River Monsters (2009–2017): Season 2, Episode 1 - Demon Fish - full transcript

In an African river,
there lurks a super-predator...

a creature with the combined
strength, speed, and ferocity

of all the river monsters
I have ever encountered...

creating the most horrific
yet perfect killing machine

in all of the world's rivers.

Something bit this fish
right in half.

My name is Jeremy Wade,

biologist and extreme fisherman.

I'm on the trail
of this terrifying monster.

And it's going to take
all my skills

as a fisherman to capture one.



This is a story
from the heart of Africa,

of a cursed beast
that preys on the unsuspecting.

Its powers are legendary...

its ferocity
the stuff of nightmares.

On the banks of an African
river, a young girl is playing.

She enters the water, as she has
done hundreds of times before.

Around her waist is a belt
made from shiny bottle caps.

What she doesn't know
is that today in this spot,

there lurks a monster...

A creature
of terrifying appearance,

like a relic
from prehistoric times.

Armed with bone-crunching jaws
as powerful as a hyena's,

it is as secretive
as a crocodile

and as deadly
as a great white shark.



This super-predator
is only found

in the most inaccessible part

of the most inaccessible river
on earth.

Very few outsiders
have ever heard of it,

and even many of the locals
have never seen it.

I'm heading to central Africa,
to the Congo River,

to track down and catch
one of these elusive killers

to see if this creature really
does deserve its reputation

as a supreme
underwater predator.

The first thing
any fisherman does

when he goes to a new place is
to go and check out the river.

But nowhere else in the world
would you expect to be greeted

by a sight
anything at all like this.

This massive river
is second only,

in flow and area, to the Amazon,

draining a huge swath of Africa
half the size of the U.S.

That's the Congo River.

To reach this point,
it has run nearly 3,000 miles,

crossed the equator twice,

and narrowed
from 10 miles at its widest

to around a mile here,

where it splits the two
war-ravaged capital cities

of Kinshasa and Brazzaville.

From here, it plummets
nearly 1,000 feet,

in a series of rapids,

to the Atlantic Ocean,
almost 300 miles away.

And wherever there is a river,

there are humans
hardwired to seek out its fish.

It's hard to believe,
but many species of fish

can survive fast-flowing rapids
like these.

Wheta is one
of only a handful of fishermen

who choose to fish these waters.

I'm seeing what the local guys
use here.

I am slightly embarrassed
using such gear,

which is sort of very expensive
in comparison.

I actually think
this will stand a chance

of getting out a large fish
from here,

which the bamboo and lighter
line doesn't do, perhaps.

The creature I'm pursuing
is a voracious predator...

That good?

So there's the hook.

That not only attacks
the small fish

these fishermen are after...

but will also take a chunk
out of a crocodile.

It's the goliath tigerfish...

Not just
one of the top predators here,

but among the most ferocious
freshwater predators

in all the world's rivers.

Goliath tigerfish
are said to grow 6 feet long

and weigh
in excess of 100 pounds.

They have jaws

packed with razor-sharp
interlocking teeth.

And with their streamlined body
and huge tail,

they are capable
of incredible bursts of speed

when striking prey.

Their ferocity when hunting
is legendary.

The fishermen tell me
there's someone I should meet

who has a unique way
of fishing these waters.

This is Philippe Tenton.

He fishes these rapids
with a net.

That is the scale
of a goliath tigerfish,

which he caught
the day before yesterday.

Combien de kilo?

Trente kilo.

Trente kilo?
Ici?

- Oui.
- Whoo.

70 pounds here.
That's a big old tigerfish.

Teeth on it probably like that.

So just the thought of that kind
of fish in this kind of water...

You don't get much more extreme
than that.

He's about to check his nets.

So you've got cable
where it's going over the rocks.

And here we go.
Here's the net coming in.

As would be expected,

fishing with nets
in such turbulent water

is not without its problems.

The net's actually...
It's stuck.

I have no idea
what he plans to do about it.

But I wasn't expecting that.

Jumping into these waters
is nothing short of suicidal.

But I realize now

that this is something
he must do on a daily basis.

If people call me
an extreme fisherman,

what does that make him?

I know he knows what he's doing,
but to me, it just looks like

the most insanely dangerous way
to make a living...

Swimming in this supersized-
washing-machine-type water

with a net, which is designed
to catch things.

All this effort, and there's
actually nothing in this net,

so we're just gonna redeploy
a fresh net.

And it is just...
Just mind-boggling.

You just wouldn't get me
doing that.

That kind of fishing
seems very reckless to me.

But this is a country

where people are forced
to go to extreme lengths

simply to survive.

