Original subtitles

Imagine a place where the world's most endangered creatures

can roam free.

He's warming up his legs.

Oh, there he goes.

A vast wilderness

brimming with the intimate dramas

of its inhabitants...

..as they take their first steps,

learn to get along

and confront their rivals.

In the shadow of Mount Kenya,

Ol Pejeta is one of the few untamed places left on Earth.

In Ol Pejeta, the wild really, really is the wild.

It's home to 13,000 animals...

Let's get ready to rumble.

..watched over by a dedicated team of rangers...

Just like you take care of your kids, these are our kids.

..who every day must decide if they should intervene

in a wild animal's life...

I'm going to see who will win on this.

..or let nature take its course.

As these extraordinary creatures strive to survive

in the wild.

He's up. There he goes.

Nice.

Ol Pejeta is 140 square miles of equatorial Savannah.

And the mid-afternoon heat means, for many of its animals,

a nap is in order.

And no-one enjoys a lazy afternoon in the shade

quite like a pride of lionesses.

This is Ol Pejeta's eastern pride -

made up of four lionesses and eight cubs.

This pride can sleep the whole day...

..especially when the sun is out there.

You might think they are lazy, but it's a way of, you know,

trying to conserve energy.

Relax with the cubs.

As the afternoon cools, bellies start to rumble.

And leader of the pride Sior is thinking about dinner.

Sior is such an amazing character,

brilliant in everything that she does.

She is a very protective mother, really good hunter.

To me, she is the super lioness - just like we have Superman

or Wonder Woman - in real life. Yeah.

Lionesses are highly social and Sior's second in command

is oldest member of the pride Sekela.

She's now a granny, 11- or 12-years-old,

but she's a tough mama.

One of her eyes is completely blind as a result of some fights.

But despite being old, she's very influential

in as far as where the pride decides to hunt and what to go for.

Lionesses need a successful kill every two or three days,

and the pride is trekking towards a hunting ground

that's proved fertile in the past.

With the help of the lionesses' radio collars,

Nelson has been tracking the eastern pride for the past six years.

Today, he's come to check on them as they prepare to hunt,

and he's spotted a potential problem.

We've noticed that one of them is not around.

Can't seem to spot Sekela.

En route to the hunt, Sekela -

the oldest and wisest member of the group -

seems to have wandered off.

And leader Sior has no choice

but to rely on less-experienced pride members -

sisters Vanita and Sella.

Lions are not very good in chasing prey.

They are mostly skilled in ambush and they like to get very close

before they have to run after their prey.

If the pride is going to catch anything,

it's imperative Sior gets the two young lionesses working together.

The way the lionesses hunt,

it's coordinated movement.

They move and space out,

there's one that is responsible for trying to chase the kill

towards the ambush.

And Sekela has been playing this role.

Despite being a lioness down,

Sior and the sisters

are closing in on their prey.

We can hear from a distance,

the call of the Zebra.

ZEBRA BARKING

It's a warning call - probably one of them could pick up the smell

of lions from the wind.

The young lionesses' lack of experience soon shows.

They've let the zebra gone too far off.

So it looks like Sior and the two lionesses have completely failed

in their attempt to hunt this morning.

They really need their food because they need to produce some milk,

which will then support their cubs.

If Sior's right-hand lioness Sekela doesn't return soon,

the chances of her guiding the pride to a kill

will only get more remote.

So I'm deeply worried that if they do not succeed

at another attempt today,

this just reduces their chances of survival as a group.

Surviving in the wild is tough for any animal,

but in many species it's the females with the added responsibility

of bringing up their young that have the hardest job.

I think being a female in the wild is a lot of work.

Being a female in wild animals

is pretty much like in humans.

You have to put in twice as much work, you have to be responsible

for your kids, make sure they are always safe.

During hunting, it's normally the females -

the females rock this world.

But like lionesses, many females increase their odds of survival

and that of their young by organising themselves

into matriarchies and sharing the workload.

But there are some animals that lead a more solitary existence.

Other than to mate,

female black rhino spend most of their life alone,

foraging for food...with only themselves to worry about.

