The African elephant, the largest land animal on the planet.
We're about 25 yards away...
Once, millions of elephants roamed across Africa.
Now, there are less than 450,000.
People are chasing them, people are harassing them, poaching.
If we're not careful we will push them to the brink of extinction.
I find it incomprehensible that any one would want to kill them.
My name's Levison Wood.
It's pretty deep here.
I've walked the Nile...
Crocodile. Where?
..and explored over 100 countries...
This is proper wilderness.
..and I've been a champion of elephant conservation
for nearly a decade.
How can we save
the last of the giants?
Now, I'm on a new journey across Botswana,
home to the world's largest elephant population.
This is where we're going to see some serious wildlife.
I'm joining them on their annual migration
so I can experience their world
on their terms...
Africa's nature at its finest
but also this dark and shocking brutality.
..as close up as possible...
You've just been shat on by a monkey!
Anything that can kill you is here.
At times it will be downright dangerous.
CAMERAMAN: They're coming straight at us. Where?
LION ROARS
I'll meet the people who live and work here...
We really feel the impact for the damage they cause here,
they become our enemies.
..to discover how difficult life is alongside these giants.
I want to see for myself
if there's a way that elephants and people can coexist.
On the first leg of my adventure... Wow.
..I set off on the trail of females and their calves...
We see a flash of grey and there's a herd of elephants right there.
I learn about the ancient San bush people...
The bush has to communicate with us.
..for whom this wilderness is home...
When I'm here nothing can touch me.
Go, go, go!
..but quickly realise that walking with elephants
is not for the faint hearted.
Botswana... We've got some zebras down there.
A country in southern Africa...
A really nice big pod of hippos.
Similar in size to France that sits in the heart of the Kalahari Desert.
Giraffes, there.
It's home to some of the most iconic species on Earth...
Oh, a nice big croc.
..and I'm here to walk in the footsteps of perhaps the most
magnificent of them all, elephants.
I'm fulfilling a long-held ambition
to get as close to these magnificent creatures as possible.
Are they elephants over there? Yep, those are the elephants.
Amazing creatures.
I plan to track them along
their 650 mile migration routes...
..and on the first part of my journey
it's female breeding herds and their young
that I'm most likely to encounter.
I'm excited but also scared a little bit
because down there are some of the most fearsome creatures on Earth.
By walking in their footsteps I hope to gain a better insight into their
lives and the dangers they face from predators and humans alike.
It's been poached. Absolutely heart-breaking to see.
I've trekked across many parts of the world
but this is the first time I'm letting wild animals lead the way.
It's taken months of planning and negotiations
to get all the necessary permissions in place.
Thank you, Liam. No worries. Appreciate that.
The dangers in the African bush are too great to do this alone.
I need the help of a local guide...
Hey! How are you doing?
Kane Motswana.
How's it going? Great. How was the journey? It was good.
How was your flight? Ready for an adventure? Very, very excited.
Let's do it.
Kane is a safari guide
with over 20 years' experience.
He's also a river bushman who grew up in the wilds.
So, a San bushman? Yeah, a San bushman. Right.
The San are the indigenous people of southern Africa
and have lived in harmony with nature
for tens of thousands of years.
So, you remember that as a child?
Wow.
For many years, Botswana has been considered
a beacon of elephant conservation in Africa.
How many elephants do you think there are here in Botswana?
130... 120,000. Yeah, OK.
I heard that's like, basically,
a third of the whole of African elephant population is here.
In Botswana, yes.
For the next month, Kane and I will be tracking some of these elephants,
coming face-to-face with whatever wildlife and dangers
are along their path.
Every year, elephants across Botswana
migrate hundreds of miles along ancient paths
to the Okavango Delta...
..where winter floods trigger an abundance of vegetation
for a few brief weeks before they head back east for the summer rains.
There are two main routes, with mainly female herds following
the Chobe River and bulls heading west from the Makgadikgada Pans.
On our first leg we'll start in the border town of Kasane.
Tracking the females and their young along the river,
a key waterway that helps sustain them
on their arduous journey through the dry season.
We'll pass through the small town of Parakarungu
before heading south to the end of our first leg
in the Savute Depression.
This is where the adventure begins. Yep.
But before we start Kane is taking me to meet my first elephants.
