Baby Elephant Rescue This Wild Life

In the heart of Africa, a young family is heading

for an epic adventure.

They're moving with their three children to a remote

Kenyan wilderness.

Mum Saba is here to run a safari camp...

Welcome.

..while dad Frank is helping to protect elephants.

Collar's almost on, now the scary bit.

But raising a family and running a business in the bush,

is going to be a massive challenge.

There are monkeys in the kitchen...

Oh, you monkeys! I'm going to kill you.

..floods threatening the camp...

It's looking like it's going to be a mega storm.

..medical emergencies...

It's bad and it needs urgent action.

..and wildlife in need of help.

And my heart really is in my mouth.

It's going to be a huge gamble.

Will the business survive Saba's first season in charge?

Oh, my God.

Last time, a mother elephant was gravely ill.

Her young calf, Sokotei, in trouble.

This is a really serious problem

because I can see the calf is getting skinnier by the day.

Saba and her colleague, David, watched over him in case

he needed to be rescued.

The terrible thing is that calf is just really beginning to lose

all its energy.

This time, a specialist team fights to save Sokotei's life.

But as they rescue one elephant, another is in danger.

There's an elephant down.

Overnight, the sick mother lost her fight for life,

and elephant expert David Daballen has rescued little Sokotei.

We're just very much worried about the baby.

If the calves don't get enough milk, then, obviously,

they'll start losing weight, they can easily get infections

because their immune system is not strong,

so, obviously, it's something that we're very much concerned about.

A specialist rescue team is standing by at the airstrip.

The next few hours are critical.

Sokotei needs help quickly if he is to survive.

He's a little bit skinny, but he's OK.

He's in a stable condition.

In the wild, his chances would have been very, very slim, but, tonight,

he got another second life,

so I will have some peace of mind tonight.

The vet sedates Sokotei and covers his head to keep him calm.

He's being flown to an elephant orphanage in Nairobi,

run by Sheldrick's Wildlife Trust.

I just wish him all the best and I know, you know,

the care that he's going to get in Sheldrick's,

is just as good as his mother.

Sokotei is so dehydrated, they set up a drip

to get vital fluids into him.

Only time will tell if this little fellow will survive.

Sokotei is leaving his homeland, the wilderness of Samburu.

The elephants here are unusually trusting of humans.

They even wander into the safari camp.

But at the moment, there are no guests.

Elephant Watch Camp is closed for the rainy season.

At this time of year, Saba and the team catch up on repairs,

but this morning, she's had worrying news.

I've just got a call this morning that, well, it's a rumour,

I don't know if it's true, but sounds there's been a bit of a

travel advisory on people coming to Kenya because of terrorist threats.

I just want to check the news.

There we go.

Uh-oh, oh, my God!

UK tourists evacuated from Kenya, oh, my God!

Hundreds of British tourists are being evacuated from Kenya after

the Foreign Office warned that there was a high threat from terrorists.

As many as 500 people are affected.

Oh, this is going to have a really, really bad impact on us.

Whenever anything like this happens, it just ricochets through

the tourist sector and, you know,

no matter that Mombasa's 600 kilometres away,

it's just Kenya, and people start cancelling bookings.

With guest numbers already down due to the global recession,

this is a real blow to the business.

The success of the camp depends on filling

the beds for the coming high season.

Orphaned elephant Soketei has arrived in Nairobi.

He's on the last leg of his journey.

Only 40% of rescued baby elephants survive the traumatic

first few days of separation from their mother.

The keepers here are the best in the world.

This is the first proper feed he's had in two weeks.

It's specially formulated milk to build him up.

This little guy is very hungry indeed.

The next few days will determine whether Sokotei can survive.

With the news on terror driving tourists away from Kenya,

Saba is finding out the facts, to calm her guest's fears.

Hello? All right, thank you very much, bye.

One group has cancelled, so far.

Saba needs to drum up new business fast.

Why don't you come and sit here next to me

and then I can help you with your homework?

She's hoping the power of social media

will soon have guests flocking to camp.

