Original subtitles

This is where I grew up.

It's an interesting thing to come to your home and be unwelcomed.

And it's not unwelcomed because we left and handed over the keys. It's

unwelcomed because when I left Zimbabwe in 2001, I had a gun at the back of my

head and I was told that this is not a country for me.

And so I was forcefully evicted from this beautiful, beautiful place.

And here we are, going back.

This is my gate.

This is the beautiful, once grand, Machera Farm.

Do we want to keep going or stop?

No, we're going to go.

Look at the grove. This was one of our groves. Look at it all burnt and chopped

for wood. Gone completely.

So now I'm going to go look for Mr. Mpofu, see if he'll grant us permission

walk around a little bit.

But look at the state it's in.

Those are our stables. You can see the squatters living in them now with all

horse windows boarded up.

Look at this, our beautiful koi pond. Look at it.

I made that as a child.

Listen to me. If anything happens, you better run.

Mitch, Johnny, no chance.

It's okay. Camera's down. Camera's down.

Hello, guys.

Is Mr.

Mpofu here?

Yeah.

Can I speak with him?

Every single year, as many as 2 ,000 species are deemed extinct worldwide.

But the process we use to declare an animal extinct is an inexact science.

It happens all the time.

Animals are rediscovered that were thought to be gone forever.

My grandfather discovered a coelacanth 66 million years after it was supposed

be extinct.

I'm Forrest Galante. I'm a wildlife biologist.

and my life's work is searching for animals that we've given up on.

On this expedition, I've returned to my childhood home in Zimbabwe on the hunt

for the true king of beasts.

An enormous black -named lion has been spotted locally, and I believe it's a

descendant of the allegedly extinct cave lion.

The size of his paw. That lion's right there. But proving it means putting

myself in the most dangerous position of my life.

since I'm going to need a DNA sample to identify the species correctly.

And I'll be incorporating some imaginative techniques in an environment

teeming with deadly predators.

This is Extinct or Alive, the Cape Lion.

Hello, guys.

Is Mr.

Mpofu here?

Are you Mr. Mpofu?

Hello.

How are you doing, my friend?

I'm okay. My name's Forrest.

Forrest? Yeah.

Nice to meet you.

I grew up here a long time ago, and I was wondering if I could just walk

a little bit, see my old home while I'm in town.

He looks like a reporter.

A reporter?

Come out here, Mitchell. He must have spotted Mitch's camera.

Gotta think fast.

I don't know. You tell me.

I have him smiling, and he knows we're no threat. So I'm going to go for it.

We're just going to walk around a little bit, eh?

Yeah, thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Boy, what a beautiful place this was.

Big house.

There's a pool.

And this is our farm. Everything you can see.

Belong to my family, as far as you can see.

Hey, Mom.

Look where I am.

Still beautiful.

Every birthday party of mine happened until...

Age 14.

Looking around brings me right back to my last day here.

When political unrest turns Zimbabweans against each other.

We knew things were bad.

Neighbors had lost farms. People had been tortured.

One day I came home from school.

It was a day just like any other.

Went inside to do my homework.

And 15 minutes later...

35 kids with AK -47s came marching up the door, put a gun to my mother's head,

and told us if we weren't gone in 24 hours, we'd be dead.

We packed up three suitcases of clothes and fled to the United States.

The United States changed my life, and it presented me with the opportunities

end up caring for wildlife and presenting wildlife to the world.

I've had a number of days to process what I saw at the farm, but the thing

it's actually given me some closure. What I realize now is the life I had

growing up doesn't exist anymore.

I can now get on my mission.

I'm going to my real home, the African bush.

I've been contacted by one of my oldest family friends.

He's a man of myth and a legend, Mr. John Stevens, and he has told me about

lion of epic proportions.

A lion that has been outcast from other prides of lions because of his

tremendous size and aggression.

John, what a delight it is to see you. Come here. A real pleasure to see you.

John has worked in conservation since before I was born.

At nearly 1 ,500 square miles, his territory is one of the largest in

Here, it's the real thing, the way Africa used to be.

All we need is a herd of elephants, and if we wait long enough in the evening,

you have herds crossing the river. Yeah, I'm sure.

It's heaven.

I mean, it's massive.

And such a variety of wildlife, and a lot of very important work being done on

the property.

The Conservancy supports over 35 species of game animals, including elephants.

rhino, and the largest lion population in Zimbabwe.

