Lone Target (2014) s01e07 Episode Script
South Africa Safari Survival
Narrator: Almost every country has a specialized military tracking unit [ All grunt .]
trained to capture terrorists [ Indistinct shouting .]
guard borders [ Dog barking .]
and hunt criminals.
Stand back! and now they're about to face one of their toughest targets.
Joel lambert.
Let's go.
Come on.
Narrator: A former Navy seal and expert in escape and evasion All right.
Come back.
Joel's mission is to put them to the test They're not prepared for this.
This is my turf.
Narrator: And evade capture for 36 hours.
Quitting is never an option.
I'm gonna die before I quit.
Narrator: This time, Joel challenges the international anti-poaching foundation, one of Africa's elite anti-poaching squads.
They must track, hunt, and capture Joel before he crosses their heavily guarded game reserve.
Man: Yankee, come out of the bush! You're surrounded by lions! Narrator: The hunt is on.
-- Captions by vitac -- captions paid for by discovery communications I'm going to see if I can't pull the gas line to the carburetor and siphon some gasoline.
Gasoline is a strong asset to have -- there it comes -- from helping start fires to warding off insects.
So I'm gonna drain what I can.
That should do it.
This is where we're gonna cut through this fence just like poachers do.
The electrical part of the fence is on the inside.
It's to keep all those wild beasties in.
[ Electricity crackles .]
Yeah, that's definitely hot.
The rubber on my gloves will keep me safe from any shock.
Let's go.
I've just cut my way into a 280-acre wild animal reserve with my crew.
It's home to over 50 species of animals, and it's a huge target for poachers.
My goal is to make it 25 kilometers north where a bush pilot will be waiting to extract me.
I've cut into the reserve on the Southern tip, and they'll know it instantly because I broke their electrical current, but they don't know my extract 25 kilometers away on the northern border of the reserve.
This is so different than anything I've ever done.
In the seal teams, I was always bristling with weapons.
And here, I've got a tomahawk.
What could possibly go wrong? Narrator: Joel carries a multi-tool, survival knife, tomahawk, fuel from his motorbike, map and compass, one quart of water, and an insulated jacket.
Anything else, he'll have to find along the way.
It looks like someone's definitely cut through the fence here 'cause we've lost power to the entire southwest fence.
Narrator: The international anti-poaching foundation, or iapf, is one of Africa's most successful anti-poaching units, lead by ex-Australian commando Damien mander.
I really want to find a sign as quickly as possible.
Narrator: His right-hand man is ex-South African special forces jc Strauss.
It's like we're, really, finding a needle in a haystack.
All right, guys, let's load up.
Move out.
Narrator: The iapf is equipped with their standard munitions, two four-wheel-drive trucks, and a five-man team comprised of ex-military, ex-poachers, and local trackers.
Mander: Tracking and intelligence -- two of the best tools we've got with anti-poaching.
I don't give a [Bleep.]
who this guy is or where he's from, if we [Bleep.]
catch him by lunchtime, we'll be set up there having a cold beer, then I'll be happy.
[ Both laugh .]
[ Hippos grunting .]
There's about 10 hippo hanging out right in the middle of that water.
Hippo are some of the most dangerous animals in Africa.
Hippopotamus kill way more people every year.
They are very aggressive, very territorial.
And they are really fast.
Stay back from the water.
Back! Back! Back! [ Hippo grunts .]
You don't want that thing coming out of the water at you.
Come on.
Told you.
I [Bleep.]
Told you.
Just getting a good look here for any sign along the way.
All right.
Narrator: It's two hours since the iapf detected the electrical fence had been cut.
But they are still searching for Joel's entry point along the 55-mile perimeter.
Every second for us is critical, especially with the sun coming up.
It's gonna be harder for us to track this guy through the bush.
We want to get on there and get those tracks soon.
Narrator: As the sun reaches midday, there will be no shadows in the tracks, making them harder to see.
Slow down a little bit.
[ Whistles .]
Yeah.
Yeah, we got something here.
Bottom four strands have been cut.
It's a fresh cut.
Narrator: Their top tracker, Alex, knows the track is fresh based on the amount of detail remaining in the print.
Alex: This one is very, very fresh.
You happy, jc? Positive.
We're gonna track this.
Right here.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Good work.
Okay.
Lambert: They have the advantage of mobility.
I can't move as fast as they can.
This area is completely crisscrossed with roads.
They can send their vehicles around ahead to the next hard road and looking for any sign of my crossing.
If they find it, they'll send vehicles on to the next road and try to box me in.
If they don't find any sign of my tracking, they'll just concentrate the trackers coming from behind.
Strauss: That's fresh.
That's a fresh sign.
Fresh going this way.
We've got the track.
Narrator: After an hour of tracking, Damien and his men can see Joel appears to be heading northwest.
To gain an advantage, they split into two teams.
The first, led by Damien, will continue to follow Joel's spoor on foot, while jc will use the reserve's 370 Miles of roads to cast ahead and try to cut Joel off.
Lambert: Spoor -- that's an afrikaans word.
It comes from the boar, and it basically means "sign.
" Ground sign is anything on the ground -- footprints, broken leaves, displaced rocks.
Aerial sign are anything up high -- broken branches.
It's all sign.
It's all spoor.
It all indicates some creature's passage -- in this case, me.
I've noticed the guys at the front who are doing the tracking -- they're just completely focused on the ground.
That's their sole focus.
I see some tracks here.
He's heading this way.
Mander: Alex looking at the ground and following tracks is like us picking up a newspaper and reading an article.
Alex has been on this reserve for 18 years.
He takes this [Bleep.]
very personally when someone comes through that fence line.
And I can guarantee you that we'll hunt this man to the end of the earth.
Narrator: Alex's skills pay off, closing the distance to just under half a mile from Joel.
Ah.
Huge rock formation.
We've got a perfect opportunity to lay some deception to make them burn some time here while we're moving on our real path.
Come on.
Let's go.
Walking on rocks means that they can't see my spoor, so I can change my direction of travel, and they won't have a clue.
What we're gonna do is hop off this rock using those rocks there and take a 90-degree turn from the direction of our travel.
Any hunter force that doesn't get thrown off by this is really, really good.
We're gonna really make them work for it.
And just here, we've got fresh hyena spoor here.
Guys, just keep a good lookout, okay? A good lookout.
There's hyena around here somewhere.
Just picked up some fresh hyena spoor, so there's most likely some hyena in this immediate area.
A hyena has got some of the most powerful jaws on the planet.
Everyone gets mistaken.
