Problems in Paradise This Wild Life

Whoo!

In the heart of Africa, a young family is heading

for an epic adventure.

They are 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.

ELEPHANT BELLOWS

But raising a family and running a business in the bush

is going to be a massive challenge.

Shoo!

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 megastorm.

..medical emergencies...

It's bad, and it needs urgent action.

..and wildlife in need of help.

There is an elephant down.

It's going to be a huge gamble.

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

Oh, my God.

This time, camp reopens after the rainy season.

I just feel like everything's kicking off, and it's quite exciting.

Guests are on their way...

You can't bring the guests here until we're done.

..but camp's falling apart.

Oh!

The main idea here is to keep the stress down.

Frank is also under pressure.

He's got an elephant with a problem...

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

..and the situation becomes critical.

Now my heart really is in my mouth.

Elephant Watch camp has been closed for a month

because of the rainy season.

But in just one week, they'll reopen for guests

and camp has to be rebuilt from scratch.

The family's new life depends on the business running successfully.

Guests come here for a luxury experience,

but the wet weather in northern Kenya has taken its toll.

I've been taking all the tents down to get them fixed

and sew up all the... Get all the zips redone

and replace all the netting, which has been...needed doing for ages.

It takes a day for a team of five to get a single tent up and ready.

THEY CONVERSE IN AFRICAN LANGUAGE

OK, fine, fine, fine. You're right, I'm wrong.

PHONE RINGS LIKE CRICKET

Hello?

They're counting on having seven days to get everything done.

And I just get a call saying not only do

I have one guest arriving into this room in half an hour,

but supposedly I have another four pitching up

at five o'clock this evening.

If the business is going to succeed,

Saba can't afford to turn guests away.

But saying yes could backfire

if they can't get the camp ready in time.

So, I'm in a bit of a panic.

And it's not just the tents that are worrying her.

Sim. Now, listen, we've got a supplies problem.

I just don't think we've got enough cos they want to come for two nights.

Hi, Eleanor. Hi.

OK, look, if these four people are arriving, then we've got

a serious problem. We don't have anything in camp at the moment.

Saba's facing every host's worst nightmare.

Vital supplies are missing,

and right now she has nowhere for her guests to sleep.

-You call them, I'm going to number five, OK?

-OK.

The first visitor arrives in just half an hour.

I need all hands on deck pretty fast if we're going to get this done.

Oh, my God! What am I going to do?!

Saba's husband, Frank, is also feeling the pressure.

He works for a conservation charity, Save The Elephants.

Today, he's tranquillising an elephant to fit a tracking collar.

It's a risky procedure and Frank is in charge of logistics.

The collaring we're going to be doing today is of a bull

called Edison, who we've been wanting to get for a long time

cos he's, er... He's an old friend of ours,

a family friend, you could say,

and he was just being kicked out of his family

when this project started 17 years ago.

So, he's a very interesting bull for us

to get to know in terms of his movements.

Male elephants leave the family unit as they reach sexual maturity,

around the age of 12.

They cover huge distances in search of food and females.

Radio collaring them is invaluable in understanding their movements,

and keeping them safe.

We're at a time now where the price of ivory is at an all-time high.

That means that the incentive to poach is that much increased

and we're seeing it across the continent.

Between 2010 and 2012, in those three years, 2010, 2011, 2012,

Africa lost over 100,000 elephants, just in those three years.

We don't really know how many elephants there are in Africa

and that's part of the problem, but estimates are between

400,000 and 600,000,

so to lose 100,000 in three years is just an astonishing rate

of decline, and it just makes this whole situation so urgent.

Samburu National Reserve was once a safe haven for elephants.

But now a single pair of tusks could fetch over 100,000.

With ivory prices so high, armed poachers are prepared to

enter protected areas.

Only last week, Koitelel,

a well-loved bull elephant, was lost to poachers.

Frank's determined that no more elephants will die

within the reserve this year.

He's arrived at the elephant research centre to brief

the collaring team on the logistics for today.

