Chaos in the Camp 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.

But raising a family

and running a business in the bush is going to be a massive challenge.

MONKEY SCREAMS

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.

Hello!

This time, high season is in full swing.

Everything has to be, you know, super, super, super.

But drought has forced the main attraction to leave the reserve.

It becomes a bit of a challenge for us,

because, you know, there aren't that many elephants.

It spells disaster for the business,

and for the elephants.

Poachers were spotted this morning and they ran from their camp.

The team's battle with poachers becomes critical.

They're out there, they're right on the front line.

There's a drought in Samburu...

..and elephants are leaving the reserve.

It's bad news for Elephant Watch Camp.

It's really shocking how dry it is.

Every day we see more and more of the mudflats

and there's just no sign of any more rain.

It's just so dry and sparse and barren out there.

Of course, it's impacting hard on the elephants

and it will get worse as the year goes on,

they'll be much more spread out and they'll be

moving much further away out of the reserve.

Saba's business is all about elephant watching

and this is their busiest time of year.

But without the stars of the show, Saba is worried.

Camp guide, Alfred, is setting off to collect the latest arrivals.

Today, we're heading out to this airstrip,

which is the Oryx airstrip.

I'm picking a couple that is coming in today for three days.

There are three different airstrips near the reserve.

Today's guests are due to land at the one closest to camp

and Alfred's keen to get there in good time.

We have to be there, like, half an hour before

because they're quite erratic, they have other stopovers

and sometimes they don't keep their times properly.

Bush airstrips are a basic affair.

The runway is cleared out of the scrub.

There is no arrivals lounge, no refreshments and no shade.

So, it's important to arrive before your guests.

While Alfred's waiting for the plane, Saba receives a call in camp.

PHONE RINGS

Hello?

-'Hi...'

-Hi, how are you?

INDISTINCT

We were told they were going to land at Oryx.

It's not good news.

All right.

All right, thank you. Bye.

The airline who was bringing our people this morning

has landed at a different airstrip.

(It's terrible.)

Hello? Hi, Alfred...

Oh, my God. OK.

This is a pain. All right, fine.

OK, bye-bye, bye. Go like the wind, but not too fast. Bye.

HE SPEAKS IN LOCAL DIALECT

That's, it's a disaster, disaster, disaster.

Because everything's now upside down.

The airstrip the plane has landed at is an hour away.

And the temperature is soaring into the 40s.

We have to now fly like a bat from hell.

The clients

might be very unhappy if they are dropped somewhere

and nobody picks them up, so...

it's, it's quite...

something.

This is just one of those things that should not happen.

In Kenya's Samburu National Reserve,

it hasn't rained for over three months.

The plains are turning into dustbowls.

It's a tough time for the elephants.

Many of them are leaving the reserve to look for food.

And they're heading into danger.

Saba's husband, Frank,

works for conservation charity, Save The Elephants.

He's worried about their safety.

What we've got here in Samburu is this really critical population,

it's one of the best studied populations in, in Africa, and...

..we need to defend this population.

This area has been really badly hit in the past

by this surge of poaching that's gone across Africa, and...

what I'd really love to see is

that this year, we have no more elephants killed in Samburu.

But if the elephants leave the protected areas,

they risk being killed for their ivory.

Only six weeks ago, a 25-year-old bull was lost.

He was shot so close to the reserve,

the poachers fled before they took his tusks.

Frank wants to catch them before they strike again.

He's joined Saba's father, Iain.

They're heading to the scene of the crime in search of evidence.

Iain Douglas-Hamilton was the head of anti-poaching in Uganda

at the height of the ivory crisis in the '80s.

He pioneered the use of forensics to bring poachers to justice.

This is it, I think.

Ja, look at this.

Yeah, this is definitely Koitalel.

After six weeks of baking temperatures and hungry scavengers,

the carcass has been reduced to a pile of dry bones.

If they can find bullets in these remains

they have a chance of putting those responsible behind bars.

Well, we're searching now

for, er, metal,

particularly for the bullets.