They think a hyena just comes in and scavenges.
Very untrue.
A hyena will hunt down and kill a target.
It's silent out here now.
I don't know what to make of that.
[ Hyena barking .]
[Bleep.]
Look.
It's a hyena.
She's huge.
That's sick.
She's looking right at me.
Narrator: The iapf is only a quarter-mile behind Joel, but right now, getting caught by them isn't his biggest threat.
Lambert: [Bleep.]
Look.
It's a hyena.
She's huge.
[ Hyena barks .]
Wow.
You can't turn your back on these animals.
Hyenas have very powerful jaws, and they can rip a person apart in seconds.
She might have a den.
Even worse, she might have young.
The last thing we want to do is get in between an animal and her young, so we've got to be very, very careful moving by.
She's looking right at me.
Look at those black eyes.
She's just staring at me.
She's moving on.
All right.
Here we go.
That was our first no [Bleep.]
real wild-animal encounter.
Hyena's are pack animals, which means where there is one, there's gonna be more, so I am out of here.
Mander: Once he goes across solid rock, we've got no way of being able to follow that spoor.
Narrator: Damien's team travels over the same rock formation their target did just one hour ago.
But they've hit a snag.
Mander: He came up here and then came back? Yes.
Went along there.
So I think these people just came in here and sweep around and heading back.
Jc, jc, Damien.
The guys lost the spoor.
That's [Bleep.]
bull[Bleep.]
Okay, guys, let's keep pushing.
Narrator: Joel's deception on the rocks paid off.
And now Damien's team is forced to recast for his spoor.
The more and more we walk around and around in circles, the more contaminated the area gets, the more difficult it becomes in regaining that spoor and getting back on our target.
The way it's opening up gives me whole lot more visibility, but, unfortunately, that works two ways.
I can see a lot more, but that makes me more visible, too.
[ Hoofbeats .]
Ho! Ho! Ho! [ Hoofbeats continue .]
It's just impala.
Whew.
I saw movement there.
There they go.
A herd of about 15 impala right in front of us.
And there's a straggler.
That's the one that gets eaten.
Tracks here, guys.
And you've obviously got spoor along here.
It's still along here.
Narrator: After losing a whole hour recasting at the rock, expert tracker Alex has once again picked up the former Navy seal's trail.
All right, these people were coming from that way.
That way.
Must be.
Mander: And there's a live hyena den.
The last known position was at the hyena den.
Do you want us to push east till we pick up the road and wait for you there? Okay.
We got a really good track to follow.
All the dust that's come off the grass.
He's been moving through this area.
Leaves a really good tunnel for us to be coming up.
We're right behind him.
Strauss: There's another animal coming up here.
These animals have been spooked by something.
They wouldn't just run.
These impala are fleeing the direction, you know there's some humans -- human activity or predator activity.
So it's not only looking for the tracks, but also look at the wildlife.
Damien, those animals sort of ran away from something.
Yeah.
Just gonna check here for -- see if we can get any spoor here.
There are some tracks here.
Tracks here.
A lot of tracks.
A lot of tracks.
A lot of tracks.
We've got one here heading in this direction.
Man: Okay.
Tell me -- what's that? This is a track, and it's hinting that way.
Strauss: I know exactly where they're going now.
And that's what you call a dog with a bone.
Straight north.
This is a really good place for us to be traveling in.
We've got a little bit of high ground on either side of us.
Now the temptation is to get up high there and walk along that Ridge so we can see.
Unfortunately, we'd skylight ourself right along there, and anyone could see us silhouetted against the sky very, very easily.
Narrator: The gully has hidden Joel from their view.
But he's also unable to clearly see what's ahead of him or behind, where the hunter force has moved to within 500 feet of his position.
Once again, they have split up -- Damien on foot and jc moving ahead on the road.
Lambert: I'm gonna check both the flanks and then zip across.
[Bleep.]
Look at that wet spot.
That's some water that's really close to the surface.
This is our first time to -- this is our first chance to refill water.
We've got to take it.
But we got to be quick, though.
You can see the dark surface where water has seeped up.
It means it's really close.
Dehydration is a very sneaky killer.
With as little as a 2% drop in your body composition of water, your vision gets fuzzy, your brain functions affected, your muscles start cramping.
Here in Africa, you're not gonna last long.
We got to let that settle a little bit.
Mander: Jc, jc, Damien.
Come in.
Yeah, we've had very good spoor through here.
We've been running the track.
Now we could be pushing them out, however.
Okay, just tell them to keep that track.
Copy.
Best place to store water is in your body.
But I got to get this into a bottle so I can purify it.
Shh.
[ Vehicle approaches .]
I hear vehicles.
[Bleep.]
It's the hunter force.
We've got to go.
Come on! Go! Go! Go! Come on.
I've got to buy some time.
I've got to buy some time.
Shh.
[ Vehicle approaches .]
I hear vehicles.
Narrator: After a full day in the African sun, Joel has risked stopping to refill his water supply, not realizing that jc and the iapf are just feet away.
Lambert: [Bleep.]
It's the hunter force.
We've got to go.
Come on! Go! Go! Go! Come on.
I've got to buy some time.
I've got to buy some time.
Strauss: I bet you that he felt the pressure.
I'm very confident that we're very, very, very close to him.
Jc, I think you should come and have a look at this.
Somebody dug here for water.
Looks fresh.
Strauss: Yeah, these guys were definitely -- if you look at it, this a place where elephants normally dig for water, but the elephants do not put the wet sand there.
Very tactical -- taking out the wet sand, putting it to a side.
Okay.
If you leave this water, in five minutes, it's gonna clear, but this water's still murky.
I think we're very, very, very hot on their trail.
We've got a track here.
Yeah, there they go.
There's a spoor.
They are way too close to me -- a lot closer than I thought they were.
Narrator: Joel presses northwards and, against his better instincts, moves fast, trying to gain every inch he can from his trackers.
Lambert: Head north to the fence.
Let's go.
[ Bird caws .]
I smell something dead.
[Bleep.]
[ Growls .]
She sees me.
I only see one, but they've got a fresh kill.
I'm here prying around here.
You got to say big And back out.
[ Snarling .]
[Bleep.]
[ Growls .]
We got to move.
Keep it tight.
Talk about [Bleep.]
factor.
It's when your sphincter just [Smooches.]
tightens up.
Can't go north to my extraction because of the lions, and the iapf is right behind me, so it's time to change strategy.
I want to keep heading towards my extract point, but in order to keep moving further north, I'm gonna need a serious diversion -- something that's gonna tie up the entire hunter force.
