- 2 days ago
Machli is the most famous tiger in the world - the star of five films, her own Facebook page, and over a million YouTube hits on footage of her attacking a crocodile. Wildlife cameraman Colin Stafford-Johnson returns to find his old friend one last time as Machli enters the last season of her life.
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00:15She is the most famous tiger in the world.
00:21I named her Matchly.
00:27I've spent 13 years following her incredible life.
00:37The greatest fighter I've ever seen, and the greatest mother.
00:53She came to rule over Ranthabor National Park, became its queen, and founded a dynasty.
01:16Now she's old and frail, she doesn't have much time left.
01:23I've come to find my old friend for one last time, to say goodbye.
01:32Even in my personal life, I've always tried to go and see people before they've died,
01:37and not go to their funerals.
01:38That's just the way I prefer it.
01:39It seems to me it makes a lot more sense.
01:44What a character.
01:45What a character.
01:48She has given me a lifetime of memories.
02:02This is her story.
02:41I've come back to Ranthabor National Park in India, to find Matchly for the last time.
02:48Little did I know when we first met, that she would change my life forever.
02:57How's it going, buddy?
02:58My constant companion, during that time, was a local guide called Salim.
03:04Good to see you, buddy.
03:05In fact, I met him just about the same time I met Matchly.
03:08Excellent.
03:09Can't wait.
03:10He always keeps an eye on her during my absence.
03:14Ah, good to be back.
03:16We've done this so many times together.
03:19This place feels like our second home.
03:28I guess my life changed completely when I got a phone call one afternoon,
03:32offering me the chance to go to this place, Ranthambore, in India.
03:36I'd never heard of the place.
03:38A few weeks later, I arrived.
03:43I was a relatively inexperienced wildlife cameraman.
03:46I knew very little about tigers.
03:48Salim back then didn't really have much of an idea either.
03:56We had to find a tiger that was at an interesting stage in its life.
04:01How fresh do you reckon these puckworks are?
04:03They are from the morning.
04:07But there was one tigress that we found.
04:10She was only 18 months old.
04:12She had just left her mother.
04:14She was striking out on her own.
04:17Her mother had already kicked her two sisters out of this territory.
04:21But it didn't look like Matchly was going anywhere.
04:28My Hindi wasn't great.
04:30If I'd known she was going to become the world's most famous tiger,
04:33I probably wouldn't have called her Fish.
04:35Because it's not the best name for a tiger I've ever heard.
04:39There was something about her.
04:41She was just feisty.
04:43So we decided to follow her.
04:47In many ways, she became my jungle guru, my jungle teacher.
04:53And through her, I met her mother.
04:56Now she, at the time, ruled this lake area.
05:04Yet this youngster, her daughter, was walking round the place like she owned it.
05:15I knew there was going to be a showdown to win this prime lakeside territory.
05:25As I followed her, it became obvious that these two were on a collision course.
05:33Her mother seemed both surprised and disgusted to see her there.
05:46And Matchly wasn't giving way.
06:06Matchly got a nasty nick on her chest.
06:13Her future depended on winning these battles with her mother.
06:18And over the next few weeks, I witnessed several of these encounters.
06:28The final clash was set to take place amidst the palace ruins.
06:44Matchly's mother was still laying claim to these ruins.
06:59Matchly knew this was serious.
07:09But Matchly wasn't giving up any ground.
07:37Seeing Matchley dethrone her mother made me realise
07:40that she was going to be something special.
07:48Her mother disappeared soon after that.
07:52Matchley through her skills as a fighter had become the queen of one of the world's
07:57prime tiger territories.
08:01You have that combination of fort, cliffs, lakes, wildlife every place.
08:07It's beyond our imagination.
08:24Seeing Matchley move through this landscape was just a dream for a cameraman.
08:33All the animals constantly reacting to her.
08:41There's nothing, no place like it in the world.
08:44No place like it in the world.
09:04Now, thirteen years on, I can't wait to catch up with my old friend Matchley.
09:15We've travelled this road so many times that it always looks different.
09:21Right now, there's been a good monsoon this year, so the vegetation growth has been really,
09:26really strong.
09:28And although that's really good for the animals, it's good for the deer and for all the things
09:32that tigers want to eat, it's actually going to make actually spotting tigers kind of difficult.
09:37They have so many places to hide.
09:40But at least with Matchley, we know her, we know her so well, that we've got a pretty good chance
09:44of tracking her down.
