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动物文字稿
00:02We live on a crowded planet.
00:09But there are still vast areas
00:13where nature has the upper hand.
00:16It looks like another planet.
00:19I'm heading to the last great wildernesses.
00:27I'll try to cross four of these rugged landscapes.
00:31On my toughest journeys yet.
00:34I have to be honest, things are not going brilliantly.
00:37Bit of a medical situation.
00:39Help is a long way away.
00:45I want to meet the people for whom the wilderness is home.
00:49Testicles for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
00:54To see how they live alongside nature.
01:00I can stay down there for a minute or so.
01:03He's still down there now, walking around.
01:07And in this critical time for our world.
01:10Huge carcasses of great trees.
01:12Seek out the rare and majestic creatures that still survive.
01:18My heart is racing.
01:21In some of the most hostile environments.
01:24Are you okay Jonathan?
01:26Yeah, yeah.
01:26And the remotest regions.
01:28Bloody hell.
01:29Of our wild planet.
01:38Big cats roaming free.
01:41This surely is the absolute definition of a real wilderness.
02:04I'm travelling across the Kalahari Desert.
02:07A huge area of wilderness that stretches across southern Africa.
02:12It's one of the wildest places on Earth.
02:15I'm heading into a very remote region.
02:19For mile after mile here.
02:21It's just scrub, shrub and dusty dry land.
02:25Everything here is growing in the largest basin of sand on planet Earth.
02:31There are points here.
02:32The sand sinks a thousand metres deep.
02:37But despite the harsh terrain, the Kalahari is bursting with life.
02:41A thousand miles of elephants.
02:43Those elephants.
02:45Elephants?
02:51Wow!
02:57Wow.
02:59Here, in the Kalahari,
03:02in this very dry part of the continent,
03:05there are still giant beasts
03:09walking through the sandy desert.
03:14A vast wilderness the size of Germany,
03:17long eulogized and romanticized,
03:20the Kalahari is a semi-desert,
03:22where seasonal rains ensure there's now food
03:25for wildlife to thrive.
03:36But the Kalahari is just as famous for its people.
03:39I'm travelling with Dam Debe.
03:41He's one of the San,
03:43the indigenous people of the Kalahari.
03:46There's a jackal.
03:50In our language, we call it peri.
03:53Peri. Say peri.
03:55One more time.
03:56Peri.
03:58Peri.
03:59Peri.
03:59Peri.
04:00Peri.
04:01I can't do it, Dom. I can't.
04:07The San have been in the Kalahari
04:09for tens of thousands of years,
04:11as trackers, hunters and gatherers,
04:14famous for their extraordinary survival skills.
04:17Humans have always lived here,
04:20shaping and protecting the Kalahari,
04:22as much as any wilderness on the planet.
04:26The Kalahari sits in the middle of southern Africa,
04:29straddling six countries.
04:32I'm travelling through its dry centre,
04:34heading for the spectacular wetlands of the Okavango Delta.
04:40I'm starting in the north-west, in Namibia,
04:43on my way to a traditional sand village.
04:46Then I'll journey east into Botswana,
04:49travelling through the vast emptiness of the central Kalahari game reserve.
04:53I'm hoping to end my journey
04:55at one of the greatest concentrations of wildlife on this continent.
05:04I'm heading to a remote village
05:07that is home to some of the last great wildlife trackers and hunters
05:13in any wilderness on the planet.
05:17Danui is a small sand village in Namibia's Nai Nai Conservancy.
05:22People here live mostly in traditional sand dwellings
05:25made of wood and clay.
05:27They have some livestock and crops.
05:30But far from any town, they also hunt to survive.
05:38Dham has brought me to meet an old friend.
05:40Ooh, a sissa', sissa'.
05:43Cunc dhao.
05:46These are all the trees.
05:50This is all the trees?
05:52Yeah.
05:54This is all the trees?
05:54But he's still young.
05:55He's still young?
05:57You're not that old?
05:58Yeah.
06:01Tomorrow we'll head into the bush.
