Original subtitles

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

This is Musolole,

a four-year-old male African elephant.

And this is Zambezi, he’s about the same age.

Zambezi and Musolole aren’t related,

but they’ve become brothers.

They’re orphans,

each rescued when just a few months old,

and cared for by some very dedicated keepers.

Life at this elephant nursery has been good.

But there’s a problem,

they’ve grown up.

It’s time to move up to big school.

So they’re embarking on the biggest adventure of their lives.

(TRUMPETS)

It’s going to be challenging,

a long journey across Zambia...

(LIGHTNING CRACKLING)

...to a new facility deep in the bush.

And when they get there

they’ll be confronted by some much bigger elephants.

Leaving home has never been so tough.

(TRUMPETING)

(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)

This is Lilayi Elephant Nursery.

Home to four orphans, who are enjoying a walk in the bush.

Musolole is the oldest.

He’s self-assured and the dominant leader.

Zambezi is single-minded and independent.

He likes to do things his own way.

Nkala is a year and a half younger

and relies on the older two for comfort and reassurance.

Muchichili is the baby of the herd.

(TRUMPETS)

The two biggest elephants,

dominant Musolole and single-minded Zambezi,

have outgrown the orphanage nursery.

Now, Zambezi and Musolole have really reached an age

where they need to start becoming more independent,

and the focus of our program is to release these elephants back into the wild,

so we want to ensure that they’re out in the wild as early as possible.

NARRATOR: These two orphans had a very tough start to life.

Zambezi was just one month old

when he was found alone and exhausted in a swimming pool

in a safari camp on the Lower Zambezi.

(SPEAKING IN ENGLISH)

No-one knows what happened to Zambezi’s mother or his herd.

Musolole’s story is very different...

RACHEL MURTON: Musolole’s rescue was a very traumatic one.

He was found in Sioma Ngwezi National Park,

which is on the west side of Zambia near Namibia,

and when the wildlife police officers had heard gunshot

inside the national park they responded.

When they entered the park, they actually came across Musolole

at five months old with his mother, who had been shot dead,

and the poachers were still on her body hacking out her tusks.

As soon as those poachers saw the officers, they opened up fire straightaway

and tragically, Officer Sitali Musolole was killed.

And when we arrived we found some very, very traumatized wildlife police officers

who were mourning the loss of their friend

and had very much become attached to the baby elephant,

and felt that their friend’s spirit could live on through him.

Thanks to the dedication of the elephant keepers,

Musolole and Zambezi are now healthy four-year-olds,

each with their own character.

While Zambezi likes to rile his playmate,

Musolole knows when to put him in his place.

Big, boisterous and increasingly unruly,

they need to leave the orphanage.

On a practical level they’re making problems around the nursery.

They will pull down structures,

they’ve already started to pull the roof off of the building,

and here in Lusaka we’re actually in a small enclosed game park,

which is probably not big enough for a fully grown elephant anyway.

The ultimate goal for all the rescued elephants is release back to the wild.

But it has to be done in stages.

It’s time for Zambezi and Musolole to start the next phase.

They’re going to elephant high school.

The Lilayi Elephant Orphanage is situated in a small game park

very close to the city of Lusaka,

the capital of Zambia in Southern Africa.

Two hundred miles to the west lies "elephant heaven",

the vast Kafue National Park,

the second-largest park in Africa.

Its wide open spaces,

expansive bush and plentiful water

make it the perfect place for elephants to roam free.

In the heart of the park lies Camp Phoenix,

the project’s release facility,

where some older orphaned elephants are already adapting to a life in the wild.

Here, the orphans start being weaned off milk

and spend more and more time out in the bush.

It’s the next step towards freedom.

This is where Musolole and Zambezi need to be.

An elephant’s childhood is just as long as our own.

(LOW TRUMPETING)

In the wild, elephants need this time to learn how to survive.

And, just like us, they learn how to behave with others of their own kind.

Back at the Lilayi orphanage,

the elephants have human surrogate mothers.

The elephant keepers have tended to their every need,

and give them a milk bottle every three hours, night and day.

But Musolole and Zambezi, the two oldest,

haven’t had an older elephant to look up to

since they were just a few months old.

That’s about to change.

If they don’t know how to behave with the bigger elephants at Kafue,

they could get into real trouble.

It’s going to take some adjustment.

But Rachel has more immediate concerns.

So tomorrow we’re planning to move Musolole and Zambezi out to a release facility

and we are very aware that even in doing so

it will be a very traumatic experience for them.

