Living with Leopards (2024) Movie Script
1
Leopards are
the most supreme predator.
Their skill to hide...
their skill to climb,
their skill to hunt...
it's very calculating.
It's very smart.
I've lived with and filmed
multiple leopards over the years,
and each one has a unique personality.
The first time I met Mochima,
she easily jumped up
into the top of these branches,
10 or 12 meters high,
and positioned herself
very deliberately.
I had no idea what she was doing.
Then something
extraordinary happened.
I'd never seen a
leopard take such a risk
to get prey.
But pretty soon after,
she revealed the reason why.
Getting a glimpse into the den
and seeing these tiny cubs,
I really began to understand
how vulnerable they are.
The first two years are
incredibly dangerous
and why less than half of
all cubs make it to maturity.
I had no idea
where this story was going to go.
But I knew, by following this family,
I would open a window into a
leopard's world nobody's ever seen.
I, I cry like crocodile
Then drink opinions out
I've always got an answer
The sun shines out my mouth
- There ain't a rule I'd wanna break
- There ain't a rule I'd wanna break
I'd rather kill than show my face
Man, I guess I was scared
Feet, don't fail me now
I got to stand my ground, my ground
And though I'm down for trying
My feet don't fail me now
Filming leopard cubs
is always challenging
as a good mother will keep them
completely concealed
and unknown to the world.
As the cubs get older,
they are relatively alert to the world.
But they won't venture
beyond the boundaries of the den.
It is only after about three months
that the cubs start to explore
outside of the den.
This is the time
where their real characters are revealed.
And it's a good time to name them.
Kutjira means "the shy one."
And she was the image of her mother.
Not only by looks but by personality.
You could see her watching
and puzzling out the world around her.
There was a real sense of intelligence
behind her eyes.
I called her son Dakunga,
which means "the one who wants power."
He was the complete opposite
of his sister.
He was a lot more cavalier.
A lot more clumsy.
If you're gonna survive
in the wild,
you can't throw caution to the wind.
It's a dangerous place to grow up.
Free to believe
In words I didn't mean
Used to get by
I'd rather die than to cry...
It's a hard life
It's a hard life
It's a hard life
You make me happy...
Filming leopards requires
a large amount of dedication and passion.
And I knew that if I was going to be able
to keep up with this family,
there's no way that I could do it alone.
It's a...
Straw that broke the camel's back
Don't think I can live with that
Always seem to fall
Harder than before...
I had to build a team
that were incredibly driven
and were prepared to commit
several years of their lives
to following these leopards.
I grew up in the city,
and, coming here,
I didn't really know
how to cope in the bush.
My mom especially was not happy.
She thought that one of the wild animals,
the predators, is going to get me.
Straw that broke the camel's back
Don't think I can live with that
Always seem to fall
Harder than before...
I had no idea
I was gonna end up here.
And I had minimum experience
of the camera and the bush.
So I was thrown in the deep end,
and I had to prove myself.
Yeah, so Mochima stashed her cubs
in Leopard Central
and she's heading east
towards Mongoose Tree Line.
It looks like she's hunting.
So you can see her concentration.
There's one thing on her mind.
She's here to get food on the table.
Because, if you fail,
you might have to go three days
without feeding your kids,
which starts to get dangerous.
Every move that they make
is very deliberate,
and you can see
the thought process playing out.
As a hunt unfolds...
that intelligence,
combined with its ability
to remain concealed,
is what really defines a leopard.
It's extraordinary
how close a leopard can get,
and how completely oblivious the prey is.
I've seen Mochima stalk
within a few feet of prey
and spend up to an hour
in that position before actually pouncing.
An experienced hunter
might suffocate its prey
by biting over its mouth and nose
to prevent any noise
that may alert other predators.
The quieter a leopard can kill,
the more successful they are.
Leopards can pull a carcass
up into a tree
to keep it away from scavengers,
but a mother with very young cubs
will often hide it on the ground.
When Mochima called for the cubs,
Kutjira, as per character,
responded immediately.
But there was no sign of Dakunga.
He had obviously been playing
well away from where he should've been.
And pushing your boundaries
in these environments could be fatal.
Mochima had to call several times
before she got an answer.
He didn't really care.
He feels like he's in charge already.
The carcass provides an opportunity
for the cubs to learn.
And there's this very comical
sort of ritual that plays out...
where they almost relive the hunt
in their heads.
This is vital
because it ignites their bloodlust
and is an important step
to them becoming independent hunters.
Now that the cubs are well-fed
and fat and happy,
Mochima has to go
and maintain her territory
that is about
20 square kilometers in size.
To do this,
she has to patrol her boundaries,
scent-marking as she goes.
When you're following her,
it's a huge challenge.
She could walk
for seven, eight hours straight.
Your body is in a stressed state
trying to keep up.
