BBC Africa E06 The Future
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00:00Africa.
00:21In the four years of making this series, we've been to some astonishing places and seen animals
00:27behaving in ways that have never been filmed before.
00:37But Africa has another story to tell.
00:42The wildlife of this continent has seen more changes in the last 50 years than it has in
00:47the last 2 million.
00:53Changing landscapes and changing climate.
00:57These animals are facing unprecedented challenges, whilst around them, Africa's human population
01:04is growing at nearly double the global rate.
01:08There is an increasing urgency to understand and, crucially, to conserve the wildlife of
01:16this great continent.
01:17Today, there is a new generation of naturalists and scientists who are fighting to save the
01:25wild places and the animals that live in them.
01:30This is the greatest wildlife continent on the planet, and what happens here is relevant
01:36to us all.
01:38So what is the future of wild Africa?
01:55This animal has become the world's number one target for poachers.
02:04Its kind has been hunted almost to the point of extinction.
02:07It's now so rare that this individual is watched over day and night.
02:13This is the black rhinoceros, and black rhinoceros are notorious for being rather grumpy and
02:22suddenly charging, but he is in great danger because he has on his nose that horn, which
02:39is worth its weight in gold.
02:47The demand for rhino horn has rocketed.
02:51There has been a 3,000% increase in poaching just in the last five years.
02:57Today, powdered rhino horn can fetch up to $65,000 a kilo.
03:05Rhinos are a lucrative target for organized crime.
03:10In Chinese medicine, it's believed that rhino horn can reduce fever, and some Vietnamese
03:15sell it as a cure for everything, from cancer to hangovers.
03:19It's made of keratin, the same substance as hair and nail, and it has no clinically
03:24proven medicinal value.
03:31But it has made every black rhino in Africa a target.
03:36They've all been killed in Uganda and Rwanda, and there are only around 600 left here in
03:42Kenya.
03:47These are not poachers.
03:50These are protectors.
04:01And that protection is overseen by rhino expert Dr. Matthew Mutinda, one of the Kenya Wildlife
04:08Service's pulp vets.
04:11Black rhinos are critically endangered, and that is what here at Lewa Wildlife Conservancy
04:17we're trying to do, save the animal, provide a safe and secure sanctuary where the animal
04:24can breed, can live freely.
04:29There aren't many true wild rhinos left in Africa.
04:32Most like these in Lewa Wildlife Conservancy are under armed guard.
04:38This young female has reached the age when Matthew must do some health checks, including
04:43taking blood samples.
04:46This will help deter poachers and traffickers, as DNA in illegally traded rhino horn can
04:52be tracked back to its origin.
04:56If you have to do anaesthesia in the wild, you will expect some degree of risk.
05:04This female has reacted badly to the anaesthetic.
05:10She's not breathing.
05:12It's a rare and extremely serious situation.
05:16He knows that the next few minutes are crucial.
05:22And when an animal is this big, there's only one way to get the heart going again when
05:26you're out in the bush.
05:33Thanks to Matthew's quick thinking, they can hear that she is breathing again.
05:41They've got to get her back on her feet.
06:01Not surprisingly, she's disorientated.
06:17Mission accomplished.
06:21It's been an ordeal, but now this rhino can be tracked and protected for the rest of her
06:26life.
06:27In a few minutes, she's grazing peacefully again with her mother.
06:32It may seem heartless to treat an animal like that, but we have to keep tabs on them and
06:36be able to identify individuals that are in great danger.
06:41Even now, on average, one rhino is killed by poachers every day in Africa.
06:51There are so few black rhino left in Kenya that we are getting to know each individual.
07:01But this is still a creature that can surprise us.
07:07Previously, it was widely believed that black rhinos were largely solitary creatures.
07:18Here in the Kalahari, a starlight camera reveals that they may be much more sociable
07:24than many thought.
07:31This waterhole gathering is an enchanting window into the past.
07:38Early explorers reported seeing a rhino behind every bush.
