Original subtitles

Imagine a place where the world's most endangered creatures

can roam free.

He's warming up his legs.

Whoa! 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.

On 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...

We're going to see who will win in this.

..or let nature take its course...

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

..as these extraordinary creatures strive to survive in the wild.

He's up. There he goes.

Nice!

From its dusty savanna, to its wet marshlands,

the creatures of Ol Pejeta are going about their daily business.

For the chosen few, it's the business of being in charge.

ABRAHAM:

Who wouldn't want to be a boss? I, for sure, would want to be.

But being a good leader requires certain attributes.

For male impalas it's all about being a hit with the girls.

Something dominant male Jaribou is only too aware of.

He's the sole leader of a herd of almost 50 females.

And it's the mating season.

Not only does he have to keep all the females in check

and protect his territory,

he now has to mate with all of them.

It's exhausting. It's an exhausting life for him.

IMPALA SNORTS

And as if mating with up to 50 females wasn't enough,

Jaribou has to do it while looking over his shoulder

at a herd of rival bachelors,

who, as Eva knows, want to fight him for his leadership

and mating rights.

So, the bachelor males have one focus.

To identify other females, of course,

which has a dominant male,

and to make an attempt at dethroning the dominant male

and taking over this herd.

Jaribou has been leader of the herd for a year,

since the last mating season.

But it's now - between the months of April and May -

that he is most at risk of being toppled.

You know, Jaribou, he's so insecure

he can barely have a bite of grass without looking up!

You can tell, he's super nervous.

He's constantly, like, on the lookout.

Looking at the females, looking at the boys.

Like, neck deep. Trying to control the situation.

Compared to Jaribou's constant vigilance and worry,

life in the bachelor herd is very different.

They have an easy life.

They will just sometimes be strutting,

play-fighting.

You know, practising for that one big fight if they get the chance.

But despite their seemingly idyllic existence, at this time of year,

there IS something that keeps the bachelors up at night.

All our males are very high on testosterone.

They are all competing for this one prize, so it's really a game of,

"We all want this one thing. Now, who is the strongest to get it?"

Keen to be the one that challenges Jaribou,

the bachelors are busy testing their fighting abilities on each other.

So, there's quite a bit of development.

Everything is at stake.

Whether you're going to mate and get some offspring this season

is at stake. And for them, that's everything.

That's essentially why every animal and plant exists -

is to pass on their genes to the next generation.

To win Jaribou's herd, one of the bachelors will have to beat him

in a tooth and nail battle for supremacy.

And it looks like a potential challenger is beginning to emerge.

Timbani, basically, is that cool boy,

who's very muscular, is very attractive.

the ladies, you know, like him.

You know, he wants it, he wants this jackpot.

And he feels so confident as to just be a few metres away

from Jaribou's herd, like, "What are you going to do about it?"

He's a real threat, and Jaribou cannot let his guard down.

Not even for a second.

But it's not just Timbani Jaribou needs to keep his eye on.

The females are also looking out for better prospects.

Just as we say the grass is greener on the other side of the fence,

they're constantly looking for that greener grass.

So, they're constantly looking out for the sturdier male,

the stronger male, with that ability to protect them.

Jaribou may have successfully looked after the herd

for the past 12 months, but there is something about him

that hasn't gone unnoticed.

Timbani also knows that Jaribou is getting older.

He's more worn out. He won't be in the shape to keep fighting,

he won't be in the shape to keep defending.

But what Jaribou lacks in youthfulness,

he makes up for in experience.

Jaribou, having had the herd that he has,

this is not his first situation with bachelor males.

He has seen it all before, so he knows the ropes.

That has helped him keep his large herd of females for some time.

So, right now, it looks like they are equally matched -

Jaribou with his experience, and Timbani with his youthfulness.

So, eventually, one of them will have to start the fight.

Someone will have to attack.

Out in the wild, dominance is often about physical prowess

and aggression.

There is no negotiation with the alpha males.

