South Africa: East Naomi's Nightmares of Nature

Welcome to my Nightmares of Nature.

I'm Naomi Wilkinson

and I'm coming face to face with the nightmares of the animal world.

The ones that make your spine tingle,

your heart beat faster...

..and your blood run cold. What's that noise?

Are they truly terrifying?

Or is there a twist in the tale?

Come with me as I shine a light on wildlife's deepest, darkest secrets.

And see if you can guess which will be my worst nightmare?

This series is all about meeting the animals

that fill me with horror, and give me the heebie-jeebies.

And this episode is going to deliver that in droves.

We're on the East Coast of South Africa.

Flanked by the Indian Ocean, it has a sub-tropical climate,

and miles of unspoilt, sandy beaches.

We'll be searching the seas for the creatures of my worst nightmares

and looking for some sinister, scavenging flesh eaters.

We'll also be meeting some of urban Durban's nightmare residents

and witnessing a very bizarre animal transformation.

But first up, I'm going to see if I can overcome my biggest fear.

I love the beach. Love coming to the beach,

you can do a spot of sunbathing,

you can play Frisbee, maybe have a barbecue.

One thing I hardly ever do when I go to the beach

is go in the sea, out of my depth. And that's not because I can't swim,

it's because I'm afraid of what's lurking beneath the surface.

I am petrified of sharks.

Which might not be such an issue back in Britain,

but here in South Africa,

the waters are teeming with these perfect predators.

There's around a hundred species,

from fearsome great whites and formidable tiger sharks,

to aptly named ragged-tooth's and stocky, menacing bull sharks.

Plenty to be afraid of, and I definitely prefer to stay on land.

So, of course, what do the crew want me to do?

They want me to go in search of the biggest shark in the world!

I certainly couldn't do this alone,

so I'll be in the capable hands of shark conservationist, Grant.

What shark is it?

The whale shark, it's the largest fish in the ocean,

and the largest shark in the sea.

I'm guessing it's going to be massive - how big?

Well. The largest specimens reach about 14 metres,

which is twice the length of this boat altogether.

-You're kidding me.

-Yeah, reaching about 15 tonnes.

These exceptional sharks are truly ginormous,

the size of some of the biggest dinosaurs.

Their mouths alone can be nearly a metre and a half wide,

and they swim along holding them agape, as they filter their prey.

Their distinctive checkerboard markings and broad, flattened heads

makes them pretty unmistakable.

They're regular visitors here, but the ocean's a big place,

and we're going to have our work cut out trying to find one.

If we don't find one,

I'm not going to be in the slightest bit disappointed!

But this series is about nightmares, so it's time to take to the seas.

Woo-hoo!

Understandably, a little bit nervous today.

And a little bit scared.

It looks like it's not all bad,

there are some pleasant surprises out here.

Loads of bottlenose dolphins!

Ha, ha, ha, did you see that? Just flew out of the water.

But sadly, we're not here to see dolphins.

CAMERAMAN: Whale shark, yes.

They've spotted a whale shark somewhere.

A five-metre-long one, not huge.

But big enough for me, thanks.

I suppose we'd better check it out.

There's a really dark shadow between us and the shore. Oooh!

CAMERAMAN: Oh, yes, I can see it!

-They're not man-eaters are they?

-No, no.

I don't know what I'm worried about. Whale sharks only eat

small fish and plankton, so they're absolutely no danger to me,

but they're huge, and undoubtedly shark-shaped,

so I'm still very nervous.

Here she comes.

-Is she coming under the boat?

-Here we go.

-We are completely safe aren't we, Grant?

-Completely.

-Quite near the floor again.

-Whoa.

-Here she is.

Oooh, just gotten so wobbly. Cos it's just...

It's the shape of a shark. It's a big, dark, shape of a shark,

very close to the boat. Oooh. I can't get over that.

Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes! Right underneath us!

There is definitely a grace and elegance to these

enormous creatures as they cruise through the water.

Now I know a little bit more about it.

Can I really call it my worst nightmare? I'm not sure if I can.

Well, actually, Naomi, it's not quite over yet.

Oh, what?

Got a little something for you.

Oh no. "Your shark encounter isn't over yet.

"Later you'll be meeting the sharks of your nightmares."

-Yeah.

-Oh, no!

Although whale sharks are huge and intimidating,

they are gentle giants.

My next shark challenge will bring me

face to face with some proper predators.

But that will have to wait until later.

First, I'm heading inland to meet a slightly troublesome urban-dweller.

I love putting out food for the birds at home.

I get all sorts great tits, bluetits, robins.

