All language subtitles for Queens.2024.S01E07.720p.WEB.h264-EDITH

I'm Angela Bassett,

Executive Producer of Queens.

A series about stepping in to
and holding on to your power.

These animal queens show
us what it takes to be

a truly great leader.

Each episode tells the story
of sacrifice and strength,

but also friendship and love.

Behind the scenes is an
equally inspiring story.

A story four years in the
making of some incredible

women from around the world.

It has a message
of courage and hope

that's close to my heart.

These are the queens
behind the Queens.

National Geographic's Queens

celebrates powerful female
leaders in the natural world.

And behind every inspirational
animal on screen,

is an equally gritty
and determined woman.

In the course of making the
series, these remarkable women

have gone to great lengths,

to document and protect

the lives of our animal queens.

It's all about passion.

You can do
anything if you

set your mind to it.

♪ They fire on my blood ♪♪

We faced a
lot of obstacles and just

powered through them.

Against
the odds, they persisted.

This is their story.

Multi-award-winning
cinematographers,

Sophie Darlington,
and Justine Evans,

have over 50 years'
combined experience,

filming in our planet's
wild places.

I've been
filming wildlife for over

25 years now.

So bit of an old timer

.

There are very few wildlife
camera women out there.

It's changed a little
since I started, but not much.

Through
making Queens, they are

determined to
create real change.

Our aim
was to film amazing stories

that are out there in nature
about female leadership,

but also to bring on a load of
talent in a time when there

couldn't be more necessity
for strong, fresh voices.

Sophie and
Justine joined forces with

four up and coming
female filmmakers

from across the world.

Amboseli National Park
in Kenya is home to the

ultimate animal sisterhood.

Local director, Faith Musembi
is responsible for finding

the right elephant herd to film.

As far as I
know I'm the first Kenyan

woman to work on a
series like this.

I've never done
wildlife filmmaking.

So obviously it's
quite daunting.

There's a lot of anxiety that

goes along with
something like that,

but there's just something
at the back of my head

that just goes,
um just you wait.

Because I'm just a driven person

and I'm really excited about

working with
Sophie Darlington.

She's been in this
industry for a long time.

She is at the highest level,

and I'm just really
looking forward to

learning from her expertise.

As Sophie
flies out to support Faith,

Faith and the team get to
know the Amboseli elephants.

This year
there's a baby boom.

Which is really amazing, but
also makes my job of trying to

identify the right baby and
family for filming,

that much harder.

But while Faith
tries to find the right herd,

a solitary female
catches her attention.

So this is a
really interesting family.

I've been following them
for a while, but curiously,

there's another female
that's not with them

but her behavior's
really odd.

So I'm taking photos so the
Elephant Trust can help us ID

the elephants, and yeah,
I'm hoping they can tell me

who she is.

Faith reaches
out to Katito and Norah,

researchers at the Amboseli
Trust for Elephants, for help.

Katito.

They manage
the longest running elephant

field research
project in the world.

So you don't
ID them by their tusks?

Tusks sometimes break.

Ears are best.

So any notable
marks in their ears.

Here's a video of her.

Who is this?

It's Selengei.

With Selengei,

you don't have to bother
with ear markings.

You just look at the
shape of her body.

You see how
she's hunched over?

Like this?

She's hunched over.

Norah and
Katito have advised film crews

for years, but this is the
first time they have worked

with a director from
their own country.

It's good that we
speak the same language.

It's not like we can't
speak English, but...

...it's much easier
working with you.

I can tell this
passion is deep in your heart.

Never lose that.

Norah and
Katito are breaking barriers.

Leaving your family for an
extended period of time to do

the work they do

is at odds with our culture
and our traditions.

So when they encourage me to
continue charting my own path

there's a lot of
weight behind that.

Finally,
Sophie arrives in Amboseli.

It was very
much our hope when we started,

to encourage more women on
the craft element of things

and this is it, it's happening,
it's just amazing.

Oh my word.

Oh my goodness it's
so good to see you.

While Faith
begins her directing journey,

just ten miles away, another
group of Kenyan women

use their voices to
protect Amboseli's wildlife.

