All language subtitles for Cheetah Family and Me 1080p BBC

This is the Kalahari.

And I have come here to get to know

one of the most extraordinary
animals on the planet,

one of the most
proficient predators,

one of the most beautiful cats
in the world -

the cheetah.

The world's fastest land animal

goes from 0 to 60 in three seconds.

Despite their supreme speed,

these predators
are surprisingly vulnerable.

You know, I just realise
how difficult,

how challenging life is
for a mother cheetah.

Everything's stacked against them.

Across Africa,
cheetah numbers are collapsing

so I'm following two families -

Savannah and her four cubs,

and Chilli,
with her newborn kittens -

to see what threatens
their survival.

This is my first opportunity
to truly get to know

cheetah in the wild,

and the most exciting part of that

is I'm going to be doing it on foot.

On foot, I'll experience
the same dangers they do

and get caught up
in unfolding wild cheetah drama.

This is one of the most
extraordinary things I've ever seen.

Immersed in cheetah family life...

I'm feeling somewhat
surrounded here.

..I hope to learn how we can protect
these cats for the future.

At the start of the 20th century,

there was estimated to be
100,000 cheetah in the wild.

Today, the numbers could be
as low as 7,000.

7,000 wild cheetahs
across this vast continent.

Cheetahs have vanished from over
90% of their historic range.

So I've come to South Africa

to understand why they're
disappearing.

And it's here, at Tswalu Reserve
in the Kalahari,

where I can get close enough
to wild cheetahs

to experience life
from their perspective.

Just stunningly beautiful.

Tswalu stretches across
1,000 square kilometres

of the Kalahari wilderness.

It's not known exactly
how many cheetahs live in Tswalu.

Africa's most endangered big cat
can be hard to spot.

But there is one cheetah mum
known to the rangers here

who could be the perfect cat
to get close to.

At the moment, she's in a place
inaccessible to vehicles

but there's another
effective means to find her.

It's an amazing way to see
the Kalahari, on horseback.

It's beautiful.

I've been on horses many times,

but never in Africa, in fact.

Richard Satekge is a cheetah expert

and conservationist at the reserve.

We'll just keep us...
keep our eyes open... Yeah.

..for tracks.

Have you seen cheetah up actually
in the dunes here before?

Yeah, this is... Oh, really? Wow.

We always see the tracks of them,
As they come here,

they will use the dune as a...
Lookout, yeah.

..lookout point.

Having worked here for 20 years,

Richard has forged
a trusting relationship

with three generations
of a cheetah family,

making them potentially
approachable on foot.

My whole mission really is
to understand the cheetahs' world

and to not do that from the
confines of a four-wheel drive.

This is one of the very few places
in Africa

when you can actually get down
on the ground, on foot,

and follow truly wild cheetah.

So you reckon that these
cheetah are still in the area?

Yeah. They're still in the area.

See, these tracks are very fresh.
Yeah.

But in this bushy landscape,

these signs can be hard to follow,

even for an expert tracker
like Richard.

Oh, yeah. Just look, look,
look, look, look, look.

Look! There they are.

Fantastic. Look at that.

My first Kalahari cheetah.

HORSE WHINNIES

OK, boy, steady.

Do you know
there's a big cat in there?

This is Savannah.

She's eight years old

and mum to four six-month-old cubs

hidden somewhere in the thicket.

You beauty.

Beautiful, fully grown
mother cheetah.

I don't want to get too close.

I think you might be a little bit
restless, this horse.

I wonder if you can smell the cat.

The bush is too dense
for the horses.

To spot her cubs...

Good boy.

..I need to go in on foot.

Good lad. Good lad.

OK. I'm going to go
and check out these cheetah, OK?

I want to understand this family's
struggle for survival.

The best way to do that
is to walk alongside them.

The success of Gordon's mission

depends mostly on the
first encounter.

Gordon has to be very careful.

There's a comfort zone
that Gordon mustn't go through.

If he breaks the comfort zone,

she's not going to like it.

Savannah gave birth to five cubs,

but one recently went missing,

possibly killed by a leopard.

So she's likely to be
especially protective.

If I'm to gain her trust,
I'll need to tread carefully.

If Gordon corners Savannah,

we're talking like
if there was no big space

and then Savannah, she doesn't
have anywhere to run to

and she's got cubs,

Savannah, she's going to go
straight and attack Gordon.

OK, I'm good to go.

Home to the world's
most dangerous animals,

walking in South Africa's reserves
is rarely allowed.

ANIMAL CALLS

But I've been granted
special permission.

My senses are on high alert.

BIRD CAWS

And there's something about
being out here.

Every little noise,
every little bird that flutters,

every twig that snaps,

it feels, um, amplified.

I think it's just that your senses
are heightened

when there's that sort of
possibility of danger.

ANIMAL ROARS

There's a hyena over here.

Less happy about that.

But if those calls get any closer,

I'm going to pull out of here.

HYENAS CALL

It's making me
a little bit uncomfortable.

And walking through the bush

and trying to get close to a cheetah
is one thing

but I'm not that keen
about bumping into some hyena.

With a reputation as scavengers,

hyenas are also formidable predators
with a bone-crushing bite.

They can take down prey
much larger than me.

Dunno how far away they are,
maybe...

It sounds like they're maybe a
couple of hundred metres.

HYENAS CALL

Right, I'm going to keep...
Oh, here we go.

You beauty.

It's a big jumble of spots,

occasional sort of flicks of tails,

and then, at the moment, I can see

four very beautiful little faces

staring right back at me.

This is Savannah's third litter.

The boldest of her four cubs
is Suma.

True to form, she emerges
to check me out.

Beautiful.

OK, don't be afraid,
don't be afraid.

At six months old,
Suma looks strong and healthy,

but she's still small and dependent
on mum for another year.

I'd really like to know
where their mum is.

Knowing that Savannah would stop
at nothing to defend her cubs,

I need to be careful.

A little bit worried
that she might be behind me.

The last thing I want to do
is get between her and her cubs.

OK.

HE INHALES SHARPLY

She's not going to be far away
from them.

At the moment, it's quite hot,

so I don't think she's going to
be off...off hunting.

Oh, there you go!

There she is.

And the best thing of all is

she is completely relaxed.

So you must be...

You must be Savannah.

Ah, this makes me very happy.

I think to be on foot

and be so close to an animal
like this

when it knows that you're here
and it's accepting of your presence,

that is really...

..that's very special.

And I'm hoping that over the days
and weeks and months,

I'm going to be able to get to know
this cat and her cubs.

Now she's comfortable with me,
I want to follow her

to understand the dangers
of raising a family here.

BIRDSONG

Overnight, Savannah and her cubs
have moved from where I left them.

With a territory
of 300 square kilometres,

I'm hoping she hasn't
travelled too far.

But I don't need to see her
to follow her.

It's really quite easy
to follow the cheetahs

because they're leaving
really nice tracks in the sand.

So we've got them here.

I want to find out how Savannah
provides for her family.

Cheetah mothers have it tough.

Over the course
of a year and a half,

they need to rear their cubs
to independence single-handedly.

So Savannah's on her own.

There's just a single set
of adult cheetah tracks here.

The cubs must be back there.

And I reckon she's hunting.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, look at this.

See this one deep, deep, deep mark?

She's suddenly put on
a burst of...

..a burst of speed and headed off
in this direction.

So this is where
she's started to run

and she's picking up the pace.

There's like two metres
between these tracks.

All of them are deep,
very well defined.

She's at full tilt here.

That's like three metres
between that footprint and this one.

