Africa is dominated by deserts, from the Kalahari in the south to the mighty Sahara in the north. These are fascinating worlds, each one unique, all a challenge. Yet life can conquer them and in the most surprising ways. This is an epic journey across Africa's magnificent deserts, a story of survival against the odds.

Africa. Seen from space, great swathes of sand and rock cover more than half the continent. In the far south, bordering the Atlantic is the world's most ancient desert, the Namib. For eighty million years, cold, dry winds have swept in from the ocean, denying the land moisture and piling enormous sand dunes against the shore.

Beautiful but impossibly dry, in a good year, the Namib gets just five centimeters of rain; in a bad year, it rains only sand. But buried within the dunes, there is treasure. Fragments of dead animals and plants swallowed long ago by the sand are swept to the surface, offering a crucial lifeline.

Beetles, many different species have found ways to harvest this bounty. Along with termites and lizards, they're the foundations for a delicate chain of life in the Namib.

against the odds:very unexpectedly 非常出人意料的

dune:a hill made of sand near the sea or in the desert 沙丘

swathe:a long thin area of something, especially land 大区域 地带

bounty:literary food or wealth that is provided in large amounts 丰富食物

Kalahari:喀拉哈里沙漠,覆盖赞比亚 博茨瓦尔 南非

Namib:纳米布沙漠 以月牙形的沙丘为特征