Episode 1 Gordon Buchanan: Elephant Family & Me

African elephants are one of my favourite animals.

They're emotional...

..and intelligent.

ELEPHANT RUMBLES

For them, family is everything.

I'm Gordon Buchanan, a wildlife cameraman.

For the last 25 years, I've tried to get close to wild animals.

Now, I'm in Africa to follow my dream

to get to know an elephant family.

In order to understand a family of elephants,

I'm going to do something that few people have ever done,

which is to actually be on foot with them.

I really believe that to better understand any animal,

you have to inhabit their world.

In the case of the elephant, that is easier said than done.

That's because, despite their loving nature,

elephants are one of the most dangerous animals in the world.

Years of persecution have left them frightened and mistrustful of us.

Not only do we bump into a big, bad bull,

but this fellow is...

ANGRY TRUMPETING

I want to get past our mutual fear and be on foot with Africa's giants.

From a new mother and baby...

..to the last super tuskers...

(He is just breathtaking!

(My hands are shaking.)

..I'll see the dangers elephants face, first-hand.

Can this family show me how to create a better future

for the greatest animal of all?

-You must be Benjamin.

-Yeah, I'm Benjamin.

I've come to meet Benjamin Kyalo

from the elephant conservation charity

the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.

Benjamin has 16 years' experience of working with elephants...

RADIO CHATTER

..and he knows the herds here like no-one else.

He's based in Kenya's biggest national park, Tsavo.

It's home to more than 11,000 elephants.

They see us - will they recognise you instantly?

-As soon as I talk...

-OK.

-..they'll be able to recognise my voice.

And how do you think they'll be with me?

They will be curious because they have never seen you,

they have never heard about you, but it will all depend on me.

So I will just tell them, he is my friend.

Before we meet any elephants,

Benjamin wants to warn me how things can go wrong.

Even in a car.

Just have a look.

Ooh!

'A video from South Africa shows what elephants look like

'when they're about to charge.'

So they're starting to go away, but then...

Then they change their mind.

What happens here? Do they all turn back?

Maybe they are discussing how to attack their common enemy.

Yeah.

So now they decide to come forward.

-They're fast, as well!

-Yeah.

This one was to warn you first, and the second one came to attack.

'Easy. Easy.'

Oh, my goodness me!

They can easily kill you.

'Hey!'

At first, you see, they give warning that we are coming for you.

But whoever was standing there didn't mind about that.

They just stood and waited.

-OK.

-So you should never wait when you see a reaction like this.

I'm just going to have a look at it again

and just try to figure out what's going on, because...

-Very agitated.

-They all looked agitated, yeah.

If you see them coiling the trunk and coming forward,

then know that they are seriously coming for you.

So, one sign of a real charge is that the trunk is curled up

under the elephant as it comes straight for you.

-Hey!

-MAN WHISTLES

Hey!

When walking on foot,

they can easily kill you, because they have got a very powerful trunk

combined with the tusks.

So they hit with the trunk then, when you've fallen to ground

and they follow you and pierce you with their tusks

-and you end up dying.

-Mm-hm.

And then after they have killed you,

they will just cut branches and cover you, then they just head off.

-Really?

-Yeah.

At least you get a burial, of sorts.

Seeing the body language of charging elephants

is a scary first lesson.

Benjamin thinks my best chance of following elephants safely on foot

is with a family he's known for years.

This is the only place where I'd even attempt this.

At the heart of this family are 13-year-old mum Wendi

and her seven-month-old calf, Wiva.

Following them could give me an insight

into the challenges elephants face.

This might just be possible here

because of Benjamin's unique relationship with them.

Who's this, Benjamin?

-This is the herd we've been looking for.

-Really?

-You can see how mothers are here.

-Yes. Oh, look, there's a baby.

There is Wiva. Just Wiva.

This is Wiva.

Oh, beautiful!

And Wendi, her mother.

So Wendi is...the one close to me?

Yes, the one that's close already, that's Wendi.

Wiva is the cutest thing I've ever...

Wendi, come!

-Wendi, stop, Wendi, don't.

-I'm not sure I like that.

Wendi!