The cheetahs' incredibly
flexible spine

allows their front legs
to stretch far forward,

propelling them up to seven metres
in a single stride.

So she could well have reached
like 40mph

in the last three strides.

By this point,
it's hard to find the tracks

cos they're so well spaced out.

It's like nearly four metres
between that print and this one.

So she's probably tipping the...

..tipping the accelerator
about 70mph,

possibly in under,
or just round about, three seconds.

And she's going full pelt.

Running, running, running.

A straight line at the moment.

So here,

whatever she's been after

knows that she's there.

Lots of scuffles here,

but she hasn't brought it down yet.

There'd be a little sort of...
Oh, that scuff mark,

that's where she's been
sort of jinking

and doing a bit of twisting.

She's gone straight here.

Where, where, where, where,
where, where?

Cos she's still here,
she's still in hot pursuit

and she's kind of leapt across
this road in a single bound.

More tracks here.

More tracks here.

Oh, she... There she is.
There she is!

Look, look!

She's got something.

Still alive.

You can see it's still breathing.

But she's done a great job.

Cheetahs are undeniably fast
but they're lightly built,

which means almost every
other predator -

hyenas, lions and leopards -

can muscle in and steal their kills.

OK, she's off with it.

Right, where are you taking it,
girl?

Trying to get a little bit
more cover, a bit more privacy.

Any predator
attracted to the carcass

could kill her cubs,
and she's already lost one.

SAVANNAH YIPS

OK, she's yipping,
trying to call the cubs

and she's...
SAVANNAH YIPS

I think with this wind
they're not hearing her.

I don't know where they...

I don't know where they are
and she doesn't know where they are.

Cheetahs communicate
with this high-pitched call.

They sound more like a bird
than a big cat.

It's a vocal disguise
that helps keep cubs safe,

but still
only 10% survive to adulthood.

SHE YIPS

She's looking pretty nervous.

I suppose every minute
that she spends away from the cubs

she's going to get
more and more nervous,

more and more concerned about them.

It's not just leopards
that are known to inhabit this area.

Wild dogs, baboons and hyenas

are also a real danger
to Savannah's cubs.

ANIMAL ROARS IN DISTANCE

SAVANNAH YIPS

Oh, right, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Here they are.

At long last.

So the cubs were on the other side

and they're going to
work their way round.

The bold cub, Suma,
races back to her mum.

She seems to be the leader
of the pack.

It's a happy day for the family.

The cubs are ravenous,

but Savannah's only brought down
a young oryx.

This meal won't sustain
her cubs for long.

Six-month-old cheetah cubs

need to eat 1kg of meat daily,

so Savannah needs to be making
big kills every other day.

A tall order in today's Kalahari.

Climate change has brought
a devastating drought to the region.

So how serious is this drought
in your experience,

across your life,
as far as you can remember?

It's quite serious. This has been
going for ten years now.

And how have the cheetah
been affected?

They have been affected
very seriously.

With the drought,

we don't have enough grass cover,

then you just have bare ground.

Bare ground means no food

and then that becomes
a serious issue for the antelope.

And when the grazing animals suffer,

so do cheetahs.

They depend on a healthy population
to feed their cubs,

but antelope here aren't breeding
in big enough numbers.

In South Africa,

temperatures are rising
at twice the global average rate,

so the problems facing cheetahs

are not confined to the arid plains
of the Kalahari.

I want to see how other cheetah mums
are coping

with South Africa's
changing climate.

At Samara Reserve
in the Great Karoo wilderness,

800km to the south,

cheetah kittens have been born.

Head ranger Julius Mkhize
is keeping up with the new arrivals.

Rowan. Rowan. Come in, Rowan.

ROWAN: Standing by, Julius.

Yeah, Rowan, have you located
the signal of Chilli?

This cheetah mum
wears a radio collar

so she's easily tracked
and monitored by researchers.

This is Chilli.

She's a year older than Savannah

and also on her third litter.

But with newborns, the challenges
in keeping them fed and safe

are even more intense.

Chilli is our alpha female
here at Samara Game Reserve.

She was also born here.

At the moment, we have a litter
of kittens that is seven weeks old.

Then those kittens are so wonderful
and they are fluffy

and you just want to cuddle them.

For the first six weeks
of their lives,

Chilli kept them hidden away
from predators in thick cover.

But now they're more mobile,

Chilli has moved them into the open.

This is a time when
they're at their most vulnerable.

Some of the kittens
more than others.

While Chilli's biggest, Chasa,
never leaves her side...

..her smallest, Chebe,
is often on the sidelines.

Chebe is the runt of the litter
and the last to feed.

Five rapidly growing cubs
require a steady supply of milk,

so Chilli should be
making a kill every day.

It hasn't been easy for Chilli.

It's been almost four days now
that she hasn't caught anything.

She's been trying -
not that she hasn't been trying -

she has been trying,
but my worry now is that her milk

is actually running low,

which then will affect
the growth of the youngsters

because they, at this stage,

they depend a lot on milk
to grow as quick as they can.

So it's a bit worrying for me
to see her in this condition.

To make matters worse,

rising temperatures have
brought extreme weather to Samara.

Heavy rains followed a drought,

bringing with them a
swarm of locusts.

All of a sudden, we had this
pandemic of locusts

that just took over everything.

When you have these locusts
that are eating everything,

it will move the prey species
from areas

where cheetahs would have actually
thrived very well

into new areas.

So, yeah, it's quite a challenge
for everybody.

There's no food here,
so Chilli must follow the prey

that have scattered to the south
of the reserve.

The kittens are very young
to be travelling,

but as an experienced mum,

Chilli is taking a calculated risk.

While intrepid Chasa
is at Chilli's heels...

..little Chebe lags behind,

struggling to keep up.

She's got no choice.

She's been here for nearly four,
five days without any success.

She has to move out of this area.

She's thin,
her milk levels are running low

so we'll go just watch
and see what happens.

On their journey,

they must pass through
the territories of lions...

LOW GROWL

..elephants...

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

..and buffalo,

none of which will welcome
a new predator in their midst.

For the kittens,

this will be the challenge
of their young lives.

Chilli's about to take
her newborn kittens

on an epic journey to find food.

And my big fear is that
they won't all make it.

Seeing Chilli's approach
to parenting

really contrasts with Savannah's.

Both of these cheetah mums are
struggling to feed their families,

but while Chilli's on the move,

Savannah is staying put,

despite the scarcity of prey.

Savannah might just be
playing it safe.

I'm going to hold here
for a little while.

Savannah is 100%
in hunt mode this morning.

I think she's ditching the cubs,

or trying to encourage
the cubs to stay behind.

Their last meal was two days ago,

so Savannah needs
to make a kill soon.

See, their bellies are empty.

If she has an opportunity to hunt
before it gets too hot,

I think she'll take it.

Savannah scans the landscape

for the Kalahari cheetah's
preferred meal,

antelope such as steenbok
and springbok.

Cheetahs' light build and speed

makes them the most successful
large predator on Earth,

with an impressive 50% kill rate.

But their slender bone structure

means they can be easily injured
by their prey.

And she's walking through this grass
and brush, the head up high,

absolute focus.

Keeping an eye out.

Scanning all around.

It's beginning to get
a little bit exciting.

OK, off she goes. Right.

And I don't want to lose her.
I'm going to move on.

It's quite difficult to actually see
what's happening all of the time.

She keeps on appearing and then
disappearing into the brush.

So the cubs have been ditched,

they've been told to stay over here.

She's definitely going to
try and hunt something.