My understanding is in this area there's some huge lions, big black -maned

animals that are reminiscent of cape lions from back in the day.

I mean, we see them every day.

Yeah. In fact, they have a bit of a reputation.

Originally found on the southern tip of Africa, the cape lion went extinct

nearly 200 years ago.

No photos exist.

and the few stories that remain make it sound like something out of legend.

An enormous predator, weighing over 600 pounds, more than one and a half times

larger than a traditional African lion.

They were big enough to scare elephants and eat them.

Shrouded in a thick, large black mane with black -tipped ears and huge paws,

they were known wanderers, either cast out or choosing not to live in pride.

If I can identify and get a DNA sample from a descendant, the genetic

information could one day bring the original beast back.

So do you think that there's any chance that lions here could have cape lion

genetics in them? I mean, what would account for this big black mane and

huge paws and this oversized animal? The gene pool could have originated.

And you know the distances that lions travel, particularly the males, when

cast out of the pride.

They cover incredible distances.

Cape lions originated in the Karoo Plains of South Africa.

So if this is a descendant, it's traveled over 1 ,000 miles north, likely

result of tracking elephant migrations before finding a new home in Zimbabwe.

You told me that you knew a tracker who had seen...

this very large black -maned lion.

I think you're referring to Jay. He knows the area intimately.

And he has got to know this particularly large lion. Speak to him, and let's see

if we can't get after that lion.

But before I meet John's tracker, I can't resist the chance to get into the

bush, set a few cameras, and take a shot at spotting the huge lion right away.

But unlike normal safaris, My team and I will be doing this entire expedition on

foot.

This is a great area. You know, you can see there's tons of impala tracks.

There's rhino tracks right here.

There's bush buck here.

You know, looking at a water source like this, if you're a lion, it's like

looking at a menu.

I'm going to get the bait, get the trail cameras, and we'll set them up right

around here.

What I'm doing right now.

Let's take a break.

It's been trailing.

I have this huge side of meat.

And I'm just dragging it all around this watering hole area.

Obviously, we're looking for lions.

So if he gets a whiff of this, follows it all the way to the tree that I'm

to chain it up on.

We'll get it on trail camera.

We'll know how big a lion he is.

Hey, Mitch.

When you have a sec, can you give me a hand?

One, two, three.

God, what a strong guy you are.

All right, let it down.

Beauty. Thanks, bud.

When you're in the African bush, a piece of rope doesn't cut it, so you have to

use chain because there are some serious toothy things out here that are going

to want to eat this.

Having now spent over an hour dragging 70 pounds of raw meat around a busy

watering hole, my crew is understandably edgy.

Are we in any danger right now?

No, it's not really a great situation to be in if any predators show up, but at

the same time, you don't have to be faster than the animals.

You have to be faster than the net.

Our trail cams are in place, so we're leaving the kill zone and trekking to a

nearby village to meet James.

He's the Conservancy's most experienced tracker and the key to finding our Cape

Lion descendant.

James,

nice to meet you. So our friend John told me, That you have some interesting

stories about a very big Shumba, big lion.

The name Shumba Nema.

Shumba Nema, black lion. The name of that one is black, total black.

Wow. The ears are total black.

And he's bigger than all the other lions. He's one of the biggest ones that

been in the convent. How big are his paws?

I can say the size of my paws. No kidding.

He's like an elephant's paws. Huge.

Very big. Do you think it's possible?

The black mane and ears suggest this is not some oversized African lion.

This could be a genetic relative of the giant cave lion.

But I'm going to need a DNA sample to prove it.

Do you think, James, that you can help me try and track the flounder?

Yes, I can. I don't know how brave you are.

Then you can pull some of his... I pull the hair? Yes. Okay.

James is meeting me tomorrow morning to begin our hunt.

So I'm picking up our trail cams now.

I want to see if our bait... lured in this black lion.

So the first bad sign is the fact that the bait's not gone, but it has clearly

been eaten. There's really only two things out here that'll chew through a

bone like that.

My suspicion is it's hyenas that have shredded this up, because I think if it

was a lion, it would have come up, ripped the whole thing down.

There's only one way to find out. Got to finish pointing the trail camera.

Coming up, I get myself and the crew surrounded.

I've come home to Zimbabwe in search of the allegedly extinct Cape Lyon.