But here in Durban, they have something rather more exotic,

which isn't always a welcomed visitor.

In fact, some people here say it's a bit of a nightmare neighbour.

It's a cute, crafty and very resourceful monkey called

a vervet. They've earned quite a reputation

in this part of South Africa for their anti-social behaviour.

They may look funny, but imagine if you couldn't leave a window open

for fear of your house being ransacked by these plucky primates.

Bit different to a seagull stealing your chips, isn't it?

This centre specialises in rehabilitating vervet monkeys

that have been rescued, so it's the perfect place

to find out more about them.

We're going to do a Nightmares experiment, to demonstrate

how not much is safe from these clever creatures,

not even your packed lunch.

In here I've got a lunchbox, and we've put some fruit inside.

Got a camera, as well, in here,

so that we can catch all the close-up action.

We've also got a little dog toy with some food inside, as well.

So we're going to see just how clever these monkeys are,

see if they can get the food out of these.

Oh, straight in there.

Smelled it.

Oooh. What's in there?

Oh, he's sussed out there's some banana in there.

Just can't figure out how to get to it.

He's taken it away to try and figure it out.

He's like, "I've got the tool."

He's like a little smuggler.

There's a conundrum.

How do you get the food out of the ball?

So agile. You can see how quickly they'd be able to snatch an orange

out your fruit bowl without you noticing.

He's eating it, isn't he? He is getting it out.

He's rolling the ball, the food's coming out and he's eating it.

He's figured it out. Well done, clever clogs.

But how are they getting on with that lunchbox?

They've all got their beady eyes on the lunchbox,

they know there's food in there.

It's just whether they've got the courage to come close enough

towards us to get to it.

Go on, you can do it, boys.

He's obviously quite enjoying solving the problem

because he's got a load of fruit here that's very easy to eat.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Oh! He's done it. He's done it.

What a smart little fella.

You could see he was so determined, just wasn't going to give up.

He was looking at it, studying it, thinking, "I can get into this."

Then all of a sudden, pop! Not interested in the food,

they wanted to know how to get into the box.

So, they're a bit mischievous, but they're not bad.

They're just intelligent and highly adaptable,

so are constantly figuring out ways of getting easy meals,

in their increasingly urban world.

Yeah, bit of a rubbish neighbour, but a nightmare of nature?

I think that might be a bit harsh.

Snails. I think it's fair to say that they are pretty unappealing.

But the ones we're hoping to find today are truly grim.

As if it isn't nightmarish enough to be ugly and slimy,

these ghoulish creatures, called plough snails,

do something really nasty. They eat rotten flesh!

Urgh! So, here I have some dead fish, and, all being well,

those plough snails are going to get a waft, and come in to eat them.

Mwahahahaha!

Urgh!

We're laying them out along the shore line,

in the hope that the scent will attract the snails.

I think the seagulls have already clocked that we're doing this.

Oh, there's one already! Where is it, where's it gone?

There, there, there!

It's already caught the scent of the dead animal,

and then it's going to surf up the beach to eat the food. Brilliant!

Yes, you heard right, these snails surf!

They suck in water to taste for particles of food,

and when they've detected the trace of rotten flesh,

they expand their large fleshy foot, catch a wave,

and ride it up to the shoreline!

# One way or another

# I'm gonna find ya

# I'm gonna getcha, getcha, getcha... #

Once these strange surfing snails are out of the water,

they follow the faint scent trail left on the damp sand,

and almost row up the beach towards their prey.

And you can see it making those rowing movements,

so they can move through wet sand, and then the minute the wave

comes past they stick out that foot and just surf in.

But it's already extremely close to the fish.

Not as close as that seagull, Naomi.

Go away! You're spoiling our experiment.

Come on, plough snails. Oh, there's one!

They're definitely getting closer,

let's just hope they can get to the food before the gulls.

Go away, go away. Go away!

You can see where they get their name from,

they're all leaving little plough tracks in the soft sand.

Finally, a snail has made it to the fish.

Time to see some macabre munching.

And trust me, it's not for the faint-hearted.

Oooh, look at this one. It's found that blood.

Urgh!

He is chomping away on that.

Urgh!

Oooh. Look at this one. Can you see it?

You can actually see the bits of fish going down its mouth.

They use that proboscis to probe into the dead animal

and suck up the flesh. Urgh!

And as if that wasn't disturbing enough,

inside that proboscis are dagger-like teeth,

used for tearing up the meat. Yuck!

Urgh! I can feel it all squirming around on my hand.

Please don't think I'm carrion and try and eat me.

It is, it thinks I'm food. Look! Thinks I'm food, urgh!