With the scarcity of prey
and four young to feed,

she can't afford
to miss an opportunity.

OK, she's seen something.

DRAMATIC MUSIC

She's making a dash for it.
I can't see what it is.

It might be a duiker.

Nope.

She didn't get it.

Whoa!

But that was close!

OK, I'm going to catch up with her.

The hunt may be over

but something else
has caught their attention.

There's a wildcat there!

My God! Look, look, look, look,
look, look!

The cubs have spotted a wildcat.

African wildcats may be small

but they're lightning fast
and ferocious.

God almighty, look at that.

It's a bit of
a Mexican standoff here.

Wildcats have razor-sharp claws

so the cubs need to watch their step
and their eyes.

HISSING

But Suma is undeterred.

WILDCAT ROARS

I wouldn't go too close.

I would not go too close.
I don't know where mum is.

It's ridiculous!

OK, she's back.

Right, Savannah's having a look.

Be careful, be careful,

be careful, be careful.

Oh! I'm...

Poor thing must be pretty terrified.

The family appears unsure
about what they're up against.

And a cat like that,

hissing in that way,
with very sharp claws,

they're likely to get a scratch
on the nose if they're not careful.

It does look decidedly mean, though.

I wouldn't want to mess with it.

HISSING AND ROARING

Savannah and the cubs seem to have
come to the same conclusion

and leave the wildcat in peace.

Every day with a cheetah

is utterly unpredictable.

Pretty magical in its own way.

This is one of the most
extraordinary things I've ever seen.

As night falls,
the family bed down unscathed,

but with empty stomachs.

Given their hunger,

I'm expecting Savannah to hunt
at first light.

So I'm going to sleep out
near the family.

It's actually quite scary,

the prospect of sleeping out
in the dark of a Kalahari night.

I suppose this is about as close
to nature as you can get.

Not in a tent,
just sleeping out under the stars.

And it's kind of at that shift,
the sun has just set

and all of the daytime animals
are bedding down and going to sleep

and they are replaced by
a whole range of other species

and other creatures that live their
entire lives at night-time.

It's quite a dangerous time
for a cheetah.

Hopefully not for me,
sleeping out like this.

Generally when you go to bed,

all your worries are over

and you just put off the light
and fall asleep,

whereas tonight,

I do have one or two concerns
about the things

that might be creeping
and crawling and prowling

and slithering about at night-time.

ANIMAL CALLS

ANIMAL CALLS

One of the few benefits...

HE YAWNS
Excuse me.

..of sleeping out at night-time

is you get to...
HE YAWNS

..look up at the stars

and wake up in the morning,

the sun just coming up behind me

and hopefully a five-minute search
for the cheetahs.

Cross fingers.

Shouldn't take long.

So I'm just going to pack up my
bed,

hit the trail.

But Savannah
and the cubs have vanished.

Driven by hunger,

it seems she's made the risky move
to hunt before dawn,

when other predators
are on the prowl.

Richard and I want to find her
as quickly as possible.

So is that one set of tracks here?

This one seems to be like
an adult female.

So you think it's a mother
with cubs?

Ja. It's a mother with cubs.

So how many sets of cub tracks
have we got?

Have we got all four?

There's another set of tracks.

Now it's the third one. This one.

So you think
there might only be three cubs?

Ja, it's only three cubs
with one sub-adult female,

so we are missing one.

I mean, if this is Savannah

and she's only...
there's only three cubs with her,

that's not great news. Ja.

But if there are only three cubs
with this female here

that we've found the tracks of,

I...I hope it's not Savannah.

I hope it's a
different...different female.

I think we just keep on searching.

Shall we get back in the vehicle
and just have a look around? Ja.

To the south, in Samara,

Chilli is trekking across the plains

to get to the feeding grounds.

Her tiny kittens have no choice
but to try and keep up.

Head ranger Julius Mkhize
and his team

are tracking the family's movements,

while I search for Savannah
up north.

We were caught by surprise
to actually see

Chilli travelling
such vast distances.

She actually covered about 10km.

I mean, with babies of
about seven weeks old,

that's unheard of.

I mean, I've never experienced it
in my 20 years of guiding.

So I think desperate times
account for desperate measures,

which is why she is engaging in such
long walks with these young kittens.

And, yeah, it's a bit worrying.

Hunger drives Chilli onwards.

Chasa, the boldest cub,
is keeping up with mum.

But Chebe, the runt of the litter,

is struggling to maintain the pace.

It's especially worrying,

as they're about to come up
against a hazard -

a deep thicket of acacia.

So she needs to get to
a different area,

which, unfortunately for her,
she has to go through this thicket,

which is very dangerous.

This is the territory
of a large pride of lions -

deadly predators of cheetahs.

LION ROARS

But lions are not the only threat
to the family's survival.

Well, in the thicket, there's a lot
of things that she can encounter.

Elephants love the acacia thickets

cos they feed on acacias,
which are very nutritious trees,

so those could also pose a threat.

There's also a lot of grasses
which then attract buffalos.

And buffalos, we know they are very
notorious at actually trampling

on the young baby predators
and all of that.

So those are the risk factors
that she's facing

going through this thicket
over here.

If she's to feed her family,

Chilli has to navigate
through the thicket

to the prey-rich area
on the other side.

Her best bet is to proceed
with caution

and keep a low profile.

Nature has given newborn cheetahs
a helping hand to deter predators.

Their fuzzy grey mane aids
in camouflage

and mimics
the fearsome honey badger.

BIRD CAWS

But it doesn't fool the pied crow.

The vervet monkeys join in
with a special alarm call,

warning of a predator on the ground.

Prey is almost in sight.

But for the safety of her kittens,

Chilli has no choice
but to hunker down and hide.

Once again,
little Chebe is last to arrive,

and just in the nick of time.

Tired, hungry and surrounded,

all Chilli can do is sit it out
and hope no-one discovers them.

Chilli is definitely more confident,

more self-assured as a mum
than Savannah.

She's raised nine cubs
to independence in the past

versus Savannah's five.

She's much more prepared to take
what seems like an incredible risk.

But the life of a cheetah,
regardless of experience,

is never free from danger.

Back in the Kalahari,

Richard and I have spent five days

looking for Savannah and her cubs.

We've only found signs
of three cubs, not four.

Another team of trackers has
joined us in the search effort.

Eventually, we get the call...

..and it's not good news.

Richard's got onto the radio,
we've hooked up with him.

He has found one of her cubs.

Oh, there it is. There it is.

Aw, man.

Very sad. Yeah.

Poor thing.

Suma, Savannah's most confident cub,
has been killed by a leopard.

The lack of prey means competition
between predators is intense.

Each predator wants to remove
that competition.

I didn't see that coming at all.

You can see right there,

that's where...got strangled there.

She couldn't have a chance.

Yeah...

Nature's cruel.

Nature, it's cruel.

Being a cheetah, it's not easy.

You know, it's sad.

Yeah.

It's very sad,

but where nature take
its own course.

Yeah. You know,
you can't control it.

I mean, like, this is...

It's nature, it's competition
between two predators, you know.

Out of the four cubs,

Suma was the most bold.

She was the first one to do things

that the other cubs were
more scared of,

so in this situation,
it might have been her character,

her sort of lack of fear
that has resulted in her...

..her death.

You know, being nervous,
being cautious is a good thing

for a cheetah cub

and I just hope that
the other cubs are OK.

Yeah. We just have to keep looking.

Yeah.

Let's go look for Savannah's tracks.

I'm really worried about Savannah's
other cubs.