We are Team Lioness.

That's our name
because lionesses are brave.

We're clever and
also courageous.

Team Lioness,

supported by the International
Fund for Animal Welfare,

is an all-female
wildlife ranger group.

They protect the
community land

bordering Amboseli
National Park.

Sharon Nankinyi is
Team Lioness' unit leader.

We've co-existed with
the wildlife for many years.

We share the corridors.

We share the wilderness.

As human
population booms,

settlements expand
into wild places

and conflict with
animals is on the rise.

We grapple
with the community.

There are some who
don't understand

the benefit of wildlife.

In Kenya,
around 25 people and

100 elephants die as a result
of this conflict every year.

Team Lioness works
to protect both,

and they have a secret weapon.

Because
we're women we're able

to get information
very easily...

...from the ladies
in the villages.

Women have been
oppressed in our society.

So the ladies don't give male
rangers information easily.

But they give it to us.

Being women
is exactly what makes the team

so successful, but it's also
been their greatest challenge.

Eunice Peneti is
the team driver.

When we started this job...

...the community thought
that we'd shun marriage.

Or that we'd stop
respecting our elders

according to our traditions.

Eunice
and the other rangers are

making it work.

Even with kids in tow.

Some of us
bring our children to camp.

Your colleague babysits your
baby when you're on patrol.

We haven't changed.

The women's
impact has been significant.

Since their first
patrol in 2019,

poaching and retaliatory
killings of animals

have reduced by 80%.

.

Team Lioness
wants more women to join them.

.

I'm not the only
one capable of being a Corporal.

Others will rise up
and become Corporals.

.

And I'll continue
rising in the ranks until

I'm Senior Warden.

So I'd like to encourage
women to work in conservation.

So we can work together....

...to ensure that
future generations...

...can find the wildlife still
in existence across our land.

Team Lioness
uses their position at the

heart of the community
to make a difference.

Across the world, women
are breaking barriers

in the fight for wildlife.

Tania Escobar is a filmmaker,
originally from Mexico.

Five foot two, petite,

she doesn't exactly
fit the mold of

'rugged explorer'
cinematographer.

But Tania hasn't let
stereotypes stop her.

She's traveling to the center
of the Congo Basin to film a

secretive ape species,
found nowhere else on earth.

It takes a
couple of days to get there.

It's a long walk, but it's a
nice walk because you cross

a lot of jungle and savannas.

This is a good
jungle introduction.

Tania and
the crew are guided by

a team of locals.

With hundreds of pounds
of film gear in tow,

the crew needs all the
help they can get.

Filming in such a remote
location is a privilege,

but it can be dangerous.

When you're
out in the field you know that

if something goes
wrong, that's it.

I guess there's no way you
can go out fast enough so,

of course, you always worry
about everyone's health in

those very remote locations.

So, of course, those kinds
of fears are always there

but don't think
about them too much.

Just enough to be prepared.

The crew
is based at the

Luikatole Research Station.

Working closely with
researchers from the

Max Planck Institute
for Animal Behavior.

And with the help of
trackers they finally find

what they came for.

Oh!
Here they are.

.

These are
bonobos, endangered Great Apes,

and one of our
closest living relatives.

We share nearly
99% of our DNA.

Found only here
in the Congo basin

this is Tania's first glimpse.

.

They
have such a beautiful call.

They are very high.

Bonobos
prefer to stay in the canopy

where there's plenty of fruit
and they're safe from predators.

The bonobos aren't
coming down to Tania,

so Tania will go to the bonobos.

The crew rigs a
filming platform.

Tom is
getting ready to go up.

Unfortunately,
there's a lot of bees.

So they're making the job
harder but hopefully this is

a good tree so we can
set up the platform.

So how's it looking, Tom?

Tania, it's
looking really good up here.

I think we're game on.

.

All five foot
two of Tania ascends to the

canopy, where being shorter,
is no problem at all.

Being small
comes with advantages

and disadvantages.

In a tree platform,
very handy,

I have a lot of space.

Despite being
nearly 100 feet in the air,

on a tiny platform

and covered in bees,
Tania is unbelievably cool.

.

