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00:00For five years, we have followed the stories of four families of animals.
00:21Now it's time to meet the people behind these dramas.
00:25Yeah, just an hour to pick up the bait.
00:30The scientists and conservationists who helped us understand the animals and the empty poaching
00:40squads who risked their lives to protect them.
00:50We will also meet the filmmakers who recorded those dramas of life in the kingdom.
01:00We'll see you next time.
01:02We'll see you next time.
01:10We'll see you next time.
01:13We'll see you next time.
01:16Our four animal families live in Nsefu.
01:35A corner of South Langwa National Park in Zambia.
01:50It's an important sanctuary for wildlife and a temporary home for our film crews.
02:05The remote base camp enables them to live alongside animals day and night.
02:21They have the latest technology and are able to film in all conditions.
02:42Mating the series would have been impossible without the team of conservationists from
02:52an organization called the Zambian Carnivore Program.
02:55They have studied and safeguarded the wildlife here for decades, tracking the movement of hundreds
03:11of animals following their every step, both from the air and on the ground.
03:25Hi, can you please send me the coordinates for the lions?
03:29It's a remarkable undertaking, covering thousands of square miles.
03:42Our film crews rely on them to keep in touch with all our animal characters.
03:47Fraser, do we have the signal?
03:49Yeah.
03:50Animals that move huge distances.
03:56The technology that makes this possible, GPS and radio tracking collars.
04:12The conservation teams fix a collar on a member of each family.
04:21In a pride, they put it on a lioness.
04:24And for wild dogs, they usually select a male and a female.
04:31That allows them to locate and follow the entire family throughout their lives.
04:41These collars have to be replaced every two years.
04:44And today, it's the turn of one of the lionesses.
04:50Henry Mwape is the leader of the colouring program.
04:56First, Dr. Sichande sedates the lioness using a dart gun.
05:04Right now, I'm removing this old collar so that I put the new one.
05:10While the lioness is still unconscious, Henry makes a general health check.
05:17I think some people think it's not safe to work with lions.
05:31Of course, the lion is immobilized, so if it was fully awake, I can get close like this.
05:38The conservationists are keeping track of over 40 animal families.
05:44My best moment of colouring is when I see the animal up.
05:49I'm like, wow, we've done it.
05:53Without collars, I can't imagine how we'll be doing what we're doing.
06:02The collars produce an enormous amount of information, which helps the conservationists to build a picture
06:10of the lives of all the animals, where they're hunting, what they're eating, how their behaviour affects each other,
06:37and even where they choose to make their dens.
06:48Information that is essential for conservation, but also critical for the camera crews.
06:55Finding the place where a lioness is hiding her newborn cubs is proving particularly difficult.
07:16The crew have searched everywhere.
07:18It's been about seven days just travelling around in the bushes.
07:23And then, at last, they pick up the radio signal coming from the lioness's collar.
07:30I'm very excited to have the signal.
07:35But Mark knows it could be coming from any one of these bushes.
07:39Every single bush is a potential den.
07:45I mean, she's been missing for five, six days, and we've been caming this whole area.
07:54But we found her cubs.
07:56It's four really beautiful cubs.
08:03It's four really beautiful cubs.
08:06And we think the cubs are about four days, five days, because their eyes are just starting opening at the moment.
08:13We've managed to get shots of them.
08:16So it's a really big moment, actually.
08:18Our powerful lenses produce images that enable the conservationists to see the animals they study in intimate detail.
08:35This unique collaboration brought many surprises.
08:53All of our dogs have to move.
08:55And they're moving fast.
08:58But here they are now.
08:59They've just done the most.
09:01One of the biggest surprises, finding that one wild dog had only three legs.
09:09It is amazing.
09:10So we are struggling to keep up with these guys in a car.
09:14And the new individual has joined them and has three legs.
09:17And he's going better than we are.
09:30It must be so tough for them.
09:36He really needs urgent expert assessment.
09:40We are leaving camp now.
09:45Tandi Muitwa and Henry are on their way.
09:53They recognise that this injury must have been inflicted by a wire snare.
09:58A wire snare is formed in the shape of a noose.
10:05It's basically a trap for catching wild antelope.
10:09But any animal can get trapped.
10:12And then as it struggles, this wire starts to cut through whatever body part has been caught.
10:18Despite his snare injury, this wild dog, which the team have named Flint, seems to be coping well on three legs.
10:31He's not isolating himself, meaning the other members have accepted him just okay.
10:40Flint is still an important member of the wild dog family that we followed throughout the series.
