The Russian Wilderness- remote and inhospitable.
Areas that were closed to the world for years now reveal
landscapes and wildlife seen by few.
On Russia's far Eastern edge is the stark peninsula of Kamchatka.
In this surprising place heaven and hell collide.
Life and death in a delicate balance.
Volcanoes create a land of fire and ice.
A place of power where animals walk a fine line.
This is Kamchatka.
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WILD RUSSIA Kamchatka
Russia: the largest country on earth.
Almost twice the size of the United States.
It extends across Eastern Europe, and all of northern Asia.
Epic in scope- and dazzling in its extremes,
each section is a world of its own.
On its Eastern edge lies the dramatic Kamchatka Peninsula.
Kamchatka is a place of extremes...
lava seeps from volcanoes creating new land,
but the severity of winter can blanket even these giants as bitter weather takes hold.
It's hard to believe any animal could endure temperatures plunging to minus thirty degrees celcius.
and yet, many do.
Steller's sea eagles face adversity with grim determination.
Only the toughest survive.
They find refuge at lake Kuril- a crater eighty kilometres square.
Volcanic heat stops it freezing.
Up to eight-hundred sea eagles spend six months of the Winter here.
Although skilled at fishing, they prefer to steal another's catch.
Massive beaks make short work of frozen and fresh fish.
while weaker crows scoop up precious morsels.
Shielding their lunch from the mob of bullies can be a short lived success.
Theft is part of the mealtime ritual.
Kuril is Eurasia's largest salmon spawning ground.
Around eight million come each year.
But after the salmon breed, they die.
The Lake becomes the eagles' well-stocked fridge.
Despite this access to fish, getting them just isn't easy.
Golden Eagles also come to the lake for a share of the spoils.
Steller's eagles are two-thirds heavier, but golden eagles can take care of themselves.
And their appetites are just as big, though their smaller, less-powerful beaks
can make mealtime a chore.
A lone Golden eagle may spend hours trying to peck through the tough, frozen fish scales
to reach the hard-won flesh.
So they work as a group, forming a ring to repel their competitors.
Food gets shredded and shared.
a raucous dinner with the relatives.
Until the Stellars eagles lose their calm and crash the party.
But the Stellars need to watch their backs.
A Golden eagle is no pushover.
The winning Golden eagle can get back to its meal.
A remote peninsula pocked by mountains and volcanoes,
Kamchatka spans 470,000 sq. kms. of rugged and inhospitable terrain.
And though it's larger than Sweden, fewer than 400,000 people call Kamchatka home.
The Sea of Okhotsk flanks the western edges.
In winter- which is half the year- it becomes an impenetrable mass
of ice floes as waves slowly succumb and freeze.
To the east lie the Bering sea and Pacific Ocean.
a rugged coastline, on the rocks.
This desolate wilderness suits the red fox.
Foxes don't hibernate.
They grow thicker seasonal fur to survive the minus 15 degrees celcius coastal temperatures.
It's now time to be social.
Males seek out one or more females to mate with.
These two have already bonded.
They scent-mark their territory together- a clear signal for others to stay away.
They'll enjoy their honeymoon to the end of winter
and if they have cubs, they may stay together until Autumn.
but they have a long way to go before then.
At sunrise, the male prowls for food.
He relies on his keen hearing and sense of smell.
The strange, staccato calls of a black billed capercaillie echo through the woods.
He struts his stuff to impress females.
But as the fox tries to pinpoint the source the capercaillie goes quiet.
He won't be joining the fox for breakfast.
The female has been digging a new den;
foxes may have several snow holes within the territory.
In Europe foxes can return to the same site for generations,
but here in Russia they must dig temporary homes first.
When the snow melts, they move on.
A Ptarmigan has become her partner's next target.
Like the capercaillie, he's on the prowl for a mate.
The fox stalks cautiously, using the woods for cover as he follows the bird's scent.
While the ptarmigan seems vulnerable, the open field spoils the fox's plans for an ambush.
But he isn't easily deterred.