During that time,
sometimes we forget to eat
because you don't want to lose her.
This scent-marking
lets other female leopards know
that this is her land
and to keep out.
But this doesn't deter nomadic males
venturing into her territory.
The biggest killer of leopard cubs
is other leopards.
And this nomadic male was
a threat to Kutjira and Dakunga.
They will deliberately kill the cubs
to bring a female back into estrus
so they can mate with her.
The only thing
that could stand in his way...
is Mokhanyo...
...the area's dominant male,
and the cubs' father.
As soon as Mokhanyo picked up
the scent of the intruder,
he immediately started to track him down.
It wasn't long before
Mokhanyo caught up
with the slightly pale male.
So we had this situation
where these two males,
they were sizing each other up.
The tension was building,
and building, and building.
Eventually, a point broke
where these two males had to fight.
It happened
in a thick scrubby area, out of sight.
The stakes were high.
This was a fight
that would ultimately determine
the life or death of Kutjira and Dakunga.
The young intruder
was the first to emerge.
But there was no sign of Mokhanyo.
The uncertainty was horrible.
He finally emerged,
properly beaten up.
But, because the nomadic male
started to leave,
he was clearly the victor.
We all breathed
a huge sigh of relief,
knowing that Mochima's family was safe
and that we could continue their story.
I woke up to the morning sky, first
Baby blue, just like we rehearsed
When I get up off this ground
I shake leaves back down
To the brown, brown, brown, brown
Till I'm clean...
There's been days and weeks
where you don't interact
with a single person.
So it's important to be comfortable
with your own mind space.
Then I walk
Where I'd be shaded by the trees
By a meadow of green
For about a mile
I'm headed to town, town, town
In style...
I've always been
a bit of an introvert,
and I guess that being out here
in the peace and the quiet
aligned with my character.
Little bitty blues bird flies
And gray clouds
Or white walls, or blue skies
We gon' fly, feel all right...
Sleeping out at night,
you have to keep your wits about you.
There's always a chance of snakes
and scorpions and lions walking past.
But also,
you're underneath a blanket of stars,
uh, which nowadays
people don't really get to experience.
All my favorite colors
Right on
My sisters and my brothers
They see 'em like no other
All my favorite colors
When you wake up,
you immerse yourself in the environment.
When you're looking out,
you're not just looking for leopards,
say on trees or walking.
You're also looking at other game
in the area
to see if they are relaxed
or if they are alert.
And that will also give you signs
if there's, uh, a leopard nearby or not.
Uh, gents,
I have some female leopard tracks
on the link road
heading towards Pangolin Forest.
Uh, looking quite fresh. I'll follow them.
You have to become a leopard
and think like one, act like one.
That's the key to finding them.
That comes with time
and putting in the miles every day.
Yeah, so I've managed to pin down Mochima.
She's with Kutjira, and they're heading
towards Mangosteen Crossing.
When a leopard cub
gets to about a year of age,
their hunting instincts
really begin to kick in.
And at this stage,
Mochima was taking Kutjira out
on a number of hunts
so that she could watch and learn.
There's this one time
when Kutjira is watching Mom hunting.
And Mom is in full stalk mode.
Fully elusive, doesn't want to be seen.
And then, all of a sudden,
Kutjira pulls in
'cause she wants a little snuggle
with her mom.
I mean,
you gotta give your kids attention,
but not at work.
Kutjira has the best intention,
but she hasn't got the skill yet,
the experience.
But at least she's willing to learn.
Dakunga was completely different
to his sister.
He didn't have the focus
to want to learn from anybody.
He was kind of on his own mission.
He was always
getting himself into trouble.
Out of Mochima's two cubs,
there was always a concern
that Dakunga might not make it.
There was one particular period
when he was gone for a number of days.
It was unusual. We couldn't find him.
We didn't know where he was.
It's very, very easy for a
leopard at that stage of their lives
to be killed by predators.
Yeah, so I'm up
by Velvet Tree Line now,
and, um, there's no sign of Dakunga.
There's a cheetah family nearby,
so I'll probably spend my time with them.
It was a mother
with two big subadult boys.
And they managed to kill an impala.
I checked them eating a bit.
And then, who do I see?
Dakunga.
His direction is the impala carcass
with the cheetah family.
And he's getting closer,
getting closer, getting closer.
Only him will try to claim this impala,
as a little boy, from three big cheetahs.
This describes
Dakunga's personality to a T.
I never heard a leopard
getting chased by a cheetah.
And I never heard a leopard
being up in a palm tree.
We sit and watch these leopards
for hours, and days, and weeks
not doing anything.
But that one day,
you need to make sure you are on point.
Dakunga must have thought
his luck was in
when he caught the scent of another kill.
So he followed his nose, only to find
that this was Mokhanyo's, his father.
