0:00:15 > 0:00:21South Africa, one of the most spectacular places on the planet.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29I'm travelling hundreds of miles across the country, which is
0:00:29 > 0:00:34home to some of the world's most magnificent creatures...
0:00:40 > 0:00:44..and the largest population of rhino in the world.
0:00:46 > 0:00:50But these animals are facing a fight.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53And, at the moment, the battle is being lost.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59With the population of rhino where it's going now,
0:00:59 > 0:01:01in 15 years they'll be finished.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04There won't be any rhino left in the wild.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14I'll meet the people putting their lives in danger
0:01:14 > 0:01:18to protect Africa's wildlife before it's too late,
0:01:18 > 0:01:23and track down two rhino that are lucky to be alive.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27She has fought back from probably the depths of hell.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44My journey is starting in the Kruger National Park region.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47This wildlife preserve covers a large area.
0:01:48 > 0:01:53It's one of Africa's great reserves, and is home to lots of lions,
0:01:53 > 0:01:57elephants, giraffe, cheetah and rhino.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03I can't quite believe that I'm so close to all of these wild animals.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06Just behind me there's a herd of zebras,
0:02:06 > 0:02:08over there, there's some buffalo.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11And, off to the distance, there's rhinos just chilling out,
0:02:11 > 0:02:14and it might look like there's loads of animals around,
0:02:14 > 0:02:18but actually keeping these animals safe is quite a tough job.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24The problem is being caused by poaching,
0:02:24 > 0:02:28which is the illegal hunting of animals. It's big business,
0:02:28 > 0:02:32and it could wipe these animals off the face of the planet.
0:02:34 > 0:02:39Across Africa, since 2008, nearly 6,000 rhino have been lost.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44That's quicker than they're being born,
0:02:44 > 0:02:47and means they could be wiped out completely.
0:02:49 > 0:02:55Poachers hunt animals like rhino and elephant to sell their body parts.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59Horns and ivory which are found in tusks can be illegally sold
0:02:59 > 0:03:02for huge amounts of money.
0:03:02 > 0:03:07By weight, rhino horn is worth more by the gram than diamonds and gold.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11Poaching happens in many different African countries,
0:03:11 > 0:03:13not just South Africa.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17But most of the horns and tusks don't stay here.
0:03:17 > 0:03:18Once taken, they're smuggled
0:03:18 > 0:03:23and shipped to Asian countries, like China and Vietnam.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26They're used to carve ornaments and jewellery.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30Some people buy them to show off how rich they are, and others believe
0:03:30 > 0:03:35they have magical healing powers and use them as medicines.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39But scientists say these medicines don't work, although lots of leaders
0:03:39 > 0:03:43around the world have made an agreement to stop illegal animal
0:03:43 > 0:03:46parts coming in to their countries, it's still happening.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49And it hasn't stopped the poachers.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55I've been invited by head ranger Chris to join him
0:03:55 > 0:03:56on one of his patrols.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02Day in, day out, the rangers here must check on all the animals,
0:04:02 > 0:04:06and make sure none of them has been a victim of poaching overnight.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12What's going on with his horn? Why is his horn like that?
0:04:12 > 0:04:14You'll see his horn's rather square.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16All that's happened is we de-horned him.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18A horn is like a fingernail, it grows continuously,
0:04:18 > 0:04:21so, when you cut it off, the horn just keeps growing,
0:04:21 > 0:04:24so, in two years' time, again we'll have to cut that horn again.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27Because we're having such a problem with the poachers here. They're
0:04:27 > 0:04:30coming in and they're just trying to kill these rhino for their horns.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32So, obviously, by taking their horns off,
0:04:32 > 0:04:35you make it less attractive for these poachers to come in.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39Is that quite sad, cos it's kind of part of their identity?
0:04:39 > 0:04:43I tell you, I wanted to cry when we cut them off, because some of these
0:04:43 > 0:04:46rhino had beautiful long horns, 30 inch horns and that,
0:04:46 > 0:04:48which is fantastic, and they look beautiful.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51But, to save the rhinos, we have no option but to do it.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58How many rhinos are being killed a day in this area?
0:04:58 > 0:05:01Well, put it this way, in the whole of South Africa, it's
0:05:01 > 0:05:05an average of about three to four rhino a day that are being killed.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07How long until there aren't many rhinos left?
0:05:09 > 0:05:13Well, you know, they're disappearing at an alarming rate now,
0:05:13 > 0:05:16and I reckon in 15 years, they'll be finished,
0:05:16 > 0:05:19there won't be any rhino left in the wild.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22The way they're poaching them at the moment,
0:05:22 > 0:05:25you'll only see them in pictures and in a zoo.
0:05:25 > 0:05:26But, in the wild, they'll be gone.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32Chris and his team of rangers patrol this vast reserve
0:05:32 > 0:05:36day and night, not only to try to prevent the poaching,
0:05:36 > 0:05:38but to keep check on all the animals.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40And two have gone missing.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45Anyone seen the female rhino with the newborn baby today?