06:04But now the sun's going down,
06:06It's time to rest.
06:12Oh, my goodness.
06:22Oh, my God.
06:24It's like being in the forest.
06:26Look at this.
06:27It's like a work of art.
06:39All right, I'll get my little mozzie net up and sort my stuff
06:44and have a little camping faff.
06:47I'll organise my things.
06:54Thuy and the hunters have offered to take me deep into the Kalahari.
06:58It's still wild out there.
07:06It's going to find the little thing in the forest.
07:09I'll shoot you if you're thinking about it.
07:12Why?
07:13I'll have to use this as a Congratulations.
07:18Thank you for your help.
07:18If you have any questions,
07:19I have to keep those questions.
07:21How are you going to use this?
07:22I've been doing this for a long time.
07:26I'll leave.
07:27I'm going to leave.
07:29This will be great.
07:29Thank you, chef.
07:29I'm going to love you.
07:30Take care.
07:30Take care.
07:31Take care, cha-bye.
07:55The sand have been a crucial part of this ecosystem for tens of thousands of years.
08:01Old Thuy and the other trackers have an intimate understanding of the wilderness and wildlife
08:06here, learned over endless generations.
08:10We head out.
08:11First task, hunting for a beetle.
08:25For the sand, the Kalahari is a pharmacy, pantry and armoury.
08:31Thuy is searching for the larvae of a beetle that lives only under a certain type of bush.
08:39Do you want me to do more of this?
08:44The larvae contain poison they need for their hunting arrows.
09:00Is that one?
09:01Yes.
09:02Oh my gosh.
09:04It looks like the size of a jelly bean and it does look as though there's something larvae
09:11or something inside.
09:12Yes.
09:13This is the larvae.
09:14Yeah, just there.
09:15Yeah.
09:16Wow.
09:23Historically, the complex San language with its dozens of click consonants wasn't written
09:28down.
09:29So knowledge and skills are passed down through the generations by word of mouth.
09:39Thuy is keen to teach the younger lads the skills and the secrets of making deadly poison
09:44arrows.
10:03So, Thuy, how many of these could kill a human being?
10:08You're doing this.
10:10Wow.
10:11Yeah.
10:11You think you could kill a human being?
10:15I thought I was dead.
10:21And I thought that there was a problem that I was able to do with if you can't like it.
10:24And there was that I think I could have been saved.
10:33And then there was a problem.
10:34It had to be able to do this.
10:34It is easy to have.
10:35That's a problem.
10:37It was hard to do when I was to get through.
10:37It was hard to have.
10:37I was hard to do.
10:44You've got to stop to think, how the hell do people discover this in the first place?
11:04And now he's going to squeeze it out like a pimple, I mean.
11:08To avoid accidentally cutting and poisoning themselves, the hunters don't apply the toxin
11:14directly to the sharp arrowhead.
11:16It's coming out in droplets now.
11:22So that is now a very potent poison arrow.
11:32It's a gruelling trek across the desert to reach the hunting grounds.
11:39So we're getting ready and we're heading out.
11:50The Kalahari is full of wildlife.
11:53Everything from small birds to spindly antelope and burly wildebeest.
11:58But animals here are wary.
12:00They've spent thousands of years dodging human predators.
12:04And they know to keep well away from the sand villages and sand hunters.
12:09So we need to trek to reach the best hunting grounds in the burning heat.
12:13And make no mistake, this is a very harsh environment.
12:22At last there's signs of animals.
12:24The tracks of a kudu, a large antelope.
12:31So can we see the tracks?
12:32You can see, it's very distinct here, but they can see so much more than just the track.
12:39They can see the direction, the weight, and they can tell that it came through here this
12:43morning.
12:46With evidence of wildlife all around, Old Thuy decides it's time to hunt.
12:58They've decided they're going to put a snare, a trap here, to see if they can catch anything.
13:05Traditional hunting methods used by indigenous wilderness people generally have a tiny impact
13:10on the environment.
13:15They're eating true free-range meat, and only occasionally.
