Fish can’t swim in it, boats can’t sail on it, and animals can’t survive around it. Eight times saltier than the ocean and with a rich Biblical history, the Dead Sea (actually a lake) isn’t like any other body of water. World Discoveries III – Dead Sea shares mesmerizing nature footage as it takes a thorough, scientific look at this geographical wonder with an ominous reputation.

“The Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea are made of the same water,” says American clergyman Harry Emerson Fosdick. “The Sea of Galilee makes beauty of it; the Sea of Galilee has an outlet. It gets to give. … But the Dead Sea with the same water makes horror. For the Dead Sea has no outlet. It gets to keep.”

World Discoveries III – Dead Sea has a calming effect as it travels around the salty Jordanian lake to explore its history and current functions. From the white mountains of salt that are extracted from the water and exported throughout the world, through the surrounding orange, lemon, and grapefruit groves, to the citrus-flavored honey that’s cultivated nearby, the film offers grand shots that stir the senses and suggest just how unique the Dead Sea is.

Interestingly enough, this body of water so devoid of life has been cultivated to produce a number of valuable products. While potash is refined for fertilization, the lake’s mud has been scientifically proven to cure joint pain, and an entire beauty industry has gone up around its bath salts and mineral mud.

Located on the border of Israel, the Dead Sea’s history reaches far back into the Bible. King Herod used it as his spa, and King David made it his retreat. But more ominously, the Dead Sea is said to have witnessed the extreme, supernatural fire that violently destroyed the sinners in Sodom and Gomorrah.

Centuries later the climate is still arid and parched. So how is it, the filmmaker asks, that the blessed Jordan River – which the Hebrews crossed to get into the Promised Land and which has beautiful banana groves growing on its delta – feeds into this unholy, salty lake?

And it’s only getting saltier. As the water evaporates into the desert air, the minerals become more condensed, which means that for years to come tourists will continue to flock to the Dead Sea, marveling over how easy it is to float, basking in its heat without fear of burning, enchanted by its amazing wonders.