All language subtitles for desert_lions

The Namib, the world's oldest desert.

Relentless and unforgiving, no one
enters this world lightly.

The treacherous seas of the Skeleton
Coast barricade the entire length of the

desert.

It's no wonder the Narmid guards its
secrets well.

Lions once lived here, but they were
like phantoms, hardly ever seen, let

understood.

Then, more than twenty years ago, they
were wiped out.

Today, one man is pitting himself
against the desert, driven by the belief

these most extraordinary lions have
started coming back.

The Namib Desert is a million square
miles of wilderness.

Diamonds and garnets are here in
abundance.

Much harder to find is a blade of grass.

A few scattered animals do live here,
but nothing like the great herds that

normally support lions.

However, ten years ago, rumours surfaced
that lions might have returned to the

Namib.

Such a tantalising mystery attracted a
scientist with a rare combination of

skills.

Dr Flipstander's great passion is lions.

He studies them, tracks them, and even
thinks like them.

That was a print.

That was a print.

They definitely crouch down and you can
see the feet placement are very careful.

You can almost see the toes are sort of
pressed in, it's like they're

stretching. And at this point, just
after they get into the opening, they

up.

For months, Flip found nothing but
tracks.

This was a frustrating campaign in a
place where the heat is intense enough

crack rock.

Even oryx, the hardy desert specialists,
and a handful of giraffe that live here

have a tough time.

It was to take months of patient
tracking before the elusive desert

finally took shape.

He was able to put a radio collar on one
lioness, then two, but just following

them seemed impossible.

The animals were shy and the boulder
fields impossible, a far cry from the

Serengeti, where lions can be followed
easily day and night.

Flip's best hope was to take to the air.

Even this was fraught in a landscape
that dwarfs everything.

Eventually, the first two lions led to
more.

Flip had made a momentous discovery.

There was a surviving pride of desert
lions, and it had found refuge in a

canyon.

This was the first time that anyone had
been able to get a really good look at

the world's most unusual lions.

It was clear from the start that their
behaviour was out of the ordinary.

In the first three or four years, I
documented the most outrageous growth

It was in excess of 30 % per annum and
all really driven by four adult

lionesses.

The only word to describe them would be
like breeding machines because that's

just what they were.

Not only this, more cubs were surviving
to adulthood than elsewhere in Africa.

This once beleaguered group of lions was
staging an extraordinary comeback.

and it allowed them to fan out into
areas they hadn't been seen in for over

years.

In the last year, Flip has followed some
of them to the driest, most northerly

part of the Namib, where he's had his
biggest breakthrough.

Two very relaxed young lionesses that
don't run away when he gets close.

Now, at last, he has an opportunity to
really get to know some lions and find

out how they cope with desert life.

Their lives couldn't be more different
from young lions in the Serengeti.

They're just 18 months old, an age when
most lion cubs rely on a pride to get

them food.

Yet these youngsters are all alone.

They're heading for the spectacular
Warasep Valley.

one of the dry rivers that cut across
the Namib Desert from the mountains in

east to the skeleton coast in the west.

The Warateb acts as a highway for
animals through hostile land.

It offers respite too. The valley
benefits from rainfall hundreds of miles

Fresh floods race through and then
slowly evaporate, leaving drinking water

and there.

There's enough damp ground for grass,
even in the dry season, which draws

grazers like these oryx from all over
the desert.

And that's why the young lions have been
drawn to this valley.

It's the very best place to hunt.

However, oryx are large with lethal
horns.

But they aren't the only potential prey
taking advantage of the Waraseb's

watering hole.

Donkeys are much easier to catch, but
killing one could spell disaster for the

cubs.

The donkeys belong to the Himba and
Herero people, whose village, Puros,

few miles upriver.

They are worried by the lion's return.

No one wants a large predator on their
doorstep.

I had two donkeys, two pregnant donkeys.
Then a lion killed both of them.

Without my donkeys, I can't go and visit
my daughter or my grandchildren

anymore.

Raising livestock on such marginal land
is tough.

The loss of cattle, their only cash in
the bank, could cause financial ruin.

In the severe droughts of the 1980s,
desert lions killed hundreds of cows, so

the people shot every lion they could.

This is how desert lions were thought to
have been wiped out first time around.

Can the people of Puros afford to be
tolerant towards this new generation?

The cubs.

will be much safer if they learn to
catch wild animals like oryx.

In the Serengeti, youngsters spend years
watching how older lionesses tackle

large prey.

However, it looks as though these cubs
will have to teach themselves through

trial and error.

