Original subtitles

Viewers like you make this program possible.

Support your local PBS station.

The Okavango Delta in Botswana...

We are in a pristine environment right now.

one of Africa's last wildernesses...

The magnitude of life here is unparalleled.

and it's a haven for Africa's big cats--

lion,

cheetah,

and leopard.

Big cat country.

Armed with the latest filming technology,

the "Big Cats 24/7" team is following

individual big cats for 6 months...

This is a unique opportunity to follow

these cats round the clock.

through the day...

I used to think I'd have a fair fight with a lion.

I'm not so sure now. Ha!

and the night...

We've got the most sophisticated

thermal imaging technology.

capturing their behavior 24 hours a day.

I have never seen anything like this.

Epic!

Ooh! They're locking jaws.

She's clawed him in the face!

Oh, the girls are driving Dimo away.

These females might have done it.

She's contact calling.

Conflict looks over for now.

That was insane. That was so insane.

Rea, have you got eyes on these cubs?

Nah, that's a negative.

Lionesses have no idea where the cubs are.

Lion mums Matho...

Tsebe...

and Naledi are searching for their 9 young cubs...

scattered in the chaos of the fight with the Rogue Boys.

I'm just really scared just to see

beyond the long grass and see a dead cub.

Please tell me that's not happened.

It's a cub. It's a cub right here.

Ha ha ha!

Some cubs are over there.

Right. Let's count these cubs.

1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8. Got 8.

We're missing one cub.

This is not cool.

Rea, have you got eyes on this ninth cub?

That is a negative.

Naledi is just nonstop contact calling.

I feel for her.

It's Naledi's smallest cub that's missing.

Please, please, please, please, please, please be OK.

Be OK.

Ah! There's the cub.

Ha!

What a relief.

The cub is trailing pretty far behind.

It's not over for these mums and cubs.

The 3 younger Rogue Boys have circled back.

This cub is alone.

He's literally within 50 meters to these 3 Rogue Boys.

Intruder male lions are responsible

for a quarter of cub deaths.

This is very dangerous.

What?!

One of the mums has come back.

But Naledi is not leaving her cub behind...

and Matho and Tsebe are joining.

It's like a gang war here.

I've never seen anything like this.

They're trying to settle this through growls.

Lions typically will avoid confrontations.

If you have an injury, it could be fatal.

Without their leader Dimo...

The battle's over.

the 3 youngsters are finally backing down.

These Rogue Boys seem to be heading

to the direction they came from.

These are some serious women bosses.

Anna. I can't believe it, eh? Ha!

They have successfully fought off these Rogue Boys.

Yes! Ohh! Great news. I'm so relieved.

Matho, Tsebe, and Naledi

have saved their cubs for now...

Since Big Toe and Madumo have disappeared,

they're leaving their lionesses to just do all the work.

but with the Rogue Boys still in the area,

the mums and their cubs remain vulnerable.

It just feels like this territory is

completely up for grabs.

The Xudum Pride has been apart for weeks,

now scattered across its 250-square kilometer territory

in the Okavango Delta.

There are lots of players who are just moving in.

Who knows who this territory is for now?

It's total chaos.

The abundance of prey brought by the annual flood

is drawing more predators in...

putting all the big cats on edge...

especially these young mothers.

There's so many cubs to protect.

Without Big Toe and Madumo to help them...

Mums working together is essential.

Matho, Naledi, and Tsebe must rejoin

the other mums in the pride for protection...

We just really, really need safety in numbers.

but first, they need to find them.

I think I've just seen a glimpse of a leopard.

Tristen and Brad are on the trail

of leopard mum Lediba.

Mum looks happy.

Cub looks happy.

Look. This little cub is very playful.

I think she spotted an impala.

Yeah.

The little cub's just tried to run an impala.

It scared everything.

Oh, it was too cute!

Any opportunity, these cats are ready to go,

and even from the age of 4 months,

they seem to think that they can take down adult impalas.

That was absolutely adorable.