07:47Before the invention of the gun, there were probably hundreds of thousands of rhinos across
07:52the continent.
07:56The people protecting rhinos in Africa are striving to ensure that we'll still be able
08:00to witness wonderful scenes like this in 50 years' time.
08:12Right across Africa, conservationists have realised that if we want to save our big animals,
08:17then now is the time.
08:20The human population of the continent has just exceeded one billion, and many wild animals
08:26are being hunted commercially for food.
08:30Some legally, and many illegally.
08:37Wildlife meat is often sold as goat or beef.
08:41The amount is astonishing.
08:43Millions of tons are eaten across Africa every year.
08:47At this rate, some species are almost certainly heading for extinction.
08:54But commercial hunting is not just affecting the grazers.
08:59As the prey decreases, it's affecting the predators too.
09:03Fifty years ago, there were about half a million lions in Africa.
09:10Today, there are less than 30,000.
09:13But in one particular part of Africa, things are improving in a quite extraordinary way.
09:27These hunters have become part of a new and unlikely alliance.
09:33In recent years, hungry lions have increasingly been killing livestock.
09:40One group of traditional Maasai have reacted in a very untraditional way.
09:47The Maasai are cattle herders who don't eat wild animals.
09:52But when lions attack their herds, they've always retaliated.
09:58Maasai and lions are ancient adversaries.
10:04A lion hunt is still a rite of passage for young Maasai warriors like Alubi Lairumbi.
10:10For me, and any Maasai, killing a lion is the ultimate fulfillment of a truly accomplished
10:19Maasai.
10:22Nothing compares to that.
10:27There is nobody who knows more about living alongside lions than the Maasai themselves.
10:33I met Alubi and some of the other warriors in his village to find out about their relationship
10:38with the local pride.
10:41How many lions are there around here?
10:46Around here, there are about a hundred.
10:50So they all have names?
10:56Every single lion has a name, a Maasai name.
11:01When you see a lion, do you know how it's going to behave?
11:07It depends on the lion.
11:11For a Maasai warrior, lions are nothing to be scared of.
11:14If I saw a lion, a lion would likely to attack me.
11:21Only if you threaten it.
11:22Well, I hope the next lion knows that.
11:30Alubi killed his first lion when he was just 17, after it attacked his cattle.
11:36Unfortunately, the lion turned out to be pregnant.
11:41And that led to a remarkable turnaround.
11:44The Maasai respect all living things.
11:50And I began to feel guilty about the lion that I had killed.
12:00In the end, I came to admire the lions.
12:07Alubi had a dramatic change of heart.
12:11He turned his back on hundreds of years of Maasai tradition.
12:16Along with some other warriors, Alubi became a lion guardian.
12:22Instead of hunting lions, Alubi would be protecting them.
12:30He teamed up with Stephanie Dolreny, who helped pioneer the project.
12:37Just by respecting their traditions and also bringing their ecological knowledge, it's
12:42been hugely successful.
12:43They know their areas.
12:44They know how to track lions.
12:46They've been doing it for generation after generation.
12:48They know how to track them.
12:49They know how to hunt them.
12:50They know how to find them.
12:55This is only a small-scale project.
13:00But with lion numbers as low as they are, they need all the help they can get.
13:05Alubi is tracking radio-collared lions.
13:08He's able to warn villagers to move their cattle when the pride is in the area.
13:13And so, they're avoiding conflict.
13:20No lions have been killed in the immediate area since the project began.
13:25By combining science, both ancient and contemporary, they're beginning to make a real difference.
13:31There's so much to be learned.
13:34I feel I bring in modern technology, modern knowledge, and in return, they teach us about
13:40the environment and how things have changed in their environment.
13:44And it's a really neat exchange.
13:47You can't say, well, the biologists are the teachers or the guardians are the teachers.
13:52We're both teachers and we're both students.
13:54And I think that blend is amazing.
13:57Critically, at the heart of this project is a huge attitude change by these Maasai warriors,
14:05an animal that was once their sworn enemy, they now protect.