13:18And they're often in competition with other four-legged apex predators.
13:25Because it has got nails here, the cheetah is the one who only has nails while it's running.
13:32It's like it's fast running.
13:36This was a running cheetah that came through here.
13:42So a cheetah came through here, and now they want to know if it made a kill just
13:47over here.
13:52So the guys think a cheetah came through here and it had spotted a kudu that was coming
13:57through there.
14:00Maybe it took it.
14:05You can just imagine the scene playing out here, can't you?
14:09And they recreate it, using their skills and their imagination.
14:20It's finished.
14:22This is the end of the story.
14:24And the piece of bone...
14:25It's right here.
14:26...is his arm front, arm and the blood.
14:29Where's the breast of the carcass?
14:31After the kill, there is others who also come in its way, we cannot found the whole body.
14:37The entire carcass of the animal, bones and everything, has been chomped and eaten.
14:46Not just by the cheetahs of course, but other scavengers that have come in and gnawed and
14:51nibbled and destroyed the rest of the animal.
15:05All right, we're going to go and find some at the camp.
15:08All right, let's do it.
15:09Hmph.
15:09No.
15:10No.
15:22Yes.
15:25FIRE, FIRE.
15:26FIRE?
15:26OK.
15:29Go on, see if I can.
15:36Teamwork.
15:46Ready?
16:03It's going.
16:16That is quite a sunset. Look at that through the flames.
16:20I wonder if we should film that. Just a suggestion.
16:43What are you drinking?
16:45Coffee.
16:46How can you drink coffee at this time? You will be awake all night.
17:01I don't think so.
17:03It's gonna happen.
17:05It's gonna happen.
17:07We are not taking the time.
17:10We are not giving the time to describe them.
17:14Left hand.
17:21We are not giving them any performance here.
17:25We are not giving it.
17:28Even the worst thing about the world.
17:30When we do our children, not to work with the children...
17:34I don't care.
17:40They take care of me.
17:43I simply say to myself,
17:44I'm afraid I'm afraid.
17:47I just speak to myself.
17:53I'm afraid of them.
17:59but this is sounding extremely dangerous it's a wonder any of you are here I mean everything
18:07out there it seems to be to pose some sort of a threat
18:38mm-hmm
18:45we're up at first light the hunt is on so the plan is I'm going to follow them while they
18:52hunt
18:52and I'll carry a little camera and hopefully then we'll get a more realistic picture of
18:59what they have to do to put meat on the table let's go
19:32they need us to be really quiet they've been very insistent that we try to make this lurking noise
19:39as possible so we have to watch where we're putting our feet try not to stab on dry branches or
19:44twigs
19:46and even we need to make sure we didn't smell too much because wildlife will know that we're coming
19:57the hunters find a fresh trail
20:10I can't see what I look at
20:29they're not using high-powered rifles they've just got lightweight bows
20:41to increase their chances the hunters need to get as close as possible
21:02so
21:03what about what if we don't want to share our
21:18I won't let it be.
21:25Go go.
21:35My daddy, you don't let me go.
21:38Mary, you're one of them.
21:41I'll go look at them.
21:47They'll only know for sure if they've hit the wildebeest
21:50by checking for their arrows.
21:52If they strike the target, the poisoned head breaks off,
21:55leaving the shaft on the ground as evidence of a direct hit.
22:00So this is where the wildebeest were.
22:30They think they've shot arrows successfully into two or three wildebeest.
22:36The poison they use doesn't work instantly,
22:39so they now need to follow signs on the ground
22:42and track and hunt those wildebeest down.
22:51For thousands of years in this cradle of humanity,
22:54this is often how we've tackled large, powerful animals,
22:57pursuing them from a distance until they succumb.
23:04It is strange, even after just a short time with them,
23:07you do start to see the landscape in a completely different way.
23:12And obviously, I'm like a toddler reading a picture book,
23:16as opposed to them taking in the whole encyclopedia.