You don't push in
on a dominant male's kill.
But Dakunga was led by his stomach.
It made little difference
that it was his father.
He was playing with fire.
Each time Dakunga failed,
I thought that he would
come to his senses and give up.
But he has no sense of danger,
and he just persisted.
Incredibly, his boldness paid off.
I would never have expected
this situation to end like this,
and I'm not sure why Mokhanyo conceded.
Maybe there was an acknowledgement
from his father, which'd be astounding.
It's a real testament
to Dakunga's character.
And moments like these really
show a different side to leopards
that we've never really seen before.
At the end of the day,
the family reunited.
The bonding over that moment
is incredible.
There's a lot of playfulness,
a lot of jumping.
And in Dakunga's case,
arsing about, really.
Those moments of joy
were getting fewer and fewer.
They're definitely approaching
a time where...
...they're gonna be more independent...
which is inevitable as a leopard.
Noah, Noah?
Yeah, Greg, go.
Quiet on my side.
Um, I haven't found any signs,
so I'm thinking
I'm gonna go into camp to refresh.
Uh, copy that, Greg.
It's very quiet my side as well,
so I'll be shortly after you.
I'll see you in camp.
Sitting in a car for almost a week,
without moving, is not ideal.
And so getting into camp,
playing a bit of sport,
having a shave, you know,
just looking after yourself
as well is important.
The crew have become
like an extended family.
Without that level of team dynamic,
the whole operation
just wouldn't be possible.
A lot of us have this disease
of coming back to camp,
you feel like you're missing out
on all the action out in the bush.
So you do as much as you can in camp,
but try as much as possible
to get back out there.
When the Okavango
is at its hottest,
winds blow across the land...
...and thunderstorms start to build.
But when it finally breaks,
it pours down.
Everything seems to celebrate its arrival.
It's a relief from the relentless heat
and a promise of easier times...
when life is breathed
into the environment.
Almost everything gives birth
in this season.
There's no better time
for 18-month-old leopard cubs...
to get familiar with what their prey
will be in the future.
I've been tracking Kutjira.
We are near Mongoose Tree Line
at the moment.
Um, she's bedding down for a rest.
She'd been in this bush
for a couple of hours...
...and that's when a big troop of baboons
started coming into the area.
And Kutjira might have thought,
"Maybe I could grab a youngster."
And she'd stuck around
too long in that bush.
She was surrounded
by big male baboons
that have massive, formidable teeth
that are made for causing damage.
She was in big trouble.
I don't think
she's ever ran so fast in her whole life.
But she realized that things can change
very quickly out here.
We spent more time
with the leopards
during the period of this project
than with any other being on this planet.
It was amazing to be let into
this super elusive and secretive family,
into their deepest secrets.
You really get, uh,
emotionally attached to these cats
because every week and day,
you are with them,
and there's a point
where you start rooting for them.
You laugh and you cry with themk
and you know, there's times
where you think to yourself,
"I really love this cat."
But you need to be able
to draw a line in the sand.
And it comes down to letting them
live their lives as leopards
and being an observer.
It was inevitable
that Mochima would look to mate again.
And when the cubs were two years old...
she came into season.
She wanted to get
the attention of Mokhanyo,
and began to leave her scent
all around her territory.
When two leopards come together,
it's an intense affair.
They will mate hundreds of times
over four or five days.
Typically, the female is gonna be the one
who's gonna push the mating behavior.
She'll flirt with him...
and smother him in love and attention.
Cut to three days of mating,
and the male is tired.
He's exhausted. He's drained.
And she still wants to make sure
that this mating behavior
is gonna be successful.
She's really just trying to make sure
that he knows these
are gonna be his cubs.
Having mated,
Mochima is expected to have a new family.
And both Kutjira and Dakunga pose
a... a real danger to her unborn cubs.
Mochima now only has three months
to get them both out of the door
before the new family arrives.
It's a real ticking clock.
Kutjira was showing
great signs of progress,
but still hasn't managed
to nail her own first kill.
Dakunga, on the other hand,
was still making big mistakes.
And a considerable worry.
Mochima knew he needed help.
And, as a good mother,
she deliberately showed him
where to find his prey.
Mochima obviously knew
that there were warthog piglets
inside this hole
and was bringing her son
to a perfect opportunity.
That's a thought-out process.
That's nothing instinctual.
It was an incredible piece of behavior
to witness.
What she didn't expect
was the mother to be home.
Confronting an adult warthog in a hole
is almost impossible.
Their razor-sharp tusks
would rip them apart.
Kutjira has been observing
Dakunga and Mochima,
learning from their mistakes.
Fighting a battle they never can win.
And then a week or so later,
Kutjira is just sitting 25 meters away
from a warthog burrow.
And she waits.
An hour later,
I look at the warthog mother
walking out the burrow.