14:10And their willingness to share knowledge with other communities means that projects
14:14like this could be repeated in other parts of Africa.
14:18Traditionally, when a warrior killed a lion, he took the name of the lion.
14:24Now it's the other way around.
14:26Now the lion takes the name of the warrior who protects it.
14:31The scheme is a huge success.
14:34There are about 100 lions involved in the scheme in this neighbourhood.
14:40And this is 21st century conservation in action.
14:54Perhaps the biggest threat to wildlife is the competition for space with a rapidly growing
14:59human population.
15:01The Virunga volcanoes straddle the borders of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic
15:14of Congo.
15:17The rich volcanic soils are extremely fertile.
15:20It's one of the most intensively cultivated areas in Africa.
15:28But the farmers also share this region with one of our closest relatives.
15:34This is home to the last 800 or so wild mountain gorillas left on earth.
15:42We know a great deal about these animals, they've been closely studied for 50 years.
15:50One strong silverback male keeps everyone in order.
15:59And gorilla family life is mostly peaceful.
16:05Until a few generations ago, mountain gorillas, hidden in the seclusion of their forests,
16:10were seldom seen by human beings.
16:13But their habitat was steadily being carved away.
16:17And now these gorillas are marooned on the volcanic slopes in a sea of farmland.
16:28The fact that gorillas now regularly come into contact with people not only means an
16:33increased threat of poaching, but also of disease.
16:39Gorillas have little or no resistance to the bugs that we carry.
16:56Gorillas here once dropped to around 250.
16:59They were facing extinction.
17:03Action had to be taken.
17:08The boundaries of the national park were strictly enforced, halting the encroachment of farmland.
17:16And it was decided that the only solution was to intensively manage the remaining gorillas.
17:25Millions of scientists constantly monitor them.
17:30Their forests are patrolled to cut poachers' snares.
17:35And vets watch their health closely.
17:40This is funded mostly through eco-tourism and donations from all over the world.
17:49Mountain gorillas are now back from the brink.
18:00This level of human intervention might not be ideal, but it's working.
18:07Every year there are a few more mountain gorillas and possibly just a little more optimism.
18:17Active management within a protected area may represent the only future for many African
18:23species.
18:27But for some animals that is simply not possible.
18:33What happens if the animal you're trying to protect is not suited to park life?
18:48Elephants require vast amounts of space to roam.
18:52They have a range of up to 1,300 square miles.
18:58Given the chance, they will even move between countries in search of the best food, particularly
19:04if conditions get rough.
19:12This was the scene in Amboseli National Park in 2009.
19:17The park is home to nearly 1,500 elephants.
19:25And this was the worst drought for half a century.
19:31Sixty percent of zebras and 95 percent of wildebeest were wiped out.
19:39The seasonal rains had failed for the last two years, and the elephants that lived here
19:45were slowly starving.
19:48The park created to protect them is now surrounded by farmland.
19:54The elephants had little choice of where else to go.
20:01Caught up in this catastrophe were three sisters.
20:05They are the front line for elephant protection in the park.
20:10And they know these animals better than anyone else.
20:14Nora Nijarini and Katito and Soila Sayela.
20:19All the elephants have been given names.
20:21They're a family to us.
20:24Hello, Anastasia.
20:28The sisters have been following these elephants for over 25 years, trying to ensure their
20:33safety, particularly at times when life is tough for these animals.
20:38It really was terrible.
20:40There was nothing actually to feed on.
20:43Even when I asked the old Maasai men whether they have ever experienced such a drought,
20:49the only time it was close to what was there was in 1961.
20:56In 2009, we lost quite a number of elephants.
21:01I think we lost about 400 elephants.
21:04And it started with the young ones.
21:13Elephants usually escape drought by moving into other, less affected areas.
21:18But Africa's human population is growing at double the global rate.
21:23And traditional migration routes have been cut by the developments of towns, cities,
21:28farmland and roads, leaving these elephants stuck.
21:37This young calf is starving.