Um, they will be loaded into a truck and driven for up to 15 hours,

so it’s not going to be, you know, a comfortable day for them.

But at least their "mums" will be going with them.

(VICTOR SPEAKING IN ENGLISH)

Aaron has been an adoptive mother to free-spirited Zambezi

since the elephant was just a month old.

(AARON SPEAKING IN ENGLISH)

NARRATOR: Getting single-minded Zambezi, and herd-leader Musolole,

into a vehicle will be tomorrow’s first challenge,

so they’re about to get a trial run.

The transport truck has just arrived,

and the keepers want it to be as welcoming as possible.

If you lead the elephants inside

you have to be able to jump out through that hatch,

in case it gets too busy to get back.

Can you do that? Show me.

(MEN LAUGHING)

I need to see that you’re both able to do it before I let you do it!

MAN: Have to jump.

RACHEL: You have to be able to jump up.

(MEN CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

RACHEL: Paul was very nimble, well done!

(MEN LAUGHING)

That was good. OK. You passed the test!

(MAN SPEAKS OTHER LANGUAGE)

The elephants know it’s time for their bottles of milk,

they’ve spotted the keepers up on the ridge.

(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)

Each elephant has its own bottle.

The plan is to only allow them to drink once inside the truck.

The elephants don’t understand this new rule.

There’s only room for one at a time...

And even confident Musolole is very suspicious of the dark metal box.

So this is the first time they’ve gotten to see the transport vehicle.

We’ve loaded it with browse,

the guys are holding milk bottles to encourage the elephants to go inside,

just to get them used to it so that we know

that they will go inside before we try tomorrow morning.

Success so far...

Not so much!

(LAUGHS) Um, no-one’s actually been fully inside,

but I’m pretty hopeful that given some patience

and some time and some more food then they will go inside.

In the wild, African elephants are used to wide open spaces.

They’re typically on the move for 18 hours a day.

Small confined spaces are very alien to these huge nomads.

It’s perhaps no wonder that the orphans are wary of entering a metal box.

But there may be another reason for their reluctance.

All the elephants except the youngest, Muchichili,

have in fact seen this truck once before,

and maybe the memory is not a good one.

Two years ago, there were five elephants at Lilayi

and they all visited this very same vehicle.

But the next day,

as far as Musolole and Zambezi were concerned,

the two oldest elephants vanished.

Those two, Maramba and Kavala, were trailblazers,

the first elephants to be relocated from Lilayi to Kafue National Park.

An elephant never forgets.

Musolole and Zambezi know this truck was the precursor

to their friends’ disappearance from Lilayi.

Elvis attempts to lure in Muchichili, the youngest,

who wasn’t here two years ago.

But dominant Musolole is getting frustrated.

(SPEAKS OTHER LANGUAGE)

He’s the strongest of the eles, and their leader,

but that doesn’t mean he’s not cautious.

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

NARRATOR: He wants that bottle

but he just can’t shake the fear.

(MEN SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

(LOW GROWLING)

All the elephants take a turn...

But none of them will enter the crate.

Eventually, it’s the smallest elephant

who proves to have the greatest courage.

Or is it just that Muchichili is the most motivated by food?

RACHEL: Did Muchichili go inside? MAN: Mmm-hmm.

Oh, Muchichili’s inside. RACHEL: Yay!

No-one else follows Muchichili’s lead.

It doesn’t bode well for tomorrow.

The big day has arrived.

This will be only the second time that elephants have been moved from Lilayi,

and Rachel is concerned.

The difference we have is that last time

the elephants went in on the trial run first time, no worries

and yesterday these elephants wouldn’t go in,

so I’m just a bit anxious about how they’re going to go in.

But I think the success will be more with the bottles at this point,

so people inside with the bottles.

And then I think, what I noticed yesterday,

which is important, is to encourage the elephants,

to talk to them, to reassure them.

You know, to touch them, you put your hands on them,

they’re used to you doing that.

You remember, that you’re the mum.

For any mum it’s a big day

when your babies finally leave home.

The elephants just want their morning bottle.

They didn’t get their night feeds, either.

The keepers want them hungry for the task ahead.

(SHUTTER CLICKING)

The two youngsters,

Nkala and Muchichili are kept in their stables,

unaware of the big changes ahead.

(MAN WHISTLING)

While Musolole and Zambezi follow their keepers out in search of breakfast.

They spot their bottles.

Milk is a treat that they’re used to getting every three hours.

They haven’t had any now for more than twelve.

Spurred on by hunger, they follow the keepers straight inside...

