BBC Kingdom (2025) s01e06 Episode Script

1
For five years
we have followed the stories
of four families of animals.
Now it's time to meet
the people behind these dramas.
The scientists and conservationists
Be careful!
who helped us understand the animals.
And the anti-poaching squads
who risk their lives to protect them.
We will also meet the film-makers
who recorded those dramas
Come, come! Fast, quick.
of life in the kingdom.
Our four animal
families live in Nsefu
a corner of South Luangwa
National Park in Zambia.
It's an important
sanctuary for wildlife.
And a temporary home for our film crews.
There are elephants coming.
A remote base camp enables
them to live alongside animals, day
and night.
They have the latest technology
and are able to
film in all conditions.
- How's it going, Nathan?
- I'm loving it!
Making the series would
have been impossible
without the team of conservationists
from an organisation called
the Zambian Carnivore Programme.
They have studied and safeguarded
the wildlife here for decades
tracking the movement of hundreds of
animals, following their every step
both from the air
and on the ground.
Frank, can you please send me the coordinates
for the lions 10km south of here?
It's a remarkable undertaking,
covering thousands of square miles.
Our film crews rely on them to keep
in touch with all our animal characters.
Fraser, do we have the signal?
Yeah.
Animals that move huge distances.
The technology that
makes this possible
GPS and radio-tracking collars.
The conservation teams fix
a collar on a member of each family.
In a pride, they put it on a lioness.
And for wild dogs,
they usually select a male and a female.
That allows them to locate and follow
the entire family throughout their lives.
These collars have to be
replaced every two years,
and today,
it's the turn of one of the lionesses.
Henry Mwape is the leader
of the collaring programme.
First, Dr Sichande sedates
the lioness using a dart gun.
Right now, we're removing
this old collar, so that I
I put the new one on.
While the lioness is still unconscious,
Henry makes a general health check.
OK.
I think some people think
it's not safe to work with lions.
Of course, the lion is immobilised.
So, if it was fully awake,
I can't get close like this.
The conservationists are keeping
track of over 40 animal families.
My best moment of collaring
is when I see the animal up.
I'm like, "Wow, we've done it."
Without collars, I can't imagine how
we would be doing what we're doing.
The collars produce
an enormous amount of information,
which helps the conservationists
to build a picture of
the lives of all the animals.
Where they're hunting
what they're eating
how their behaviour
affects each other
and even where they
choose to make their dens.
Information that is
essential for conservation,
but also critical for the camera crews.
Finding the place
where a lioness is hiding
her newborn cubs is
proving particularly difficult.
The crew have searched everywhere.
It's been about seven days,
just driving around in the bushes.
And then, at last,
they pick up the radio signal
coming from the lioness's collar.
I'm very excited to have a signal.
But Mark knows it could be coming
from any one of these bushes.
Every single bush is a potential den.
I mean, she's been missing for five,
six days
and we've been combing this whole area.
But we've found her cubs.
It's four really beautiful cubs,
and we think the cubs are
about four days, five days,
because their eyes are just
starting opening at the moment.
We've managed to get shots of them,
so it's a really big moment, actually.
Our powerful lenses produce
images that enable the conservationists
to see the animals they
study in intimate detail.
This unique collaboration
brought many surprises.
One of the biggest surprises, finding
that one wild dog had only three legs.
Go, go.
He really needs urgent
expert assessment.
We are leaving camp now.
Thandiwe Mweetwa and
Henry are on their way.
They recognise that this injury must
have been inflicted by a wire snare.
A wire snare is formed
in the shape of a noose.
It's basically a trap for
catching wild antelope,
but any animal can get trapped.
And then, as it struggles,
this wire starts
to cut through whatever
body part has been caught.
Despite his snare injury, this wild dog,
which the team have named Flint,
seems to be coping well on three legs.
Yep. Centre, yep.
Flint is still an important
member of the wild dog family
that we followed throughout the series.
His story illustrates the way
wild dogs look after each other.
The pack makes sure he can keep up
and that he doesn't go hungry.
But thendisaster.
Just watching the crocodile
attack was incredibly tough.
We're only 20 feet away and
see others trying to save him.
And I found it probably one of the worst
things I've had to film in 20 years.
In the end, Flint's snare
injury proves to be too much.
My God.
That was good teamwork.
Missing a leg meant that he
wasn't as fast when escaping danger.
So sad.
The use of snares is widespread,
and is one of the biggest threats here
to both lions and wild dogs.
So, when news comes in
about a lion caught in a trap,
they know that they must get
the snare off as quickly as possible,
especially so because that
individual is a dominant male.
If the snare's not removed very soon,
it can keep tightening
and it can suffocate the lion.
It will take about ten minutes
for the lion to go to sleep.
This male is protecting 12 cubs.
Losing just one individual can be
catastrophic for any dependent cubs.
If he dies from this injury,
rival males could take over
the pride and then kill his cubs.
We can approach and see.
You want that snare
off as soon as possible,
you know, just in case the lion
wakes up halfway through.
Wounds from snares
can often cause infection,
so it's important to
clean it thoroughly.