Philippe tells me about a man

whose father was attacked
by a goliath tigerfish.

So I head to a suburb
of Brazzaville,

the capital
of the Republic of Congo,

to meet Jean-Pierre Membelay.

The attack on his father...

is the stuff of nightmares.

Well, it sounds like
he was a specialist fisherman

for tigerfish.

He was fishing on his own.

He didn't come back
one day, and...

they are known
to jump out of the water.

They're very, very fast,

and they have just got
these wickedly sharp teeth.

Some time later,
they found the boat,

but with nobody in,

but there was a fish
in the boat.

There was a fish
with the hook in its mouth.

And then, when they looked
some distance away,

his body was there as well.

And the thing
that's particularly horrifying

is it sounds like...

there were marks
on his father's throat.

It sounded like
he was standing up in the boat,

and in a freak accident,

it sounds like the fish
actually jumped out of the water

and bit him on the throat.

Membelay's story raises
a few questions.

But this is the second account

of a goliath tigerfish
attacking and killing a person.

But to stand any chance
of catching a goliath,

I need to head upstream

to a less densely populated
part of the river.

I want to see for myself

if this fish really deserves
its reputation

as an indiscriminate killer.

Success in fishing
is largely about preparation,

and I use the journey north
to begin the groundwork.

Catching the fish is very,
very much

about getting
local intelligence.

And there's no way you can get
that without talking to people,

and where I'm going,
they're not gonna speak English.

And, actually,
having left the capital,

not very many
are even gonna speak French.

So I'm brushing up
on my Lingala,

which is the language they speak
on the Congo River.

It's the trade language
that everybody speaks

as well as the other
little local languages.

The goliath tigerfish is the
ultimate freshwater predator,

combining characteristics

from all the other river
monsters I have ever battled.

It has the bloodthirsty
reputation of the piranha,

dentition more fearsome
than the payara,

the cunning of the wels catfish,

and the strength of the piraiba.

Add to that the athleticism
of the arapaima

and a bony head to rival that
of the alligator gar...

and it's clear

I'm going to have to draw on
all of my past experiences

to catch one.

Basically, I've got some
pretty serious treble hooks.

And I'll be using
this kind of wire.

If I was just to use ordinary
fishing line down to the hooks,

the goliath tigerfish is just
gonna chomp straight through it.

So I'm using this kind of stuff.

It's a breaking strain
of 175 pounds.

Just 100 miles upstream
from Brazzaville,

we arrive
in the section of river

where the young girl
was attacked and killed

by a goliath tigerfish.

But that was
on the opposite bank,

in the Democratic Republic
of Congo,

and I don't have papers
for the DRC.

With the country
still experiencing unrest,

I can't risk going there.

I stop and chat
to some fishermen.

They show me
a tiny goliath tigerfish

that they have just caught.

Something
which looks like a piranha,

but this is just a baby
goliath tigerfish.

These things grow
to the size of a person.

This confirms that it could be
a good place to start fishing.

So we got a lump of rock here,

a cliff,
some boulders at the bottom.

The current comes down, gets
deflected out into the middle.

And we've got
this nice eddy here.

So I'm actually fishing
off the back of the boat,

letting the back current
take it.

But it's classic
ambush-predator country.

But I've got the bait about
50 yards down from the boat.

I'm feeling hopeful, you know,
something could take that.

Fish on! Fish on!

Aah!

The bait went 'round the corner.

I lost sight of the float.

I lost sight of the float.

And I was just...
I just pulled on the line.

I was retrieving it,

and suddenly,
there's a wrench on the rod.

Ah!

Look at that.

That's tigerfish.

There we go...
Chung! Chung! Chung!

And it would have had a really
good mouthful of that...

of the hook as well,
but failed to get a good hookup.

Hmm.

A little further upriver
is the village of Mai Pili,

where I set up camp.

As night draws in, I'm left
to ponder my near-miss.

I had the right spot, but I had
underestimated the animal.

It just spat out my treble hook
with contempt.

Been talking
to some of the people here,

and they just say,
"Well, just use loads of those,

maybe 10 on the line,
and something's gonna hold."

But...

But it's not just a case
of the more, the merrier.

I think that might hook
something fairly well, possibly.

But that amount of metalware
might actually put something off

from actually coming along

and taking the bait
in the first place.

The other thing is, if something
actually grabs hold of that,

the pressure that I'm exerting
is divided over nine points.

On the other hand,
something like that...

It's a bit of a compromise.

I've got a big treble hook
on the end,

and then I've got a single hook
further up.