Ah, morning!

Tranquillising an elephant is risky

and Frank needs all the help he can get.

Morning, guys.

Chief scientist George Wittemyer has collared many elephants before.

It's a huge responsibility.

Mistakes in this business can be fatal.

Just a few miles upriver, Saba's first guest has arrived.

Hello?

I'm in number one,

and you can't bring the guest here until we're done.

Can you look after her?

OK, just give her drinks, make sure she's happy,

tell her I'm just out and I'm coming in, in a second.

OK. Bye.

She's arrived. Ooh!

Camp manager Simeon is Saba's right-hand man

and he's on his way to welcome the new guest.

We are looking forward to meet her and it's exciting

because we've been working really hard to get the camp ready.

In fact, they're still working hard.

Racing to finish the flooring...

and cleaning the bathroom.

Hello, Lisa. I'm so sorry I'm late.

Oh, no worries.

-Good to meet you. Welcome to Elephant Watch.

-Great to meet you, too.

Saba keeps Lisa talking just long enough

for the team to finish the room.

So, come in. So, this is your tent.

I'll show you round the front bit first. This is your bathroom.

You come and you have your bush shower.

All the water's heated by the sun.

-And here's your loo. It's just a normal flush loo.

-OK.

And if you need anything, you've got a gown there to dress up in,

you can come to dinner in that

-if you like, or breakfast, or whatever you feel like.

-Wow, OK.

And if you need anything, just... I'm always around so just let me know.

-OK. See you later.

-Bye-bye.

Got that done in the nick of time.

She seems very happy, which is good.

That's one guest settled.

But there are still two more luxury rooms to create from scratch,

with just five hours before the next group arrives.

I think it's a help actually.

Out in the reserve, Frank and the team are on their way to Edison,

the bull they want to fit with a tracking collar.

Like humans, every elephant responds differently to anaesthetic,

so the team must be on their toes.

It's going to be tense.

Collaring a bull is a different story from collaring a female.

We don't have the family to worry about, but they're a lot bigger,

a lot stronger, and, erm...

Yeah, they can be a bit more alarming,

and sometimes they can have a bit more difficulty

getting up afterwards.

So, yeah, we've not lost one yet,

but we don't want to start now.

But it's a risk worth taking.

Bull elephants range far beyond the safety of the reserve.

Finding out where they go and why is crucial to help protect them.

Their larger tusks also make them a valuable target for poachers...

so keeping tabs on Edison is important.

It's Frank's job to make sure everyone is safe.

Everybody's got to stay in their cars until explicitly told

otherwise, OK? And everyone's got to be as quiet as possible.

The main idea here is to keep the stress down,

because the quieter we can be and the more

we can let the elephant be relaxed when the dart goes in, the better.

OK, he's actually coming out of the bush now,

so let's everyone just slowly get into the cars.

We dart from here if we get a chance?

We dart from here if we get a chance.

The team gets into position to administer the tranquilliser dart.

OK, we will tell you, we're going to go up and...

TRANQUILLISER FIRES

They will have to wait eight minutes for the sedative to take effect.

Until it does, Edison's reaction could be unpredictable.

But there's an unexpected complication.

Hey, Geronimo, there's some kids up above in the luga near the road.

-ON RADIO:

-OK, shall I chase them away?

Yeah, get those, there's some little kids.

-There's, like, three of them, just get them out of there.

-OK, copy.

Some Samburu children and their goats

have walked straight into Edison's path.

A dangerous place to be.

Certainly not something you expect inside a national park,

to have kids running around with their goats.

Yeah, it's just one of those extra variables that you don't think of.

This could upset the confused elephant.

He looks pretty calm, but there's a risk that if he saw kids on foot

he might go for them.

As soon as they saw the ranger, they just fled

cos they thought they were in trouble.

It looks like the goats are going another way,

so that's hopefully that variable out the way.

Edison's getting quite woozy.

Six minutes.

The sedative is taking effect.

There he goes.

Just need to hope that he goes down on his side.