I test to see if it's working against my knee...

BEEPING

..because I've got a metal plate in here.

What we want to find

is a bullet and we want to tell what calibre that bullet was

and therefore what weapon it was fired from.

The bullet could have dropped out anywhere here by now.

Did you find a bullet hole over there?

We've got three bullet holes in his shoulder here.

As you remember, his, er...

-The bullet went right through there.

-..his right shoulder.

-If you remember, had lots of...

-It came through from that side

-and this was the exit hole, here.

-Yeah.

Well, it's quite stunning to see how, how much it's already been,

it's already been pulled apart and everything disintegrated.

-It's like archaeology.

-BEEPING

It looks like nice dry earth that would be really easy to dig into...

This is a, this is a corpse, really, that's,

that's sunk into the ground here and made it really, really hard.

-BEEPING

-It's like digging into sandstone.

SPORADIC BEEPING

That's it.

Here's the bullet.

Wow.

One of them, anyway.

That's a bit distorted, unfortunately.

This bullet is useless.

To make a conviction, they need to find undamaged ones.

They must keep on searching.

At the airstrip, Alfred has met his guests.

Sorry, we were on the wrong airstrip.

You have to really drink a lot,

because you don't realise how much you get dehydrated out here.

It is quite hot.

The camp relies on guest recommendations for future business.

Unhappy guests means bookings may suffer.

Every detail must be perfect.

Oh, what a beautiful new mat.

That really does look good, doesn't it?

HE SPEAKS IN LOCAL DIALECT

INDISTINCT RADIO VOICE

'Just on the lake, I think five minutes.'

THEY SPEAK IN LOCAL DIALECT

WHOOPING

After the mix up at the airstrip,

Saba wants to make sure their welcome to camp is flawless.

Hi.

I am so sorry, you guys, it was all the wrong airstrip.

-Come and have a drink.

-Thank you. My name is Joe.

-Joe, I'm Saba.

-Hi. Sonja.

-Hello, Sonja. Saba. Welcome.

So, this is part of the team.

This is the people who do rooms and kitchen and spotter guys.

The team must now do everything they can

to make up for the shaky start.

Everything has to be, you know, super, super, super,

because basically, it doesn't matter if it's a, the flight...

problem.

It's our role, really, to make it work for them.

BEEPING

Back in the field, the search for bullets continues.

CONTINUOUS BEEPING

-There we go.

-To catch the perpetrators,

they need to find as many undamaged bullets as possible.

BEEPING

I've got another one in here, definitely.

-You've got one there as well?

-Here's another here.

-CONTINUOUS BEEPING

-Wow, it's everywhere.

-Yeah.

-There.

This is the one that can give us the best clues.

You can actually see the scratch marks

made by the rifling

and this will be an absolute indicator

of which rifle it came from.

If the police can find the rifle,

they can also compare this in their ballistic department

and see if there's a match,

so it's a very useful piece of hard evidence

if it ever comes to a court trial.

Iain will send these bullets to the police.

They've found the evidence.

Now they need to catch the poachers.

At camp, guests Joe and Sonja, have settled in.

Alfred's about to take them on their first safari.

-Alf.

-Yes.

-Hi.

I want to make sure they have a really nice time,

-because of that whole airport mess up...

-I know.

-..because they've been so sweet about it...

-I know.

..and I thought maybe if we can do a really lovely game drive

and I'll try and do something special for them in the evening...

-In the evening.

-We'll do something.

-We'll see.

-Yeah?

But Joe and Sonja are here to see elephants,

and that's easier said than done.

All right, to go.

In the drought,

elephants break into smaller groups to make the most of the poor grazing.

They can travel up to 50 miles a day in search of food.

Alfred's got a tough job on his hands.

With one set of guests taken care of,

Saba now has more on the way.

They're here to see elephants too.

They're arriving in about four minutes.

SHE SPEAKS IN LOCAL DIALECT

Saba is feeling the pressure.

So, I'm just getting some nice drinks ready for them,

so that when they arrive, they've got fresh juice.