10:45His story illustrates the way wild dogs look after each other.
11:02The pack makes sure he can keep up.
11:20And that he doesn't go hungry.
11:22But then, disaster.
11:28Just watching a crocodile attack is incredibly tough.
11:43We're only 20 feet away and see others trying to save him.
11:49And I found it probably one of the worst things I've had to film in 20 years.
11:54In the end, Flint's snare injury proves to be too much.
11:58Oh my God.
12:00Wow.
12:01That was a good teamwork.
12:02Missing a leg meant that he wasn't as fast to an escaping danger.
12:11So sad.
12:12The use of snares is widespread.
12:29And is one of the biggest threats here to both lions and wild dogs.
12:34So when news comes in about a lion caught in a trap, they know that they must get the snare off as quickly as possible.
12:44Especially so, because that individual is a dominant male.
12:51If the snare is not removed very soon, it can keep tightening and it can suffocate the lion.
12:57It will take about 10 minutes for the lion to go to sleep.
13:01This male is protecting 12 cubs.
13:23Losing just one individual can be catastrophic for any dependent cubs.
13:28If he dies from this injury, rival males could take over the pride and then kill his cubs.
13:43We can approach and see.
13:44I'm going to see.
13:45Come approach and see
13:47I don't know.
14:17I don't know.
14:47Once the lion wakes up halfway through.
14:54Wounds from snares can often cause infection, so it's important to clean it thoroughly.
15:06OK.
15:07By saving this one male lion, the team has also helped to protect his cubs.
15:18Those cubs will end up having more babies, so it's going to be a lot of other animals just
15:23from the result of the one disnaring.
15:25There have been 400 cubs born to the lions, saved by the teens working here.
15:38Is it worth it saving just one life?
15:43The answer is a resounding yes.
15:45Even though this area is a sanctuary, thousands of snares are set here each year.
15:57One day it could be a lion, the next a giraffe.
16:01And that can be particularly tricky.
16:04It takes a big team and it's dangerous.
16:09A single kick could certainly kill someone.
16:13Yes!
16:14Yes!
16:15Yes!
16:16Yes!
16:17Yes!
16:18Yes!
16:19Yes!
16:20Yes!
16:21They're still there.
16:22What's the difference?
16:23What is the turning point of a skeleton?
16:24There is no fear that the team have less than 10 minutes from the dart going in
16:25to getting the snare off.
16:30Their methods may seem extreme, but it's the only way to save its life.
16:35The clock is ticking.
16:47There we have nothing in my room!
16:49There we go!
16:51What?
16:53Come here!
16:55What are you doing here?
16:57Come here!
16:59Come here!
17:01Come here!
17:03How are you?
17:05How are you?
17:07How are you?
17:09How are you doing?
17:11How are you doing?
17:13How are you doing?
17:15Come here!
17:17Come here!
17:19Come here!
17:21How are you doing?
17:23Come here!
17:25Come here!
17:27Come here!
17:31olen!
17:33It's a win for the team and the giraffe.
17:52But it takes all sorts of approaches to keep these animals safe.
18:03Godfrey Mwanza leads the unit working to stop poachers killing wildlife in this area.
18:11He sees snares all the time.
18:15Snares are cheap, silent and deadly.
18:19Each can kill dozens of animals and does so indiscriminately.
18:25Some they poach for business, some they poach for food.
18:32One snare can be said to catch antelope, but you find that at the end of the day,
18:37it will catch a wild dog, maybe it will catch a lion.
18:43It's not just snares.
18:46Poachers here use guns too.
18:54In the fight against poachers of every kind, Godfrey has a secret weapon.
19:02Detection dogs.
19:05They're so crucial to his work that the dogs are protected by their handlers around the clock.
19:13Tonight, the team is responding to a tip-off.
19:16The poachers are operating close to the national park.
19:20When going out on operation, we always get fired.
19:26We have officers which have died on the line of duty.
19:31We are going out to apprehend suspects who are keeping the illegal alarms.
19:35So we just have to be vigilant.
19:47By operating at night, it's more likely the poachers will be off their guard,
19:52reducing the chance of them opening fire on their officers.
20:05Using the dog is very, very important.
20:07Good boy.
20:09Because the dog will pick up the scent.
20:21Jack in there.
20:28Good boy.
20:37The dogs picked up the scent of the animals previously caught in this trap.
20:53But the snare is proof that poachers are operating here.
21:06And that is a big worry for the film crew.
