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The swamp also plays home to many other creatures, from mud-skippers, who are thoroughly adopted to their environment, and can use their fins to walk on dry land, to otters which are bred by fishermen and help drive fish into their nets. Astonishingly an otter may sell for up to US$ 100 they are so
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The documentary ends by wondering once again whether the river can survive as populations increase, drinking and using up the precious water as it flows through the land, and sees hope in the reverence the river has always commanded from the Hindu religion and its adherents, as we watch 1,000,000
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The first of the programmes, taking the legendary mythology surrounding the Ganges seriously, shows how the natural world and the spiritual world have always been entwined in Hindu thought and life, and explains how the gift of life that the river brings is the reason she is held in such high
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The delta itself is also home to the largest density of human population of earth, in a land around the size of
Britain, six times more people find their living, and all thanks to the river, which not only brings water, but also fertile mud to the area making 3 rice crops a year possible.
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The film then shows the effects of the monsoon hail storms and rains, which give the river half of its flow-waters in just a few weeks, and helps wash down an astonishing 2 billion tons of sediment into the plains of India, making it the most fertile soil on Earth.
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The film follows a scientific team as they tranquillise and place a tracking-collar on a tigress, and follow her journeys through the swamps and temporary villages they hold in a hope of understanding more of how they live and survive in such inhospitable lands.
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We watch the changes the land undergoes through the dry season, where water levels can drop as much as 6 metres in 6 months, and into the rainy season, where water levels dramatically rise causing animals and humans alike to migrate as erosion takes its toll.
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The monsoon when it comes brings back life to the river which has been drying up during the hot season and washes down an enormous amount of sediment from the mountains producing muds and soils that are estimated to be 3 miles deep in certain places.
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Emphasis is placed on the Hindu respect for all life forms, even dangerous ones like the cobra, which in certain villages are allowed to roam freely throughout the compounds; and the mischievous macaques who are quite violent when in search of food.
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The film gradually follows the Ganges back along its course, ascending further into the
Himalayan mountains, and encountering some of the fabled sources of the Ganges, and most Holy pilgrimage centres along the way.
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which lies in its foothills, and has over 600 plant species, including the
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This episode closes by tracing the branch river, the
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1652:Mary Colwell
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1280:Ocean Giants
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1220:Supernatural
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1199:Weird Nature
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1149:
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1120:
1115:Animal Magic
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210:River Ganges
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132:Running time
35:
29:
1631:Wendy Darke
1308:Earthflight
1136:Inside Life
1061:Expeditions
970:Yellowstone
912:Wild Brazil
905:Wild Arabia
877:Wild Europe
856:Wild Africa
810:Springwatch
435:sarus crane
424:fishetarian
422:, a strict
334:lammergeier
291:reverence.
271:(2001) and
135:150 minutes
99:of episodes
64:Narrated by
1672:Categories
1206:Supersense
1044:Madagascar
891:Wild China
848:Continents
838:Wild Wales
650:Life Story
600:Television
541:BBC Online
503:Sunderbans
495:Bangladesh
214:Bangladesh
190:2007-08-17
180:2007-08-03
126:Bangladesh
107:Production
1568:Deep Blue
1322:Dynasties
1213:Lifesense
1150:Deadly 60
956:Galápagos
922:Locations
607:Landmarks
408:spoonbill
365:Rishikesh
361:Devprayag
345:Nandadevi
312:Badrinath
304:Yamunotri
300:Kedarnath
1589:One Life
1301:The Hunt
1152:episodes
944:The Nile
369:Haridwar
316:Gangotri
281:Episodes
277:(2004).
248:France 3
222:Himalaya
176:3 August
152:France 3
115:Ian Gray
72:Composer
472:Kolkata
468:Hooghly
446:Moghuls
420:gharial
340:trees.
323:Gaumukh
252:BBC Two
188: (
184: –
178: (
173:Release
167:BBC Two
163:Network
91:English
1703:Ganges
1143:Deadly
1037:Africa
963:Ganges
712:series
552:Ganges
536:Ganges
501:, the
461:Bengal
338:deodar
308:Yamuna
232:Ganges
218:Hindus
201:Ganges
36:Ganges
1575:Earth
1514:Radio
1429:Other
1266:Shark
937:Congo
457:Bihar
381:Terai
268:Congo
204:is a
123:India
54:Genre
1553:Film
1129:Roar
710:Life
629:Life
557:IMDb
410:and
390:and
367:and
274:Nile
246:and
555:at
539:at
455:in
256:BBC
97:No.
1674::
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318:.
310:–
228:.
585:e
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182:)
102:3
20:)
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