Original subtitles

CHIRPING

For five years...

THUNDERCLAP

..we have followed the stories of four families of animals.

Now it's time to meet the people behind these dramas.

The scientists and conservationists...

Be careful!

..who helped us understand the animals.

And the anti-poaching squads...

..who risk their lives to protect them.

We will also meet the film-makers

who recorded those dramas...

Come, come! Fast, quick.

..of life in the kingdom.

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

Our four animal families live in Nsefu...

..a corner of South Luangwa National Park in Zambia.

It's an important sanctuary for wildlife.

SNORTING

And a temporary home for our film crews.

There are elephants coming.

A remote base camp enables them to live alongside animals, day...

..and night.

HIPPO SNORTS

ELEPHANT RUMBLES

They have the latest technology...

..and are able to film in all conditions.

How's it going, Nathan? I'm loving it!

Making the series would have been impossible

without the team of conservationists

from an organisation called the Zambian Carnivore Programme.

They have studied and safeguarded the wildlife here for decades...

..tracking the movement of hundreds of animals,

following their every step...

..both from the air...

..and on the ground.

Frank, can you please send me the coordinates for the lions

10km south of here?

It's a remarkable undertaking,

covering thousands of square miles.

Our film crews rely on them to keep in touch

with all our animal characters.

Fraser, do we have the signal?

Yeah.

Animals that move huge distances.

The technology that makes this possible...

..GPS and radio-tracking collars.

The conservation teams fix a collar on a member of each family.

In a pride, they put it on a lioness.

And for wild dogs,

they usually select a male and a female.

That allows them to locate and follow the entire family

throughout their lives.

These collars have to be replaced every two years,

and today, it's the turn of one of the lionesses.

Henry Mwape is the leader of the collaring programme.

First, Dr Sichande sedates the lioness using a dart gun.

Right now, we're removing this old collar,

so that I...

I put the new one on.

While the lioness is still unconscious,

Henry makes a general health check.

OK.

I think some people think it's not safe

to work with lions.

Of course, the lion is immobilised.

So, if it was fully awake,

I can't get close like this.

The conservationists are keeping track

of over 40 animal families.

My best moment of collaring is when I see the animal up.

I'm like, "Wow, we've done it."

Without collars, I can't imagine how we would be doing

what we're doing.

The collars produce an enormous amount of information,

which helps the conservationists

to build a picture of the lives of all the animals.

Where they're hunting...

BRAYING

..what they're eating...

CHOMPING

YOWLING

..how their behaviour affects each other...

..and even where they choose to make their dens.

Information that is essential for conservation,

but also critical for the camera crews.

Finding the place where a lioness is hiding

her newborn cubs is proving particularly difficult.

The crew have searched everywhere.

It's been about seven days,

just driving around in the bushes.

And then, at last,

they pick up the radio signal

coming from the lioness's collar.

I'm very excited to have a signal.

But Mark knows it could be coming from any one of these bushes.

Every single bush is a potential den.

I mean, she's been missing for five, six days

and we've been combing this whole area.

But we've found her cubs.

It's four really beautiful cubs,

and we think the cubs are about four days, five days,

because their eyes are just starting opening at the moment.

We've managed to get shots of them,

so it's a really big moment, actually.

Our powerful lenses produce images that enable the conservationists

to see the animals they study in intimate detail.

This unique collaboration brought many surprises.

One of the biggest surprises -

finding that one wild dog had only three legs.

Go, go.

He really needs urgent expert assessment.

We are leaving camp now.

Thandiwe Mweetwa and Henry are on their way.

They recognise that this injury

must have been inflicted by a wire snare.

A wire snare is formed in the shape of a noose.

It's basically a trap for catching wild antelope,

but any animal can get trapped.

And then, as it struggles, this wire starts

to cut through whatever body part has been caught.

Despite his snare injury,

this wild dog, which the team have named Flint,

seems to be coping well on three legs.

Yep. Centre, yep.

Flint is still an important member of the wild dog family

that we followed throughout the series.

His story illustrates the way wild dogs look after each other.

The pack makes sure he can keep up...

..and that he doesn't go hungry.

But then...disaster.

WHINING

Just watching the crocodile attack was incredibly tough.