Even as the rainforest
lives up to its name.

So it's pouring
rain really hardly.

And the platform is moving.

So there was not time to pack
the camera so I just cover it

with a plastic bag.

So that's the end
of the day, I guess.

No bonobos today,
just a lot of rain.

It's a challenging location.

You have to be positive
because if not frustration

will eat you, because
most of the days don't work.

So you just have to
keep cheering yourself,

and if you know that
whenever it happens

it's going to be special,
that keeps you going.

Tania and
the team follow young bonobo,

Zowie, as she leaves
home for the first time.

The bonobos are gentle,
endearing, but also, sadly

endangered, paying the price
of the illegal wildlife trade.

There was
one bonobo that had his hand

caught in a snare, and it was
very painful to watch because

he still had the
cable attached to it,

and his mum had exactly the
same injury but his mum

already didn't have
half of the hand.

Bonobos are
suffering at the hands of us,

one of their
closest living relatives.

In the capital city of the
Democratic Republic of Congo,

an organization is
determined to help.

These little ones, have found
a new home at Lola Ya Bonobo,

a sanctuary for babies who
have lost their mothers.

In Lola Ya
Bonobo we try to save those

orphans, give
them hope of life.

This
is Souzy Kwetuenda.

She oversees animal welfare at
the sanctuary and is the first

Congolese scientist to
publish studies on bonobos.

We focus
on the psychology of bonobos.

My first study was a
relationship between

mother bonobos and the baby.

That was the beginning
and I fall in love,

and I discover that really
bonobos are wonderful.

They are very complex.

These babies
have been through major trauma.

Many have seen their mothers
killed in front of them.

For an animal as
intelligent as a bonobo,

this loss is devastating.

Without love
and affection the baby bonobo

cannot survive.

So when we have a new arrival,
new orphans, the first thing

is to find for them in the
nursery the surrogate mother.

The 'mamas'
are carefully selected and

trained, they care for
each baby like their own.

This is the newest
addition, Owila.

She was rescued from poachers

who hunted her
family for bushmeat.

Owila's surrogate
mother is Peggy.

All new orphans spend time one
on one with their 'mama' in

quarantine, before they're
introduced to the nursery.

Normally
the time they spend in the

quarantine
depends on the trauma.

If everything is going in a
good way, they can spend

after a month, it's fine.

But you have some who
stay longer because

their health is very weak.

Owila has
been in quarantine for a

little over two months.

When she
came, we saw this, very skinny

and uh
completely broken, lost.

Souzy and the
Mamas understand trauma

more than most.

And when you
see that, it's not different

from the kids who
live in the war.

.

The people of
the DRC have been plagued by

conflict for over 20 years.

I'm a girl
who came from the war,

so I understand how it's
painful to live under pressure,

human pressure.

.

As a result
of the war, and pressures on

the ecosystem, bonobo numbers
have dropped rapidly

over the past 30 years.

To save the species, Souzy and
her team need the Congolese

people to love the orphans
as much as they do and that

starts with kids.

In Lola, we
provide an education program

to schools.

We offer them a free visit
here so they can understand

more by watching bonobos.

Bonjour Les Amis!

Bonjour Les Amis!

Bonjour Les Bonobos.

Bonjour Les Bonobos.

They are little, huh?
They are babies.

Look! Lots of love.

See how they're
hanging from the back.

It's very
important to start to have a

connection with those kids
who can easily change

their family, change
their environment,

change their friends.

They can share
easily information.

Bonobos are completely...

Protected!

Should we kill them?

Should we eat them?

Should we keep them at home?

No!

.

After two
months in isolation,

Baby Owila is finally ready
to join the nursery.

The only
way to be sure that there is a

good progress on psychology
is to see the babies playing.

Souzy hopes
that sometime in the future,

Owila and the other orphans
will be released into their

natural habitat,
the rainforest.

.

So, they
find like a big paradise.

They forget you.

They forget you,
and we are so proud

to work and to fight for them.

Since 2008,
26 bonobos have been released

into the wild, into the
community forest,

Ekolo ya Bonobo.

At a time when global wildlife
is declining faster than at

any point in human history,

passionate advocates have
never been more important.