21:10Liana and Will have been filming Mutima since she was a tiny cub.
21:14Mutima was a very small cub and she was very shy.
21:26Now she's beautiful and elegant, but you only see them when they want to be seen.
21:35Despite this, Liana managed to film a pivotal moment for the family.
21:40When Mutima's mother made it clear it was time for the young cat
21:46to find a territory of her own.
22:06Mutima travelled over a hundred miles in search of a new home.
22:10She actually wandered way further than we could have ever imagined.
22:24We heard from a guy from far south.
22:27Oh yeah, that leopard.
22:29We've seen her here.
22:31Because of her birthmark, in the shape of a heart, people would recognise her.
22:36She left the national park and was forced into an unfamiliar world.
22:46Beyond the park's boundary, there are hundreds of villages,
22:51home to thousands of people.
22:53Travelling outside a national park can be dangerous.
23:05For any leopard.
23:06Godfrey's K9 team is the first of its kind in Zambia.
23:19As well as finding snares, guns and ammunition.
23:28His dogs are also trained to detect animal skins and ivory.
23:33Tonight, his team has gathered new intelligence
23:46and are heading to a different village to look for a cache of guns.
23:51This time round, they've been informed that the guns have been hidden inside the house.
23:57This time round, they've been informed that the guns have been hidden inside the house.
24:16Check in.
24:18Check in.
24:19The team have searched everywhere, but there's still no sign of the guns.
24:41This is where the dogs really come into their own.
24:45They're going to shoot here.
24:53At last, the dog sits down.
24:56It's a sign he has detected something.
24:58It's a sign he has detected something.
25:20So far this year, Godfrey and the team have seized over 80 illegal guns.
25:26Many of them hand-made, but they're still able to kill a leopard.
25:32Thankfully, Motima eventually made it back to the sanctuary of the national park.
25:39She was pretty adamant to come back.
25:43And she is still here.
25:45And I think she's waiting for her mom's territory.
25:47She's been watching.
25:56Despite Godfrey's team's success, they're facing a setback.
26:04Rudy has been one of the best dogs.
26:10But he's old, and he has a condition on the right.
26:13It's time for Rudy to retire.
26:20I'm proud of Rudy.
26:22I'm going to miss him.
26:24He was like a family member.
26:26Donfrey has only four dogs to patrol tens of thousands of square miles.
26:40He needs more canine recruits.
26:42This is Odi, the latest trainee.
26:57It's essential that his new handlers build a relationship
27:01from the first moment they meet.
27:02And start to build a bond.
27:18To catch poachers, the pair will both need to be at the top of their game.
27:23Not only for their success, but for their safety.
27:33First, obedience training.
27:43You still have to learn something, because he's young.
27:47Word, come.
27:48Like this morning, though I was asking him, he didn't want to come.
27:51Come on, come.
27:57He could hear me.
27:59He was just pretending.
28:06That's why we are doing the obedience training.
28:08So that when you go in the field, you will listen to me as a hand.
28:17Six weeks.
28:21There's a lot riding on this young recruit.
28:29Will he be able to make the grade before Rudy retires?
28:33For one of our camera team, South Luangua is more than his workplace.
28:51It's his home.
28:52If you come from South Luangua, wildlife is a part of you.
29:00When you see the elephants in the park filming them, you can easily tell they are, you know, like relaxed.
29:17They're just minding their own business.
29:31But that's not always the case.
29:33There is another side to elephants.
29:43As we saw in earlier programs, they can be aggressive.
29:47We'll be on the lookout.
29:48We'll be in for an hour closer.
29:50We will be in for an hour closer.
29:53You're not only a couple of days.
29:55But that's why you wanted to come.
29:57I will be able to get theек.
29:58That's why I thought you wanted to come.
30:00I thought you wanted to come.
30:01Well, I thought you wanted to come.
30:02It was just an airport in the driveway for the airport.
30:04Come on.
30:04Good luck.
30:05I thought you wanted to come.
30:05Come on.
30:07And you're in for the rest of your city.
30:07What are you going to come?
30:08What are you going to do?
30:09I thought you're going to come.
30:10Get help you want to come.
30:11You're in for the help.
30:12You're just getting worse.
30:13Come on, you're in for no matter what you do.
30:14Growing up in a village beside the national park,
30:25Samson Moyo has experienced two sides of the wildlife.
30:33These villages are mostly farming communities
30:36and the entire park is unfenced,
30:40which means wildlife is free to move in and out at will.
30:49Elephants are huge and when they come to a village it's scary.