We're only 20 feet away

and see others trying to save him.

And I found it probably one of the worst things

I've had to film in 20 years.

In the end, Flint's snare injury proves to be too much.

Oh, my God.

Wow. That was good teamwork.

Missing a leg meant that he wasn't as fast when escaping danger.

So sad.

The use of snares is widespread,

and is one of the biggest threats here

to both lions and wild dogs.

So, when news comes in about a lion caught in a trap,

they know that they must get the snare off

as quickly as possible,

especially so because that individual is a dominant male.

If the snare's not removed very soon,

it can keep tightening and it can suffocate the lion.

It will take about ten minutes for the lion to go to sleep.

GUN POPS

This male is protecting 12 cubs.

Losing just one individual can be catastrophic for any dependent cubs.

If he dies from this injury,

rival males could take over the pride and then kill his cubs.

We can approach and see.

ENGINE IGNITES

You want that snare off as soon as possible,

you know, just in case the lion wakes up halfway through.

Wounds from snares can often cause infection,

so it's important to clean it thoroughly.

So... OK.

By saving this one male lion,

the team has also helped to protect his cubs.

Those cubs will end up having more babies.

So, it's going to be a lot of other animals

just from the result of one de-snaring.

Bye.

There have been 400 cubs born to the lions

saved by the teams working here.

Is it worth it, saving just one life?

The answer is a resounding yes.

Even though this area is a sanctuary,

thousands of snares are set here each year.

One day it could be a lion, the next, a giraffe,

and that can be particularly tricky.

It takes a big team, and it's dangerous.

A single kick could certainly kill someone.

SHOUTING

Giraffes are so sensitive to the sedative

that the team have less than ten minutes

from the dart going in to getting the snare off.

SHOUTING Hold, hold, hold, hold!

Their methods may seem extreme,

but it's the only way to save its life.

MUFFLED SHOUTS

The clock is ticking.

URGENT SHOUTING

Extra hand! Careful!

The snare's off? Snare's off.

GIRAFFE SNORTS

It's a win for the team...

..and the giraffe.

But it takes all sorts of approaches

to keep these animals safe.

Godfrey Mwanza leads the unit working to stop poachers

killing wildlife in this area.

He sees snares all the time.

Snares are cheap, silent and deadly.

Each can kill dozens of animals,

and does so indiscriminately.

It's not just snares.

Poachers here use guns, too.

In the fight against poachers of every kind...

..Godfrey has a secret weapon.

BARKING Detection dogs.

They're so crucial to his work

that the dogs are protected by their handlers around the clock.

Tonight, the team is responding to a tip-off that poachers

are operating close to the national park.

ENGINE IGNITES

By operating at night,

it's more likely the poachers will be off their guard,

reducing the chance of them opening fire on the officers.

Using the dog is very, very important...

Good boy.

..because the dog will pick up the scent.

Good checking.

Good boy.

The dog's picked up the scent

of the animals previously caught in this trap.

HE TAPS

But the snare is proof that poachers are operating here.

And that is a big worry for the film crew.

Lianne and Will have been filming Mutima

since she was a tiny cub.

Mutima was a very small cub,

and she was very shy.

Now she's beautiful and elegant,

but you only see them when they want to be seen.

Despite this, Lianne managed to film

a pivotal moment for the family,

when Mutima's mother made it clear it was time

for the young cat to find a territory of her own.

SNARLING, YOWLING

Mutima travelled over 100 miles in search of a new home.

She actually wandered way further

than we could have ever imagined.

We heard from a guide from far south,

"Oh, yeah, that leopard, we've seen her here."

Because of her birthmark in a shape of a heart,

people would recognise her.

She left the national park

and was forced into an unfamiliar world.

Beyond the park's boundary, there are hundreds of villages,

home to thousands of people.

VEHICLE PASSING

Travelling outside a national park can be dangerous...

..for any leopard.

Godfrey's K9 team is the first of its kind in Zambia.

As well as finding snares,

guns and ammunition...

..his dogs are also trained to detect animal skins and ivory.

BARKING

Tonight, his team has gathered new intelligence

and are heading to a different village

to look for a cache of guns.

This time round, they've been informed

that the guns have been hidden inside the house.

