Schedule for Adventure Earth

Hot Roads

Hot Roads

They run through deserts, through ice and snow, deep into the jungle, along the water and over the mountains. The landscapes through which these routes wind are unique and exert their never-ending fascination even on regular travellers. In our documentary “Hot Roads – An Icebound Road” which is part of the five-part film series “Hot Roads” we want to tell the stories that take place along the route itself, of the people who live along it and for whom the road is part and parcel of their personal destiny.

2026-07-24 09:29:31 +0000 UTC2026-07-24 10:19:02 +0000 UTC(49m)
World's Most Dangerous Railway Lines

World's Most Dangerous Railway Lines

The Tanzania-Zambia-Railway (Tazara) is one of Africa's most ambitious infrastructure projects. It connects the inland with the coast of East Africa and meant independence from the surrounding apartheid-ruled countries of East Africa. The film accompanies the Tazara on its 52-hour journey through Tanzania and Zambia and uses spectacular aerial shots to show not only the architectural monuments but also the unknown sides of the previously hidden landscapes of Tanzania and Zambia.

2026-07-24 11:19:52 +0000 UTC2026-07-24 12:20:48 +0000 UTC(1h)
Hot Roads

Hot Roads

They run through deserts, through ice and snow, deep into the jungle, along the water and over the mountains. The landscapes through which these routes wind are unique and exert their never-ending fascination even on regular travellers. In our documentary “Hot Roads – An Icebound Road” which is part of the five-part film series “Hot Roads” we want to tell the stories that take place along the route itself, of the people who live along it and for whom the road is part and parcel of their personal destiny.

2026-07-24 09:29:31 +0000 UTC2026-07-24 10:19:02 +0000 UTC(49m)
Hot Roads

Hot Roads

The air wants to flee the heat, but is too weak. It hovers just above the ground, heavy and weighed down by the oven-like heat. It turns wanly around itself, and tries to cool off by liquefying itself. It vibrates, it oscillates – but there is no escape. This is West Africa in late March. The Harmattan, the hot desert wind of the Sahara, is blowing without respite. It has no pity with the people who live here. Whoever wants to go from one place to another has to travel on roads that hardly deserve this name. They are dusty paths that don't appear on any map. They are maneuverable only with great effort and for a few months of the year. They are impassable during the rainy season, since they are washed over by the Niger River, one of the mightiest rivers in the world. When it starts to rain, the roads turn into muddy paths. Every journey is a trip into uncertainty.

2026-07-24 08:40:03 +0000 UTC2026-07-24 09:29:31 +0000 UTC(49m)
Hot Roads

Hot Roads

The “Adriatic Highway” is one of the most beautiful coastal roads in the world. The “technical masterwork” was built in the 1950s and 60s, at the time of Yugoslavian President Tito. Abounding in curves, the asphalt road stretches from Ankaran in Slovenia to Ulcinj in Montenegro. More than half of the road is in Croatia (659 km) and a quarter in Montenegro (125 km). Shorter segments lead through Slovenia only nine kilometers are in Bosnia and Herzegovina. For all four countries of the former Yugoslavian Federation, the 1,200-kilometer-long highway remains the main thoroughfare of Adriatic tourism. For many travelers, the highway is the absolute dream road. In dizzying heights, it hugs the steep cliffs lining the Adriatic Sea, winds through coves and bays, gardens and stony fields. Wonderful views of the blue sea, green islands, bizarre cliffs and Mediterranean cities and towns are typical of the highway. But with its numerous curves, the dream road also harbors many dangers.

2026-07-24 07:50:24 +0000 UTC2026-07-24 08:40:03 +0000 UTC(49m)
Hot Roads

Hot Roads

In Bangladesh, the land with the highest density of population in the world (and the highest amount of corruption), the daily struggle to survive is fought everywhere, including the streets. Nowhere do people drive as brutally and recklessly as here. In Bangladesh you drive on the road like others drive with a bumper car: if you need space, you simply ram the car driving next to you. The police only came if there are fatalities. The biggest bottleneck in the transport system is the historical old town of Dhaka. Old Dhaka is a universe of its own, a world of bazaars in which every trade has its own quarter: there are streets of jewelers, sweets makers and fashionable tailors, and the vegetable wholesalers have their warehouses down at the port. The deliveries take place mostly on the river, the Buriganga River, a stinking cesspool. But the sold goods usually leave by land, and the customers also come by the land route – the Nawabpur Road. They generally come in buses or by rickshaw, where too many people are crammed into too little space. The traffic in Dhaka is everyday, normal madness. The film accompanies a rickshaw, a bus and a truck on their dangerous way through the streets of Dhaka and shows how it is possible to survive in what seems to be an incontrollable chaos.

2026-07-24 07:00:45 +0000 UTC2026-07-24 07:50:24 +0000 UTC(49m)
Legendary Paddle Steamers

Legendary Paddle Steamers

The paddle steamer "Skibladner" is the oldest passenger paddle steamer in the world in regular service. It has been plying Norway's largest inland lake, the Mjøsa, since 1856. The "white swan" has a melodious name, borrowed from Norse mythology. The ship "Skíðblaðnir" of the god Freyr, built by dwarves, could always have a tail wind, could be stowed in a small bag when folded and all gods in armor had room on it. The traditional ship of AS Oplandandske Dampskibsselskap does not have such fairy-tale powers, but atmospherically the "Skibladner" also transports guests to a world long gone.