30:59I've heard a sound and peered out of the window
31:01to see an elephant eating our crops.
31:06I know how terrible it is.
31:10But people fear hunger more than elephants.
31:20So people risk their lives in trying to protect their food.
31:31As dusk falls,
31:33it's approaching the time
31:35when elephants come to villages like Samson's.
31:40I don't know how they could get our food.
31:41So people think they can't even throw them down.
31:46What are your favorite people?
31:47Yeah.
31:48Mm-hmm.
31:49The only music is ours.
31:51What are the only things they can do?
31:52Well, asinterrupts or not they think they are
31:54Call the sheriff mine.
31:55Well, it's an exciting thing.
31:56Because you've ever heard someone
31:57earlier today.
31:57Because you're a little lost guy.
31:58You're a little lost guy.
31:59They've never killed him.
32:00Well, they came to me.
32:01God, it was delicious.
32:02So you're not eating local thousands of people
32:03and they're very hungry.
32:04You're a little dirty.
32:05But you're a little dirty juice.
32:05You're a little dirty.
32:06So you're a little dirty.
32:07It's hard to imagine, but Samson has a chance to use the Kingdom filming tech to show what
32:26it's really like to have hungry elephants on your doorstep.
32:37This is the first time I've had access to night vision technology.
32:54Just sit, wait for the elephants to come.
33:07Well done.
33:14Yeah.
33:17Yeah.
33:22Oh
33:28Oh
33:30Oh
33:36Oh
33:40Oh
33:46Oh
33:52Don't win a bank.
33:53Hew it!
33:59Hew it!
34:01Stay!
34:02Hew it!
34:06Hew it!
34:12Mangoes are very valuable to the villagers.
34:22Hew it!
34:25Hew it!
34:29Go! Go go go go go!
34:30Come on, come on, come on!
34:31Get to the volcar !
34:32Get to the volcar!
34:34George!
34:41Leple door wall!
34:43Get to the volcar!
34:44Get to the volcar!
34:46Yeah!
35:06This can last for hours
35:09until the crop fields are empty and the mango trees bare.
35:13We have to vote for the crop fields.
35:17We have to vote for the crop fields.
35:19We have to vote for the crop fields.
35:28But there is a potential solution.
35:35There's a new team in town.
35:37The Rapid Response Unit.
35:43The only one in Zambia.
35:50Tonight, Samson is joining them.
35:58They know that this is not their area.
36:00They just come here to steal food from the community.
36:04The Rapid Response Unit has developed the imaginative technique
36:09of using guns that fire chili oil.
36:14So the bullet carries chili liquid.
36:17Once you fire, if you hit the elephants,
36:20that scent of chili will stick to the animal.
36:24They don't want to smell chili, and they'll all run.
36:33THEY CONFER
36:40The unit is responding to a call from a farmer
36:41who has elephants in his field.
36:51THEY CONFER
36:57THEY CONFER
36:59Very fancy.
37:01Let's go, let's go, let's go.
37:05Stop.
37:09OK.
37:11He's firing now.
37:13Fire.
37:17Reload, reload.
37:19Be fast, the animals are very near to us.
37:23Fire.
37:29Fire.
37:31Fire.
37:33It's just an amazing thing.
37:35These bombas.
37:37You can see the weather run from there.
37:47The rapid response unit are doing such an amazing job.
37:51But a lot of people need their help and they can be everywhere.
37:59In South Luangwa National Park, animals move freely.
38:13They are truly wild.
38:17And throughout filming, the dog pack moved into and out of the kingdom.
38:23At the end of the series, they were last seen heading over the border and out of the national park.
38:41But thanks to the signal from the alpha male's collar, Henry can still keep tabs on the family from afar.
38:48We know now the wild dog pack is looking for a new home outside the park.
39:02GPS data shows wild dogs travel huge distances.
39:06Some even cross international borders.
39:18Conservationists can use this data to help protect wildlife.
39:24It can be used to identify safe corridors, both within Zambia and between neighbouring countries.
39:30It can even identify likely hotspots where poaching and conflict might take place.
39:38Today, Godfrey's team is targeting one such hotspot, setting up a wildlife checkpoint.
40:02You conduct a search in every vehicle which passes in your roadblock.
40:14Godfrey and Odie have been training hard, and now Odie is ready to be tested.
40:20Now, Odie is ready to be tested.
40:30He's certainly enthusiastic.
40:33But will he pass the test?
40:38The team has hidden ivory in one of their own patrol vehicles to see if Odie can find it.