You have to be the best. You must be strong, you must be brutal.

GROWLING AND SNARLING

MERCY CONTINUES:

It means survival for a new generation.

But there are other ways to climb the hierarchy.

Being a leader in any group of animals

varies from species to species.

Talking about elephants for example,

the leaders will be the older females,

the ones who have experience, who have wisdom.

Different leaders may need different attributes,

but there is one thing they all need.

ABRAHAM: The key qualities for any animal to lead

revolves around an indomitable spirit, yeah.

You need to put yourself out there on a daily basis,

so it really needs one who is determined,

and you can't really give up at all.

Despite living a largely solitary existence,

there is an animal whose pursuit of dominance is relentless.

Black rhino Imara is the equivalent of a teenager.

And as with most black rhinos his age, he's left his mother

to make the difficult transition to life on his own.

Due to his species being critically endangered,

ranger Abraham has been closely following his progress.

Imara is a young male,

yet to establish his own territory,

so he's wandering around and he's stumbled into another

territory belonging to a very, very aggressive black rhino.

And he has sustained quite an amount of injuries.

He's stumbled into a territory of a very, very notorious black rhino

called Matata, which is Swahili for "Trouble".

And the two got into a fight, which was...

There was no way Imara could have won,

and he's been beaten up very bad.

For black rhinos, dominance is all about territory,

but it's not just about the real estate.

Teenage boy Imara is well aware of the benefits

that come with having your own place.

He's reaching sexual maturity.

He's trying to take over a bit of territory that he can dominate,

with a view then to giving him access to the females

that live within that territory.

But in order to do that, he's got to push out the existing

territorial males and those males are bigger than him, probably.

They're more experienced than him.

They have held territory for a long period of time,

so they know what they're doing.

And so he's, you know, it's a big ask.

But he's got no choice

because otherwise he becomes an irrelevant rhino.

RHINOS GRUNT

As a species, black rhino are notoriously aggressive.

And it's estimated up to half of all males

die from fighting-related injuries.

The biggest challenge is the black rhinos themselves.

They don't give up so easily.

They can be thrown into the air.

I mean, they can have a horn put into their side.

And of course, when that happens, they're doing extraordinary

internal damage to their internal organs and so forth.

It's that sort of a fight that you're watching -

it's in maybe the 12th round,

everyone's received a thousand blows.

They're about to give up, but none is willing to give up.

That's how black rhinos are.

You will get a whupping for a whole day and still not give up.

Still come back to fight.

It's a typical clash of the titans.

RHINOS SNARL AND GRUNT

They put on quite a show.

Although Imara has been in a fight with the much bigger Matata,

so far he's been lucky.

The injuries that I have observed, they are typical injuries.

We still have no puncture wounds

from the horns on the body, on the sides.

Just scratches.

But with Matata still in the area,

Abraham is worried Imara might not know when enough is enough.

Imara, it's Swahili for "Brave".

It's not the first altercation that he's had.

Imara is one heck of an aggressive rhino.

Yeah, testosterone, it's very high,

so he's eager to challenge anyone.

But the character of Matata is, he's always bringing chaos.

So you can imagine, Imara is not like a challenge to him.

Imara's only chance of winning this fight is just to walk away.

I hope from the beating that he's got already,

he's going to figure that out.

To be the leader of any band of animals

takes a special kind of relationship with your group.

In animals, you realise each leader,

whichever species we are talking about,

they show generally love through the whole group.

And one of Ol Pejeta's most successful leaders

is alpha female Sior.

She's always been a fantastic leader,

very good mother,

and the most skilled hunter.

Her pride consists of a largely absentee male called Josephat,

who patrols the territory for intruders,

and four lionesses,

who roam together looking after their seven cubs.

Nelson has been tracking them for the last six years.

The cubs are getting bigger, but we've noticed that you could

see their ribs, which means they are now getting quite hungry.

Imagine you have to hunt every time you need a meal.

