Over the Islands of Africa
Spirits, Kings, Lemurs – Madagascar treats Ami to a multitude of new impressions and spectacular pictures. Director Christian Schidlowski and his team accompanied her on her trip. (S1 E03)
Spirits, Kings, Lemurs – Madagascar treats Ami to a multitude of new impressions and spectacular pictures. Director Christian Schidlowski and his team accompanied her on her trip. (S1 E03)
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On July 23rd, 2012, a massive eruption on the sun hurls a colossal cloud of solar matter into space. It's the most severe sunstorm in 150 years. Fortunately, the Earth is not in the direct path of this solar ejection. But it's only a matter of time before a violent solar storm hits us. When these clouds of charged matter reach our planet, they can wreak havoc in electrical systems.
On February 15th, 2013, out of the blue, a meteorite exploded in the earth's atmosphere above the Russian region of Chelyabinsk. The event is a reminder of the ever-present 'Meteor Menace' and the need to understand more about these missiles from outer space.
Europe has experienced catastrophic earthquakes – even though the 'old continent' is not the most notorious region on Earth for strong quakes, the danger from below is very real. Autumn 2016 tragedy strikes north-central Italy. A series of four earthquakes cracks a mountain and flattens a historic town.
ALMA – the Atacama Large Millimeter Array – is the ultimate space observation facility. Here, 66 leviathan parabolic antennae trap cosmic rays in the previously unobservable long-wave range. It can only happen in Atacama, far away from civilisation's pollution of the night sky with artificial light.
Cape Verde – the islands of Saudade, of longing. For Stéphane and Richard it was a journey full of adventure, unforgettable encounters and magnificent photographs. Director Christian Schidlowski and his team accompanied them on their trip. (S1 E05)
Along with photographer Rui Camilo, we travel to the West African island nation of Sao Tomé and Príncipe - in search of images that will capture the soul of this small and beautiful country. (S1 E04)
Spirits, Kings, Lemurs – Madagascar treats Ami to a multitude of new impressions and spectacular pictures. Director Christian Schidlowski and his team accompanied her on her trip. (S1 E03)
Wide open heaths, windswept and barren in winter, are transformed into wonderful carpets of white, fluffy cotton grass in summer. Large bears and wolves roam alongside delicately fluttering butterflies, the bubbling calls of black grouse and the enchanting trills of the great snipe. Moors, bogs and wetlands can be found all over in Europe. Everyone has at least heard about this habitat but most know little about it. It is an ancient yet largely unknown set of landscapes that is full of enchanting surprises. On a warm spring day, poisonous adders emerge from hiding to perform their impressive mating dance. As dusk falls, snipe gather on traditional leks, leaping and singing to impress the opposite sex. And deep down in the boggy marshes, glittering emeralds of sticky dew lure insects into the deadly arms of meat-eating plants. Magical Moors captures the quiet beauty of a spectacular landscape, and its often elusive wildlife, in stunning detail.
2.000 rivers and streams dig deep into the underground and transport their water into reservoirs or "Germany's Wild Amazon", the Wupper. These forests and rivers, together with heathlands and moors, are home to a diverse fauna. Martens, badgers, wild boars, hares, roe deer, and red deer, even black grouse and hazel deer find shelter in these parts. Wolves also have a dominant presence, not to mention those who live underground, such as lizards, bats, and snakes. Accompany us on a journey where we explore every corner of this rugged land. Climb underground into the Bergisches Land, through the vast hidden cave systems that sprawl far beneath the forests. There is also much to be discovered in the water, dive with us in crystal clear streams and rivers with their diverse flora and fauna.
The Andes are the biggest mountain range in the world. Peaks of up to 7000 metres in height, do not only offer an imposing view, but also influence the climate by being the drainage and meteorological divide.