23:20But you do start to get a sense that there is this whole other dimension
23:24to the landscape here, that they can see it, they can read it all.
23:37One of the wildebeest has separated from the herd.
23:43For hour after hour, we track it.
23:45They think it's close.
23:53They can see the wildebeest ahead.
24:02Is that it in the grass?
24:08It's still alive, it's in the grass, but they're preparing their weapons.
24:33It's still alive, it's in the grass.
24:35Oh, man, this is intense.
24:40For now, the wildebeest is still too strong.
24:43They're powerful and dangerous animals.
24:46The hunters have to be patient.
25:06They may die.
25:13They may die.
25:54I don't see him as a surprise.
25:56He's not a giant killer.
25:59Arrowhead.
26:01Hey, yo!
26:09Well, that, that was a herd of wildebeest, and to creep up on them like that, that is
26:19one of the most primal experiences I feel like I've ever had.
26:25I'm totally invested in these guys, their community, their hunt for food.
26:36The hunters have been unlucky.
26:39The wounded wildebeest has made it back to the herd.
26:43Well, that is really the end of the hunt for the wildebeest, because the herd have completely
26:49scattered the prints all around.
26:52So the guys have lost the track of the injured wildebeest they were trying to follow.
27:00So that is a wildebeest they have lost that is probably going to be taken by lions and
27:06hyenas.
27:09So some of the wildlife out here will benefit from it, but not their community.
27:15This is a bloody hard way to provide for your family.
27:36Dejected, Thuy and the hunters begin the long journey back to the village.
27:41They have one last chance to avoid returning empty handed.
27:53A small game bird.
27:56What's it called?
27:58It's called Franklin.
28:00A lot of effort for this little bird.
28:04They are not guaranteed success.
28:08Even the best tracker and hunter does not have an astonishing hit rate, because this is the
28:19wild and life is unpredictable here.
28:23Meat protein does not come easy and they eat far less of it than people in higher income countries.
28:30With the odds often against them, perhaps it's not surprising there aren't many traditional
28:35sand hunters left in the Kalahari.
28:37But Thuy and the trackers believe hunting is about even more than putting food on the table.
28:45Should we be worried there are so few master trackers left?
28:49Mm.
28:49Mm.
28:52My point is that it's not less than usual.
28:57People say that I was like, no, you're walking a lot more often than growing.
29:02They say, I don't be OK.
29:11I'm going to have to wait for a while to wait for a while.
29:13I'm speaking about how to wait and see if there is a bunch of people who have to wait for
29:14People say they're working for children, you're good.
29:14They're working for hinder.
29:17I don't know.
29:30Across the wild Kalahari,
29:33it's getting harder for the sand to live traditionally.
29:39In some areas, they've been banned from hunting.
29:45Many youngsters are being drawn and driven away to towns and cities.
29:51Old Thuy could be one of the last great master trackers of the Kalahari.
29:56Come on, mate.
29:58It's been an honour.
30:00I've loved every moment I've spent in your company.
30:03You've got an infectious joy.
30:09Thank you very much.
30:12It's been an absolute joy.
30:25I'm travelling on across the Kalahari,
30:28from Namibia into Botswana,
30:31heading towards the central Kalahari game reserve.
30:36One of the largest protected wildlife reserves in the whole of Africa.
30:40A vast wilderness of more than 20,000 square miles.
30:49All right.
30:55If you don't have a room, then you can come.
30:57I know.
30:57I'm going to be trapped in here.
30:59In the luggage compartment.
31:01Yeah.
31:01We need you outside.
31:04All right.
31:04This is Ali and Robson.
31:06One last book.
31:06They're going to be taking me a fair old distance across the Kalahari.
31:12Yes.
31:13Let's do this too, Sammy.
31:15Let's get rolling.
31:28So this track takes us into the very heart of the Kalahari.
31:32We're heading into the CKGR, the central Kalahari game reserve.
31:45The CKGR brims with wildlife.
31:49This part of the Kalahari was turned into a wilderness reserve in the 1960s.