And having collected my trail cameras, My old friend John Stevens is joining me

for a review.

It's all about technology these days. Indeed. A lot of it I don't understand.

My techniques may be new to him, but John is no stranger to the bush.

Oh, look there.

You know, that looks like a brown hyena.

That is a brown. That is unbelievable.

That is such a rare animal.

Yep.

The brown hyena is the rarest of all hyenas.

Fewer than 5 ,000 still exist.

And most are found in the Kalahari Desert, over 600 miles west of us.

going to be a great record for the conservancy.

Something's got him on edge, because he should be feeding.

All right, what do we have here?

How's that? Oh, lovely.

They're so grateful.

Here we have a clip during the day.

Here goes a waterbuck.

She's certainly not interested in the meat. Look at her, right up to the

Waterbuck are huge antelope, common in eastern and southern Africa.

They travel in herds of up to 30, and are great prey for lions.

Well, more prey, scavengers, no predators yet.

At least no apex predators.

Let's see what else we have.

Oh! Oh, my gosh. Do you know? That is a black rhino.

Isn't that incredible?

My favorite animal.

The black rhino is classified as critically endangered.

Often weighing over 3 ,000 pounds, these behemoths of the bush are strictly

herbivores.

I expected to get lions on the camera with meat long before ever seeing a

The research would be very interested. They would number that one.

This is too good. I have to see this black rhino up close.

I've obviously come here to look for lions, but what we do know is here is

beautiful and unusual black rhino.

Why don't we go see if we can find her tomorrow?

We get up at 3 .30, like we normally do. Get there early, and I'm sure we'll

pick her up.

setting out before dawn.

Tracker James has located a rhinos print.

It doesn't take long for all of us to catch up.

This isn't our friend from the trail camp, and he's not happy to see us.

Rhinos are extremely defensive and will charge at any threat.

All 3 ,000 plus pounds of muscle and horn, and you can't run away.

These living freight trains can hit 34 miles per hour.

Your only defense is to stay perfectly still.

We're in Zimbabwe, searching for a possible descendant of the extinct Cape

But we've just come face -to -face with another animal that's every bit as

dangerous.

Our cameraman Mitch is in a stare -down with a male black rhino.

Done.

Done.

You held your nerve.

You're shaking. Look at your hand.

You will never, ever better than anything in Africa. This is

AA+. I was worried about my sprain. Yeah.

It might be a wounded man and always in a wheelchair.

What's going through my head is move and die. Like, if you move, you're done.

What an unforgettable experience, staring down a critically endangered

rhino from only 20 feet away.

There's only around 5 ,000 of them left in the world.

It makes me so happy to be back home in Zim.

but we still haven't seen any sign of our giant black -maned lion.

It's just past dawn, and James is showing me the last spot he saw the

Cape lion.

This is the spot here, right? Yes.

Now tell me where you had the lion sighting.

It came from number 32, coming here.

So how far is it walking from here to here?

He is about 42 miles.

42 miles?

Oh my goodness.

This is his main place.

Tracking him on foot means we'll be exposed.

I'll be putting my team and myself within striking distance of not only the

black -maned lion, but thousands of other lions, hyenas, and bull elephants.

Plus, I need a DNA sample. Any discrepancy that shows up as non

likely from a cave lion.

but I'm going to need some help to get it. Once we do have signs, I'm going to

use the sat phone to call the lion research team. We're going to come in

bring the tools that I need that are too heavy to carry with me, set up, try and

bait them in and see how we do.

Nice and green now, eh? Yeah, everything is happy.

With James' help, we've located some lion tracks.

Numerous lions, in fact.

But James is leaving.

He's needed at the conservancy with John.

So from here, the tracking is up to me.

I've lost the track, guys. What I'd like to do is have you put the drone up and

just see if you can scout out that way before we dive down the wrong trail.

Losing the trail makes me very uneasy.

One thing I learned growing up in the African bush, when tracking a predator,

every moment you're not tracking them, they could be tracking you.

What's that there? What's that?

That's lions.

That's lions right there.

They are running away. Bring the drone back.

Yeah, I saw at least six on there, probably more.

Hopefully the male's with them somewhere.

Ooh, that's a big track.

There's a lot of lion motion around here.

Better keep your eyes up.

This is all lion. Woof. This is a big pride. As we close in, it's clear we've

been noticed.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Two huge female lions, right?