God forbid it, but the same thing
could have happened to...

..more than one of her cubs.

You know, I just realise
how...difficult,

how challenging life is
for a mother cheetah -

to find food
for four hungry, growing cubs,

to keep them all safe.

Everything's stacked against them.

The next morning,
we're on the road again,

back in search of Savannah's family.

My fear is that Suma might not be
the only victim of the leopard.

And if Savannah tried
to defend her cubs,

she may have been injured too.

WHISPERS: There they are.
Oh, right, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Here they are.

Just nestled down in the bush here.

It's great to see them,

but I'm worried about
what I might find.

We know that she lost Suma

but there's nothing to say,
with the pressure in this area,

that she couldn't have lost
more of her cubs.

She's in quite thick bushes here.

And just to reassure myself,
I want to see that she's...

..that all three cubs are with her.

I can't tell whether there's
two cubs or three cubs.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, three!
We've got three!

Yeah. Great.

HE SIGHS

That's such a relief.

Three cubs unharmed.

And I'm relieved to see Savannah is
uninjured too.

We tend to think of cheetahs
as being this ultimate predator,

but they're not invincible.

The fact that cheetah give birth to
five cubs is their insurance policy

because not all of them make it.

And I think for Savannah,

I thought it was amazing
that she still had four cubs

at eight months old
when I first met her

and I thought that they were
maybe out of danger,

and it just shows you that life
for a cheetah family

is never, never easy.

But I do worry about Savannah -

she's a great mum,
she's an amazing hunter,

but unless there are rains
in this area,

things are going to get harder
and harder and harder.

And the more difficult it is
for her to catch food,

the less chance
her cubs will survive.

PURRING

Back in Samara,
Chilli has risked a long journey

through a landscape full of danger.

After a long night stranded
in a thicket,

the elephant herd that trapped
the hungry family has moved on.

Chilli last made a kill
five days ago.

This family needs to eat.

Luckily, beyond the acacia woodland,

the open plains teem with springbok.

Her kittens are starving hungry,
so she must take her chances.

With dwindling energy,

Chilli must choose her target
wisely...

..but the kittens, especially
the bold cub, Chasa,

are a distraction.

They don't understand the rules
of the hunt.

SPRINGBOK CALL

Her prey are near Samara's
boundary fence,

which might be to her advantage.

Her target is trapped.

Success.

It's a meal at last for Chilli.

Her gamble in travelling so far with
such young kittens has paid off.

The kittens are digging in

and this time Chebe is not
on the sidelines.

Around this age, six weeks,
kittens are old enough

to have their first taste of meat.

For Julius,
this is an exciting moment.

She's just caught her first
springbok after a long time

and we've just been witnessing
youngsters nibbling on that carcass,

which is actually exciting

cos that's what we've been
wanting to see,

whether they are actually going to
eat meat

or they're still reliant on milk.

But it seems like she's introducing
them into meat

and it's quite exciting times.

Mum is full
and we are no longer worried

that she will run out of milk,
as we were before.

And the youngsters look happy,
they're jumping up and down.

I see their tummies are actually
quite full.

So everybody's happy - I'm happy,

Chilli's happy, kittens are happy.

Chilli's risk has paid off.

She took her kittens
on this epic journey

and at times it looked really bleak,

but all five have survived...

..and she's managed to make
that all-important kill.

When you're up against
climate change,

you have to adapt your strategy
to survive,

even if it means risking it all.

THUNDER CRASHES

Soon I'll have to leave
the Kalahari,

and after the long and brutal
drought,

change is on the horizon.

Rain, glorious rain!

This is what we've been waiting for.

This is exactly what Savannah
has been...has been waiting for.

THUNDER RUMBLES

Have to cover up a bit.

This is really quite pleasant.

The arrival of these rains is
really important

for this entire ecosystem.

The grass is going to start
to sprout -

this whole places is
going to green up

if the rains continue.

The more grass there is,
the more vegetation,

the more food there is
for the herbivores,

they start doing well,

they start producing more young

and the better it is
for the cheetah.

This is the most relaxed and playful
I've seen Savannah's family.

So where I come from in Scotland,

it rains a lot and the rain makes
people a bit depressed.

So how does the rain make people
feel here?

Here in the Kalahari,
the rain makes them happy.

THEY CHUCKLE

That's why you can see also
with the cheetahs,

they're not even under the shelters.

They're enjoying this.

The rain gives me hope for Savannah
and her cubs.

This should be the beginning
of the rainy season.

In the Kalahari, the plants
and animals are adapted

to act quickly in response to water.

This arid landscape is transformed
in a matter of days.

When I first arrived here,

this place was brown and dusty,

completely barren,

but after just a few huge downpours,
it's sprung into life.

It's a sea of colour,
a sea of green.

The benefits are profound.

Every living thing, every insect,

every plant, every bird,
every predator benefits from it.

This rain has really given
this place a new lease of life.

It's great to see Savannah
making the most of this change

in the weather.

Following this family so closely has

shown me how these beautiful cats

live on a knife's edge

every single day.

It's such a roller-coaster ride.

This kill could not have come

at a better time.

They are all so hungry.

Just before I'm leaving Kalahari,

it is amazing, it's incredible

to see that she's still able
to provide for her cubs,

even in the toughest of times.

Savannah and Chilli have shown me
how the planet we are changing

is making the already hard life
of a cheetah mum even harder.

While the rains have arrived

and will offer some reprieve
for Savannah,

her family still face
an uncertain future.

Cheetah aren't just the fastest
land mammal on Earth,

I think they are the animal
that maybe has to put up with

the most amount of stress
and pressure,

and very, very soon

these cubs are going to have to do
all of this on their own

with no-one to look after them,

no-one to look out for them.

Savannah's cubs battle to survive

as they approach independence.

Useba.

Ah, Oma's limping.

She's super skinny.

You can see her hipbones
are jutting out.

Oh, yeah.

And I learn of a radical idea

that could help save
Africa's cheetah families.

This is the last
of what our future have.

If we don't protect it,
it's going to be doomed.

This is the Kalahari,

and I've come here to get to know

one of the most extraordinary
animals on the planet,

one of the most
proficient predators,

one of the most
beautiful cats in the world.

Cheetah.

The world's fastest land animal

goes from 0 to 60
in three seconds.

Despite their supreme speed,

these predators are
surprisingly vulnerable.

You know, I just realise
how difficult, how challenging

life is for a mother cheetah -
everything stacked against them.

Across Africa,
cheetah numbers are collapsing,

so I've been following
two cheetah families

to see what threatens
their survival.

This is my first opportunity
to truly get to know

cheetah in the wild,
and the most exciting part of that

is I'm going to be doing it on foot.

On foot, I'll experience
the same dangers they do.

Last time, I followed Savannah,
who had lost two cubs...

..and confident mother Chilli, with
her newborn kittens now thriving.

This time, I'm sticking
with Savannah,

as her cubs reach a critical point
in their fight to survive...

She's super skinny -

you can see her hip bones
are jutting out.

..and I meet two brothers whose
lives here hang in the balance.

It would be sad if they're
related to Savannah,

cos I'd hate for them to have to be

translocated somewhere else. Yeah.

By following these two families,

I hope to learn what the future
holds for Africa's cheetahs.

I've returned to South Africa, back
to the wilds of the Kalahari.

I'm here to catch up with
Savannah and her three cubs.

I want to find out if these
three fast-growing cubs

have got what it takes to make it
to independence.

Nine months ago, I was accepted
into Savannah's family.

