Darry right resourceful
Sometimes even sweet
But capturing lions in the raw requires creativity and a willingness to play by their rules
Out here every extraordinary image must be earned and the Predators call the shots
This is the Serengeti as most of us know it a place of plenty
Lush grasses huge herds
Lots of prey a perfect place for a predator
But on the parks eastern edge lies a rougher world
Here prey is scarce water even scare, sir
Yet somehow a lion pride has found a way to make a living in this desolate place
There called the voom be
Swahili for dust
and
Renowned photographer Michael Nichols is here to tell their story for National Geographic
People call me Nick. I've been a photographer at National Geographic about 30 years focusing on wildlife conservation
my goal is to make us celebrate what wild is left and go after fixing what we can
Nick strives for images that change people's perceptions of the animals. They think they know
Joining him on assignment is cinematographer Nathan Williamson
National Geographic asked us to cover lions in the Serengeti and for something like that
Which has been done many times before you want to show people something new
Nick and Nathan are trying to combine Stills and video to capture the lives of lions on the edge
They picked this pride to show how difficult and fragile lion life can be
Lion numbers are lower than they've ever been
Fragmentations happening with human population exploding all over Africa and we were trying to figure out a way
to tell the world about it in a
substantial way
We were looking for a situation. That would have a scarcity
And so therefore there would be an element of drama in what's going on and with the animal
They've teamed up with the Serengeti lion project which is studied big cats here since the 1960's the
Researchers pointed them straight to the boom being the lions have been studied for decades by the project and
We wanted to profile those lions because their existence was so tenuous and their circumstances were so challenging
We came directly to this remote corner of the park where we wanted to focus on the Lions and it was like a dusty moonscape
It was really austere and it was hard to imagine that anything could really make it
And then we found this group of mangy desperate lions that were out in just the absolute middle of nowhere
They live completely on the edge
Once I met that pride and it happened the first minutes I met them I couldn't blink from
Nik and Nathan arrived in the dry season when conditions are at their worst
No water no green grass no, prey in sight
Bumby pride had five females and when we first arrived nine cubs
And they were eking out an existence in this barren dry dusty landscape
The Cubs were pathetic. They were desperate. They were covered with Mane's you could see their bones they were
Fighting over any little bit of milk that they could nurse
With little prey in this part of the Serengeti the pride must take advantage of every opportunity
The researchers put a radio collar on one female of every pride so that they can track their location for their science
so we were there observing them watching what was going on and
the collared female
Stood up and started peering off in the distance and we had no idea what they might be looking at
Nick and Nathan see nothing the landscape looks unbroken
When we showed up there the Collard female and some of the other big females were pawing at this dusty rocky dust
And it really seemed like the collared female was leading up the operation
She was really really intent on whatever was in that hole
It's a warthog
Just the fact that they would go in that hole and pull this thing out is incredible because
You realize that they were willing to take that risk because they were desperate
The other side of it was the caller female who he saw had some gravitas she seemed to be kind of a leader
But when they got the Warthog she didn't take a bite
She stayed on the whole because she knew there was another one in there
That just completely blew us away
You know
She knew there was another warthog in there and she was willing to not eat the first one to take care of the pride
Darkness falls
Eventually her persistence pays off
You know I go home that night thinking what a project we're on and the
Beautiful thing for me out of those images. You wouldn't know what happened if you didn't see the video
but the still is what stops it for you and you can look and
Examine it and see what everybody's up to
The caller female had a lot to do with the cohesion in the group
That was sacrifice, oh you wouldn't expect from an a wild animal
That was the thing that I would say more than anything else made us fall in love with that pride
Because we respected so much what they were doing
Even if you can find food you need water to survive and so as great a hunter as the collared female was the
Lion still needed water and we were all desperately waiting for the rains
When you come up with the Lions and it's the dry time
They don't have water or food or cover. They got nothing. They're like living in a moonscape or a desert
In the dry season storms can roll in quickly, but they don't last long
Once it started raining the Lions started to lick each other and we were just wondering like what's going on with a grooming?