This is a huge prize.

Looks to be 16 or more.

We're vastly outnumbered, and they know it.

I don't like the way they're responding.

I want you to back up.

See those who are sitting there to guard? They're sitting there watching us

while the rest are starting to move.

She's getting really tested.

The lioness is mock charging.

We're being tested.

Or... Are we being distracted?

Lines here, lines there.

Lines all the way up there.

Surrounded by lines.

I'm in Zimbabwe, tracking a giant black -maned lion that I believe could be a

descendant of the extinct Cape Lion.

The crew and I have come across a huge pride of lionesses who are moving like

they're mounting an attack.

Now I'm going to have to be surrounded by lions.

We're lucky that they let us retreat, but it's another reminder of how

vulnerable we are out here on foot.

We need a new direction, and without any other tracks to follow, I'm hiking up

this mountain to get a view of the entire Conservancy.

As you come up here, you realize just how massive and expansive the bush in

part of the world is.

There is so much ground to cover to try and find one animal.

But the view also reveals clues.

And from here, it's easy to see what a giant lion that once took down elephants

might be looking to feed on. I can see those amazing granite outcroppings for

the southeast.

And my thought is that springs will be creating still water pools for massive

herds of buffaloes. Buffalo are going to be the perfect prey source for such a

big black man lion. So that's where we're heading now.

See that?

White -backed vultures.

That's a good sign. What they do is they can smell something's dead in the air,

and they circle around until the predators clear out and then go in and

scavenge.

Looks like there could be a kill, and the vultures are still circling, which

means the predator may still be feeding.

Before we approach through this thick bush on foot, I think we should put the

drone up there and see if maybe there's lions there.

A bunch of birds on the ground right over there. Look at that. That could

definitely be a kill.

I'm going to hike in and see if the predator that made this kill is still

around.

There's definitely a dead animal there. There's no other reason all those white

-backed vultures would be congregated.

Here it is.

This is a bush buck, and this animal likely died of starvation. But as sad as

this is, it's actually really good news for us.

Finding a dead bush buck that's whole like this.

is as good a lion bait as you can get.

So what I'm going to do,

scent trail first, and then we're going to hang it up in a tree.

Hopefully that'll bring in these lions.

Okay, guys.

This is it.

There's a lion spore all over here.

But what's different here is we've got this amazing big dead tree.

Nice high -traffic spot for our bush buck to hang out.

Time to bring the lions to us and see if we can throw out our black man bad boy.

I don't have all of the tools with me, so I'm going to have to give Matt a

call, see if he can run some of them in.

Matt, it's Forrest.

Matt works with the lion research team here on the Conservancy.

He's got experience handling and tranquilizing lions.

Awesome. and I'm relying on his expertise to ensure no harm comes to

animal. You know, you could bring the blind, you could bring the tranq rifle,

and we'll just give it a shot before the sun goes down.

Thanks, bye.

Since we've been on foot, Matt's been staying close in the truck, allowing him

to come in quickly with the gear once we've found a spot worth baiting.

Thanks for coming so quick, that was great.

I've kind of scouted around, it looks like we have a clear shot from there.

Yeah, that's the perfect distance, about 25 meters.

Perfect.

It's all hands on deck to build this two -story blind, hang our bait, and place

our trail cam.

And I've got one more trick to help us attract the black -maned lion.

I'm just securing the speaker.

That's going to project the distressed buffalo cough coal.

We've got the bush buck here.

Looks good on that.

So we're up in the blind now.

Matt's mixing up the serum.

Matt and I are slipping into our hex suits. They block our electromagnetic

signals, just like the door on a microwave oven.

Apex predators have endless methods for detecting prey. So now they won't be

able to see us, hear us, or sense our electrical impulses. You're dialing,

Matt and I are calibrating the rifle to the exact distance.

The safety of the animal is our priority, and that means a clear shot

tranquilizer.

There's nothing darker than the African bush at night.

And there's an indescribable feeling reminding you that anything could be

watching.

Look at the size of her.

Healthy, too.

Could easily be a mate for our big, black -maned male.

I'm in a blind in Zimbabwe, watching a lioness devour our bait.

as we hope to attract a giant black -maned lion, which I suspect is a

of the legendary cape lion.

There's another.

There he is.

The black -maned lion John and James told me about. And he's huge.

This is our chance to tranquilize him and get a DNA sample.