21:40And there is nothing they can do to help.
21:48For the sisters, who know each elephant personally, this is a terrible moment.
22:09It is something that we feel in our hearts.
22:13You can imagine the kind of feelings that we get, you know, knowing those elephants
22:17and seeing something like that happen.
22:20It really touches us.
22:23It was a tough year for all the young elephants in the region.
22:39There was nothing the sisters could do to save the baby.
22:43But they were determined to save any elephants they could,
22:46especially mothers who could breed again.
22:54They found this female stuck in the mud, exhausted in a dried-up lake bed.
23:07The elephants that got stuck in the mud, they were very, very hungry.
23:11And the only one that got stuck in the mud was Kolida.
23:17Poor thing, you know, she was there for quite a long time.
23:24A master reported to us, and we had to combine efforts with the Kenya Wildlife Services people.
23:31Kolida!
23:37Weighing about three tons, Kolida is just too heavy to shift by hand.
23:43She's weakening fast.
23:48So the next morning, heavy machinery is brought in.
24:01After two days stuck in the mud, Kolida is exhausted, but she's up on her feet again.
24:32So
24:47the reins did return to Amboseli, and thanks in part to the work of those dedicated three women,
24:54elephant numbers are now beginning to rise again.
25:01There's no doubt that this was an extremely severe event,
25:06but is it an isolated incident or a developing pattern?
25:12I think with the global warming, we actually don't know what's going to happen,
25:16but we just have to cross fingers and hope for a better future.
25:25Given the opportunity, the numbers of elephants in East Africa will recover,
25:29especially if they're given the freedom to range widely and so avoid the harshest conditions.
25:37One solution to help elephants find the space they need
25:40is to link parks together and provide safe routes between them.
25:46Elephants are great travellers, and here in this part of Kenya, they regularly moved from the
25:52lowlands up the sides of the mountains to feed in the forests up there. But then the human
25:58population of Kenya grew, and roads like this one were constructed, penning the elephants down in
26:06the lowland, where they created havoc amongst the farms. Not only that, there were dangers of
26:12collisions on the road, and then someone suggested building an underpass. Within 24 hours of it being
26:21completed, one elephant had passed through, and now all the elephants use that route to go up
26:28the mountain, often at night, to feed.
26:38Simple ideas like this underpass are a lifeline for these elephants, especially in times of drought.
26:46Africa's climate is certainly changing. Some parts of the continent have become
26:51three and a half degrees centigrade hotter in the past 20 years.
26:57At the summit of Africa's most famous mountain, Kilimanjaro, 80% of its permanent ice fields have disappeared.
27:09Soon, it will be free of ice altogether.
27:16All over Africa, the mountainous regions are often the first indicators of climate change.
27:32Here in the Ethiopian highlands live very unusual-looking creatures.
27:38Jelada baboons.
27:43Climate change refugees.
27:47Although this region of Ethiopia lies in the tropics, up at 4,000 meters, it doesn't feel like it.
27:55Unlike most African animals, jeladas are adapted to life in the cold.
28:01They used to be one of Africa's most successful primates, found all over the continent.
28:06At one stage, there were six different species.
28:11Now, there is only one.
28:19With the warming climate, their grazing is becoming more and more expensive.
28:23With the warming climate, their grazing is becoming more and more scarce,
28:27restricted to cooler and higher places.
28:39These jeladas are being forced higher into the mountains.
28:45Soon, there will be nowhere left for them to graze.
28:53Nowhere left to go.
28:57This is a species living on the edge.
29:02Even though they're isolated on the mountaintops, they're not immune to our influence.
29:07As a result of changing climate, these jelada baboons may soon be gone from our planet.
29:14Africa is the world's hottest continent.
29:19And there is no doubt it's getting warmer.
29:25The Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world.
29:30Very little can survive in these harsh conditions.
29:34Along the desert edge, life clings on, in the face of encroaching sands.
29:41But for how long?
29:45Alongside the wildlife, turtles and other wildlife,
29:48the Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world.