09:45But, of course, she's an old lady now, her habits are changing, so actually tracking her
09:50down and, you know, having a good look at her is not going to be that easy.
10:01Just have a listen for a minute.
10:08There are a lot of animals in this area, and if she was to start moving, we'd soon hear
10:14about it.
10:14They'd all start alarm calling.
10:18It's so quiet around here these days.
10:21I'm pretty certain Matchley doesn't come here anymore.
10:30Very quiet.
10:40So Matchley was at a very interesting stage in her life now.
10:46Inheriting the territory that you grow up in is a massive advantage.
10:49It means that Matchley already knew every nook and cranny of this place.
11:01But she was relatively inexperienced, and she still had to learn to deal with the other creatures found in her
11:08territory.
11:21Slot bears, one of the most aggressive creatures you're ever likely to come across.
11:36She knew when to retreat and picked her battles well.
11:44She was gaining experience all the time.
11:50And in a way we were both learning our trades together.
11:56Her home range was absolutely full of prey, but that can be a disadvantage too.
12:09It only takes one animal to spot her, and the elements of surprise is gone.
12:16She's gone, Colin.
12:19She's gone, Colin.
12:24She's gone, Colin.
12:27But she's not giving up.
12:36Her favourite food.
12:55She's still got a lot to learn.
13:13What is the next thing that's going to be in a tigress's mind?
13:17That's meeting a male and having a family.
13:24As luck would have it, there was this beautiful, perfectly handsome, big, male tiger called Bomburam,
13:32who came calling one Christmas Day.
13:34And she got very excited at this, and she was going around.
13:37She spent days roaring, roaring, roaring.
13:40She had picked up his scent.
13:41She knew he was in the area.
13:50And then I shall never forget the day.
13:57I was listening to this roaring, and she stopped.
14:01And in the distance, I heard an answering call.
14:10That was to be by Christmas present.
14:13Unbelievable.
14:27It was the first time I had seen a male and female together,
14:31and I could see the difference in size.
14:33He totally dominated her in size.
14:36Beautiful big male.
14:52I couldn't believe it.
14:53So excited.
14:54And they started mating right beside our vehicle.
14:56And they did it repeatedly for days and days.
15:00It's a great sight to see.
15:09By choosing the dominant male, she'd selected the best genes around.
15:14Bomburam was well known to be incredibly powerful, so hopefully any offspring they had together would inherit those same characteristics.
15:36There's a very good chance that the next generation was on its way.
15:49Another day and still no sign of Matchley.
15:53I'm really pretty certain she doesn't come here anymore now.
16:08She's changed her habits so much.
16:13She's not moving round any way near as much as she used to.
16:17She used to use these forest trails all the time because they were the easiest way of moving through the
16:23park.
16:25And if she's lying down quietly under a tree, there's no evidence as to where she is.
16:50You see Matchley anywhere?
16:55Any of you guys see Matchley?
16:57No?
17:02The park guards confirm my suspicions.
17:05Matchley has been evicted from her territory almost certainly by one of her daughters from her fourth and final litter.
17:13This means she will be more reclusive and harder to find.
17:29Matchley was one day seen coming from the bush and making this little call.
17:41Matchley was one day seen coming from the bush and making this little call.
17:45Matchley was one day seen coming from the bush and saying, come on, follow.
17:52So Matchley stepped out on the road and out came these tiny little cubs with her.
18:20Matchley was one day seen coming from the bush and making this little cubs.
18:25for as long as I possibly could and watched them grow up.
18:33So Matchley had produced two cubs.
18:35She'd gotten them through the first monsoon,
18:38and they were now about a year old.
18:45As a first-time mum, that's pretty impressive,
18:49because I'm sure lots of first-time mums lose their first cubs.
18:52So Matchley was already proving herself as something special.
19:21She taught me so much about this place.
19:24And in many ways we were at a similar stage
19:26in our lives.
19:29When she became a mother, I became a father.
19:32So we have that in common.
19:36I've got two wonderful little male cubs,
19:39two beautiful female cubs.
19:41And through my work here, by following Matchley,
19:44she's put food on the table, given me shelter,
19:47all that sort of thing.
19:52So I'm grateful to her for that.
20:05I look back upon this time as being my halcyon days in Ranthaboard.
20:09And I'm grateful to her.
20:11I'm grateful to her.
20:15I love that.
20:23Being able to have that opportunity
20:25to watch a tiger family growing up around the lakes,
20:29and to have that lucky break, really,
20:32of choosing the right tigress.