Walking alongside them,
I saw a mother's battle

for her cubs' survival.

Extreme drought led to
a scarcity of food...

..and tragedy struck.

Aww, man!

Poor thing.

I was moved by this
family's struggle,

so I'm back to see if their
fortunes have turned around.

I want to see how the cubs cope

as Mum pushes them towards
eventual independence.

Savannah and the cubs' home
in Tswalu Reserve

lies in the heart of the Kalahari.

I'm back with conservationist
and cheetah expert Richard Satekge.

I'm excited to see the family,

but first we've got
to track them down.

Eagle? And some kind of tracks here.

It looks like they might be
in trouble.

Hyena tracks.

Cheetah tracks there...
Oh, gosh! ..and there.

So she was running.
There's cheetah tracks...

It looks like there was
a little bit of a fight

between the hyenas
and the cheetahs -

a little bit of, er,

activities here, happening here.
Yeah, yeah.

This concerns me.

Attack by hyena is a major cause
of cheetah cub mortality.

What she did there,
she became a little...

..a little skittish... Skidding.
Running from side to side.

Why would she do that?

To try to sort of, like,

offend the other hyenas
just to get away.

But at this moment, the youngsters
could have spread away... Yeah.

..and then Mum trying to defend...

HYENA CACKLES

Listen to that.

What was that?
That is a spotted hyena.

Oh, is it? Yeah.

So they're still here. Yeah.

But I don't think Mum could
handle the two hyenas. Yeah.

Hyenas could easily kill Savannah,
forget about the cubs.

To find signs like this in the sand
is really worrying.

Spotted hyena is a big, powerful,
formidable predator,

and there's clearly been
an altercation,

some kind of encounter here.

Cheetahs are built to run.

They're not built to fight.

I'm really worried
about what we might find.

Richard calls on backup
from the reserve's trackers.

Expanding their search beyond
Savannah's last location,

they make a tragic discovery.

They found the remains of yet
another of Savannah's cubs,

one of her sons, little Motsumi.

It's a sad reminder of
the fragility of these cats.

It's hard not to be upset by that,

um, because it's not just the loss

of one of Savannah's cubs -

cheetah are in such a
critical state in Africa,

that that's a significant loss of
just the death of this cub...

..and it's a huge impact.

A huge loss to cheetahs in Africa.

On average, only two cubs in each
litter survive to independence.

I just hope that Savannah's
remaining two will make it.

The next morning,
I set out to find Savannah,

hopefully with her cubs
Seba and Morwa.

The signs in the sand
are encouraging.

OK, Savannah is
around here somewhere.

There's fresh tracks,

tracks of three cheetah -
one big, two smaller.

So she's very close.

I think she's out
in front of me somewhere.

I move in carefully to reacquaint
myself with the family.

I think they're in the thicket
in front of me,

but I'm a little bit
reluctant at this stage

to go into the thick stuff.

It's been a while since
I've seen her,

I don't want to startle her.

I want her to know that I'm here,
and maybe see me from a distance,

before I try and get any closer.

I've been away for nine months.

I just hope they remember me.

There she is.

Oh, there they all are!

Three of them in a tight cluster

in that little thicket
in front of me.

Seba and Morwa
are now 15 months old,

and the change is striking.

It's wonderful to see her
and both of her cubs,

and the cubs have really grown.

I barely recognise them.

And, looking at them,

there's a size difference
between them and Savannah

but, if you see them individually,

it's very difficult
to tell who's who.

Incredibly, after all this time,

the family seems to be a little
more than interested in my return.

Feeling somewhat surrounded here...

..and, I have to admit,
a little bit uncomfortable.

And the closer these cats get,
the larger they seem to become.

This guy isn't even the biggest,

and he's making me feel
decidedly uncomfortable.

I don't like the way
you're looking at me.

No, you can't eat me.

I hope.

Cheetah cubs become independent
around 18 months old,

and although the cubs
have grown physically,

I want to see if they've
progressed developmentally -

especially when it comes to their
most critical survival skill.

Hunting.

It's quite incredible to think
that, within three months,

these two cubs will be on their own.

And, um, yeah, it's a worry.

Seba and Morwa have
strong instincts,

but becoming a skilled predator

relies on getting
an education from Mum.

OK, she's on the move,
and definitely hunting.

The cubs are a good
50 metres behind,

so I'm going to see if I can
skulk round and keep up with her.

Last time I saw them, the cubs were
left behind when Savannah hunted.

Now, they follow.

She's not picking one direction

and following that route,

she's, um...

..meandering,

sniffing the air,

checking out every thicket.

Savannah weaves through
the landscape.

This could be the cubs' opportunity
to observe a hunting masterclass.

This is when things really ramp up.

This is Savannah telling the cubs

to get involved.

"Follow me.

"When you know I've
caught something, come in

"and help if you can,
but at least get that experience

"of paws on a live animal."

OK, let's go.

She's going into very thick,
bushy area here.

I'll try and skirt round the edge.

But if there's something in here,

she might get lucky.

It's stealth and silence
and persistence

that is going to get her next meal.

To become successful hunters,

the cubs need this lesson
in stealth.

Very intently looking...

..into the bushes.

Given the bushy landscape,
she may well be teaching her cubs

the art of the ambush.

The trees conceal Savannah's attack.

It's a success.

SHE GROWLS

She's taught the cubs,
it's not all about the chase.

She's still not let go
of the jugular.

She's not taking any risks -

even if it appears dead, it might
not necessarily be dead.

We think of cheetahs as high-speed
pursuit predators,

but they're also adaptable
ambush hunters.

In catching a duiker - one of
the Kalahari's smaller antelopes -

she's giving her cubs a chance
to handle live prey.

The cubs help Mum dispatch
the duiker with ease.

The progress they've made since
I last saw them is encouraging,

but they're not quite grown up yet.

After a long afternoon
of feeding and snoozing,

at dusk, Seba and Morwa
get playful.

He's got an obsession
with my rucksack.

It doesn't smell of anything
other than sweaty Scotsman.

But it seems sweaty Scotsman

is like catnip to Morwa.

Don't bite it!

Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah!

No.
MORWA HISSES

You can hiss at my coat,
but just don't bite it.

Hey.

Ps-ps-ps-ps-ps-ps!

Leave it.

Nine months ago,
the cubs kept their distance.

Now, not so much.

Please, no.

No, no, no, no.

That is inedible.

OK, fella, put it down.

Oh, OK. It's three against one.
I get it.

Right. So, Mum's got my camera...

..while you've got my coat,

Seba, you're being reasonably
well-behaved at the moment.

Come on, guys.

Right, just leave it.

Yeah, one wrong move and I could
get myself into trouble here.

OK, gosh.

They're all wide-eyed...and eager.

It's funny, I've seen that
with other cats -

that, when it gets dark,

there's a change in behaviour...

I'm a little bit scared
about what you might do

if I try and push you away
from that.

A bit more.

It's not worth beating up
a Scotsman for.

Come on.

Oh, that's a bit of an
angry-looking face.

Oh, Christ, look at him now.

No, no, no, no.

Shoo!

Shoo!

Scaredy cats!

OK, it's time to call it a day.

See you tomorrow.

Savannah and the cubs' home
seems pristine,

so it's hard to believe
that this place

was not always pure wilderness.

For eight decades,
their territory was farmland -

until the '90s, when the land was
purchased by a British entrepreneur

and re-wilded to create
the Tswalu Reserve.

All that remains
is a lone farmhouse.

Today, farmers are expanding
into cheetah territory

across much of Africa.

