Human Planet

Rivers provide the essentials of life: fresh food and water. They enable us to live in almost every environment. But rivers are also capricious and can flood, freeze or disappear altogether. Join a Laotian fisherman who must walk a high wire strung above the raging Mekong River for an extraordinary commute to work. Meet the father who must take his two children on a 6-day trek down a frozen river.

As an air-breathing animal, the human is not built to survive in water. But people have found ways to live an almost aquatic life so they can exploit the sea's riches. From a 'shark-whispers; in the Pacific to Brazilian fishermen collaborating with the dolphins to catch mullet, this journey into the blue revels astonishing tales of ingenuity and bravery.

Explore the extraordinary ways in which people survive at extreme altitudes where nature becomes unforgiving. In the Altai Mountains in Western Mongolia the locals forge an astonishing partnership with golden eagles that hunt for them. On the cliffs of the Simien Mountains of Ethiopia join a young boy must battle with determined gelada monkeys looking to raid his family's meager grain harvest.

The Arctic is the harshest environment on Earth, little food grows, its dark for months on end temperatures stay well below freezing for much of the year. Yet four million people manage to survive here. Human Planet tells remarkable stories of extraordinary people who make their homes in nature's deep freeze.

Grasslands feed the world. Over thousands of years, humans have learned to grow grains on the grasslands and successfully domesticate the creatures that live there. We walk with the Dorobo people of Kenya as they bravely attempt to scare off a pride of hungry lions from their freshly caught kill. We gallop across the Steppe with extraordinary Mongolian horsemen who were 'born in the saddle'.

The rainforest is home to more species of plants and animals than any other habitat on Earth. For humans, life in the trees requires great skill and ingenuity. The Matis of Brazil carve blowpipes to hunt monkeys. In the Congo forest, Tete defies death by scaling a giant tree past an angry swarm of bees to collect honey. And in Brazil, join a unique flight searching for an un-contacted tribe.

Water is the essential element of life, yet many millions of us live in parched desert around the world. From the Tubu women and children who navigate the endless dunes of the Sahara to the men rushing into Antogo Lake to catch the fish trapped as it evaporates, we discover how the eternal quest for water brings huge challenges - and ingenious solutions - in the driest places on Earth.

The final episode looks at the one environment that's been made by us for us - the city. Over half of the world's population now lives in the urban jungle. The city is built to keep untamed nature out - but nature can't be pushed away. From bed bugs sucking our blood at night to rats in our restaurants, many animals have adapted to a life with us.