I'm trying to do all the social media stuff, which everyone

tells me is absolutely critical for marketing.

I just don't really understand how this whole system works,

like, how you link one to the next.

Enter camp guide Bernard.

Please help me with Facebook.

Bernard is studying for a degree in tourism

and knows all about social media.

Oh! I just don't know how to begin.

I don't know where to find this stuff.

-Do I share?

-You can share.

-And then I put it onto my page.

Yeah, yeah, and you can do as many things as you can.

Bernard is brilliant at this stuff and I haven't got a clue.

You draw one more sock here.

I am so last century, it's embarrassing.

I'm actually... I'd far prefer to do her homework

and I bet she'd be much better at doing this, than I am.

I think we'll probably have to start a school here

so Saba can attend classes after her daily chores.

Well, it's lucky it's you here and not Frank,

because Frank normally has to deal with me

just literally throwing my computer across the room.

In the past, the camp relied on word of mouth to attract guests,

but Saba now needs to shift up a gear to reach a wider audience.

I'm good at practical things.

I'm good at logistics and organising and yeah, I can be a gracious hostess

and that kind of stuff, but social media is... I'm just allergic to it.

We curdle, I curdle when I go near it and it curdles with me

and... I just can't do anything right.

If, if you look into here, all these green dots means that you know

every, these guys are actually on there, they're chatting away,

so if you want to chat with me, you can see that I am on.

Let's, let's click on me

and you can write something and it will pop up on my screen.

For me, you know, Saba is everything,

but, you know, when it comes to Facebooking and everything,

she is, you know she is hopeless.

With Bernard's help, Saba must take her first steps into this new

world of online marketing.

Saba's husband, Frank, is also being affected by global problems.

He's running operations at Save The Elephants,

a conservation charity.

But with ivory poaching on the increase, they're facing

an uphill battle to stop elephants being killed.

Everything was going OK for the elephants of East Africa

until 2008, and then as the price in the...

the price of ivory began to increase and, and it's been getting

worse and worse ever since, so this is a crucial year.

If we get it right this year, it could change everything

and if we get it wrong, we're on a road to not having elephants

within a generation.

Armed gangs of poachers are now becoming so bold,

they're entering the reserve.

Today, Frank is checking up on a big bull which David

has named after him.

Big Frank is a 30-year-old male in his prime,

but his ivory tusks make him a target for poachers.

Bulls like Frank, they're the survivors

and if they've got to that age, that's some good genes there and

he's obviously a magnificent bull.

But he's really endangered because of those tusks,

cos the longer an elephant lives the bigger its tusks get

and especially true for the males.

So, that's why we've got so few of these guys left in the reserve

now, and that's what makes Frank special.

Five years ago, there were 32 big bulls in the reserve.

Now only five of them, including Frank, are still alive.

Back at camp, Bernard shows Saba how social media

could revolutionise their business.

I mean, it'll certainly help us in, you know, connect with our guests

because a lot of them are on social media, so that will be fantastic

if they can keep in touch with what's going on, on the ground here.

Selkie, darling, you keep your eyes open

because there's an elephant in camp, OK.

Just be careful.

The visitor allows Bernard to demonstrate

the immediacy of this online world.

We've got it in one posting already.

Oh, was that...? That was the one you sent me?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-Oh, that was him in camp today?

-Yes.

-Oh, that's great.

And I think I've written a little comment,

saying I've had the elephant in camp.

It's instant, right, got it.

Now, I do see how this could be useful.

-You think this is the future?

-I think this is the future.

If, if you don't catch up you'll be left behind.

While Saba and Bernard find new ways to attract guests,

above their heads, the team is preparing for the season ahead.

But the monkeys are making life difficult for handyman Zack.

These monkeys, they jump here and there and they just keep

on trying to look where there's no security and they can just jump in.

While the roof is being fixed, the monkeys help themselves

to any escaping insects.

Oi!

Mayah, monkey, yah.

Every few years the thatch, known locally as makuti,

is replaced.

As you can see, we have to start putting up the makuti.