29:52The Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world.
29:55The Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world.
29:57But for how long?
30:01Alongside the wildlife, 22 million people struggle to make a living on these desert margins.
30:10Can anything be done to stop the sand overwhelming this fragile land?
30:16One idea is to build a green wall of trees across 11 countries.
30:22The project has already started in Senegal.
30:25But like all big ideas, it has big problems.
30:31Getting 11 countries to work together is not easy.
30:35And simply irrigating a 5,000 mile long belt of trees is an ambitious task.
30:46But all over Africa, people are recognizing how important it is to have trees as part of their local landscape.
30:55This group of volunteers has planted nearly 100 million saplings.
31:02And they are just one of countless similar groups and individuals
31:05taking it upon themselves to reforest their own part of this great continent.
31:15Trees are essential for the future of the continent, and indeed to the rest of the planet.
31:25This is the Congo Basin.
31:32It's one of the most biologically important forests on Earth.
31:35And it's not just because of the concentration of plants and animals that live here.
31:42It's because it's also one of the powerhouses behind the planet's wind and rain.
31:48Each hectare of trees releases as vapor almost 190,000 liters of water a year.
31:57This water passes into the atmosphere to be transported around the entire globe.
32:06That means the heart of the world's weather lies in tropical forests.
32:12Unfortunately, there's an almost insatiable demand in Europe and China for hardwood from these very forests.
32:19And that is having an enormous impact.
32:24As more tropical forests is felled, some scientists are seeing a correlation with climate change.
32:31And it's likely to become more extreme.
32:34Staggeringly, 50% of the Congo Basin forest has been allocated for logging.
32:42The future of Africa's forest has never been more critical for us all.
32:48And it's not just a matter of climate change.
32:51It's a matter of climate change.
32:55The future of Africa's forest has never been more critical for us all.
33:04But the consequences of global warming aren't limited to the land.
33:13Africa is almost completely surrounded by oceans.
33:17Here on the east coast, there are animals feeding the change in climate in a most surprising way.
33:30This is a young female green turtle.
33:34During her lifetime, she'll travel thousands of miles through the oceans looking for food.
33:40Turtles return to the same beach from which they hatched to lay their own eggs.
33:46The eggs are buried in the sand and the hatchlings will emerge after about two months.
33:53But there's a strange thing about turtle eggs.
33:56And that is the temperature at which the eggs are kept will determine the sex of most of the hatchlings.
34:05If the sand temperature is high, they will be female.
34:08If it's low, they will be male.
34:12So global warming could have a crucial effect on turtle populations.
34:17And this young female may find it very difficult in years to come to find a male with which to mate.
34:27But a local conservation group recognize that the odds are stacking up against these little turtles.
34:37There's not much they can do about climate change.
34:40But they have a plan.
34:42And they're going to do it.
34:44And they're going to do it.
34:46And they're going to do it.
34:48And they're going to do it.
34:51There's not much they can do about climate change.
34:55But they have got together with the local fishermen to try and improve the turtles' chances of survival.
35:01Every turtle counts.
35:03So each time one is found injured or accidentally caught in the nets, it's brought to Kahindi Changawa and his team.
35:11So we began with only 16 fishermen altogether.
35:16In 1998, now we have hundreds of fishermen working with us.
35:23Grazing by turtles is essential for the health of the beds of seagrass.
35:29And these are the home of shrimps and lobsters.
35:32And that, of course, helps fishermen too.
35:36The project has a turtle rehabilitation center.
35:39And for the last two years, it's become home to Shella.
35:46She had an accident with a boat. It was hit from behind.
35:51She lost three ribs and her spine was as well damaged.
35:55It's now in the process of healing back together.
36:02Shella's injuries have affected her buoyancy.
36:05She's healed well and to encourage her to exercise her flippers properly, she has every day a little trip to the seaside.
36:17So we usually take Shella for a sea bath on a daily basis.
36:21And the reason why we're doing that, we're trying to give her enough room to get exercises.