-Not sure I like that.

-Don't grab the camera.

Oh!

Don't do anything funny here, Wendi.

I'm here, Wendi. What do you want?

Oh, my God!

No, no, no.

That...certainly got the heart racing...

..a little bit.

I didn't like that.

Wendi.

Wendi's a bit...she's a bit cheeky.

Yeah, yeah.

-To say the least.

-Very naughty.

Naughty. Yeah.

She's naughty, she's mischievous.

All sorts of characters.

She's a bit handy with her trunk.

'So it seems I've picked a potentially tricky elephant

'to make friends with.'

I didn't like that, Benjamin. THEY LAUGH

Was she just being friendly,

or was she...what was she doing there?

She was trying to be so investigative

and she wanted to know who you are first,

because she has never met you.

Yeah.

So it was like she wanted to know who we are -

and also to defend her baby.

That's the reason why you should never take lightly an elephant.

Yeah. No, I found that very intimidating, actually.

-Mm.

-Because she walked straight up.

I've been getting glimpses of elephants

and just wanting to meet Wendi and get to know her,

and the first time I set eyes on her,

she rushes straight forward and her trunk's right there.

And she's not fully grown, though she's got her baby.

So if I wasn't very close, then things would go terrible.

Wendi may be mistrustful

because, as a baby, she suffered at the hands of humans.

She was found orphaned at just two days old,

separated from her mother by people.

Rescued by the Sheldrick team,

Benjamin helped return her to the wild.

And through his love and care, she became free again.

Wendi has been living in the bush for more than seven years

and even has her own calf now, but she only really trusts Benjamin.

ELEPHANT RUMBLES

He's become the guardian of Wendi's herd...

RUMBLING

..checking every day that they're all OK.

I think about Wendi's tragic history.

I'm not surprised she's suspicious of new people.

I wonder if she'll ever accept me.

After a first night under canvas,

we head out to look for Wendi's herd.

I'm keen to start the process of gaining her trust.

We begin by visiting a waterhole

where Benjamin thinks they should come for a drink.

Luckily enough, I can see some more elephants coming for a drink.

It means that maybe this one, they didn't get water yesterday,

so now they have come early in search of water.

I'm hoping that baby Wiva will make an appearance, too.

There she is.

Oh, you beautiful elephant.

It's actually quite difficult to get a view of Wiva,

despite the fact that she's here.

She's completely surrounded by a forest of elephant legs.

These legs belong to older female elephants,

nannies, who have helped look after Wiva since she was born.

Elephant nannies are important to babies

but Benjamin says they're doing a lot more childcare than normal

because Wendi is not always by Wiva's side.

ELEPHANT PURRS SONOROUSLY

It's tough for Wendi.

She's a first-time mum and never knew her own mother.

She doesn't always know what to do.

Wiva is relying on the rest of the family

to learn how to be an elephant and how to stay out of trouble.

Not all babies make it to their first birthday.

Will Wiva?

Beautiful.

Just quite overwhelming, really,

to see this many elephants in one place at one time.

This herd are a mix of orphans like Wendi

who have been returned to the wild,

and wandering bulls who've joined them.

Elephants are so dangerous,

people normally observe them from the safety of vehicles.

But to really understand them,

I believe I have to be able to walk with them.

Approaching on foot might be possible with this family

because of their unique history with Benjamin.

I trust you.

-Trust me.

-I might not trust the elephants just yet, but I trust you.

This is quite a big moment.

I'm doing something that I came here to do.

Something that I'm not doing lightly.

Suddenly it feels very different to be on the ground,

for my feet to be touching the same earth as the elephants.

Feels good.

I'm standing up. Everything's tingling at the moment.

It's just quite a...

..exceptional, extraordinary experience to be...

Thrilling, really, just standing,

seeing the world as the elephants see it

and I think a big part of actually understanding these animals

is about actually seeing the world through their eyes.

Hey. You!

Who's that?

I call him Hatari.

He's so aggressive.

-Really?

-Sometimes, yes.

Hatari means "danger" in Swahili.

This bull is definitely one to keep an eye on.

I can't say that I've overcome my fear,

because I'm still very fearful,

but they trust me enough at this stage to be perfectly relaxed.

And the only reason they trust me

is because they know and trust Benjamin.

So, for these elephants,

maybe any friend of Benjamin's is a friend of theirs.

Extraordinary, really.

I never would have imagined that this would be possible,

to be standing, sharing the same space

as a herd of wild elephants.

It's really truly exceptional.

Who's this?

This is Kibo.

One of my...long-term friends.

-Hi, Kibo. Kibo!

-Hey, Kibo!

Kibo, Kibo, Kibo!

BENJAMIN CALLS OUT TO KIBO

Hey, leave my camera.

He doesn't know that he's very tall.

He can...smash that camera.

Kibo!

BENJAMIN WHISTLES

He's saying hello.

Blow the trunk. On the trunk, blow.

-That's how you introduce yourself to an elephant.

-Blow on its trunk?

If he gives you the trunk, then you just blow.

It's like saying "Hi, how have you been?"

If you're introduced to an elephant, what you do is blow down its trunk.

They keep on seeing you so often,

-maybe every day, after a few days, they will get used to you.

-OK.

-And they also get used to your voice.

-Yeah.

So if you are close to them, don't just stand there, just talk.

-OK, no, that's good.

-So then they can get your voice.

-Yeah.

Come here, what do you want?

My goodness.

Hello!

Hello.

Having a good sniff.

Hello.

Nice to meet you.

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

Ah, here comes Wendi.

Wendi!

Wendi, Wendi!

Not sure I want to get any closer after our first introduction.

-Hey, Wendi.

-Wendi, Wendi, Wendi!

Just come close to us, Wendi!

Wendi, say hi to my friend.

Where are you going, Wendi?

Not interested in me.

'Looks like I've been snubbed.

'Wendi might be a very hard elephant to win over...

'..but I don't have the chance to charm her now.

'A bull is showing us who's the boss.'

Oh.

Let him pass.

-Yeah, I'll let you past!

-Hm.

He's, um...

..yes, he's very intimidating, as you'd imagine it to be.

I think if I get to know these elephants enough,

if I can understand all elephants enough

and gain their trust,

who knows? Maybe this is something

that I'll be able to do alone, without Benjamin.

Wendi is the key to getting me into this family.

If I'm to win her over,

I need to understand how to read elephant behaviour better.

ELEPHANT SNORTS

Yesterday, absolutely wonderful,

but I was very much aware

that I was looking at a whole heap of elephants

that were communicating the whole time with me

and with each other, and I hadn't a single...

a single clue what they were saying.

Erm, so that's, yeah, that's my number one mission,

is to try and find the elephants, firstly,

but then start concentrating on elephant language.

Today, Benjamin's going to give me a few pointers

on elephant communication.

With their body language, what can you tell me

that's going to help me figure out what's on their mind?

If you are walking towards the elephants

or maybe if you are close to them

and you see them with their trunks up,

they are trying to smell the area and determine whether it's safe.

OK, so is that like...

Yes. Like this. They are smelling the air.

Trying to determine whether the area is safe.

If they have seen you, then you will see them, ears spread out,

tossing their head and trying to charge.

And if you see them curling the trunk with the ears out,

then they are coming for you.

An elephant is trying to grab food from the car...

Oi!

BENJAMIN WHISTLES

..knocking over a crew member in the process.

Time to move - but the engine's stalled.

ENGINE STARTS

BENJAMIN CALLS OUT

-Very naughty!

-Yeah.

Yeah, it just shows you - you always have to keep an eye

on every elephant and see what they're doing.

Yes, that's the reason why

when you have elephants, you ought to be alert. Because, er...

She smelt something and she wanted to go over to that something.

And when somebody tried to block her, somebody she doesn't know,

then she had to just get him out of her way.

It feels like it's a setback for me,

because my confidence in the elephants has...has diminished.

My goal to try to follow them on foot is on hold.

I've heard that several big bulls have joined the family,

so today I'm going to stay in the car.

Oh, my goodness. Look at him.

He is a beast!

Look at the size of him.

