Nomads of the Serengeti (2015): Season 1, Episode 3 - Ngorongoro - full transcript

Wildlife expert,
Jean du Plessis,

descends into one of Africa's
great natural wonders.

This is really like eden.

It's hard to imagine how
it can really get better.

The search is on for one of
Africa's last great tuskers.

I am driving to an area with a
huge amount of wildlife and we

are looking for a
big bull elephant.

He encounters a unique truce
between two apex predators.

The crater floor must be the
ideal environment for hyenas.

And then he journeys
to a secret waterfall.

It gets really busy
around these falls,



and it just gets
more and more intense.

NOMADS OF THE SERENGETI - SEASON 1
EP - 3 - Ngorongoro

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A spectacular wildlife
ecosystem is not something

that happens by chance.

It develops over time,
where everything in it evolves

together, influenced by the
weather and shaped by the

geography of the land.

When these two elements
work in harmony,

the results can be spectacular.

One of the best examples of
this is in Northern Tanzania.

It has been called
one of the greatest



natural wonders on earth.

This is Ngorongoro.

The Ngorongoro Highlands is a
series of extinct volcanoes that

once stood as high
as Mount Kilimanjaro.

A cataclysmic eruption two
million years ago caused it to

collapse, creating a massive
crater the size of downtown

New York City, that
today is home to the highest

concentration of
mammals in the world.

The volcano's outer slopes
are covered by a thick montane

forest that is home to a
healthy population of elephants.

Just by itself, Ngorongoro
is spectacular,

but it plays a far bigger
role in the ecology of the area.

To it's North, Ngorongoro's
major eruption buried the

surrounding area in a thick
layer of ash, creating the

Serengeti plains.

The Ngorongoro's
highlands act like a barrier,

trapping the seasonal rains and
turning what would otherwise be

a dry and dusty plain into
a lush green ecosystem that

supports an incredible
diversity of wildlife.

But where it gives so
generously to it's North,

it denies on the South.

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This is the Great Rift Valley.

It's a massive scar caused
by tectonic forces that are

splitting Africa in two.

It's home to many
different animal species,

including a healthy
population of elephants.

But in the dry season, the
elephants all make their way

inland to Lake Manyara and
Tarangire National Parks.

Both are in Ngorongoro's
rain shadow.

Although the area does
not get abundant rain,

the Ngorongoro Highlands offer
the Southern lands water that

trickles down
from the mountains.

That bit of water is a
lifeline that sustains a small,

but rich and diverse ecosystem.

Wildlife expert
and safari guide,

Jean du Plessis, is at
Lake Manyara National Park.

The water coming down these
waterfalls behind me is a result

of rain that falls up in
Ngorongoro Crater highlands and

then syphoned through the ground
and ends up in these streams

that all rush out into Manyara.

This is the point where this
Endabash River will disappear

into the sand and
continue down to the lake

as an underground river.

It's interesting to see here
where the water disappears into

the sand that it's like a
minefield of elephant droppings.

This clearly is the most
favorable place for elephants

to come and have a morning
and a late afternoon drink.

The whole time during the
day we'll have different herds

coming through.

At the moment, we are in a bit
of an in-between season where

there is quite a bit of
water coming down the falls,

but as we are progressing
into the dry season,

the point where the water
disappears will become closer

and closer to the base of the
waterfalls up until where we get

into the middle of
September-October,

where it's extremely dry and the
only thing you will have will be

a tiny trickle of water coming
down the rocks and a tiny puddle

at the base of the waterfalls.

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It's now September, and
well into the dry season.

The rains in the Ngorongoro
highlands have stopped,

and the waterfalls have
been reduced to a trickle.

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Lake Manyara is
beginning to dry up.

Those falls become
very important

to wildlife in the park.

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This is more than likely a
small group that came in here,

early evening to drink.

There are lots of signs of
tracks all over the place which

tells me that different groups
of elephants came in here during

the evening.

The water here must be some of
the only water remaining in this

Rift Valley system.

It gets really busy
around these falls

towards sunset, where you have
herds from all across this area,

meeting here.

Elephants don't generally
do well of such a large

congregation of
different family groups.

There's a lot of tension and
stress and it just gets

more and more intense as the
season gets dry.

It can create quite a stressful
situation for elephants,

very loud, very sensory.

Very loud, very sensory.

There are so many females
drinking at the falls that it

attracts the attention of a male
elephant that has come to musth,

and that adds another dynamic
to an already tense situation.

(Elephant Growls)

Musth is a periodic condition
that signals the elephant's

intent to mate.

Their behaviour becomes
erratic, even dangerous.

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Their testosterone
level can be as

high as 60 times normal levels.

Even the most placid
male becomes

territorial and aggressive.

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Judging from his size, this
elephant is about 40 years old.

He is big enough to
do more than a bit of

damage if he's provoked.

In elephants, the musth
phase doesn't make

him more attractive to females.

In fact, because
of the aggression,

the mom and baby
decide to leave.

It's just too dangerous
to hang around.

After a bit of showboating,
he realizes the females

are only interested in a drink,

so he heads down river, in
search of another group.

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It's now October in
Tanzania's Rift Valley,

and it's several months
into the dry season.

Wildlife expert and safari
guide Jean du Plessis

has moved on to
Tarangire National Park.

Several months without
rain has caused

many of the park's
rivers to dry up.

This is life in the rain shadow

of the Ngorongoro Highlands.

No rain will fall
now for months,

and the wildlife that lives
in the area all pull in

closer to the base
of the highlands,

where the few lakes
and rivers are fed

by water that trickles
down from above.

This river is the lifeline of
Tarangire National Park and

especially now
during the dry season,

when the surrounding
areas are extremely dry,

it's like a magnet pulling
in all sorts of animals and

especially herds of
elephants into the river.

And what will generally
happen would be,

in the early mornings, a family
group like this would move into

the river and have a drink only
to start to move out about now

into the higher lying areas
where there is more shade and

cover and then come back again

later afternoon for
another drink.

Elephants have an extremely
well developed sense of smell.

They could smell sources
of water that are several

miles away, and also, water
that is running below ground.

Although there might be a bit of
surface water on the river right

now, for most of the
year, this river

actually flows subterranealy.

Elephants have evolved this
great way to allow constant

access to the water
by digging big holes.

I am going to just do a little
dig here to see how deep the

water actually is.

(Digging Sounds)

And the deeper you
go, you eventually

start to access water.

This time of year, an elephant
does not need to work hard at

all, but as the
season dries out,

they will have to dig
bigger and bigger holes.

And then as other
animals come like zebras,

the sides will fall in and it
will become larger and larger,

so eventually to
have quite a nice pond.

And the water is a
little bit dusty now,

but in a few
minutes, this water,

the dust will settle and
it will be very clear.

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This is the baobab tree which is
such an iconic feature on these

dry African landscapes, it's
it's a tree that creates a lot

of debate between scientists.

Obviously, looking so enormous
it must clearly be very old.

Some scientists believe
that it's not that old,

where it can only
about 800 years of age,

a big tree like this, whereas
some others believe it's over

3,000 years old.

The challenge with
baobabs is that they

haven't got any growth rings.

The tree is actually a
hollow inside and very,

very fibrous and actually quite
soft and generally softwood

trees would grow quite fast.

These trees form the most
incredible habitat for all sorts

of animals, from insects all
the way through to man and it's

commonly known that these hollow
inside of baobabs have formed

houses, hides and even shops to
some human communities out here

in Tarangire National Park where
this is probably one of the most

common features of the park,

it's home to baboons, leopards,

they are quite
commonly occupied by an owl.

The danger for these trees
are when a severe drought

might hit a system
that elephants

can actually completely
destroy them.

If too many elephants start to
feed on it and use their tusks

to break off pieces of
tree, it will kill the tree.

One can clearly see here how
the bark has been ripped away by

elephants and there is some
tusk marks here where elephants

would come in and put their
tusks in and rip out pieces

of this bark.

Almost all other trees wherein
the bark is stripped completely

around the tree will die because
nutrients cannot move up and

down anymore.

But baobabs are completely
different where it's not

dependent on an outside bark.

These trees will continue to
survive and that's a great feat

to survive in an
environment full of elephants.

(Birds chirping, crickets)

Tarangire's main river flows
from the highlands, snaking it's

way through the park, ending
in a series of swamps.

I am coming up on to Silale
Swamps which is one of the

largest wetland systems in this
greater Tarangire ecosystem and

the last refuge for family
groups of elephants during these

extreme dry seasons.

And as I am driving up on it,
I can see various groups all

scattered through the swamp
and as the system dries out,

those numbers of elephants
will just increase.

Jean's trips to the swamp
come to a full halt,

when he sees an
irresistible baby elephant.

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This baby is really
having a good time,

splashing around in the water.

It's interesting that none
of the other elephants are in

there-he is clearly
having a fantastic time.

He is rolling around and
getting completely submerged.

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It's a really young baby,
younger than a year and it's

just having an absolute ball.

Just having an absolute ball.

This baby is younger than a year
and a good way to tell age at

such a young age is that they
can fit under the belly of the

mom and that's generally
an indication

of being younger than a year.

Of being younger than a year.

This is really amazing, all
around me where there's herds

of elephants everywhere,
little family groups here.

There's a group of 50 right
around me and then all the way

through this swamp,
this tiny family groups,

just making the swamp full of
elephants and the younger ones

are much more to the shoreline
where it's not so deep.

But all the way into
the centre of the swamp,

one can see a big male standing.

The only thing we can see of
them are their ears flapping and

it's really the perfect place
for an elephant to be right now.

It's a lot to eat and a lot
to drink and it's very safe.

One thing about Tanzania that's
just fantastic is that you've

got these endless corridors
of especially animals like

elephants that can move, fairly
undisturbed from areas as far as

Ngorongoro Crater coming through
those montane forests into Lake

Manyara and then can follow a
corridor around Lake Manyara all

the way into Tarangire.

So, in fact, an old bull could
have really been born thousands

of miles from here and
slowly through his lifetime made

his way across and through these
different corridors to end up in

a place like this.

Looking at this swamp
with 50 elephants here,

another group in the far
sight and basically all the way

running North, just
full of elephants,

it's hard to imagine how
elephants can be endangered.

But the success of a species
is really determined by their

availability of habitat
during the dry season.

Of course, there is a lot of
areas for these elephants to go

to when it's wet, but it's the
protection of these areas that

can give them or can guarantee
them survival during the dry

seasons that is very important
to look after and it's these

microcosms such
as Silale swamps,

the crater floor, Serengeti
plains where elephants have a

safe haven to go to when
conditions gets too harsh

outside of parks and a
harsh can mean many things.

In this case, it's
dry and no water,

but as human populations
expand and it becomes harder for

elephants to find
the safe refuge,

this will be where
it is to future.

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To the Southern side of
Ngorongoro, the dry season runs

from May through to October,
when the short rains begin.

The name doesn't refer
to the amount of rain,

but rather the season.

The short rain season lasts
only for a few months,

and it very quickly brings
an end to the dry season.

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All of last night, I could
hear loud thunder on top of the

escarpment which clearly
indicates massive amounts of

rain, and this river has
a huge catchment area.

This morning there was a tiny
little trickle coming down the

rocks but now it is steadily
increasing to becoming huge

currents, and I
expect this afternoon,

these rocks will be
covered by water

coming down off the highlands.

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After the pools at the
base of the river fill,

water begins to flow.

At first as a trickle
in the sand.

As the water from the
highlands begins

to collect in the tributaries,

the river suddenly swells,

and within an hour huge torrents
of water arrive at the falls.

Before long, a group
of elephants

emerges from the forest.

They have smelled the water.

They know the river is flowing.

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It's been a long dry season
for these elephants.