Until, of course, they give birth.

Precious baby rhino Lottie

is just 12 hours old.

In the 1970s, there were 65,000 black rhinos.

Today, due to poaching and habitat loss,

there are just five and a half thousand,

and bringing them back from the edge of extinction

has its own unique challenges.

The inter-calving interval, which is the time difference

between one calf to the next,

is usually about three years.

Any calf you get, you will only get another in three years' time.

And so every calf born counts.

Its survival counts in restoring that particular population.

Seeing a new calf born to such a critically endangered species

is a welcome sight for Ranger James.

When I first saw Lottie, my heart skipped with joy

cos it was a sight that gave a lot of hope.

Lottie's mom, Lola, is now 12

and was raised in captivity.

Growing up in his care,

Lola formed a special bond with James.

We just hope that she is going to play the role of the mother

and be effective on that because she grew with us.

But she has now to grow this calf by herself,

which is something she didn't learn from a real mom.

So she will be playing this role for the very first time.

When reared by human hands, rhino can sometimes lack the aggression

needed to protect their calves from the wild's constant dangers.

Right there.

It looks like it's a male.

Male rhino have been known to kill calves

when they want to mate with a female.

If she's not aggressive enough

to defend her calf from bullying male rhinos,

she might lose her precious calf.

Lola may have seen off the aggressor,

but protecting Lottie in the coming days

is going to take all the mothering instincts she can muster.

I think for now she looks active in protecting the calf.

The hope now is on how vigilant the mom is.

Out in the wild, it's generally the females who have the responsibility

of rearing their young.

But there are exceptions.

Every year, the flocking season brings grey crowned cranes

to the Ol Pejeta wetlands in search of a mate.

They're here to pair. Those who doesn't have their mates just yet.

So we're really excited to see

how many of them managed to get here this year.

Mercy has been witnessing their return for the past three years.

Oh, my God, there they are!

EXCITEDLY: Oh, my God!

A relative rarity in the animal kingdom,

these birds share parenting duties.

So, with cranes, it's fifty-fifty when it comes to parenting.

First of all, find a home together

and then once the female lays the eggs,

they will incubate them together on a fifty-fifty basis.

Their peak breeding season is from December to February.

If they fail to find a partner, they will have to wait another year.

But there's a good reason for them to take things slowly.

Cranes only choose one partner

to live with for the rest of their lives,

and they can live up to 22 years.

So that means that they have to be

really, really particular about this one crane

that they're going to be spending the rest of their lives with.

Choosing a mate might have lifelong consequences,

but eager to ensure the next generation of cranes,

these young, free and single birds just want to mingle.

This is like a party, where I get to see everybody in there

and get to choose who you really like.

So the younger males get to look around.

Who looks prettier? Who looks healthier? Who looks more maternal?

And for the females as well,

they get to see who looks more responsible.

Who's going to be a good mate to pair with, to build a nest with?

CRANES CHATTER

It looks like one couple have caught each other's eye.

We have a couple over there, just checking on one another.

Oh my God.

I can tell the two of them are just singing to one another.

One with the gold crest looks absolutely amazing.

It's all come down to looking really, really beautiful.

She looks like a princess.

We should call her a Malkia. Malkia is "princess" in Swahili.

And she looks exactly like a princess.

Courtship, for these one-metre-high cranes,

starts with an elaborate set of dance moves.

You must be a really, really good dancer.

I mean, you'd better get that step right,

or else you're going to be left out in the bush, alone.

It looks like Malkia may have found herself a first date...

..but the courtship is far from over.

The pairing is not some automatic process.

Ideally, they just have to choose and keep trying

until they get accepted. So they date for a while.

Malkia's suitor has decided what better place than the local

watering hole for them to get to know each other?

But if it was a quietly intimate atmosphere they were looking for...

..this isn't quite the venue.

And things go from bad to worse.

I'm sure she was just thinking,

"We're trying to be on a date here, please?"

It all proves a bit of a mood. killer.

Malkia and her date decide to go their separate ways.

