Original subtitles

In the heart of a great African wilderness

a tiny lion cub, her eyes still closed and just a few days old

is carried by her mother to a new place of safety

With luck and the help of her family

she will grow up to be a very special lion

Part of a pride who live a very unusual existence

in an extraordinary place

These lions live in the Okavango Delta in Botswana

and they spend more than half the year in a swamp

This remarkable pride does things very differently

from their savannah or woodland-living cousins

Living here means tackling the unique challenges of being

a Swamp Cat

It's the beginning of winter in the Okavango, the driest time of the year

There's been no rain for months, and most of the Okavango is dry, windblown and layered in dust

But despite these, a great gathering is taking place

From miles around,

thousands of buffalo have begun to assemble, in preparation for a great march

For them there is almost no grazing here and little to drink

Elephants gather here too

treading ancient pathways to the few remaining waterholes

Before long, even this precious water is churned to mud

Yet the buffalo appear to be moving even deeper into the parched floodplains

Because they know a dramatic change is on its way

It arrives as tiny tendrils of life

a precious annual flood that will turn the arid plains into a massive swampland

Rain that's fallen in the highlands of Angola 1000 miles away

has taken 4 months to reach the Okavango

It starts slowly as trickles of water creeping over the land

filling a web of dusty pathways, sheeting out across the plains,

spreading into the land of the Swamp Cats

Somewhere here in a secluded woodland, one of the female swamp cats has hidden her newborn cubs

This is Fulani, the most mischievous and playful of three sisters

As most lionesses do, Fulani's mother left the main pride

and hid herself in a safe place, away from male lions and predators

while she gave birth

She and her sister will spend the next few weeks here

raising Fulani and her two siblings

All around them, their home is about to change

In a matter of days,

thousands of square miles of dusty grasslands transform

Muddy waterholes become glistening lagoons

and the vast dry floodplains take on the polished sheen of crystal clear water

Almost overnight, Fulani's sanctuary has become an island

they are now separated by miles of water from their extended family

the swamp cat pride

They roam 100 square miles of this wetland, they're one of the few prides that have learned

to survive the tough conditions of the swamp

1600 lions live in the Okavango region

Most of them live the life typical of savannah lions and avoid the flooded areas

This pride does things differently

At the head of the family are the grandmothers with years of swampland experience

With their older daughters

they form the nucleus of swamp cat pride

a formidable sisterhood bound together by blood ties

The swamp pride is lorded over by a great Kalahari male and his two brothers

While savannah males spend a lot of time away on territorial patrol

these swamp males show unusually high devotion to the pride

spending much of their time with females

In summer, availability of food drops by 80% as prey animals disperse

The pride survives this lean season by splintering into smaller groups

but now, as the flood arrives, they all begin to reunite

But they are still not up to full force

Fulani's mother and her new cubs are still in hiding several miles away

Their sanctuary now surrounded by all manner of new life

Some antelope are in their element here,

these are lechwe, aquatic grazers that have evolved to live in Africa's swamps

Surrounded by water and with hungry mouths to feed

Fulani's mother is forced into the shallows in search of a meal

Lechwe are perfectly at home in the swamp

They have oily waterproof coats and elongated hooves for running over waterlogged ground

Confident that no predator can match their speed in the water

they spend their time in the shallows grazing new swamp grass

Fulani's mother knows that these lechwe are a tough choice for a meal

though she also knows there're ways to increase her chances

Her best bet is to be bold

and to run an inexperienced young lechwe onto dry land

She's been lucky

but she's not going be able to support her small family on such difficult prey

The waters of the Okavango never reach the sea

Instead, they spill out over 6000 square miles of the ancient Kalahari desert

to form the largest inland delta on earth

Desert turns to vibrant swamp

a temporary oasis created by the great winter flood

For little Fulani it's a bewildering time

she's never seen water before

She is curious, but like every cat on earth, she has an instinctive hatred of water

Her mother is intent on getting the cubs into the shallows

Growing up here means that Fulani and her siblings will simply have to get their feet wet

