:35:09
But the glory is short-lived.
:35:11
The sun dehydrates the earth again,
and the flowers return to dust.
:35:16
But they leave billions
of seeds in the desert soil...
:35:19
...because the rain may come again,
and they'll have another festival.
:35:24
For now, the desert reverts
to bleakness...
:35:28
...and those few weeks of color
seem as if they never happened.
:35:35
There is one spot in the Pre-Namib
that is a year-round paradise...
:35:38
...because the Cubango River
streams out of the Tropics.
:35:42
Unlike other rivers, it never reaches the sea.
:35:45
It blunders into the vastness
of the desert and is swallowed.
:35:49
But before those millions of gallons
of water disappear under the sand...
:35:54
...they create a luxuriant subtropical
jungle in the middle of the desert.
:36:38
A year-round Garden of Eden, complete
with serpent and other predators.
:36:43
The kingfisher pinpoints
his target precisely...
:36:46
...and gets into the exact position
by moving this way and that.
:36:50
Then he strikes.
:36:52
Like a fighter pilot, he dives with the sun
behind him so his prey can't see him coming.
:36:58
At high noon, he goes straight down.