SONOROUS RUMBLING

Seeing Wiva in the open near the road

gives me a perfect chance to get to know her better.

That looks like an elephant that does not have a care in the world.

Look at her!

I think Wiva is completely spoiled.

Everyone probably wants to go and have a drink,

but all Wiva wants to do...

..is lie about in the dust at the side of the track.

If she does that, everyone has to wait.

There we go.

You look at these two elephants together.

That tiny one and that enormous one.

Very funny to think that actually the boss is the small one

because the herd does everything that Wiva wants them to do.

Wherever she goes, they follow.

Look at that. That's amazing.

Strutting down, leading the whole herd.

Wow!

Trying not to view Wiva as being a little princess,

but she has everything that she wants and everything that she needs.

Really, I love her confidence.

She's just brimming with character.

You can see, I suppose, every single day,

that character is developing further and further

as she explores the world,

learns about herself, learns about her family.

Wiva might be behaving like this

because there is no old, experienced leader or matriarch

to keep the herd in check.

Most of the adult elephants in this family were orphaned

and didn't know their own mothers, so haven't had strong role models.

This means that teenage mums like Wendi

need to learn for themselves when to take control.

I do think at times that Wendi's parenting skills

are pretty kind of hands-off.

I suppose it's not that she's negligent -

I think she just she knows that if she goes off and leaves Wiva,

someone is going to be looking after her.

'I want to chat to Benjamin about Wendi's parenting skills.'

So, is she a good mother?

Mmm.

Not really!

THEY CHUCKLE

But with the help of the nannies, then she will be a good mother.

Yeah.

The responsibility of taking care of the baby

belongs to the nannies and others,

so the baby does not belong to the mother alone.

That's a way of showing how elephants live a nice life,

a life of assisting one another.

So we can learn from them.

-We can learn a lot from elephants.

-They can teach us.

-Yeah, they can teach us so many things.

-Hm.

How big is your family?

My elephant family?

Er...I have got 65...

You know, I've got two families -

a human family and elephant family.

And I tend to spend more time with the elephant family

than the human family!

How does your human family feel about that?

Er... They are happy about it.

Yeah, because they know it's something I love doing.

Yeah, they're happy.

Wiva has Benjamin and her nannies to look out for her,

but I worry about Wendi being a hands-off mum.

Tsavo is full of dangers.

Several predators could take Wiva, given the opportunity.

Baby elephants are vulnerable if they're away from their mothers.

LIONS SNARL

Wiva is going to need Wendi by her side.

Hunters could even be hiding in the trees.

In this tree, I have the beautiful leopard.

Look at that.

If one of the elephant families came past right now,

she would definitely pay attention.

She'd see if there's any opportunity.

If Wiva, any of the baby elephants, were to get lost

and didn't have the protection of its herd,

absolutely 100% guarantee, if that leopard saw it...

..that would be the end of that elephant.

I want to understand the threat my elephants face

by following them on foot.

But a change in the herd is making that too risky.

A huge bull in breeding condition

has been attracted to the herd by a female in season.

Head held really high.

Just throwing his weight around.

No way on earth...

..do I want to be out on foot with him around.

ELEPHANTS TRUMPET AND ROAR

It seems that all these big bulls are gathering

and there's a kind of tension in the air.

This is a really dangerous time for Wiva.

ANGRY TRUMPETING

Fuelled with testosterone,

I'm worried the bulls could trample Wiva if she's not careful.

Everyone's getting really quite animated.

Got that big male there...

..being faced down by the other big bull, there.

Thankfully, Wiva's out of harm's way. She's behind all of it.

There she is. She's safe at the moment.

They just try and surround her

and that's what all the females seem to be doing,

is just creating this defensive ring around her,

just making she doesn't wander off and get into trouble.

But Wendi is nowhere near.

Here comes the big male.

ANGRY TRUMPETING

He is a scary beast.

Oh, no, no. Get out of the way. Get out of the way. Look, look.

Wiva's just right off into that big bull.

Just does not have a clue how dangerous he is.

Get out the way!

She's being really inquisitive.

(That's not good, you silly elephant!)

If she was to get caught between those two bulls,

that would be the end of her. Look at her.