You know, if just
that single hook gets ahold,

I've got a lot of pressure
that can actually work that

into the bone
of the fish's mouth.

The goliath's reputation
as a fierce predator

has immortalized it
in local culture.

Known by the Congolese
as "mbanga,"

it crops up again and again

in tales of mutilation,
human death, and sorcery.

The next day, I head out
with a more substantial rig.

I've got some artificial lures
with me,

but everybody here tells me

this predator is most likely
to hit a bait that is alive.

Goliath tigerfish
are active hunters.

As well as having good eyesight,

they can also detect vibrations
in the water,

which can lead them to prey.

But does the mbanga
intentionally target people?

Or is there another reason

to explain the attacks
that I've heard about?

I've just got this
on the clicker, on the ratchet.

And if it's actually
in the full current,

that's just pulling that away.

But the fact that that is
just holding nicely is good.

It's in a little, quiet pocket
of water... relatively quiet...

Out of the current, and that's
just what I'm looking for.

That's just where a predator
would wait

without expending
too much energy,

where there's not
too much current.

It might be off.

Damn!
It's off!

Aah!

Whoo.

No question about me putting
pressure on that or not.

The float just shot under.

That fish was tearing away.

Wow.

Look at that.
Look at that.

That's the kind of thing
you'd expect to see

if you're shark-fishing.

This is freshwater.

Something down there just
bit this fish right in half.

One thing I must admit
that's going through my mind...

I've heard these stories
of people getting attacked.

And just looking
at the state of this fish,

it really does make you realize

what a mess that would make
of a person

if it went for your arm
or your leg or anywhere else.

Like the girl I heard about

who had a fish
actually grab her torso.

The morning after, I'm called
to meet the village elders.

They have stories to tell me

about attacks by mbanga
on people from the village.

The story that's emerging

is that if you live here and
you go to the water every day,

then, you know,
there are certain things

that you should try not to do.

Anything that goes in the water
that moves,

that creates a disturbance...

If you put a little baby
in the water...

It seems that the sound
of splashing in the water

attracts them.

But it wasn't just the sound

that attracted the mbanga
to the little girl

who was killed
on the other side of the river.

They're being bitten
maybe on the hands and the arms.

Anything that shines...

If you've got a shiny watch
or a bracelet

or something like that,
there is a risk.

On that day, she was wearing
a belt around her waist

made from shiny bottle caps.

Her waist is exactly
where she was attacked.

But it is only later,

when I find out
where the belt had come from,

that I discover
the heartbreaking irony

of the story.

There's a type
of traditional protection.

It sounds like a sort
of a wristlet or an amulet.

And it will protect you
against carnivorous fish...

Also hippopotamus, crocodiles.

It's sort of like
a good-luck charm.

So, you know,
I guess these are people

who actually go to the water
a lot.

They go there to fish.

They go there to wash their
clothes, their pots and pans.

And you never know
what's within a few feet of you.

So in that kind of situation,

you need all the protection
that you can get.

The tragic irony
of the girl's death

is that the belt
was given to her by her parents

to ward off evil spirits.

But it ended up attracting
the predator that killed her.

Fred has been my boatman
for the past two weeks now.

He has helped me understand
the spirituality

that swirls around this region
like the currents in the river.

Together, we fish every hour...

along huge stretches
of the river.

But the fish
seem to have vanished.

It is as though
they were never here.

I change location,
and I change rigs and bait...

but nothing.

I continue asking the locals,

and they direct me
further north.

Very few things are actually
put down to accident or chance.

If you're bitten
by a goliath tigerfish,

it is because the spirit
of a sorcerer was in that fish

and it made the fish do that
for some reason.

Maybe someone's put a curse
on you for whatever reason.

And when you're actually fishing
for one and not catching one,

you actually do start to think

that maybe this isn't
a real fish at all.

Maybe it is purely...

a mythological beast,

a figment
of the collective imagination.

Because at the moment, you know,

there just doesn't seem to be
anything down there.

But I know
it is more than a myth,

because everyone I speak to
has a different story

about somebody
who has been attacked.

I've just asked them
if they know of any occasions

of anybody having any accidents
with goliath tigerfish,

and they were gesturing like
this on the arm and on the leg.

And it sounds like
a bit further upriver.

It seems to be a fairly common
occurrence here...

"Oh, yes, yes,
there are people around here

who have been bitten by them."

After weeks of no results,

it's difficult to keep my focus.

But I have to, because just
one lapse in concentration,

and I could miss the chance
when it comes.

This fish... I mean, it is...

It's basically
a scaled-up piranha.

And once it gets to a case
of being close quarters,

I'm gonna have to be
very careful indeed.