If I can light a fire with a lot of smoke -- that's what poachers do to drive game.
That'll pull them off target long enough to investigate, and it might be my chance to slip through.
There's a nice, flat area there.
I can do it without risking the reserve.
I can use their passion for the animals against them.
Sorry, guys.
This is what I got to do.
Build a little bit of a teepee fire.
Got really green wood.
All that green leaves.
This is what's gonna make all the smoke.
I'm gonna go ahead and soak the wood with this gasoline -- and also my torch -- and then I'm gonna light it and we're gonna move.
That's it.
Let's go.
Come on.
Narrator: As Joel heads northeast to get back on track, the hunter force is on his spoor and moving fast.
[ Whistles .]
[ Whistles .]
What's the problem? I see some smoke this way.
Strauss: There's smoke coming up.
It is smoke.
[Bleep.]
Sort that fire out.
We can catch this guy -- up with him -- later.
Just mark that track, pick it up again.
Let's go, let's go, let's go! Mander: If that fire gets out of control, it could jeopardize the whole reserve.
Narrator: Damien is unsure how the fire started.
Was it Joel, poachers, or a natural event? Either way, it's his first duty to protect the animals.
Mander: That's everyone's top priority now.
Get the thing out, get back on the trail.
We're losing more time.
Oh, there it is.
That's man-made.
[ Sighs .]
[Bleep.]
Man-made fire.
This is [Bleep.]
bull[Bleep.]
Have a look around here, guys.
Try and find spoor.
[Bleep.]
Teepee [Bleep.]
Just check around for spoors.
This was set alight on purpose.
This is for deviation.
He knows our top priority's looking out for the animals, looking out for this reserve.
He's taking advantage of that.
It's actually a bit of a low blow.
Makes this whole thing just a little more personal, you know? [Bleep.]
Where he's gone.
Lambert: Hopefully, it's taking their toll on them and slowing them down.
Just watch that he hasn't backtracked again, guys.
Hopefully they're still messing with that fire.
And now I'm gonna really have to make up some time in order to get where I need to be so I can make extract in the morning.
I've got the spoor here! I've got the spoor! You've got some spoor there? Yup.
Let's go.
Come and check it out.
Mander: Okay, let's go, guys.
Come on, guys.
We're on spoor.
Alex.
Yes.
There's spoor running on this side.
I think those guys have lit a fire.
Okay.
We've got him.
We've got him.
I have to start making some serious moves left and right.
So, we got our sun on our back.
As long as the shadow is kind of between 10 and 2, we're heading in the good, general bearing that we need.
That's gonna help us navigate as we move through the bush without pulling out a compass every two minutes.
So, got to keep them guessing.
Narrator: As Joel heads northeast with less than an hour of sunlight left, the iapf makes a risky move.
Based on Joel's direction of travel, they leapfrog an entire unit ahead hoping to gain distance and cut him off.
Lambert: Oh, man.
Oh, man.
I'm really tempted to go down there and get some water.
But see those ripples right there? Somebody's home.
Every water source in Africa is presumed to be infested with crocodiles.
Alex: I think there's tracks there.
Mander: Tracks? Stop.
There's tracks there.
Stop, stop.
You see the crocodile, motionless, eyes right above the water? And as far as crocodiles go, they are man-eaters.
They are deceptively fast.
Let's give this a wide berth.
Let's go.
On this plant, there's still tracks.
I've got tracks.
Got tracks.
Good work.
They were around here.
There's a [Bleep.]
nest of tracks.
Let's go and do a sweep around the den.
Strauss: Just watch out for that [Bleep.]
crocodile.
That track is fresh, very fresh.
You see it's still breaking up? We're on fresh, fresh, fresh.
That track is not more than half an hour old, I reckon.
Narrator: Footprints in gravel typically break up within an hour, but the detail in the tracks they found confirms they are less than 30 minutes behind Joel.
Luckily for Joel, the fading light slows their ability to track.
Lambert: The sun just dropped.
We're in a little bit of a hollow here.
This is it.
This is where we're gonna stay.
No person is gonna move in there at night.
Once it gets dark, it's too thick, and it's too dangerous.
Mander: It's getting very hard to track on the ground now, so we're gonna walk around and, uh, try our luck.
This time of day, too, is when all the big cats and the predators come out, so that's something extra to think about.
Now we have to build a perimeter to keep out any animals tonight.
Stuff like these buffalo thorns will work perfectly.
And this should help deter animals from coming in, but there's no guarantee.
Strauss: They're not gonna walk through the bush now, so they can use the roads.
So, there's only two roads that they can use.
Pretty good area to put up an ambush will be on this road, okay? 'Cause it's a couple roads coming together, and then we'll put another ambush at the other one and see what happens.
Narrator: Convinced that Joel is within 130 feet of their position and with no spoor heading north, jc deploys two ambush positions on the outlying roads, confident they have Joel trapped.
[ Chuckles .]
We'll get him.
We'll get him.
If not tonight, early, early tomorrow.
What we're gonna do is we're gonna set up our ambush here, but we're not relying on line of sight.
We're gonna use our ears for this one.
At this junction over here Listen.
Look.
Be ready to move, okay? I have no idea how they got up on us.
[Bleep.]
Hey, listen.
They can't see anything, and they can't get in here, and they're sure as hell not gonna patrol at night, so the only thing they can pick up on is noise.
You got to be as quiet as you possibly can.
I love this game.
Everybody down.
Lambert: If they don't hear any sign of us, they'll probably move off.
I know they don't know that I'm here.
Don't move quickly.
Lambert: We're just gonna lay here and be extremely quiet, and hopefully, they move off.
Narrator: The iapf has tracked Joel's spoor to within 150 feet of his current position.
Unable to track in the bush in the dark, both sides sit in a standoff, each waiting for the other to make a mistake.
Mander: We've gone from a five-hour head start this morning to tomorrow morning -- it'll be 15 minutes.
Less.
[ Chuckles .]
Less.
Lambert: The more you make somebody wait, the more their attention drifts.
They relax.
They get comfortable.
And that'll create an opening for me.
I can't risk waiting until morning to move, so I'm taking a calculated risk.
We should have enough moonlight to make our way.
All the voices I've been hearing have been coming from the east, so I'm gonna head west.
It's gonna be light out soon, and as soon as that happens, those guys are gonna be on me so fast.
I've got to put some distance between myself and the hunter force before that happens.
There are a lot of nasty, big African predators that are nocturnal.
This is actually really stupid, but I got to do it.