31:56Originally, it was set up to protect the people here, not animals.
32:01The idea was to provide a wild land and sanctuary for the sand.
32:06But since the 1990s, that's changed.
32:19This area of the Kalahari has been home to the sand for tens of thousands of years.
32:25But in the last few decades, the sand have been relocated or transferred out of the reserve.
32:32It's been hugely controversial in Botswana, in Southern Africa and around the world,
32:37because one of the oldest of human civilizations has been moved from one of its core historic areas.
32:47The Botswana government banned hunting and blocked drinking wells.
32:52Many of the sand were moved here to a purpose-built settlement called New Kade.
32:57It has roads and small concrete dwellings, and it's now home to more than a thousand people.
33:02Some officials said the sand shouldn't be living in the wilderness without access to schools and healthcare.
33:11Good morning.
33:13Sorry.
33:15Where are you off to?
33:17How are you going to do?
33:19She's going home.
33:21Masejo Reseme was just five years old when she and her mother, Mantisho, left the central Kalahari.
33:28Can I sit here, Mum?
33:30Yes.
33:32You don't remember the bush the way she does, of course.
33:35I grew up in New Kade and she grew up in the Kalahari.
33:40What were your feelings and emotions when you were required to leave the Kalahari?
34:05It sounds as if you find it quite difficult here.
34:18Can the sand people be sand without hunting and tracking in the CKGR?
34:27If you find it, it's not a single person.
34:31If you find it, it's not a single person.
34:35It's a single person.
34:37It's a single person.
34:40It's a single person.
34:41It's a single person.
34:43It's a single person.
34:43Does it feel to you as though the sand were seen as less important than the wildlife in the Kalahari?
34:52It's a single person.
34:54It's a single person.
34:58Moving out of the wilderness hasn't been easy for the sand.
35:02Many adults here are unemployed, living from subsistence farming and state welfare benefits.
35:10Many claim they've lost their way of life without being given new purpose and meaning through enough jobs or training.
35:16It's clear the wilderness still holds a powerful allure.
35:22I'm quite struck coming here by how many of the homesteads have still got a traditional hut effectively built outside
35:35them.
35:36That shows that we are still a cultural people and we are still onto our culture.
35:42Even if you put a bushman or a son in this house, he or she is not going to change
35:48anyhow.
35:48The change that, it is that structure, but the heart of a bushman is not easy to just change.
35:58Masejo doesn't remember life out in the bush.
36:02She's had a formal education and became one of relatively few sand to go to university.
36:24Masejo believes there have been advantages to life in Nukade.
36:27She's keen for more of the sand to have the same access to schools, jobs and modern healthcare that the
36:32rest of Botswana enjoys.
36:34So this is the clinic? Yes.
36:38Yeah, that's a much more modern facility, isn't it?
36:40Yes. As you can see, that side is the maternity ward and here's just the consultation area.
36:47I believe even as a son, there is a time that we also have to adapt to the life of
36:53today.
36:56The Botswana government has been accused of human rights abuses for evicting the sand.
37:02Some campaigners say because they thought there were diamonds in the Kalahari.
37:07The government denies this and insists the sand were moved to provide them with modern facilities they can't get out
37:14in the bush.
37:16But at times they have also claimed the growing sand population was destroying wildlife in the central Kalahari.
37:23And that conservation should come first.
37:27Whatever the reason or reasons why the sand were moved out of the CKGR, it did spark a wider debate
37:34about what are wild places for?
37:38Is a wilderness only a wilderness if there are no humans living there?
37:45Often indigenous people are absolutely central to a wilderness.
37:50Often they're the ones who've helped to shape it, create it, tend it and protect it.
37:57But here I think there was a feeling that to have a proper conservation area, that required the human beings
38:05who'd lived there for thousands of years to be moved out.
38:14However, on my wilderness journeys, I've been realising that humans are actually an integral part of many remote areas.
38:22I'll see that more as I travel further across the Kalahari, towards a giant oasis in this great desert, the
38:30Okavango Delta.