20:33I mean, I don't know how many times I thought to myself I could easily have chosen another one
20:38who'd moved off and set up the territory someplace else.
20:40I just happened to choose Mapsley.
20:49Cubs are with their mums for about at least 18 or 20 months.
20:53It's a long period of time.
20:55And you have to feed them during that time.
20:58And as they get bigger, you have to supply a lot of food.
21:00So she became an expert hunter.
21:05She seemed to hunt extremely efficiently.
21:07From a cameraman's point of view, she normally hunted extremely efficiently behind a bush.
21:33That's the nature of tigers.
21:35And everyone would say to her, did you get a kill?
21:37Did you get a kill?
21:38Ah, well, I got the beginning of it.
21:39Or I got the end of it.
21:41But don't ask me if I got a kill.
21:42It's not the most interesting thing tigers do anyway.
21:55It's always fascinating to me how a tigress tells her cubs, how she tells them I don't know, but she
22:01tells them to stay there, I'm going off hunting.
22:06She wouldn't have a chance if she brought them with her, it's very important, too, that she leaves them in
22:11a safe place, and it's important that the cubs learn to stay there.
22:15But Matchley was incredibly good at this.
22:19It was just another example, really, of what a great mother she was.
22:23Close to the water, in the wreaths, they were well hidden, so no other predators could find them, because they
22:30were really too young to defend themselves.
22:42The cubs were able to enjoy a wonderful time, because Matchley had provided them with safety and security.
23:01In her absence, they used to get up to all sorts of mischief.
23:20Sharing this domain with crocodiles, another apex predator, meant that they often came into close contact.
23:35Other than large male tigers, crocodiles were the one true adversary for Matchley.
24:04I'm sewing them as a
24:06Each invade group
24:07is the only way that they shoot them, so no more.
24:07I moveเธฒ
24:15They terrorized the lake waters from above and below, and always took advantage of stragglers.
24:27.
24:27.
24:29.
24:29.
24:29.
24:29.
24:30.
24:30.
24:34.
24:56It was around this time that Matsli took them on at their own game.
25:08This incredible footage shows her killing a fully grown crocodile.
25:14That confirmed to me that she was no ordinary tigress.
25:22She was the true queen of the lakes.
25:34Everything had been going really well for Matsli until then.
25:38She'd learnt how to deal with her mother. She'd learnt how to deal with her sisters.
25:42She'd set up an exclusive territory right around the lakes.
25:46Probably the best territory in terms of prey in the whole of Ranthambore.
25:52And the biggest, most powerful male around had fathered her cubs.
25:59But soon afterwards, Bamboo disappeared and none of us were quite sure why.
26:07There was a worrying threat that it may have been poaching.
26:11But one thing we knew for sure, Matsli's life was going to change from this point on.
26:17A new male was going to move in and he could be a serious threat to Matsli's cubs.
26:25My worst fears were realised when I started finding huge male pug marks getting closer and closer to Matsli's territory.
26:44I came to this spot one morning like any other morning I used to pass through here every day.
26:50When I suddenly saw the new male, at last, had come to the very heart of Matsli's territory.
27:00He was investigating what was going on here.
27:14The cubs were blissfully unaware of the danger they were in.
27:28Over the next few weeks I started to see this male more and more.
27:33We called him Nick.
27:43And a new challenge for Matsli was how was she going to deal with this new male?
27:54He was young and inexperienced, but he was still huge compared to her.
27:59And a real danger.
28:04As he tracked her down, he tracked her down with lengthlessly.
28:08He just knew where she was.
28:11And he was clearly in the mood for mating.
28:14And even more worryingly, he knew where those cubs were.
28:22So Matsli had an incredibly difficult challenge on her hands.
28:33She was up and down on the ground, making sure she wasn't available to him, positioning herself very carefully.
28:41He was sniffing in the scent.
28:43He was sniffing in the scent.
28:44He was trying to work out exactly what was going on with her.
28:53And as he walked towards me, he seemed very on edge.
29:03When this had been going on for some weeks, I came back to this very place and I saw Matsli
29:08looking very anxious indeed.
29:14The mail was circling her.
29:20And then they came to this almost like an arena.
29:23It was made for her fight and she just lunged straight at him.
29:44And she beat him.
29:48It didn't last very long, but tiger fights cannot last long because they would seriously injure each other.
29:57But what was amazing, at the end of the fight, both Matsli and the mail bowed to each other.
30:04Now I'd seen this very same thing happen at the end of mating when there's often aggression.