For elephants, water is not
only crucial for drinking,

they also need it to take
care of themselves.

An elephants skin is thick,

and requires the moisture
to help keep it healthy.

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I'm sitting in our Manyara
camp and this large group of

elephants came down to drink at
the river and literally minutes

before they arrived, this river
flooded and a river that had no

water in this morning suddenly
was full bank to bank and it was

quite interesting seeing the
obvious joy in them to be

going into the water and
enjoying a late afternoon drink.

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As the water flows, it
rejuvenates the land, the trees,

and forest, that so many other
species depend on.

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The Endabash River is by far the

largest river flowing
into Lake Manyara.

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This is Lake Manyara and this
is where all the water from the

highlands eventually end up in.

This is a really old lake,
estimated to be

about three million years old.

It used to be at least five
times the size of

what it is today.

There is no outlet
out of Manyara,

making it very, very
alkaline, very soda,

the perfect environment for blue
green algae to live in which

becomes the food of
these lesser flamingos.

Every night a female with an egg
that's nesting in Lake Natron

that's about 62 miles
North from here,

will fly back there
to feed her chicks.

But in the morning, they
will fly back to come and feed.

The species prime source of
food is blue-green algae

that only grows in
very alkaline lakes.

Flamingos have filaments that
hang from their beaks,

and as they go along the water

the filaments filter
out bacteria.

The bacteria is what gives

flamingos their
distinct coloration.

Right now, the flamingos are
quite far off into the lake.

So I'm going to try and
take a canoe and

get a bit closer to them.

However, this lake is very
shallow and I might have to push

the canoe quite a bit
before it will float.

Let's see if we are stuck.

No, there we go.

(Paddles Canoe)

They are a little
bit up to our right.

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Getting a little bit
closer to these flamingos now.

I can see that they've been
sitting here in the middle of

the lake for the whole day
so their wings are stiff and

they've definitely seeing me,
are starting to spread their

wings out and getting it
ready to fly if they have to.

What's interesting for me that
they are all in a band here,

maybe there's a soil change
where you will find more

blue-green algae.

So as I am slowly
drifting in, they are

looking at us into the sun.

So we might be able to get
slightly closer than what we

would, being on the other side.

They are getting a little bit
nervous with us coming closer.

These are the Lesser flamingos.

Their name refers to their size.

They're the smallest
of the species,

but even still have an
impressive wingspan.

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Back on the shores, Jean
comes across another

unique natural event that is
brought on by the first rains.

I'm on the shores of Lake
Manyara and the sun is setting

and as the sun is going down,
I can see this reflection off

millions of strands of silk.

It's really
interesting what it is.

It's newly hatched spiders
that's doing something called

ballooning.

So they would climb to the top
of a piece of grass and just

start to release silk.

And as the silk gets
longer and longer,

eventually the wind just lifts
up this entire spider and blows

it away and this is how spiders
get distributed all across the

world, and a spider like this
might end up in a thermal,

taking it 50,000 feet into the
sky and blowing it to the other

side of planet.

It's absolutely everywhere and
it's astonishing that one never

sees these spiders, but
all around us are millions,

this one right here.

Tiny spiders that's making their
little bodies into a ball and

just kind of cruising
through the sky.

Wildlife expert and safari
guide Jean du Plisses has
arrived

at the Ngorongoro crater. It's a
spectacular volcanic caldera

that was created over two
million years ago when

the Ngorongoro volcano
erupted so violently that

it collapsed into itself
forming a perfectly

symmetrical crater the
size of Manhattan.

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Today, the crater floor is home
to the highest concentration

of wildlife in Africa,
including all of Africa's most

iconic animals like
lion and hyena.

It's also home to a
number of Africa's

last big tusked elephants.

The big tuskers are older males

drawn to the crater floor's
many swamps.

There is one elephant
in particular

that is of interest to Jean.

The word is that an old
male with magnificent tusks

has not been seen in a while,

and there are concerns that
he might have died.

This caldera is such an
amazing natural environment and

especially for
old bull elephants,

this is like a final retreat
where they come and live their

last days.