38:36Robson grew up in the Kalahari, absorbing everything there is to know about the landscape and wildlife around him.
38:42He's like a walking guidebook.
38:45Ard wolf! You see it? You see it? Oh my God! It's hyena.
38:49No, ard wolf. Ard wolf!
38:52It's an ard wolf. Very rare.
38:56OK, the herd is up there. You can see two. So this is a pair.
38:59You don't often see two.
39:02The ard wolf is a species of hyena, which eats mainly insects.
39:07Its favourite snack is the termite.
39:09A single ard wolf can gobble down 300,000 in a day.
39:14Have you seen these before?
39:16Well, I only have seen them twice, but that is after 18 years of guiding.
39:20This is very rare. So I'm so impressed to get to see two.
39:24And these are often more active at night.
39:31Oh, look. Wow. I am touch impressed.
39:35It's hard to believe. Very light.
39:53So this case should be safe out here. Hyenas are not going to get into that.
40:00But I need to take my shoes inside, because apparently they like stealing them from outside tents and having a
40:05chew.
40:24I'm sure I can hear lions.
40:26I'm sure I can hear lions.
40:34I'm sure I can hear lions.
40:39There are lions going past my tent.
40:50We're going to the water hole.
40:52Yeah.
40:57Lions.
40:58They're here.
40:59They're here.
41:01At the water hole.
41:09At the water hole.
41:12There it is.
41:15The king of the Kalahari.
41:35You feel it so deep within you.
41:40That primal, terrifying, war inspiring roar.
41:54Kalahari lions are magnificent creatures.
41:58The sheer volume of all wildlife here is truly awe inspiring.
42:03That's a young jackal.
42:09Species that face near extinction in other parts of Africa are still common here, in this area of Botswana.
42:20Elephant. Elephant on the left.
42:22And at 10 o'clock or 11, there's a herd of elephants.
42:26There's a herd of elephants.
42:27It's so unique.
42:30The grassland is amazing.
42:32There were once 25 million elephants in Africa.
42:36Now that's down to just 400,000, because of habitat loss and ivory poaching.
42:42Across the continent, the population is still shrinking.
42:46But Botswana has almost a third of all the African elephants left on the planet.
42:52Botswana is home to the world's largest population of elephants.
42:55And that is such an achievement when you think how poachers have targeted this animal in recent decades.
43:12But conservation here has come at a cost.
43:15The treatment of the San, truly a people of the wilderness, is hugely controversial.
43:20And on the edges of the Kalahari, wildlife is coming into direct conflict with people.
43:27As human populations grow, and areas that were once wild in the Kalahari become farmland,
43:34the frontiers of the wilderness area can become something of a battleground.
43:40I've left the central Kalahari and arrived in one of the frontier areas,
43:44where human-wildlife conflict is having dramatic, even tragic, consequences.
43:49How are you?
43:50Very nice to meet you.
43:52Nice to meet you, sir.
43:53Ooh, let's go.
43:54All right.
43:54This is Tata Motsentwa, a conservationist who's trying to help keep the peace.
44:01This is where the river passes when we get floods.
44:05It's the river that separates the community with the wildlife.
44:10So the community here is right on the edge of the wild.
44:14Yeah, true.
44:15The wilderness.
44:16Yeah, true.
44:16It's a village called Kumaha Village.
44:20Are you from this community?
44:22Yeah, I'm from this community.
44:23You grew up here?
44:24I grew up here.
44:25Hey!
44:26Yeah.
44:26I do have cows.
44:27I do have goats.
44:29Yeah.
44:30Yeah, and also we do crops too.
44:34It's more like a family, a family thing.
44:37Cows.
44:38There's cows wandering around.
44:40Yeah.
44:42So Tata's taking me to see a farmer who's lost some of her crops to elephants.
44:49We're here?
44:50Yeah.
44:51We're here?
44:52Yeah.
44:56Oh, bloody hell.
44:58It's a bit barren, isn't it?
45:00Yeah.
45:03It's a bit barren, isn't it?