"Look, Mum! Look what I tried to do.

"Did you see me?

I nearly caught one!"

Heh! Oh, yes. Mummy and cub.

After losing one of her cubs...

Might get a little bit of suckling here.

Lediba is now focusing on keeping this one alive.

I would really like to see her starting

to provide a lot more meat for the cub.

My sense is that she should be getting a lot

more than she is at the moment.

To feed them both, Lediba needs to catch

something every 2 to 3 days.

Lediba's just gone up, so suckling has stopped.

Lediba's on the move.

Which means she must leave her cub unprotected

in its nursery to search for food.

She's covering a lot of ground, pushing hard.

She's just bumped into the baboon troop.

Haven't seen her.

She is sneaking away as quietly as possible.

Baboons will alert any prey to Lediba's presence.

Amazing.

She's virtually going underneath the front of my car.

Trist, she's now heading back through the forest.

Lediba's finally found something to hunt.

Nice, big male reedbuck.

You don't know where the cat is

because she's so well-camouflaged and hidden.

Less than 1 in 5 leopard hunts are successful.

This reedbuck no idea that a leopard's

coming up behind him.

Lediba's best chance is to stalk

within 5 meters of her prey.

Reedbuck's moving.

Oh! Jeez, that was close. Unlucky.

She just--just missed it.

What? What is going on?

You go on her.

I'll go and have a look.

A little bit of a noise and alarm calling

going on here.

There's definitely something else going on.

We've got a male lion underneath a tree.

This is really, really scary.

She's moving straight towards him right now.

She hasn't seen him.

She's gonna pop up right in front of him there.

If the male lion can catch her,

he will kill her.

It's just what predators do to each other.

She doesn't see him, but she's right in front of him.

She's very lucky this guy didn't decide to charge her

because that could have been a horrible, horrible ending.

Oh, she's being brave.

Coming straight down the tree.

Lediba is making a hasty retreat.

That was a bit close for comfort.

This lone male lion is not one of the Rogue Boys

but yet another newcomer to the area.

Right next to the front of the flood.

Greg is with the mums and young cubs moving south.

as one of the biggest, most dominant prides

in the whole Okavango,

we've become quite accustomed to these lions

really ruling the roost here,

and it looks like that's all changing.

I've never seen a pride take cover.

Roger that.

I'm following a couple of nomadic males.

Heading towards the mums...

With the arrival of the flood,

we're seeing concentration of big cats.

Gordon has discovered more intruders...

There's a bit of a melting pot.

taking the total in the area to at least 7.

These lions have probably battled their way

around the Okavango for the last couple of years

with that singular mission of finding somewhere

they can call their own.

Now, what in the hell is happening?

We've got two bigger subadult males chasing

directly after Dimo.

And now just a kilometer away,

Rea has spotted the Rogue Boys' leader Dimo...

What's going on here? I mean, he's all alone.

without backup.

They're coming straight to us!

They're coming straight to us!

He's being pursued

by even more intruding male lions.

I can't even recall how many groups

of males have popped up.

Oh, they've got Dimo, they've got him.

Oh, this is so close! This is directly in front of us!

They're right here!

Look. They're biting him!

I've never seen this before.

This is a battle of intruders versus other intruders.

Dimo came into this territory, and we cast him as a bad guy.

Can't help but feel a little sorry for him now.

Badly injured...

This might be the last time we see Dimo.

Dimo is leaving.

It's really hard to keep track of all these lions

we're seeing.

With no dominant males,

the Xudum Pride territory is now a battleground.

Very worrying for the pride.

Lionesses are having to protect the cubs on their own.

Matho, Naledi, Tsebe, and their cubs

are all in danger.

Banding together is definitely gonna help.

Yeah. We got the lions moving.

They want to move their cubs to safety.

They must find the other mums of the pride

as soon as possible.

Hey, Pobe. How are you doing?

How are your cubs?

Anna is with Pobe the cheetah and her two cubs.

They're just growing day by day.

