving the insect with the most painful sting on Earth: the bullet ant. In Borneo, a father must provide for his family by climbing to the roof of a vast cave to collect birds’ nests. And, in Bangladesh’s Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world, a father and son must brave killer bees and man-eating tigers to find honey.
In the high Himalaya, yak-herder Thokmay Lowa and his small group steer his herd through one of the region's extreme mountain passes. In the Canadian Arctic, traditional Inuit communities still forage for much of their food. In the Mato Grosso, as a result of deforestation, the region's microclimate has changed. In the blistering Australian Outback, cattle ranching requires a lot of space. The only way to efficiently round up the herds on these vast farms is through the use of helicopter cowboys. Deep in the Siberian interior, survival is tough. But climate change is opening up a new niche for the human inhabitants of this region.
In many of the Earth's Natural wonders it's the wildlife that holds the key to survival. Animals can be a very real threat to the people who live there, or they can provide a means of survival, but often at a high price.In the coastal salt marshes of Northern Australia's Arnhem Land, Aboriginal Peoples still go hunting for the eggs of one of the world's most aggressive predators: the saltwater crocodile. Despite their ancient hunting skills, this remains a dangerous job for the Aboriginal Peoples involved - a croc could always be lurking nearby, protecting its nest.
In Brazil, the Kamayurá People of the Xingu Indigenous Park believe they must appease the spirits if the tribe is to remain in good health. At one key festival an offering is made to a ‘bird spirit' in the form of a dance. The longer and harder the warriors dance the happier the spirit will be. The villagers must catch basket-loads of fish to sustain the warriors during their hours of dancing. But catching the fish means venturing into the nearby lake, and risk injury from electric eels, piranha fish and caimen.In Ethiopia, belief in a higher power leads villagers in the Tigray region to climb a huge, vertiginous mountainside to reach their church. Just 40 days after giving birth, Ngisti must climb 400 metres up the cliffs in order to have her new son Dawit baptised, if he is to have the best chance in life.