I want to understand
how it affects these cats.

Wow, it's kind of eerie.

Knock, knock! Anyone home?

It's a really tough life
to be living out here.

It's quite difficult to live
in this kind of area.

I mean, like, a person who
grew up in this kind of area

should be strong.

Yeah, it's not an easy existence.

There's an article here...

..which is...
Let's see what date is it.

January 16th, 1969.

That's quite interesting.
Gosh, it's just funny thinking,

like, at some point in January 1969,

there was somebody in this house...
Reading this article...

..with no knowledge of the problems
that the world is facing today.

Yeah.

In the 80 years this farm operated,

cheetah numbers plummeted.

50 years ago, this place would have
been full of cows, presumably.

Definitely, in this area
of the Kalahari,

mostly agriculture, it would be
cattle, goats and sheep.

That is going to also
attract predators,

and then that becomes
a problem to balance

for cheetah habitat and farms,

which... It becomes a conflict
between cheetahs and humans.

Richard very politely
touched on the conflict

between farmers and cheetahs.

For as long as human beings
have raised livestock,

there's always been that desire
to eliminate the competition.

If any cheetah was to predate
on people's livestock,

there still exists that chance
that they could be shot or poisoned,

because they're threatening
people's livelihoods.

But it's not just the loss
of cheetahs at the hands of farmers

that led to their dramatic decline.

The cheetahs' territory
became overgrazed,

and their natural prey
all but disappeared.

90% of the habitat, it has been
taken over by human activities,

which is the biggest threat
the cheetah has got.

Across Africa, farms like this

are the main reason
for cheetahs' decline.

The good news is,
this farm and others like it

have been reclaimed for wildlife
in this part of the Kalahari.

It's about 100,000 hectares,

which is surrounded by fences
all along the boundary,

and the fences, that helps
the predators like cheetah

not to go over
to our neighbouring farms.

I think when people think of
somewhere like the Kalahari,

they think of an endless wilderness.

So if I was to walk in any
direction, sooner or later

I would bump into a fence?

Definitely, you're going
to bump into a fence.

And when it comes to cheetahs,

defence reserves like this,
is it working for them?

South Africa is the only country
around the world

where the cheetah population
is increasing. Wow.

So the numbers are going up?
It's working effectively.

Fences in the wilderness
are controversial -

you are, in essence, restricting
the free movement of wild animals.

But when it comes to a vulnerable
species, like the cheetah,

maybe at present,
maybe in the short term,

that is the only viable solution
and it is paying off.

Cheetah numbers are going up.

South Africa is the only
country in the world

that has an increasing
cheetah population.

While Savannah and her cubs
are protected from human conflict,

life here is still a struggle
to survive.

The family haven't eaten
for days.

In search of prey, they've moved to
the very edge of the reserve.

The landscape here is rocky,
mountainous and treacherous

for a pursuit predator.

Terrain like this is the last place

that I would expect
to find a cheetah,

and it's a dangerous move
for a mother

to bring her cubs up here.
Cheetahs are designed for speed.

They've got a delicate bone
structure, they're long-limbed.

To come somewhere like this

with cubs that are still finding
their feet is risky,

because if any of these cheetahs
were to pick up

even a minor injury -
twisted an ankle,

got a leg trapped between the rocks
- that could, in time, prove fatal.

So coming to a place like this
seems a fairly risky strategy.

While Savannah scales
the rock face with ease,

Seba and Morwa struggle
to get a foothold.

They're inexperienced
on this ground.

Savannah might be introducing her
cubs to every area in her territory.

They need to be adaptable
and resilient

if they're to survive
once they leave her care.

At the top, Savannah's lesson
for her cubs becomes clear.

Potential prey move confidently
over the rocks.

But this territory favours
the prey, not the predator.

The cheetah, they're leggy,
they're fast,

they're designed for speed -

not to run over a boulder field.

For now, all they can do
is watch a potential meal

make an easy getaway.

That's maybe too much of a stretch
to go for an animal of that size.

The family pushes on...

..but then they're stopped
in their tracks

at the reserve's boundary.

I'm sure that Savannah views
these fences as an inconvenience.

If these fences weren't here,

she would be able to keep
on walking

but, inevitably, if she keeps
walking out of the protected area,

she's going to run into trouble.

She's going to start meeting
the human population,

going to venture onto ranches,

and that's where the danger is.

Protected from human conflict
the family might be,

but right now...
there's no prey in sight.

The next morning, Richard takes me
to meet a pair of male cheetahs

that share Savannah's territory.

He tells me one of them might be
the father of Seba and Morwa,

but he wants to find out for sure.

In fenced reserves,
working out the family tree

is key to managing the population.

We've got both male cheetahs,

in the bush about 30 metres
in front of me.

This is Noka and Neo.

Unlike female cheetahs, males
sometimes form hunting partnerships.

A coalition, usually of brothers -

behaviour that is unique
to lions and cheetahs

among the world's large cats.

Do you know how old they are?

Yes, they are seven years old.

I've known this coalition
since they were born.

Oh, really?

You must feel very close
to both of these cats.

Yes. Almost like family.

Without them, something would be
missing. Yeah.

A lot of people think of cheetahs
and think that they're solitary,

but this is a
brother-brother coalition.

Yeah. They've been, like,
hunting together all the time,

teamwork for everything
that they do.

Are they likely to spend
the rest of their lives together?

Definitely.

Richard is hoping for an opportunity

to get samples from the brothers
for a DNA test.

Being in a fenced reserve,
there is a danger of inbreeding.

The hope is that Noka and Neo
are not related to Savannah.

That would be bad news
for the health

of Tswalu's cheetah population.

This is a very exciting moment,
cos I've just seen Neo

answer a call of nature
down by that bush.

So we're going on a poo hunt -
we're going to find a big one!

And with that sample, we should be
able to do a genetic test

on this cat. Should we go down?

I think it was that
little bush there.

Now, don't stand in it.

There we go. Right there.

It's as black as coal.

OK, Gordon, you can do the honour.
Thank you, so kind.

As a dog owner,
this is nothing new.

Does it have to be a big bit?

It doesn't have to be big.
That smells...

Definitely smelly.

I mean, like all
the carnivores - lion...

..hyenas, all the meat-eaters,

but if you get to the poo
of the antelope,

not smelly as the meat eaters.

Not at all.

It's a dirty job,
but someone has to do it. Yep!

Despite appearances,
this is gold dust for DNA.

So what will you do if you find
out that these two males

are related to Savannah?

What we will do is that we will
bring other cheetahs in

from some other protective place
to bring new genes in,

and move Neo and Noka out,

as they have already served
their bloodline.

The cheetahs here are part of South
Africa's Metapopulation Project,

that relocates cheetahs
between 61 fenced reserves.

This helps prevent cheetahs
from inbreeding.

It works so well that, since
the project started a decade ago,

the cheetah population has become
more genetically diverse

and their numbers have doubled.

I think people would be so
surprised that human beings

are having to be so involved
in the lives of these cats.

We're talking, like,
a very vulnerable species.

This is the last of what our future
have - if we don't protect it,

it's going to be doomed.

It does come as a surprise to find
out that something as simple,

something as natural as which
cheetah mates with which,

is controlled by people.

So it's like a matchmaking service
for the cheetah population.

But if we want to
prevent inbreeding,

people have to control that,
people have to get involved.

Poo scooped, I feel it's time

I got to know these brothers
a little better.

We'll move in a little bit closer.

So this camera is very light,
so if you want to run

I can run behind you.

Noka is the more dominant
of the brothers

and seems interested
in our presence.