These two are super lucky because at the moment

their mum is doing all of the hard work.

Oh, there they are.

Kea...

Whee!

and Bo have made it

to 6 months old.

Super cute to see.

The world is just their playground at the moment.

Every single tree is like a jungle gym.

They're now starting to learn the skills

to survive on their own.

These cubs are practicing their tree climbing.

This is essential learning for them

because climbing trees helps them

when they need to get off the ground,

but it gives a really good viewpoint

above all of this long grass.

Cheetahs can see movement

up to two kilometers away

By climbing trees, they can scan for prey,

but they can also scan for predators.

Being able to spot danger

from afar and escape it...

Kea is at the top of a tree.

is crucial with so many lions now in the area.

Hmm. Heh.

She's looking a little bit uncomfortable

up there right now.

Oh, dear. She's got herself into a bit of a situation here.

She's trying to go down backwards.

Ooh!

And she made it down. Looked quite stressful.

Their wonderful springy legs coming into their own.

I do feel like they're slowly growing into their legs.

Every day,

they're getting more used to their bodies,

and you can see that that is really helping them

in their speed and agility, their tree climbing,

all of it.

What looks like play is just

essentially key training for them

because we can't forget that cheetahs are

at the bottom of the pecking order.

They're always looking over their shoulders.

Cheetah cubs leave their mothers at 18 months old.

It's amazing how much they have to develop

in such a short amount of time.

To be ready to go it alone,

Kea and Bo still have a lot to learn.

That is the life of a cheetah.

They have to develop so much faster

than the other cats in the delta.

It's begun.

Lediba is well and truly on her mission tonight.

The cub's den is only a couple hundred meters away.

With her cub hidden nearby,

Lediba is hunting again.

Looks like she's managed to sight out

some impala moving through the floodplain.

This might be her change in luck.

She's certainly very hungry,

and it looks like she's gonna give this

as good of a go as possible.

She's got herself into a pretty amazing position here.

I can hear something barking.

What the hell, man?

She was in the perfect position.

What?

. Lion.

She doesn't want to even try and compete with a lion.

They're just too big.

There's lions literally everywhere.

Lediba's gone into some thicker cover now.

The influx of new lions into the area...

and I'm losing visual of her.

is affecting all of the resident big cats.

She's bolted off into the sage ridge,

and I can't keep up with her through there.

It's now been 3 days since the team

last saw Lediba eat.

Hopefully for Lediba,

she manages to get herself a meal.

It's morning, but Tristen and Rea

are being held in camp by a curious visitor.

Got a little bit of a blockage here

on our way to the vehicles.

Mr. Ellie's enjoying our lawn.

This is supposed to be our badminton field.

There's a lot of elephants around.

I'm just seeing, like, elephants over there.

We probably get elephants walking through camp

4 or 5 times a day.

You can see what the elephant does

when he takes the grass.

He pulls it out with his trunk,

then he shakes it side to side,

removing that sand and the dust off,

not to hurt his teeth, and then he eats it.

Having a elephant right literally in the middle

of a camp is always a reminder just

how wild this place is.

Definitely something special.

When we've got a bit of a speed bump like this on our way out,

best thing to do is appreciate it.

We shouldn't forget at the end of the day

this is their land.

We're just visitors.

Some people drive a car to work,

and you've got to watch out for an accident.

When I get out of my room in the morning,

I've got to make sure I don't bump into him.

Mr. Ellie's gone.

Time to get back to work.

I do feel like today is a major school day.

Bush school for cheetah cubs Kea and Bo

is continuing with mum Pobe.

Pobe looks uninterested in the actual impala.

It kind of feels like it's actually just more

about the lesson.

That felt like she was teaching the cubs

how to run or how to accelerate.

Yeppo. Go, Anna.

Pobe seems to be on a mission to

show them a few little hunting skills.

Roger that.

The cubs are learning another vital lesson.

We've got Pobe's cubs here imitating their mum.

They think they're on a serious hunt.

These are skills which will help them in the long term.