Across the border in Tanzania,

another woman is ready to
lend her voice to the fight.

Local camerawoman,
Erica Rugabandana joins

Justine Evans to follow Shani
and her lion sisterhood,

as they battle
Ayisha's hyena clan.

My
background is in conservation,

but now I would like to
focus my career as a

wildlife camerawoman.

In Tanzania there are very few
women who are doing it,

but it's all about passion,
it's all about, you know,

career this is
what I love doing.

Erica's largely self-taught.

Now she has Justine's decades
of experience behind her.

What are
you thinking about here?

Looks quite pretty doesn't it?

It's also her
first chance to get hands-on

time with
professional camera gear.

I never
knew about this huge lens,

so I was like, oh my God.

We don't have
them in Tanzania.

Wildlife
filmmaking is both an art

and a craft.

Because when you're filming
stories about animals,

you're not only crafting their
story using the camera,

all the technology available

but you have to artistically
show that story as well.

They make
a lot of movement here so

how do you choose?

It all feels
a bit much at first because

you're thinking about all
these different things but

it does become
instinctive after a while.

Honest.

For Erica,
following her dream,

comes with sacrifice.

I have
three children and with this

my career as a camerawoman,
it has been challenging.

It's not an easy path.

I'm
getting ready to head out to do

some night filming.

Frame the camera
properly so I can see you.

I can't see all of you.

Koku's coming.

Wherever I
get a bit of signal, I'll call

back home and then I
speak with everybody.

Okay, bye!

As the sun
sets, Erica's next challenge

is to film in the
crater after dark.

Load it all up then.

Justine is a
night filming specialist,

but Erica will be the first
Tanzanian woman to do this.

I'm so excited!

And I'm looking forward to
seeing how Shani and her pride

behave at night.

Tonight,
the team are in luck,

they've found the lions
about to confront the clan

over a fresh kill.

The other
lioness is coming down,

so if they all join together
they could have a chance?

Justine's
instincts are spot on,

the pride launches
a full attack.

.

Together, they capture
an extraordinary scene.

.

Actually,
it was amazing to see how

Justine uses the camera.

I learnt a lot from Justine.

I will never
forget that night.

This is where I belong.

I need to get more of this.

I need to practice more.

So that I can make
quality documentaries

for the Tanzanian audience.

But also informing the
world what is happening

in my country.

I feel so proud being the
first wildlife camerawoman

in Tanzania.

Back in Kenya,
Faith and Sophie have

been following baby Binti as
she's initiated into the herd.

Faith has also uncovered
something remarkable about

her favorite elephant, Selengei

and wants to share
it with Sophie.

She's actually a really

sweet looking elephant.

Do you notice
how she walks with her

head held low?

No!

Mm-hm.

She's blind!

This is a blind elephant!

You're kidding me.

She's coming straight at us.

Oh hello beautiful lady!

Hi!

So when she
comes this close,

I usually play her music.

-What?
-Yeah.

That is such a good idea.

Yeah.
Just so she knows I'm here.

[♪ "Somewhere Over the
Rainbow" playing].

Oh, she's beautiful.

Mm-hm.

.

I loved sharing that moment
with Selengei with Sophie.

I'm learning there
is value to my voice.

There's value to speaking up
and telling my own stories.

Inspiring
the next generation to tell

conservation stories, is crucial
for the future of the planet.

A belief that filmmaker
Erin Ranney

lives and breathes.

I worked on the
Coastal episode with Bears.

I worked on Savannah Queens
with Elephants, and then

I went out and did a little
bit on hyenas and lions.

What I
love about Erin is that she's

got this independence and
drive, real passion and drive.

Sophie never
made me feel like I have to be

the next Sophie Darlington,

but she let me feel like if
I really took in her mentorship,

I could be a better
version of Erin Ranney.

Erin wants
to use her skills as a

cinematographer to inspire
young people to take action

to protect our planet.

I had a boss
who sat me down and said,

I just want you to promise me
that you'll lift as you climb.

It's a quote from
Mary Church Terrell

and that really stuck with me,

because I think so
often we're so worried

I'm not quite there yet.