It all made sense to me afterwards
that she's been calculating this
from the moment
we stopped next to this warthog burrow.
That's incredible!
Oh, gracious
How sweet to find
The loved ones
The meeting of minds
I will be finding out
Just where to find you
Over mountains
Just where to find you...
Kutjira was not only growing
in skill but growing in size
and becoming sexually mature.
She began to scent-mark
all around her mother's territory.
That will attract nomadic males in,
and they pose a real threat
to Mochima's unborn cubs.
Oh, icicles will melt
When I have found you
And we will melt the snow
Mochima had very little choice
but to push Kutjira out.
She picked up Kutjira's scent very quickly
and got on her trail.
Kutjira recognized her mother.
But her body language was different.
Her approach was more serious and focused.
When the fight broke up,
you could see confusion in Kutjira's face.
She couldn't understand the aggression.
Mochima kept pushing her
further and further
towards the edge of her territory.
When Kutjira felt that
there was no further to go
and needed to push back
and try and hold her ground,
it was seen as a challenge.
That was the end
of that relationship.
Mother and daughter
had to go their different ways.
It's hard to understand
in human terms.
The separation we have with our offspring
are never so abrupt.
To see it in a leopard's life
is brutal.
But that's the way
the natural world works.
And Kutjira was pushed out
into the unknown,
and she was not welcome back.
For Mochima to safely have a new litter,
she needed both her cubs to leave home,
but Dakunga was still hanging around.
Instead of thinking
and using the skills that his
mother had passed onto him,
he would charge into situations,
which is not how a leopard should hunt.
He was failing dismally,
time and time again.
Dakunga was not ready,
and if he was pushed out now,
he wouldn't survive.
So there's this one day,
when Dakunga climbs this warthog burrow.
I've seen all of the leopards
checking warthog burrows before...
but I've never seen one attempting
the biggest warthog in the area.
Sabretooth.
He's not gonna take fail for an answer,
so he follows this warthog,
and he tries again.
To kill a fully adult male warthog.
He proved us all wrong.
Yeah, it was a proud moment.
The warthog kill
really changed Dakunga's mindset,
and this was now impacting on his mother.
Physically, he was dominating her
and becoming a threat,
not just to her but to her unborn cubs.
You could see the relationship
beginning to break apart.
Every time they met,
the aggression was growing.
Finally, Mochima snapped.
The familiarity
and the kindness was gone.
He turned his back
on his mother's territory
and decided to take his own path.
Mochima had done everything
that she could for Dakunga.
And he went out into the world
with the best chance.
We had to just watch him leave,
and we never knew
whether we would see him again.
It is a bittersweet moment.
Regardless of what you may be feeling,
he has to leave to get his own territory
and one day start his own family.
There's this sense of pride
that he's made it this far.
He's done the hardest part of his journey.
You know that he's gonna
go out there and be successful.
He's a big, strong boy,
and you take comfort in that.
With Dakunga departing,
this unique window
into a family life of leopards was over.
I don't think anybody
could be part of this
and not be changed
by the experiences that we shared.
Spending two and a half years
filming with these leopards
has given me
a different view on our lives.
There's something pure
about the life they live.
It's very uncluttered and uncomplicated,
and I think if I could be
more like that in my life...
it'd be a good thing.
A couple of months
after we stopped following Mochima,
Noah called me
and said that he had found her...
lying in the forest line, dead.
The irony of only being able
to touch her once she was dead...
was... terrible.
You know, it was
one of the hardest moments
I've had to deal with...
is seeing a cat that I got to know
and loved so much...
gone.
I can never be certain
as to what happened to her.
But these animals have
very sharp, short lives.
And hers was exceptional.
We were just lucky enough
to witness a part of it.
After Mochima's death,
it was as though
our world had completely emptied out.
There were no leopards around us.
That was until Greg called in
that he had found Kutjira.
She was on the edge
of her mother's territory.
There was clear excitement
right through the crew
that she was back.
Keep looking through the window pane
Just trying to see
Through the pouring rain
It's hearing your name
Hearing your name
I really never felt quite the same
Since I lost what I had...
She perched high up
in the branches of a tree.
No one to blame
Seems to me
Can't turn back the hands of time...
I did notice
some impala fairly close by.
And in the back of my mind,
I had an inkling
that if the impala get under the tree,
she might actually try to hunt.
Eventually, some of the rams
get underneath the tree.
My goodness,
you... you just see this head pop out.
She nailed it.
Absolutely nailed it.
It gave us a lot of comfort,
knowing that Mochima's legacy
was continuing.
It made the end of the story
more of a beginning.
A new chapter in Kutjira's life,
where she was evolving
into an exceptional cat in her own right.
Whoa, it seems to me
Can't turn back the hands of time
Seems to me
Can't turn back the hands of time
Seems to me
History was left behind
Leopards are
the most supreme predator.