They begin the stalk like seasoned
hunters, using the scant cover to

themselves.

And they have to be incredibly quiet.

Oryx are spooked by the slightest sound.

One of the youngsters looks as though
it's made a mistake.

It's broken cover.

Actually, very cleverly, it's pushing
the oryx towards the other lion.

An oryx is quite capable of seeing off a
lion as long as the antelope stands its

ground and doesn't run.

But will the oryx keep its nerve?

Finally the youngsters lose heart.

Flip suspects that desert lions hunt in
a completely different way from lions on

the savannah.

Without the backup of a large pride
these youngsters have to learn to stalk

skillfully and cooperate more
effectively They certainly can't rely on

mother for support because right now
she's a hundred miles away

Flip

is really struggling to follow her

She travels vast distances in a home
range that's 100 times bigger than those

the Serengeti.

She arrived here from the canyon refuge
10 years ago as one of the first

pioneers.

She's produced two litters of cubs and
is currently travelling with her eldest

daughter.

Flip has a soft spot for this lioness,
but she didn't endear herself to the

people of Porus.

As a youngster, she killed several cows,
and the villagers demanded Flip

relocate her.

Most had never even seen a lion, so he
decided to take her to the village where

there was uproar.

They have this lion now in front of
them.

These lions are causing them lots of
trouble.

They must kill it.

And I looked at the situation and I just
gambled, took a huge risk.

And I stood back and I said, go, kill
it.

Because I thought if I interfere now and
really sort of try and dominate the

situation, it's going to count against
me and the lions in the long run.

And he pulled out his knife and I stood
back and I... And I just

knew, I went cold. I didn't know what
was going to happen, but I said, if you

want to kill it, you're lying, kill it.

Some were fascinated by her and didn't
agree.

After a fierce argument, the villagers
said she could live on one condition.

As long as I monitor it and give them
the information, then they're happy with

it.

So a huge sigh of relief.

I got in the car and I motored out of
there.

Flip's gamble paid off, but the lioness
is hard to keep tabs on.

This year he's got the chance to put a
better tracking device on her.

The darting anaesthetic fails to work
properly and Flip has to go out on a

to give her a booster.

Unlike a simple radio device, this GPS
collar will record and store her

every two hours for the next nine
months.

It will reveal what she gets up to
during her long absences when she

into the desert.

It's turning out to be an exceptional
year in more ways than one.

It's the wettest in the Navi for 30
years.

Razors and lions are doing well.

Flip reckons there are 80 to 100 lions
scattered through the desert, where only

a handful was left just a decade ago.

There's a more relaxed atmosphere than
the drought -ridden 1980s. The trouble

that it's unlikely to last.

The desert constantly swings between
extremes.

Lions that grow up in boom time will
find it much harder to survive the next

drought.

If extreme drought were to return to the
Waraseb Valley, the pied crows would be

the least of the youngsters' concerns.

The harder it is to find food, the more
tempted they might be to kill livestock,

and that could lead to their deaths.

Flip believes there is an alternative
source of food in the drought.

It's fixed and predictable, if they can
find it.

To do that... the youngsters would have
to cross miles of scorching, wind

-blasted sands to the coast.

However, lions have made this journey
before, and this was their reward.

The seal colony at Cape Freer.

Extraordinarily, in 1976,

A pride of 14 desert lions was observed
here feeding on a seal carcass. And it

was this predation on seals that was a
turning point in Flip's life.

My first experience with the desert
lions was on the beach, seeing a lion

feeding on a seal carcass. And the
impression that that left with me was

incredible. I mean, and that's lasted
for 25 years.

When the lions were wiped out in the
1980s, the knowledge of this food source

was lost.

Today, Flip's special female and her
youngsters are the nearest lions to Cape

Freer. He hopes they'll rediscover it
soon.

This is what I'm picturing. I'm
picturing that little group arriving on

beach in the middle of the night,
hunting.

And they take one look at this and they
say...

We've got this sorted.

The sea is rich in fish, so the seals
will be here year in, year out.

The colony could cushion the lion family
from the boom -buff nature of desert

life. It could be their salvation.

For now, the cubs are too timid to
venture very far, and the Waraseb Valley

provides everything they need.

Flip has been following them for three
months, but only rarely does he have the

chance to witness a hunt.

They've used the cover of night to
outwit an oryx.

For the two youngsters, this is no mean
achievement.

For Flip, it's a chance to learn how
their hunting skills are developing.

But first, he has to wait until the cubs
have had their fill.

