Natural World (1983) s22e02 Episode Script

In a forgotten part of Africa, is a dark and perilous place It holds a secret locked deep in its rocks This is a place of mystery and never changing moods Its lure is so powerful, it can overcome the fear of death One creature more than any other has reason to both crave and dread the cave Going back in time, this cave has welcomed many visitors enticing them to journey far into its depths Kitum Cave in Kenya is the only place in the world where elephants venture deep underground They've been coming here for thousands of years one generation teaching the next the treacherous route into the side of Mt.
Elgon, an extinct volcano Over time, humans as well as elephants have been drawn to the cave each tolerant of the other's need to come here Until one morning, when that trust was broken A large herd of elephants, including many of their young were gathered in the cave A group of ivory poachers had followed them here and set up an ambush outside At dawn, the herd started to leave Trapped in the confines of the cave mouth, they stood little chance of escape Ten elephants lost their lives that morning The survivors will have memories of that day of their family numbers gunned down in front of them This attack came at the peak of an intense period of poaching that almost decimated Elgon's elephant herds reducing numbers from over 1000 to less than 100 Will the elephants have the courage to return to the cave, the scene of the worst massacre? Will they be able to survive if they don't? Two men have been assigned with the mission to find out Daniel and Mike, part of Mt.
Elgon's Elephant Monitoring team Their task is to protect Elgon's last herd of elephants and perhaps be the first to regain their trust Often, all they find is signs that the elephants have passed this way Tracking elephants in Elgon is very difficult because of the very thick vegetation also we've got very steepslopes in this mountain, it's hard walk absolutely Mt.
Elgon is vast, it's one of the biggest extinct volcanos in the world The terrain is hostile, unfamiliar and precipitous Just getting a glimpse of an elephant in the dense forests is a challenge Daniel and Mike are careful to keep their distance A signal that the crew must hang back things could get out of control Today, they're showing signs that they are not happy to be followed Although this charge was just a bluff, Daniel and Mike are aware of the dangers Elephants are much more unpredictable when they're hemmed in by forests than when they are out in the open Mt.
Elgon's herd has been forced to adapt to life in forests But in fact, they are savannah elephants whose migration routes have been cut off by roads and settlements trapping them on the flanks of the volcano But with so much green foliage available surely Mt.
Elgon is a paradise rather than a prison Thousands of years of heavy rainfall have stripped vital salts from the soil so the plants that grow here are desperately lacking in salt Although a baby gets all the nutrients it needs from its mother an adult elephant needs to eat as much as 100 grams of salt each day just to keep its body functioning For the time being, eating soil provides a salt snack But soon the elephants will be compelled to find a richer source if they are to survive And there is a place with a super abundance of salt - the cave Here, the hard rock of ancient lava flows act as an umbrella The lava lip protects the soft, salt-rich rock below from the erosive effect of the rainwater What's more, the dampness in the cave draws the salt to the surface of the rock concentrating it to 100 times what's found in the forest plants outside When you need salt, the cave is the place to come But how do the forest animals get to its supply? You have to wait for nightfall to find out The forest trails approaching the cave have been rigged with remote cameras A bushbuck is picked up It's quickly followed by a succession of visitors Hyena, buffalo, even a small nocturnal genet all make their way up the steep slope By day, this path is empty.
But by night, it becomes a busy thoroughfare At the cave mouth, the trail is only 1m wide It's gridlock.
Some of the visitors are forced to return later Inside, the animals are drawn to total darkness The cave must be illumilated with special infra-red lights invisible to the eyes of animals but detectable by light sensitive cameras In the pitch blackness, their eyesight is redundant Instead, they must use smell, sound and touch for navigation The cave soundscape changes constantly as animals feel their way around the boulder-strewn floor Many are disorientated They cannot tell how many animals are in here and of what kind, friend or foe The cave proves irrisistable to predators tempted here by the constant stream of salt-starved visitors But it's a challenging place for both the hunter and the hunted In the dark, each is as blind as the other and each must place ever step very precisely A single misjudged step could mean a fatal fall or an easy meal But tonight, it's the plant eater's turn to satisfy their hunger for the life-saving salt which they greedily lick from the rocks The hyena is still waiting for his chance He's forced to try his luck another time They've survived the night, but the next visit to the cave could be different Daniel and Mike report for duty They work as part of a larger team protecting Elgon and its wildlife Although the cave was not visited by elephants last night today there is real excitement There are reports that the herd is the closest it's been to the cave for weeks They're travelling in a large group, a good sign Together, they're much more likely to make the final ascent to the cave En route, the elephants appear to be making a detour It's unusual to see them coming into the open like this The rest of the herd soon follows They've found water Watching this happy family scene, you could almost forget that this group of elephants is one of the most endangered in the world Although this mountain stream provides a welcome drink on the way to the cave you need to look more closely for the real reason that the elephants have come here Butterflies feeding on the muddy banks are a sign that this stream is flowing over rocks rich in minerals The elephants have also come here to take the edge off their salt hunger But it won't keep them going for long like the bushbuck and the buffalo, they need to get a really good supply of salt They need to get to the cave There are few roads in the park, so Daniel and Mike have to cross the giant Podicot Forest on foot Their job is often extremely physically demanding The herd can cover up to 40km in a day and wherever they go, Daniel and Mike must follow Not only that, they often have to second guess the herd's nocturnal movements so they can catch up with them each morning Of course, some days they don't manage to find them, but today they are lucky There is one of them there They are traveling towards there, the cave.