Come on.
Let's go.
Narrator: At first light, the iapf closes in on Joel's campsite.
The only problem is there's no Joel.
They're already gone.
They -- they've already walked.
We should, uh, just space it out -- there was movement again, okay? So, they must've [Bleep.]
walked overnight.
But we haven't heard a thing.
No, but they -- let's just push forward, okay? We were right on his tail, and he was just doing everything he could to evade us.
All right.
This is it.
This is the final push to extract.
Narrator: With only four hours remaining until his escape plane leaves, it's make-or-break time for Joel.
Lambert: I don't know where our hunter force is.
My eyes, my ears, everything I've got -- on full alert.
Moving quietly, moving smoothly.
Here we go.
Narrator: The clock is also ticking for the iapf, who have one last trick up their sleeve.
Yeah.
All right.
Everyone here at the back.
Take a look here quickly.
That track is basically directing north.
They're gonna cross where that dry river bed was coming down.
Now that Joel is close to the perimeter, the iapf think they know where he is going, but they don't know how he is being extracted.
All the zigzagging, all the back and forth -- only one thing's been consistent, and that's been north.
Narrator: Joel is only 2 1/2 Miles from the reserve's northern border, so jc places six men, including Damien, in ambush positions along the length of the makwasi river, the final open ground Joel must cross to reach his extraction.
Mander: We're moving down into our ambush position to try and cover the final line.
Narrator: While Damien and the entire unit lie in wait, jc patrols the roads between them as mobile backup.
Mander: This Navy seal -- yeah, we've got similar backgrounds, but I don't like it when anyone gets one up on me.
[ Grunts .]
Now it's just a waiting game.
If I were the iapf, I would have all my guys right up at this choke point where they know I've got to go through, trying to pick me off as I move through.
Now we play the game.
Narrator: Just a half-mile ahead of Joel, jc responds to an urgent call from one of his trackers.
These are tracks.
We think this is a female.
Yeah.
This is confirmed.
Normally with the males, because there's a big torso, their front feet turn outwards.
This one is sort of straight.
Definitely adult lioness.
It's big.
Like, a lion somewhere here.
Lion? Yeah.
[ Speaks indistinctly .]
Extremely dangerous.
She's just waiting For us to make the wrong move.
It's possible that she's got cubs here in the area or that she's pregnant.
Makes her probably the most dangerous lion that you'll get out here.
Back out now.
Do not turn.
Back out.
This is the most dangerous time, backing out because if you turn your back on a cat, you're dead.
Back out, back out, back out.
Narrator: Jc Strauss' men remain on lookout, but with a confirmed lioness on the prowl, jc is forced to pull one of his men back both to keep him safe and protect the lion, and Joel is unaware he's headed straight towards her.
I've got a huge opening right near a road.
I got no choice.
I got to cross.
[ Inhales sharply .]
All right.
Danger crossing.
Super danger crossing.
They can see all the way down it, so here we go.
[ Indistinct shouting .]
All stations, all stations.
Action, action.
They've got -- we've got visual.
Okay.
I'm on my way.
I'm on my way.
Lambert: Go, go, go, go, go.
Strauss: Okay.
I've got him.
[ Horn honking .]
Stop! [ Gunshots .]
[Bleep.]
Stop! Narrator: Joel has accidentally sprinted right into the area occupied by the lioness.
That's what this is.
Stop.
Don't compromise the animal's [Bleep.]
safety.
All rangers, because of safety, stop.
He doesn't know what we know -- there's a lion around this area.
Joel! You need to stop! This is not good.
He's -- he's sprinting through the bush.
Okay.
That's like rolling a ball of string in front of a cat.
He's an instant target.
Yeah, yeah.
Look, so, the hunt isn't off.
It's just changed.
This isn't about capture anymore.
This is critical now.
This is life and death.
Yankee! Come out of the bush! You're surrounded by lions! Look.
A poacher's snare.
Animals will come through this, get a body part caught.
The more they struggle, the more it'll constrict.
If the poachers have been scared off the property, the animal will die a long, slow, miserable death.
These guys at the iapf -- they're doing an amazing, selfless thing trying to stop this.
Respect, guys.
That's one less.
Done.
Where is it? I don't know, buddy.
Okay? But more to your eastern side.
Narrator: Joel's only 500 feet from his extraction point, but the game has changed.
And he let them pass by? The iapf is no longer trying to capture Joel, but save him from the lions.
They're probably not chasing us.
They're probably just cutting around ahead of me with the roads and vehicles.
No point in chasing me.
They know where I'm going.
Joel! You need to stop! Okay.
Yeah.
You guys go on.
I'm standing in the river in case he comes through the river.
Narrator: While jc and the rest of the men patrol the roads, Damien hopes to rescue Joel from his original ambush position.
Mander: We need to find him with great urgency.
If we make a noise and give away our position, he's gonna go back into the bush.
We've got more chance of finding him just by standing here.
Oh [Bleep.]
I don't want to go through this stuff.
Go this way.
Go this way.
Oh [Bleep.]
I don't like this one bit.
Man: Joel! Lambert: They're supposed to be right on the other side.
Holy [Bleep.]
Oh, quick.
That's hunter force.
That's where we're gonna across.
As soon as he's gone, we'll swing around.
We're gonna lay down and make sure that the area's clear, and then we're gonna make a dash across the river.
Oh [Bleep.]
they're right [Bleep.]
there.
They're right there.
We're gonna walk right to him.
I mean, I'm stuck.
I'm pinned.
[ Rustling .]
That's the sort of stuff we want to avoid -- that thick, long grass, all flattened down in the middle.
Something's been hiding in there.
Man: Yankee! Come out of the bush! You're surrounded by lions! Lambert: Could be a bluff.
He's trying to get me to come in.
It's the oldest trick in the book.
The lions were way back there.
I'm not falling for that.
How stupid does he think I am? I'll crawl through this grass to the river's edge.
On the other side of this river should be my extract point.
It's just wide open all the way down and all the way up.
Ready? Let's go.
Mander: Okay.
We've got him.
All call signs, we've got him.
Lambert: [Bleep.]
[Bleep.]
Action, action.
They've got [Bleep.]
Let's go.
[ Airplane engine idling .]
Lambert: That's it! There's the airfield, man! Almost home free! Come on! [ Indistinct conversations .]
[Bleep.]
Mander: At least we know he's safe and he's out of harm's way.
The way I see it, we've both won here.
Yes, he made it through to the end, but would we have caught him had he not taken off by himself? I'm about 99% positive.