30:09And this sort of bow seems to mean, we've had enough, let's not continue with this.
30:15That's it, the aggression seems to just disappear and they part.
30:20What she had done, she played a magnificent game of combining.
30:25Seductress on the one hand, keeping him interested, interested enough not to hurt her.
30:30But he walked away as the injured party.
30:34He was definitely out of action for a couple of days.
30:36With a pad cut like that, you can't hunt.
30:41She had won this encounter and for the sake of her cubs, it was such an important encounter to win.
30:53And this distinguishes second-rate tigers from first-rate tigers, if you like.
30:59She was the queen of Ranthabor now, she could control this dominant male.
31:13These days, I've discovered that Matsli rarely uses these roads like she used to.
31:27Good, fresh tracks. Nice ones.
31:31We've been finding sporadic female pulp marks crossing the road in a tiny corner of her former territory.
31:38Yeah, yeah, these are fresh, these are fresh. Go on, go on. Jolly, jolly.
31:43At last we found some physical indication that we're actually on her trail and that she's still alive.
31:50I knew this wasn't going to be easy. I guess her needs and requirements are so different than they used
31:56to be.
31:56She's now a tigress just surviving on her own.
32:00So she's keeping a really low profile and that's completely opposite of the Matsli I knew.
32:10And although she's in a relatively small area, maybe a couple of square kilometres,
32:15if she doesn't move, she's pretty much impossible to find.
32:20So I'm starting to get a little concerned as to whether I go to see her at all.
32:33Every track and trail in Matsli's territory seems to hold some sort of memory for me.
32:43Some of them now look just sort of empty and desolate and you think nothing had ever happened there.
32:49This was the spot.
32:53But on this particular road, it looks like a very ordinary piece of road now.
32:58The most extraordinary event happened one day, one I shall never forget.
33:02And probably for me, the single greatest thing I ever filmed as a cameraman.
33:09I shall never forget the day.
33:15I'd come in the park that morning and she had gone hunting and left the two cubs behind in cover.
33:21And a few hours later, way in the distance, I heard her roaring.
33:33And then it got louder and louder as she came through the legs.
33:51She came walking towards me, towards me, towards me, towards me, roaring all the way.
33:55So I knew she was calling the cubs.
34:13She came right past my vehicle and then lay down on the road.
34:17And I simply couldn't believe what happened next.
34:19I heard rustling in the bushes and, first of all, out stepped the first cub.
34:23And he lay down on the road, quickly followed by the second one.
34:27But they weren't just lying beside her and nuzzling her.
34:30They were actually suckling her.
34:33They were using their paws to sort of stimulate milk production, like they would have done when they were youngsters.
34:47I don't think anyone had ever recorded a tigress suckling almost two year old cubs before.
35:13I'm actually knew what she was doing, that's for sure.
35:16It's as if she was saying goodbye to her two boys.
35:26Because that was the last time I ever saw them together as a family unit.
35:40When the two cubs suddenly disappeared, I started to get worried.
35:46There'd been rumours, when Bomburam disappeared too, that poaching was starting again in Ranthambore.
35:56It's periodically been a huge problem in this part of the world.
36:01It turned out that poaching was to blame for the disappearance of at least one of Matchley's first set of
36:07cubs.
36:15Around this time poaching accounted for up to 25 tiger deaths in Ranthambore.
36:23And in the neighbouring tiger reserve of Sariska, every single tiger was killed by poaching.
36:41Ranthambore is a major religious site and pilgrims flock here in huge numbers.
36:46In fact, over Matchley's lifetime, perhaps 10 million people have come into the heart of her territory.
36:57She knew how to disappear when she needed to disappear.
37:00And perhaps she was able to detect benign people from dangerous people.
37:13Although I'd like to believe she had some sort of sixth sense and knew how to avoid poachers,
37:19the truth is she probably survived because she lived in the most heavily protected part of Ranthambore.
37:27Cattle grazers would sometimes come into her territory during the monsoon, but she avoided eating cattle and hence avoided coming
37:35into conflict.
37:37Clever girl.
37:38Clever girl.
37:41Perhaps she learned from her mother who had survived a similar poaching crisis during the early 90s.
37:47Clever girl.
37:52Clever girl.
37:56Clever girl.
37:58Clever girl.
38:01Clever girl.
38:03Clever girl.
38:05Clever girl.
38:06Clever girl.
38:07Clever girl.
38:08Clever girl.
38:08Clever girl.
38:09Clever girl.
38:09Clever girl.
38:09Clever girl.