Which cave? Kitum.
Do you feel that? What? Out in the open, the men've got closer than usual to the elephants It's crucial they stay downwind to make sure the elephants don't get their scent There should be nothing to stop the herd visiting the cave tonight Until they hear dogs barking in the distance Dogs in the park mean only one thing: poachers For the moment, poaching is for bushmeat not ivory With their troubled past, it's not surprising that the elephants head for cover Daniel and Mike have no choice, but to go and investigate We found five poachers down here They have dogs, hunting dogs, and they were chasing a buffalo And the buffalo was having a snare on its neck And we tried to kill all the dogs, because they also try come and bite us When the poachers are coming to hunt waterbuck, buffalo bushbucks, the next thing is to come and hunt the elephants to take off their ivories then they can go and sell anywhere Night's approaching and there've been no sightings of the herd Daniel and Mike are worried about the renewed poaching activity and the potential threat to the elephants It's going to make their work even tougher There is certainly no chance that the elephants will visit the cave tonight but the regulars have still come for their salt fix Something's not quite right Our cameras pick up a rather more ominous visitor Even though they are inside the cave, the bushbuck are alert to the approaching danger He's being watched by an interested party as he makes his way into the cave entrance He's killed the bushbuck lured here by the cave's supply of salt Fortunes can change rapidly in the cave Tonight, it's the predator's turn to satisfy its hunger Normally, this leopard would be in danger of losing its kill to the hyena but in the cave, he's much bolder He definitely has the upper hand The leopard, like all the predators drawn to the cave, has not come here to lick salt from the rocks He gets all the salt he needs from eating flesh It's unusual for a leopard to enter another's territory But for the newcomer, the lure of the cave is hard to resist The male makes it clear that the trespasser is unwelcome He scent-marks the cave entrance The cave is now reestablished, as very much his domain The departure of the leopard marks the end of the nightshift But you never know what the next day will bring The children from the local school are on the mountain Humans have been sharing these caves with animals for centuries their feet treading the same well-worn path up the moutain and leaving their mark The Elgonyi, a Massai tribe have a long association with the caves of Mt.
Elgon especially Kitum Cave The children come to learn more about the cave's history as a refuge for both Elgon's people and its wildlife Their visit is recorded by the same cameras that captured the leopard's visit last night They're unaware that a kill was dragged down this path only hours before If a place could have voice, this cave would surely have many stories to tell This old man, too, has his story He was born in this cave His family is named after it and have lived here for generations My name is Kol, Kol Barua I am the sole survivor of those who were born in caves We lived here with our cattle They would get salt from licking the cave walls, but not enough So we would go deep inside to mine the rock We would cook these rocks to release more salt for our cows Born here, the old man expected to die here too But the government forced his family to leave when they turned the surrounding forest into a plantation The world was changing Today there are many conflicts of interest on Mt.
Elgon It's far from a true wilderness The park is at the heart of one of the most densely populated parts of East Africa Vast areas are needed to produce food and wood for local people As numbers grow increasing pressure is put on the park boundary an area of constant conflict between farmers and wild forest animals An electric fence was erected to address the problem and this is what's left of it During more unsettled times, the fence was destroyed and the wire taken by poachers Daniel and Mike head into Mackingeny another cave visited by elephants There's a slim chance that the herd may have come here instead of Kitum There's no sign apart from some old elephant footprints But they do find a fresh victim of the proaching, a recently snared hyena The wire around its neck came from the electric fence once there to protect the forest animals and now used as a weapon against them This is the last straw for the rangers It is proof that proachers are still bold enough to infiltrate the very heart of the park Snare patrols are intensified.
The casualties of poaching are everywhere Unless these animals are found and the snares removed they will suffer a slow and agonizing death By removing the last of the electric fence the rangers hope to halt the snaring bring some short-term security to the park The increased vigilance has paid off the herd has been sighted back in the park They're heading for the rangers' camp and they're travelling together as a group with their young They seem to be heading once again for the cave Just as it's looking hopeful a fire breaks out on the upper slopes In Elgon, there're no helicapters, no fire engines on standby These men beat back the flames with their bare hands Daniel and Mike get an update on the direction that the fire is moving We don't expect elephants to be for the moment out on the fire.