Is this some kind of ceremony?
Eventually, we realize that they were actually licking water off each other's backs in order to drink that the rains were so short and we're
so small that there wouldn't be pools of water for them to drink out of
It was crazy to watch because you're just thinking it's just unimaginable
I guess that you would that you'd have to carve out an existence in a landscape
That'd be so harsh that that water wouldn't even last on the ground. He'd have to drink off each other's backs
The rain is a lucky but temporary reprieve
And greater challenges still lie ahead for the voom be
It's late January
A short rainy season has just ended
After a few months away Nik and Nathan are heading back to the pride
Our first trip was basically a chance to get to know the Lions
We shot. Um
Most of that with camera in hand just sitting in the vehicle
And there's only so much you can do when you're shooting out of the car
so what we wanted to accomplish on our second trip was to use some of our gear to get really low and really close and
Get it right in there amongst the Lions
If I'm gonna do the king of the beasts that's gonna be the king of the beasts. You know, he can't be the
King of the beasts. I'm looking down on
Intimacy
Is everything if you get your camera down on the ground level?
Now it's a lion and it's powerful and it's big and so I was obsessed with that
We were always trying to find a different perspective at the assignment before Lions was elephants and one thing that we had
experimented there was putting the camera on a pole and putting it on the ground so that you were looking at an elephant from
Like the perspective of a dung beetle the stick is the way to go. I'm too old to get down on the ground
I can't move fast enough
So we're going with the stick
Here they come and it worked incredibly well with elephant
We had managed to make some images that were really
Kind of jarring and you would sort of like look at this and you're like what what's going on there? Exactly?
But these were habituated elephants
Getting the same perspective with wild lions presents an entirely different challenge
The obvious difference is the elephant don't bite so you have to think about safety
You have to think about the fact that a lion is a big cat
And so the last thing you want to do is make a cat toy
We had this robot constructed for us
It had tank treads an armored
Area to hold the cameras and we built it so that there would be two cameras in it one for Nick to used to take
Still pictures with and one for me to use two to make film with
Any of this gear when you get this wish list, if someone says like you can have anything it's like wow, you know
I'd like that and like that
I like that like that then all of a sudden it becomes so complicated that it's just like a house of cards, you know
Like what's gonna fail?
While Nathan works on the robot Nick and his wife naturalist Reba Peck check in on the pride
The recent rains have brought the parched earth back to life the Lions seem to be doing well
As we come back the Cubs are bigger they're much stronger
They're half the size of their mom's
They're fully into me
But somebody was missing I went from 9 to 8
We were kind of speculating cuz you'd see how they laid and behaved and fed
That you have runts you have Outsiders and it was one of the outsiders
It's survival of the fittest
But only one death during the dry season is actually a remarkable feat
Across Africa more than half of all lion cubs die before the age of two
The voom be are defying the odds, but their success is a double-edged sword
The more hungry Cubs that survive the more pressure on the females to keep them all fed
Since Nick and Nathan arrived in the Serengeti they have only seen the females of the vumbi pride and the Cubs
But there are male lions in this part of the park, too
The male's bring complexity to the pride dynamic and the photographers are getting impatient for their arrival
As a wildlife photographer you can't direct the animals you can't just say it could be
All right, if you'd bring the males out tomorrow the beak swell, so I mean it's tough
You know, we're just basically waiting for the males to arrive and we have no idea when that might happen
For weeks Nick and Nathan stay with the females but then one day
everything changes
When we first pulled up there and we saw that there was a male with foam B we were super excited
It was early in the afternoon
and we knew immediately we were gonna have to ride this one out and stay as long as possible because
Anytime when there's a male around the females
Something could happen
I thought I might be onto a stranger mail because they were acting so cautious
If this mail has no affiliation with the pride he'll try to kill the Cubs
To eliminate the offspring of rival males and to bring their mothers back into heat
But the females will fight the male's off if they can
And a lot of times the females will die trying to protect their cubs