38:10Clever girl.
38:11Clever girl.
38:13Clever girl.
38:14Clever girl.
38:14Clever girl.
38:14Clever girl.
38:15Clever girl.
38:15Clever girl.
38:24Very quiet, peaceful place isn't it?
38:32She must be sitting quietly here somewhere.
38:38It's one of the most beautiful little bits of the planet.
38:44She has always loved this place.
38:46She was born here and I'm quite sure that this is where she's going to die.
38:53Worst places to die.
38:57It's one of the most beautiful little bits of the planet as far as I'm concerned.
39:04She's brought me to so many beautiful places on our journey together.
39:26Rantable won't be the same without her.
39:39By the time Matchley's first cubs had left her, she was about four and a half years old.
39:45Irony of ironies, that male that she fought and that male that she could have been killed by, he had
40:00now become the dominant male of this area.
40:04There was this amazing sort of reversal in his fortunes, I suppose.
40:09She now had to go and befriend him.
40:13He was to become the father of her second litter.
40:24In the second litter there was one male and one female.
40:31But this time that family was able to be raised in the security of having the dominant male around.
40:36So that changed everything for her. It became a much more straightforward sort of raising of the family.
40:49She raised four litters. There were two in the first, two in the second, two in the third and three
40:55in the fourth.
40:55She's been a wonderful mother and by far the most successful tigress in Rantable.
41:02I think one of the keys to Matchley's success was her ability to manipulate males.
41:09I witnessed an incredible example of this when she was rearing her third family of two cubs.
41:18Came round a corner and there in front of me was the most amazing sight.
41:26Matchley fast asleep on the road, the most relaxed I'd ever seen her, as were the cubs.
41:38And then the cubs, as cubs will do, started to get a little bit bored.
41:42So one of them got up and started wandering down the roads.
41:46So I thought, I'll follow.
41:51And then I noticed the cub was looking slightly alert, slightly anxious.
41:57And I looked into the bushes at the back and there was another tiger.
42:04It was a great big male head.
42:12If there was no relationship between these animals the tiger could get up and kill that cub easily.
42:17So it was a moment of great tension.
42:23This was the first time I had ever seen the tiger we called X-male.
42:28Because we knew he existed but we never saw him.
42:32I was absolutely holding my breath.
42:49As soon as he looked up the cub's posture changed immediately and he quickly moved in.
42:57Right up beside the tiger that was obviously his dad.
43:01Because they started playing with each other.
43:04So this was the first time I'd ever really seen a tiger family together.
43:08And from a cameraman's point of view it was mostly hidden, slightly behind the bushes.
43:13But for me it meant absolutely everything.
43:15This was a moment I'd always wanted to witness was happening right in Fontevinge.
43:34Now male tigers have big territories and they will have several females within their territory.
43:41Possibly several families.
43:43And it seems to me that they patrol and visit each of those families on a regular basis.
43:48Now Matchley it seemed was allowing this male in to share kills with her.
43:53From her point of view if she gives almost a reward for him being in the area he's more likely
44:00to come to that area on a regular basis.
44:02And hence her cubs will be protected from the intrusions of other males.
44:06I'm sure it's something that happens with tigresses generally but it seemed that Matchley was very, very good at establishing
44:13relationships with males throughout her life.
44:16She's a smart girl and that relationship she's had with males over the years has really fascinated me.
44:22Because it's something we really didn't know an awful lot about in tigers.
44:32Her last litter, three female cubs all raised successfully.
44:38This was the perfect situation.
44:40Rantan boar, three female cubs on the lakes.
44:42It was almost like a mirror of what Matchley had been for.
44:46That's how she'd been brought up.
44:51She had held sway in the lakes for almost a decade and her life as a fighter was beginning to
44:57take its toll on the aging tigress.
45:05One thing that a tiger needs to successfully kill is good strong canines.
45:10They are known as the killing teeth.
45:12And Matchley was starting to lose her canines.
45:23Each time I saw her I could see her physical prowess was ebbing away.
45:31This queen was about to lose her crown to one of those closest to her.
45:49My feeling was that one of these daughters had just inherited a bit more of Matchley than the other ones.
45:57Ironically, Matchley's success at controlling and reproducing with alpha males had resulted in this incredibly powerful daughter.
46:06A worthy rival with all her cunning and aggression.
46:10She was ready to kick Matchley out and take over the Lake Territory.
46:18First, she had to defeat her sisters, starting with the youngest and weakest.
46:38The first encounter was relatively straightforward.