With the ptarmigan just beyond his reach, the fox gives up.
The day hasn't started well.
He must return to the den empty-handed.
No hard feelings. The boxing match helps the couple bond
and when spring comes, they'll be ready to care for a new generation.
As April approaches, the sun beats stronger across the frozen peninsula.
The thick snow begins to melt.
Slowly small pools start to appear as winter loses its hold.
The fresh waters feed the rivers and lakes.
The first plants poke through the icy carpet.
And there are other signs of life too. new tracks appear.
As the icy grip eases, Kamchatka bears emerge from their dens.
Around twelve thousand of them live here-
one of the densest brown bear populations in the world.
It's not terribly reassuring for the little ermine.
But after six months hibernating, this bear's priority is to clean his coat.
A good roll in the snow removes built up grime, and keeps him insulated.
The mixture of snow and fire makes Kamchatka's landscape unique.
It has whole valleys heated from below.
Geothermal hotspots where steam and hot springs warm the banks.
Heat escaping from deep fissures superheats surface water,
which leaps into the air as geysers.
After fasting for the whole winter, bears crave fresh vegetation.
This youngster just awoke from his first solo hibernation.
Now he has a trek to endure.
the hot springs of this area hold little of interest.
He must seek a greener pasture for his first meal of the season.
As the days pass and the rivers gather speed, spring has finally arrived.
The animals and plants make the most of it.
In the hills, a male ptarmigan puts on his best display.
But this hen's not impressed. She's too busy.
Males vie for centre stage of display areas called Leks,
in which to woo their mates.
They can fight their romantic rivals to the death.
While feathers fly, the indifferent female takes a dust bath.
But eventually she succumbs to the winner's advances.
No time for cuddling: before he finishes his victory dance she makes a run for it.
Bears make the long trek to the lush steamy valleys in search of Kamchatka's delicacies.
They have a nose for succulent roots and bugs.
They mainly eat salmon, but until the fish return in July, they'll make do with anything.
In the east the bears can indulge in one of Kamchatka's natural wonders-
the valley of the geysers.
It's a bubbling, geothermal cauldron of hot steam and lively water.
The heat generated by twenty large geysers brings spring weather a little earlier here.
And animals take advantage.
At twenty-five degree celcius, bears wade right into the fast flowing waters.
Their dense fur traps an insulating layer of air, and ensures that water never reaches the skin...
He's wet only on the outside.
But the thick coat also makes the perfect home for parasitic ticks and fleas.
A good back scratch brings some relief.
The warm moist conditions of the Valley of the Geysers provide hungry bears with plenty of grass.
After a long hibernation, they enjoy all the amenities the valley has to offer.
Even a nice warm soak.
The pools can be 35 degrees celcius or more.
This concentration of geysers, one of only five in the world,
is like a brown bear spa resort, a place of perfect calm and relaxation.
An important benefit is that the hot sulphurous waters also drive off the bugs clinging to their fur.
Kamchatka's residents flourish in this unique environment.
The valley's climate gives white wagtails a leg up on their family life.
They can breed earlier so their older, stronger chicks stand a better chance
of survival when winter hits.
Wagtails build their nests over the steaming waterways.
Rising heat keeps the chicks warm while the parents hunt for food.
The conditions attract a banquet of bugs to feed hungry mouths.
A careful check for threats... and dinner is served.
The bear patiently waits for the summer salmon run,
it'll fill its belly with 40 kilograms of vegetation every day.
The valley was a perfect paradise.
until disaster struck.
In June 2007 a massive landslide engulfed the pristine landscape.
Four and a half million cubic metres of rock, gravel, snow and ice
broke free of the mountains.
In a matter of seconds, it smothered the green valley and many of its geysers forever.
An area the size of thirty football fields became a burial ground
for the wagtail chicks and other hapless creatures of the valley.
The bear escaped, a refugee cast out of this garden of Eden.
but now his own weight threatens to trap him.
Slowly inching forward, he finds himself back in a winter landscape.