So there would be some epic battle about to happen
I mean we had no doubt that those five female lions were a force to be reckoned with
They were always always called him a biker gang, I mean they were tough
Luckily this turns out to be c-boy the mass of male who fathered several of the voom be Cubs
But that still doesn't mean he's in for a warm welcome
The first time that we saw si boy with the females it was tense
It was this uneasy truce that seemed to be established out there where they were tolerating him, but he wasn't allowed very close
And so he was there but on the periphery
It seemed like they were unsure what to do with him and not not trusting him exactly
As the day wears on the female seemed to grow more comfortable with c-boy
and
even the Cubs start approaching him with
The arrival of sea boy the voom be have some much-needed protection from other male lions
The females are still vigilant making sure he doesn't get too rough with the cubs
But they'll put up with his temper because he's a powerful male with a track record of survival
The researchers told us that c-boy had actually been kicked out of his previous territory by this
marauding group of powerful males that go by the name the killers
One of the researchers named engli was out there and had seen sea boy being torn apart by the killers and managed to make some
Incredible photographs of that fight when I sort of back away from that to know Christ
This isn't in the middle of a great battle here three against one
Then they come for him and I'm there, you know with my lens. I can't adjust it too much
So I'm having it on the brightest that I can right next year on there, right? Yeah. It's like between here and my car here
Must have been still allowed I was sure they were killing him
It was three against one but incredibly c-boy survived the attack
Escaped to a new territory and took over the voom be pride
Yet I mean what a story, you know, he was complete badass
I mean this male was so tough that he took on three other males. So, you know, he was a character for us immediately
See boy brings a level of security that few other males could supply
But on his own even he will have difficulty preventing a takeover by rival males
The most likely suspects see boys old enemies
The killers are back on the prowl and now there are four of them to be reckoned with
In order to survive in such a place
You need teamwork and the females gather together and they form a pride and they look after each other
they have each other's backs and they defend their territory together as a unit the
Males have a similar thing where they form coalition's to compete with other males
The killers are just such a coalition
But Nick and Nathan have only seen sea boy alone or with the pride
We were out in the afternoon and we found sea boy walking towards one these tall rock outcroppings
Sea boy we had been trying to mate with this female and it wasn't going well
See boy it started roaring and
Immediately started walking in the same direction as he'd been roaring
And so, of course we followed him
Eventually we saw in the direction he was walking towards another lion coming towards him
From afar it's unclear if this is a rogue male, or maybe even one of the killers
But ultimately, it's neither
Turns out see boy has a coalition partner too, the researchers have named him Hill door
There's just incredible moment where they do this like nuzzle thing, you know this little dance
to me
It's just like an amazing example of a coalition and these two males sort of
affirming their bond together
And male lions have to do this in fact one male lion is a goner a
Coalition of two is not really very strong. Unless you've got a seaboard
Like see boy he'll door fathered several voom B cups and will fight for their survival
But his arrival puts added pressure on the females of the pride
There are places where male lions absolutely do participate in killing food
But what I saw was the opposite of them I saw
Scavengers that did get fed because they provide protection kind of like a mafia
situation
There's an obvious pecking order the male's can control whatever the pride kills
So the females would kill something male would take it and eat really until he was full
There really is very little to go around and with a group that big with a pride that large one small
Gazelle or whatever it is. They killed. There's not enough to go around even for the Cubs
The Cubs were fighting over just the right to lick the blood off the grass because that's all that was left
I didn't think you that side
It's tough deal. It's a tough. It's it's rink. There's no doubt. It's difficult for the females to watch
The male's eat that much, you know fill themselves up and then leave whatever is left for the Cubs
It's the price the pride must pay for protection they now have to strong loyal males to fend off attacks
But with them come to very large stomachs that demand to be fed
When we went into this project