Hello. Hi, how are you? You all right? Uh-huh.
Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. What's your name? Mio.
How are you doing?
This rescue orphanage
is run by local charity Elephants Without Borders.
Hello. What's this one called?
Tuli. This one's Tuli.
This one is Tuli, this one is Panda and then Molelo.
Molelo. So cute!
The orphanage isn't a tourist attraction.
Its aim is to rehabilitate orphaned elephants back into the wild.
And what happened to them? Why are they here?
Oh, really?
Two-year-old Molelo was only four months old when he was rescued
from the bush fire that separated him from his mother.
And then we had Tuli. Yep.
Tuli, the youngest, was only one-month-old when she was found
abandoned in the wild after her mother was chased away by locals.
Oh, he snotted all over me!
Have that back.
Two-and-a-half-year-old Panda,
the oldest of the three,
was discovered alone in a farmer's field, trapped inside the fence.
All were rescued close to death...
Ow! I'm not sure if I like that or not!
A chilling reminder of the dangers elephants face in the wild.
What happens when she's grown up?
It is going to be a long time. Long process.
Yeah, but our aim is,
in eight to ten years.
It takes ten years to rehabilitate them? Yeah, because...
And will you be sad when you have to say goodbye?
Oh!
THEY LAUGH
It's rare to get this close to an African elephant.
I hope it's a good omen for the rest of my trip.
The tragedy is, of course,
that whilst there's three here that have been saved,
actually there must be dozens, if not hundreds, more out there
that don't get rescued.
These orphaned elephants have to be fed every two to three hours
and they've learnt the routine a little too well...
THEY LAUGH
Tuli.
You're enjoying that.
No, no, no.
Panda.
Don't be naughty.
That's your lot, Tuli. Good girl.
Part of the reason these three orphans are here
is as a result of human elephant conflict...
That's it, you really want to get your money's worth, don't you?
..and as the human population of Botswana has doubled
in the past 35 years
the demand for farmland has grown.
Really, it all comes down to the fact that humans
and elephants are coming into closer and closer proximity
but, ultimately, it's the people
that have encroached upon the elephant's territory.
It's time to head into the bush
but before we go Kane wants to share something with me...
Oh, wow.
Is that the same man? Kane...
You look a little different.
How you doing? Good, good. Yeah. Thank you.
I definitely am ready for a ceremony. What do we do?
OK.
So, is this part of your religion?
It's very important to bring the spirit together,
the call for the ancestors.
The bush have to communicate with us, we should be told where to go.
I also have to ask permission...
..from them.
Let's call these guys.
Oh, let's talk to them,
let's be aggressive to them,
let's tell them what we want,
what we want to experience.
The miracle will happen.
No animal will touch us
if we do it right.
Rituals like this are a vital part of San culture.
I call upon all of my ancestors
to keep us safe on this journey,
my grandparents,
all of my friends in the army who passed away,
and Matt, who died five years ago here
in Africa.
I ask you all to look down upon us
and ensure the journey goes well.
The San people of southern Africa
are thought to be the world's most ancient race
and have a formidable reputation as trackers and hunters.
Thank you so much. Welcome. Thank you.
Doors open now. We're ready to go.
Everything is in our hands.
Are you going like that or are you going to get changed?
I'm going to change, yeah.
We set off for the Chobe River to pick up elephant tracks
and start following their migration west.
It's nearly 240 miles to the Delta.
Our friends and ancestors may now be watching over us
but Kane has some more practical advice, too.
So, guys, we have to be very careful here,
because you can come round the corner
and there's a buffalo sitting there
and you have to do a quick circle around it. OK.
Even such a big animal like an elephant,
we won't see it until it is cleared up.
See how thick it is.
In addition to Kane, the film crew's safety is being looked after
by armed safari guide Gareth Fleminks.
These animals hear us way long before we see them.
The last thing we want to do is to,
err, defend ourselves with a weapon.
We're in their environment and therefore we need to respect them.
We say jump, you jump,
but don't ask how high.
We have to hide behind the bush,
we have to hide behind the bush.
HE LAUGHS
OK, you tell me when I'll do that and I'll do it!
Under that tree over there, what's that?
We're seeing quite a lot now, it's warming up.