CAR DOOR SHUTS

Checking.

Good checking.

OK, OK, let's go.

The team have searched everywhere,

but there's still no sign of the guns.

This is where the dogs really come into their own.

At last, the dog sits down.

It's a sign he has detected something.

So far this year,

Godfrey and the team have seized over 80 illegal guns,

many of them handmade,

but they are still able to kill a leopard.

Thankfully, Mutima eventually made it back

to the sanctuary of the national park.

She was pretty adamant to come back

and she is still here,

and I think she's waiting for her mum's territory.

Despite Godfrey's team's success...

..they're facing a setback.

Rudi has been one of the best dogs.

But he is old, and he has a condition on the legs.

It's time for Rudi to retire.

I'm proud of Rudi.

I'm going to miss him.

He was like a family member.

Godfrey has only four dogs

to patrol tens of thousands of square miles.

He needs more canine recruits.

This is Ody, the latest trainee.

Down.

It's essential that his new handlers build a relationship

from the first moment they meet...

..and start to build a bond.

You are a nice dog.

ODY PANTS Good boy.

Looking good and healthy.

To catch poachers,

the pair will both need to be at the top of their game.

Not only for their success, but for their safety.

First...

..obedience training.

Swim!

He still has to learn some things because he is young.

All right, come.

Like this morning, though I was asking him,

he didn't want to come.

Come on, come.

He could hear me,

he was just pretending.

Ody, come.

Come!

That's why we are doing the obedience training,

so that when we go in the field...

Good boy, man.

..he will listen to me as a handler.

Ody, come.

Sit. Wait.

There's a lot riding on this young recruit.

Will he be able to make the grade before Rudi retires?

For one of our camera team,

South Luangwa is more than his workplace.

It's his home.

If you come from South Luangwa, wildlife is a part of you.

When you see the elephants in the park, filming them...

..you can easily tell they are, you know, like, relaxed.

They're just minding their own business.

But that's not always the case.

There is another side to elephants.

As we saw in earlier programmes,

they can be aggressive.

ELEPHANT RUMBLES

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS CUB YAPS

ELEPHANT BELLOWS

ELEPHANT SHRIEKS

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

Growing up in a village beside the national park,

Samson Moyo has experienced two sides of the wildlife.

These villages are mostly farming communities

and the entire park is unfenced...

..which means wildlife is free to move in and out at will.

Elephants are huge, and when they come

to your village, it's scary.

I've heard a sound and peered out of the window

to see an elephant eating our crops.

I know how terrible it is.

But people fear hunger more than elephants.

So, people risk their lives

in trying to protect their food.

As dusk falls,

it's approaching the time when elephants come

to villages like Samson's.

It's hard to imagine.

But Samson has a chance to use the Kingdom filming tech

to show what it's really like

to have hungry elephants on your doorstep.

This is the first time I've had access

to night-vision technology.

We just sit,

wait for the elephants to come.

RUSTLING

LOUD RUSTLING

ELEPHANT SNORTS

RUSTLING, SNORTING

ELEPHANT RUMBLES

SHOUTING

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS LOUDLY

SHOUTING

ELEPHANTS TRUMPET, RUMBLE

Mangoes are very valuable to the villagers.

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

THUDDING

SHOUTING

HORN BLASTS

TRUMPETING DOG BARKS

SHOUTING

HORN BLASTS

COMMOTION CONTINUES

SHOUTING

HORN BLASTS

ELEPHANT GROWLS

HORN BLASTS

SHOUTING ELEPHANTS BELLOW

This can last for hours,

until the crop fields are empty and the mango trees bare.

But there is a potential solution.

There's a new team in town.

The Rapid Response Unit.

The only one in Zambia.

Tonight, Samson is joining them.

They know that this is not their area.

They just come here to steal food from the community.

The Rapid Response Unit has developed the imaginative technique

of using guns that fire chilli oil.

So, the bullet carries chilli liquid.

Once you fire, if you hit the elephant,

that scent of chilli will stick to the animal.

They don't want to smell chilli and they all run.

The unit is responding to a call from a farmer

who has elephants in his field.

FAINT CLATTERING

MUFFLED CONVERSATION

Where are you? There. Elephants.