Everybody said oh man liens all they do is lay around and sleep and it's true. They sleep an awful lot
But there's like a whole another part about being a lion that happens once the Sun Goes Down
They see far better than the prey at night
So if it's perfectly dark a lion can walk
In amongst the prey and the prey will hardly know they're there and so we had to find some way to cover that
With five females eight fast-growing cubs and two males the pride needs a lot of fresh meat
Every kill can mean the difference between life and death
So it's crucial not to disturb the Lions or take away their advantage
For the Lions to have the most success there could be no light even moonlight would mess them up and so for us that
Became massively difficult. Our cameras were unable to see when there was no moon
So we had to project this invisible light that only the cameras could see
Working at night
was
about as difficult a set of
Circumstances you can create for yourself
But I thought it was just so important to use invisible light
It sounds simple great project some infrared light
The Lions can't see it. Perfect. The reality is it was a real pain
I mean for me driving the vehicle became very difficult because I could only see as far as we were able to project the light
They really keep an eye on this one coming in from behind us on the road I
Don't think just so disoriented
You can't see and you're focused and you hit holes and you can't really do what you want to do
But by working at night, I felt like we got into their world
There were several instances
Well, we were right on their tail and they had taken down an animal and we got there before it was dead
the eyes were still moving you could tell it was still alive and struggling I
Think some of the footage that we have still reads very clearly, but for what it is
Which is a family that's you know surviving on this incredible landscape
We made several frames that were really really cool
That's about family eating that's what that's the pictures translating too we fed the family tonight
Days between hunts are slow
But just over the horizon the killers are gearing up for a raid
The males that kicked c-boy out of his last pride are looking for another one to take over
They're known for killing Cubs
Rival males and even adult females that stand in their way
There is no guarantee that see boy and he'll door we'll be able to defend the pride from their onslaught
even if the females join in the defense
With their cubs almost ready to go off on their own
The vumbi pride is about to face the ultimate challenge to their survival
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It's the middle of the night and the killers are on the move
The team is tracking them in Toowoomba territory and bracing for a showdown
But long before any contact is made the Lyons square off with their roars
There's this incredible communication that goes on particularly at night
Who are with vumbi and we hear roars in the distance and vumbi perks up and then they roar back
They know these sounds so well, and they absolutely communicate with each other using their roars
One of the amazing things that the researchers have found is that the Lions absolutely can count
With the killers, the numbers are a little more even four of them versus c-boy Hill door and five females
Only time will tell that the killers like those odds
But the night doesn't go as expected
As The Killers approach a lone female crosses their path
The killers are distracted
One heads off after the female
And the others suddenly seem less focused
Interestingly enough when the killers did invade they didn't go after vumbi
By morning the killers have gone right through the voom B's territory and into the next
Perhaps the female threw them off their game
Or perhaps they decided a place with such scrubby ground and a lack of big herds wasn't worth fighting for it
So not worth it. I'm not gonna take on sea boy for that
For now the threat to the voom B has passed and life is about to get a whole lot better
Rain in all my world out there rain is a something I savor
For us it makes it difficult
You're you you're getting the water off your lens as much as you're shooting and water in the car like water's coming in every opening
but
Rain meant sunshine and the Lions life
They're really on the edge and the rains came in and pray picks up and it's life is also pretty easy
Once the rains came and the landscape became populated with wildebeest. That's when we needed some way to show that
And
So we had this new bit of technology this small
Helicopter that we were able to deploy and take our cameras just 20 30 metres above the ground
and
just by doing that just by getting up that just that little a bit we were able to
show this
totally new vantage point of the wide open flat expanse that is voom Bea's territory and
How the wildebeest were coming and grouping amongst the little stream beds
For the voom be it's the season of Plenty
More water than they can drink
Wildebeest by the thousands