40:44If Odie sniffs it out, he should sit down to signal that he's found something.
40:56If Odie sniffs it out, he should sit down to signal that he's found something.
40:58He should be tested, so he's found something where he's found something like that.
41:00So I am a stuntman.
41:03In this area, the mallet is a tourist attraction.
41:04When the mallet is also known as the mallets.
41:06If Odie is now having a travel walkway to the mallet in the mallet,
41:08it will be seen each other.
41:11It's well known for the mallets, even though the mallets are allowed.
41:13He's a long prossimo.
41:15He's a nice tourist attraction.
41:17I have a fly chance.
41:20To distance the mallet on the mallet and saw it.
41:23We're easy to go to the mallet.
41:25There's a tourist attraction.
41:27Odi has graduated.
41:39To me, he did well, because this is a new environment for him.
41:46And just in time, because a new challenge is approaching.
41:57As the season moves on, South Luangua transforms.
42:08At the end of the year comes an intense rainy season.
42:13And even the first rain showers make it difficult for teams to get around.
42:20We've been trying to get to some of the lions we've been filming.
42:25Most of the roads are very bad.
42:30Getting stuck out here is not ideal.
42:41There could easily be lions hiding in any one of these bushes.
42:44In a matter of weeks, the roads will become rivers.
42:51Not only will filming become unfeasible,
42:54but more importantly, tracking poachers by vehicle will be almost impossible.
43:00The race is on for a solution.
43:01A race is on for a solution.
43:07After a day, it'll come to the surface.
43:09What?
43:12The race is on for a solution.
43:14The race is on for a solution.
43:20The race is on for a solution.
43:21The race is on for a solution.
43:35This afternoon we'll be doing a helicopter training with Odi.
43:40Using the helicopter, the team will be able to reach all areas of the park and fast.
43:48None of the older dogs will go in the helicopter.
43:51They're scared of the sound of the rotors.
43:54They don't like the helicopter because of the sound.
43:58They did not receive the helicopter training when they were young.
44:04So now, hope is pinned on their newest recruit.
44:08Right.
44:12Will he even get on board?
44:18This is a very big success if Odi goes into the helicopter.
44:27Up.
44:29Odi jumps straight in.
44:36But he does look a little nervous.
44:40How will he respond to the sound of the rotors?
44:44Goodbye.
44:45Bye bye.
44:46Odi, are you supposed to hurt me?
45:05Odi, are you supposed to hurt me?
45:14That is fine.
45:20It's just relaxing, looking at me, that it relaxes.
45:26Turns out, Odie's a natural flyer.
45:30I'm proud of you, Odie, happy to be back with our team.
45:36This is game-changing for Godfrey.
45:39Now, nowhere is out of reach.
45:46Using a combination of the helicopter and the dog team
45:49is a big deterrent against poaching.
45:52Odie, I may say, is our hope for the future.
45:59The tactics used on helicopter missions in the National Park
46:03are top secret.
46:08But across their operations this year,
46:10they have arrested 76 suspected poachers.
46:19It's part of my job to alist people.
46:28I'm also a human being.
46:31Where I feel guilty alisting people, taking people to jail.
46:36Maybe it's doing this to put food on the table.
46:39But that's what I was employed for,
46:45to stop poaching.
46:49And by stopping poaching,
46:51Godfrey is helping to protect
46:54both the old
46:57and new generations
46:59in South Luangwa National Park.
47:01A symbol of what is possible
47:07when the people who know this place
47:10work hand in hand.
47:15I'm hopeful that as long as we continue doing what we're doing,
47:18we have a bright future.
47:20A future where the animals can live out their natural wild lives.
47:29My hope for South Luangwa is that
47:32people and wildlife just continue to thrive.
47:36I just hope that 20, 30 years down the line,
47:39this place will still be as amazing as it is today.
47:43Or maybe a bit more amazing.
47:48South Luangwa's wildlife
47:50is protected by an army of local people
47:54working tirelessly to address the challenges of our modern world.
48:07People who have known this place all their lives.
48:13Perhaps this is the secret to conservation success.
48:23this is the secret to conservation.
48:25That is why the stars will remain in the sky.
48:26We are Greeks.
48:27We are more magic.
48:28We are almost there.
48:29Either you are we as a person.
48:30Perhaps this is the secret to the mountains.
48:32You are as a person.
48:33Or maybe some people who are not.
48:35Perhaps this is what I am.
48:43Whether you are the big ones are one of us.
48:45Transcription by CastingWords
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