I'm gonna have to
really watch my step

and just take extreme care.

That is where this fishing just
has a totally other dimension.

Part of me hoping that
that float's gonna disappear

and the line's gonna go
screaming out.

But part of me thinking,
"Well..."

Watch out.
Watch out.

Watch that line on the rocks.

It's a smaller one.

Hey!

That's what they do.
That's what they do.

That's three takes, no fish.

Three takes, no fish.

Bloody... That's so close,
so close, so close, so close.

This was a really lively bait.

Oi!

That's another fish.

I'm thinking now,
with hindsight, you know,

if I'd had more arm under him
there, that might have...

You know,
just days and days go by,

and nothing happens,
nothing happens.

And then one is there...

Literally
it just comes out of nowhere,

and it's just gone
in a matter of seconds.

Damn!

If I put this fish on,
just rigged up,

normally I could have had it...
I could have bloody had it.

If I'd had...

I think I need to get
another bait out pretty soon.

I don't know if we've got
any good baits.

That was the good bait.

Ohh.

It is an odd thing
about this fish.

You know,
it definitely does exist,

but you can almost reach
a situation...

Both myself and, I would
imagine, the local people...

Where you sort of forget
about it.

You think it doesn't exist
because you don't see it.

You hear about it,
you don't see it,

you don't see it,
you don't see it.

And then suddenly, you know,
it's right in front of you,

and it's tearing into flesh.

If I had one fish, at least,
under my belt now,

you know, I could accept this,
a bit, sort of philosophically.

But I've just been here now
for so many days.

I've had three chances.

I've just caught nothing the
whole time that I've been here.

And it really does feel like...

it really does feel like
a test of character.

And I just feel that I'm failing
at the moment.

It just looks more and more

like I'm just gonna go home
empty-handed,

having come all this way.

And that is just
so demoralizing.

It's like the fish
is taunting me, almost.

The fish is, you know,
just enough...

just enough of a sign of a fish
to get the hopes up,

and then just dashed.

I head back to the village,

knowing that I need
some more help

if I'm not to go home
empty-handed.

The elders tell me
about an old man

who not only protects them
from danger,

but also brings them luck.

Right, this is the house
of the feticheur, the local...

the witch doctor.

His assistants appear first.

And while we wait in silence
for him to emerge,

I wonder if the man held in
such reverence by the villagers

will have the power
to change my fortunes.

The people of central Africa

hold feticheurs like this man
in very high regard.

His knowledge has been
passed down over generations,

and his powers lie in his
ability to call on the spirits.

He uses substances
from the forest

to create the potions.

Ah. Okay.

I have no idea
what this will involve,

but for a small payment,

I'm hoping he can change
my fortunes.

What he's asking for
is success in the fishing,

but also protection
from the fish.

This is a dangerous fish.

I'm gonna try and get
one of these fish

and put it back alive,

but that does actually carry
something of a risk.

It's sort of a lucky charm,

and I'm thinking that I'm gonna
need all the help I get

in the next few days.

The ceremony finishes with the
villagers thanking the spirits.

I'm still not too sure
what to think

about the ceremony
with the witch doctor.

But if nothing else,
Fred seems a lot happier.

It's as though he knows
something that I don't.

We head out with a renewed
sense of purpose.

Fred explains to me
in more detail

exactly
what the witch doctor said.

C'est bonne?

C'est bonne.
C'est bonne.

He has consulted a spirit
of a dead fisherman.

And he has said
that the place to catch the fish

is to come all the way up here
from the village

and then work down.

I've been here for three weeks
now, and I've had three hits,

but still nothing tangible
to show for all my efforts.

Fish on!

Fred! The net!

Okay.

I got to just keep pressure
from above,

'cause there's rocks.

Oh, my God.

It's gonna jump.
It's gonna jump.

That's the float.

You're gonna see the fish
very soon.

You're gonna see the fish
very soon.

There it is!
That's a good fish!

Look at that!

The net! The net!
The net!

Careful, Fred!
Careful, careful, careful!

Right, we want to be
very careful now.

The net.
You want to get the head in.

I got it!

We got the fish!
We got the fish!

All we've got to worry about now
is it biting its way out.

At last,
I've got my goliath tigerfish.

Right, now.
Just a moment.

Is there anything in this
or not?

I put it in this morning.

It was under my pillow,
like the feticheur said.

It was under my pillow.

Today I took it with me fishing.

Now I want to do something
that fishermen never do

when they catch
one of these monsters...

Have a look at it,

then release it alive
back into the river.

The mouth is going.
The fish is breathing.

That's good.

And the gills are going.
That's good.