45:06It's a bit barren, isn't it?
45:22That was the place.
45:24It's a bit barren, isn't it?
45:29It's a bit barren now.
45:31It's a bit barren now.
45:33It's so big and barren, isn't it?
45:42Oh, my goodness.
45:43this. How do you feel about elephants now? To protect their crops, farmers have been
46:13known to shoot elephants. But Tata works for the charity Elephants for Africa and he tries
46:19to stop conflicts from escalating. He helps farmers like Nkeleksang keep elephants out
46:25of their fields using some pretty unorthodox methods. He's cooking up a chilli bomb.
46:43That is a lot of chilli.
46:55So that is now in operation, working. Yeah. And look, you can see the spirit of the
47:13smoke spreading out across the field. Yeah. How effective is this at clearing a field
47:19of elephants? Imagine how you can feel it. Elephants do feel it ten times more than you
47:25do. So that's why it is very effective against elephants. Local farmers are being encouraged
47:31to grow chillies, which produce the same chemical you find in pepper spray. We're a good 20 metres
47:36away. And I could definitely feel the effects. And imagine if they've got several of them
47:45set up around the field. If I'm an elephant, I'm getting out of here.
47:59Yeah. The population of Africa is growing rapidly. It's predicted to almost double by 2050 to around
48:062.5 billion people. Providing food for everyone, while conserving wildlife and wilderness will
48:13be a huge challenge. For Tata, it's an issue that's deeply personal. Amazing scene here with
48:21the elephants moving off. Yeah. As the sun sets. Yeah, it's a beautiful view. So we've
48:27got, within our sight at the moment, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, I think, elephants.
48:36Yeah. So they are watching us quite warily, aren't they? Yeah. You have to think of these wild animals
48:45because they are killing people. So it's not just elephants raiding crops, it's taking lives.
48:52Yeah. How many elephant fatalities have you had in your community? I would say around,
49:01maybe around 4 or 5. Wow. Elephants can be highly protective of their young, fighting off predators.
49:11When they're startled, they can see people as a threat and they can really lash out.
49:17My cousin was, he went to see his friend and he unfortunately met an elephant, which it was
49:25unfortunate that he saw it from a short distance. He tried to run away from it, but because the elephant
49:33this big, it was able to see him running away, even behind the bushes. So it kept chasing him until,
49:40you know, it was able to hit him.
49:49I'm so sorry.
49:55Tata's cousin died from his injuries. In Botswana, elephants now kill more people than lions.
50:03I think some people, perhaps many people, would turn against elephants as a result.
50:09Yeah, they will. And why? But you don't?
50:13I don't because it's a wildlife area. We don't want to see elephants killing people.
50:19But, you know, we can't push them away. So it's more of finding a way to coexist with them.
50:50I've travelled for weeks through this dry, parched wilderness. And I've hardly seen a drop of water.
50:55But I hope that's about to change.
51:00I'm leaving the arid areas of the Kalahari behind now and heading towards the end of this part of my
51:08journey.
51:09We're on our way towards the Okavango Delta.
51:12Exactly.
51:16The Okavango Delta is the largest freshwater wetland in southern Africa.
51:21It's home to one of the most spectacular concentrations of wildlife on Earth.
51:26That draws in visitors to upmarket safari lodges, creating a whole tourism industry in this area of the Kalahari that
51:34I'm keen to understand.
51:39Well, I've arrived.
51:44Somewhere very fancy.
51:47My goodness.
51:49Alright, well, I'm knackered.
51:50I'm going to get a good night's sleep tonight.
51:54And I'll have a wash.
51:56And I will see you in the morning.
52:08Oh, I've got an egg.
52:11So this is the Okavango Delta.
52:17It's known as the jewel of the Kalahari.
52:24Each year, when the Kalahari is at its driest, rain in the north flows downriver and empties into a huge
52:31inland delta,
52:32transforming this part of the Kalahari desert into a lush, waterlogged oasis packed with wildlife.
52:39It's been described as the closest thing to Eden left on the planet.