(WHISTLING) (TRUMPETING)

...or maybe not.

(WHISTLING CONTINUES)

NARRATOR: It’s the start to the day that Rachel feared.

And if the bottle won’t entice them in, what will?

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

For the next hour it’s a battle of wills...

(LOW TRUMPETING)

Independent Zambezi loses interest

But self-assured Musolole still wants his bottle...

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

NARRATOR: Just one more step...

Success!

But there’s a keeper still inside.

It’s dangerous to be locked in with a panicking elephant.

(TRUMPETS)

Now for part two.

A sliding partition secures Musolole in the back.

He shakes and clatters the truck...

Zambezi has seen enough.

He still wants that bottle,

but there’s a line he won’t cross,

so it’s time for Plan B...

(BOTH WHISTLING)

A light sedative should make him woozy enough to be led inside.

But it doesn’t go to plan.

(TRUMPETING)

Musolole’s streaming temples reveal he’s stressed,

they need to get on the road.

But Zambezi is going nowhere fast.

RACHEL: Once you wake him up, that’s it, we can’t do it again.

(ALL SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)

Subdued, but no less obstinate...

He’s a half-tonne beast...

(TRUMPETS)

...made of muscle, and a mind that won’t be persuaded.

(ALL STRAINING AND SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)

It takes 16 people to move one young elephant,

but eventually they succeed.

Now I’m feeling pretty good cos they’re in there,

they both look healthy, they’re both drinking milk,

they’re both eating browse... (SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)

...which means that you know, they’re stressed but they’re not in too bad a situation

otherwise they would be refusing food and drink,

so it’s really just a case of getting going as soon as we can

because it’s going to be a really long day for them.

Um, but yeah, it’s really a big relief to see them both inside

so... For a moment I didn’t think it was going to happen today! (CHUCKLES)

It’s 9:00 a.m.

There’s nine hours of daylight ahead,

but the journey will be at least 12 hours.

It’s 200 miles from Lilayi on the outskirts of Lusaka

to Camp Phoenix in Kafue National Park,

much of it on unsealed roads.

This is a new, and potentially frightening experience

for the two jumbo passengers, rattling along in a metal box.

They will get a break every two hours for food and water,

but the first stop is an unscheduled one.

(TIRES SCREECHING)

A major blow-out almost caused the truck to roll.

Luckily, Musolole and Zambezi are both OK.

It’s a further delay and the truck is heating up in the morning sun.

RACHEL: It’s a bit of a nightmare.

So the elephants seem to be doing OK for right now, which is good,

but obviously it’s not ideal,

we want to just have a smooth journey

and to get there as soon as possible

so there’s less stress for them.

And they’ve already had a stressful start

and now this has just added to it,

but the main thing is they’re OK

so we’ll just keep monitoring them and do what we can.

(CLICKS TONGUE)

The elephants need to keep eating to stay strong.

And they need to keep cool.

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

In the wild,

an elephant’s life can revolve around finding enough food and water.

An adult can eat 650 lbs of browse a day.

They also drink up to 50 gallons of water,

and will often travel long distances to find it.

It’s more than just hydrating and cooling down,

a scarcity of hair means that elephants can get sunburnt.

The mud and dirt act as a sunscreen.

Even elephants must take care of their skin,

especially under the fierce African sun.

It takes the best part of two hours to change the tyre...

But at last, the elephants and their convoy are good to continue.

It’s not the hottest of days,

which is good for the elephants,

and at last things are looking up for Zambezi and Musolole.

They’ve just drunk two liters of milk each

and now two liters of electrolytes each

and in-between that they’ve eaten browse, which is a really great sign.

So they’re obviously not, you know, hugely stressed,

but also really, really important to get them hydrated

and have them drink fluid so that’s really good.

So yeah, I’m really pleased.

A rocky start, but now things are looking quite good.

They reach the edge of Kafue National Park,

but they’re still not even halfway into their journey

as the roads here get a lot slower.

The truck continues to stop every two hours

and both Zambezi and Musolole are very keen to eat and drink at every opportunity.

It’s a good sign they’re handling the journey well.

But their biggest challenge is still to come...

Young elephants need to learn their place in the hierarchy of a herd.

Any boisterous youngsters that overstep the mark

and fail to show the right amount of respect

to their elders are swiftly put in their place.

New additions to the Kafue herd will need to mind their manners

if they are to integrate safely.

It’s getting late...

The road is painfully slow...

And the weather is changing.

(LIGHTNING CRACKLING)

There’s no possibility of stopping for the night

with the elephants still loaded in the truck.

It’s almost midnight when they finally make it to Camp Phoenix,

the elephant release facility.

The Kafue elephants are either asleep in their barns or out in the park.

The priority is to get Musolole and Zambezi out of the truck,

and into a stable where they can rest.

(MEN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)

Let’s quiet down, eh?

NARRATOR: Nobody knows quite how the two elephants will react

after such a long confinement.

(WHISTLING)

Bezi, Bezi, Bezi...

(SNAPPING FINGERS) Come on, Bezi. Come on.

NARRATOR: Zambezi is first out.

Keep the bottles in their bags.

NARRATOR: He’s no fight left in him.

It’s been a long and tiring day.

Good boy.

(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)

RACHEL: Well done, guys. That was very calm, very smooth

Musolole is equally subdued.

Muso... (WHISTLES)

Muso.

(SPEAKING IN ENGLISH)

Yeah!

(BOTH SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

NARRATOR: It’s the day of reckoning.

Zambezi and Musolole will meet the Kafue herd.

True to form, independent Zambezi has escaped from his stable,

but he seems a little unsure what to do next.

He’s not been spotted by the resident eles

who are waiting to be let out into the bush.

So as you know, we’ve got a very exciting moment coming up.

Obviously we want the elephants to meet each other,

so we need to try and encourage them towards each other.

I think, probably Zambezi and Musolole will be a bit shy.

They’re not really knowing where they are,

they don’t know the routine to walk up to the gate,

so we’re going to have to help them find each other,

so we can see what’s going to happen.

OK? But you know the elephants best,

so we’re actually going to watch you guys,

er, work with them.

NARRATOR: Aaron and Victor have joined the resident Kafue keepers

and are going to stay here until the two new eles have settled in.

They let Musolole out of his stable.

And suddenly, the herd spots the new arrivals.

(TRUMPETING)

(TRUMPETING CONTINUES)

Will Musolole and Zambezi know how to behave?

(TRUMPETING)

Musolole, not quite his confident self,

decides it’s safest to stay behind the fence.

Some of the Kafue orphans are even smaller than the newcomers.

Musolole meets their curiosity with his own.

But Zambezi prefers to be alone.

Thankfully, there’s no aggression.

One of the smallest eles ventures around behind the fence.

Musolole is getting his confidence back...

But when he follows the little one out,

he comes face-to-face with Tafika,

one of the biggest elephants here.

This is when it could get ugly.

Musolole is used to being the boss.

Tafika backs off and Musolole doesn’t push his luck.

Zambezi is still keeping to himself.

Musolole meets Tafika once again...

But this time, he does the right thing.

Presenting his backside, and even backing into Tafika is a sign of submission,

and all tension is diffused.

We’ve seen that Musolole is very social,

and he’s interacted really nicely with the other elephants.

But Zambezi’s really avoiding everybody, and being difficult.

(LAUGHS) What a surprise!

He kind of was more interested in the browse than the other elephants,

which I think is just a tactic for avoidance.

Um, he’s probably very interested

but he doesn’t know quite how to handle himself.

It’s time to leave the boma.

Zambezi would rather stay here on his own.

But that’s why Aaron is here.

Like a mother holding the hand of a reluctant toddler,

he leads Zambezi to join the others.

At last, they head out from the enclosure

and into the wilds of Kafue National Park.

Zambezi and Musolole stand out from the crowd,

their skin stained by the red earth of Lilayi,

where they’ve just come from.

This is a new environment for them.

They’re no longer in the safety of the Lilayi game park.

Kafue National Park is home to lions, buffalo and all sorts of other dangers.

Zambezi and Musolole almost certainly wouldn’t survive

if simply left to fend for themselves.

In the wild, young elephants enjoy the protection of the herd.

A pride of lions could easily bring down a young elephant,

even elephants the size of Zambezi and Musolole.

(TRUMPETING)

These two adults know it.

(TRUMPETING)

But the lions are blocking their path to water,

and when it to comes to size and strength,

the adult elephants have the upper hand.

(TRUMPETING)

As long as the young elephants are protected by their elders,

they’ll come to no harm.

(GRUNTING)

Zambezi and Musolole have the protection of their keepers,

who are accompanied here in Kafue by armed guards.

(LAUGHING)

But if they’re to survive here long-term,

and live truly wild lives,

they need to be adopted by bigger, wiser elephants.

Two emerge from the bush.

There are 2,000 wild elephants in this national park,

but these two are graduates of the orphan release program.