Joel's probably got a big smile on his face right now, but he's got no idea how dangerous things became for him on the ground.
trained to capture terrorists [ Indistinct shouting .]
guard borders [ Dog barking .]
and hunt criminals.
Stand back! and now they're about to face one of their toughest targets.
Joel lambert.
Let's go.
Come on.
Narrator: A former Navy seal and expert in escape and evasion All right.
Come back.
Joel's mission is to put them to the test They're not prepared for this.
This is my turf.
Narrator: And evade capture for 36 hours.
Quitting is never an option.
I'm gonna die before I quit.
Narrator: This time, Joel challenges the international anti-poaching foundation, one of Africa's elite anti-poaching squads.
They must track, hunt, and capture Joel before he crosses their heavily guarded game reserve.
Man: Yankee, come out of the bush! You're surrounded by lions! Narrator: The hunt is on.
-- Captions by vitac -- captions paid for by discovery communications I'm going to see if I can't pull the gas line to the carburetor and siphon some gasoline.
Gasoline is a strong asset to have -- there it comes -- from helping start fires to warding off insects.
So I'm gonna drain what I can.
That should do it.
This is where we're gonna cut through this fence just like poachers do.
The electrical part of the fence is on the inside.
It's to keep all those wild beasties in.
[ Electricity crackles .]
Yeah, that's definitely hot.
The rubber on my gloves will keep me safe from any shock.
Let's go.
I've just cut my way into a 280-acre wild animal reserve with my crew.
It's home to over 50 species of animals, and it's a huge target for poachers.
My goal is to make it 25 kilometers north where a bush pilot will be waiting to extract me.
I've cut into the reserve on the Southern tip, and they'll know it instantly because I broke their electrical current, but they don't know my extract 25 kilometers away on the northern border of the reserve.
This is so different than anything I've ever done.
In the seal teams, I was always bristling with weapons.
And here, I've got a tomahawk.
What could possibly go wrong? Narrator: Joel carries a multi-tool, survival knife, tomahawk, fuel from his motorbike, map and compass, one quart of water, and an insulated jacket.
Anything else, he'll have to find along the way.
It looks like someone's definitely cut through the fence here 'cause we've lost power to the entire southwest fence.
Narrator: The international anti-poaching foundation, or iapf, is one of Africa's most successful anti-poaching units, lead by ex-Australian commando Damien mander.
I really want to find a sign as quickly as possible.
Narrator: His right-hand man is ex-South African special forces jc Strauss.
It's like we're, really, finding a needle in a haystack.
All right, guys, let's load up.
Move out.
Narrator: The iapf is equipped with their standard munitions, two four-wheel-drive trucks, and a five-man team comprised of ex-military, ex-poachers, and local trackers.
Mander: Tracking and intelligence -- two of the best tools we've got with anti-poaching.
I don't give a [Bleep.]
who this guy is or where he's from, if we [Bleep.]
catch him by lunchtime, we'll be set up there having a cold beer, then I'll be happy.
[ Both laugh .]
[ Hippos grunting .]
There's about 10 hippo hanging out right in the middle of that water.
Hippo are some of the most dangerous animals in Africa.
Hippopotamus kill way more people every year.
They are very aggressive, very territorial.
And they are really fast.
Stay back from the water.
Back! Back! Back! [ Hippo grunts .]
You don't want that thing coming out of the water at you.
Come on.
Told you.
I [Bleep.]
Told you.
Just getting a good look here for any sign along the way.
All right.
Narrator: It's two hours since the iapf detected the electrical fence had been cut.
But they are still searching for Joel's entry point along the 55-mile perimeter.
Every second for us is critical, especially with the sun coming up.
It's gonna be harder for us to track this guy through the bush.
We want to get on there and get those tracks soon.
Narrator: As the sun reaches midday, there will be no shadows in the tracks, making them harder to see.
Slow down a little bit.
[ Whistles .]
Yeah.
Yeah, we got something here.
Bottom four strands have been cut.
It's a fresh cut.
Narrator: Their top tracker, Alex, knows the track is fresh based on the amount of detail remaining in the print.
Alex: This one is very, very fresh.
You happy, jc? Positive.
We're gonna track this.
Right here.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Good work.
Okay.
Lambert: They have the advantage of mobility.
I can't move as fast as they can.
This area is completely crisscrossed with roads.
They can send their vehicles around ahead to the next hard road and looking for any sign of my crossing.
If they find it, they'll send vehicles on to the next road and try to box me in.
If they don't find any sign of my tracking, they'll just concentrate the trackers coming from behind.
Strauss: That's fresh.
That's a fresh sign.
Fresh going this way.
We've got the track.
Narrator: After an hour of tracking, Damien and his men can see Joel appears to be heading northwest.
To gain an advantage, they split into two teams.
The first, led by Damien, will continue to follow Joel's spoor on foot, while jc will use the reserve's 370 Miles of roads to cast ahead and try to cut Joel off.
Lambert: Spoor -- that's an afrikaans word.
It comes from the boar, and it basically means "sign.
" Ground sign is anything on the ground -- footprints, broken leaves, displaced rocks.
Aerial sign are anything up high -- broken branches.
It's all sign.
It's all spoor.
It all indicates some creature's passage -- in this case, me.
I've noticed the guys at the front who are doing the tracking -- they're just completely focused on the ground.
That's their sole focus.
I see some tracks here.
He's heading this way.
Mander: Alex looking at the ground and following tracks is like us picking up a newspaper and reading an article.
Alex has been on this reserve for 18 years.
He takes this [Bleep.]
very personally when someone comes through that fence line.
And I can guarantee you that we'll hunt this man to the end of the earth.
Narrator: Alex's skills pay off, closing the distance to just under half a mile from Joel.
Ah.
Huge rock formation.
We've got a perfect opportunity to lay some deception to make them burn some time here while we're moving on our real path.
Come on.
Let's go.
Walking on rocks means that they can't see my spoor, so I can change my direction of travel, and they won't have a clue.
What we're gonna do is hop off this rock using those rocks there and take a 90-degree turn from the direction of our travel.
Any hunter force that doesn't get thrown off by this is really, really good.
We're gonna really make them work for it.
And just here, we've got fresh hyena spoor here.
Guys, just keep a good lookout, okay? A good lookout.
There's hyena around here somewhere.
Just picked up some fresh hyena spoor, so there's most likely some hyena in this immediate area.
A hyena has got some of the most powerful jaws on the planet.
Everyone gets mistaken.
They think a hyena just comes in and scavenges.
Very untrue.