Unbelievable. Looks like the healthy female is looking better to him than our

bait.

Unfortunately,

he's out of range.

The

rest

of the pride is finishing off the bait.

So I'm calling it a night.

Who knew that a lioness would dart block us like that? We were so close.

I think the message

here is we don't intimidate him at all.

And he seems to have great endurance to go along with his great size.

Last night we had an incredibly narrow myth, definitely the narrowest myth I've

ever had of trying to dart a believed -to -be -extinct animal. So this is the

scene. I just wanted to explore it a little bit. There's where the meat was

hung. You can see it's totally gone.

We had that moment where the lion was sitting down, and he was still out of

range of the rifle.

Here it is, right here.

Just watch your feet.

Look at the size of his paw. Look at the size of that next to my hand.

Lion prints are often up to 5 inches long.

This is eight or more.

The animal started here, right here, and ended here.

I mean, that's, you know, six and a half, seven feet of length of a lion. I

mean, he's absolutely massive.

Not a lot that I'm scared of in the bush, but it could easily be watching us

right now as we pull in these trail cameras.

The thing is, he could be circling back and coming up on the flank of us. So

what we can do is track him for a few hours.

try and figure out where he went into the really dense vegetation, and then

of get set up for tonight for when he becomes active again as the sun begins

drop and the air begins to cool.

We're at least on the right track because we were this close.

After tracking the lion's huge footprint for six miles, I've found some fresh

ones, so I know he's close by.

This is my frantic fawn decoy.

Turn him on. He's having a nice shake like that.

Looks like he's in distress or having a seizure.

And I'm going to hide my collar right here.

Okay, that's one.

I'm taking no chances tonight.

We know this oversized black -maned lion is out there right now.

It's taken me nearly 20 years to come home to them, and I am not leaving empty

-handed.

We're building a new blind, keeping it on the ground this time, and closer to

the bait.

The crew are all wearing hex suits, same as I am.

We know he's nearby, probably napping under a tree.

It's him.

He's being very cautious.

Checking the bait from a distance.

He seems to sense something is off.

I don't think he's going to be close enough.

He's just coming into range.

I've got one chance.

Did you hit him?

We have to follow on foot, and if the tranquilizer got him, he won't be

dangerous.

If it didn't, well, we're in big trouble.

Matt and our vet are on call in the truck.

But they're here to ensure the animal's safety, not ours.

Since I'll be taking samples as well as putting a tracking collar on him, I need

to be sure he's completely out.

Okay, he's down.

Put the gun down. We can start working on him now.

He's not so down.

He's up again. He's on his feet.

What an incredible animal. On his feet after a dose that should have put a lion

to sleep.

He's a danger to us and himself in this semi -day state.

So I've asked the vet if it's safe to dart him again.

We've got the okay.

But if I miss at this range, he's going to come for me.

I'm almost... face to face with an enormous lion that I believe is the

descendant of the extinct cave lion.

And if I miss my shot with this tranq gun, he's coming for me.

I definitely got his attention.

Thankfully, the serum is taking immediate effect.

This time we've got to make sure he's fully asleep.

Once the drugs are fully kicked in, we can go in.

and get the genetic sample.

He's finally passing out now.

A lion this size has likely never been drank before. I have no idea how he's

going to respond.

On top of that, he is not the only lion we have to worry about out here.

All this commotion could easily have alerted any number of predators, and I

no idea how deeply this big guy is out.

I may only have a few minutes.

This collar

will

allow Matt to track him and keep him safe.

Now, our riskiest move.

Look at the size of those feet.

And there's what we need right there to find out.

Oh, man.

The last step is administering the antidote to make sure he wakes up and

back to business. All right, big boy.

There he goes.

We did it.

Captured and safely released the biggest lion I have ever seen.

Zimbabwe is my home.

It's funny how that's more clear to me now than when I lived here.

Maybe seeing the big picture is easier from a distance, but I've returned after

my exile, a remnant of a different time in this country.

Searching for any trace of an exiled lion from a different time as well.

Not only have we proven that he's here, we managed to capture him and pull from

him genetic samples such as blood and fur. That could prove definitively.

that remnant genetics of the Cape Lion still exist right here in Southern

Africa. And with a little work and a little effort, we may actually be able

breed back into existence the once -extinct Cape Lion.

Meaning the Cape Lion could one day come home again.

Just like I have.