Wildlife guide, Bernard,

is entertaining his guests on the way back from the airstrip.

OK, this is how we are going to do it.

We're going to allocate points for every animal that we spot.

-Depending on how elusive they are, they get more points.

-OK.

Bernard is looking after them whilst they're here and

he's with them the whole time.

So from, you know, six in the morning until about six

in the evening when they come back,

so they're getting real specialist care this week.

CHEERING

Elephants or not, Bernard is making sure his guests have a great time.

They're very happy. Really, really happy.

It's been a long day, but they've really enjoyed it.

I-I've done my part.

-Come in, everyone. Have you all had some juice?

-CHILD:

-Yes.

For Saba, making a success of the business is important,

not just to balance the books but to help the elephants.

The more guests that visit, the more people understand

and love these endangered creatures.

Over 900 elephants pass through the reserve,

but in the drought they spread far and wide in search of food.

The further they travel from the protected area,

the closer they come to roads and towns.

This is where ivory poachers are most active.

Frank is trying to catch them.

He's joined Chris Leadismo, head of the anti-poaching unit.

Turn to the right, all out.

Just a couple of years ago, this place was a total killing ground.

These hills here,

we lost around 30 elephants in just a couple of months there.

These are not Kenya Wildlife service guys,

these are not private guns and boots,

these are community guys that have been pulled together,

they've been given a structure with which to work.

It's a completely grassroots,

ground up initiative and that's what makes it so powerful.

And the importance of that can't be overstated

because look at how enormous this landscape is.

Without the people that live here being the forces that protect it,

you've got no hope.

These community rangers know every inch of this terrain.

If anyone can track down poachers, they can.

Inside the reserve, Alfred and his guests are looking for elephants.

They've been searching for two hours.

-That's a dik-dik.

-SHE GASPS

So there's two of them there.

-Quite gregarious.

-Are they? OK.

They're cute, but not what the guests came to see.

Elephant Watch Camp with no elephants is bad for business.

Bernard heads out to join the search.

So that's our responsibility - to make sure that they

enjoy their safari to the fullest

because, you know, you feel like...

I want them to have the best experience,

I want them to enjoy their safari,

because people come here maybe once in a lifetime,

and if you give them the best safari then it's good for them.

I mean, you feel like you've given them something so special.

Saba hopes that their time here will inspire her guests to help elephants.

We want to give them a very meaningful experience with

elephants and there's, you know, there's so much happening with

the elephants right now, it can't really fail to be meaningful.

And seeing what's happening to them,

not only with the poaching but with the drought,

which is making life a lot harder than it is normally.

Elephants are resilient animals,

they can survive all but the worst of droughts,

but they're powerless against guns.

With a single pair of tusks worth up to 100,000,

elephants are in big trouble.

Frank and the anti-poaching team want to make sure that no more

elephants are harmed.

They're patrolling an area where poachers often enter the reserve.

How often will you walk here?

Very often.

Four days a week? Just down this river?

These community rangers use their local knowledge

and traditional tracking skills to catch ivory poachers.

Just the fact that these guys are out walking, the poachers are also

watching everyone's tracks and here they can see, "Hey, this is a...

"This is a heavy patrol that's come through here, you know.

"We're in danger. We're going to stay away from this area."

So there's a, kind of, a dual role.

Having left tracks in the dry riverbed,

they climb a nearby hill for a better vantage point.

From up here they can see poachers coming for miles.

This is where these guys keep a lookout for any movement

and then anything they see they'll report to the headquarters.

As much as we're trying to win this battle for elephants through

hearts and minds, at the end of the day,

you need law enforcement and that's what these guys are doing.

Community patrols are a key part of the plan to stop ivory poaching.

If they get it right in Samburu, then this model can be used to help

protect elephants elsewhere in Africa.

Tourism is also crucial.

A thriving safari industry will ensure that elephants are more

valuable alive than dead.

Alfred has finally found what he's looking for.

My zoom is too big, that says it all.

I have to change the lens to take a picture.