They want to hang around along the river. Yep.
Only five miles into our journey...
LOUD GRUNTING
Buffalo, buffalo.
..Africa's wildlife shows its dangerous side.
Come, come, come, come. Coming.
Run, run, run.
We just, er...
There's a buffalo...
There was a buffalo who was just charging.
He was quite a way away
but we've got to be really careful.
Was he angry? Yeah, very.
He can see us.
Buffalo, especially old, alone males like this one,
are renowned for their aggression
and they'll have no hesitation in attacking any animal or human
that gets too close.
Oh... He was coming for us.
He was going to get us, huh? Ah, shit!
We've just run away from the buffalo
but we've also just seen some lion tracks,
which means that,
if there's a lion around here, they're fresh, as well.
A lion could be in any of these bushes.
There's also a leopard track here. There's what?
Leopard here, see?
We are trapped between a male lion
and also a female leopard heading that direction,
the buffalo chasing us. Wow.
How's that? That's real, hey?
Well, I've realised Kane is the fastest,
you the second and I'm the slowest!
THEY LAUGH
I'm meant to be walking with elephants across Botswana
along their ancient migration paths
but after nearly a whole day's trekking
there are none to be seen.
You see, this is a big male.
Instead, my bushman guide Kane
has found tracks for a very different animal...
Lions.
There's one there, there's another track...
This is a female, can you see the size of the tracks?
He thinks there's maybe four or five
and they're heading in the same direction that we're going,
so we might just be hot on their tails
and we're going to have to keep very alert
because they could be anywhere.
Lions hunt in prides and will take down a baby elephant
if they get the chance but generally they go for easier prey.
If they come towards us we stop.
If they see us and run away we're not going to follow them
because lions don't want to be pushed,
so we should be all vigilant.
Let's look around. OK.
Any sound you hear, let me know.
All right.
Lions are the apex predator in Africa
but they've been killed relentlessly by humans
and their numbers have plummeted
by over 40% in 20 years.
There are only 20,000 lions left in Africa.
So, it feels very surreal
to be out on foot
stalking lions...
..but to try to get into the mind of an elephant
you've got to really understand...
..all about the predators
and the daily fear
that the prey...
..must live with.
BRANCHES SNAP
Any noise could be the lions...
..but this time it's a small herd of giraffe.
HIGH PITCHED SQUEAL
To encourage the lions to reveal themselves
Kane's imitating the call of an injured antelope.
HIGH PITCHED SQUEAL
Kane's calling them straight to us
and they could get here fast.
Lions can run up to 50mph.
IMITATES INJURED ANTELOPE CALL
LOW GROWL
They've run off.
Wow.
Did you see that? CAMERAMAN: Yeah.
What do you make of that?
Wow. I mean, that's,
that's a good call you did there.
They literally just came over to just check us out.
What was that? Like, 20 yards away? KANE: Yeah.
And then they just came up, there was four cubs,
so as soon as they saw us,
and the fact we were people and not prey, they went.
Eight or nine.
This is when you don't follow them,
when they run away like this, or especially with cubs.
So, we have seen them, so that's good.
They run away, we leave them.
We don't follow them.
I think it's time to go and find somewhere to camp. Come on.
It's very surreal, you know,
you kind of feel as though you're on the set of The Lion King
but, actually, you've got to take it seriously.
It's really good to get to know Kane better.
I feel safe with him.
Nice one!
Do you miss the old ways?
Across all of Africa,
more and more indigenous peoples are losing their identities
as the modern world replaces their traditional way of life.
It just seems such a shame to lose that way of life,
to lose that culture.
There's a parallel there with the elephants
because the last of the giants are now
under severe threat
and it's like, where does the fault lie? Is there a fault?
How can we save the species?
And the same goes for the San,
the original people.
How can we save their culture
and make sure that it's not lost forever?
KANE: Oh...
Every morning I have to do a small
talk to my ancestors before I set out.
Just reminding them that we need to have protection.
Today's plan is to trek another 20 miles
hoping to find our first herd of elephants.
So, we're following the course of the river.
You can see this whole flood plain here,
there's already a load of zebra.
There must be a herd of, I don't know, a few hundred there.
A century ago, Kane's ancestors would have encountered
many elephants on vast plains like this.