Let me just...
Oh, he's getting up. OK.

Moving towards us.

OK.

There's something different
about their characters.

Noka is chilled out, relaxed,

but with Neo,
he is really cautious.

He's always looking over his
shoulder, and I wonder...

He's got that injury to his nose.

There's a little sort of flap
on his nostril,

which is largely healed up now -
but at the time

that would have been quite
a traumatic injury,

and it may be that
that has shaped his character.

It's a kind of physical scar,

but physical scars can also leave
a bit of a mental, emotional scar.

Their stomachs are bulging.

Being in a coalition -
hunting together -

means they can kill much bigger
prey than Savannah's capable of.

Oh, yeah. Look at that.

That's a big old meal.

They've brought down a large
antelope, weighing over 200 kilos -

about three times their size.

For a single cheetah,

it'd be a real struggle to bring
down an antelope of this size,

but for two males like this,

they've got a wider variety
of prey that they can go for -

they can go for bigger animals.

They can employ a bit of strategy

and work together
to catch their prey.

Up he is. Look at that.

Look at the size of his belly.

With this kill, do you think
they'll be able to finish it all?

I don't think they will be lucky.
I mean, like, we got...

..spotted hyena, we've got brown
hyenas, we've got jackals...

You know, those are competitors.

They're going to come here, in any
time, just as the sun goes down,

and then...game over!

HE CHUCKLES

Unlike leopards, cheetahs lack
the strength or hooked claws,

to drag their prey
up a tree to protect it.

So they have to be speedy eaters.

While the boys fill up
before nightfall...

..Savannah's family haven't
eaten for five days.

Life is tougher for them.

Cheetah mothers hunt alone
to provide for their cubs.

For Seba, the lack of food
is taking its toll.

Poor Seba...

..is at the back.

Ah, almost limping.

Yeah, her condition is in a much
worse way than the other two.

Definitely lacking in energy.

She's super skinny. You can see
her hip bones are jutting out.

I can't tell whether her limp is
from injury or utter exhaustion.

Either way, it points
to the seriousness

of the family situation.

When food's scarce
and cheetahs get hungrier,

it's very easy to see how
that hunger affects them

as an individual.

So the mum is always going
to be motivated,

she's always going to be out
in front,

constantly searching for food.

But for cubs, the weakest, hungriest
cub is going to lag behind -

and the longer they go without food,

the greater that distance
between them comes.

There's something not quite right
with Seba. She's reluctant to move.

When she does get up, she's quite
stiff, moving quite slowly.

When she's as skinny as this,

the tank is truly running on empty.

So every move that she has to make
becomes more laboured.

Even though Seba lags behind,
she's still on high alert.

You might think that for a young cub
that's tired, that's low on energy,

it would want to lag behind and let
its mum do all of the hard work,

but as a cheetah cub
grows in size and strength,

it also grows in this awareness and
knowledge of its responsibility,

because its ability to help its mum

might make a crucial
difference in a hunt.

Seba has caught sight of something.

A bat-eared fox.

It's a chance for a cub
to become a hunter.

This fox is too quick
for a weakened Seba.

With even small prey
giving the family the slip,

the situation is critical.

Lack of food
is not their only problem.

They need to drink.

Seba and Morwa desperately search

at a dried-up water hole.

At some times of year,
just finding water

is incredibly difficult
in the Kalahari.

One thing that a cheetah can do
is supplement its water intake

by drinking blood that has pooled
in the body cavities

of the animals that they've killed.

But if there's no
standing water around,

the only opportunity
that a cheetah has

of quenching its thirst
is to make a kill.

Thirst unquenched,

the family conserves energy
in the heat of the day.

And Seba answers the call of nature.

This is an opportunity
to find out who her dad is,

and whether she's inbred.

We have it.

Dung beetles already
making off with our sample.

That's so cool.

Before they finish it all,
shall we take our sample?

We should. I'm going to take
a dung beetle with me here.

It's a little loaded for them.

You can share it around.

There's enough poo to go round.

So we've got this sample
from one of the cubs,

and we've got Neo's sample.

Do you know how many other
male cheetahs are out here?

From my own observation,

I'll say I know of seven
males that I know of.

I'd love to know if one of the
brothers was a father of the cubs,

and it would be sad
if they're related to Savannah,

cos I'd hate for them to have to be

translocated somewhere...
somewhere else. Yeah.

With the cheetah population
being so small,

we don't know how...

There could be a relationship
if we had a big pot of genes,

then we know, OK, this is
going to be a different,

but the smaller the pot, the more
there could be a relationship.

I'm heading back out to find
potential dads Noka and Neo.

Sharing the same territory
as Savannah's family,

they are also struggling
to find prey.

Have you found
the two male cheetahs?

Last time I saw them
was on a kill four days ago,

and the trackers tell me
they haven't eaten since.

One of our camera team, Vim Forster,

has been on the tail of
the brothers all morning,

and they have finally
come to a halt.

Hey, Vim, I don't really
need to ask what's gone on here.

Yeah, thanks, Gordon!
It took a while.

It's a lot of tracking this morning,

but we finally managed to get them.

Unfortunately, I only had
my cellphone camera, so...

Did you film it?
Yeah, I got us some, of course.

Let me see it. You have to!

Oh, wow!

Oh, my gosh!

Cheetahs kill using strangulation.

Both boys have their
victim by the throat.

They're just holding on, just
waiting for it to stop struggling.

Strangulation is the safest way
to subdue prey,

but can take up to ten minutes.

That's a male hartebeest, as well.

Strong animal. And, unsurprisingly,

they like to hunt big antelope.

One of the local guides said that
they just walk past springbok,

so it's interesting with
springbok in the Kalahari

is the favourite prey for cheetah,

but it seems like they specialise
in the bigger antelope.

A hartebeest can reach a top speed
of 55km per hour,

and its evasion tactic - to run in
zigzags - is visible in the sand.

If they do chase, then they're
not sure where the hartebeest

is going to go.

You know, if it veered off right,
the other brother was in that area.

He could have cut it off.
Yeah. Probably some teamwork,

and I think these guys
have been, you know,

working together for a long time,

so they know what the other
one will do.

Probably it's like instinct.

Well, yeah, there must be a lot of
mind-reading going on between them.

They're kind of inseparable
from one another.

Body language, I suppose, as well.

HEAVY PANTING

They're both still
puffing and panting.

Literally this kill happened ten,

15 minutes before I arrived.

OK, I'm going to hold here
for a little while.

Settle down.

Noka and Neo haven't eaten
for four days.

So they've got their first meal

and, instead of squabbling,

instead of fighting over the kill,

they are a picture of harmony.

Both of their heads, side by side,

almost knock against each other.

If that were a lion on a kill,

a pride of lions,

all hell would break loose.

There's just something
really, really harmonious -

they've got a real respect
for one another.

So, as inhospitable
as this place is,

these two boys are still...

..rocking it!

I don't think you could say that the
life of a cheetah was ever easy,

but for these two brothers, they
have a less difficult time of it

when it comes to hunting
than Savannah.

They're bigger, they're stronger,

they can work together, so they
can take down much larger prey.

They don't have dependents - they're
not looking after tiny cubs.

When it comes to Savannah,
there's a tolerance of her

in the boys' territory

because, if they haven't already,

sooner or later, one of these males

may well want to mate with her.

While the brothers feast, Savannah
and the cubs are now on day six

without food or water.

But finally,
there's a glimmer of hope.

The exhausted family
finds a water hole.

This time, there's plenty to drink.