A hyena will hunt down and kill a target.
It's silent out here now.
I don't know what to make of that.
[ Hyena barking .]
[Bleep.]
Look.
It's a hyena.
She's huge.
That's sick.
She's looking right at me.
Narrator: The iapf is only a quarter-mile behind Joel, but right now, getting caught by them isn't his biggest threat.
Lambert: [Bleep.]
Look.
It's a hyena.
She's huge.
[ Hyena barks .]
Wow.
You can't turn your back on these animals.
Hyenas have very powerful jaws, and they can rip a person apart in seconds.
She might have a den.
Even worse, she might have young.
The last thing we want to do is get in between an animal and her young, so we've got to be very, very careful moving by.
She's looking right at me.
Look at those black eyes.
She's just staring at me.
She's moving on.
All right.
Here we go.
That was our first no [Bleep.]
real wild-animal encounter.
Hyena's are pack animals, which means where there is one, there's gonna be more, so I am out of here.
Mander: Once he goes across solid rock, we've got no way of being able to follow that spoor.
Narrator: Damien's team travels over the same rock formation their target did just one hour ago.
But they've hit a snag.
Mander: He came up here and then came back? Yes.
Went along there.
So I think these people just came in here and sweep around and heading back.
Jc, jc, Damien.
The guys lost the spoor.
That's [Bleep.]
bull[Bleep.]
Okay, guys, let's keep pushing.
Narrator: Joel's deception on the rocks paid off.
And now Damien's team is forced to recast for his spoor.
The more and more we walk around and around in circles, the more contaminated the area gets, the more difficult it becomes in regaining that spoor and getting back on our target.
The way it's opening up gives me whole lot more visibility, but, unfortunately, that works two ways.
I can see a lot more, but that makes me more visible, too.
[ Hoofbeats .]
Ho! Ho! Ho! [ Hoofbeats continue .]
It's just impala.
Whew.
I saw movement there.
There they go.
A herd of about 15 impala right in front of us.
And there's a straggler.
That's the one that gets eaten.
Tracks here, guys.
And you've obviously got spoor along here.
It's still along here.
Narrator: After losing a whole hour recasting at the rock, expert tracker Alex has once again picked up the former Navy seal's trail.
All right, these people were coming from that way.
That way.
Must be.
Mander: And there's a live hyena den.
The last known position was at the hyena den.
Do you want us to push east till we pick up the road and wait for you there? Okay.
We got a really good track to follow.
All the dust that's come off the grass.
He's been moving through this area.
Leaves a really good tunnel for us to be coming up.
We're right behind him.
Strauss: There's another animal coming up here.
These animals have been spooked by something.
They wouldn't just run.
These impala are fleeing the direction, you know there's some humans -- human activity or predator activity.
So it's not only looking for the tracks, but also look at the wildlife.
Damien, those animals sort of ran away from something.
Yeah.
Just gonna check here for -- see if we can get any spoor here.
There are some tracks here.
Tracks here.
A lot of tracks.
A lot of tracks.
A lot of tracks.
We've got one here heading in this direction.
Man: Okay.
Tell me -- what's that? This is a track, and it's hinting that way.
Strauss: I know exactly where they're going now.
And that's what you call a dog with a bone.
Straight north.
This is a really good place for us to be traveling in.
We've got a little bit of high ground on either side of us.
Now the temptation is to get up high there and walk along that Ridge so we can see.
Unfortunately, we'd skylight ourself right along there, and anyone could see us silhouetted against the sky very, very easily.
Narrator: The gully has hidden Joel from their view.
But he's also unable to clearly see what's ahead of him or behind, where the hunter force has moved to within 500 feet of his position.
Once again, they have split up -- Damien on foot and jc moving ahead on the road.
Lambert: I'm gonna check both the flanks and then zip across.
[Bleep.]
Look at that wet spot.
That's some water that's really close to the surface.
This is our first time to -- this is our first chance to refill water.
We've got to take it.
But we got to be quick, though.
You can see the dark surface where water has seeped up.
It means it's really close.
Dehydration is a very sneaky killer.
With as little as a 2% drop in your body composition of water, your vision gets fuzzy, your brain functions affected, your muscles start cramping.
Here in Africa, you're not gonna last long.
We got to let that settle a little bit.
Mander: Jc, jc, Damien.
Come in.
Yeah, we've had very good spoor through here.
We've been running the track.
Now we could be pushing them out, however.
Okay, just tell them to keep that track.
Copy.
Best place to store water is in your body.
But I got to get this into a bottle so I can purify it.
Shh.
[ Vehicle approaches .]
I hear vehicles.
[Bleep.]
It's the hunter force.
We've got to go.
Come on! Go! Go! Go! Come on.
I've got to buy some time.
I've got to buy some time.
Shh.
[ Vehicle approaches .]
I hear vehicles.
Narrator: After a full day in the African sun, Joel has risked stopping to refill his water supply, not realizing that jc and the iapf are just feet away.
Lambert: [Bleep.]
It's the hunter force.
We've got to go.
Come on! Go! Go! Go! Come on.
I've got to buy some time.
I've got to buy some time.
Strauss: I bet you that he felt the pressure.
I'm very confident that we're very, very, very close to him.
Jc, I think you should come and have a look at this.
Somebody dug here for water.
Looks fresh.
Strauss: Yeah, these guys were definitely -- if you look at it, this a place where elephants normally dig for water, but the elephants do not put the wet sand there.
Very tactical -- taking out the wet sand, putting it to a side.
Okay.
If you leave this water, in five minutes, it's gonna clear, but this water's still murky.
I think we're very, very, very hot on their trail.
We've got a track here.
Yeah, there they go.
There's a spoor.
They are way too close to me -- a lot closer than I thought they were.
Narrator: Joel presses northwards and, against his better instincts, moves fast, trying to gain every inch he can from his trackers.
Lambert: Head north to the fence.
Let's go.
[ Bird caws .]
I smell something dead.
[Bleep.]
[ Growls .]
She sees me.
I only see one, but they've got a fresh kill.
I'm here prying around here.
You got to say big And back out.
[ Snarling .]
[Bleep.]
[ Growls .]
We got to move.
Keep it tight.
Talk about [Bleep.]
factor.
It's when your sphincter just [Smooches.]
tightens up.
Can't go north to my extraction because of the lions, and the iapf is right behind me, so it's time to change strategy.
I want to keep heading towards my extract point, but in order to keep moving further north, I'm gonna need a serious diversion -- something that's gonna tie up the entire hunter force.
If I can light a fire with a lot of smoke -- that's what poachers do to drive game.