Due to habitat loss, the worldwide number of these majestic birds

has plummeted by almost 80%.

But if Malkia does get to pair and chicks,

at least she knows her life partner will be there for her.

Cranes understand equality to the letter, like.

They don't take chances.

"Everybody, let's look good, let's dance the same,

"let's do everything together."

It's fifty-fifty, way from the way we grew up,

all the way to parenting.

No chances. Cranes are...are gender equal.

But such a sharing of responsibilities

isn't always an option in the animal kingdom.

Like all female black rhino, Lola is a single mum.

Her new calf, Lottie, is now just over a week old.

And like all youngsters, is desperate for mum's attention.

Lottie is being a rhino calf.

They're pushing their mum to learn a little bit of aggression.

It's really what makes them, eventually,

become some of the powerful animals in the bush.

So Lottie has to push mum and tell her mum,

"Wake up, I need to play."

But abandoned by her own mum, play is something Lola never experienced.

As Lottie gets more adventurous,

it's feared she won't have the mothering, know-how to protect her,

and drastic action may be needed.

If we find Lola not playing a very good role in protecting Lottie,

it will force us to make the difficult decision

to be hand-reared, because we want her to grow.

You know, nature, if you can, is best left to its own devices.

Now, it's not always possible,

because there are species here like rhinos, obviously,

because they're so critically endangered.

When it comes to species like that,

it becomes, sometimes, a little bit tricky.

So we will occasionally step in.

The other side of the argument is, well, yeah, but this is nature,

and we would be disrupting

the natural course of things by interfering.

Ol Pejeta may be a managed wilderness,

but that doesn't include feeding the lions.

It's now been four days since Sior's eastern pride had a successful kill.

These females rely on each other to keep their eight cubs fed,

and are seriously missing the hunting experience

of Sior's second-in-command, Sekela,

who hasn't been seen for several days.

But conservancy vet Steve has just received a radio call.

An injured lioness, suspected to be Sekela, has been spotted.

I was informed that there was severe injuries on both hind legs,

and that there was evidence of bleeding.

On arrival, the rangers' suspicions are confirmed.

To assess how bad Sekela's injuries are, Steve first tranquillises her.

SEKELA GROWLS

These are bad injuries.

Did not happen today. Several, maybe two, three days ago.

We...

You can see, you see the type of injuries that are here

and they are maggots, she has metatarsal fractures.

Then look at the tail.

So many injuries on the tail.

Er...

STEVE SIGHS DEEPLY

Hm. It's going to be tough.

The severity of Sekela's wounds will have left her in excruciating pain.

Definitely the injuries inflicted by another lion,

maybe a male from a different pride.

They had an encounter and this was the end result.

It's a tough call, it's a rough call, definitely.

But, you know, you need to look at the welfare of the animal.

And in my opinion, as a veterinarian,

I will recommend that we put this lioness to sleep,

for the sake of the animal.

WHISPERS: Yeah.

But Steve knows that Sekela is a key member of the eastern pride,

and without her, they have been struggling to hunt.

Hello, hello?

So he decides to get a second opinion.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

OK.

So what we are going to do is

we are going to give this lioness a chance...

..till tomorrow.

So we are going to manage these wounds,

and then if she makes it through the night,

then we make a decision.

Turn her.

Just over five kilometres to the west,

after another day of unsuccessful hunting...

..Sior and their cubs, once again, go to sleep hungry.

The next morning, vet Steve is up early.

I'm driving to go see Sekela,

so if we can see her today and make a decision on the best way forward.

But on arrival, Steve finds something he never expected.

It surprised me, we find that she's nowhere to be seen.

The injuries that I saw in this lioness were astonishing.

Some of the most serious injuries I have seen on wild animals.

To say the least, she was crippled.

How could she have moved?

There is no sign Sekela has fallen prey to scavengers,

but if she is still alive,

she's still vulnerable to attacks by other animals.

It's vital she makes it back to the protection of her pride.

We know that it's the best chance for survival for her.

She also knows that.

In fact, she knows that more than we do.