Let's go, let's go, let's go.

Stop.

There, there. OK.

He's... He's firing now.

Eh, fire. GUNSHOT

Reload, reload.

Go ahead, fire. GUNSHOT

PANICKED TRUMPETING

Stay away!

TRUMPETING

The Rapid Response Unit are doing such an amazing job,

but a lot of people need their help,

and they can't be everywhere.

THUNDER RUMBLES

In South Luangwa National Park,

animals move freely.

They are truly wild.

WHINING

And throughout filming, the dog pack moved

into and out of the kingdom.

At the end of the series,

they were last seen heading over the border

and out of the national park.

But thanks to the signal from the alpha male's collar,

Henry can still keep tabs on the family from afar.

We know now the wild dog pack

is looking for a new home outside the park.

GPS data shows wild dogs travel huge distances.

Some even cross international borders.

Conservationists can use this data to help protect wildlife.

It can be used to identify safe corridors,

both within Zambia and between neighbouring countries.

It can even identify likely hot spots

where poaching and conflict might take place.

PHONE RINGS

Today, Godfrey's team is targeting one such hot spot,

setting up a wildlife checkpoint.

You conduct a search in every vehicle

which passes your roadblock.

Godfrey and Ody have been training hard,

and now Ody is ready to be tested.

ODY GRUMBLES

He's certainly enthusiastic...

..but will he pass the test?

The team has hidden ivory

in one of their own patrol vehicles

to see if Ody can find it.

If Ody sniffs it out, he should sit down,

to signal that he's found something.

ODY SNIFFS RAPIDLY

Oh, wow, Ody! Oh, yes!

Ody has graduated.

Good boy!

Good boy! Good dog!

To me, he did well

because this is a new environment for him.

And just in time,

because a new challenge is approaching.

THUNDER CRASHES

As the season moves on,

South Luangwa transforms.

THUNDER RUMBLES

At the end of the year comes an intense rainy season.

And even the first rain showers

make it difficult for teams to get around.

We've been trying to get to some of the lions we've been filming.

Most of the roads are very bad.

Getting stuck out here is not ideal.

There could easily be lions hiding in any one of these bushes.

CHEERING, SINGING

In a matter of weeks, roads will become rivers.

Not only will filming become unfeasible...

FLIES BUZZ

..but more importantly,

tracking poachers by vehicle

will be almost impossible.

The race is on for a solution.

This afternoon, we'll be doing helicopter training with Ody.

Using the helicopter,

the team will be able to reach all areas of the park - and fast.

But none of the older dogs will go in the helicopter.

They're scared of the sound of the rotors.

They don't like the helicopter because of the sound.

They did not receive the helicopter training

when they were young.

So now, hope is pinned on their newest recruit.

All right.

Will he even get on board?

It's a very big success if Ody goes into the helicopter.

Up.

Ody jumps straight in...

..but he does look a little nervous.

How will he respond to the sound of the rotors?

Good boy. Good boy.

Turns out, Ody's a natural flyer.

This is game-changing for Godfrey.

Now nowhere is out of reach.

Using a combination of the helicopter

and the dog team is a big deterrent against poaching.

Ody, I may say, is our hope for the future.

The tactics used on helicopter missions

in the national park are top secret...

..but across their operations this year,

they have arrested 76 suspected poachers.

It's part of my job to arrest people.

I'm also a human being...

..where I feel guilty arresting people,

taking people to jail.

Cos maybe he's doing this to put food on the table.

But that's what I was employed for -

to stop poaching.

And by stopping poaching,

Godfrey is helping to protect both the old...

..and new generations in South Luangwa National Park.

LION ROARS

CUB YELPS

A symbol of what is possible

when the people who know this place work hand in hand.

I am hopeful that as long as we continue doing what we are doing,

we have a bright future. BEEPING

A future where the animals can live out their natural wild lives.

My hope for South Luangwa is that

people and wildlife just continue to thrive.

I just hope that 20, 30 years down the line,

this place will still be as amazing as it is today.

Or maybe even more amazing.

South Luangwa's wildlife

is protected by an army of local people,

working tirelessly to address the challenges

of our modern world.

People who have known this place all their lives.

Perhaps this is the secret to conservation success.