0:05:46 > 0:05:50'Yeah, the rhino at 1,800 is the big one, not the young one.'
0:05:50 > 0:05:52So it's not the newborn baby?
0:05:52 > 0:05:54'Not...'
0:05:54 > 0:05:56Unfortunately, it's the wrong baby.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00So, that female's still around here somewhere.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03This is really worrying for Chris and his team,
0:06:03 > 0:06:05so we set off in search of the missing rhino.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09Every day she's here like clockwork,
0:06:09 > 0:06:11and she might be around still, you know.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15- Keep looking, you never know, might be lucky.- OK.
0:06:15 > 0:06:16It's nearly the end of the day,
0:06:16 > 0:06:20and it's important we find them before it gets too dark.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25'I've spotted it here in the shade wallowing in the mud.'
0:06:25 > 0:06:28All right, thanks a lot, Andy.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33Chris gets the radio call he was hoping for.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35The mother and baby are safe.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39These animals are endangered. Every animal that we lose is terrible.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42It's a loss to the whole community, it's a loss to the inheritance of
0:06:42 > 0:06:46South Africa, everything. You think... Each one is so valuable for
0:06:46 > 0:06:50us that we can't afford to lose one, and every one is another one gone,
0:06:50 > 0:06:54another one gone. And, as I say, we're just going deeper and deeper
0:06:54 > 0:06:57into that downhill spiral of more and more being poached.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08Spending the day with Chris and the team,
0:07:08 > 0:07:11I've just seen what a massive job this is.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15I mean, that area that they have to cover is absolutely huge,
0:07:15 > 0:07:18but there's been some absolute highlights as well.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22Finding that baby rhino was just incredible.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33The next morning, I headed to a special sanctuary in Mpumalanga
0:07:33 > 0:07:36to learn more about what's being done to care for animals that
0:07:36 > 0:07:39have lost their parents because of poaching.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45I'm meeting Petronel, one of the few people in the world
0:07:45 > 0:07:48who specialise in caring for these endangered species.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53What kind of state are these babies in when you are rescuing,
0:07:53 > 0:07:54when you first see them?
0:07:55 > 0:07:58I can tell you, not a good state.
0:07:58 > 0:08:02Very dehydrated. It's traumatic, they're stressed.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06Their herd is gone, their mum is gone, it's terrible.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08They're in a terrible state when they get to us.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11But when they get here, what do you do for them?
0:08:11 > 0:08:14What's the rehabilitation stage for them?
0:08:14 > 0:08:17First to get them to trust us,
0:08:17 > 0:08:21we treat the wounds and we put them on fluids and let them rest.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25And then start getting them familiar with "Listen, we're actually here to
0:08:25 > 0:08:28"help you. We want you to take the bottle."
0:08:28 > 0:08:30And that first step, that first 24 hours,
0:08:30 > 0:08:33I would say is the most important when they arrive.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36There was one baby rhino that I've heard about,
0:08:36 > 0:08:38and I'd really like to know more.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41- That's LoFo, so let me come and show you.- Oh, great.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48LoFo is an eight-month-old baby rhino.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52He was lost and then found, and that's how he got the name, LoFo.
0:08:53 > 0:08:54Let's come here.
0:08:54 > 0:09:00We looked for him for five days, and, fortunately, they found him...
0:09:02 > 0:09:04..and flew him over.
0:09:04 > 0:09:09But now we're working very hard to get all these wounds sorted out.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14LoFo's mum was killed by poachers in Kruger National Park.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16He was also badly injured,
0:09:16 > 0:09:20with several serious wounds to his legs and back.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22The rescue saved his life.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26But there's still a long way to go before he's fully recovered.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30Seeing every rhino here today, I've realised how big this situation is.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34They've all lost their mums due to poaching incidents,
0:09:34 > 0:09:36and that's incredibly sad.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40But LoFo here, you can see, there is definitely hope.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45My journey's now taking me to the Eastern Cape of South Africa,
0:09:45 > 0:09:50and one of the most hi tech wildlife reserves in the world.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52I've seen the problems that poaching has caused,
0:09:52 > 0:09:56and now I've come to meet the people who say they may have the solution.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01LB leads a team of rangers who are using
0:10:01 > 0:10:04technology in the fight against poaching.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07We test different types of technologies and try to prove
0:10:07 > 0:10:10the application, how they can be successful in the field.
0:10:10 > 0:10:11Anything from boots,
0:10:11 > 0:10:14all the way up to advanced sensors that have never been used before.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17Is the technology that you have here working?
0:10:17 > 0:10:20It is working. We're fortunate to say we haven't had a poaching
0:10:20 > 0:10:23in over three years, and we get stronger and better each day.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29So, what is this system and what does it show?
0:10:29 > 0:10:33So, this is looking at all of our personnel, our equipment,
0:10:33 > 0:10:35our vehicles out in the reserve.