Sri Lanka stands for colourful diversity in all respects. If it's spirituality or Ayurveda you're looking for, here it is. Adventurers and nature lovers can also satisfy their needs here. No one must travel far to discover exotic worlds on this drop-shaped tropical island. "mareTV" delves into the day to day lives of the is-landers, some of whom pursue the most unusual pro-fessions: Uditha Lakmaal is a palm tree climber. He harvests the sap of the trees, known as palm wine, by climbing to the top of them. Sri Lankan stilt fishermen now actually have very little to do with fish and func-tion more as models receiving payment from tourists for acting the part. Anulawathie runs a small floating hoop business, offering car inner tubes for adults and tuk-tuk tubes for children. Different varieties of tea can be found on Herman Gunaratnes tea plantation. Just four carefully selected women are allowed to harvest the exclusive white tea grown there. Each tea leaf is cut individually from the bush by gloved hands and with golden scissors.
Sweden's Höga Kusten (High Coast) has been rising by almost one centimetre per year since the last ice age 10,000 years ago. This has created a hilly Baltic Sea landscape on the Gulf of Bothnia with small and large islands. Untouched nature, dense forests and energetic, rather idiosyncratic islanders have plenty of room there. Every year at the end of August a biting stench mixes with the fresh Baltic Sea breeze. For weeks the so-called sour herring, Swedish: Surströmming, is fermented in brine. Ruben Madsen is a producer of surströmming and an absolute connoisseur. In his wooden hut on the island of Ulvön he puts the herring in according to a traditional recipe. At the start of the season, the cans are opened for the first time. Lovers of the "stinky fish" then come from all over the world to taste the now world-famous delicacy in cans. Opening the cans of "rotten fish" is considered internationally as a test of courage, people film themselves doing so, the inhabitants of the High Coast can only smile about it.
A scenic expedition through majestic volcanoes, seething geysers, powerful waterfalls, threatening fjords and almighty glaciers. Hardly any other country offers such a variety of spectacular forces of nature! We will give you an insight on how it can be that the people of a small, distant island with only a fraction of sunlight in some months are happier than the people in more sun-blessed countries.
The Dordogne consists of a visible and an invisible system of flowing water. Caves and basins under the earth's surface store the excess water and return it to the river when it is dry. A perfect management of a precious resource, not invented by humans, but by the complex nature itself. The result is an ever life-giving river. (S1 E02)
The Gironde is the largest and most powerful tidal current in Europe. When the Gironde flows into the Atlantic, it is 15 kilometers wide and in the rhythm of the tides, it brings the waters from the Pyrenees and the Massif Central into the ocean. This often pushes its waters far out into the Gironde at high tide.This creates a world of its own that has shaped everything uniquely and intensely for tens of thousands of years. The water surface of the river is so large that the evaporation has created its own microclimate, which is stable and, together with the brackish waters, has influenced flora and fauna on the right and left of the bank for a long time. (S1 E01)
Tenerife is outstanding among the Canary Islands. If only because of the volcano Pico del Teide, which rises exactly 3.718 meters above sea level and is thus the highest mountain in Spain. But not only scenically Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands, stands out...
The film celebrates the diverse natural heritage of the Dutch delta region while sketching the cultural context that has played such a vital part in shaping it. Using cutting edge cinematic techniques ranging from eagle's eye aerial views to unprecedented underwater scenes, 'Wild Holland - The Living Delta' presents a portrait of this unique wetland area of Europe as never seen before, capturing it in an important moment of change - a time when new life is flooding back into the delta.
Gigantic fjords and over 5,000 small islands: In Alaska's south there's a lot of wilderness and little civilization. The region between the capital Juneau and the Canadian border is also known by locals as the "Last Frontier", the last outpost. Michelle Masden, for example, has come to terms with the harsh conditions here. She is the only seaplane pilot in the region. She earns her living with her 65-year-old Beaver: as an air taxi, transport plane and now and then as a rescuer in last necessity. Michelle flies anything and everything: spare parts and food, doctors, hikers and hunters. For the fishermen of southern Alaska she searches for large shoals of fish and guides the captains to the next good catch. Ray Rusaw was a car mechanic by profession, but in his old age he was gripped by gold fever. With a self-built special raft and a highly creative selection of equipment from the DIY store, he sets off in search of the precious metal that his predecessors overlooked two centuries ago. For four years he has been happily obsessively combing through sandbanks and river courses. For Ray, the search for gold has little to do with luck and much to do with meticulous research. He is certain that he has found the perfect spot.
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. (S1 E05)
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. (S1 E04)
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