Today, it's all but empty.
What do you think, Kane? We'll see something?
Yeah.
I think it is warming up.
Animals will be coming down to the water.
Yeah, well, it's very dry, so...
Yeah, this is the main source of water.
We should be expecting more elephants.
For the migrating female elephants and their young
this whole journey is reliant on following water.
Elephants, you know, like most mammals
they need to drink once a day...
..especially when it's this hot.
It's winter in Botswana
but the daytime temperatures can still hit the 30s,
and without water the giants of Africa can die within days,
their young even faster.
ELEPHANT TRUMPETS
Wow.
You see a flash of grey and there's a herd of elephants right there.
Absolutely unbelievable, they're like five tonne ghosts.
They seem quite relaxed at the moment.
One, two, three, four, five six...
Eight.
A baby as well, nine.
Absolutely incredible.
This is a female breeding herd of youngsters and adults.
They stick together for protection.
How many do you think there would be in this herd, maybe?
Ten, then the first group we saw, that one,
another, maybe, 12 or 15
and there's another herd trumpeting at the back,
so this herd together can be easily, maybe, 50.
Eventually, all of these elephants will go towards the Delta?
Yeah.
Herds move to the Okavango at their own pace,
occasionally walking together,
at other times staying in one place
if there's sufficient food and water to sustain them.
We finally found some.
Yeah!
They're heading in the right direction. This is the beginning.
Yeah, this is just the beginning.
They're actually very difficult to spot,
they're exactly the same colour as these bushes.
Female elephants can grow up to three metres tall
and weigh up to 3.5 tonnes,
and yet, despite their size,
they can blend easily into their environment,
helping protect the babies in particular
from potential predators like lion.
So, it's very easy to just walk straight past
and you won't even notice they're there.
We've finally found our first herd
and I'd love to follow them all the way to the Delta...
They're running over there for some reason.
..but this herd seems unusually agitated.
LOW ROAR
They can hear us.
Elephants can run fast, even through dense bush,
easily outrunning us.
LOW GRUMBLE
You can hear them.
We should leave these elephants. Let's go.
ELEPHANT ROARS
Go, go, go.
AGGRESSIVE TRUMPETING
He was aggressive?
We've found our first herd of wild elephants
but they're so scarred by previous human contact
they don't want us anywhere near them.
We want to make sure that doesn't ever happen by staying away.
It's not the result I was hoping for.
ELEPHANT TRUMPETS
Kane and I are 120 miles and six days into our journey
following the annual migration of elephants across Botswana.
In the early morning animals graze and drink...
..before they take to the shade as the day heats up.
Warthog.
MONKEYS CHATTER
But even when you can't see animals
there's always some sign of them.
This is a giraffe dropping, yeah?
This is giraffe droppings? Yeah, they are.
They look like nuts. They are giraffe droppings.
They're very hard. They're more like pellets, they're very hard.
So, what you do, you have to take two.
We're just going to play a bush game, yeah? Yeah.
If you're in the bush, no TV.
Nothing.
You take something, you play as you go.
You stand in a line here,
put this in the mouth.
I'm not putting that in my mouth.
Look. You put it like this.
You're joking. I'm not joking.
Come on.
Oh, for goodness' sake.
Really?
If we don't play this game we're not continuing the walk.
Come on.
Put it in your mouth, let's do it.
Then you go and spit.
Come on.
Ugh. It didn't go very far, did it?
OK. Maybe one more.
Your last one.
I'm getting competitive now.
It tastes like chocolate, huh?
Oooh! Oh, yeah. Beat that.
THEY LAUGH
I win. OK, good.
That's not even a game, is it?
that's the game. You made that up just now.
No, no, no. We played that game.
We can use giraffe, impala, kudu...
Elephant? No, not elephant. Too big.
On the edge of the Savute Depression
we are heading for a remote safari resort.
OK, so I can see it in the distance there.
That's the Belmond Lodge
here in Savute
and, er,
I think it's one of the most luxurious
and expensive lodges here in Botswana.
Yeah.
Have you been here before? Yes.
Expensive?
Wow. It makes a change, doesn't it?
Yeah! Hello, hello. Hi.
Welcome, gentlemen. Lev, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, too.
Hello, I'm Kane. Nice to meet you.
