Lake Tanganyika, one of the largest lakes on earth combines two very different yet equally magical worlds: an untouched wilderness along the shores, home to chimpanzees, elephants and antelopes and a spectacularly diverse underwater universe.
The lake shares many of the ocean’s characteristics. Glorious sunsets, occasional storms with terrifying waves and waters filled with sardines, colorful fish, crabs and even sponges. The lakes most stunning coastal feature are the Mahale Mountains in Tanzania.
2000-meter peaks tower above the lake and the surrounding rainforest is home to one of the largest chimpanzee populations in Africa. Smaller in size but way more famous is Gombe National Park, the African home of the legendary scientist Jane Goodall.
Over millions of years, the colorful cichlids in the coastal waters developed in isolation, a few individual ancestors gave rise to an incredibly diverse range of more than two hundred species.
In Zambia, at the Southern end of the great lake elephants drink and bath happily in shallow waters. It’s the last elephant herd living on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. Their home is the remote Nsumbu National Park with thousands of hippos and crocodiles and just a stone throw from the shore, large herds of buffalo and antelopes roam through a unique patchwork of swamps, riverine forest, woodland and savanna.
A co-production of ORF, ORF-Enterprise, ZDF-ARTE, Cosmos Factory and EIKON Media.
1 x 45 minutes and 1 x 90 minutes (wildlife & nature) written and directed by Harald Pokieser
A co-production by ORF, ZDF, ARTE G.E.I.E, Cosmos Factory and Eikon GmbH in association with ORF-Enterprise
2 x 43 minutes (travelogues) directed by Katalin Hanappi
A co-production by ARTE, Eikon GmbH and Cosmos Factory