Their skill to hide...
their skill to climb,
their skill to hunt...
it's very calculating.
It's very smart.
I've lived with and filmed
multiple leopards over the years,
and each one has a unique personality.
The first time I met Mochima,
she easily jumped up
into the top of these branches,
10 or 12 meters high,
and positioned herself
very deliberately.
I had no idea what she was doing.
Then something
extraordinary happened.
I'd never seen a
leopard take such a risk
to get prey.
But pretty soon after,
she revealed the reason why.
Getting a glimpse into the den
and seeing these tiny cubs,
I really began to understand
how vulnerable they are.
The first two years are
incredibly dangerous
and why less than half of
all cubs make it to maturity.
I had no idea
where this story was going to go.
But I knew, by following this family,
I would open a window into a
leopard's world nobody's ever seen.
I, I cry like crocodile
Then drink opinions out
I've always got an answer
The sun shines out my mouth
- There ain't a rule I'd wanna break
- There ain't a rule I'd wanna break
I'd rather kill than show my face
Man, I guess I was scared
Feet, don't fail me now
I got to stand my ground, my ground
And though I'm down for trying
My feet don't fail me now
Filming leopard cubs
is always challenging
as a good mother will keep them
completely concealed
and unknown to the world.
As the cubs get older,
they are relatively alert to the world.
But they won't venture
beyond the boundaries of the den.
It is only after about three months
that the cubs start to explore
outside of the den.
This is the time
where their real characters are revealed.
And it's a good time to name them.
Kutjira means "the shy one."
And she was the image of her mother.
Not only by looks but by personality.
You could see her watching
and puzzling out the world around her.
There was a real sense of intelligence
behind her eyes.
I called her son Dakunga,
which means "the one who wants power."
He was the complete opposite
of his sister.
He was a lot more cavalier.
A lot more clumsy.
If you're gonna survive
in the wild,
you can't throw caution to the wind.
It's a dangerous place to grow up.
Free to believe
In words I didn't mean
Used to get by
I'd rather die than to cry...
It's a hard life
It's a hard life
It's a hard life
You make me happy...
Filming leopards requires
a large amount of dedication and passion.
And I knew that if I was going to be able
to keep up with this family,
there's no way that I could do it alone.
It's a...
Straw that broke the camel's back
Don't think I can live with that
Always seem to fall
Harder than before...
I had to build a team
that were incredibly driven
and were prepared to commit
several years of their lives
to following these leopards.
I grew up in the city,
and, coming here,
I didn't really know
how to cope in the bush.
My mom especially was not happy.
She thought that one of the wild animals,
the predators, is going to get me.
Straw that broke the camel's back
Don't think I can live with that
Always seem to fall
Harder than before...
I had no idea
I was gonna end up here.
And I had minimum experience
of the camera and the bush.
So I was thrown in the deep end,
and I had to prove myself.
Yeah, so Mochima stashed her cubs
in Leopard Central
and she's heading east
towards Mongoose Tree Line.
It looks like she's hunting.
So you can see her concentration.
There's one thing on her mind.
She's here to get food on the table.
Because, if you fail,
you might have to go three days
without feeding your kids,
which starts to get dangerous.
Every move that they make
is very deliberate,
and you can see
the thought process playing out.
As a hunt unfolds...
that intelligence,
combined with its ability
to remain concealed,
is what really defines a leopard.
It's extraordinary
how close a leopard can get,
and how completely oblivious the prey is.
I've seen Mochima stalk
within a few feet of prey
and spend up to an hour
in that position before actually pouncing.
An experienced hunter
might suffocate its prey
by biting over its mouth and nose
to prevent any noise
that may alert other predators.
The quieter a leopard can kill,
the more successful they are.
Leopards can pull a carcass
up into a tree
to keep it away from scavengers,
but a mother with very young cubs
will often hide it on the ground.
When Mochima called for the cubs,
Kutjira, as per character,
responded immediately.
But there was no sign of Dakunga.
He had obviously been playing
well away from where he should've been.
And pushing your boundaries
in these environments could be fatal.
Mochima had to call several times
before she got an answer.
He didn't really care.
He feels like he's in charge already.
The carcass provides an opportunity
for the cubs to learn.
And there's this very comical
sort of ritual that plays out...
where they almost relive the hunt
in their heads.
This is vital
because it ignites their bloodlust
and is an important step
to them becoming independent hunters.
Now that the cubs are well-fed
and fat and happy,
Mochima has to go
and maintain her territory
that is about
20 square kilometers in size.
To do this,
she has to patrol her boundaries,
scent-marking as she goes.
When you're following her,
it's a huge challenge.
She could walk
for seven, eight hours straight.
Your body is in a stressed state
trying to keep up.