36:32And she gets an opportunity to eat her natural food.
36:35We believe that keeps her fit.
36:37And the other thing is she gets to use her rear flippers quite often.
36:47For Kehinde, it's one of the rewards for all his hard work.
36:52It's really, really enjoyable.
36:54Very few people have the privilege like I do, swimming with the turtles and having that fun.
37:03I do enjoy what I'm doing.
37:17Shella certainly did get stronger.
37:20But the hope that some day she might swim out in the open was not to be fulfilled.
37:25Unaccountably, she became weaker and eventually died.
37:35This kind of work will inevitably have setbacks.
37:39But there are always new turtles to be cared for.
37:43Is she healthy?
37:45Yeah, this one is healthy.
37:47She has a few bruises from the fishing gear.
37:52Like these ones here.
37:54Oh yeah, but otherwise healthy?
37:56Otherwise the turtle itself is really healthy.
37:59Shall we have a go?
38:04Since 1998 till now, we've released over 8,200 turtles.
38:11It makes me feel proud and privileged.
38:14We've done lots of work with the community and changing their attitudes and their behaviours and everything.
38:20So I guess our job as an organisation was really successful.
38:30A young turtle like that could lay six or seven thousand eggs in her lifetime.
38:37So the survival of just one could have huge consequences.
38:44Saving just one individual requires huge effort.
38:48And of course saving a species requires even more.
38:51But these heroic efforts are only ever going to be a partial solution.
39:00Every individual animal is part of a much bigger story.
39:04Part of an interconnected web of plants, animals and the landscape itself that make up an entire ecosystem.
39:15Saving ecosystems is the key to Africa's wild future.
39:21Gorongosa in Mozambique is a modern-day Jurassic Park.
39:26It's ruled by some of the world's biggest crocodiles.
39:35Some of these monsters are six metres long and close to 50 years old.
39:45Somehow they managed to escape a civil war lasting nearly 20 years which swept through Gondwana.
39:5295% of all the other large animals were wiped out.
39:58But 50 years ago the scene was very different.
40:04This was a thriving tourist attraction, a wild paradise.
40:09Visitors flocked from around the world, drawn by the vast range and abundance of the wildlife.
40:16The most popular spot for tourists was an old restaurant, a lookout post for the local lions.
40:30The restaurant has long gone, along with the lions.
40:36Gorongosa is the only place in Mozambique where you can see the lions.
40:40The restaurant has long gone, along with the lions.
40:45Gorongosa looked empty and beyond rescue.
40:50But not to everyone.
40:53A brave and ambitious project began to try and restore the park to its former richness and splendour.
41:00The first stage is to find out which animals as well as crocodiles are still here.
41:05So the team is mapping and counting all the big animals they see in the park.
41:10One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
41:32But it soon became clear that these big animals were only part of the story.
41:38Perhaps even more important might be the little ones hidden underfoot.
41:44It's understanding these creatures that is attracting some of the best minds in the scientific world.
41:56Professor Ed Wilson is a world expert on biodiversity and at a mere 83 he's still pursuing his passion, ants.
42:08Wow, let me just get one specimen.
42:12If you look down at your feet, you may see them walking by here and there, an ant, a little beetle,
42:20what I like to call the little things that run the earth.
42:29It's the rich diversity of insect life here that gives Gorongosa the prospect of a future.
42:35These creatures form the basis of life in the park.
42:42This is so much fun.
42:44These little invertebrate creatures, the creatures that do most of the work, turn most of the energy,
42:50save most of the material and allow us to reinsert big animals with some confidence.
42:58Have you got it in the vial yet?
43:00Yeah, I got three of them.
43:02Oh, good.
43:04Ed Wilson was one of the first scientists to explore this area together with local wildlife biologist Tonga Torchida.
43:12If you could gather them all up, all these little invertebrate creatures, and weigh them,
43:19they would weigh far more than all of the big animals put together even in a fully restored park.
43:28It's these little creatures, together with the plants and trees,
43:32that still make this place a viable option for reintroducing bigger animals.