They’re part of the Kafue orphan herd.

They’re old enough to spend their nights alone in the wild.

Chamilandu is ten years old, and she’s the eldest of the Kafue orphans.

She greets the two newcomers from Lilayi,

who seem a little intimidated.

(LOW TRUMPETING)

Chamilandu and her companion Batoka

have been spending weeks at a time out in the bush

without the keepers or guards.

Musolole and Zambezi could learn a lot if these two take them under their wing.

In the wild, elephant herds are led by a matriarch,

typically the oldest and most experienced female.

Her knowledge is critical to the survival of the herd.

She’s the one who decides when to move and where to feed.

She knows where the water will be flowing.

The rest of the herd would struggle without her guidance.

At midday, the herd returns to the boma

and Chamilandu, the oldest female orphan, goes with them.

(TRUMPETS)

The younger elephants get a bottle.

Musolole and Zambezi need this comfort and reassurance.

But then Victor and Aaron head off with the other keepers for their lunch...

Leaving the elephants alone.

And Musolole doesn’t like it.

(TRUMPETING)

Chamilandu is the self-appointed matriarch

of this close-knit herd of unrelated orphans.

She’s ready to comfort Musolole

but he’s used to being the leader...

(TRUMPETS)

...and isn’t keen to mingle yet.

He needs to learn to fit in.

At least Zambezi is becoming a little more sociable.

And they’re not alone for long.

A couple of the elephants have been unwell,

and so the vet who travelled from Lilayi has some work to do.

(RIFLE FIRES) (TRUMPETING)

It’s safest to anesthetize them from a distance.

(RIFLE FIRES)

Matriarch Chamilandu isn’t a target

but she’s immediately aware something’s going on.

The drug takes a few minutes to take effect.

Musolole is sticking close to Victor,

unaware that behind the boma, an elephant is down.

The veterinary team needs the rest of the herd safely out of the way,

but Chamilandu is demonstrating

her protective motherly instincts.

(INDISTINCT) Move!

What about pellets? Someone grab a bucket of pellets.

Pellets for these elephants are like a bag of sweets for a child,

and the team uses them to draw the other elephants away.

The unconscious elephant must be kept cool.

Under sedation, he’s less able to regulate his own temperature

and could overheat.

The vets need to work fast,

but can’t do anything with Chamilandu being so protective.

The other darted elephant is getting woozy

and Zambezi appears concerned.

The pellets arrive, but still Chamilandu is caught in two minds.

A small stick keeps the airway open,

and eventually the vets can get on with their task.

(ELECTRONIC BEEPING)

They suspect a parasite infection.

The other elephant goes down

and Chamilandu is getting increasingly agitated.

She may not be very experienced,

but she’s behaving just like a matriarch,

very protective of her herd.

(SNORTING)

Musolole and Zambezi are lucky to be joining this elephant family.

(TRUMPETS SOFTLY)

The first elephant wakes up.

(TRUMPETS)

And his rumbles bring Chamilandu rushing back over.

Rachel knows to keep well out the way.

Every herd needs a matriarch,

and Zambezi and Musolole’s integration into this herd,

and their ultimate return to the wild,

will depend heavily on Chamilandu.

It will be several years before Zambezi and Musolole

have the confidence of Chamilandu,

staying out all night in the bush.

For now, they have the security of the boma.

It’s been an exhausting day.

Back at the Lilayi orphanage, on the outskirts of Lusaka,

the two youngest elephants, Nkala and Muchichili,

have begun to adjust to life without their elders.

(ELVIS LISIBI SPEAKING IN ENGLISH)

Nkala came to Lilayi when he was just three months old

and has looked up to Musolole and Zambezi throughout his time here.

(SPEAKING IN ENGLISH)

And it won’t be long before these two make the move to Camp Phoenix,

where they will be reunited with their brothers Zambezi and Musolole.

A few days in, and Musolole and Zambezi

are already starting to look like part of the herd.

Journey completed! Er...

Zambezi and Musolole are now in a national park, which is amazing.

Um, and they’re in amongst eight other elephants

who’ve been here for some time,

and we can see them now, er, you know, foraging peacefully side by side

so it’s a really good indication

that they’re already going to be settling in very quickly.

It’s a huge milestone in the release process,

a step towards living in the wild,

and yeah, and this is going to be their new home!

With Chamilandu

and the other older and more experienced elephants to guide them,

there’s a bright future ahead for these two elephant orphans,

Musolole and Zambezi.

♪

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