To survive on their own,

Kea and Bo must learn how to run down prey.

Got wildebeest just over in that direction.

And the cubs are over straight ahead of me.

They're moving straight towards them.

Definitely got their ears down.

Oh, running, running, running, running.

It's pretty amazing to see the difference

from just a month ago when they were shy

and never take the initiative.

Fully grown wildebeest are 10 times heavier

than Kea and Bo.

Bet the wildebeest are thinking, "What is going on?

Why is this tiny cheetah trying to run at us?"

They are staring at the zebra.

They've got missile locks on their eyes.

But Kea is not giving up.

What? She's so fast.

At this age, cheetah cubs can run

nearly 80 kilometers per hour.

Ooh! That is nuts.

Heh heh. No. OK.

Every failed attempt is a lesson.

It'll be another year before they can hit top speed.

Getting that little practice

how to approach prey gives them a good sense

of from what distance will prey see you.

They definitely haven't quite learned

the element of surprise yet.

Oh!

There's a hyena over here that has picked up

the scent of something.

This has got the potential to go really, really wrong.

I don't know how the cubs are gonna respond to this.

A single spotted hyena is a challenge.

What on earth is Kea doing?

She's going straight towards the hyena.

Kea is standing her ground.

Super brave.

Take that, hyena!

What the hell?

There are 3 hyenas.

3 is a scary number for them.

But 3 hyenas together...

It's going in, it's going in, it's going in!

could be deadly for the cubs.

They were running from the hyenas.

Kea's running.

Both the cubs and Pobe have been chased away.

This is not great news because the cubs

have been separated.

One cub has found Pobe.

The other one has taken refuge up a tree,

so their tree climbing skills, they are coming in

more useful than, I think, they probably thought.

Thank God for that. Yay!

Kea and Bo are unscathed.

These cubs are having a lesson after lesson,

and I think they've just learned a very important one,

which is don't mess with hyenas.

We've got Matho, Naledi, and Tsebe here with their cubs.

It's gonna get thick up ahead.

Sets and Gordon are on the night shift.

They've wandered so far tonight.

Matho, Tsebe, and Naledi are still searching

for the other pride mums.

This is miles away.

This is right down as far south as I've ever been.

Naledi and Matho have gone up a tree.

Very quiet. They can hear a lot better

if they're off the ground.

Lions use sound to find each other

from up to 8 kilometers away.

I think they've heard something.

They've locked on to something behind me.

But it's not the other pride mums.

Those zebra 100%.

Yeah. They're interested.

This is a chance to feed their cubs.

OK. It's gonna to be tricky,

but they've started to spread out.

Matho is going straight towards them.

Tsebe has gone wide to the left.

Naledi has disappeared off to the right.

OK. The hunt is on.

I lost her.

They got something.

Oh, they're taking a zebra down.

That is a big cat bundle.

Oh! It's down. They've taken it down.

The cubs are digging in.

Quite some prize.

After days on the move...

Just gonna pop the drone up.

this is a welcome meal.

They need to keep quiet, keep this a secret

and will not alert other cats in the area.

Hey, Gordon.

Did you copy that?

Yeah, I did.

It's kind of over my right-hand shoulder.

You know, the scent of this carcass is wafting

straight towards me, so it's probably

carrying far and wide.

Yeah, we might be in for a surprise.

Lions have to eat fast because you never know

who wants to come along and pinch that meal from you.

I can hear them.

I saw something moving behind them

in the tree line.

Oh, yeah.

So it's a female.

I can't tell who that is.

Matho is up.

She's being extra cautious.

Oh.

They're chasing.

It's clearly not one

of the other Xudum Pride Lionesses.

Whoever they are, they're not welcome.

Heading back.

They're just passing behind the car.

Oh, no.

What's going on?

More lions coming in.

Oh, that is such a menacing sound.

All of these lions

just trying to intimidate

and push the girls off the kill.

The mums have traveled so far

from their own territory...

Oh.

they've run into another pride.

There are 5 in total. They are calling.