43:38I can't be sure that's a new species, but you know, this is the kind of thing that might be.
43:42This park came that close to vanishing.
43:49And I'm happy to report it is coming back.
43:53And this is one of the great stories. It's inspirational, I think,
43:57and it's a fine shining example of what to do with all our parks,
44:03even those that have been damaged by human activity.
44:07But there's another reason why Gorongosa is important for the future of Africa, and perhaps for us all.
44:14So it is here, in this park, that people come to see not just the big animals that thrill us,
44:22but they will see Earth as it looked and felt before the coming of humanity.
44:31Saving big animals is important, but to do that with any real success,
44:36we have to start understanding and preserving the plants and insects that support an ecosystem.
44:43It's this that will allow the larger animals to thrive.
44:48Gorongosa is a real success story.
44:52The government and the management team have pledged themselves to a plan to restore the land to what it was.
45:01While it can never be exactly the same as it was before the war, it can still become a rich and thriving ecosystem.
45:23The scale of the challenge across Africa is enormous.
45:31After all, it's a huge continent.
45:37The United Kingdom, China, the United States of America, India, Japan and most of the rest of Europe would all fit within its borders.
45:49Africa still retains 45% of the Earth's uncultivated land.
45:56It's still the greatest wilderness on Earth.
46:00And that is why it's important.
46:05Human beings have lived alongside wildlife here longer than anywhere else.
46:11But now, in the 21st century, animal numbers are at a critical level.
46:15Like it or not, this generation is responsible for handing on the world's wildlife to the next.
46:23That means taking care of the animals and lands where they live, so there is still space for us all to coexist.
46:35Nobody knows what the future has in store.
46:40Nobody knows what the future has in store for this little calf,
46:47or indeed how the changes that inevitably are going to take place in Africa will affect the rest of the world and this little animal.
46:57But one thing is certain.
46:59What happens here is more important than it has ever been.
47:05And that the relationship of the rest of the world to this great continent and the creatures that live in it is more important than ever before.
47:15On whichever part of the planet we live, we all have a part to play in what sort of future this wild continent has.
47:45Africa, the final shoot.
48:04It's one of our most ambitious trips, with lots of locations to visit and many technical hurdles to overcome.
48:11Five, take one.
48:12To the west, a vast rainforest the size of India.
48:19Helicopters enable us to go to extraordinary landscapes.
48:24We're heading off to do the very first piece of camera to open the whole Africa series with David.
48:30How do you like the view from my office?
48:34And attempt air-to-air filming.
48:37Stand by David, and action.
48:38I'm flying over the Great Rift Valley in East Africa.
48:58But perhaps the most ambitious task for this shoot is the filming with black rhinoceros.
49:04They have a reputation for being aggressive, and with poor eyesight, they're likely to charge objects or people they don't recognize.
49:19But the plight of the rhino is such an important story that we want to get as close to them as possible.
49:26We also want to meet the people who are working to protect them.
49:30So, our team have come to assess the viability of filming up close with a rhino called Elvis, who's been reared by humans.
49:39He should be safer than a wild rhino, but there's still a risk he could be unpredictable with strangers.
49:46Wildlife ranger Tonga Kaseo has brought up Elvis by hand and knows that tickling him gently with a stick keeps him calm.
49:54But if anything were to go seriously wrong, there would be little he could do against a one-ton Elvis, and this fact hasn't escaped cameraman Mike Fox.
50:04He knows we're here, we're here on his terms.
50:08If he decided to back us all into the next world, he would do.
50:16Director Kate Broome checks with Tonga that it's safe to film up close.
50:21Director Kate Broome checks with Tonga that it's safe for the crew to get closer.
50:28Normally we have to stay in the Land Rovers, but saying it's okay to go in.
50:34This is such an extraordinary opportunity to be this close to a black rhino.
50:43The trial goes well with Elvis and the stage is set for future filming.
50:49Several weeks later the team are back, and this time I've joined them.