With a meal like this, they should be
able to take life easy.

But one of the lions can't stop those
crows from getting under her skin.

Two days later, Flip can get to work. He
wants to test his theory that desert

lions have to be more cunning and
patient than savannah lions.

This must have been an incredibly slow
period of the stock because this

substrate, it's all, it's really
crackly. And so...

For her to have been stalking here, she
would have had to be really careful.

Because that weight she would have had
would have cracked.

She probably takes like five minutes to
put that foot down. Just slowly, more

pressure, more pressure. Or balancing on
the others and then eventually go.

This stretch of about 15 meters probably
could have taken an hour.

Easily. She clearly didn't have a good
hold on this, on the RX. Because her

angle wasn't all that good.

But the second line is...

had now charged from her position.

And she came bounding up this embankment
and basically hit the Gemsbok with such

force. The struggle was enormous because
even with the two lionesses on, the

Gemsbok was still, it didn't go down.

You can see where these bite marks, and
they grabbed it under the throat.

If it were the adult lionesses, there
wouldn't have been such an enormous

struggle because they would pull it down
much quicker.

So they had a struggle on there and the
evidence is there.

The way in which they work together is
impressive.

These youngsters are becoming an
efficient team.

A month later, and the cubs are still
living on their own.

In the desert, this seems to be normal.

Many of the lions seem to live in ones
or twos, but this doesn't mean they're

not part of a pride.

Family ties may be as strong here.

The relationships...

are just long -distance ones.

This is borne out when one day after a
six -month absence mum and older sister

show up.

The affectionate exchange of greetings
is proof that these four lionesses are a

functioning pride.

one that's more fluid and open than the
tightly -knit family groups of the

Serengeti.

It's a touching reunion, but it creates
tension in the valley.

Now all four lions are close to Puros
and livestock.

Flip has found that lions can rise to
most of the challenges of desert life.

The biggest obstacle to their success is
people.

But if the Himba and Herero are to
accept lions in their neighborhood they

to change their traditional way of life.

To an extent, this is already happening.

Some of them no longer want the struggle
of raising cows on marginal land.

Their children would make a far easier
and better living as tourist guides.

The young lions can have a vital role to
play if local people see them as money

spinners rather than as livestock
killers.

Some communities have formed
conservancies to profit from the

land. FLIP is starting to act as a go
-between, matching the needs of

lions and tour operators.

Tourists would pay good money to see
lions in this amazing setting.

The income could help compensate for any
livestock killed.

Arning out the details is difficult.

And until any scheme gets off the
ground, the lions of the Warratep aren't

A mere five days after their family
reunion, the cubs are back on their own.

And this time, Mum has left them in a
new place, the Feldspar Plain, south of

the Waraseb Valley.

It's unfamiliar, but at least there's no
livestock here to lure them into

trouble.

The heavy rain earlier in the year means
there's more grass on the plain than

normal.

And more oryx.

That doesn't mean hunting is all that
easy out here.

The ground is so open that the best
chance for these two naive youngsters

still lie with the coming of night.

The cubs are getting good at this.

This time, the smell of meat has
attracted a hyena.

In most other places in Africa, this
means trouble.

There would soon be a whole clan of
spotted hyenas trying to push them off

kill.

There are no such clans in the Namib.

The brown hyenas here are solitary, so
lions have very little competition.

And that's why the youngsters can be
left to their own devices at such an

age.

The hyena will merely hang around till
the cubs decide to leave.

At just over two years old, the cubs are
much more confident.

Even their play has a rougher edge.

Desert life is good for lions and the
returning lions are also good for the

of the desert.

Flip is going in search of the
youngster's mother.

She's been wearing the collar for nine
months and the battery is beginning to

fail. He needs to find her fast.

Finally, he picks up her signal in a
river valley to the south of the Warase.

The detailed tracking information stored
in the high -tech collar will throw

light on her movements, crucial data to
help protect her family and the entire

desert lion population.

Darting is a necessary intrusion, though
Flip never takes it lightly.

And for him, getting this close to lions
never loses its magic.

Beautiful.

The GPS collar is the first time I touch
it for nine months. It's been on this

lioness this whole time, and it's still
working.

The LED light is still going. You can
see it.

So it's been storing all this incredible
information for the last

nine months.

This girl, she's the queen.

She's the queen of them all.

I know, this is by far my most favorite
and special lioness.

Look, she's hardcore.

She takes no nonsense, and she just
lifts it on the edge.