During that time,
sometimes we forget to eat
because you don't want to lose her.
This scent-marking
lets other female leopards know
that this is her land
and to keep out.
But this doesn't deter nomadic males
venturing into her territory.
The biggest killer of leopard cubs
is other leopards.
And this nomadic male was
a threat to Kutjira and Dakunga.
They will deliberately kill the cubs
to bring a female back into estrus
so they can mate with her.
The only thing
that could stand in his way...
is Mokhanyo...
...the area's dominant male,
and the cubs' father.
As soon as Mokhanyo picked up
the scent of the intruder,
he immediately started to track him down.
It wasn't long before
Mokhanyo caught up
with the slightly pale male.
So we had this situation
where these two males,
they were sizing each other up.
The tension was building,
and building, and building.
Eventually, a point broke
where these two males had to fight.
It happened
in a thick scrubby area, out of sight.
The stakes were high.
This was a fight
that would ultimately determine
the life or death of Kutjira and Dakunga.
The young intruder
was the first to emerge.
But there was no sign of Mokhanyo.
The uncertainty was horrible.
He finally emerged,
properly beaten up.
But, because the nomadic male
started to leave,
he was clearly the victor.
We all breathed
a huge sigh of relief,
knowing that Mochima's family was safe
and that we could continue their story.
I woke up to the morning sky, first
Baby blue, just like we rehearsed
When I get up off this ground
I shake leaves back down
To the brown, brown, brown, brown
Till I'm clean...
There's been days and weeks
where you don't interact
with a single person.
So it's important to be comfortable
with your own mind space.
Then I walk
Where I'd be shaded by the trees
By a meadow of green
For about a mile
I'm headed to town, town, town
In style...
I've always been
a bit of an introvert,
and I guess that being out here
in the peace and the quiet
aligned with my character.
Little bitty blues bird flies
And gray clouds
Or white walls, or blue skies
We gon' fly, feel all right...
Sleeping out at night,
you have to keep your wits about you.
There's always a chance of snakes
and scorpions and lions walking past.
But also,
you're underneath a blanket of stars,
uh, which nowadays
people don't really get to experience.
All my favorite colors
Right on
My sisters and my brothers
They see 'em like no other
All my favorite colors
When you wake up,
you immerse yourself in the environment.
When you're looking out,
you're not just looking for leopards,
say on trees or walking.
You're also looking at other game
in the area
to see if they are relaxed
or if they are alert.
And that will also give you signs
if there's, uh, a leopard nearby or not.
Uh, gents,
I have some female leopard tracks
on the link road
heading towards Pangolin Forest.
Uh, looking quite fresh. I'll follow them.
You have to become a leopard
and think like one, act like one.
That's the key to finding them.
That comes with time
and putting in the miles every day.
Yeah, so I've managed to pin down Mochima.
She's with Kutjira, and they're heading
towards Mangosteen Crossing.
When a leopard cub
gets to about a year of age,
their hunting instincts
really begin to kick in.
And at this stage,
Mochima was taking Kutjira out
on a number of hunts
so that she could watch and learn.
There's this one time
when Kutjira is watching Mom hunting.
And Mom is in full stalk mode.
Fully elusive, doesn't want to be seen.
And then, all of a sudden,
Kutjira pulls in
'cause she wants a little snuggle
with her mom.
I mean,
you gotta give your kids attention,
but not at work.
Kutjira has the best intention,
but she hasn't got the skill yet,
the experience.
But at least she's willing to learn.
Dakunga was completely different
to his sister.
He didn't have the focus
to want to learn from anybody.
He was kind of on his own mission.
He was always
getting himself into trouble.
Out of Mochima's two cubs,
there was always a concern
that Dakunga might not make it.
There was one particular period
when he was gone for a number of days.
It was unusual. We couldn't find him.
We didn't know where he was.
It's very, very easy for a
leopard at that stage of their lives
to be killed by predators.
Yeah, so I'm up
by Velvet Tree Line now,
and, um, there's no sign of Dakunga.
There's a cheetah family nearby,
so I'll probably spend my time with them.
It was a mother
with two big subadult boys.
And they managed to kill an impala.
I checked them eating a bit.
And then, who do I see?
Dakunga.
His direction is the impala carcass
with the cheetah family.
And he's getting closer,
getting closer, getting closer.
Only him will try to claim this impala,
as a little boy, from three big cheetahs.
This describes
Dakunga's personality to a T.
I never heard a leopard
getting chased by a cheetah.
And I never heard a leopard
being up in a palm tree.
We sit and watch these leopards
for hours, and days, and weeks
not doing anything.
But that one day,
you need to make sure you are on point.
Dakunga must have thought
his luck was in
when he caught the scent of another kill.
So he followed his nose, only to find
that this was Mokhanyo's, his father.
You don't push in
on a dominant male's kill.