The most amazing thing here is really the closeness

and the quietness with which you're here and you can face them.

It's very, very unique.

It's precious.

CAMERA CLICKS

SHE LAUGHS

It's fabulous to see, you know, just relax.

-Wow.

-SHE LAUGHS

That is so...

He's sitting on the other one. Look at them.

This is the best sight I've ever seen of elephants, it's gorgeous.

-SHE LAUGHS

-Look at them.

Samburu is one of the few places in the world where people can be

this close to elephants...

..but their trusting nature can also leave them vulnerable

when they move beyond the reserve.

Frank gets a call from the community rangers.

Three, perhaps four alleged poachers were spotted

and they ran from their camp.

They fit the profiles, four young guys,

they've got a sack with lots of stuff in it,

so we're just going to go and see if we can help the search from the air.

Frank has been joined by a sergeant from the Kenya Wildlife Service.

The rest of the anti-poaching team are searching on the ground.

Fighting poachers is dangerous.

In the last 12 months, over 20 rangers have been killed in Africa.

Saba is worried.

In some cases, aeroplanes have been shot at in the past,

but...you know, one has to be careful.

So just... Just plenty of circles.

'I worry about Frank, I worry about Chris Leadismo, who's our ranger.'

I worry about all of them because you know they're out there,

they're right on the frontline,

and there have been many occasions where they have had very close

contact with the poachers, they have been in the sights of their guns.

The poachers have been scared off,

but the rangers will remain on full alert.

The search also yields some unexpected results.

I'm seeing a herd of 40 elephants!

They're not far from camp,

but they're on the other side of the river.

This is valuable information for Saba and her team.

Now, all they have to do is find a way across.

Bernard is heading out to look for a good spot.

Saba has sent me out to find a place that we can cross to the other

side of the river.

I know it's a bit difficult for Land Cruisers

because they're heavy cars, but we're going to give it a try anyway.

The elephants are tantalisingly close,

but this river is notorious for its sinking sand.

Uh-oh.

Getting stuck. I'm just going to...check it out.

This has no grip, you know.

You try to roll, but nothing happens because the car has no strong grip.

RADIO BEEPS

Saba, Saba, do you read?

Oh, no. What's happened?

'Echo Whisky Camp, this is Bernard, do you read?'

-Hi B, go ahead.

-Hi, Sabs.

Erm... A little bit of bad news - I'm stuck in the river.

We were trying to cross at that spot

I was telling you about and I'm stuck.

-Erm... How stuck?

-'Very, very stuck.'

Oh, Lordy.

Then I'll be with you in five minutes.

Oh, no, he's got stuck.

Darling, I have to go and rescue Bernard.

SHOUTING

Oh, God, I can see you!

Woo!

Woo!

They're out, but that doesn't solve the problem.

Let me just get out and have a look.

-So we need to find somewhere else.

-Yes, this is not good enough.

Unless they can find a crossing point,

elephant watching is off the agenda.

Though coming at it from different angles, both Saba and Frank

want to see a large, healthy and safe population of elephants in Samburu.

Frank's team is starting to make some progress.

Poaching is way down in this area.

But from here, what we've gotta do is consolidate the gains we've made

and make sure that we don't slip back.

The problem is ever escalating because the price of ivory,

there's no sign of the price of ivory decreasing yet.

And as long as that price keeps rising, we can't stop work.

We've gotta keep going and we've gotta keep making what we do

more and more effective.

But all their hard work is beginning to pay off.

There's been a breakthrough.

Three poachers have been caught and are being held in the local jail.

The ballistics evidence that Iain, Frank

and the team provided could help put them behind bars.

Next time, there's an emergency as sandstorms hit camp.

It's really hard to have dinner

when you feel like you're in a Saharan dust storm.

An orphan elephant and her baby need Frank's help.

She's just taken off in a straight line towards an area

which is pretty dangerous for her.

And Saba takes charge of the river crossings.

Are you ready, team?

Yeah.

We could be playing golf somewhere!

SHE LAUGHS