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DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: Of all the places visited by the Planet Earth team,
the most remote was Mongolia's Gobi Desert.
But this was the location for one of the most remarkable desert animals of all,
the elusive wild Bactrian camels.
The trip required months of planning,
but arriving in Mongolia's capital, Ulaanbaatar,
was merely the start of what was to be the most challenging of shoots.
We're going for a two-month trip,
and basically this area is so remote that we have to take everything we need with us.
So we need two months' supply of food, fuel.
And in the area we are going to there is no viable source of water
so we have to bring that in, too.
So, it really is a quest. And the quest for camels begins today.
ATTENBOROUGH: From Ulaanbaatar,
the team were going to have to travel for a further five days
to get to where the camels live.
Despite its huge size, Mongolia has only 500 miles of paved road.
So it wasn't long before they were heading cross-country.
But even their off-road vehicles were to struggle in this terrain.
And with few vehicles, petrol stations were rather Heath Robinson affairs,
without any of the usual safety considerations.
The Gobi Desert is as large as Holland,
but surprisingly difficult to find without any roads or signs.
(SPEAKING LOCAL DIALECT)
ATTENBOROUGH: The team were heading for the outer part of Outer Mongolia
and, in this vast, remote and rugged wilderness
they were going to have to find a group of animals
whose population numbered a mere 800.
The small community of Bayantooro was the gateway to the Gobi Desert
and home to an expert tracker called Choi Jin.
His skills were vital in the search for wild camels.
And it appeared the camels needed him, too.
He actually killed two wolves which...
Which killed...five?
Camels... (SPEAKING IN LOCAL DIALECT)
(SPEAKING IN LOCAL DIALECT)
Fifty camels? Fifty camels. Okay. Two wolves killed 50 camels.
This is what he tells us now.
ATTENBOROUGH: Choi Jin has been tracking wild camels for 50 years,
so if anyone was going to get Henry to
within filming distance of these elusive animals, then it was him.
(SPEAKING IN LOCAL DIALECT)
Reliable vehicles were also vital to the success of the trip.
The team's Russian-made supply vehicle
may have needed to be warmed up with a blowtorch each morning,
but in the event of a breakdown, they would be more than covered
by the collection of spare parts brought along by the Mongolian drivers.
It was comforting to know that here was a vehicle
whose engine could be rebuilt by a man with a file in the middle of the Gobi Desert.
Fortunately, they weren't depending on it for a quick getaway.
(MOTOR GRINDS)
(ENGINE KNOCKS)
Since leaving Ulaanbaatar,
the team had driven 1,500 miles through the middle of Mongolia.
The supply vehicle had done the same,
but they'd had to give it several days' head start.
But before leaving Bayantooro,
the team had had to deal with some local politics, as Tom explains.
Our interpreter, um...
Decided to pick a fight with the stand-in head of the park
and head-butted him in the face. (CHUCKLES)
Which is not ideal for relations.
Anyway, our driver, who was also very drunk,
decided that this was his chance to step in.
And he's a big lad and...
He then punched our interpreter in the face.
And... Yeah, knocked him flat.
ATTENBOROUGH: Luckily, there were no hard feelings the following morning,
and the team were able to get on with the serious business of finding wild camels.
It wasn't long before Choi Jin spotted some promising signs.
Apparently, one of the ways in which you can tell how fresh the prints are
is very, very small detail.
If he sees a little small stone in the print and it's got sand on it, like that,
he knows that it's very recent because otherwise that sand would have blown away.
It's very loose little grains of sand.
It's very small, tiny little signs like that.
And that's why he is walking across such a large area.
ATTENBOROUGH: Sure enough, up ahead,
the team finally had their first sighting of wild camels.
They were already running.
Poaching has made wild camels very nervous of people.
They're about 3 or 4 kilometres away.
They spotted us from that distance.
And that's gonna be our real problem, getting close to these animals.
They're capable of spotting us from about 5 kilometres
and running for 70 km in the opposite direction.
So, this is what is gonna make this filming incredibly difficult.
But we are gonna need all Henry's extremely accomplished film skills
to get us close and we know he can do it.
-What do you think, Henry? -I don't know.
ATTENBOROUGH: It was easy to understand Henry's doubts
when faced with the sheer scale of the landscape,
the scarcity of camels and their fear of people.
After their first sighting, the team saw nothing for five days.
So, Choi Jin told us
he had spotted this herd
three, four miles away, very far.
Can barely tell what it is.
Sometimes I wonder how we do it,
how he does it, because it's just watching patterns, changing patterns
in the heat haze on the horizon.
ATTENBOROUGH: But at this distance, they weren't going to get any useful footage.
A lucky break was needed.
And an overnight snowstorm didn't seem to be it.
With the temperature plummeting to minus 20,
the team and breakfast needed a thawing out first.
We are having a competition to see who warms up first,
my hands or this frozen can of pilchards.
Uh... That's what it's come to.
Eating frozen pilchards straight out of the tin.
That's all we've got for breakfast.
I think I might pass on breakfast.
ATTENBOROUGH: The vehicles were useful for spotting camels,
but to get close, the team had to be on foot.
After walking hundreds of miles they were still no nearer to a sequence,
and it wasn't helped by having one less camel to film.
Gobi wolves had got to this one first.
They saw the car. Obviously, that's a window.
(SIGHS)
The reflection, low sun.
ATTENBOROUGH: The rear ends of running camels continued to dominate the team's filming.
And it was beginning to cause frustrations.
So, no footage today.
Um... They're supreme long-distance travellers, these animals.
And we're finding it difficult to keep up in the vehicle, let alone by foot.
So I am absolutely knackered and slightly annoyed
that we haven't got the footage that we want the last couple of days.
Um, so I guess it's camels 1, film crew nil.
(SIGHS HEAVILY)
ATTENBOROUGH: Fortunately, Choi Jin's sharp eyes remained on form.
And when combined with sheer dogged perseverance,
the team's luck finally began to change.
Not only did they start getting head-shots of camels, but fascinating behaviour.
(INTERMITTENT SQUEAKS)
Strange mating rituals and snow eating.
Wild camels remain one of our planet's least known animals,
so this unique footage was much needed publicity
for a species on the verge of extinction.