But Dakunga was led by his stomach.
It made little difference
that it was his father.
He was playing with fire.
Each time Dakunga failed,
I thought that he would
come to his senses and give up.
But he has no sense of danger,
and he just persisted.
Incredibly, his boldness paid off.
I would never have expected
this situation to end like this,
and I'm not sure why Mokhanyo conceded.
Maybe there was an acknowledgement
from his father, which'd be astounding.
It's a real testament
to Dakunga's character.
And moments like these really
show a different side to leopards
that we've never really seen before.
At the end of the day,
the family reunited.
The bonding over that moment
is incredible.
There's a lot of playfulness,
a lot of jumping.
And in Dakunga's case,
arsing about, really.
Those moments of joy
were getting fewer and fewer.
They're definitely approaching
a time where...
...they're gonna be more independent...
which is inevitable as a leopard.
Noah, Noah?
Yeah, Greg, go.
Quiet on my side.
Um, I haven't found any signs,
so I'm thinking
I'm gonna go into camp to refresh.
Uh, copy that, Greg.
It's very quiet my side as well,
so I'll be shortly after you.
I'll see you in camp.
Sitting in a car for almost a week,
without moving, is not ideal.
And so getting into camp,
playing a bit of sport,
having a shave, you know,
just looking after yourself
as well is important.
The crew have become
like an extended family.
Without that level of team dynamic,
the whole operation
just wouldn't be possible.
A lot of us have this disease
of coming back to camp,
you feel like you're missing out
on all the action out in the bush.
So you do as much as you can in camp,
but try as much as possible
to get back out there.
When the Okavango
is at its hottest,
winds blow across the land...
...and thunderstorms start to build.
But when it finally breaks,
it pours down.
Everything seems to celebrate its arrival.
It's a relief from the relentless heat
and a promise of easier times...
when life is breathed
into the environment.
Almost everything gives birth
in this season.
There's no better time
for 18-month-old leopard cubs...
to get familiar with what their prey
will be in the future.
I've been tracking Kutjira.
We are near Mongoose Tree Line
at the moment.
Um, she's bedding down for a rest.
She'd been in this bush
for a couple of hours...
...and that's when a big troop of baboons
started coming into the area.
And Kutjira might have thought,
"Maybe I could grab a youngster."
And she'd stuck around
too long in that bush.
She was surrounded
by big male baboons
that have massive, formidable teeth
that are made for causing damage.
She was in big trouble.
I don't think
she's ever ran so fast in her whole life.
But she realized that things can change
very quickly out here.
We spent more time
with the leopards
during the period of this project
than with any other being on this planet.
It was amazing to be let into
this super elusive and secretive family,
into their deepest secrets.
You really get, uh,
emotionally attached to these cats
because every week and day,
you are with them,
and there's a point
where you start rooting for them.
You laugh and you cry with themk
and you know, there's times
where you think to yourself,
"I really love this cat."
But you need to be able
to draw a line in the sand.
And it comes down to letting them
live their lives as leopards
and being an observer.
It was inevitable
that Mochima would look to mate again.
And when the cubs were two years old...
she came into season.
She wanted to get
the attention of Mokhanyo,
and began to leave her scent
all around her territory.
When two leopards come together,
it's an intense affair.
They will mate hundreds of times
over four or five days.
Typically, the female is gonna be the one
who's gonna push the mating behavior.
She'll flirt with him...
and smother him in love and attention.
Cut to three days of mating,
and the male is tired.
He's exhausted. He's drained.
And she still wants to make sure
that this mating behavior
is gonna be successful.
She's really just trying to make sure
that he knows these
are gonna be his cubs.
Having mated,
Mochima is expected to have a new family.
And both Kutjira and Dakunga pose
a... a real danger to her unborn cubs.
Mochima now only has three months
to get them both out of the door
before the new family arrives.
It's a real ticking clock.
Kutjira was showing
great signs of progress,
but still hasn't managed
to nail her own first kill.
Dakunga, on the other hand,
was still making big mistakes.
And a considerable worry.
Mochima knew he needed help.
And, as a good mother,
she deliberately showed him
where to find his prey.
Mochima obviously knew
that there were warthog piglets
inside this hole
and was bringing her son
to a perfect opportunity.
That's a thought-out process.
That's nothing instinctual.
It was an incredible piece of behavior
to witness.
What she didn't expect
was the mother to be home.
Confronting an adult warthog in a hole
is almost impossible.
Their razor-sharp tusks
would rip them apart.
Kutjira has been observing
Dakunga and Mochima,
learning from their mistakes.
Fighting a battle they never can win.
And then a week or so later,
Kutjira is just sitting 25 meters away
from a warthog burrow.
And she waits.
An hour later,
I look at the warthog mother
walking out the burrow.