their very survival depends on it

The water is rising

and if they are to join the main pride, their mother will need to move now

Most savannah lion cubs aren't faced with so many challenges early on

but these 6-week-old cubs are straight in at the deep end

They will now have to make an arduous and exhausting journey

across miles of cold, flooded grasslands

Icy water makes progress slow and tiring

Lions aren't designed for this environment

Only minutes into their journey, the lionesses become uneasy

They're being followed

This unknown nomadic male poses a serious threat to the cubs

For little Fulani and her siblings, there's no rest

the shortest routes are through the deepest channels

and with only their noses above water,

the risks of drowning and hypothermia are high

Still their mother urges them on

The young familiar male shadows them until dusk

Now Fulani's group is within striking distance of the main pride

One last fast-flowing channel separates them from home ground

The moment they cross this natural boundary

the male loses confidence and abandons his pursuit

Winter nights in the Okavango can plummet below freezing

and at first light, the swamp is covered with frost

tough conditions for tiny cubs

The soft contact calls of Fulani's mother drift across the dawn

letting the swamp pride know she is coming home

Fulani's first big challenge's over

her mother cautiously leads the cubs towards the pride

She stops at a safe distance

to reassure them she is family and not foe

After several weeks apart, the sisters are reunited

Fulani is immediately at home in the accompany of cousins large and small

She will be introduced to lion behavior

that is very different from traditional lion families

Lions elsewhere have very separate and rigidly enforced territories

Perhaps because of the unpredictable flood and dry land being a short supply

lion prides in the swamp appear to be less aggressive towards each other

and they actually share the islands

Uniquely, the swamp pride's home range

might overlap by as much as 80% with a neighboring pride

So rather than patrolling borders and scrapping with the neighbors

the swamp pride males spend more time socializing with the rest of the family

The pride will need this level of cooperation

if they are to make a success of life in the swamp

Under the watchful eye of the old grandmothers, Fulani already has a head start

Although this pride male may be a little daunting for Fulani now,

one day she will form a bond as special with him as she has with her mother

Fulani is still dependant on her mother's milk

soon she will start to eat meat

and that's when she will need the support of the extended family

The last two absent females accompanied by a young male, head back towards the pride

For the entire summer, they've been on their own trying to hunt down whatever they could find

But lions are far less effective in small groups

so they end up stealing much of their food from more successful hunters

Hyenas are perhaps the most adaptable predators in the swamp

On the east African plains, it's the lions that tend to make the kills

but here the lions are often cast in the role of scavengers

At full force,

the swamp cat pride now has the muscle-power to tackle extremely large prey

and they've brought down an adult giraffe during the night

Giraffe are one of the few large animals left in the flooded plains

yet incredibly the swamp pride had worked out how to pull down this powerful animal

Fulani climbs in for her first tentative taste of meat alongside her father

Elsewhere pride males rarely allow youngsters so close at the kill

but the swamp pride males show remarkable levels of tolerance

This feast is unusual and will tide them over for a while

but the prey they really depend on has yet to arrive

As the flood continues to rise and spill out across the land

it reaches its highest level for 20 years

pushing out most of the grazing animals

After several weeks of trekking the great herds of buffalo finally begin to appear in the swamp

streaming in sinuous lines across the flooded grasslands

Their goal is the new sweet grass, nourished by the floodwaters

These herds are constantly on the move across the swamp

searching out fresh grazing

And, keenly awaiting their return are the swamp cats

After the hardships of the last few months, suddenly there's potential prey everywhere

But hunting these buffalos is not for the faint-hearted

Stalking very deep in the swamp is far more demanding than on dry land

and tackling the highly dangerous African buffalo

is a task that only experience and weight of numbers can achieve

It will be a testing time for the lions especially the youngest in the pride

From now one the swamp cats will be constantly on the move

to stay within range of the buffalo

and little Fulani and the other cubs will be forced to keep up

no matter how exhausting and treacherous the journey

In front are the wise old grandmothers who are veterans of the game

How well they use their knowledge and experience will determine

the survival of Fulani and the rest of the pride

The grandmothers maintain a relentless pace

as they lead the pride from island to island on the trail of the buffalo

On a welcome patch of dry land

Fulani and her cousins take the rare opportunity to romp

a brief lapse in concentration that has serious consequences

Fulani becomes separated from the group

The pride drawn by the distant sound of buffalo presses on

unaware that Fulani is missing

A yelps are muffled by the sounds of the swamp

And her mother's scent trail is lost in the water

Naturally, Fulani's mother hears a faint cry

Neither mother nor cub is sure of direction

and their paths diverge in the swamp

Fulani is in real danger

Small cubs separated from the protection of the pride

for even a short time are killed by hyenas, crocodiles or leopards

or simply succumb to cold and exhaustion

In the Okavango more than half the cubs die before they are even 12 weeks old

Despite her frantic searching, Fulani's mother cannot find her lost cub

As dusk approaches, the rest of the pride stop trailing the buffalo and settle down to wait