I can feel it eating my little finger. It's quite scratchy.

Scratching away on my little finger, thinking I'm food.

So, they are pretty impressive. They're snails which can surf.

Ha-ha. They have an incredible sense of smell.

But they still are ugly, slimy snails that eat dead things,

so I don't think we're in any doubt about their

nightmarish credentials, but are they my worst nightmare?

After flesh-eating snails and whopping whale sharks,

I'm in the mood for something a bit nicer,

and the next animals are certainly that.

I'm going to meet some owls,

but I'm not sure how they'll qualify as a nightmare.

First up, a remarkably cute, little wood owl.

So, Hank, this is Twiggy, and I understand Twiggy can transform?

Shall we have a look and see if we can make Twiggy do it?

Hank owns this rescue centre,

and is an all-round bird of prey expert.

Oh, don't look behind you, Twiggy.

Now this is Leo and he's a Black Eagle,

and what's normally happened in the past is Twiggy is a bit

scared of Leo, so he tries to puff himself up.

CLATTERS BEAK TOGETHER

He's making those noises with his beak.

-Yeah, what's that?

-It's also aggression.

Owls change their shape to try and look bigger,

as a way of defending themselves.

But it looks like Twiggy's got another tactic!

If you don't look at him you're pretending he's not there?

He's also got a bit used to Leo.

-Leo doesn't sleep that far from him.

-Ah, OK.

He's been introduced to Leo before. Twiggy's being a bit too brave

to give much of a demo, so we're going to try another owl.

This is a Barn Owl and her name is Glory.

Nice to meet you, Glory. Gotcha.

We're going to try the eagle again

-and let's see what happens with that.

-All right. Take two.

She seems a little bit more alert and a little bit more aware

of things around her, so she might react slightly differently, I think.

Oooh, watch out behind you.

Oooh, there we go. Straight away. Now that's an intruder position.

She is not at all happy. She's even shaking her head.

-What's she doing that for?

-She's trying to make herself look bigger.

She's trying to tell this eagle, "Don't mess with me.

"I can protect myself."

So, why does she shake her head?

-Part of the motion that she's going through.

-Just signalling,

"Just leave me alone." Whoa!

-She's also opening her beak and just holding it open.

-Absolutely.

-What's that for?

-That's also just a way of glaring, if you want, that she

can show that she's not an easy meal. She can protect herself.

Although they're a little alarming when threatened,

I'm still not convinced.

But there's one more owl to meet,

and I'm told it makes a bit of a nightmare transformation.

So, what does this one do?

You've actually got to see it to understand how it works.

OK, let's have a look. See if it'll do it...

SHE GASPS

SCARY ORGAN MUSIC

So, it's elongated its body,

kind of narrowed its eyes into little slits,

twisted its wings around.

And note the horns on his head, how they're now protruding.

He's telling us, "Hey, I've got horns, I can defend myself.

"Watch out." We know those are just feathers and we're not scared.

-Can I go closer?

-Let's go inside and see what reaction we can get.

And he's looking at us, although we can't see any eyes.

So, why is he doing that?

He sees us as an intruder, and what he's doing now is showing aggression.

Is he trying to hide by making himself thin?

Absolutely. Look at the colouration of this bird.

It looks very similar to an old log with moss on it.

That bird would be sitting in a tree very quietly

but he knows we've now seen him. He's not just sitting there quietly.

He's showing, "Hey, guys, watch out, I can look after myself!"

If I actually get a little bit closer,

-now, look, he's become more bulky now.

-Red eyes!

-And the clicking, see? Look at that.

-Reddy, orangey eyes.

Ooh, and now he's puffing himself up.

Look at the one around the corner, too.

See the whole face has come up now?

These guys are showing real aggression. Oh, yes.

Look how wide their eyes have gone.

Oooh, that's the most amazing transformation, isn't it? Wow.

So why did they change from being very narrow to being wide and big?

Initially, the bird was sitting there quietly pretending to be a log.

Then all of a sudden, the bird realised that it's been seen,

so what does it do? It now has to show aggression, "You've seen me,

"but now I have to show you that I can protect myself."

They're puffed up, the bulging eyes,

everything about the bird is screaming aggression,

"Watch out, I mean business."

It's quite like Dracula when it drew its wing

in front of its chest and made its eyes all slits.

Oh, he's gone back to being thin. These are funny, these owls.

They've put on a perfect display for us.

We should leave them alone so they can return to their normal size.

They certainly had the most impressive

transformation from skinny and twig-like with big feather horns,

to puffed-up like a big pompom with huge saucer eyes.

It's almost hard to believe it's the same animal.