They are all rows in so we have to change them

and put new ones and then we have to put another chicken wire

on top of the makuti, just to prevent the monkeys

from pulling them down.

Another job for Bernard.

Makuti is a thatch, it's a roofing material which is

from the doum palm.

It's a palm that is very unique to this part of the country,

so the locals around the reserve, they go out and they harvest

this doum palm and they weave it together.

That's a revenue for them.

Instead of buying all the makuti from one person,

Bernard buys it from different communities, so everyone benefits.

But it's not a job for the faint-hearted.

They've collected this from all over the place,

so everybody gets a sale.

Every household has to sell 15 pieces.

Then we're coming back for more.

THEY SPEAK SWAHILI

If it's not chaotic, it's not a good day. It has to be chaotic.

We have to make sure it's properly done, otherwise

if it falls out, then it's my mistake and Saba will kill me.

It's thanks to the tolerance of the Samburu people that

guests are able to see elephants up close.

They've lived alongside each other peacefully for hundreds of years.

So these elephants have little fear of humans.

Samburu is one of very few places where elephants are so trusting.

That's why this reserve is home to one of the longest-running

studies of elephants in the world.

But the last five years have seen the return of an old problem,

the illegal ivory trade.

David has heard rumours of poachers in the area and is concerned

that big Frank, with his big tusks, might be in danger.

The elephants are heading towards the edge of the reserve.

If they reach the road, they risk being spotted by poachers.

With these big guys around, that's a real worry.

Out of all these elephants here, Frank would be

one of the prime targets, cos he's got the biggest tusks

and the biggest... And the tusks are what they're after.

So we've now got to start keeping an eye out, not just for these

elephants, but for people.

It's very unlikely we'll see any, because they'll hear us

coming first and they'll hide, but they're likely to be out there.

It's very dangerous, so let's hope they will be safe

and we'll try and be with them as much as we can,

but there will be a point where we just hope for the best.

A few hours after sunset, Frank gets an urgent phone call.

There's an elephant down, an elephant has been killed.

Daddy, can you push me, please?

Just before dusk, a flurry of gunshots.

In this case, we've found it and we've got Kenya Wildlife Service

and Masulu scout team laying an ambush around the carcass,

cos it's still got tusks in it, so we think that the poachers

are going to come and try to get the tusks.

These poachers always go for the biggest elephants

which have the biggest ivory, so it could be any of the matriarchs,

it could be a bull, it could easily be Frank, cos he's got one big tusk

and he was up in that side this afternoon.

Hi, Gilbert. Cos we were worried that Frank might have been close.

-Mamma, what's happened?

-Darling.

-What?

Those gunshots were heard right by a ranger post

on the south side of the river, in the Buffalo Springs Reserve.

I think, I mean, we have lost elephants there before

but it's, you know, it's shocking that it's happening right here.

It's just horrible. You know, you watch them, how wonderful

and intelligent and gentle they are with each other

and then every now and then, come nightfall, this awful

sound of bullets and we just... It just breaks our heart every time.

Whatever happens, however this plays out, it'll be a...

It'll be a fairly sleepless night and then we'll be up at first,

first light.

Overnight, a team of rangers will set up an ambush in case

the armed poachers return to collect the tusks.

The ambush didn't work last night,

but we didn't have much hope that it would.

Basically, if the elephant doesn't go down immediately, there's...

The incident was so close to the ranger post,

that they're never going to stick around.

Frank is meeting Saba's father, Iain, at the airstrip.

They're going to search for the poachers.

Iain Douglas-Hamilton has dedicated his life to studying

and protecting elephants.

It's a matter of gathering evidence and engaging in hot pursuit.

Iain was the first person to alert the world to the elephant

poaching crisis of the '80s, and he's been a leading

figure in banning the illegal ivory trade since then.

As well as looking for signs of the poachers,

Iain and Frank are keeping an eye out for other

elephants that might have been injured in the attack.

On the ground, David's meeting the community anti-poaching team

and rangers from the Kenya Wildlife Service.