You silly thing!

You just compare the size of her to that big bull behind, she is teeny!

OK, she's getting chaperoned away.

OK, that's the best thing to do.

Get her right out the way.

Keep going, keep going, keep going.

That's the big bull there.

Come on, get her out of the way.

OK.

So all these females know how dangerous this is.

That's why they're trying to chaperone her

and get her well out the way.

The nannies have taken charge guarding Wiva.

Wendi comes to her baby's side when the danger's gone.

I'm worried about Wiva.

I definitely feel as if I'm getting to know this family of elephants.

Well, I am getting to know them.

I think every passing hour,

I see more of their lives and I learn more about them.

And I think, as I've been contemplating all the dangers

that face our baby, I never thought that one of the biggest dangers

could be from other elephants.

The most vulnerable are not the babies,

but adults with giant tusks prized by ivory poachers.

In the last ten years,

people have killed over a third of Africa's elephants.

I'm heading to meet Richard Moller from the Tsavo Trust.

He's working to protect arguably Africa's most precious elephants.

Morning. How are you?

Richard monitors super tuskers to help protect them from poachers.

He's taking me on patrol to try and find a giant.

A bull called Satao 2,

one of the rarest elephants in the world.

Rare because of his remarkable ivory.

So, now that we have GPS fix on him,

we'll just get into the vehicles and see if we can locate him on foot.

These elephants are incredibly special and this part of Kenya

is incredibly special.

Half of the world's last big tuskers, mega tuskers,

super tuskers, live here.

You know, it's an incredibly special place.

It's home to some incredibly special elephants.

Richard watches over some of the planet's most endangered creatures.

There may be only 20 super tuskers left on earth.

Satao 2, the big tusker is the guy at the back over here.

I see. Oh, God, yes, so it is.

HE CHUCKLES

So I'm hoping that he'll come to this waterhole.

Yeah, that would be great.

So if we go downwind of him and this waterhole,

we're in a really good position to maybe tuck ourselves

-into one of these bushes.

-Yeah. That would be amazing.

Richard believes that the other bulls with Satao 2

are his watchmen, or bodyguards.

If they notice us, what's the sort of evacuation plan,

if they squared up to us?

Just retreat to the vehicle?

Yeah, the first thing is just to actually hold your ground.

Unless of course one does make a full charge,

but it's highly unlikely.

Really highly unlikely.

-Cool. Shall we just get into position?

-Yes.

Easier said than done.

OK. It's just after 11 o'clock in the morning

and I'm tucked in here.

They shouldn't know that I'm here.

It is very exciting,

the prospect of maybe being this close to such a huge elephant.

That in itself is an enormous privilege,

but I think just being on the ground with them is a privilege in itself

and that's only because we've got someone

from Kenyan Wildlife Service.

We got that permission. And we've got Richard.

So, yeah, this is a chance in a lifetime.

The elephants have changed direction,

so Richard thinks it's best to move inside the bush, out of sight.

(Yeah, that's great.)

We need to be quiet, so as not to spook them.

I'm just skirting round the bush, but they're perfectly calm.

I think they just suddenly going to emerge

to the left of that big thicket.

ELEPHANTS GROWL

(That's just a bit of argy-bargy between those bulls.)

If you think these are big, just wait till you see

what's coming. My goodness me.

That is like seeing a mammoth come back to life.

(What an impressive animal.)

(Gee-whiz.)

(It's extraordinary.)

(Oh, God. My mouth is dry.)

To be just a few feet away from one of the last remaining super tuskers

is simply amazing.

His tusks are seven feet long.

(That is just breathtaking.

(My hands are shaking.

(He came so close.

(Didn't know that I was here.

(He lifted his head and I thought

(he was lifting it to have a look at me.

(He was just lifting it to have a drink.

(Oh, my word.)

He has literally taken my breath away.

And you can just feel that you're in the presence

of an incredibly special animal.

As intimidating as elephants can be at times, when you really,

really watch them, you see how tender they are.

And even just this process of drinking water, Satao 2 here,

just the way that his trunk just gently touches the surface,

and he takes almost a sip of water.