There is one particular
bull that I would love to see.

He's got the most amazing ivory,
about 100 pounds a side and it's

a very rare sight these
days to see these big bulls,

and especially big
bulls with big ivory.

There's been talk about the last
remaining large tusker dying in

the crater, but recently someone
said there's still one left.

So I'm off on a mission
today to try and find him.

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Africa's tusker numbers
have been decimated

by sport hunters who
have targeted them

specifically for trophies
and by poachers

who kill elephants to supply the

illegal ivory trade.

I'm driving to an area with
a huge amount of wildlife and

there are scattered bulls
of elephants in between the

wildebeests and zebras and we
are going a bit closer now to

see if the big bull that
we are looking for

might be in between them.

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I'm going to have a look at
this group of bulls ahead;

there's five or six over here,
but quite a few more groups off

in the distance and then some
scattered lone males as well.

So I'll pull up here and start
to scan them a bit because the

best way to see them
is to just stop and

take your time and
look through it.

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There is a lot of bulls down
here with some seriously large

ivory, but it's not the
one we're looking for.

That elephant we are after have
ivory that's almost touching the

ground, and he is
struggling to walk.

He needs to keep his head up.

It's extremely rare to see
elephants like that and he likes

to hang out in the swamps.

So we're going to have to
continue and look a bit more.

However, these one have
impressive ivory as well.

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The Ngorongoro crater gives
us a glimpse into what

parts of Africa must have looked
like 100 years ago or more.

It is largely remained cutoff
and secluded from human

advancement that has
decimated wildlife

across much of the continent.

Jean is heading to an area where

small rivers feed
several swamps.

It's a place he knows he's
guaranteed to find old bulls.

I'm at one of the major
waterholes in the crater and we

found a great old
bull elephant in it, and

this is a great example of why
elephants make the crater almost

like a retirement home.

Elephants have six set of molar
teeth through their life and

they gradually use those up as
they grow old and when they are

between 55 and 60,
they've generally

used up all of their teeth.

So it's very hard for them to
live out in the forests and feed

on things like bark
and twigs and stuff.

So they need to come down to
places with swamps and soft

grass and the crater
floor is perfect for that,

with quite a few of
these little swamps.

Yeah, this guy is
having a good old time,

feeding on some of
this water lettuce.

It's sad though that this
is where elephants

start to decline.

Feeding on greenery
like this does not

sustain these huge bodies.

So elephants slowly decline from
here and that's where the term,

elephant graveyards, come
from because generally elephants

would die in
swampy areas like this.

This morning, we've already seen
a huge amount of male elephants

on the floor and I think that
number is increasing the whole

time as these males on the
rim, of course,

that's getting older.

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Ngorongoro has resisted
attempts to change it.

At the turn of the century,
German settlers

tried to colonize the area and
cultivate the crater floor.

They tried to clear the
area of all its wildlife,

but it was a loosing battle and
they gave up and moved out.

Ironically, it was because of
sport hunting that the

area ultimately won its
conservation status.

It became a protected
area in the 1920's,

as part of the
Serengeti Game Reserve.

Now its healthy
population of animals

living their natural lives
is bringing in tourists.

Some feel that tourists
coming through in vehicles

is an environmental
problem in the making.

Who said the crater is
overrun and spoiled?

Anything that is
overrun with this animals -

Here, on this plain in
front of me must be

30,000 animals of 15
different species.

Quite an incredible site;
there's very few places in the

world where one can
witness something like this.

Night is starting to fall.

Aside from the Park Rangers,

no one is allowed on
the crater floor.

So Jean will make
his way back up

to spend the night at
Lemala camp on the crater rim.

?

Wildlife expert and safari
guide Jean du Plisses

is in the Ngorongoro crater
where he is searching

for one of the last great
tusker elephants.

Tuskers are elephants
with enormous ivory

and they have been in
steady decline in Africa

because of sport hunting and
illegal poaching for ivory.

He is searching for
one particular male.