I can't help people out yet,
and that was all it took for

me to go, "Oh, no,
I can help now!"

Erin realized
that one thing she could do

is help get young aspiring
filmmakers out into the wild,

and where better than
where Erin started her

filming journey, Alaska.

Cordova's the most
beautiful place in the world.

I've always been aware that
I have access to beautiful

places and to
incredible wildlife.

Evelyn!

Oh my God.

Hello!

So good
to finally meet you.

I'm Evelyn Smalley.

I'm from Lancashire in
the north west of England.

Erin and
Evelyn first connected through

'Girls Who Click' a mentorship
program that links girls to

professional wildlife
photographers and

cinematographers.

One of the
best opportunities we can give

Evelyn and other young
filmmakers is to actually

get them in the field.

Up until now,
Evelyn hasn't had much

experience with
filming equipment.

When you
first pick all the kit up

I didn't think I would make it.

All the kit is really,
really heavy,

but then you just
get on with it.

You know, it's
what you love doing.

It's a small hurdle.

I am going to start lifting
weights though because

I think it'll help.

Try to
get it nice and stable.

You ready to take over?

-Yep!
-Alright!

Evelyn is
a long way from taking

still photos of
wildlife in England.

So, zoom out.

The thing that really stood
out to me with Evelyn was

this moment where we're out and
she's completely dripping with

rain just, it's, she's
completely soaked and

she doesn't care.

She was just totally in her
element, and to me, that made

me so proud because
that's what it takes.

Erin wants
Evelyn to film the animal that

inspired her to
pick up a camera.

Oh there's one!
Do you see?

Yeah, yeah.

To go and film
something so powerful,

quite close was insane.

Before this, I would have kind
of focused on all the things

I think I'm doing wrong and kind
of spiral into a place where

it's really hard
to get out of.

Nice, Evelyn.
They're both there.

So those are the
two young bears.

The best
way you can learn is to

make mistakes.

Here is a place for me to make
the mistakes, and so it's been

a really, really
great opportunity.

Remember, focus
on getting a sequence so

try to shoot your wides first,
get your close up then.

Erin is still
early on in her own career,

but already she has helped
over 150 young women

across the world, sharing
her skills and her passion.

I've always
felt very fortunate having

an incredibly supportive family.

One that's so willing to help
and share knowledge and,

just help my curiosity.

And I can't really thank them.

Like, it's quite emotional,
but I can't really thank them,

and I think the best way to
thank them is to continue to

pass that on um, and
hopefully keep that legacy up

and show them that I
appreciate it in that way.

Your bear, your first one!

Yeah, yeah.

This next
generation will be crucial in

the fight for wildlife.

During the four years of
filming for Queens,

the team experiences a defining
time for our planet.

40 countries declare
a climate emergency.

In every country
the crew visits,

the effects of extreme weather
linked to the climate crisis,

are clear to see.

In Kenya's Amboseli,
in one year alone,

over 6,000 animals died.

Faith returns to the park.

Things honestly
couldn't be more different

from when I started
three years ago.

So many animals have died.

And I recently got the
devastating news that

one of these animals is my
favorite elephant, Selengei.

It's, yeah it's strange to
be this close and...

you know I don't have to
play her like music anymore

for her to know
I'm here so, yeah.

.

.

I'm just more than ever
inspired to tell stories about

the natural world.

If people could feel the way
I did about Selengei,

I think we would have lots of
people taking action to protect

the wild spaces as we know them,

because we'd have lots of people

who are in love doing
something about the

things that they love.

Faith and
all the women on this 'Queens'

journey, are true leaders.

Using their strength,

their understanding of
the issues around them

and drawing on
their own experience,

they continue to make
their voices heard.

Right now, our planet needs
even more voices to join them

the timing has
never been as critical.

.

.

♪ Guess who is the mother ♪

♪ Guess who is the mother ♪

♪ Guess who is the mother ♪

♪ Guess who is the mother ♪

♪ Guess who is the mother ♪

♪ Guess who is the mother ♪

♪ Guess who is the mother ♪

♪ Guess who is the mother ♪