It's incredibly tender.

Having seen Satao 2 so calm,

Richard thinks if we stay downwind,

we can watch him pass by in the open.

This is one of the most remarkable animals I will ever see.

I think to see an elephant of this importance is a real privilege,

because he is the last, really the last of his kind.

There are so few elephants like this

left on the face of the planet,

so that in itself is incredibly special.

Protecting these last super tuskers is important.

As is looking out for the next generation.

Time to find Wiva.

The last time I saw my family,

frisky bulls stopped me from getting out of the car.

Today looks more promising.

ELEPHANT SNORTS

Having only got glimpses of Wiva,

the herd's come forward, almost as if they want to show her to me.

Benjamin's out on the ground, so I'm going to get out, as well.

Easy, easy, easy, easy.

Easy, easy.

Wendi comes right up to see us again.

Wendi!

Thankfully, she seems a lot more relaxed today.

No monkey business here.

Wiva, Wiva.

BENJAMIN WHISTLES

Wiva, Wiva.

See, Wiva's just there.

A few metres away from me.

That's much, much closer than she was before.

They have been walking there all night, so she's a bit tired.

GORDON CHUCKLES

The whole herd seemed calm, but I don't want to let my guard down.

Too big, too tall! You are blocking Wendi.

Yes, she is huge.

Just trying to kind of stay relaxed when you've got a huge elephant

towering over you.

The herd is having a dust bath.

Something they love

and it protects their skin from the burning sun.

Easy, easy.

Feeling more confident, I move closer, with Benjamin by my side.

On foot, I feel so much more connected

to this family and to their world.

So many elephants around.

Trying to keep eyes in the back of my head.

GORDON LAUGHS

She's wriggling about like a puppy.

Aw, that is very sweet.

HE GIGGLES

Look at that.

Dust bath over, baby Wiva once again takes the lead.

The rest of the herd follow her into the bush.

I don't think I should go on any further.

Just the last few members of the herd,

but the rest of them have pushed off into the thick bush

and it's too dangerous to follow them.

Because not only could we bump into a big bad bull,

-but this fellow is...

-Run.

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

It's Hatari.

All three tonnes of him.

It's a shame, you get lured into a false sense of security

and sort of feel confident and happy with the elephants

and then something like that sets you back quite a long way.

With my family off in the bush,

I head back to the waterhole to wait for them.

But something's not right.

One of the bulls may need our help.

This elephant just appeared.

I caught it walking a couple of steps

and it looked as if it was limping.

I'm just going to see if it's...

Oh, yeah, yeah, look at that.

I think it's got a snare on its right foot.

It just lifted it up.

Oh, my goodness.

It's had a snare around its front leg.

There's a massive, massive injury.

BENJAMIN SPEAKS ON RADIO

That is just awful.

HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

Benjamin makes a call.

Sheldrick's have a team ready to respond to elephants in trouble.

With this long lens, I might actually get a better look

to see if the wire is still round the elephant's foot.

It's really shocking, actually,

to see a huge, beautiful animal like this in such pain.

Yes, look, you can see the wire from here.

Oh, that is just...unbelievable.

Oh, jeez. Oh, no.

BEEPING

BENJAMIN CONVERSES IN OWN LANGUAGE

The way this elephant is delicately washing his wound

makes me realise how painful this must be.

Every day across Africa,

80 elephants are killed for their ivory.

Snares, poison and guns are used.

The anti-poaching team are quickly on the scene

to help keep track of the elephant while we wait for the vet

from the Kenyan Wildlife Service.

The bull's scared of people after what's happened.

We are only human, my friend.

Fred the vet prepares a tranquillising dart.

He needs to sedate the elephant

so that the snare can be safely removed.

Guys, we are ready. We go help the elephant.

This is good, I'm happy now the vet's here.

Fred works alongside a spotter plane to locate the injured bull.

He wants to dart it quickly to stop it from suffering.

HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

Fred's managed to fire the dart

and the elephant's taken off through the trees,

so we're just going to try to locate it.

Chopper's on the ground.

Oh, my goodness.

Jeez. That's really shocking.