Okay, well, now we have to look at your
teeth to see if you are still in good

nick.

Man, look at that.

Isn't that beautiful?

Goodness.

Look at that.

Sorry.

Man.

Sorry, my dear. Sorry, sorry, sorry,
sorry, sorry.

Let's have a look at the claws.

like a needle.

Oh, especially the forefinger and the
middle finger.

Oh, just really, really sharp.

Now, the most amazing thing is their
feet just smell so amazing.

It's got a nicer smell to it.

Mmm,

sort of musky, just really like a sweet,
sweet sort of musky smell.

I know, what an awesome feeling to be so
close.

He quickly discovers that his favourite
lioness isn't just in good condition.

She's become really smart.

This is what, this is incredible.

It means that the movement is back and
forth.

Back to Puros.

Jeez, up right in Puros.

Three past Puros.

In the early morning, between midnight
and morning, and then all the way back

again.

It's a great sign.

She's proving she can live right under
people's noses without causing them any

trouble at all.

When I see this, I would like to have a
GPS collar on every line because that

information is just phenomenal.

The following morning, there's a rare
chance to watch these elusive lions for

little longer.

But it's a bittersweet moment.

Flip's aware that until all the local
people support the return of the lions,

his favourite lioness will never be
safe.

News from the Waraseb Valley gives him
even more concern.

The youngsters have found their way
back.

Unlike their mother, they haven't had
time to work out how to steer clear of

people and livestock.

And this time, they're exploring upriver
towards Poros.

Just five miles from the village, they
head into big trouble.

Donkeys have been bred to be docile and
they have no instinct of how to escape.

No animal has a concept of restraint,
predators least of all.

These last 45 minutes could be their
undoing, and it puts Flip in a really

awkward position.

He doesn't want the cubs killed, but
keeps to his promise to inform the

These two young lions are very important
to your conservancy.

But if these lions kill any of your
livestock, you know you can shoot them

they cause problems.

And it is not for me to say or ask for
you not to shoot them. That's your

decision. And all I'm saying to you is
before people shoot them, if they kill

livestock, you've got to think very
carefully. Those two lions were born

they are used to this area, and that's
very valuable.

The lions have a lucky break.

Since the donkeys were living wild, the
community decided to be lenient.

This time.

However, a lot of people in Poros are
twitchy.

and the lions don't help matters by
remaining close to the village.

As night falls, the situation turns into
a crisis.

The cubs head straight towards the
village.

This could be disastrous to the Cubs,
dangerous for the people, and jeopardize

everything Flip's worked so hard for.

So much is at stake that Flip even
enlists help from a local tourist lodge.

I think you should drive past us now,
and you go to the village, and you're

going to tell the people.

that the lions are lying here, and be
watching them very carefully, and tell

them if they come anywhere close to the
village, we'll dart them, just so that

they know and see that it's not just us
sort of favouring the lions at their

expense.

The collared lioness is flicking her
tail a lot. Just look at her now, she's

going to... ...talk to each other.

The lions are just a quarter of a mile
from the village when Flip decides to

intervene. By broadcasting a lion roar,
he hopes the cubs will be distracted.

OK, just tell us when they leave.

At first, it's not clear whether his
plan is working.

It looks like they're turning around and
coming back into the river. I'm just

watching them carefully. I can barely
see them. So I'll get back to you when I

know.

Thankfully, as the cubs turn back down
the river and away from the village,

can relax.

Even so, he stays with them until he's
sure they're well out of danger.

What?

The next day is like a new beginning.

Not only have the cubs left Poros
behind, they've travelled a long way

downriver, farther than ever before.

They're exploring the dunes and rocky
cliffs just seven miles from the coast.

This desert has so much to offer them.

Elsewhere in Africa, lions are hemmed in
by national park boundaries.

But here, in one of the continent's last
great wildernesses, there's still

plenty of room to expand.

It's been a long journey to get this
far, but now Flip dares to think big.

One day, he hopes the lions will be
established down the entire length of

skeleton coast, from Angola to South
Africa.

Knowing that lions can survive and live
in the northern numb of desert.

I think that's what really drives me.
But being here and being present to

observe lions come to a beautiful area
like this would make me smile for the

rest of my life.

These animals have been a revelation to
Flip.

The desert has shaped their behaviour
and social structure in extraordinary

ways.

They're so lean.

fit and smart that quite simply these
are the most beautiful lions he's ever

seen.

If lions and people can learn to live
alongside each other, the big cats

will have found one of the best and
certainly their most unique sanctuary in

whole of Africa.