It all made sense to me afterwards
that she's been calculating this
from the moment
we stopped next to this warthog burrow.
That's incredible!
Oh, gracious
How sweet to find
The loved ones
The meeting of minds
I will be finding out
Just where to find you
Over mountains
Just where to find you...
Kutjira was not only growing
in skill but growing in size
and becoming sexually mature.
She began to scent-mark
all around her mother's territory.
That will attract nomadic males in,
and they pose a real threat
to Mochima's unborn cubs.
Oh, icicles will melt
When I have found you
And we will melt the snow
Mochima had very little choice
but to push Kutjira out.
She picked up Kutjira's scent very quickly
and got on her trail.
Kutjira recognized her mother.
But her body language was different.
Her approach was more serious and focused.
When the fight broke up,
you could see confusion in Kutjira's face.
She couldn't understand the aggression.
Mochima kept pushing her
further and further
towards the edge of her territory.
When Kutjira felt that
there was no further to go
and needed to push back
and try and hold her ground,
it was seen as a challenge.
That was the end
of that relationship.
Mother and daughter
had to go their different ways.
It's hard to understand
in human terms.
The separation we have with our offspring
are never so abrupt.
To see it in a leopard's life
is brutal.
But that's the way
the natural world works.
And Kutjira was pushed out
into the unknown,
and she was not welcome back.
For Mochima to safely have a new litter,
she needed both her cubs to leave home,
but Dakunga was still hanging around.
Instead of thinking
and using the skills that his
mother had passed onto him,
he would charge into situations,
which is not how a leopard should hunt.
He was failing dismally,
time and time again.
Dakunga was not ready,
and if he was pushed out now,
he wouldn't survive.
So there's this one day,
when Dakunga climbs this warthog burrow.
I've seen all of the leopards
checking warthog burrows before...
but I've never seen one attempting
the biggest warthog in the area.
Sabretooth.
He's not gonna take fail for an answer,
so he follows this warthog,
and he tries again.
To kill a fully adult male warthog.
He proved us all wrong.
Yeah, it was a proud moment.
The warthog kill
really changed Dakunga's mindset,
and this was now impacting on his mother.
Physically, he was dominating her
and becoming a threat,
not just to her but to her unborn cubs.
You could see the relationship
beginning to break apart.
Every time they met,
the aggression was growing.
Finally, Mochima snapped.
The familiarity
and the kindness was gone.
He turned his back
on his mother's territory
and decided to take his own path.
Mochima had done everything
that she could for Dakunga.
And he went out into the world
with the best chance.
We had to just watch him leave,
and we never knew
whether we would see him again.
It is a bittersweet moment.
Regardless of what you may be feeling,
he has to leave to get his own territory
and one day start his own family.
There's this sense of pride
that he's made it this far.
He's done the hardest part of his journey.
You know that he's gonna
go out there and be successful.
He's a big, strong boy,
and you take comfort in that.
With Dakunga departing,
this unique window
into a family life of leopards was over.
I don't think anybody
could be part of this
and not be changed
by the experiences that we shared.
Spending two and a half years
filming with these leopards
has given me
a different view on our lives.
There's something pure
about the life they live.
It's very uncluttered and uncomplicated,
and I think if I could be
more like that in my life...
it'd be a good thing.
A couple of months
after we stopped following Mochima,
Noah called me
and said that he had found her...
lying in the forest line, dead.
The irony of only being able
to touch her once she was dead...
was... terrible.
You know, it was
one of the hardest moments
I've had to deal with...
is seeing a cat that I got to know
and loved so much...
gone.
I can never be certain
as to what happened to her.
But these animals have
very sharp, short lives.
And hers was exceptional.
We were just lucky enough
to witness a part of it.
After Mochima's death,
it was as though
our world had completely emptied out.
There were no leopards around us.
That was until Greg called in
that he had found Kutjira.
She was on the edge
of her mother's territory.
There was clear excitement
right through the crew
that she was back.
Keep looking through the window pane
Just trying to see
Through the pouring rain
It's hearing your name
Hearing your name
I really never felt quite the same
Since I lost what I had...
She perched high up
in the branches of a tree.
No one to blame
Seems to me
Can't turn back the hands of time...
I did notice
some impala fairly close by.
And in the back of my mind,
I had an inkling
that if the impala get under the tree,
she might actually try to hunt.
Eventually, some of the rams
get underneath the tree.
My goodness,
you... you just see this head pop out.
She nailed it.
Absolutely nailed it.
It gave us a lot of comfort,
knowing that Mochima's legacy
was continuing.
It made the end of the story
more of a beginning.
A new chapter in Kutjira's life,
where she was evolving
into an exceptional cat in her own right.
Whoa, it seems to me
Can't turn back the hands of time
Seems to me
Can't turn back the hands of time
Seems to me
History was left behind