I think it's a really hard job.

And it puts a lot of pressure on the pride leader, Sior,

to make sure that the pride is always fed.

Lionesses hunt in packs, but since suffering horrific injuries

in a fight with another lion, Sior's main hunting partner, Sekela,

is no longer able to help in the way she once did.

Sekela is now quite old,

and she can't really keep up with hunting.

If Sekela and the rest of the pride are going to eat,

it's vital Sior gets young sisters Sella and Vanita to step up.

Sior has thought, "I better make sure I train Sella and Vanita

"before it's too late."

But teaching them the subtle art of hunting hasn't been easy.

It's not been going very well.

We've seen her trying to teach them the ways of hunting in the wild.

She would stay behind and encourage them to take the lead.

But they've ruined most of their recent hunts.

The twins are starting to get their hunting instincts,

but they can't catch anything.

It's been terrible, watching it.

And it's been really stressful for Sior.

With Sior and the twins failing to catch anything,

the strain is most keenly felt by the pride's seven cubs.

Because now the lionesses have messed most of their hunts up,

they've not been getting as much food.

And the lack of food is having the biggest impact

on Sior's youngest cub.

I'm quite concerned at the moment about Junior.

He's quite skinny.

A few months ago, Junior narrowly survived a buffalo attack,

but witnessed one sibling killed and another badly injured.

Now ten months old, he may have escaped serious injury,

but the attack has left its mark.

He used to be adventurous.

He would like to play with the others,

jump on top of the older females' heads,

scratch his nails against tree trunks.

But he's become more quiet, more shy, more reserved.

And he's just trying to find his way without any confrontation

with any of the cubs or pride members.

So, it's really a tough time for Junior,

especially if all the lions are quite hungry.

He might not even get a piece of the kill.

So, it puts him at a very dangerous point of his life.

So, I feel sorry for Junior, but at the same time,

he has one very big advantage -

that Sior is his mother.

I have a lot of hope in Sior.

If there's any lioness to get this pride to the next level,

it's definitely Sior.

THUNDER RUMBLES

Being the leader of any pride, clan or herd can be demanding.

All of us want to be leaders.

We don't want to be led,

but leadership comes with great responsibility.

Leadership comes with a lot of advantages, but also disadvantages.

Because at the end of the day, you assume

and take responsibility of the entire troop.

Leadership is the ability to be able to lead that pack of animals

to survive, and to be able to get through challenging times,

whether they are weather, famine, or whatever it is.

The actions of any leader has an impact on everyone in a hierarchy.

But deciding what to do when on your own also has its consequences.

Reports have come in adolescent black rhino Imara

has once again been injured fighting over territory.

But this time, it sounds critical.

I'm quite concerned about Imara.

I'm worried because it must have been a gruesome fight.

I'm hopeful that it's not as bad as it sounded,

and there won't be any need for any medical intervention.

But let's see. Fingers crossed.

But despite Abraham's hopes, a full team of rangers

and vets have been deployed.

Imara's injuries have left him struggling to walk.

Has this animal moved since you saw it? No.

It's been standing there? Yeah. Like that? Yeah.

It looks like it has some external injuries,

but I suspect also internal.

Internal injuries. You see?

Now, obviously, we are very concerned.

Not in a good state. Quite weak, it's quite weak.

Imara is in a lot of pain.

And that is something that we are quite wary of

when approaching such a rhino, because they are highly aggressive

and they would charge without any provocation.

An injured black rhino is ten times as dangerous

as any other black rhino.

It has all this pain and it wants to share it with anyone that comes by.

The other challenge is the fact we are told that the other animal

that fought with it last night is still in the neighbourhood,

so it's not good for us to be here.

So, can we pull out? Can we pull back?

Guys, let's go back to our vehicles.

The team are about to retreat to a safe distance.

But then Imara takes a turn for the worse.

You see, you see? He's falling down. He's going down.

LEAVES AND GRASS RUSTLE

It's down.

