At first glance the desert of India's north-west appear devoid of life. But even in the most hostile environments wildlife thrives. In this inhospitable place, only the best adapted survive. Here, in the harsh deserts and salty drylands, live India's specialists. They have to endure extreme hardship, sandstorms, droughts, and intense heat.

Secreted away in the shadow of the Himalayas, along the banks of the Brahmaputra River, roam one-horned rhinoceroses, wild buffalo and Asian elephants. The last great herds of India's giant grazers. It is January, and six months of drought, fire and flood lay ahead of them. Seen through the eyes of a newborn elephant calf, this film portrays a land of unexpected contrasts and endless variety, unique to India and the world.

This is the real story of the jungles made famous in Rudyard Kipling's 'Jungle Book'. It is a battlefield ruled by tooth and claw, where species fight for space, water, food, and mating rights. This is a world that knows nothing of compassion or kindness, dominated by two of the world's top predators, the Bengal tiger and the Indian wild dog or dhole. Kipling's Jungle Book was fiction. This is hard fact and a story that rewrites itself every year.