46:42But her elder sister, bigger and stronger than her.
47:06With her two sisters out of the way, she then turned her attention to her mother.
47:14And Matchley was waiting, almost as if she knew what was going to happen.
47:24The tables were turned.
47:41Matchley's reign was about to come to an end.
47:55That short interaction was all it took.
47:58A queen deposed by her own daughter.
48:06Matchley was intelligent enough to know when to back down.
48:17This is how she had survived to become something very rare, an elderly tigress.
48:33It was soon after this that she left the lakes for good and began her life as a recluse, avoiding
48:40all other members of her kind.
48:43And that's why she's been so hard to find.
48:46And that's why she's been so hard to find.
49:12And that's why she's been so hard to find the tigers.
49:13And that's why she's been so hard to find the tigers.
49:13And that's why she's been so hard to find the tigers with all those families she's raised.
49:15But now she's a very different animal.
49:18Now she's got to avoid all contact with members of her kind.
49:23And that sort of makes me sad to think that she's out there now all by herself, all alone.
49:30It's a sad old way for such a dominant tigress to sort of, for things to end.
49:36But I hope I get to see her the next few days because I have a feeling if I don't,
49:43I'll never see her again.
49:48I wonder where she is right now.
50:02Once she was kicked out of the lakes, Matchley had to find a new way of surviving in her old
50:08age.
50:12Making kills was now really difficult for her.
50:15She'd lost all her canines.
50:17But one thing's for sure.
50:20When she was lucky enough to make a kill, she wanted to protect it.
50:29But protecting your hard-earned meal from other tigers can be fraught with danger.
50:40And there's nothing more dangerous than a marauding male.
50:51She needs to stay out of his way.
51:02I have never seen a tiger look more nervous.
51:08It was really hard for me to watch.
51:14But she still wasn't going away.
51:25The sight of him stealing her kill is just too much for her.
51:30And she lets him know she's not happy.
51:33That is not a good idea.
51:45That is not a good idea.
51:51She just doesn't give up.
52:06A fighter till the bitter end.
52:14After all these years that feistiness that first attracted me to her has not diminished in the slightest.
52:22That's what makes Matchley so special to me.
52:42It's my final day here.
52:58Strange feeling.
52:59I've been thinking about this day for some time.
53:22I'm sure Matchley's in here.
53:26If I was to guess I'd say that she's been on a carcass because I can hear the sounds of
53:30crows and tree pies in there.
53:33And she should move.
53:36She should move because it's getting warmer and warmer.
53:41And if I know Matchley, by the time it gets to maybe 10 o'clock this morning, it'll be about
53:49110 degrees.
53:51And she'll move to water.
53:52Because she loves sitting in the water.
53:57But whatever happens, I'm not going to move from this place all day.
54:07I think there's some movement going on.
54:09Peacock alarm calls.
54:13I think she's on the move.
54:19She's coming.
54:20She's coming.
54:21She's coming.
55:02This looks beautiful.
55:04She's beautiful.
55:16Let's go.
55:37This whole jungle will be empty without her, that's for sure.
55:41And she goes, but I'm kind of glad I came to see her now, and I'm leaving her looking good.
55:49I have no desire to see her when she's dead.
55:53I don't need that.
55:54I prefer just to see her looking healthy, well-fed, well-watered.
56:04Because this whole, I guess, I guess, you know, we've been on a long journey together,
56:15Matcha and I, 13 years.
56:40You know, I'm so glad I came to see her for the last time.
56:44It's like even in my personal life, I've always tried to go and see people before they've died
56:48and not go to their funerals.
56:50That's just the way I prefer it.
56:51It seems to me it makes a lot more sense.
56:54And to have been able to come back here and to see Matcha, she's still looking in good health.
56:59Still, at least, in the tiny part of her former territory, still alive, looking good.
57:04And leaving her today, lying in the shade of a jaman tree, that's the image I'm going to take away
57:10from this place.
57:29I'll never have a relationship with another wild tiger like that again.
57:37You know, people say there are more tigers in the forest, you know, there's plenty of fish in the sea,
57:41but not for me.
57:45That's a once-in-a-lifetime.
57:55Saturday night, Scandi crime drama and a clash of Norwegian and Swedish sensibilities
58:00as a death at a trailer park sparks the investigation for Beck at nine o'clock.
58:06The role of the shipyards of the Clyde in the American Civil War coming up next on BBC4
58:11in the ships that made the Commonwealth.
58:19To be continued...
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