50:55But Elvis's mood has changed. He seems more willful.
51:01Now, I've stood by many wild animals in my time, but I'm not as fast on my pins as I used to be.
51:09We don't want to test Elvis's patience, so we get on with filming.
51:13A horn that is worth its weight in gold.
51:22And one way of protecting him would be to cut that horn off the nose.
51:39How is it?
51:41How is it?
51:43It looks great.
51:45The team check that they have what they need, and Elvis lets us know that he's had enough.
51:50Just watch out everybody. Yeah.
51:55But actually it's a positive sign that Elvis is not as friendly this time.
52:01Tonga and his colleagues want Elvis to live more like a wild rhino,
52:05and develop awareness of humans that may offer him some protection from poachers.
52:12Good luck to you Elvis.
52:19Whilst filming we're lucky enough to have a very well equipped camp.
52:23It's in the bush and there's no escaping the wild animals.
52:27One of the great, wonderful things about camping out in the middle of the open is the animals.
52:33But it could also be one of the dangerous stroke annoying things.
52:38Absolutely.
52:43In the annoying category, the vervet monkeys.
52:50Vervet monkeys.
52:51Vervet monkeys have stolen my Ferrari Rocher and one of my glow sticks from our medical supplies.
52:58So if we see an illuminous faced monkey in the night,
53:02I'll identify the naughty one that's been stealing our stuff.
53:05And they leave little presents for us when they've been in, just as a calling card.
53:14But camp manager Andreas finds more worrying about the monkeys.
53:19Andreas finds more worrying animal signs.
53:23Well the lions were quite close, just behind the tents.
53:28And some must have come in and, I don't know, you can see a few scratches.
53:36I think maybe he was wanting to look at himself in the mirror.
53:44Lions in camp are worrying enough.
53:46But there I was, reading my book, when a Cape buffalo arrives.
53:55The most grumpy and dangerous of the big five African animals.
54:01Mike, stay in your tent.
54:06Shall we get David to get in the tent?
54:17Day 2
54:25Buffalo usually move in herds, so there's something odd about him.
54:30It may be that he was brought up as a calf and is humanised.
54:34Or it may be that he's an outcast from the herd in some way and that he's rather grumpy and fed up with life.
54:40But I think it's just hot and he's just trotting around and wondering where he might get a drink.
54:44And a decent sandwich, because I feel the same way myself actually.
54:52The team's filming has coincided with the newest arrival at Lewa.
54:57A baby rhino in need of 24-hour care.
55:02This little chap was born blind and is guided everywhere by his keepers.
55:08They took him away from his mother a few weeks ago because she couldn't protect him anymore.
55:16He's very vulnerable, so he would have been killed by predators.
55:22It's like filling up a petrol tank.
55:25Every rhino is precious, and so it seems a fitting end for the final scene of the series.
55:31No one knows what the future holds for this little creature.
55:37Nor indeed what changes will take place.
55:41I'm very confident in what she does.
56:01David, I found that.
56:04Oh my gosh, there's ants.
56:07Yeah, hang on.
56:09Ant! Ant attack!
56:12I just found that extraordinarily moving, actually.
56:16Was it what I said was alright?
56:18Yes.
56:19You sure?
56:20And how you did it, I just, it made me cry.
56:23I'm afraid.
56:25David Attenborough's made me cry.
56:27Made me cry.
56:30But just as we think we're finishing, someone won't let us go.
56:41You start to squeak, and we're able to have a little chat.
56:58Think about it, he's got a black world, hasn't he?
57:01And he's got smell, and he's got sound.
57:05So, he's more likely to be responding to sound if he hasn't got the vision.
57:10Just inquisitive, I suppose.
57:12He's coming back.
57:23There is hope.
57:25There is hope for this little fellow.
57:28He's due to have an operation on his eyes,
57:31which may mean that, as an adult, he can be returned to the wild, just like Elvis.
57:40I do hope he gets a contract operation.
57:43It would be marvellous if he did.
57:46Yeah, an enchanting creature.