They are afraid of it But right now is very difficult for them to come to the caves because of the smoke You know, they're using their trunk And when they try to get the air, the air gets very polluted So they don't like that pollution.
That's why they are running away Hours pass and little progress has been made by the firefighters The fire turns into an inferno as Mt.
Elgon returns to a scene from its terbulent volcanic past Exhausted and temporarily defeated, the rangers returned to camp The next day, they attempt a new tactic by back-burning and creating firebreaks along roads It seems to be working Although the forest fires can occur naturally this one was started accidentally by a local farmer Hundreds of acres of forest have been destroyed Depite fearing the worst, Daniel and Mike head out in search for the herd At times like this, their job can seem futile This park is the last refuge for the elephants of Elgon yet at every turn their lives are threatened If you can't protect elephants in a national park what hope is there for their survival anywhere? They think that the elephants have fled to the most impenetrable part of the park - the bamboo forests They get a glimpse of a few feeding They have no chice now but to head into the forest and track the rest of the herd on foot Inside, the bamboo is incredibly dense making it impossible to see more than a few meters in any direction They will have to rely on sound to locate the elephants which are much closer than they thought They're hiding because they're having babies Yeah.
That is why they are hid in the bamboo.
It is interesting the bamboo becasue the air is blocked It's very easy for them to get the smell of the people The elephants' attitudes towards the men that they've learned to trust has changed dramatically For now, they will not tolerate any humans near them They set up a camp close to where they last saw the elephants To track them in the morning they must once again head into the bamboo But that night, under cover of darkness the herd leaves the confines of the forest Hours pass and the cave falls into silence Outside an elephant hasitates, just below the entrance to Kitum cave Eventually, it plucks up courage to start the climb These deep rumbles are probably to notify the rest of the herd that it's safe to follow Reassured that they are close behind, it leads the way The elephant is acting as a kind of scout for the rest of the herd It's clear they still associate visiting the cave with danger Soon others arrive with their young in tow and follow in the footsteps of generations of elephants who have walked this path over thousands of years Urged on by the rest of the herd this baby made it here despite her snared foot Climbing the path was dangerous, but once inside the elephants take even greater risks to get to the salt Although this remote camera is silent to our ears this female seems to be awear of it So desperately is their need for salt this mother must risk leading her calf into unknown dangers As the best rock is at the back of the cave the elephants are forced to travel deep underground It takes several hours for all of them to reach it each using their trunk to test the way and sample the rocks as they go It will take this calf many years to learn the intricate architecture of the cave What's more, the roof is unstable and prone to collapse so the shape can change subtly over time Mistakes are inevitable Finally their journey comes to an end They've found fresh salt right at the back of the cave Elephants can't lick salt off rocks They have tusks and a trunk in the way so they hoover up any loose rocks And when this is run out, they turn to brute force A single elephant has been known to eat as much as 20 kilos in a night The walls of the cave are scarred with deep tusking marks made by thousands of years of mining which has also left its mark on Elgon's elephants 4with their characteristically worn stubby tusks Over millennia, they've excavated thousands of tons of salty rock from the cave Many believe these are not simply caves that elephants visit but rather ancient elephant salt mines which are still being worked to this day For now, the cave is a warm safe haven for the forest animals Dark and quiet, it's the perfect place to catch a nap As dawn approaches, the animals appear reluctant to leave the sanctuary of the cave The male looks very agitated, he seems to be reacting to the bushbuck outside The matriarch is heading out, she signals the others to leave She leads them on an ancient path back through the narrow passages At the entrace she stops in her tracks in front of poacher's rock Today, there's no one there Once it feels safe and the path below is clear she signals to the rest to follow This time, the herd makes it back safely into the forest from which they came The cave lies empty though the evidence of last night's visit remains Their efforts to protect the elephants on their journey have not been in vain I think the whole world there're no other elephants who are going to underground cave like this one, Kitum Cave They do not have to travel far to find the elephants today The herd has stayed close by, but as usual they're hidden in thick forest Then one by one, they begin to emerge He has got his tusks twisted out After months of struggling to get mere glimpses of the elephants Daniel and Mike are rewarded by a clear view of the entire herd They are very relaxed.
Yeah.
They are not nervous.
That is good I've never seen such a big number like today There're about 20 babies.
You counted up to 20? Yeah.
The elephants of Elgon were pushed to the edge of extinction by the years of intensive poaching but with the help of these brave men, their numbers appear to be recovering Today, they count 110 with 20 new babies With time, these elephants may learn to trust again but it's up to people like Daniel and Mike to make the park and the cave safe enough to warrant that trust These ancient salt mines play a vital role for all life on Mt.
Elgon As long as they're protected the world's only culture of underground salt mining elephants will continue