He's gone, he's gone.

Too much tranquilliser in his system is dangerous,

so they've given him as little as possible.

They only have 20 minutes to fit the collar.

Back at camp, Saba and the team only have a few hours

to get the two tents up to scratch.

We'll just see how this goes.

Roger, OK, that's all right for now. SHE SPEAKS AFRICAN LANGUAGE

Last minute or not,

the guest accommodation must be absolutely perfect.

Simeon, it's got to go literally, like,

two inches that side, straight that way.

Towards you. Stop. You got it!

At the luxury end of the safari market, the devil is in the detail.

They think I'm ridiculous because I'm so finickety

about where everything is placed...

SHE SPEAKS AFRICAN LANGUAGE

..and they just think I'm insane.

SPEAKS AGAIN

There we go.

That's fine.

With Saba so busy, it's lucky she has reinforcements to hand.

Her three daughters are entertaining Lisa, the new guest...

as only children can.

SHE SPEAKS AFRICAN LANGUAGE

I think you're speaking Swahili to me!

I know you have no idea that I have no idea what you're saying.

LAUGHTER

Meanwhile, there's a problem in one of the tents.

Oh, my God, has this broken?

Yeah.

The sink in the bathroom is falling apart.

Can we take it out and make it look nice

or is it going to look like a disaster?

-It's a disaster?

-Yeah.

Oh!

When we built this camp, the whole idea was to build it sort of

under and around the trees so that you just got this feeling that

you were sort of a little animal living under this amazing canopy.

The downside is that everything moves and grows and changes.

The branch is getting bigger and bigger, and heavier and heavier,

the whole table is fixed onto it, so it's just broken

this entire basin and I've got guests coming in about four hours.

How this could happen today of all days...

Thankfully, this bathroom has two sinks,

so Saba just needs to clean up the mess and fill the gap.

I think right now I'm sort of plastering over the cracks

and when everybody leaves, then we'll just go and do it properly.

But, today, it's just got to be done and look good quickly.

With time running out, a trusty chair will have to do the job.

But there's no time to sit around.

The rooms aren't ready, and the supply car still hasn't arrived.

They had a bit of a breakdown and so they're a bit late.

But there's no loo paper, no tissues, you know,

there's a lot of things we don't have right now.

We'll be scurrying around into all their rooms

-putting everything into place.

-Mummy, look.

-What happened?

Only a few minutes from camp,

Frank and the team are fitting Edison's tracking collar.

So, this is a new type of collar that we're trialling.

It's a little bit easier to put on than the other ones

and instead of having a big lead weight at the bottom,

all the brains are down in the weight as well.

It may look big, but for an elephant it's just like wearing a watch.

The collar's on.

Now it's time to wake Edison up.

So, we're just going to jump back in the car.

That was... After 16 minutes, the antidote's just gone in so let's

wait and see how long it takes him to wake up, and hopefully he does.

The antidote counteracts the effects of the tranquilliser.

All going to plan,

Edison should be back on his feet within a couple of minutes.

But he's not.

This is when everything stops and everything gets quiet,

and the second hand seems to go round the watch a bit slower...

..and you wait for him to get up.

The first sign we'll be looking for is his ear twitching.

It's normally just a couple of minutes, isn't it?

He's been down too long and they're worried.

Vet Matthew Mutinda administers another shot of antidote.

Now my heart really is in my mouth.

Have you seen this before, George?

Er, yeah.

I don't like this at all.

He's took his time.

Oh, thank God.

Ah, that's a big relief.

He's paying a lot of attention to it. He's sniffing it, thinking,

"What the hell is this thing? Why am I wearing a necklace suddenly?"

I've only done about ten of them, but every elephant that

I have been involved in collaring leaves you with a special

attachment to that elephant, so when you follow them on the tracking

system, you know what they're like and you feel a connection,

and certainly when you see them, you're very...

It's like seeing an old friend again.

So I'll always have a feeling for Edison now.

Frank and the team have successfully collared an important bull elephant.