Concerned for Imara's life, the rangers decide to move him

to a predator-proof enclosure where he can be monitored more closely.

We normally don't intervene because this is a wilderness area

and we try to let it be, let it be wild.

But now Imara has lost a lot of blood,

so he needs immediate intervention.

Today, not tomorrow.

If there were 20,000 black rhinos in Kenya, you wouldn't bother.

But he's a young male, and there's only 800 rhinos in Kenya,

so when you're talking about, sort of, absolute numbers,

he's an important part of the population.

So, we're going to try to treat it and make it better.

But moving an injured two-tonne rhino is anything but easy.

So, you have chains that we can use to do this? OK, OK.

Back at the ranger base, 20 miles away,

preparation is made to transport Imara.

Imara has to be saved.

Leaving him the way he is, he wouldn't make it by himself.

But with the rhino crate over an hour away,

the only thing left to do is hope it's not too late.

We are really worried that the animal's condition is not good.

According to the vets, it's 50-50.

Out on the western savanna,

the leadership of dominant impala Jaribou is under threat.

Jaribou essentially has this thing that everybody wants.

He has this large herd of females.

All the other single bachelors, that's what they want.

That's the life they want.

Out of all the bachelors, young buck Timbani seems to have

caught the eye of the females, and seems the one most likely

to challenge Jaribou for the right to mate with them.

But with impalas, it's all about playing the long game.

So, they don't just go in for the fight on day one.

They'll kind of wear him out,

so by the time they're getting to that big fight,

they've already won some part of it just by wearing him down.

For days now, Timbani has been driving Jaribou frantic,

constantly trying to tease away his females.

A couple of Jaribou's females have actually just run off.

He's tried to chase some of them down,

as they were running away from him.

But he's lost a couple of females.

Another one has just leapt over, like.

No warning, no notice, nothing. Like, "OK, I'm done."

So, this is the average day for Jaribou.

This is his waking up and sleeping.

He is constantly being tortured.

Just psychologically, being worn out.

He can't rest, he can't eat properly.

You know, that does something to the animal.

He's not relaxed, he's not calm.

And that puts him at a disadvantage once they get to that fight.

Attracted by the chance to mate with Timbani, Jaribou's herd of females

are becoming strung out across the savanna.

The few females that Jaribou still had,

they're now moving away from our original herd.

He's now getting to a point, I think, of desperation!

He's literally, like, losing one female at a time.

After all, the women have the power here. The females.

With Jaribou pulled in all directions,

Timbani sees his opportunity.

There's a fight coming up.

It's started. It's go from here.

Some horns locked there.

And the thing about the horns is, they're very deadly.

They're very strong, and they're very pointy and sharp.

A blow of that to the leg or to the abdomen can be fatal.

So just as much as Jaribou now is bringing his experience

that he's gained over time,

his disadvantage is that he's older, he's much older than Timbani.

And that means that he is not able to last

through very prolonged fights.

And therefore he knows that if he wants to win,

he wants to win quickly.

He wants to win it as fast as he can.

Challenger to the throne, Timbani,

has made his move on leader of the herd, Jaribou.

Timbani, obviously, he's much younger than Jaribou.

And he knows that the thing that will flip the coin

is wearing Jaribou out.

At stake is this season's chance to mate with the female herd.

For them, they'll go with whoever wins.

They'll go with the strongest man, that's it.

Jaribou's best chance is to win quick by landing a knockout blow.

But the energy-sapping midday heat begins to tell on him.

Jaribou definitely needs to be worried.

You know, he's getting more tired.

He cannot let his guard down at any point, and Timbani knows that.

Timbani is coming out much stronger.

Timbani absolutely looks like a winner.

And, of course, his youthfulness is coming in handy now.

The size of his horns, he's a threat.

If he jabbed Jaribou just a good one time,

he could, essentially, even kill him.

Worn down and with no strength to fight on,

Jaribou is forced to relinquish his crown to Timbani.