This water is nicely aerated.

That's a good thing as well.

Now, those teeth!

That will just take lumps
out of other fish.

It will take lumps
out of crocodiles, even.

And there are stories,
well-documented,

of that taking lumps
out of people.

Wow.

There we go.

Whew!

What a freshwater monster
this thing is.

What I'm looking at here
is the ultimate piranha.

Those teeth,
just like a piranha's...

Triangular, sharp blades down
the side, and they interlock.

They interlock
almost like scissors.

They will just cut a lump out.

Two big differences, though.

One is piranhas hunt in packs.

You know,
this is a solitary hunter.

And the other thing is the size.

People who think
that piranhas are scary...

If they saw one of these things,

I think their nightmares
might be populated

by a slightly different animal.

One sort of diabolical
anatomical detail on this fish

is that it hasn't just got
one hinge on its jaw.

It's got a double hinge.

It's got one hinge... here.

It's got another hinge there,

which enables it to open
that jaw much, much wider,

so it can almost open like that
and just come straight in

and take a really huge bite
out of its prey.

It's just a murderous animal,
this thing.

This fish may look inactive now.

But once it's revived a bit,

there's a danger it could
slice me at any moment.

I actually don't want to
let it go too soon,

even though there's risk
to me...

If I stay in the water too long
beside it.

But what I don't want

is for this fish to swim
into the powerful water

and then just not be able
to hold itself upright.

It will just roll belly-up and
probably get sort of battered

on some of these rocks here.

So I want it to be completely
recovered before it goes.

You know, I want it
to be able to swim off,

keeping itself vertical,
unaided.

Mm-hmm. Ah.

Oh, yes.

No, no, no, no, no.
No, no, no, no, no.

No, no, no, no, no.

We're having a little bit
of a discussion here

because Fred thought

that we were going to take it
back to the village

for everyone to eat.

And I must admit,
that is quite a nice idea.

He tells me this fish
has been given to us by God.

Mm-hmm.

He said even for the feticheur
who gave me the charm,

told me I'd have success
in the fishing,

"Send him a piece of the meat.
It's not just our village.

It's the people over the river
who've been helping."

It would be...
It would make everybody happy.

But it wouldn't make me...
Well, it would in one way.

But it would make me more happy
to put this back.

Um...

It's gonna upset him as well
if he sees this swim away.

I'm trying to explain,
the important thing for me

is to see it and not to kill it.

I think it's very important

that animals that we find
frightening in appearance,

that we try and understand them.

We don't just hack them
to pieces and kill them

and then look at the dead body.

I want to look
at this thing alive

and then see it swim off.

If the fish dies... because
it has really exhausted itself

fighting against me and in
that very wild, rocky water...

If the fish dies, fine...

We'll take it back
for everyone to eat.

If it doesn't... if it recovers,
if it can support itself...

I'm gonna let it go.

So we now just wait and see.

Looking now at some
of the marks on its head,

I think it must have
bashed itself on the rocks

while fighting with me.

It's possible that it might die.

But what I want to do is give it
the best chance possible.

To me, the mbanga ranks

as one of the most difficult
fish I have ever caught.

But I don't think it deserves
its reputation

as an indiscriminate killer.

Each attack involved splashes

or bright, shiny objects
in the water,

which, to a goliath tigerfish,

resembles its normal food...
Other fish...

And it responds in the only way
that it knows.

After an hour,
the decision is taken from me,

as I feel the life slipping
away from this monster.

You know,
it's not gonna make it.

So, I mean, the good thing is,
although the fish has died,

you know,
it won't be going to waste.

To the people of the Congo,

the mbanga is much more
than just a fish.

It is a spirit
that pervades their folklore.

Yet many people here,
I now realize,

have never seen this monster
in the flesh.

I begin to suspect

that for Fred,
returning this fish

would have meant much more
than just losing a meal.

Oh!

Oh!

Bringing this fish out of the
shadows, into the light of day,

has been a monumental task.

It's easy to tell myself now

that my success
was down to my persistence.

But I still wonder
how much was down to factors

outside my control
or understanding.

Okay.

It's never good
when a fish dies,

but when it gets that kind of
reaction when you bring it in,

that's a big meal
for lots of people.

There's about 200-odd people
in this village.

I think they're all gonna have
a piece of that.

A lot of these people won't have
seen a fish like that,

or certainly
not a good-sized one.

They've heard about it.
It is a legend.

But they don't see them
very often.

So if a fish has to die
or a fish does die,

at least a reaction like that
is some sort of compensation.

It's not the ending
that I wanted,

but it is fitting, in a way.