That'll pull them off target long enough to investigate, and it might be my chance to slip through.
There's a nice, flat area there.
I can do it without risking the reserve.
I can use their passion for the animals against them.
Sorry, guys.
This is what I got to do.
Build a little bit of a teepee fire.
Got really green wood.
All that green leaves.
This is what's gonna make all the smoke.
I'm gonna go ahead and soak the wood with this gasoline -- and also my torch -- and then I'm gonna light it and we're gonna move.
That's it.
Let's go.
Come on.
Narrator: As Joel heads northeast to get back on track, the hunter force is on his spoor and moving fast.
[ Whistles .]
[ Whistles .]
What's the problem? I see some smoke this way.
Strauss: There's smoke coming up.
It is smoke.
[Bleep.]
Sort that fire out.
We can catch this guy -- up with him -- later.
Just mark that track, pick it up again.
Let's go, let's go, let's go! Mander: If that fire gets out of control, it could jeopardize the whole reserve.
Narrator: Damien is unsure how the fire started.
Was it Joel, poachers, or a natural event? Either way, it's his first duty to protect the animals.
Mander: That's everyone's top priority now.
Get the thing out, get back on the trail.
We're losing more time.
Oh, there it is.
That's man-made.
[ Sighs .]
[Bleep.]
Man-made fire.
This is [Bleep.]
bull[Bleep.]
Have a look around here, guys.
Try and find spoor.
[Bleep.]
Teepee [Bleep.]
Just check around for spoors.
This was set alight on purpose.
This is for deviation.
He knows our top priority's looking out for the animals, looking out for this reserve.
He's taking advantage of that.
It's actually a bit of a low blow.
Makes this whole thing just a little more personal, you know? [Bleep.]
Where he's gone.
Lambert: Hopefully, it's taking their toll on them and slowing them down.
Just watch that he hasn't backtracked again, guys.
Hopefully they're still messing with that fire.
And now I'm gonna really have to make up some time in order to get where I need to be so I can make extract in the morning.
I've got the spoor here! I've got the spoor! You've got some spoor there? Yup.
Let's go.
Come and check it out.
Mander: Okay, let's go, guys.
Come on, guys.
We're on spoor.
Alex.
Yes.
There's spoor running on this side.
I think those guys have lit a fire.
Okay.
We've got him.
We've got him.
I have to start making some serious moves left and right.
So, we got our sun on our back.
As long as the shadow is kind of between 10 and 2, we're heading in the good, general bearing that we need.
That's gonna help us navigate as we move through the bush without pulling out a compass every two minutes.
So, got to keep them guessing.
Narrator: As Joel heads northeast with less than an hour of sunlight left, the iapf makes a risky move.
Based on Joel's direction of travel, they leapfrog an entire unit ahead hoping to gain distance and cut him off.
Lambert: Oh, man.
Oh, man.
I'm really tempted to go down there and get some water.
But see those ripples right there? Somebody's home.
Every water source in Africa is presumed to be infested with crocodiles.
Alex: I think there's tracks there.
Mander: Tracks? Stop.
There's tracks there.
Stop, stop.
You see the crocodile, motionless, eyes right above the water? And as far as crocodiles go, they are man-eaters.
They are deceptively fast.
Let's give this a wide berth.
Let's go.
On this plant, there's still tracks.
I've got tracks.
Got tracks.
Good work.
They were around here.
There's a [Bleep.]
nest of tracks.
Let's go and do a sweep around the den.
Strauss: Just watch out for that [Bleep.]
crocodile.
That track is fresh, very fresh.
You see it's still breaking up? We're on fresh, fresh, fresh.
That track is not more than half an hour old, I reckon.
Narrator: Footprints in gravel typically break up within an hour, but the detail in the tracks they found confirms they are less than 30 minutes behind Joel.
Luckily for Joel, the fading light slows their ability to track.
Lambert: The sun just dropped.
We're in a little bit of a hollow here.
This is it.
This is where we're gonna stay.
No person is gonna move in there at night.
Once it gets dark, it's too thick, and it's too dangerous.
Mander: It's getting very hard to track on the ground now, so we're gonna walk around and, uh, try our luck.
This time of day, too, is when all the big cats and the predators come out, so that's something extra to think about.
Now we have to build a perimeter to keep out any animals tonight.
Stuff like these buffalo thorns will work perfectly.
And this should help deter animals from coming in, but there's no guarantee.
Strauss: They're not gonna walk through the bush now, so they can use the roads.
So, there's only two roads that they can use.
Pretty good area to put up an ambush will be on this road, okay? 'Cause it's a couple roads coming together, and then we'll put another ambush at the other one and see what happens.
Narrator: Convinced that Joel is within 130 feet of their position and with no spoor heading north, jc deploys two ambush positions on the outlying roads, confident they have Joel trapped.
[ Chuckles .]
We'll get him.
We'll get him.
If not tonight, early, early tomorrow.
What we're gonna do is we're gonna set up our ambush here, but we're not relying on line of sight.
We're gonna use our ears for this one.
At this junction over here Listen.
Look.
Be ready to move, okay? I have no idea how they got up on us.
[Bleep.]
Hey, listen.
They can't see anything, and they can't get in here, and they're sure as hell not gonna patrol at night, so the only thing they can pick up on is noise.
You got to be as quiet as you possibly can.
I love this game.
Everybody down.
Lambert: If they don't hear any sign of us, they'll probably move off.
I know they don't know that I'm here.
Don't move quickly.
Lambert: We're just gonna lay here and be extremely quiet, and hopefully, they move off.
Narrator: The iapf has tracked Joel's spoor to within 150 feet of his current position.
Unable to track in the bush in the dark, both sides sit in a standoff, each waiting for the other to make a mistake.
Mander: We've gone from a five-hour head start this morning to tomorrow morning -- it'll be 15 minutes.
Less.
[ Chuckles .]
Less.
Lambert: The more you make somebody wait, the more their attention drifts.
They relax.
They get comfortable.
And that'll create an opening for me.
I can't risk waiting until morning to move, so I'm taking a calculated risk.
We should have enough moonlight to make our way.
All the voices I've been hearing have been coming from the east, so I'm gonna head west.
It's gonna be light out soon, and as soon as that happens, those guys are gonna be on me so fast.
I've got to put some distance between myself and the hunter force before that happens.
There are a lot of nasty, big African predators that are nocturnal.
This is actually really stupid, but I got to do it.
Come on.
Let's go.
Narrator: At first light, the iapf closes in on Joel's campsite.