For a hungry,
thirsty cheetah family

that have gone for days and days
without any sustenance,

it must be a huge relief to find
that little bit of sustenance,

even if it is
in the form of water.

Cheetahs can go for round about
ten days without water,

but as that period
without a drink wears on,

their ability to hunt is impaired.

That dehydration will affect
their physiology.

So this little source of water

is going to give them a bit
of an extra boost,

it's going to reinvigorate them.

Are you expecting something
delicious to show up?

Not picky.

Something like an impala or a kudu.

Something tasty.

It's just boring old me.

Despite their dire circumstances,

the family seems happy
with me being close...

..and I can see how much
they're pulling together as a unit.

It is really lovely to see
these three cats together.

It's a really tight bond.

Even after all of this, they still
want to be beside each other.

Rejuvenated after a drink,

the family continues
their long search for prey.

Impala.

The males jousting for dominance
are distracted.

A perfect opportunity for Savannah
to save her cubs from starvation.

Savannah has started to stalk.

Morwa's behind her.

With the situation
as desperate as it is,

this might not be the best time
for a hunting lesson.

Cheetahs are a pursuit predator,
but it doesn't mean

that as soon as they spot
an animal that they think

they might be able to catch,
they'll run straight at it.

Where there's cover, what
they'll do first is...recce

and scout out exactly
where that animal is,

scout out the terrain
so they can try and sort of

map ahead, before engaging
in a high-speed chase,

and that's what'll lead to success.

But inexperienced Morwa
doesn't have the stealth

of his mother.

The impala are alerted.

She's going, she's going,
she's moving...

..he's moving.

The nimble prey make
a quick escape across the rocks.

Morwa's eagerness to learn

might have cost the family
their last chance.

The job of a cheetah mum isn't
just to protect and provide

for her cubs - hunting is
the most valuable life lesson

that she'll teach them,

so she'll train them up
over a period of a year,

and it's this
slow learning curve for a cub

that can sometimes lead to

the family missing out on a hunt.

So for a cub at this
important stage of life,

sometimes practice makes perfect,

but other times you learn
from your mistakes.

For the family, though, this blunder

could not have come at a worse time.

Previously, Richard and I
collected DNA samples

for all the cheetahs
to determine their family tree.

If there is inbreeding, then the
brothers will have to be relocated

to another reserve.

So the results are in.

And the moment of truth is that

Noka and Neo are not
the father of Savannah's cubs.

Really? Yes. That's interesting.

I think because
they overlap so much,

I sort of naturally assumed that one
of them might be the father.

We thought the same thing,

which is it could be another male -
a roaming male around here.

And so did the results show

that they're not related
to Savannah, either?

Not related to Savannah,
not related to the cubs.

And what does that mean
for both of these boys?

That means that then we're
not going to move them out.

They're going to stay

so that they can invest
their genes here at Tswalu.

We should maybe go
over and tell them.

I think they
already realised that,

because they already introduced
themselves to Savannah.

So Savannah has been
sniffing around here,

maybe looking for a new boyfriend?

She's looking for a boyfriend.

Even although she still has cubs,
that will be on her mind -

the next litter that she has -
that's incredible.

Yeah. It's like a really tough
life for a mother cheetah.

It's not one litter and
it's over and done with,

it's one litter and then
the next one and the next one,

and keep doing it
as long as she can.

But right now, I don't know
whether Seba and Morwa

will survive even another week.

It's eight days since
the family last ate.

They can't go on much longer
without food.

They're at breaking point.

There is prey.

Oryx.

But with strength
and these long horns,

oryx are a formidable opponent.

In her weakened state, Savannah
decides not to take the risk

and heads again
for the rocky mountains.

The advantage of being up
in the mountains like this

is you've got a much better,
much bigger overview of the area

in front of you. And for a hungry
cheetah that's getting desperate,

it'll help them pinpoint
where the prey is,

rather than wandering
through the trees,

using up lots of energy, hoping that
you're going to bump into something.

A group of female kudu graze nearby.

Savannah and the cubs edge closer.

Kudus have got exceptionally
good hearing,

they've got a good sense of smell.

They don't necessarily have to see
a predator to know that it's there.

The all-important thing when hunting

is to approach
downwind from the animal.

This could be
the family's last chance.

Kudu are one of Africa's
largest antelopes.

I can't help but think
the choice of target and terrain

is not in their favour.

She's trying to get closer.

There's absolutely no way
that she's going to be able

to reach top speed
or anywhere near it.

This is not the ideal hunting ground
for a cheetah,

but Savannah has no choice.

Desperate times call
for desperate measures,

and this is not the kind of place
that a cheetah should be hunting.

If they're too close, the kudu
could sense them, and slip away.

The long grass provides
excellent cover.

But while Savannah
is perfectly camouflaged...

Savannah hasn't moved a muscle.
Not a whisker, not a twitch.

..the same can't be said for Morwa.

He's joining the hunt again,

but has he learned
from past mistakes?

Morwa is nonchalantly
sitting in a bush,

just about four metres away
from her, looking around.

If Morwa blows her cover again,

the family are in serious
danger of starvation.

Even the slightest movement,

the prey will pick up on
and that will be it.

KUDU BARKS

Sensing danger,
the kudu sound the alarm.

KUDU BARKS

They've spotted Morwa, not Savannah.

It just shows you how much
this young male has to learn.

He's learnt enough that he wants
to be involved in the hunt,

but he certainly hasn't learned
enough to know just to stay still.

Savannah recognises
that she must act quickly,

before the opportunity of a
life-saving meal is gone.

OK, she's started to move
a little bit more.

Morwa hangs back.

Savannah uses tree cover
to inch ever closer.

Inch, by inch, by inch.

KUDU BARKS

With every last ounce of energy,

Savannah launches her attack.

SQUEALING

The thicket conceals
the end of the chase.

Success will save their lives.

Oh, it's just...
I find that extraordinary.

I suppose maybe one advantage
that she's got

is that it is rough ground,
but she's chasing after an animal

that is also running over
this rocky ground.

This is the most important kill

in Seba and Morwa's lives.

The family fills
their empty stomachs.

As soon as I saw Savannah come
into this area, I thought,

she's really pushing the boundaries
of what she's capable of -

what any cheetah might be capable
of - but, God, against the odds,

she's done it.

Full from their long-anticipated

and well-earned meal,

the family rest under a tree.

Morwa has learned a valuable lesson.

And Seba looks stronger.

The cubs have learned
which prey to target...

..how to stalk,
and to never give up.

Crucial survival lessons

on their road to independence.

This is what it's like
to be a cheetah -

you're living your life
on a knife edge,

it's feast and famine -

and if this cheetah family
can survive through the things

that I've seen them
make it through, who knows?

They might be able
to survive anything.

Leaving the Kalahari,

I've got nothing but respect

for Savannah's family.

I'm looking at two maturing cubs

on the threshold of independence.

They've got Savannah,

this incredible mum.

She has done an incredible job

through really tough times.

And she may have lost
three of her cubs,

but she still has
these two beauties

just on the very brink
of independence.

And that is no mean feat.

Cheetahs really are
a remarkable cat.

Having shared their world with them,

I've seen them finding food,
avoiding predators -

those are the challenges
that they can endure -

but, really, it's
the imbalances in their ecosystem

that are caused by us that poses
the biggest threat to them.

And, really, the future of these
cats is entirely in our hands,

but if we make the right decisions -
not just for this family,

but for cheetahs across Africa -

maybe it's a future
that we can share.

Cheetahs and people.