THEY CONVERSE IN OWN LANGUAGE

Just unbelievable.

You just cannot - cannot imagine the pain this elephant's been in.

Who knows for how long?

Yes, it is...

It's one of the most shocking things I've ever, ever seen.

It really is.

On his side, the bull's breathing is laboured.

We have to move fast to remove the snare.

The poachers have simply used winch cable from a truck.

A snare like this is cheap to make.

It could have caught any of Wiva's family.

You see how tight it was round...

Oh! Unbelievable.

That tight round the elephant's leg.

The reason that this animal has endured

this unimaginable pain is for this -

his tusks.

It just defies belief how cruel people can be to animals

and how senseless this whole thing is,

that you can cause so much suffering, so much pain,

for an ornament. Simply for an ornament.

This poor animal.

He is treated with a special clay that'll help heal the wound.

What do you think, Fred?

Do you think it'll survive?

Ah, because the guy's body condition is good,

he was walking, and also getting to another bad level

but he is still OK to survive.

You see, the bone is not involved.

-OK.

-The bone is intact.

-OK.

-So when the bone is intact, the soft tissue can easily...

-Really repair.

-Recover, yes.

I'm so glad that we found this elephant.

If we hadn't spotted it today,

it could have easily wandered off into the bush for another week,

maybe another month, but it would have died.

Finally, the wound is treated with an antibiotic spray.

All that remains is to wake him up.

And remember, it will take not more than two minutes.

-Sometimes even less that that.

-Really?

-OK, I'm not taking any risks.

-That's why we say "at most".

I'm going to get out of the way of the hard bits.

Good luck, fella.

I'll see you again, hopefully, under better circumstances.

-Yes, it will be good to see him again.

-Yeah, absolutely.

Set my clock for two minutes.

Wow. Oh, my word.

Hey, fella.

This is a critical moment for him and us.

OK, move back.

Not taking any chances.

He was on his feet within one minute,

so I think you'll be capable of charging us within two.

Maybe just get back to the vehicle.

It's a huge relief that he's OK,

but seeing what this bull has been through really makes me worry.

This area is well patrolled, but horrors like this can still happen.

Snares are indiscriminate.

They could kill any elephant.

If Wendi steps in one,

Wiva would be at risk because she depends on her mother's milk.

It doesn't bear thinking about.

There's people working incredibly hard.

There's people that are dedicating their lives to protecting elephants.

And I just hope...

I hope it's enough.

I hope that our species

cares enough about their kind

to stop them from going extinct

and it's just not...

None of that is guaranteed.

To see the dangers my elephant family faces,

I need to be able to follow them on foot.

So far, I've always had the safety of the car and Benjamin.

I want to know if they've learnt to accept me on my own.

I'm feeling quite positive about this.

I'm only doing this because we've got a group of relaxed elephants

and I think I know enough about elephants now to know

a chilled out customer when I see one.

They all seem perfectly relaxed, just doing their own thing.

So I'll do mine.

Benjamin still keeps a watchful eye.

This is good.

Why are you so close? I don't want you to come close.

I'd rather just be at the side of the elephants,

rather than be stuck in the middle of them.

There's elephants everywhere.

Just trying to get a view of Wiva.

She's running straight towards me.

Hey, lady.

I finally feel like I'm starting to be accepted.

It's quite easy just to get lost in the elephants' world, to forget,

actually, that I'm just standing out here by myself,

at one with the elephants.

And at times, actually, you can feel really...

..really exposed, really quite vulnerable.

Benjamin has helped give many of these elephants a second chance.

A chance to be free.

He's shown me that it's possible to be safe around elephants

if we get to know them,

treat them with respect

and listen to them.

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

My time with these incredible animals is drawing to an end.

When I return in four months, it will be the dry season,

when food and water are scarce.

Will Wendi step up and learn to be the mother

that Wiva needs to stay alive?

Next time, the arrival of a new baby turns the herd's life upside down.

I'll try to follow my family on their dangerous journey

deeper into the bush.

Who is it?

MAN SHOUTS AND WHISTLES

Big fella coming.

And I'll see what we have to do to save Africa's elephants.