One day you're the man, and one day, Jaribou,

you are in the bachelor herd.

That's how it works.

I don't feel too bad for him.

I think he's had the opportunity to breed with all these females.

He knows that his offspring will carry his genes

and his characteristics.

You know, he's tasted that life. He's already had a shot at it.

He seen what it is, he seen the stresses of it,

and he seen the good side of it.

You know, he's much better off than a male

who has never been able to win over a herd.

And at least he survived the fight, he wasn't injured.

He walked away with his dignity, or some of it, whatever was left of it.

He'll be able to relax for a little bit

and not have that high stress life for some time.

And as for the newly anointed Timbani...

SHE CHUCKLES

Ah, Timbani has no idea.

He has no idea what he's in for.

This is the life that every bachelor male wishes for.

The females, the offspring, you know, he has that now.

He doesn't know he has to adjust to now constantly defending,

defending, defending.

He has no idea. He has no idea!

Especially with his first herd that he's dominant over, well,

he has a lot to learn.

Out in the wild, the competition to become the alpha male

will inevitably have its winners and losers.

The world is not fair, is it?

There are some who are born to be the leader.

And there are some who are born not to be,

and there are others who are born week, and

destined to be beaten up by the leader.

I mean, that's just the way life is.

I think it's us humans who, because of our great intelligence,

we've been able to kind of accommodate

everybody in society, be they weak or strong.

And there's a place for everybody in the way that we run our societies,

but in the wild, that doesn't exist.

Having suffered multiple puncture wounds at the hands of a rival male,

black rhino, Imara, is clinging onto life.

Unable to treat him out in the bush,

the vets have decided to evacuate him to a safe enclosure.

Time now is really of the essence.

Yeah.

His chances of survival are now as low as it could ever be.

But the transport needed to lift Imara is still almost an hour away.

HE SNORTS

It's not a good prognosis because the animal is already weak

and compromised. And the challenge will be on how to load it

into the crate because it has difficulty supporting itself.

While waiting for help to arrive,

vet Steve has had a chance to examine Imara more closely.

It's quite surprising that he's still alive.

Horn puncture wound under the belly, on the head

and evidence of lots of bleeding.

With Imara's condition worsening, the crate arrives.

But it's too late for Imara.

He's gone. He's gone.

Unbelievable.

It's unfortunate we've lost this animal.

It's...it's quite sad.

Totally battered by the other rhino, and it just collapsed.

Yeah, he collapsed. And died.

These animals, to us...

..they are more like our kids.

I sit down with a team of rhino patrolmen,

and if you are just there listening from the background,

you might think that we are talking about people.

Because we know them very well, we know their behaviours,

we know their characters.

So, over time, we get...

..w-we we have a soft spot for these animals.

There's a lot of animals that die

on a fairly regular basis, because that's just the way things are.

You hope that it's not going to happen,

and you hope that the intervention you're making

is going to save the day...

..it's about doing your best, and then just being realistic

about the whole thing.

Imara, to me, he inspired me in so many ways.

How he would get challenged, get beaten up but still not give up.

He was quite an aggressive animal.

If he would've managed through this stage, he would be one of the best.

And, see, everyone is in a sombre mood.

It's...we feel like we've lost one of us.

Out on the eastern Savannah, pride leader, Sior,

is trying to teach young lionesses, Sella and Vanita,

to be better hunters.

But the training hasn't been going well.

You can see the lionesses heading to the bushes over there.

We think they might be re-strategizing

on how to go about their hunt.

They are very poor. They mess up everything,

and it puts a lot of strain on the group.

Their continued lack of success also means the pride

is having to travel much further to find prey,

an added problem for Sior's youngest cub,

and already weak, Junior.

Junior currently has a limp.

And when they are walking, we've noticed

Junior is always lagging behind.

So, it's quite a concern.

When you're injured, your body takes up a lot of energy

to try and get you back in good condition.

So, it puts him at a very risky stage in his life.