A legendary old and rare
elephant with tusks so huge,

it has difficulty lifting its
head when walking.

The elephant has not
been seen in some time

and no one knows if it has moved
away from the crater floor

or if the great tusker has died.

It's day 2 for Jean's
search and he is out early.

Ngorongoro has a high
population of elephants

but they are usually found in
the montane forest above.

There's a breeding herd of
elephants on the crater floor

and this is extremely unique and
20 years of working and being on

the crater floor, I've never
seen females and calves right

here on the bottom of the floor,
sometimes on the edges of the

forests, but to see them on
the floor is almost unheard of.

They are very nervous; they are
running from side to side and

any vehicle starting up and any
new noise obviously scares them

and they change direction.

It's not an uncommon thing to
see elephants on open plains

like on the Serengeti,
but that would be a

matriarch that knows the area.

She's been there many times and
her confidence trickles down to

the rest of the herd,
making them all feel confident.

This is completely the opposite,
where they are all nervous,

they all have their
trunks up the whole time,

smelling, trying to
take in new scents.

This matriarch has
never been here.

This is going to be a tough
day for them and I hope they

eventually find their way to the
West of the crater where there's

a nice forest of fever trees.

So at the moment, they're
still out on the plains.

They've calmed down
a little bit and

I think they are
also really tired.

Jean will keep an
eye on this group.

Hopefully, they will
find their way out.

Jean decides to move
to higher ground

where he has a better
vantage point,

and can scout for the tusker.

On his way, he comes
across a pride of lions.

Like most animals in the crater,

there is unique behaviour
here among predators.

An average lion prides home
range in the Serengeti

is comparable to a
large urban city

but that's not
possible here in the

confined area of the Ngorongoro.

There have been as
many as six prides

at one time within the crater.

And by the look of these two,

they will add to those numbers.

It seems like there's two
mating pairs in this pride of

lions it's interesting
looking at this pride here,

I am not seeing any cubs.

So it is possible
that a takeover

happened here fairly recently.

Basically when males take
over a pride of females,

they would do something quite
rare in the animal kingdom.

It's called infanticide.

It's killing all the cubs that
do not belong to them and by

doing that they ensure they
will mate with these females and

raise their own litter.

The females that would have lost
their cubs will then go into

estrus all at the same time,
about three

months after the takeover.

So the males will
mate with them.

So generally all the cubs inside
a pride will be the same age.

Unlike the Serengeti,
where lion territories and

territorial males change often
shaking up the gene pool,

the crater population
has remained static

which has led to
problems at times.

Inbreeding has weakened the
genetics of the population.

Lions have an
interesting hierarchy.

The females do a lot of the
hunting and raise the cubs.

Once the cubs are born,
it's the males job

to keep the prides intact by
defending against

roaming or nomadic males.

If the dominant males
lose or are killed,

the nomadic males
take over the pride

and kill all of the cubs.

So mother nature has come
up with a unique solution.

Quite hard for females to
conceive, reason being is that

so many males might come through
and try and mate with them.

Sometimes this pride of males
will be with another pride of

females that they are dominant
over and if a female here is an

estrus and there is a
nomadic male that comes through,

he can get quite aggressive and
they will actually mate with

him, but they will not fall
pregnant.

So when the actual dominant
males mate with them,

they need to do that and mate
about every 20 minutes for five

days.

It's estimated that there's
about 1,500 copulations for

every cub that reach
one-year-old.

The number of predators
an area can support is

directly related to the
amount of available prey.

Unlike the Serengeti, where
much the prey species

migrates through a predators
territory for a short period,

in the crater, the
populations are resident

and fluctuate very little.

That makes for a more
stable food source.

Because of the high
number of animals,

the crater floor can support a
large variety of carnivores.

There's a really nice pack
of hyenas over there.

The crater floor must be the
ideal environment for hyenas and

it's actually one of the most
productive hyena

environments in Africa.

It's actually a misconception
that hyenas are

these massive scavengers.

