Episodes
6. Of Water And SandsFive centuries ago, Portuguese navigators, in search of the best route to the Indies, tried to bypass Africa. For 400 years, not a ship captain who left the southern tip of the African continent had the idea of exploring this empire of sands that is the coastal desert of Namib bathed by the Atlantic. Yet it was enough to bend down to pick up the diamonds by handful. Beyond these two oceans of water and sand, there is an extraordinary garden. But you have to deserve it, because nature has separated it from the Atlantic Ocean by two immense arid expanses: the deserts of the Namib and the Kalahari. This sixth Okavango operation complies with the requirements of this itinerary to reach the most beautiful oasis in this world: the Okavango Delta...E77. Gondwana SurvivorsOperation Okavango could not leave southern Africa without stopping in Madagascar, the fourth island in the world. Its isolation has encouraged the development of unique flora and fauna. 200 million years ago, the earth was home to only 2 continents: Laurasia in the north and Godwana in the south. Under the effect of tectonic forces, they broke up into several plates which drifted away, taking with them entire sections of prehistory. This is how Madagascar, become an orphan island of Africa, escaped forever into the Indian Ocean with its cohort of bizarre animals that would become so many lemurs, chameleons or elephant birds. The Okavango expedition will cross these very particular southern worlds, from which Africa seems strangely absent.E88. The Great Equatorial ForestAt a time when the poles have revealed most of their secrets, the great African equatorial forest, the second largest biodiversity reserve on the planet after the Amazon, remains very poorly known. The complexity of this ecosystem, its a priori hostile approach, are repulsive and frightening. The equatorial forest is a world apart, difficult and secret, which conceals extraordinary wonders. It is therefore naturally part of the inventory drawn up by the Operation Okavango team on this continent. This authentic exploration mission carried out from Gabon to northern Congo, together with biologists, primatologists, ornhitologists, botanists and archaeologists, will allow the discovery of the extreme richness of the fauna and flora of this vast forest area, the second lung of the planet.E99. Sahara, The Desert of MenOperation Okavango travels to Niger and Chad, two countries among a dozen others, to share the world's largest desert: the Sahara. An Arab saying asserts that the Sahara is the garden of Allah. The God of the Righteous would have taken away all human life there in order to have a space in which to walk in peace. yet men have adapted to this immensity of sand and rocks. They exploited the oases, traced caravan trails, founded cities in the middle of the sands. Departing from Bilma on the oldest trans-Saharan track that connects the Mediterranean to Lake Chad, the members of Okavango formed 3 teams to meet the nomadic peoples of Aïr and Tibesti.