Hi, how are you doing? Lev. I'm doing great. Baker.
Kane. Hi. Hello, Baker.
Come through, have a seat. Thank you very much.
Just on the couch there, make yourselves at home.
Drinks? Thank you very much, brilliant. Thanks.
Cheers, welcome. Cheers, thank you.
Nice one. Thanks.
Oh, I'm so sweaty.
Oh, that's incredible.
Oh, wow. Look at this place. Thank you.
Lodges like this provide a five-star service...
Look at that, that's a shower with a view, isn't it?
..but that comes with a hefty price tag of nearly £3,500 a night.
Is the mini bar extra? No, the mini bar is all...
Oh, that's included? All included
and then your indoor shower, of course.
Oh, there's an indoor shower and an outdoor shower just in case.
Look at this!
# Welcome to Savute
# Welcome to Savute... #
Tourism is a major source of income for Botswana,
worth nearly £1.5 billion a year,
11.5% of the total economy.
The biggest attraction for the guests that can afford this
wilderness luxury... Oh, wow.
..is the guarantee of wildlife...
..and Savute Lodge has a man-made watering hole to attract elephants.
Amazing, isn't it?
It feels like we're in a zoo or something
except this time we're the ones in a cage. Yeah!
Tourist attractions like this do add a substantial boost
to the economy and employ 89,000 people
but many locals argue that they don't see enough of the profits.
In the height of summer it can exceed 40C.
The bush is an unforgiving place.
There's death everywhere, look.
There's buffalo there, there's the remains of an elephant.
The lifespan of an elephant is up to 65 years
and every year up to 20,000 die of natural causes across Africa.
Kane...
Elephants might be worth a lot as tourist attractions
but, sadly, they also have a value when dead.
Oh, this is a trap, huh?
See the way it's been designed.
Probably for elephants looking at the thickness of that.
It's shocking, isn't it?
If that gets round an elephant's foot that's just going to tighten up
and then the poachers just come and kill them, and take their tusks.
Poaching claims the lives of over 20,000 African elephants
every year,
feeding a demand for ivory from Asia and, in particular, China.
An animal might be stuck in this for days in agony
so the poor creatures will die a very painful and miserable death.
The international trade in illegal ivory is estimated to be worth
up to £20 billion a year,
more than the gross domestic product of Botswana.
I find this completely disgusting.
Can you smell something?
A carcass...
In the bush, life is always on a knife-edge
but one animal's death can be another's survival.
There's always something ready to eat carrion
from hyenas and vultures to these
southern ground hornbills.
Wow. What's that died of, do we think?
This is a natural death. A natural death.
Yeah, a natural death. The tusks are still intact.
How old was he?
He's a young guy. I'd say maybe 22.
Look at the size of his tusks. 22.
22, 23, yeah.
Poor thing.
Oh, vile. Look at that.
Literally, the entire stomach is filled with maggots.
Absolutely obscene.
Ugh...
Now, to be honest, when I was growing up as a child
if we found a dead elephant like this it would be a good meal for us.
You'd eat that? Yeah, definitely,
but we know where to get the meat
which is still not deeply rotten.
It would keep us going for maybe another day
before we get a fresher kill.
I would be sick. I'm not eating that.
Come on, let's go. Ugh...
We're nearing the village of Parakarungu.
I'm interested to find out what it's like for its 1,000 inhabitants
that live alongside elephants.
They're really quite good.
DOG BARKS
The villagers here rely on subsistence farming,
growing millet, sorghum and maize
alongside some livestock and fishing.
Today is President's Day across Botswana.
There's a little bit of music coming from the bar,
so shall we go and see what's going on? Yeah.
"Shake-Shake here, one or two litres."
Shake-Shake, the local brew,
is an alcoholic porridge made from sorghum.
It's cheap and very popular.
Hi, guys. How are you? Hi. How are you doing?
Nice to see you.
We're going to join you in a Shake-Shake.
No problem. OK.
Yeah, you can buy us only two Shake-Shakes. That's no problem.
I'll get you a Shake-Shake, OK? Yeah, no problem.
HE LAUGHS
It looks like the round's on me!
Come on, go, go, go, go.
That's one of the most revolting things I've ever tasted!
Wow.