Here on the crater floor, they
would hunt at least 70% of their

food themselves.

Strange enough, lions will
scavenge quite a bit and quite

often one would find lions
chasing hyenas off kills that

they've made.

The way these hyenas will hunt
would be by basically running

something tired.

They've got such
amazing stamina.

It's that construction of tall
front limbs and short back ones.

They've got a very economic gait
and they can go for hours and

they would find a wildebeest and
stick behind it for hours until

that wildebeest can't move
anymore, and then kill it.

Looking at the number of hyenas
versus lions we've seen over the

last couple of days, it's kind
of clear to me that the hyenas

are winning this race right now.

It's a really nice group
of hyenas here

with a lot of young pups.

These pups are different sizes
and ages, and there's two

females, it's probably
from the two of them.

Within a hyena clan, there is a
lot of jealousy and competition

because of the hierarchy.

The pups of the dominant female
or the alpha female will always

be under attack by lower
ranking hyenas and their pups.

Hyenas also have extremely rich
milk so that enables a mother to

go off on hunt, feed, and
potentially stay up there for a

night or two before she will
come back and feed her cubs and

the cubs will survive just on
the milk that they drank before.

This female off here to my
right is a little bit bloody,

she might have
been in the fight,

or they might have made
a kill last night.

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Wildlife expert and safari
guide Jean du Plessis

is in the spectacular
Ngorongoro crater.

He's searching for an
old tusker elephant

that some fear may have died.

He's an important animal,
one of the last few

remaining big tusked elephants
that remain in Africa.

While Jean has been looking for
the elephant, he has come across

two of the most prominent
predators on the crater floor.

As Jean's watching the hyena,
several of the animals

with blood on their fur head
off into the distance.

This can only mean one thing.

The hyena are feeding on a kill.

This is one the
coolest sightings

I've seen in many years.

It seems like what happened with
these two male lions

must have chased the buffalo,

didn't quite kill it,
and it went for refuge

in the water and died there.

Then these hyenas must have seen
what was going on and now they

are literally
diving under the water,

completely submerged
to take mouths full of meat.

These two male lions are
just laying on the edge and are

basically looking at their
food, going for the hyenas.

Lions and hyenas - normally the
two species battle over

food and often steals
each others kills,

but Jean finds the
two species showing

an unusual tolerance
for one another.

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While Jean has been
focusing on the situation

between the lions and hyenas,
something incredible happens...

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This huge elephant we've been
looking for the last couple of

days just walked by
through the scene.

I mean when in your life have
you seen something like this

where you have
these hyenas in water,

two male lions, and the biggest
elephant in the crater and

probably in Africa walk
right through this picture,

it's incredible.

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Got the most amazing tusks,
this must be one of the largest

elephants remaining in Africa
and especially the size of

his tusks, they are well
over 120 pounds each

and perfect symmetry.

It's very, very rare to see an
elephant like this and there

must really only be a handful
left in Africa and this is one

of the last of a kind.

The gene of big tuskers are
getting less and less and it's

going to be many years before
elephants like this are out in

the wild again.

The crater is just such a
perfect environment and place

for these old males to
survive and get old,

all around the edge of the
rim or observation points where

rangers are looking into the
crater and making sure that no

poaching happens and it's
kind of been like this since the

early 1900s, and
poaching has been really,

really under control
here on the crater floor,

allowing huge elephants like
this to become old

and massive like this.

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This old elephant may be the
last of a dying species.

For decades, elephants
with large tusks have

been killed for their ivory.

Scientists believe that with the
big tusk gene being eradicated,

elephants are now being born
with smaller and smaller tusks,

and it's possible that one day
we may see elephants

with no tusks at all.

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For now, though the Ngorongoro
Crater for more than

two million years ago remains a
refuge for the old tuskers

and their offspring, its geology
has made a barrier that has

allowed animal species to
survive and thrive giving

us a glimpse of what Africa
may have looked like if

human populations had not
moved in and demanded greater

and greater resources putting
its own survival ahead

of these truly
magnificent species.

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