That, er, without them...

.. perhaps she's not going to make.

The life of a female out in the wild

is undoubtedly never tougher than when you have young to look after.

But some species have managed to find ways to ease the burden.

I definitely think that motherhood is, like,

their worst time out in the wild,

but, being a female crane, at least you have an assurance

of having a partner who's really, really supportive.

Grey crowned cranes mate for life and share parenting duties.

Mercy has been following the romantic fortunes of female crane,

Malkia, and it looks like she might have found her significant other.

Our couple is actually inspecting a really good nesting site,

which would be perfect for them to lay their eggs in.

It's right in the middle of the water in a very shallow end,

but there's a lot of reeds which could hide them.

This is definitely prime real estate,

so I think we have a couple that has bonded and agreed on the next steps,

which is really exciting.

The signs from Malkia and her new partner look promising...

..but, further west,

news has come in concerning single mum Lola and her calf, Lottie.

You can see all the Rangers, none of them looks happy today.

Today, we had a call that one of the black rhinos, Lola,

that had just given birth a month ago,

is missing the calf.

So, we are out to scout for the calf

because it's a very young calf and rhinos are very close to the calf,

so it's not typical to see a mother without the calf.

While searching, the rangers spot a lion guarding its prey...

..a black rhino calf.

Protecting Lottie from the wild has proved too much for mum, Lola.

A baby rhino calf no match for a 400-pound lion.

Lottie was just a month old.

The bond between a mother rhino and the calf is normally very tight.

They are very close, they always together,

and I'm sure this is really going to devastate Lola now.

It's such a pity.

The lion is tranquilised

and will be removed to another area of the conservancy,

15 miles away from the critically endangered rhino population.

They can get a taste for certain animals

the same way they would get a taste if they were to eat a human being,

and they like that taste, and if that prey is easy to catch,

then that would be their prey of choice.

Any decision to intervene in the conservancy's ecosystem

isn't taken lightly...

..but this lion has now preyed upon three rhino calf

in the last six months.

The rhino is critically endangered.

That lion is not, but is a species of concern.

And so, you definitely need both, anyway.

All species are important in their own rights,

and so you need to act to ensure that each one, in a way,

continues to exist within the conservancy.

PRODUCER: You blame the lion?

No, not really. It's in the wilderness.

Survival for the fittest, only the strong survive.

Do you feel sorry for Lola? Very much.

It's... It's devastating.

GROWLING

LOW ROARING

GROWLING

Ranger James has known Lottie's mum, Lola, since she was a calf herself.

I'm driving out to go and look for Lola

and just spend some time with her.

LOLA EXHALES

It's heartbreaking to see her now without her calf.

Here alone.

I think she's trying to find comfort in the mud,

but it's really sad.

It's really heartbreaking.

I think she recognised my voice,

and she remembers me even from the smell,

so it's easy for me to allow her to get that close

and that's why she was staring at me.

Being with these animals for this long,

you really gain an attachment to them.

I know there's nothing much I can help her for now, but...

..I was trying to imagine what she's feeling

and what she's going through, and I passed my condolences to her.

I just hope she gets over it and she is able to...move on.

In the east of Ol Pejeta, Sior's pride of lionesses and their cubs

are running on empty.

After disappearing with severe injuries,

the oldest and wisest member of the matriarchy, Sekela,

hasn't been seen for several days...

..and the pride still hasn't had a successful kill.

The worst case scenario is that we find her dead.

I've been with her for the past six years,

monitoring her, following her closely.

I've seen her give birth, rear the cubs to adulthood,

and she's...lived her life very proudly up until now,

but we really hope that she doesn't go out this way.

The best way for Nelson to find Sekela

is to track her pride and hope she's managed to catch up with them.

The aerial that I'm using now is used to track lions.

I remember the days that we had such an old-school TV aerial,

and we used to go up our house using a ladder,

tune into different channels manually and put our lives at risk

just to get a glimpse of those favourite shows.

Here.

Nelson has found Sior's pride.

They still look hungry, and Sekela doesn't seem to be with them.

