Original subtitles

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 ♪