Deprived of the hot springs and lush greenery,
survivors must adapt to a dramatically different reality.
The valley of the geysers has been changed forever.
But nature constantly reinvents Kamchatka.
Twenty-nine active volcanoes continually transform the region with violent tantrums.
The clockwork roll of the seasons never stops and with every change, life adapts.
In late summer, lake Kuril is the target for sockeye salmon.
Having travelled from the Pacific to the Sea of Okhotsk,
they must continue forty kilometres along the Ozernaya river.
Salmon are Kamchatka's lifeline.
Without them the whole ecosystem would collapse.
A quarter of the world's wild Pacific salmon start life here,
but it's a population threatened not just by fishing but also poaching for highly prized caviar.
In early summer, the first few salmon enter the lower river.
They attract hungry mother bears
who have spent two and a half months on a vegetarian diet.
The salmon provide vital energy.
bears may have up to four cubs to feed.
Kamchatka bears get most of their calories during the annual salmon spawn-
ten times more calories than from eating berries.
But this mother is a little too early, and the pickings are slim.
She faces a lot of pressure to feed herself and the impatient cubs.
As soon as she lands one, they pounce.
The salmon run will provide the bears with four months of hearty meals.
Experienced mothers head to the lower tributaries.
They always keep one eye on their cubs, because adult males easily kill the young ones.
Today, they're all on their best behaviour.
Throughout summer, cold and warm air currents embrace Kamchatka's coastline,
cloaking the cliffs and mountains in deep mist and fog.
Seasonal rains sweep inland.
Away from the coast, a red fox's thin summer coat gets drenched
but this male has to find food for his growing family.
With the rains, the hopeful bears gather at the rising waters of the river.
But again, it seems their timing is wrong.
Another missed meal... and one less day to fatten up for winter.
A female fox also feels the pressure.
Her underground den conceals five three week old kits,
each weighing around one hundred grams.
They grow stronger by the day on a diet of fresh milk.
They'll spend the first five weeks here before facing the outside world.
Even then, the kits will only stay with the mother until Autumn.
For now, just suckling is tiring enough.
Finally in July, waves of salmon begin to make their way upriver
to spawn at Lake Kuril.
And along the volcanic banks, bears await their arrival.
As fish slowly drift in, the bears grow eager to feed.
But only the first few have made it up to the shallows,
and no matter how tempting they look, they're tough to catch.
In this area of the lake it's too easy for the salmon to escape.
Chasing these first few would only waste precious energy.
The salmon will provide the bears' best chance of putting on enough fat for the winter.
They'll gain around two kilograms a day,
growing a fat layer up to 15 cms thick to get them through hibernation.
They have to time it just right.
Denying their hunger a littler longer.
They'll wait until the waters teem with fish before diving in.
As day breaks, everything seems normal.
But the bears wake to good news.
Salmon numbers in the lake have reached a critical level
as the fish pass into shallow side rivers to spawn.
It's time!
Nothing tastes as good as the first catch of the season.
Through July, the bears will have to stock up quickly:
Kamchatka's countdown to winter has begun.
Fifty kilometres away in the hills above the sea,
the last brief flowering is underway.
Perched two thousand meters up groups of Snow Sheep experience life on the edge.
This herd is mostly mothers with newborns and some adolescents.
Each spring, the females leave the larger herd to give birth, and then return in June.
Once they are old enough, the males will leave to form bachelor herds.
The young ones are born climbers.
They'll spend their whole lives scrambling over the rocky cliff faces.
At this height, the sheep live beyond the reach of most predators.
But they keep alert- fearing an aerial assault from a Steller's sea eagle.
But this one hunts only for nesting material.
Steller's reuse their nests year after year. And for good reason:
At two-and-a-half meters in diameter, the nests are a serious construction project.
They'll take five years to mature,
but the nine-week-old chicks grow eager to soar.
Beating their wings, they build flight muscles.
In just a week, they'll take to the sky.
Far below, at the fox den, the kits take their first steps outside the entrance.