Looking at the pride,

from the last time I saw them, they've not had something to eat.

I can see their ribs.

But then, a few yards down the track,

Nelson spots another lioness.

I think that's Sekela.

Oh, my.

It's the first time Nelson has seen the extent of Sekela's injuries.

I feel very sad.

It's hard to see her this way.

She is struggling to walk,

and she looks so much in pain.

I feel it's...worse than I could have imagined.

It's actually amazing that she is still alive.

LIONS MEWL

Sekela may have caught up with her pride...

..but lionesses often travel up to ten kilometres a day

in search of food.

She cannot really keep up with them.

So, I feel that at some point they will have to leave her.

THROATY MEWLING

It's a tough call for them,

but for any mother, especially in the wild,

their first instinct is to provide for their cubs.

They might feel bad for Sekela...

..but they would put their cubs first.

When it comes to surviving out in the wild,

belonging to a matriarchy has a definite advantage.

After trekking alone through the wilderness,

injured lioness Sekela has managed to make it

back to the protection of her pride.

But if she's to stand any chance of recovery,

she desperately needs leader Sior

and the rest of the pride to provide her with food.

But they, too, have grown weak.

Sior really needs to be there for the group,

she's thinking about her own cub,

the cubs of the twins, and also the health of Sekela.

It's been days since they had a good meal.

And in this dire situation that has been developing,

she needs to step up.

THUNDER CRACKS

After failing to bring down bigger prey, Sior, Vanita and Sella

have changed strategy.

Now targeting something smaller.

WARTHOG SQUEALS

The new strategy has paid off.

Really nice to see them with a warthog here.

It's a small meal but it has just given us hope

that they would make it through the week.

It's been six days without any food.

So this is just a glimpse of hope that has just come up today.

Their chances of survival have slightly gone up.

It might not be enough, but it's a step

in the right direction.

Everyone gets some much-needed sustenance.

But worryingly for Nelson, Sekela hasn't made it to the kill site.

Then, as dusk falls, Nelson spots something in the distance.

For the first time in over a week

Sekela finally gets the food she needs to survive.

We've never really known Sekela to be a quitter.

She's always found a way to get another day to fight on.

Over in the marshlands, grey crowned crane Malkia

and her new mate have been proving inseparable for almost a month...

Oh, my God.

..the time it takes for crane eggs to hatch.

We have a little chick walking around already.

Oh, my God, she is so small.

So beautiful.

It's a huge, huge surprise.

And it's such an assurance also for us to know

that they are able to find nesting areas.

And also believe that this is secure

enough for them to bring up their young ones.

So this is absolutely amazing.

I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep today.

The real threat that they are going to see is

getting snatched off by birds of prey

and we have plenty of them in this area.

But the massive advantage that a chick has

is the fact that she has not one but two parents

looking after her 24/7.

And then we hope that she grows to become like

the mum or the daddy, to just grow big and beautiful.

It's been nearly five weeks since black rhino Lola

lost her calf to a lion kill.

Ranger James has come to see how she's doing.

Oh, wow.

That's Lola right over there and she is being followed by a male.

I'm so happy for her.

You know, overcoming the loss of a calf recently

and she has found a new boyfriend to walk around with.

That's quite so impressive of her.

It's a clear sign that there is a big prospect of mating soon.

I hope the male is up to the task

and will be able to complete the job

that is needed to make another calf as soon as possible.

The eastern pride's most experienced lioness, Sekela,

recently sustained horrific injuries.

Her wounds so bad, it was thought

she should be put to sleep.

But after trekking across the Savannah to rejoin her family,

this incredibly resilient female

is almost back to full strength.

With Sekela's return to health,

the pride's prowess in the hunt has also returned.

You cannot explain the joy of...

..the odds turning around in such a way.

I think it goes even beyond what we expected

and shows that lions actually have a secret life that...

..humans may never really understand.

Comparing the kind of meal they just had,

it's just like that big Christmas dinner for humans,

where you would eat until you can't find any more space in your stomach.

And the next thing is to just have a good night's sleep.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media