They are the ones calling.

These newcomers aren't after the cubs.

Oh. There's more.

They want a free meal.

There's a big fight erupting.

It is massive.

Their numbers are not working in their favor.

They're now being chased off.

The kill is not worth it.

The zebra carcass has been abandoned.

It's just not worth defending.

They've taken the cubs, and they're off.

That was enough for them to pull out of here.

The mums and cubs have lost their meal...

It is quite thick here.

Just lost visual of the lions

and disappeared into the scrub.

Next morning...

Aha! Here they are.

We've got a whole pile of lions.

Greg has found Matho, Tsebe, and Naledi

on the edge of pride territory.

A couple of the lionesses are getting up.

Ooh! I can see some blood.

Some of them look like they really did take a beating, eh?

Naledi looks like she got seriously hurt last night.

She's got a lot-- of lot of open wounds.

Cuts under her leg. Cuts on her face.

Poor thing.

Matho has just gotten up, and she's walking across.

Ooh! She's got some serious blood

underneath her front leg.

Oh. She's been hurt.

Very uncommon for us to see Matho turned

turned in a confrontation.

It looks like last night these lionesses

met their match.

Her and Naledi both have wounds on the back of their rump,

which means that they were bitten from behind.

Pbbb. One hell of a scrap.

I mean, not one of them is unscathed.

From what I can tell, all of the cubs are OK,

so the mums must have put up one hell of a fight,

but we've got a lot of cubs that haven't eaten.

It's not a good place to be.

Matho, Tsebe, and Naledi

cannot afford another attack from intruders.

It's a pivotal point for the leading lionesses

to make a decision on what to do here.

Safety with the other mums of the pride

has never been more urgent.

They've got intruders all over their territory,

Big Toe, Madumo nowhere to be found,

so they've been squeezed.

It's gonna be very interesting to see

how they navigate their way out of it.

Ah.

Brad has found Lediba.

Cats have unbelievable expressions.

but she's not alone.

Looking at this lion with utter disgust.

The lone intruder male has interrupted Lediba's

plans to eat again.

It's just sad that she's gone

through all this effort to make a kill,

and it gets stolen by a lion.

She really needed a meal.

It must be torturous for her to just sit there

and watch a male lion eat her carcass

and not be able to do anything about it.

I think he's done eating for now.

He's burying the entrails, trying to conceal the scent.

He's moving...

and he's done.

Lediba's started to move around a little bit.

She's watching that carcass.

I think she's thinking about taking

a piece back here.

I think there's a cub there.

Yeah. Her cub's at the base of the tree.

It looks like Lediba brought

her hungry cub to eat...

This is crazy.

before the lion pushed them off.

This is a particularly dangerous situation.

That cub just has to stay concealed.

In his resting,

Lediba has spotted an opportunity.

She's being very careful.

OK. She's on the ground.

I admire her determination to try and get

some of this back.

I think she's getting desperate, too.

This is a valuable meal.

I think she's gonna risk it all.

Greg is joining Brad on the night shift.

She's been here 8, 9 hours, very patiently

waiting to steal something back.

The cub is desperate.

At this age, the cub should be eating

almost 3 pounds of meat every day

on top of her mum's milk.

It's quite easy to notice with the thermal imaging

just how skinny Lediba and her cub are,

so it makes sense that her and the cub waited.

But hunger is putting them both at risk.

Oh!

Big boy is moving.

He has moved off the kill.

Lediba's sneaking in.

She's got it.

Brad, I think he's coming back, eh?

Oh. She's seen it. Cub's on the move.

Ooh!

That is just remarkable.

The cub is heading into the trees for safety...

It's a hell of a climb for a cub.

She's seen him.

but Lediba is determined

to get something to eat.

Go, go! Come on.

Well done, Lediba.

Managed to sneak a little bit of food there.

Lediba's nice and high up.

She'll get some decent value out of what she managed to scavenge.

She needs it.

Lediba's persistence has paid off.

She can now feed herself and her cub.