It's their job to confront armed poachers.

They put their lives on the line to protect Samburu's elephants.

This is the hardest part of David's job.

That's the elephant.

It's not Frank, but a 25-year-old bull called Koitelel.

David was with him only three days ago.

That's one of our very well-known elephant.

He seemed to have really struggled before he died,

but this tusk is what tells you that he was trying to hold himself.

You can see where the tusk was before, so that's where,

when he was standing, he just came down, came down like that,

all the way and he stopped there.

-Iain, Iain.

-RADIO:

-Yes.

We've ID'd the elephant. He's called Koitelel.

Yep.

There's no trace of the poachers, so Iain

and Frank are coming in to land.

OK, copied.

Last year, up here in Samburu,

the poaching has gone down through the extraordinary efforts of

the conservationists who are working hand in hand, and in June last year,

19 poachers turned themselves in.

They'd switched sides and they joined the security forces

and I thought, I really thought that we've cracked it,

but there's a new gang coming now and they're just killing

elephants again and in this last month alone,

we've lost eight elephants.

One of them were a family of five. They were all gunned down together.

Poaching doesn't just affect the elephants.

It affects everyone in the reserve.

The Samburu people live in harmony with elephants

and for Bernard, this connection runs deep.

But these elephants, they are like my friends, you know?

When I see them, I feel very happy, cos it's like I've seen my

friends and how they behave because they are highly intelligent animals.

Elephants are very special in Samburu culture.

We have legends and totems especially about elephants.

The Samburus believe that elephants are closely related to human beings

and one of the reasons is the elephant's eyelashes

look like human beings, they're human-like,

and most importantly is the intelligence of the elephant.

When I get the news that a certain elephant has died,

I know exactly who we're talking about.

I will pick up green leaves or grass

and I place it on top of the elephant and that symbolises life.

Oh, horrible.

Since he first alerted the world to poaching,

Iain has continued to campaign against the illegal ivory trade.

What we have just seen is the death of a young bull elephant at a time

when we thought we'd got past the worst, so it's a real wake-up call.

The question is whether it gets to the point that death exceeds

birth, cos if it is, you've reached a tipping point

and elephants are now on the way down.

I just think, how senseless.

Poor guy.

Koitelel, rest in peace.

At the elephant orphanage in Nairobi,

Sokotei is well enough to receive visitors.

Hello, darling, hello. Come on, do you want to say hello?

Look, this is our baby from Samburu, darling.

Ah, you see, he likes it. Ah, he wants to play with the mud.

Pour yours, Selkie.

Put it on his trunk.

He wants you to give... Give him, give him with the trunk.

-You want to give this as well?

-Here Luna. Shall we try it?

Oh, look at him, what's he doing?

Holding the bottle by himself.

Look, he's drinking his water. He wants his milk.

-Yah, he wants his milk.

-Yeah. Did you carry some milk for him?

When it's time for milk, there's no stopping these boys and girls.

We're just going to wait for Sokotei to come down.

He's with another group here to come in.

These are hungry little elephants. Look, look, there's Sokotei!

Sokotei knows the drill. And here he comes.

Here he's look. Well, he's definitely learnt the routine.

He's been through such a difficult time, losing his mother

and that long slow period where he wasn't getting any milk at all,

and, actually, you know, really suffering nutritionally.

But having said all of that, he's absolutely huge

compared to the other orphans of about the same age

and the minute he got here, he's been guzzling down his milk

and he's really, really strong and he really wants to live.

This is what Saba and Frank are working for,

to safeguard the future of the animals they love.

All Bernard's hard work on social media is paying off

and over a million people are following Sokotei's progress online.

Next time, Elephant Watch reopens after the rainy season.

Bookings are up, but the camp's falling apart.

And last minute guests catch them off guard.

Not only do I have one guest arriving into this room in half

an hour, I have another four pitching up at five o'clock this evening.

The main idea here is to keep the stress down.

And Frank takes charge of tranquilising his first big bull.

We've not lost one yet, but we don't want to start now.

And my heart really is in my mouth.