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One of the earth's most extreme environments, the Sahara desert, is seen to be a shockingly lively place in this fascinating documentary from PBS. Stretching across 3,000 miles of northern Africa, the Sahara is a fabled land of extreme heat and dryness said to be ruled by the jinn, supernatural spirits who reign over the endless sea of sand and control the brutal elements. As seen in the spectacular nature photography in this production, the enormous and apparently hostile desert is home to a startling variety of wildlife. Besides the snakes, lizards, and scorpions one might expect to live in such a seemingly desolate place, there are also a number of mammals and birds that call the Sahara home. Foxes, sand cats, and gazelles roam the landscape while hawks and owls traverse the sky, all coping with the heat and the constant search for water. Startling close-up photography illustrates the struggles between species in a land where no creature is ever safe. Truly remarkable cinematography follows the animals through their hard lives in this unforgiving environment, while narration of this surprising documentary intelligently explains how survival is possible in the vast desert.
--Robert J. McNamara
Product Description
Searing heat. Piercing cold. Merciless drought. Violent winds. Experience the world's largest desert in all its stark and startling splendor! This two-video set examines the extremes of geography and weather that make the Sahara unique and the unusual creatures that must adapt or die: mewing foxes, barking cats, sand-swimming lizards. In
The Dance of the Jinni, feel the sun's fiery heat and suffer through titanic windstorms with the region's inhabitants, from human nomads to the fennec fox, sand cat, and dromedary camel. In
Sahara: The Nectar of Life, learn the unexpectedly wet and cold truth by trekking up the Atlas Mountains, where leopards stalk woolly coated macaques in heavy snow and rare torrential storms threaten striped hyenas and gazelles. Unlock the mystery of the sands!