Edison will now provide them

with crucial data as he moves through the reserve and beyond.

Back at camp, Saba's team has also succeeded.

The tents are finished in the nick of time.

I just feel like everything's kicking off, and it's quite exciting.

We've worked so hard to get the camp ready today.

The only thing still missing are the supplies,

but for now the most important job is to make the guests feel welcome.

-LAUGHTER

-You liked that, didn't you?

-I did.

-Hi, everyone.

-Hi.

-Hello!

Have you had a good day?

Welcome. Here's our team in the dark...

-Hi, everyone!

-..but some of the team are here to welcome you.

-Sorry we're so late.

Are you all ready for your showers and everything?

-Have you ordered them?

-We were going to eat now.

-Oh, you want to eat?

-And then go shower after.

-OK.

The guests are settled, but Saba still has a long night ahead,

not least because she's mum to three children.

Just want to go and check on the kids quickly.

I had to do everything in such a scramble,

I didn't get a chance to say goodnight to them.

Hi, sausage.

Thank you. I've come to say goodnight to my little girls.

Can I have a hug, please, from my beautiful girls?

Where's jungle baby?

Where's your baby? I don't know, darling, where did you put your baby?

Did you leave it behind?

-No.

-Hm?

But just as it seems everything's under control...

Did that light just go out?

Oh... Is that the generator's gone off?

Without the generator, there's no electricity in camp.

-Who switched it off?

-Me.

Erm...

SHE SIGHS

I just thought everything was going so well today,

and we'd finally cracked it all, and then this happens.

And, of course, the supplies haven't arrived yet either.

Do you know that nobody's got loo paper in their rooms?

I've got, like, half a roll in number two

and there's nothing in number one and nothing in number five.

OK, so they're getting here.

GENERATOR WHIRS

Luckily, they get it back up and running.

I don't know what the hell is wrong with that machine.

HARSH WHIRRING Oh, my God, that doesn't sound good.

Despite the racket, camp has power again.

I'm just going to get the guests at the dinner table

and make sure that everything calms down,

and I just hope that we're not going to lose power.

Order is restored and, at last, the supplies arrive.

For Simeon, one crucial thing is still missing.

On the face of it, everything is going well.

-This is delicious.

-Yeah, it's lovely.

It's been a hectic day and everyone could do with a good night's sleep.

Saba and Frank have had a restless night.

Oh, God, looks who's back.

You noisy, noisy boy!

I can't believe you kept us up all night.

Sarara is a big male who regularly passes through camp.

He's been tempted in by his favourite midnight snack -

juicy acacia pods from the tree right outside their bedroom.

I mean, look at this. This is the festivities of the night.

Everything that's been going on.

When they first started coming around, Frank and I were just like,

"Whoo-hoo, this is so exciting,"

and now it's just been almost every night and we're exhausted!

And last night I managed to find some earplugs, but even with

earplugs stuffed into our ears, there were branches falling on the roof

and he was shaking it, and rumbling and farting and, ugh, so noisy!

He keeps us awake, but on the other side it's really nice

that they trust us enough to be able to come here

and feel safe, considering what's happening elsewhere in their range.

I don't think the guests will mind, but luckily for them

they don't have quite as close an experience because they've

got these nice big verandas that keep the elephants at bay.

His antics in camp may have kept the family up all night,

but Saba's delighted when he sticks around to give her guests

a very special elephant encounter...

right over the breakfast table.

This is really what this place is all about.

You know, there's no boundaries, no fences between us and nature,

and you get things like this happening, it's just magic!

Saba hopes that if people see elephants up close like this,

they'll want to help protect them.

These unique experiences are key to the success of the business,

and to securing a future with elephants.

Next time...

A member of the team is taken dangerously ill...

I mean, the thing is, if you don't treat malaria, it can kill you.

..Frank rushes to the rescue of an injured lioness...

It's not looking very good.

..and a power failure in camp leads to big trouble.

It's going to be a big investment.

Ugh.