So OK.
By saving this one male lion, the team
has also helped to protect his cubs.
Those cubs will end
up having more babies.
So,
it's going to be a lot of other animals
just from the result of one de-snaring.
Bye.
There have been 400 cubs born to
the lions saved by the teams working here.
Is it worth it, saving just one life?
The answer is a resounding yes.
Even though this area is a sanctuary,
thousands of snares
are set here each year.
One day it could be a lion,
the next, a giraffe,
and that can be particularly tricky.
It takes a big team, and it's dangerous.
A single kick could
certainly kill someone.
Giraffes are so
sensitive to the sedative
that the team have less than ten minutes
from the dart going in
to getting the snare off.
Hold, hold, hold, hold!
Their methods may seem extreme,
but it's the only way to save its life.
The clock is ticking.
Extra hand! Careful!
The snare's off? Snare's off.
It's a win for the team
and the giraffe.
But it takes all sorts of approaches
to keep these animals safe.
Godfrey Mwanza leads
the unit working to stop poachers
killing wildlife in this area.
He sees snares all the time.
Snares are cheap, silent and deadly.
Each can kill dozens of animals,
and does so indiscriminately.
It's not just snares.
Poachers here use guns, too.
In the fight against
poachers of every kind
Godfrey has a secret weapon.
Detection dogs.
They're so crucial to his work
that the dogs are protected by
their handlers around the clock.
Tonight, the team is responding
to a tip-off that poachers
are operating close
to the national park.
By operating at night, it's more likely
the poachers will be off their guard,
reducing the chance of them
opening fire on the officers.
Using the dog is very, very important
Good boy.
because the dog
will pick up the scent.
Good checking.
Good boy.
The dog's picked up the scent of
the animals previously caught in this trap.
But the snare is proof that
poachers are operating here.
And that is a big
worry for the film crew.
Lianne and Will have been filming
Mutima since she was a tiny cub.
Mutima was a very small cub,
and she was very shy.
Now she's beautiful and elegant,
but you only see them
when they want to be seen.
Despite this, Lianne managed to
film a pivotal moment for the family,
when Mutima's mother
made it clear it was time
for the young cat to
find a territory of her own.
Mutima travelled over 100
miles in search of a new home.
She actually wandered way further
than we could have ever imagined.
We heard from a guide from far south,
"Oh, yeah, that leopard,
we've seen her here."
Because of her birthmark in a shape
of a heart, people would recognise her.
She left the national park and
was forced into an unfamiliar world.
Beyond the park's boundary,
there are hundreds of villages,
home to thousands of people.
Travelling outside a national
park can be dangerous
for any leopard.
Godfrey's K9 team is
the first of its kind in Zambia.
As well as finding snares,
guns and ammunition
his dogs are also trained to
detect animal skins and ivory.
Tonight,
his team has gathered new intelligence
and are heading to a different
village to look for a cache of guns.
This time round, they've been informed
that the guns have been
hidden inside the house.
Checking.
Good checking.
OK, OK, let's go.
The team have searched everywhere,
but there's still no sign of the guns.
This is where the dogs
really come into their own.
At last, the dog sits down.
It's a sign he has detected something.
So far this year, Godfrey and the team
have seized over 80 illegal guns,
many of them handmade, but
they are still able to kill a leopard.
Thankfully,
Mutima eventually made it back
to the sanctuary of the national park.
She was pretty adamant to
come back and she is still here,
and I think she's waiting
for her mum's territory.
Despite Godfrey's team's success
they're facing a setback.
Rudi has been one of the best dogs.
But he is old,
and he has a condition on the legs.
It's time for Rudi to retire.
I'm proud of Rudi.
I'm going to miss him.
He was like a family member.
Godfrey has only four dogs to patrol
tens of thousands of square miles.
He needs more canine recruits.
This is Ody, the latest trainee.
Down.
It's essential that his new
handlers build a relationship
from the first moment they meet
and start to build a bond.
You are a nice dog.
Good boy.
Looking good and healthy.
To catch poachers, the pair will both
need to be at the top of their game.
Not only for their success,
but for their safety.
First
obedience training.
Swim!
He still has to learn some
things because he is young.
All right, come.
Like this morning, though I was
asking him, he didn't want to come.
Come on, come.
He could hear me,
he was just pretending.
Ody, come.
Come!
That's why we are doing
the obedience training,
so that when we go in the field
Good boy, man.
he will listen to me as a handler.
Ody, come.
Sit. Wait.
There's a lot riding
on this young recruit.
Will he be able to make
the grade before Rudi retires?
For one of our camera team, South
Luangwa is more than his workplace.
It's his home.
If you come from South Luangwa,
wildlife is a part of you.
When you see the elephants in the park,
filming them
you can easily tell they are,
you know, like, relaxed.
They're just minding their own business.
But that's not always the case.
There is another side to elephants.
As we saw in earlier programmes,
they can be aggressive.
Growing up in a village
beside the national park,
Samson Moyo has experienced
two sides of the wildlife.