Fulani's mother won't give up her search

The hours of darkness are the most dangerous for an unprotected lion cub

with many predators on the prowl

The little cub has survived the night

but she is frightened and confused

During the night the pride has joined Fulani's mother in the search

And now they can hear the cub's desperate calls

Fulani's misadventure has cost the pride valuable time and energy

A day's gap is opened up between them and the buffalo

The herd is many islands and water crossings away

And the swamp pride needs to make up ground

When the exhausted cubs begin to slow the pride down

the females are forced to leave them

All lions leave small cubs alone while hunting

but it's a much tougher situation for Fulani and the other cubs

The swamp pride may be away for days tracking the buffalo

so the cubs must wait quietly for fear of attracting hyenas

Out on these floodplains, the swamp cats

face far more hunting challenges than most lions

There is so little cover

that an ambush is difficult to set up

Stalking low in the water is impossible

But they still need to rely on stealthy and surprise

So the swamp cats have had to master the art of approaching quietly in water

Even if they can get close,

the lion's main weapon - explosive speed is severely hampered in the shallows

Buffalo are clever, powerful and dangerous

They are also strong swimmers

so the pride needs to employ special tactics

As the lions close in and the buffalo's own noisy progress through the water

marks the sound of the lions' approach

These swamp-specialists have learned through bitter experience

not to attempt an attack in the water

They carefully maneuver around the herd

two females swim round to cut off any escape route

The pride inches into position

concentrating on a small group with a calf

They wait until the buffalo edge onto dry land before springing the ambush

But the buffalo know exactly how to respond by heading for deep water

Despite the size of the pride,

most buffalo hunts in water end like this

Nine out of 10 hunts fail

The swamp cats regroup and get back on the buffalos' trail

They will shadow the herd and wait for another chance

Each side understands the inevitable and ongoing contest

As the shadows lengthen, the lions settle down prepared to play a waiting game

Darkness brings cover

and at night, the buffalo tend to spend more time on dry islands than in the water

giving the swamp cats an edge

Hunting by moonlight

these two adversaries play out an ancient game of cat and mouse

Only this time, the mouse weighs nearly a ton

and is heavily armed

All night long, the 3 males harass the resilient buffalo herd

When the dawn comes, there's no kill, but there's a victim

An old bull is down,

exhausted by the lions' persistent attacks

Some of the buffalo cows have banded together and stand by him

presenting a united and intimidating front to the waiting lions

But eventually the cows recognize the old bull's time is up

and abandon him to his fate

He rises to his feet for one last defiant stand

There's no rush

both the hunters and the hunted sense that the outcome is now inevitable

As the adults settle down to feed

Fulani's mother goes back to fetch all the junior members of the pride

This is Fulani's first taste of buffalo

And she joins in alongside the adults

All show remarkable tolerance towards each other

Fulani soon learns the tricky art of picking the bones clean

Because each buffalo is so hard won, the swamp cats won't waste a thing

There will be nothing left for the vultures

An old female meticulously buries the entrails

disguising any smell that would carry on the wind and attract hyenas

Fulani watches and learns

but more importantly, the meal has bought the pride some time to relax

Lions are the only social big cats

and none are more sociable than the swamp cats

Playing is important for forming alliances,

and the special cooperation

that the pride need for killing dangerous animals like the buffalo

Fulani will need a little bit more weight

and tackling experience before she will be taken seriously

A few weeks later, at the height of the winter season

over 70% of the swamp pride's home range is under water

The waterlogged land lies under a blanket of mist in the cold morning air

This is when the great Okavango is at its most spectacular

Emerald green grasses grow through the floodwaters

and the areas between the isolated islands are crisscrossed

with a web of trails left by animals

as they move through this complex wetland

In the intervening weeks,

the swamp pride has managed to pull down a few buffalo

and Fulani is growing into a strong and independent cub

One of the most intense periods of her young life is about to begin

The water is now so deep that the great buffalo herds break up into smaller groups

and begin to disperse, making them harder to find

The swamp cat pride are so reliant on the buffalo to keep them in good shape

that they must venture into the deeper swamp and take whatever opportunities they can

Only by being able to swim and follow the buffalo, can the swamp cats survive here

The pressure is on for the cats, because the season is drawing to an end

The buffalo begin to move out of the swamp cats' territory

and soon they will be gone

Time is running out for the lions

Fulani and the other cubs will go with them

it will be her greatest challenge yet

Hours of swimming with the pride across the deepest part of the swamp

Leading once again will be the grandmothers

they remember the best places to cross deep fast flowing channels

They can anticipate how to play the swamp to their advantage

and they know where these last isolated groups of buffalo might be found

Fulani's ability to learn the tricks of being a swamp cat now

will determine whether she will succeed or fail in years to come

She must learn to find safe crossings

how to stalk prey, the best ways to conserve heat and energy

where crocs will be lurking.

How to take part in an ambush

In other words, the problems of being a cat that lives in water

The swamp cats have followed the last big herd

to one of the large dry islands on the very edge of their home range

Now they prepare an ambush

The cubs are far too small to approach aggressive buffalo who would kill them on sight

so they're left close by to watch and learn

Fulani has a grandstand view

Each lioness maneuvers carefully into position surrounding the buffalo

Some hide and patiently wait

Others begin a flanking movement to get behind the herd

Every cat moves closer, waiting for the buffalo to panic

Soon the floodwaters will start to recede

and the delta will turn once more towards desert

In these summer months, Fulani will become a young adult

During the dry season, the pride will split up

and Fulani will shadow her mother learning to hunt

honing her skills in the swamp

So that by the time the annual floodwaters arrive again

and the swamp pride reunites for the next great buffalo season

Fulani will be an accomplished hunter and a successful swamp cat

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