I started off thinking there is no way

owls could have nightmare qualities, but I've changed my mind!

Although that white-faced scops owl

was really comedy doing its Dracula impression, they all did a great job

of making themselves look fearsome!

So, maybe they could be my worst nightmare.

Earlier on, I faced my worst fear, went out on a boat

and saw a shark in the sea for the first time.

I was very proud of myself. Then I was told that my nightmare

shark encounter wasn't over yet.

So, I've come to Rocky Bay, south of Durban,

to meet a ten-year-old who spends her life living out my bad dreams

and her mission is to see if she can change my mind about sharks.

She's going to have her work cut out!

Ella's been getting close to these top predators

for most of her life, and today she's going to try to

demonstrate that it's perfectly safe to get into the water with them.

They will swim like that but barely even touch you.

-That close to your face?

-Then they'll just swim away.

And that doesn't frighten you when they go that close to your face?

-It's exciting.

-Is it? Just sends your heart racing?

-How old were you when you first swam with sharks?

-I was three.

Seriously? You were three years old?

You're so brave, you're the bravest ten-year-old I've ever met. Wow.

Because Ella is so young,

her mum Gail will be getting in with her.

Today, we're going to have the blacktip shark.

How big are we talking? As big as me?

Average size is 2 metres.

How many sharks are we thinking might come and see us today?

-Somewhere between five and 60. Just depends.

-60?

-60.

SHE GASPS

So, we're back on the water,

and this time we've got some surf to contend with!

We're towing a drum containing fish blood and oil,

which will create a slick and should attract some sharks.

It shouldn't take long for them to start catching the scent

and coming in, so I'm mentally preparing myself,

and keeping a keen lookout.

-Here we go!

-Here we go.

-Here we go.

OK. That wasn't too big.

No, they're little. They're little sharks.

-Here she is.

-Oh, that one really came up over the surface.

Oooh. Wow, it's very close to the boat here.

There's two, three!

NAOMI GASPS

I can't believe I'm being splashed by a shark!

Oh, this is quite frightening, isn't it?

I guess it helps a little bit if you try and think of them

as one's a grandma, one's a mother, one's a child.

It's helpful to think of them in family group terms.

-Definitely. They're actually here to live a life.

-Yes.

Ella and Gail aren't messing about,

they've kitted up and are ready to get in.

She's in the water.

She's so brave. What a cool kid.

I have got massive respect for her at the minute.

Look, she's straight in.

Ella and Gail are keen for people like me

to see them in the water with sharks, because they really

want to change people's attitudes towards these animals.

Around 70 million are killed every year for their fins,

so their numbers are falling dramatically.

If attitudes change, hopefully more will be done

to try to improve their situation.

There's a tiny little part of me

that's a bit envious about what they're seeing.

I kind of want to overcome this fear.

I'm tired of being this afraid of sharks.

I reckon I might try and be brave

and have a go at getting in the water.

If Backshall can do it, I can do it.

My heart is racing!

I never thought I'd ever find myself swimming in shark-infested waters.

They're coming so close and they're not small!

Ooh!

But they're actually really graceful.

How was that?

Quite simply the most terrifying thing I've ever done.

But, but...

Let me just calm my nerves.

It was fantastic. It was brilliant.

I think I'm just overcome. Yes, I did it!

That has been a fear all my life and to be so close to a shark...

I can't believe I've done it!

They were just beautiful. So slowly swimming by.

One went so close by me I saw its teeth

and then it just wasn't interested in me and it just took off.

It doesn't want to eat me.

It's just living its life,

getting on with doing whatever the shark wants to do and I just

got the privilege of being able to observe it doing that stuff.

That was unbelievably scary, but brilliant.

If you're safe with them,

if I can swim with them, can they really be my worst nightmare?

So, what was my worst nightmare on South Africa's East Coast?

I can see how it would be a pain to have to

monkey-proof your house, but I'm not sure I blame those vervets

cos they're just trying to get an easy meal.

It was fascinating to see the scops owl's transformation,

but after all that, it's just trying to protect itself

by putting on a display.

And getting into the water with all those black tips was

by far and away the most terrifying thing I've ever done,

but it was a revelation to realise I can get in the water

with that many sharks and come to no harm.

So, staggeringly, it's not sharks, but the strange, surfing, macabre

mollusc that likes to feed on rotten flesh.

Yes, this time the plough snail is my worst nightmare.

Shoo! Off! Go away, go away!

No, no, no. No!

Go away! Shoo!

Go away, go away.

Don't spoil our TV programme. Get lost.

You're spoiling our experiment!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd