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00:0020 years ago, my good friend, Douglas Adams, spent a year tracking down endangered animals
00:10together with the zoologist, Mark Carwardine.
00:14Now it's my turn.
00:16Mark and I are heading off to find out exactly what happened to those species that he had
00:20seen dangling on the edge of extinction two decades ago.
00:24It promises to be exhausting, exhilarating, and exasperating.
00:31But I wouldn't miss it for the world.
00:43We're in Africa for an adventure that almost had to be abandoned before it started.
00:50Our travels had begun, and almost ended, several months earlier in the Amazon.
01:02Stepping off a boat, I missed my footing, and the result was a badly broken arm and
01:07the not inconsiderable amount of pain.
01:11The angle's gone weird.
01:15Well done, well done.
01:19So how's your arm now, Stephen?
01:20Oh, well, it's fine. Don't ask me to lift any hippos, but I can move it completely around.
01:26There's a fair old scar, as you can probably see there.
01:29A speck of a scar.
01:30Yeah, it was a long, it was a seven-hour operation.
01:33They say that after visiting the Amazon, something inside is never quite the same.
01:38But I hadn't counted on it being the acquisition of a stainless steel plate and ten half-inch screws.
01:45Still, the arm's back together and we're off again.
01:48This time, in search of perhaps the rarest animal in Africa, the northern white rhino.
01:55So, what do you know about rhinos, then?
01:58I've seen the film Jumanji, with Robin Williams, and I know that there's a black rhino and a white rhino.
02:04That's sort of it, really.
02:05That's a good start. Good basis. Onwards and upwards from there.
02:10It turns out that while there are indeed black rhinos and white rhinos,
02:14the white rhinos have divided into two distinct subspecies with very differing fortunes.
02:22The southern white rhino is the most common rhino in the world.
02:26We, however, prefer a challenge, so have set our sights on its close relation, the northern white.
02:32This misguided beast has chosen to take its chances in the crossfire of the Congo's civil war,
02:38leaving it critically endangered, which gives some credibility to the saying, it's grim up north.
02:44No northern white rhino has been seen in the wild since 2006.
02:51Mark has heard of a project to bring the endangered northern white rhinos out of the Congo
02:56to the safety of the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.
03:00We've joined Kez Hillman-Smith, a rhino expert instrumental to the project,
03:05and are heading to specially built protective enclosures
03:09when Mark spots the more common southern white out on the savannah.
03:15Hey, that's wonderful. And with a calf as well, that's fantastic.
03:20Statues, well spotted.
03:22Wow.
03:24Hello.
03:26Oh, baby.
03:27Oh, baby.
03:30God, that's lucky.
03:36To the untutored eye, and to be honest, even to the reasonably tutored eye,
03:41these common southern white are indistinguishable from the beleaguered northern white that we have come to see.
03:48Could you look at that and know immediately it's southern white?
03:52Not immediately, no. The northern whites do tend to hold their heads a bit higher.
03:57They have a smaller head and a slightly lighter build.
04:02This is one of the conservation world's greatest success stories.
04:05This was down to, what, 20 animals at the turn of last century, 100 years or so ago,
04:11and maybe a couple of dozen animals.
04:13And it's been, because it's been such an intensive conservation effort,
04:18and so much money has been ploughed into it,
04:20the population is now over 17,400 from that small, miniscule number that were discovered 100 years ago.
04:28So it's the one rhino that's doing pretty well.
04:32The hope is that there is still a chance for the northerners to recover,
04:36as these southerners have succeeded in doing.
04:41And I mean, it's such a responsibility when you think that if we were to allow the last,
04:45you know, the third largest land mammal to go extinct in our lifetimes.
04:50Yeah. It would be a shame, wouldn't it?
04:53Batian Craig is the manager of wildlife and security at Old Pagetta Conservancy.
04:58He's keen to prize us from the safety of our vehicle
05:01for an even closer encounter with a famously formidable southern white rhino.
05:08One last thing, we will try and keep the vehicle quite close.
05:12But don't, don't, if you just suddenly bolt, it's going to leave somebody in there.
05:17And you know what? So just listen to this.
05:20There will be a vehicle close, and it needs to get you out of there.
05:23It will bring you out of there slowly.
05:25Okay.
05:32Oh, fantastic.
05:34Wow.
05:35Oh my goodness.
05:41Wow.
05:51He knows we're here, obviously.
06:06Wow.
06:07This is really good, isn't it?
06:08Oh my goodness me.
06:11I'm going to take a photograph, I think.
06:16This is insanity.
06:17I've been brought up all my life to believe that rhinos are amongst the most dangerous
06:21and bad-tempered animals on the face of the earth,
06:24and here we are, closer to it than I would usually get to an Alsatian.
06:29Yeah.
06:31This is about as close as we can get.
06:33Yeah.
06:34Yeah.
06:35That's pretty close.
06:36Yeah.
06:37Hey, Steve, that is fantastic.
06:40It's unbelievable.
06:42I think surely we can't get this close to a rhino.
06:46That is incredible.
06:48You can see here, you know why it's called a white rhino?
06:51Oh, it's the mouth.
06:52Yeah, white. It's not white, as you can see.
06:55Rhinos basically take on the colour of the soil.
06:58A lot of them are battleship grey.
07:00This one's actually a sort of browny colour.
07:02It's been maybe rolling around or wallowing in mud.
07:06And the white is a mistranslation of the Afrikaans word vijt, which means wide.
07:13And if you look at the mouth, I mean, my God, look at this.
07:16Jesus.
07:17Jesus.
07:18Just move back a little bit.
07:19Jesus.
07:20It might be so vain.
07:21Just move back a little bit.
07:23Max, Max, Max, Max.
07:26This is unbelievable.
07:29This is a wild animal.
07:31Max, Max.
07:32He's quite used to humans, but not the rhino.
07:35Max.
07:38Max.
07:40Max.
07:50Was that close enough?
07:51That was far too close.
07:53Surely that's not right.
07:55He likes his two friends.
07:59I think we've been had.
08:01I think this is a very tame rhino.
08:04Jesus Christ.
08:06The boss is definitely on us.
08:08That is a tame rhino, you're right.
08:10Oh, my.
08:12This is, it turns out, two tons of the tamest rhino in Africa.
08:17Oh, my goodness me.
08:18Bottle-fed, hand-reared, and known as Max.
08:26That was...
08:29That was a complete con.
08:32Total con.
08:33We were tiptoeing in there.
08:35The most frightened people in Africa.
08:37And all the time, this is tamer than a labrador.
08:43You're a very bad man.
08:47He's so scared.
08:48I was so scared.
08:50That is terrible.
08:54It was very good.
08:57We've been right royally had there, I think,
08:59but it's still a good chance to see a rhino closer up
09:02than we're ever likely otherwise to get the opportunity to do.
09:05And you were talking to me,
09:07before I got in the funk and hid behind the dicks in the garden,
09:11you were talking to me about the width of the mouth.
09:14You see, it's got a very wide mouth, a very straight mouth,
09:17as opposed to a black rhino, which has a sort of prehensile lip.
09:22And the reason is, these guys are grazing out in the open,
09:26more like lawnmowers, and the black rhinos are browsing.
09:29So the black rhinos are eating bushes, leaves and things like that.
09:32So it's a very different adaptation.
09:35But it's what all rhinos have in common that causes the problem.
09:39A rhino horn is literally worth more than its weight in gold.
09:43Even here in the fenced and heavily guarded Conservancy,
09:46Batyan has thwarted three incidences of attempted rhino poaching in recent months.
09:52Yeah, they're vulnerable to lions and hyenas sometimes as well, mainly people.
09:57And I've got no defence against them at all, of course.
09:59No, not against a high-velocity rifle.
10:03Having achieved a close encounter with a southern white rhino,
10:06we're keen to get to grips with its critically endangered cousin.
10:10But when we arrive at the Bomars,
10:12enclosures specially built to house the Congolese rhinos,
10:15it's time for the second surprise of the day.
10:18A last-minute hitch has caused the capture and relocation
10:22of the rare northern white to be cancelled.
10:25The Bomars are being dismantled,
10:27and the world's only wild northern white rhinos
10:30have been left to take their chances
10:32in a troubled and lawless part of the Congo.
10:35For Kez, it's a devastating blow.
10:38It seems rather symbolic that the day we choose to visit
10:41is one when they're actually dismantling the Bomar.
10:44Yes, yeah, it's very sad,
10:47because it could have been the saving of the subspecies.
10:53Do you think this was the last hope?
10:56I don't want to... I don't want to believe that.
10:58You just don't want to admit it, do you?
11:00I don't want to believe that, no. I believe that there is still some hope.
11:03I feel desperate that, you know,
11:06these rhinos that I've sort of given most of my life to trying to save
11:10and knew as individuals and things
11:14seem to be nearly wiped out.
11:17I still hope that they're not quite,
11:19but I know how frustrating it is for the Congolese guy
11:22who is in charge of the research and monitoring,
11:24who is struggling through the bush at the moment,
11:26trying to find tracks,
11:28trying to prove that there are still some there.
11:31Kez believes there may now be as few as four northern white rhinos
11:36somewhere in the vast Garamba National Park
11:39in the north of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
11:42Mark is now pinning his hopes
11:44on joining the last-ditch search for the animals,
11:47but increasing talk of rebel activity in the area
11:50is giving us all something to worry about.
11:53Thanks very much for advising me on this.
11:55I gather you've just been near Garamba National Park.
11:58What was the situation like?
12:01A contact inside the Congo has bad news.
12:04A spate of rebel activity has been taking place inside Garamba
12:08and no-one seems clear if the situation is likely to get better or worse.
12:12It doesn't sound very good at all, but...
12:14For the first time, Mark is aware that the northern white rhino
12:18could be in greater trouble than any of us had thought,
12:21and his long-held dream of revisiting one of the rarest of rhinos
12:25could be in danger of collapse.
12:42It sounds like everything is kicking off in that region,
12:46rebels taking over various parts of it and so on.
12:49It sounds quite dangerous.
12:51If it was me just travelling on my own, I would go.
12:54It would be probably worth the risk.
12:56But I'm very worried about taking Stephen.
12:59The people I've been talking to in the Congo have actually said
13:02that if we do go, then everyone will know we're there,
13:05including the rebel groups and their leaders.
13:08And, of course, Stephen is going to be a natural target for a kidnapping or worse.
13:13So I've got to be very careful before suggesting that we do go in.
13:16So I'm going to spend the next week or two just keeping tabs on the situation.
13:27Now, call me an old-fashioned coward if you like,
13:30but I've found myself questioning the wisdom of going into a war zone
13:34on the off chance of finding four animals that are virtually identical
13:38to one I've already seen in a peaceful part of Kenya.
13:43We sit down to discuss our plans like adults
13:46and sensing rebellion in the ranks,
13:48Mark begins by letting me know what I'm missing.
13:51These are some of the pictures that I took when I went with Douglas 20 years ago
13:56in Garamba National Park.
13:58And this one we got probably within about half a mile in the vehicle
14:01and then we stalked on foot and we managed to get unbelievably close to it.
14:05I was lying down here.
14:07So these are the same animals.
14:09This is when it suddenly got a whiff of our scent and ran off.
14:12Well, come on, they're basically the same species, the white rhinos.
14:16And there are plenty of southern white rhinos.
14:18The northern white rhino was just a white rhino with a different accent virtually.
14:22I mean, it wasn't a species, it was a subspecies.
14:24And was it even that?
14:26Oh, it's definitely a subspecies. They've done genetic studies.
14:28There's significant differences.
14:30I think when you start playing that game, you're playing God a little bit.
14:34You're sort of saying, OK, well, this one isn't distinct enough
14:37so we won't bother about that one but we'll protect this one over here.
14:40Well, I think the other problem with this is you let the northern white rhino go.
14:43That was the flag bearer for Garamba National Park.
14:46But if Garamba doesn't have northern white rhinos,
14:49then there's going to be less of an argument for protecting the park
14:52and then all the other wildlife in that vast area is going to suffer as well.
15:02For better or worse, we're heading west
15:04in the direction of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
15:07We've left Kenya and crossed into Uganda.
15:10As we arrive in the capital, Mark is contacted by an old friend
15:15working with some of the other victims of poaching.
15:18She has invited us to a unique occasion.
15:21This involves heading out across Africa's biggest lake
15:25and crossing the equator in search of the tiny island where she is based.
15:29It's like going out to sea, isn't it?
15:31Brilliant.
15:33It's not just rhinos that suffer in times of unrest.
15:37None of the animals of Garamba are untouched by the conflict.
15:41So we're going to Ngamba Island, which is about 15 miles away from here.
15:46It's a sort of chimp rescue centre, really.
15:49I've always wanted to encounter chimpanzees,
15:52especially if it involves delaying our entry into a war zone.
15:56But our resident naturalist,
15:58a man who has endless time for every last creeping thing,
16:02makes a confession I had not been expecting.
16:05I'm not that keen on chimps.
16:07They can be deceitful, they tell lies, they beat one another up,
16:12they bear grudges, they bully one another.
16:15I think it's because they're too much like us, to be honest.
16:19Well, we'll see whether this encounter will change your mind.
16:23Hello. Hi, nice to see you again. How are you?
16:26Very well, thank you. This is Stephen.
16:28Lily Adjerova is in charge of the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary.
16:33Thank you. It's wonderful to be here.
16:36Lily insists on seeing documentation
16:39showing that we've been inoculated against every imaginable disease.
16:43The diseases we have can be very contagious to them
16:46and what they have can be contagious to us.
16:49Lily, I don't have measles, I don't have TB, I don't have hepatitis,
16:52but over the last day, I've developed a mother and father
16:55and brother and sister and uncle and aunt of all colds.
16:58I have a really terrible cold. Is that going to be a problem?
17:01Absolutely. I'm very sorry, Steve,
17:04that with the situation we have here,
17:07the sanctuary will not get you any closer to the chimpanzee
17:11with your current health status.
17:13Which is, to say the least, a blessing.
17:17Which is, to say the least, a blow.
17:20I've been immunised against all the most evil diseases on the planet
17:24and here I am, scuppered by the common cold.
17:28I've promised to keep my distance from all things chimp.
17:34A tiny part of the 100-acre island is fenced off for the conservationists.
17:39The other 98% is wild and belongs to the chimps.
17:43I gather about half of these are from the Congo, aren't they?
17:47More than actually half of the number we have here
17:51are from Congo originally.
17:53In times of war, many illegal activities prosper.
17:57Chimps are poached for food
17:59and babies are sold into the exotic pet trade.
18:03The problem is so rife that chimpanzees are themselves
18:06now endangered by extinction.
18:08These orphaned chimps have been seized from pet traders
18:12and brought to the security of Ngamba Island to be rehabilitated.
18:16Do you know all their names?
18:18Yes, that is Chumba.
18:20Chumba. Chumba.
18:22And that is Mika, who is the alpha.
18:27Look at those. That one's getting frustrated.
18:30Well, you just threw one right next to him.
18:32Maybe he doesn't like carrot.
18:34They'll always go for the sweet food first.
18:38He's got his hand up.
18:40They're like schoolchildren, aren't they, who know the answer.
18:44Me, sir. Sir. Please, sir.
18:46Ready? Here we go.
18:48Can you catch?
18:51Well caught.
18:53Gosh, I'd be a good cricketer.
18:56I just can't get my head around the fact
18:58there's an animal so similar to us.
19:02So nearly.
19:05Our own ancestors must have started off doing things like that.
19:09We just got a little bit further.
19:11They haven't yet invented mobile phones, have they, or broadband,
19:14but they're pretty close.
19:40And as the sun sets, a true natural phenomenon.
19:448,000 fruit bats suddenly pass overhead
19:48on their way to spend the night time feeding.
19:51It's bliss, isn't it?
19:53Birds calling in the distance, fruit bats flying overhead.
19:59It's unbelievable.
20:10SONG
20:23A very important day gets underway on Ngamba Island.
20:30Africa and Mack, two of the island's youngest inhabitants,
20:34have spent a year being rehabilitated
20:36and are now ready to begin their reintroduction to the great outdoors.
20:42What we are going to try and do this evening is actually the next step.
20:47Trying to get the older ones to join in with the younger ones.
20:53And we will see what the response is going to be.
20:57Africa's story is typical.
20:59Not worth taking for food, when poachers attacked her tribe,
21:03she was sold into the illegal pet trade.
21:06Africa was... The mother was killed for bush meat.
21:11And then she was kept in a very small wooden cage like this size.
21:16And because the cage was too small, she was all the time lying on one side,
21:21and there was a small opening on the roof of the cage.
21:24All she could do was stretch the right arm
21:27to pick whatever food she was being given.
21:30Africa and Mack have not seen a forest or an adult chimp
21:33since they were seized at just a few months old.
21:39Today is the most important step in their rehabilitation.
21:50Now, should I stay behind?
21:52Yeah.
21:53Shall I go up to that platform? OK.
21:56See you later.
21:57Good luck, non-killed people.
22:02Can I hold one of them now?
22:04One last hold before these animals turn their backs on people
22:08and return to the world of chimpanzees.
22:10You're a lucky beggar. I know, it's fantastic.
22:13Do you know what's going to happen?
22:16Oh, my God, that would have been awful.
22:19And though I would dearly have liked to have been on the other side of the fence,
22:23watching Mark is a close second best.
22:25And the man who claimed not to like chimps
22:28appears to have had a change of heart.
22:39For Lily, letting go is always nerve-wracking.
22:44The adults may simply reject the young or may even attack them.
22:48But if these young chimpanzees are to re-enter the forest,
22:51then, for better or for worse, there has to come a moment
22:54where they meet adult chimpanzees for the first time.
22:58Up it, up it. Yeah, up it now.
23:15And almost immediately, something quite extraordinary happens.
23:20Good. Oh, wow, what a reaction.
23:23Oh, wow, look at that. Oh, my God.
23:25That's just so exciting. You couldn't ask for anything better.
23:28Look at that. They're actually hugging them.
23:30That's a real welcome.
23:36It's exceptional. Is it really?
23:38It's exceptional.
23:44Oh, how fantastic.
23:46That is extraordinary.
23:48It's like they've known one another for years.
23:52You couldn't have hoped for anything better, could you?
23:54No. That's it. That's it.
23:57That's perfect. Yeah.
24:17I've got an admission to make.
24:19I think I like chimps.
24:21What an extraordinary experience,
24:23playing with Africa and being in the enclosure
24:25with all those amazing animals.
24:28I've surprised myself.
24:30For years and years and years, I've felt the same way.
24:33I just think chimps are too similar to humans,
24:36and now I'm completely hooked.
24:39We're travelling onwards towards the Congo,
24:42home of the critically endangered northern white rhino.
24:4720 years ago, when Mark did this trip with Douglas Adams,
24:50they went to see what Douglas referred to as our cousins
24:54while crossing the border into the Congo.
24:57Two days later, they were back in the Congo,
25:00where they met a new family.
25:02It's a very special place.
25:04Our cousins while crossing the border into the Congo.
25:07Two decades later, we are planning to call in once again,
25:10but this time, we understand,
25:12our cousins have unwittingly been recruited into the war with poachers.
25:21We're now so close to the Democratic Republic of Congo
25:24that when the plane banks to find the grass airstrip,
25:27we pass briefly over the border.
25:30No rhino down there, so as you'd notice.
25:45And then I see where Mark has brought me.
25:50The Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.
25:53Our noble leader, however, has plans to penetrate it.
26:00HE EXHALES
26:07Imagine what this would be like if I was unfit.
26:10Well, you've been in training for months, haven't you?
26:13Absolutely. I know.
26:17We are on the way to what is reputed to be
26:20the greatest animal encounter on the planet,
26:23and the most gut-wrenching trek to get there.
26:29We've got to go all the way up over the top of this hill,
26:32they call it, mountain.
26:34We've got a long way to go yet.
26:36Mustn't complain.
26:38I'm going to, though.
26:40Oh, yes.
26:42Go on without me. It's fine.
26:44I'll lie here and die.
26:49Oh, that's OK. Thank you.
26:52The spirit, believe me, is willing,
26:55even though the flesh is a bin liner full of yoghurt.
26:59Oh, heavens.
27:08Oh, good Lord, have we got to go in there?
27:11Look at it.
27:14Oh, my.
27:16That's the easy bit done.
27:18Good Lord.
27:20I wonder why they call it impenetrable forest.
27:22Yes, there must be a reason.
27:24And there it is.
27:26Spectacular, isn't it?
27:28The Bewindy Impenetrable Forest.
27:40Penetrating OK.
27:42Everything's starting to get taller than me.
27:45Everything's starting to get taller than me for the first time.
27:48Yeah.
28:10Right, suddenly we're upon them.
28:16Just fantastic.
28:20Every creature is miraculous.
28:22There's something very, very close about a gorilla.
28:28This is what brings people from all over the world
28:31to have their moment with the gorillas
28:33of the Bewindy Impenetrable Forest.
28:36There are just 700 wild mountain gorillas on the planet.
28:39Half of them are here,
28:41and half are 30 miles away at Virunga,
28:43and that's it.
28:45Each day, a very limited number of people
28:47can pay to be brought here
28:49for a strict one hour in the company of gorillas.
28:52Each person pays US$375 for the privilege,
28:57and that money is being used to stop poaching.
29:00And it seems there's no shortage of people
29:02prepared to pay that sort of money
29:04for this sort of experience.
29:08That was fantastic.
29:14So that's why he's called the silverback.
29:22Do you know about the silverbacks?
29:27That's right.
29:29Yeah, usually just one. He's the boss.
29:32And what happens is, as he gets 10 or 12 years old,
29:36his hairs on his back will start to go silver,
29:39and it's a sort of badge of maturity.
29:41Is he the father of all the children?
29:43He will be in this case, yes.
29:45Just occasionally, his son will stay with the group,
29:47grow up and stay with the group,
29:49and then sire some of the children.
29:51But in this case, it's just him.
29:53So it's a fairly typical size group.
29:55There's an adult female over there,
29:58and there's another one.
30:00I saw another one just behind him.
30:02See?
30:04And there's a third adult female somewhere.
30:06I don't know if you can see her.
30:08Oh, there she is.
30:10That's her.
30:12And then the others are all youngsters.
30:17Listen, did you hear that?
30:19It's like a belch.
30:21Did you hear that?
30:23It's called a BV, a belch vocalisation.
30:25And when researchers were first spending time with gorillas,
30:29they thought they were just burping.
30:31But what they're doing is they've spread out a little bit here.
30:34They belch just to keep in contact.
30:36It's like a very quiet, subtle communication
30:39I'm over here. I'm over here.
30:43It's a great name, a BV.
30:45Belch vocalisation.
30:47B as well, because they do do quite a lot of that.
30:50I thought that was it.
30:55Fantastic.
30:59That's so sweet.
31:02But mum is so relaxed again.
31:04Not bothered about the baby just wandering.
31:06It's, what, six feet away from us.
31:09I think he's about one year old.
31:11Absolutely tiny.
31:15It was worth every sobbing, gasping, aching step of horror,
31:21sweat, wheezing and, frankly, humiliation to get here.
31:26It's unbelievable.
31:28It's a wonderful, wonderful thing.
31:31He's got a popped belly, that one.
31:33Just like me.
32:08The gorillas can bring in well over $2 million a year.
32:12That money is helping train and arm anti-poaching patrols,
32:16not just to protect gorillas,
32:18but to protect animals right across Africa.
32:25Mark wants to find out if arming poaching patrols is paying off,
32:29so we've come to nearby Queen Elizabeth National Park,
32:32right on the Congolese border.
32:34The wildlife here was once ravaged by poaching.
32:37Now the animals have their own army.
32:48The park authorities claim
32:50that in order to protect the wildlife,
32:52they have to use force.
32:54They have to use force.
32:56They have to use force.
32:58They have to use force.
33:00They have to use force.
33:02The park authorities claim that in places like this,
33:05this sort of training is key to the security of wild animals.
33:09The park was once famous for elephants,
33:11but when Mark and Douglas visited 20 years ago,
33:14poaching had almost wiped them out completely.
33:18Mark believes that if the armed patrols have really made a difference,
33:22the elephants will have recovered.
33:25We've just arrived in camp and taken a break,
33:28arranging to film elephants later.
33:30But that's the thing with elephants.
33:32They're hopeless at keeping arrangements.
33:47That's what I love about Africa.
33:48You just never know what's going to happen next.
33:50We were all gathering.
33:51We've only been in the camp about an hour.
33:53We've had a quick lunch.
33:54We're going to go off and try and find elephants,
33:56and they found us,
33:57because we were all getting our kit and just leaving our tents,
34:00and they appeared.
34:01There's a little one just on the other side of the river there.
34:04God, that's fantastic.
34:05It's right by the camp.
34:07And suddenly everybody's flying around like headless chickens,
34:11trying to get cameras and tripods and microphones and kit
34:14and catching us up and everything.
34:16We weren't ready for it at all, but it's just so exciting.
34:19I love seeing everyone getting excited
34:21and not quite knowing what to do because we're not ready.
34:24Get Stephen. Get Stephen.
34:28We've got elephants right by the camp.
34:30Oh, that's fantastic.
34:31Now you're excited.
34:33Now you see. Look.
34:35Oh, my God, they're elephants.
34:41Just like they are in the movies.
34:51It's like a sort of Escher puzzle of elephants.
34:53Three little ones in the front.
34:55Yeah, they're gorgeous.
34:56And they're just sucking water up their trunks, aren't they?
34:58Yeah, just drinking, coming down to the river to drink.
35:00My word.
35:02They're so densely packed together, aren't they?
35:05Aren't they?
35:06They've obviously got their favourite spot on the river there.
35:08They like to come down to drink.
35:10Despite their enormous size, they're very graceful.
35:12They're right opposite where your tent is, do you realise?
35:15Your tent's literally there,
35:17and they're right the other side of the river.
35:19Are they likely to cross the river for any particular reason?
35:21Could do, sometimes.
35:24Yeah, cos the other way they can use their trunks, of course,
35:27is like a snorkel.
35:29They can walk along the bottom of the river,
35:31trunk above the surface and breeze.
35:33Look at this.
35:38While I go to gauge the chances of my tent being trampled in the night,
35:42Mark is planning ahead.
35:44Hello, Philip, it's Mark Karwardine
35:46from Last Chance To See, the BBC.
35:49The news from the Congo is not good.
35:52Following a series of violent attacks,
35:54200,000 refugees are said to be heading for the border.
35:59The area where the northern white rhino were last seen
36:02is becoming more dangerous by the day.
36:23We're still hoping to get a sense of elephant numbers
36:26across this vast park.
36:28Now, you'd think spotting elephants on a largely barren landscape
36:31would hardly be difficult,
36:33but it's astonishing how the largest animal walking the earth
36:36has a knack of vanishing.
36:39Fortunately, Mark has arranged for us to join an elephant survey
36:43being conducted by Andy Plumtree
36:45and Polycarp Muima of the Wildlife Society.
36:48The elephant survey is being conducted by Andy Plumtree
36:51and Polycarp Muima of the Wildlife Conservation Society.
37:19Once, there were just a handful of elephants left in this park.
37:23Now, it appears there are over 1,000.
37:26Seeing so many en masse is both exhilarating
37:29and a little frightening.
37:33Hello.
37:35Slowly inching towards us.
37:40They tend to go for the tallest in a vehicle, don't they?
37:43Yes, exactly.
37:45So what are they actually doing, then?
37:47These elephants are moving towards the Congolese border.
37:50Are they going to move right into the country
37:52or just stay down in the river area there?
37:55No. Polycarp here has been radio tracking
37:57some of the elephants in this park,
37:59and what he's finding is they go up to the border
38:02and they obviously know it's not safe to go over,
38:05so they hide out under the trees during the day
38:08because they don't want to be seen.
38:11So they hide out under the trees during the day
38:14because they've been shot at in Congo probably during the day.
38:18They've learnt that it's safe to hide in the forested areas.
38:25Strange to think that elephants live so long.
38:27There must be some members of the herd
38:29that remember the Amin era
38:31when it was unsafe on this side of the river.
38:33Yes, and they've probably taken a bit of time
38:35to learn that it's safe again.
38:37Quite, that would make it... Exactly.
38:39So these elephants have probably seen other elephants being shot.
38:42They've been shot at themselves.
38:44They're fully aware of the dangers.
38:46We're now less than a mile from the border with the troubled Congo.
38:50Though the armed patrols ensure that elephants are now safe
38:53here in Uganda, if they step over the border,
38:56they are quickly targeted.
38:58A hole in the ear might be a bullet wound.
39:00Do you think it's a bullet wound?
39:02Like a hole in the ear.
39:05Poaching fuels the various conflicts, is that it?
39:09Yeah, the ivory is sold to buy the bullets, basically.
39:12And there are gorillas, I mean, human gorillas,
39:15just to the other side of the border here.
39:18Yeah, that's about 20km away across the border, but it's...
39:22It's all happening very close by.
39:25With constant stories of escalating violence in the Congo
39:28and now the revelation that armed groups have gathered
39:31so close over the border, Mark has made the decision.
39:37We're not going to go to Garamba National Park.
39:40It's something I've been looking forward to for months.
39:43We've been planning it for months.
39:45And I really thought we'd be able to get there,
39:47to go and look and see what's going on there.
39:50We've been planning it for months.
39:52And I really thought we'd be able to get there,
39:54to go and look at least where Douglas Adams and I
39:57saw the rhinos 20 years ago.
39:59I think it is the right decision. I feel incredibly guilty.
40:02Because, of course, the rangers are still there
40:04and the wildlife's still there,
40:06and I feel almost as if we're letting them down.
40:08But then again, it's not worth risking the lives
40:11of all the crew to go there.
40:13So we're not going.
40:15And that's that, I guess.
40:20The distance between us and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
40:23is a small river.
40:25And now it seems this is as close as we're ever likely to get.
40:40I don't know about you, I'm incredibly frustrated.
40:43This is what we wanted to get to.
40:45This is the home of the northern white rhino.
40:48But we can't go. It's like a stone's throw away.
40:51And you can see how easy it is for the animal
40:53simply to cross from Uganda into Congo.
40:56All the time. Not aware that it's an international border, of course.
41:00And that there is poaching rife over there.
41:03Whereas here it's pretty much under control.
41:19When the search for the last of the Garamba rhinos concludes,
41:23we receive news that after three months of looking,
41:26no trace of the animals has been found.
41:31Kez Hillman-Smith's dream of capturing and moving the rhinos to safety
41:35was, it seems, the last frustrated hope.
41:41The formalities will begin to declare the northern white rhino extinct.
41:47Extinct in the wild.
41:50But it's not quite the end of our story.
41:54The black rhino is now the most threatened rhino in Africa,
41:5795% having been poached in the last 40 years.
42:02But lessons have been learned from the plight of the northern white.
42:08It is clear that any species existing in one small pocket of land
42:12is highly vulnerable.
42:15While crossing Kenya, we heard of a project in Nairobi National Park
42:20to move small groups of black rhinos to begin new populations
42:24many miles away while there's still time.
42:27Well, this is a first for me. I'm really excited.
42:30I've never seen this done, but as far as I know,
42:32once they've darted the rhino, depending on how the dart hits,
42:35it could take five or six minutes for it to stagger about.
42:38So will they wake up in the trap?
42:40Yes.
42:42As I say, this is a first for me,
42:44but I imagine they'll be staggering about while you push one in.
42:47Yeah, right.
42:49No, you can't lift them in, obviously.
42:51You have to get them to walk in.
42:53And then they'll wake up on the journey.
42:57The man behind this noble, if hair-raising, endeavour
43:01is Benson Okita Uma.
43:03So hopefully today, if all goes well, we'll be able to capture maybe three.
43:07If we capture more, well and good.
43:09But we aim to catch at least three.
43:12Let us put ourselves before the Lord.
43:15Almighty Lord and Father, we come before you this beautiful day.
43:21We ask you to bless the team ahead.
43:24Bless us for this noble duty we are going to do.
43:28Bless our rhinos.
43:30And may we see the end of a successful operation.
43:35And may we also live to see the rhino.
43:39The journey to the rhino requires a fast driver,
43:43a sense of humour,
43:46and a good grip.
43:48Oh, holy mackerel!
43:51Careful.
43:53God, this is exciting.
43:55It's fantastic, isn't it?
43:59People pay a lot of money for this kind of thing at Alton Towers.
44:02Zebra crossing.
44:06The name of 20 arses is going on.
44:08We're now reversing completely, going all the way back up again.
44:11We were right first time.
44:13Yeah.
44:15Can you see what's going on?
44:17I can't quite.
44:19That was one of the most terrifying drives I've ever had.
44:23You weren't wearing your seatbelt.
44:25No, I wasn't. I noticed that.
44:27I was not alone in my trousers for the rest of it either.
44:30It was absolutely terrifying.
44:32Extraordinary.
44:33Well, we got here. We did.
44:39At first glance, here appears to be in a rhinoless middle of nowhere.
44:44On closer inspection, however,
44:46it turns out actually to be a rhinoless middle of nowhere.
44:50What's happening, Benson?
44:55The helicopter's up. Has he found a rhino?
45:04Ah.
45:06Oh, that's tricky.
45:16Oh, OK.
45:18It's from the pilot.
45:23Amazing having to do it by text.
45:25Yes, it's rather wonderful, isn't it?
45:30Right.
45:34So all we can do is wait for the helicopter to find a rhino
45:38to begin a new population of the species in the north.
45:44The job of finding a likely candidate somewhere in the 30,000-acre park
45:48belongs to Dr Gakuya,
45:50Kenya Wildlife Service's chief vet and rhino darter.
45:56We regain our composure with a nagging feeling
45:59that a further fast journey is decidedly on the cards
46:02and await a text from Dr Gakuya.
46:32DRAMATIC MUSIC
46:50It's going to change all the time.
46:52We're moving. We're on the move.
46:57As predicted, another fast journey begins.
47:00But to keep things interesting, this time it's hellish fast.
47:04Oh, my Christ!
47:09I wonder if they've actually darted it already, we're racing so fast.
47:12They say the helicopter's found it.
47:14I guess they don't mess about.
47:16They don't want to frighten them by hovering over them for too long,
47:19so maybe it's already done.
47:21I think it's loosening the screws on my arm.
47:25I think my bone's going to start coming out.
47:29Oh, careful!
47:31Oh, God, that's it!
47:33Oh!
47:35There's the helicopter over there.
47:37Oh, really? I saw it, yeah.
47:39It was hovering low, as if in pursuit.
47:42And unexpectedly, we arrive in time to see something extraordinary.
47:59DRAMATIC MUSIC
48:10That's incredible.
48:12Oh, my God!
48:14I don't know how you can keep your eyes on both.
48:17Whoops, here we go.
48:29Uh-oh, here we go.
48:31Straight into the grassland.
48:34To ensure the rhino comes to no harm,
48:36it's important that it's left unconscious for as little time as possible.
48:41This is extraordinary.
48:43This quivering beast, this enormous, powerful animal,
48:46just felled like that.
48:48All kinds of things going on all at once.
48:51Everyone knows what they're doing.
48:53I'm desperate not to get in the way.
48:55It's a bit frightening, really, but...
48:57I don't know what to do.
48:59I don't know what to do.
49:01I don't know what to do.
49:03I don't know what to do.
49:05I don't know what to do.
49:07I don't know what to do.
49:09It's a bit frightening, really, but it's obviously...
49:13It's obviously a group of people who know exactly...
49:16You know, they've done this before and so on.
49:19It's just...
49:21See it this close up, those great feet.
49:23They're going to wake up too early and we are all dead.
49:27A seemingly endless stream of injections
49:30ensure the animal remains obligingly unconscious
49:33while measurements are taken
49:35and preparations take place for the relocation.
49:38It's the first time I've been this close to a wild rhino.
49:41Unbelievable experience.
49:43I don't quite know what to do, where to look.
49:45It's just a hive of activity.
49:48I think what they're doing now is drilling a hole into the horn.
49:51You can hear the drill behind me.
49:53They're going to put the transmitter inside the horn
49:55so that when it's released, they'll be able to track it
49:58and follow it and make sure that it's OK.
50:01They're putting the resin in to keep the radio tag in.
50:05Oh, of course.
50:09I don't know why it makes me want to cry
50:11when I see all this attention being given to an animal like this,
50:14a great mighty beast that doesn't give a cuss for us, but...
50:17All these people running around doing their absolute utmost
50:20to make sure it doesn't come to any harm
50:23and make sure it's done as quickly as possible.
50:26It sort of makes up for the poachers, really,
50:29the simply imponderable evil of people who would kill animals
50:34just to get money out of that.
50:36Now, we have to be a little careful here.
50:39As Mark warned, there's only one way to get a one-ton rhino into a crate.
50:44You have to wake it up.
50:49God, it's heavy!
50:52God, it's heavy!
50:54As black rhinos are notoriously bad-tempered
50:57and dangerous at the best of times,
50:59when the final injection to wake the animal is administered,
51:02a lot of people are required to pull and push
51:05like their lives depend on it.
51:09Which they probably do.
51:14While we wait for the drug to take effect,
51:16I elect for an overseeing role.
51:19Some little distance away from this confused, prodded
51:22and famously irritable one-ton beast.
51:29Well, what's happening now is the rhino's had his injection
51:33to bring him round.
51:36Oh, God!
51:40God, that happened quickly.
51:43Suddenly, the rhino was sitting down.
51:46It was unbelievable. Were you all right?
51:48Yeah, no, fine. Just gave me a little bit of a shock.
51:51I thought I was going to die.
51:53I thought I was going to die.
51:55I thought I was going to die.
51:57I thought I was going to die.
51:59I thought I was going to die.
52:01I thought I was going to die.
52:03God, that's terrible. Were you all right?
52:05Yeah, no, fine. Just gave me a shock. I wasn't ready for that.
52:08I mean, they said it would happen quickly.
52:10Yeah, it just wakes up.
52:12But in a split second it was suddenly awake, and then up.
52:15And then you can feel the power of it.
52:17And you can see what they meant by saying,
52:19don't let it go backwards?
52:21No.
52:22That gave me a heck of a jump.
52:24Did you cut yourself?
52:25Yeah, yeah. It's fine.
52:27Did you hear those little sort of roaring sighs that it gave
52:30as it was waking up?
52:32Look, it's bucking up.
52:35Now it's seriously fed up.
52:54It's smashing the front of the crate so hard, it's actually pushed it out in this side.
52:58Buckled the front, hasn't it?
53:00It's about a three inch gap.
53:05That's taken a lot out of me.
53:08Do you want to lie down?
53:11It's just that this team has got to do, if it can, four more in the next three hours.
53:17It's so exciting, I've never seen anything like it in my life.
53:21The rest of the morning is spent rounding up more rhino for the trip of a lifetime.
53:27Here we go.
53:30Come on.
53:48With three black rhinos safely crated, we begin the hundred mile journey north to the protected conservancy that will be their new home.
54:01Oh, yeah.
54:04OK, OK, OK.
54:34Come on.
54:37Come on.
54:40Come on.
55:03We came in search of northern white rhino and we were too late.
55:08But the lesson of the northern white rhino has been learned,
55:11and now hopefully these black rhino will not be left to dwindle into extinction.
55:21Rhino wardens start the day early.
55:25With little hope of catching sight of relocated black rhino,
55:28they monitor the new animals by receiving signals from the transmitters inserted into the rhino's horn.
55:35But unexpectedly, the driver suddenly makes a chance sighting out in the open.
55:47Oh, he's coming round again.
56:05When they point at you and start walking towards you, a little feeling comes over you that isn't altogether good, isn't it?
56:09It does, it does, it does.
56:11Still running, but not quite sure.
56:13Oh, he's coming towards us again.
56:15Looking straight at us.
56:17Not sure it likes us.
56:19God, isn't it wonderful in that light?
56:21It's definitely worth getting up early in the morning to see that.
56:23Oh, yes.
56:24It's gorgeous.
56:26I've got mixed feelings about it, I have to say.
56:29You know, on the one hand, it's quite depressing because the only way we're protecting rhinos effectively is by putting...
56:38I mean, it's a big enclosure, it's 90,000 acres, but it's fenced.
56:42The point is it's fenced and they're given round-the-clock protection.
56:46So it's very artificial in one way.
56:48It's not wild, as you imagine wild rhinos in somewhere like Garamba.
56:59That's it.
57:04Bad foot.
57:07Wow.
57:09Gosh, you know, we said it's fenced, but it's a heck of an enclosure, isn't it?
57:13You can see the fence going off into the distance over there.
57:16Oh, yes.
57:17And over here.
57:18God, it's huge.
57:19Enormous piece of land.
57:21And somewhere there's a rhino.
57:23Rhinos in the Conservancy may not be sighted for weeks or even months,
57:26but they are there, out in the peaceful vastness of the place,
57:30living and breeding as they have done without intervention for six million years.
57:35Can you hear a signal?
57:37You can hear one, can you?
57:39Oh, that noise.
57:42Walking on the bicycle.
57:44Oh, not so far.
57:46It's marvellous to think of the black rhino being able to roam here, isn't it?
57:49It really is.
57:50Wonderful place.
57:52In the end, it may be that we can't call these animals truly wild,
57:56but they are wild-ish.
58:00And if we're at the point where we have to choose between wild-ish and extinction,
58:05I know which I'd choose.
58:14Madagascar is home to almost a hundred different species of lemur.
58:18We're not looking for the biggest, the smallest, or the one that likes dancing.
58:23We're on the lookout for the one that, according to legend,
58:26brings death to those that happen upon it.
58:49Madagascar
58:53A film by
58:57A film by
59:01A film by
59:05A film by
59:09A film by
59:13A film by