Few places on Earth are as magical, mysterious, daunting or beautiful as the seething ribbon of biodiversity that lies beneath the Equator. That invisible line stretches 40,076 kilometers around the belly of the planet, linking an extraordinary profusion of landscapes, animals, plants and people in a sultry, ageless climate.

The equatorial region is, literally, the original Paradise. It is where almost all life, including humanity, began. It is the most bio-diverse area of Earth and the only one where creatures do not go extinct. It is a land where days never vary, where there are no seasons and where, twice a year, there are no shadows.

And it is ground zero for global warming. In our era, the Sun overhead has grown pitiless, forcing all creatures to flee to the north or south. An exodus from Eden has begun, creating a cascade of unpredictable, fascinating and scary conflicts.