You like it, then?
Ahhh...
So nice!
THEY LAUGH
Yeah! Yeah.
When you drink it you get drunk like nothing.
Nice to meet you, guys.
See you later. You, too. Thank you.
We're on our way to meet one of the village elders.
Nice to meet you. Yeah.
Jameson Tembae. Jameson. Yeah. My name is Levison.
Levson. Levison. Oh, Levison.
At 76, Jameson Tembae is a senior figure in the community.
How are you? Good. How are you? Fine.
I'm interested to hear what he and the other villagers
make of their elephant neighbours.
Cos this elephant, they're killing people,
they're destroying our fields.
There is nobody in Parakarungu who can tell you that he
harvested anything because after ploughing
the elephant comes and destroyed our fields.
You see? Mm.
And some of the people, they have been killed by elephants.
Have people been killed here in Parakarungu?
Yeah, about two people have been killed in Parakarungu.
When an elephant comes here are people scared of an elephant
or are they...? Exactly.
They're so dangerous. What do you think the solution is?
The solution is to kill them.
If you kill most of the elephants
then maybe the tourists won't come.
Will that matter to you or not?
You see?
I understand that it is a problem for the people that live here
but as the human population grows
there's going to be this conflict between humans and elephants.
ROOSTER CROWS
There's no doubt that human numbers
have increased in recent years
and with only 5% of Botswana
considered fertile enough to farm,
it's inevitable that humans and elephants
are now coming into conflict,
especially when a herd of elephants can destroy a family's food
for the year in one night...
..and yet, despite that, Jameson insists on feeding us...
Really good. Mm.
A dinner of the local staple,
ground maize and beef.
Oh, delicious. Thank you very much.
..and on providing us with a floor to bed down on
in one of the village huts.
Thank you.
I'm always humbled by the generosity
of people like Jameson...
What a lovely evening.
..who despite having so little
couldn't be kinder hosts.
You know, it's,
I'm still torn because on the one hand I,
you know, I'm desperate to...
..try and learn more about how we can
protect elephants,
but then, of course, you have to listen to the people that live here.
They live with the fear of elephants on a daily basis
and there's no easy solutions.
Ohh...
Kane and I have been heading
south west across Botswana,
following one of the world's great animal migrations
for just over a week.
Now, Kane is taking me
to one of his ancestral sites overlooking the Savute Depression.
These rocky outcrops are the Gubatsa Hills,
some of the only high ground in the flat Kalahari Desert..
..and adorning these granite slabs
are 300-year-old rock paintings
drawn at a time when the relationship between humans
and wildlife was more balanced.
So, these rock paintings
were drawn by your own ancestors, eh?
Yes, they are.
This is an elephant, as you see,
then this is a sable
with the horns going up.
Then this is an eland, this big one. Ah, yes.
Whenever I come here to be
on this rock
it's like someone is talking to me.
My father...
..he was coming from a clan
which used to leave from here.
That was my father's territory.
His family's territory.
When I'm here nothing can touch me,
I'm in a full protection.
I'm very grateful for you bringing me here.
As we walk on Kane spots a herd of elephants in the distance.
Something down there, what are they?
Elephants, elephants. Here we go.
Elephants. Yeah.
Wow, have they seen us?
No.
The last time we got close to a herd of elephants
they chased us away
but this time we're using natural cover to hide behind.
I'm surprised they can't see us, though, we're very close.
It's a breeding herd of about a dozen,
including some very young ones.
It looks like it could be the same herd that saw us off.
Youngsters stick close to their mothers
and other females in the herd for the first two to four years.
Breeding herds are led by a matriarch,
the most senior cow, or female, in the group.
Incredible.
So, do these two herds, they're both breeding herds?
They are both breeding herbs. But they never mix together.
I love elephants.
They're obviously a very social animal,
very intelligent,
very respectful of each other and they exude this confidence.
They stride back into the bush,
back on their migration to the Delta
and that, too, is my eventual destination.
Next time...
We follow bachelor herds across a barren wilderness...
Five there. Five bulls.
Find out the hard way why elephants and people don't mix...
He's about to come for us. Go, go, go!
..before getting up close and personal like never before.
You do not want to be hanging around when he wakes up!
Subtitles by Red Bee Media