2026-07-24 00:25:54 +0000 UTC2026-07-24 01:27:20 +0000 UTC(1h1m)
Legendary Paddle Steamers

Legendary Paddle Steamers

Rugged coasts, untouched nature and the rough climate of the Atlantic characterize the landscape on the west coast of Scotland. In the sounds and lochs of the Scottish West, "Waverley", the last seaworthy passenger steamship in the world, appears once a year. The side-wheel steamer was built in 1947 to carry out short ferry passages on the Clyde River. Today, "Waverley" circumnavigates almost all of Great Britain. The impressive ship was sold to the "Paddle Steamer Preservation Society" in 1974 for the symbolic price of one English pound. Since then, she starts her season off the Western Isles in Scotland every year in May.

2026-07-23 23:24:37 +0000 UTC2026-07-24 00:25:54 +0000 UTC(1h1m)
mareTV: Madeira

mareTV: Madeira

Flower magic in Madeira: The Flower Festival Festa da Flor is the most important event of the year for the people of the Atlantic island. With it they celebrate spring, which is climatically practically all year round here, their island and themselves. The coast formed by lava, centuries-old laurel forests and green steep slopes make Madeira unique. Those who start right at the front of the big parade of the flower festival in the capital Funchal, will have made it. For Isabel Borges this dream has come true. She opens this year's flower parade along the harbour promenade with her festive group. This accolade does not only mean fame and prestige, but also a lot of pressure. Are the self-designed dresses splendid enough? Will the 150 flower children learn the dance steps in time? Will the flowers on the float hold out in the heat? For Isabel, it is now a matter of nerves.

2026-07-23 22:31:38 +0000 UTC2026-07-23 23:24:37 +0000 UTC(52m)
Lobsters

Lobsters

The knights of the deep are on the move almost no part of their bodies is without armor. Like medieval warriors, these fighters are well armed – not with sword and shield, but with scissors and forceps and defensive armor that is covered with spikes and hooks. And even though they are well protected and have an uncanny awareness of their surroundings, many of these proud knights will face a gloomy destiny. Many of them will end upon a plate. Gourmets all over the world are in love with these famous crustaceans: lobsters! For marine biologists lobsters are similarly fascinating: as research objects. We are on their trail in Cape Breton, an island in the northern Atlantic and part of the Canadian province Nova Scotia, where one of the largest populations of lobsters has its home.

2026-07-23 20:59:04 +0000 UTC2026-07-23 21:33:03 +0000 UTC(33m)
Northern Woods

Northern Woods

It is a musical film a a tributeto the Nordic forest: it shows its development from a primeval wood to a cultivated forest. Once populated by wild animals such as wolves, bears, eagles, deer and musk oxen, complex re-enactment-scenes shot by dollies and helicopters vividly depict the colonization of the forest by the Celts and Germans. But as time progressed, the northern forest has on numerous occasions fallen victim to environmental degradation and overexploitation. Several provisions were made to protect this wild beauty. The Helsinki resolution of 1993, which stipulated that the woods be used in a way and in a magnitude which guarantees their biological variety and productiveness and vitality, is but one measure put in place to secure the preservation of the natural gem. Time-lapse photography and breath-taking shots show our main protagonist – the woods – in its stunning glory. This beautiful wooded land, changes throughout the seasons. Our woodland is a world-renowned ecological jewel. It is famous, well-known and loved by tourists, forest economists, environmentalists, historians and intellectuals alike.

2026-07-23 19:57:57 +0000 UTC2026-07-23 20:59:04 +0000 UTC(1h1m)
The Seychelles

The Seychelles

The 115 islands and islets that make up the Seychelles present a breath-taking variety of plants, rare animals and beaches laced with palms. This is where the leg-endary Coco de Mer palm nuts grow with fruits weigh-ing up to 20 kilos and giant wild land turtles nibble away at mangrove fruits to their hearts content. The archipelago was first settled at the end of the 18th cen-tury. Today, a very colourful potpourri of peoples in this dwarf state proves just how peacefully different cultures can live side by side. Three times a week, the steamer "MV Espoir" completes the trip from the main island of Mahé to Praslin and back. A ship for every-one and practically everything: Used cars, toilet paper, horses, bicycles, furniture - you name it, the Espoir transports goods of all kinds. Coconuts sometimes pose a problem as there are far too many of them. What to do with them? The best place to send them is undoubt-edly Hubert Roumien's Virgin Coconut Oil Laboratory, hidden away in the Mahé jungle. Straw turns into gold at Seaweed Seychelles! There, Benjamin Port Louis collects seaweed and extracts liquid fertiliser from it.

2026-07-23 11:54:47 +0000 UTC2026-07-23 12:44:52 +0000 UTC(50m)
New Life

New Life

It's a water world and life couldn't survive without it. And thanks to it, a mind blowing diversity of creatures thrive beneath the surface. Born to enjoy the riches underwater they must master their body's adaptations, learn to find food, to escape danger and above all become expert swimmers! Whether it's in rivers, on beaches or in the deep ocean, all must overcome the obstacles and fulfil their destiny, all are born to swim! Of all the habitats on earth, the ocean is perhaps the most challenging. Here salt, temperatures, currents and predators can make life difficult it's not an obvious place to want to bring up your babies… But even in these waters generation after generation beats the odds. They have overcome the challenges and become some of the most beautiful and graceful of creatures. But any baby born to swim has a lot to learn… All over the world there are creatures born to swim, and though humans are not, we seem determined to join them. Perhaps we are envious of their grace. Maybe we are all water babies at heart

2026-07-23 09:54:52 +0000 UTC2026-07-23 10:53:39 +0000 UTC(58m)