0:10:35 > 0:10:37So, how does this technology work?
0:10:37 > 0:10:41It allows us to manage our people and our equipment to always make
0:10:41 > 0:10:43the optimum or the correct choice.
0:10:43 > 0:10:44So we can make the correct choice,
0:10:44 > 0:10:47we can get our equipment and personnel to the right place at the
0:10:47 > 0:10:50right time, and it gives us a huge advantage over the poachers.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58The animals are most at risk at night,
0:10:58 > 0:11:02because the dark makes it harder for the poachers to be seen.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07This kit will keep us safe and monitored at all times.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10We have tracking systems on you, we have cameras that are live
0:11:10 > 0:11:14streaming, we've got radios, knives, we've got armed people with us.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16Let's go out and do some patrolling.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19It's pitch-black, so the jeep has high powered lights
0:11:19 > 0:11:21to help us find our way.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24So what we'll do now is we're going to start driving and we're going to
0:11:24 > 0:11:27be checking fence lines, checking our animals in all of our different
0:11:27 > 0:11:31areas, so we use our system to tell us where our vulnerabilities are.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34And we're going to drive around and we're going to check those.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36So we'll check everything that we need to do, and if we have
0:11:36 > 0:11:40- any alerts that come up then we'll respond to those accordingly.- OK.
0:11:40 > 0:11:45'This is dangerous work, so our location is monitored at all times.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49'Whilst out in the field, we use specialist night-vision cameras
0:11:49 > 0:11:54'to help us try to spot any poachers or anything out of the ordinary.'
0:11:54 > 0:11:58Why do you think poachers risk their lives to do something like this?
0:11:58 > 0:12:01A lot of times they have nothing else. Because there's so much
0:12:01 > 0:12:04poverty here, they don't have another way to make money, and they
0:12:04 > 0:12:07can make more money so fast here that they're willing to do it.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11We know if we lose the rhino then we're going to lose all species,
0:12:11 > 0:12:16and because it's funding organised crime, we have to take a stand.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18Someone has to do it.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20'LB and his team never give up,
0:12:20 > 0:12:24'and they work through the night to keep the animals safe.'
0:12:30 > 0:12:33My time in South Africa is coming to an end.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37But there's one more animal the team here tell me I've got to see.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41The rhino that's given them hope and inspired them
0:12:41 > 0:12:44to keep going in the fight against the poachers.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46And this man knows her better than anyone.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50Four years ago now, poachers came on to this
0:12:50 > 0:12:56place in the middle of the night, and they found a group of rhino.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00They darted three of them, and those poachers took their horns and they
0:13:00 > 0:13:04left the reserve, probably assuming that they were going to die.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07So, with Thandi, what happened next when you saw her?
0:13:07 > 0:13:08When I found her,
0:13:08 > 0:13:12my first impression of her was that we had no chance.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16But, to my amazement, when we started to treat her, we saw this
0:13:16 > 0:13:18life just come back into her.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22She got up on to her feet, which amazed us. We didn't think that was
0:13:22 > 0:13:26going to be possible on that first day. And she walked off into this
0:13:26 > 0:13:30beautiful landscape looking awful, but, even on that first day,
0:13:30 > 0:13:33there was a glimmer of hope that maybe she would pull through.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40Thandi has become a story of hope.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44Not only did she survive, but she's also given birth to a calf.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50After hearing the emotional story of this special rhino, I couldn't
0:13:50 > 0:13:54wait to get a glimpse of the miracle Thandi and her baby, Thembi,
0:13:54 > 0:13:56enjoying their new life.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00- Look, there she is.- Oh, my gosh.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02Wow, that's amazing.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05- You see her there? - I can see her, I can see her.
0:14:05 > 0:14:07Standing there next to Thandi.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10- So it's Thembi, and Thandi.- Yep, little Thembi the baby, and Thandi,
0:14:10 > 0:14:15and then, just to her left, there is the bull, and that's dad.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18- It's like a family picture. - Incredible, eh?
0:14:21 > 0:14:24Thandi is a very special rhino.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28She has fought back from probably the depths of hell,
0:14:28 > 0:14:34and she has survived, she's out here living in this amazing place.
0:14:34 > 0:14:39She's having babies and her story is just amazing.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42And, wherever I go, people tell me over and over again
0:14:42 > 0:14:46the reason why they are so involved and doing
0:14:46 > 0:14:49so much for rhino is because of what Thandi did for them.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58In the few days I've been in South Africa,
0:14:58 > 0:15:00nearly 50 rhino have been poached.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07In the last ten years, half of the world's rhino have been killed.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12If poaching continues at this rate,
0:15:12 > 0:15:16the species will be wiped from the face of the planet for good.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23Humans have caused this problem,
0:15:23 > 0:15:26and the demand for ivory and horn needs to stop.
0:15:29 > 0:15:34But people like Chris, Petronel,
0:15:34 > 0:15:40LB, Will and you can be the solution.