Secret Life of Lakes

Asleep in appearance, lakes hide a secret life, and obey natural cycles. In this episode, we look at the animal and plant life that populates Lake Baikal, recognised as the largest freshwater reserve in the world. Located in the heart of Siberia, Lake Baikal offers the purest waters on the planet. Despite a harsh climate, neither ice nor wind hinder the development of its unique fauna and flora.

In this episode: the Tonlé Sap is a lake located in Cambodia, very dear to the local population. Indeed, it has one of the richest ecosystems in the world and a considerable reserve for fishing. The Tonlé Sap is both generous and capricious. More than three million Cambodians depend on its fish and live to the rhythm of its cycles: as vast as a sea during the rainy season, it turns into a muddy pond in the dry season.

In this episode, discover Lake Nasser, an impressive artificial lake located in the heart of the Egyptian desert with a remarkable ecosystem. In the heart of the Egyptian desert, Lake Nasser, a dam lake, has been controlling the Nile for forty years. This huge expanse of water in the middle of the desert is actually an artificial lake that extends for more than 500 kilometres. Its creation, by changing the environment, gave birth to a new unique ecosystem.

Too salty for fish, the Great Salt Lake has become a very popular refuge for many species of birds. Bordered by desert expanses and high mountains, the Great Salt Lake, whose waters are more loaded with salt than an ocean, could pass for barren. Yet millions of birds stop on its banks to feed and reproduce. The American lake forms a complex ecosystem, populated by amazing creatures and unsuspected wealth.

Last episode of this sublime series: in Brazil, is the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, an unusual and beautiful place in which rows of white sand dunes and small freshwater lagoons alternate. In northeastern Brazil, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, a sea of dunes is home to a string of turquoise lakes of incredible beauty: the Lençóis Maranhenses. They appear and disappear at the whims of rain and sun, but nevertheless constitute a unique place where the alliance of sand and water has given birth to an extraordinary ecosystem.