But it's not just exhaustion Junior is at risk of.

Lagging behind also exposes him to old foes.

A buffalo has just turned up.

And it looks like he's picked up the scent of the lions.

He seems to be looking for trouble.

Having seen the damage a buffalo can inflict on his siblings,

Junior freezes.

Fortunately, mum, Sior, isn't too far ahead.

So the lioness has spotted the buffalo and suddenly stopped.

The buffalo looks very confident,

and he's looking straight towards the lioness.

I think they'd have to run for their lives because three lioness

don't really stand a chance against a healthy buffalo in the wild.

But then out of the bush...

Oh, there's one of the daddies.

One of the big alpha males of the group.

You only see the males probably one out of seven or eight sightings.

They're usually very busy going around to patrol their territory.

Josephat is the pride's solitary male and father to Junior

and the cubs.

Josephat is stronger, he's got more jaw power,

and he would put in his weight.

And this could help the pride.

JOSEPHAT ROARS

In the normal scenario, lions would not go for buffalo

because it takes about five lions to take down a healthy buffalo.

But let's just see what happens. Maybe today's a different day.

Along with Josephat,

the cooling temperatures of the evening have also arrived,

a lion's preferred hunting time.

I can now see two of the lioness that are with Sior.

Very close to the buffalo.

We really hope that they will be successful.

Buffalo would be such a good kill and enough for every pride member.

HE ROARS

Nelson is on his way to find the Eastern lion pride.

Last night, he left them, along with dad, Josephat,

in a stand-off with a buffalo.

Hunting a buffalo is potentially very dangerous for lions.

They've had trouble with buffaloes in the past.

They've lost a cub...

..to a buffalo attack.

And Junior got injured.

But Josephat is around.

If he summons up enough courage,

and Vanita and Sella and Sior work nicely together,

they might just be able to bring it down.

On catching up with the pride,

Nelson discovers the aftermath of last night's confrontation.

SOFT GROWLING

They finally are the winner.

And all praise goes to the lions.

It's been very interesting to find the pride with a big buffalo kill.

Something we'd not imagine would happen.

But with Josephat's help in bringing down the huge prey,

this has just turned the tables.

They've all got enough food

and it's just a happy time for everyone.

This is a really huge buffalo.

It would mean that Vanita and Sella actually played a part

in this hunt.

So, it's really good training for them.

Still they've got a long way to go before they can be as good as Sior.

But it's so encouraging to see them stepping up

and actually playing a huge role in such a big kill.

But there's one member of the pride for whom this big kill

has even more significance.

We have seen Junior feeding on the buffalo.

Like, jumping on top of it.

He's, like, "You almost killed me.

"But today, my family brought you down."

It's, like, a happy moment

and he feels on top of the world.

And that whatever happens,

his family would always conquer any challenge that would face them.

Thanks to Sior, Junior's made it this far.

And maybe one day he will grow up to be a big, buff king of the jungle

like his father, Josephat.

As another eventful day in Ol Pejeta draws to a close,

whether you're top dog or runt of the litter,

these vast plains are a haven to a staggering array of wildlife.

This is pretty much the modern-day Garden of Eden.

Ol Pejeta has really modelled what conservation should and can be.

There's so much biodiversity.

From the tiniest animals,

the ants, the dung beetles, to the Big Five, to the birds,

everything is functioning optimally

to make sure that the ecosystem is healthy and running efficiently.

And it's the dedicated team of rangers

that make it all possible.

Being a ranger here is pretty much

the best job that I could ever ask for.

You really find yourself being a part of the ecosystem.

And if you interact with all the animals and see them,

you start to see yourself in them.

You start to see mums and dads and children

and, you know, you start to see they have their society

and they are trying to survive and do their best for themselves.

And you start to relate your own life

to how they are living.

I love working with them.

The best parts of my life are all here.

All the best stories I ever tell are right here in Ol Pejeta.

CHUCKLING

Subtitles by Red Bee Media