For now it's all fun and games.
Already they beg for her to regurgitate food.
but there's only milk on offer today.
Time is running out. With the arrival of the short autumn,
they'll be on their own, and then winter will come.
Around Kuril lake, large male bears fish for salmon.
It's the only time these aggressive animals have such close contact.
To keep the peace, they signal submission with heads down.
As long as the fish keep running, tempers stay cool.
The salmon run will continue until the end of winter.
but the bears will need to hibernate long before then.
During six months out of hibernation,
adult males must gain about thirty-five percent more weight. as much as two hundred kilograms
before returning to their dens in October.
To achieve this, the four months of salmon are vital.
They can catch a salmon every twenty minutes-
during one day they may eat thirty fish.
Mothers can be so intent on food that they neglect their cubs.
Females must work extra hard to feed their young enough to survive their first winter.
Cubs spend their first two or three years following their mother's footsteps,
learning how to fish the salmon run- their most important survival skill.
For now, the bear population appears stable
and enough salmon still come up river to sustain them.
But illegal fishing takes an estimated one hundred thousand tons of salmon from the river each year.
This level of predation could make the future unsustainable.
Those salmon lucky enough to escape the bears and the poachers
have reached the end of their journey and start breeding.
In the spawning ground the females build a series of nests.
They'll lay up to five thousand eggs during the season, fertilized by different males.
With their mission accomplished, they die.
The brief Kamchatka summer ends, giving way to an even briefer autumn.
It lasts just six weeks.
While the ground bubbles and steams, the peninsula moves through a palette of golden colours.
Across the rolling landscape the temperature falls.
eventually reaching minus thirty degrees celcius.
The merciless winter returns.
Snow will blanket Kamchatka for another seven months.
Reindeer have spent the warmer months grazing on the open tundra.
Now they must seek out the last of the autumn berries frozen under the snow.
As the winter grows colder, they'll head to the base of volcanoes,
where volcanic ash allows improved plant growth.
As the snow piles up, life shuts down.
Wind fuses the snow into a thick icy crust,
creating one of the most barren places on earth.
At the coast, even the sea slowly turns solid.
Along its edges the male fox hunts by himself.
But he's not alone in the big freeze.
A wolverine can travel over 60 kilometres a day in search of food.
This one's keen sense of smell picks up a bear carcass in the fox's territory.
Wolverines were once thought to be solitary scavengers, but they are now known to have strong family bonds.
They'll seldom attack anything larger than themselves-
unless it comes between them and a meal.
Then, even a pack of wolves may surrender their kill.
The fox seems to know this.
As he watches and waits, four wolverines come and go.
Their strong teeth tear off frozen meat.
Vicelike jaws can crush bones to release nutritious marrow.
Only after the wolverines have had their fill does the fox dare to move in for what's left.
Wolverines emit a foul musk like smell
but it's not strong enough to repel a hungry fox.
They didn't leave much, but the fox takes what he can get.
In the thick of winter, the heavy snow even conquers Kamchatka's biggest volcanoes.
In some areas piling up as deep as three metres.
Now The Sea Eagles return to take refuge at Lake Kuril.
This year's youngsters must learn the rules of the salmon lake if they are to survive their first winter.
Their parents, who fed them devotedly just weeks ago,
now squabble with them over the pecking order.
The young must learn the ritualised postures that determine who's in charge.
Spread wings indicates the intention to feed on a particular fish,
but that won't always settle it.
As the weeks pass the young birds must find their rank at the lake.
And adults- which have a two meter wingspan and can weigh up to nine kilograms- don't hold back.
Young upstarts constantly challenge authority. and each other.
These contests of talon and beak look violent, but the birds rarely get injured.
In five years they'll be old enough to raise their own families.
The cycle of the year begins and ends with fighting.
not just each other but also with the harsh landscape.
For all Kamchatka's beauty, it shows no mercy.
Here is nature, undiluted.
a frozen, distant peninsula perched on the edge of the world:
that is Kamchatka.
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