The only problem is there's no Joel.
They're already gone.
They -- they've already walked.
We should, uh, just space it out -- there was movement again, okay? So, they must've [Bleep.]
walked overnight.
But we haven't heard a thing.
No, but they -- let's just push forward, okay? We were right on his tail, and he was just doing everything he could to evade us.
All right.
This is it.
This is the final push to extract.
Narrator: With only four hours remaining until his escape plane leaves, it's make-or-break time for Joel.
Lambert: I don't know where our hunter force is.
My eyes, my ears, everything I've got -- on full alert.
Moving quietly, moving smoothly.
Here we go.
Narrator: The clock is also ticking for the iapf, who have one last trick up their sleeve.
Yeah.
All right.
Everyone here at the back.
Take a look here quickly.
That track is basically directing north.
They're gonna cross where that dry river bed was coming down.
Now that Joel is close to the perimeter, the iapf think they know where he is going, but they don't know how he is being extracted.
All the zigzagging, all the back and forth -- only one thing's been consistent, and that's been north.
Narrator: Joel is only 2 1/2 Miles from the reserve's northern border, so jc places six men, including Damien, in ambush positions along the length of the makwasi river, the final open ground Joel must cross to reach his extraction.
Mander: We're moving down into our ambush position to try and cover the final line.
Narrator: While Damien and the entire unit lie in wait, jc patrols the roads between them as mobile backup.
Mander: This Navy seal -- yeah, we've got similar backgrounds, but I don't like it when anyone gets one up on me.
[ Grunts .]
Now it's just a waiting game.
If I were the iapf, I would have all my guys right up at this choke point where they know I've got to go through, trying to pick me off as I move through.
Now we play the game.
Narrator: Just a half-mile ahead of Joel, jc responds to an urgent call from one of his trackers.
These are tracks.
We think this is a female.
Yeah.
This is confirmed.
Normally with the males, because there's a big torso, their front feet turn outwards.
This one is sort of straight.
Definitely adult lioness.
It's big.
Like, a lion somewhere here.
Lion? Yeah.
[ Speaks indistinctly .]
Extremely dangerous.
She's just waiting For us to make the wrong move.
It's possible that she's got cubs here in the area or that she's pregnant.
Makes her probably the most dangerous lion that you'll get out here.
Back out now.
Do not turn.
Back out.
This is the most dangerous time, backing out because if you turn your back on a cat, you're dead.
Back out, back out, back out.
Narrator: Jc Strauss' men remain on lookout, but with a confirmed lioness on the prowl, jc is forced to pull one of his men back both to keep him safe and protect the lion, and Joel is unaware he's headed straight towards her.
I've got a huge opening right near a road.
I got no choice.
I got to cross.
[ Inhales sharply .]
All right.
Danger crossing.
Super danger crossing.
They can see all the way down it, so here we go.
[ Indistinct shouting .]
All stations, all stations.
Action, action.
They've got -- we've got visual.
Okay.
I'm on my way.
I'm on my way.
Lambert: Go, go, go, go, go.
Strauss: Okay.
I've got him.
[ Horn honking .]
Stop! [ Gunshots .]
[Bleep.]
Stop! Narrator: Joel has accidentally sprinted right into the area occupied by the lioness.
That's what this is.
Stop.
Don't compromise the animal's [Bleep.]
safety.
All rangers, because of safety, stop.
He doesn't know what we know -- there's a lion around this area.
Joel! You need to stop! This is not good.
He's -- he's sprinting through the bush.
Okay.
That's like rolling a ball of string in front of a cat.
He's an instant target.
Yeah, yeah.
Look, so, the hunt isn't off.
It's just changed.
This isn't about capture anymore.
This is critical now.
This is life and death.
Yankee! Come out of the bush! You're surrounded by lions! Look.
A poacher's snare.
Animals will come through this, get a body part caught.
The more they struggle, the more it'll constrict.
If the poachers have been scared off the property, the animal will die a long, slow, miserable death.
These guys at the iapf -- they're doing an amazing, selfless thing trying to stop this.
Respect, guys.
That's one less.
Done.
Where is it? I don't know, buddy.
Okay? But more to your eastern side.
Narrator: Joel's only 500 feet from his extraction point, but the game has changed.
And he let them pass by? The iapf is no longer trying to capture Joel, but save him from the lions.
They're probably not chasing us.
They're probably just cutting around ahead of me with the roads and vehicles.
No point in chasing me.
They know where I'm going.
Joel! You need to stop! Okay.
Yeah.
You guys go on.
I'm standing in the river in case he comes through the river.
Narrator: While jc and the rest of the men patrol the roads, Damien hopes to rescue Joel from his original ambush position.
Mander: We need to find him with great urgency.
If we make a noise and give away our position, he's gonna go back into the bush.
We've got more chance of finding him just by standing here.
Oh [Bleep.]
I don't want to go through this stuff.
Go this way.
Go this way.
Oh [Bleep.]
I don't like this one bit.
Man: Joel! Lambert: They're supposed to be right on the other side.
Holy [Bleep.]
Oh, quick.
That's hunter force.
That's where we're gonna across.
As soon as he's gone, we'll swing around.
We're gonna lay down and make sure that the area's clear, and then we're gonna make a dash across the river.
Oh [Bleep.]
they're right [Bleep.]
there.
They're right there.
We're gonna walk right to him.
I mean, I'm stuck.
I'm pinned.
[ Rustling .]
That's the sort of stuff we want to avoid -- that thick, long grass, all flattened down in the middle.
Something's been hiding in there.
Man: Yankee! Come out of the bush! You're surrounded by lions! Lambert: Could be a bluff.
He's trying to get me to come in.
It's the oldest trick in the book.
The lions were way back there.
I'm not falling for that.
How stupid does he think I am? I'll crawl through this grass to the river's edge.
On the other side of this river should be my extract point.
It's just wide open all the way down and all the way up.
Ready? Let's go.
Mander: Okay.
We've got him.
All call signs, we've got him.
Lambert: [Bleep.]
[Bleep.]
Action, action.
They've got [Bleep.]
Let's go.
[ Airplane engine idling .]
Lambert: That's it! There's the airfield, man! Almost home free! Come on! [ Indistinct conversations .]
[Bleep.]
Mander: At least we know he's safe and he's out of harm's way.
The way I see it, we've both won here.
Yes, he made it through to the end, but would we have caught him had he not taken off by himself? I'm about 99% positive.
Joel's probably got a big smile on his face right now, but he's got no idea how dangerous things became for him on the ground.