52:46It's like a vast, shallow bathtub into which a river flows.
52:52And then wildlife comes from across southern Africa to drink and eat here.
52:58Which means it is a destination for seriously high-end tourism.
53:02Some lodges in the delta charge more than £1,000 a night for a room.
53:08The tourism industry can be hugely damaging.
53:11But here, like in so many other wild areas I've visited, it provides thousands of jobs.
53:17Rather than clearing land for farming or poaching, tourism can give locals an economic incentive to look after landscapes and
53:25wildlife.
53:28Unless we're all going to start donating billions to provide jobs and preserve wildernesses,
53:33perhaps responsible tourism has a crucial role.
53:41The tourism industry has helped make Botswana one of the richer countries in Africa and helps preserve the wildlife of
53:48the Kalahari.
53:50Koki Mukody is a Botswanan campaigner and conservationist.
53:55This is called a mokoro. It's actually a dugout canoe which traditionally the people of the Okavango Delta have relied
54:03on as a mode of transport to get from island to island.
54:07This is exceptional. Here we are, quietly, without an engine, gently sliding towards two giant elephants close to us.
54:21And another three down there. We've got more in the bushes here.
54:25I think we're very, very blessed, Simon, to be able to witness this in our lifetimes.
54:38One of Koki's concerns is that tourism here hasn't done enough for ordinary people.
54:43And that the indigenous people of the Kalahari have often been marginalised in favour of the wildlife and the tourists.
54:51How can we protect wild places, wildernesses, while still providing jobs, opportunities for the people who live there and are
55:03a fundamental part of those places?
55:05I think tourism could do a better job. When you have profit to make, you don't want that profit to
55:11be challenged.
55:13And it served certain operators to enter this business at a time when the people surrounding, or the indigenous peoples
55:21of that area, were not highly educated.
55:24So it benefited them in that they could pay cheaper wages.
55:28So, understanding that indigenous people who have lived in a place for sometimes thousands, tens of thousands of years, they
55:37know stuff.
55:37Yes. And they need to be appreciated for knowing that stuff.
55:42I mean, we've, we've gone long enough without recognising the importance of, of the people who have, who have kept
55:50the balance in these spaces.
55:52And we need to listen to them.
55:58Don Joseph comes from a village where many people make a living punting travellers around the Okavango Delta.
56:05They've tried to build their business by working independently from big tour operators.
56:11I'm part of the Colors Association. So I've been doing it like three years now.
56:18Are you on social media, Don?
56:20Yes.
56:21And so you get direct bookings that way?
56:24Yes. You just book to the, the, the community. They will pay those people with their Colors.
56:30So you're earning the money directly. It's not going through a tour operator in Europe or somewhere.
56:37No, it's just go to the community.
56:39That sounds pretty vital that local people can have local companies and, and direct from tourism or any other business.
56:48Absolutely. It's, it's proven to be possible.
56:51Um, but we need to band together to kind of support one another, to make sure that it is long
56:55lasting.
56:57What Koki is campaigning for is a system that could really help to preserve wilderness areas around the world.
57:06Wildernesses aren't empty. They are full of life and often very full of people as well.
57:14I think what I've learned on this journey is if we are going to protect this wilderness, the Kalahari,
57:21we're all going to have to get better at protecting and looking after, educating and engaging with the people who
57:31live here and know it best.
57:34Our remaining great wilderness areas face many threats.
57:40On my journeys, I've seen how climate change is disrupting these ecosystems on which we all depend.
57:49Remote areas are also being targeted by ranchers, loggers and miners.
57:54Our increasing human population is encroaching on the wilderness.
58:00Surely these wild areas are worth protecting.
58:10They're home to our most spectacular and important wildlife.
58:17And we need them. We're not separate from nature.
58:22Whoa!
58:23We're part of it.
58:25We need to know wilderness exists.
58:28And we need it in our lives.
58:32Because living on an extraordinary wild planet
58:37is part of what makes us truly human.
58:43It's been an honor.
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