These villages are mostly
farming communities
and the entire park is unfenced
which means wildlife is
free to move in and out at will.
Elephants are huge, and when
they come to your village, it's scary.
I've heard a sound and
peered out of the window
to see an elephant eating our crops.
I know how terrible it is.
But people fear hunger
more than elephants.
So, people risk their lives
in trying to protect their food.
As dusk falls, it's approaching
the time when elephants come
to villages like Samson's.
It's hard to imagine.
But Samson has a chance to
use the Kingdom filming tech
to show what it's really like to have
hungry elephants on your doorstep.
This is the first time I've had
access to night-vision technology.
We just sit,
wait for the elephants to come.
Mangoes are very
valuable to the villagers.
This can last for hours,
until the crop fields are empty
and the mango trees bare.
But there is a potential solution.
There's a new team in town.
The Rapid Response Unit.
The only one in Zambia.
Tonight, Samson is joining them.
They know that this is not their area.
They just come here to
steal food from the community.
The Rapid Response Unit has
developed the imaginative technique
of using guns that fire chilli oil.
So, the bullet carries chilli liquid.
Once you fire, if you hit the elephant,
that scent of chilli
will stick to the animal.
They don't want to smell
chilli and they all run.
The unit is responding to a call from
a farmer who has elephants in his field.
- Where are you?
- There. Elephants.
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
Stop.
There, there. OK.
He's He's firing now.
Fire.
Reload, reload.
Go ahead, fire.
Stay away!
The Rapid Response Unit
are doing such an amazing job,
but a lot of people need their help,
and they can't be everywhere.
In South Luangwa National Park,
animals move freely.
They are truly wild.
And throughout filming, the dog pack
moved into and out of the kingdom.
At the end of the series, they were
last seen heading over the border
and out of the national park.
But thanks to the signal
from the alpha male's collar,
Henry can still keep tabs
on the family from afar.
We know now the wild dog pack is
looking for a new home outside the park.
GPS data shows wild
dogs travel huge distances.
Some even cross international borders.
Conservationists can use
this data to help protect wildlife.
It can be used to
identify safe corridors,
both within Zambia and
between neighbouring countries.
It can even identify likely hot spots
where poaching and
conflict might take place.
Today, Godfrey's team is
targeting one such hot spot,
setting up a wildlife checkpoint.
You conduct a search in every
vehicle which passes your roadblock.
Godfrey and Ody have been training hard,
and now Ody is ready to be tested.
He's certainly enthusiastic
but will he pass the test?
The team has hidden ivory in
one of their own patrol vehicles
to see if Ody can find it.
If Ody sniffs it out, he should sit down,
to signal that he's found something.
Ody! Yes!
Ody has graduated.
Good boy!
Good boy! Good dog!
To me, he did well because
this is a new environment for him.
And just in time,
because a new challenge is approaching.
As the season moves on,
South Luangwa transforms.
At the end of the year comes
an intense rainy season.
And even the first rain showers make
it difficult for teams to get around.
We've been trying to get to some
of the lions we've been filming.
Most of the roads are very bad.
Getting stuck out here is not ideal.
There could easily be lions
hiding in any one of these bushes.
In a matter of weeks,
roads will become rivers.
Not only will filming
become unfeasible
but more importantly, tracking poachers
by vehicle will be almost impossible.
The race is on for a solution.
This afternoon, we'll be doing
helicopter training with Ody.
Using the helicopter,
the team will be able to reach
all areas of the park, and fast.
But none of the older dogs
will go in the helicopter.
They're scared of
the sound of the rotors.
They don't like the helicopter
because of the sound.
They did not receive the helicopter
training when they were young.
So now,
hope is pinned on their newest recruit.
All right.
Will he even get on board?
It's a very big success if
Ody goes into the helicopter.
Up.
Ody jumps straight in
but he does look a little nervous.
How will he respond to
the sound of the rotors?
Good boy. Good boy.
Turns out, Ody's a natural flyer.
This is game-changing for Godfrey.
Now nowhere is out of reach.
Using a combination of the helicopter
and the dog team is a big
deterrent against poaching.
Ody, I may say,
is our hope for the future.
The tactics used on helicopter missions
in the national park are top secret
but across their operations this year,
they have arrested
76 suspected poachers.
It's part of my job to arrest people.
I'm also a human being
where I feel guilty arresting people,
taking people to jail.
Cos maybe he's doing
this to put food on the table.
But that's what I was employed for,
to stop poaching.
And by stopping poaching, Godfrey
is helping to protect both the old
and new generations in
South Luangwa National Park.
A symbol of what is possible
when the people who know
this place work hand in hand.
I am hopeful that as long as we
continue doing what we are doing,
we have a bright future.
A future where the animals can
live out their natural wild lives.
My hope for South Luangwa is that people
and wildlife just continue to thrive.
I just hope that 20,
30 years down the line,
this place will still be
as amazing as it is today.
Or maybe even more amazing.
South Luangwa's wildlife is
protected by an army of local people,
working tirelessly to address
the challenges of our modern world.
People who have known
this place all their lives.
Perhaps this is the secret
to conservation success.