The Cubs have survived their first dangerous try seasons and are just about ready to strike out on their own
They're a far cry from where they were when the expedition began
When we first encountered vumbi
The cubs were obviously vulnerable like they were barely hanging on they were small. They were bony
They were mangy their fate was hardly
decided and
When we left them they were almost 2 years old. They were nearly as big as their mothers they were tough
They were strong. They were completely different and
there's no doubt that these Cubs had only made it as far as they had because their mothers were such incredibly competent and
doting mother's
The boom bee have succeeded in raising their cups from infancy to near adulthood a
process the photographers have managed to cover from just about every angle and
I believe in history, I really
believe the whole point of doing what I do is that you record it and you lock it down and you save it and it
Represents that moment in art in the world and it may have some effect
You do want people to care for it to walk away and to actually care for those animals to feel like they're worthy of saving
worthy of keeping
Because certainly at their existence in the world is fragile
This project
Wasn't about the vumbi pride
it became
They stole our hearts and they showed us these Lions on the edge
And then we found this group of mangy desperate lions that were out in just the absolute middle of nowhere
They live completely on the edge
Once I met that pride and it happened the first minutes I met them I couldn't blink from
Nik and Nathan arrived in the dry season when conditions are at their worst
No water no green grass no, prey in sight
Bumby pride had five females and when we first arrived nine cubs
And they were eking out an existence in this barren dry dusty landscape
The cubs were pathetic. They were desperate. They were covered with mange. You could see their bones they were
Fighting over any little bit of milk that they could nurse
With little prey in this part of the Serengeti the pride must take advantage of every opportunity
The researchers put a radio collar on one female of every pride so that they can track their location for their science
so we were there observing them watching what was going on and
the collared female
Stood up
But on the parks eastern edge lies a rougher world
Here prey is scarce water even scare, sir
Yet somehow a lion pride has found a way to make a living in this desolate place
There called the voom be
Swahili for dust
and
Renowned photographer Michael Nichols is here to tell their story for National Geographic
People call me Nick. I've been a photographer at National Geographic about 30 years
focusing on wildlife conservation
my goal is to make us celebrate what wild is left and go after fixing what we can
Nick strives for images that change people's perceptions of the animals. They think they know
Joining him on assignment is cinematographer Nathan Williamson
National Geographic asked us to cover
Lions in the Serengeti and and started peering off in the distance and we had no idea what they might be looking at
Nick and Nathan see nothing the landscape looks unbroken
When we showed up there the Collard female and some of the other big females were pawing at this dusty rocky dust
And it really seemed like the Collard female was leading up the operation
She was really really intent on whatever was in that hole
It's a warthog
Just the fact that they would go in that hole and pull this for something like that
Which has been done many times before you want to show people something new
Nick and Nathan are trying to combine Stills and video to capture the lives of lions on the edge
They picked this pride to show how difficult and fragile lion life can be
Lion numbers are lower than they've ever been
Fragmentations happening with human population exploding all over Africa and we we were trying to figure out a way
to tell the world about it in a
substantial way
We were looking for a situation. That would have a scarcity
And so therefore there would be an element of drama in what's going on and with the animal
They've teamed up with the Serengeti lion project which is studied big cats here since the 1960's
the researchers pointed them straight to the boom being the Lions have been studied for decades by the project and
We wanted to profile those lions because their existence was so tenuous and their circumstances were so challenging
We came directly to this remote corner of the park where we wanted to focus on the Lions and it was like a dusty moonscape
It was really austere and it was hard to imagine that anything could really make it in
dari
Right
resourceful
Sometimes even sweet
But capturing Lions in the raw requires creativity
And a willingness to play by their rules
Out here every extraordinary image must be earned and the Predators call the shots
This is the Serengeti as most of us know it a place of plenty
Lush grasses huge herds
Lots of prey a perfect place for a predator