Never a moment's rest for a mother leopard.

Pobe is in hunt mode.

She's definitely walking about with purpose.

After the cheetahs' hunt training was

interrupted by hyenas...

It's so cool.

Her body language just completely changes.

Ears have gone back.

lessons are back on.

Oh, I think she's gonna go.

There's a kudu calf. There's a kudu calf.

Oh!

She's got it.

Oh! Kea's in already.

She is first on the scene.

That came completely out of nowhere.

She's a machine.

As soon as she gets up into hunt mode,

you're like, "Well, she's about to kill something."

You just know it.

Kea's watching Pobe...

and Pobe is clamping her jaws around this kudu's neck,

and this is a perfect moment for Kea to learn

just what it takes to suffocate her prey.

Because that's what cheetahs do.

They just clamp down on the windpipe of their prey.

By bringing in prey that is alive and then showing

them how it's done, this is the next stage

in their hunting practice.

Whoa, whoa. Look at this.

Kea's having a go.

She's copying Pobe.

You can really see that Pobe is trying to

teach her a lesson here.

She keeps, like, clamping, and then she lets it go,

and then Kea has a go.

Your parents always tell you don't play with your food,

but that's exactly what you should do

if you're a cheetah cub.

Kea is learning fast...

Where is Bo?

but her brother is skipping class.

Oh, wow. Kea is calling Bo.

That is such a sweet sound.

Oh, Pobe is also calling.

They can make these incredible chirping sounds.

He's coming.

I feel for him because he just seems like he's

always a little bit slower off the mark than Kea.

Kea runs into every situation head-first,

whereas Bo's a little bit more shy

and anxious of everything.

Pobe is succeeding as a cheetah mum.

All of this teaching will be completely worth it

when these cubs reach about a year old

because at that point they can start participating in the hunt.

Every day, her cubs move another step closer

to looking after themselves.

Pobe is gonna start handing the ropes over

to them and saying, you know, "You go ahead."

Amazing.

Every single day, these cubs are learning more and more.

Eventually, they're gonna be absolutely unstoppable.

This is uncharted territory for me.

Gordon and Greg are searching for lion mums

Matho, Naledi, Tsebe, and their cubs...

but they've become increasingly hard to find.

We have crossed to the west,

a place where we've never found them before.

Bingo! Look!

Gee, girls. What the heck are you doing down here?

Hallelujah! That is great.

Hey. Hey, fam. Been missing you guys.

Last time we saw them, they'd just come out

of a big boxing match, but thankfully,

looks like everybody's doing OK.

Where have you been?

You can see in many of our lions

the healing ability is amazing.

Their lives are often shown so vividly on their faces.

These lions are incredibly resilient.

They're just super tough.

Sets Hey, Gordon. I just found some lionesses.

Heh heh heh.

I can't believe this.

I have Mmakgosi, Nosi, and Magogo.

Ooh. That is good news.

What? We've been looking for so long.

I can't begin to tell you how I'm feeling.

Sets has finally located

the other mums of the pride.

Moving in search of safety from intruders...

They're contact calling.

both groups of lionesses

are now within earshot.

Can you hear that?

Oh, my word.

The girls are up.

The 3 of them--

Naledi, Tsebe, and Matho--

they've all got up, started to move.

Could get very exciting.

Oh, wow.

This is quite incredible to see.

They are running.

They're running across the water.

After two weeks apart...

Oh! Happy days.

Matho, Naledi, Tsebe, and their cubs are reuniting

with the other pride mums.

Tell me that there's a better sighting

in life than this.

I don't think I've ever seen them

in such a huge number.

The bonds are clearly very strong.

It's as if they haven't seen each other in a lifetime.

Seeing so many lions moving together,

you can't help but just feel a sense of strength.

Oh!

I'm feeling it right now.

This is the security and safety in numbers

that this pride needs.

I think we could all breathe a sigh of relief.

They've survived against the odds.

If I was an intruder lion,

this is one group I don't want to mess with.