40 kilometers east of Vinthoek, the capital of Namibia, we
find a place where humans care for wild animal orphans.
Mengusa. Heading up the sanctuary is Marlise
Vaneen. Animals are her life and she has a rare
connection with them, from the biggest to the smallest, the most
endangered to the most abundant. Her
husband Rudy is a medical doctor and shares his wife's love of
wild animals, which can come in handy if a vet isn't available,
but all he really wants to do is fly his Cessna 182.
Zahio is going to follow in his parents' footsteps and has the
fantastic opportunity to spend his formative years growing up in the
great outdoors, where he has lots of animal as well as
Bushmen friends. The ancient art
of tracking still survives with a handful of Bushmen trackers.
Give it is Nangusse's expert in reading the signs in the vet.
And then of course, there are the really wild inhabitants of
this amazing sanctuary.
In the previous episode, the team started the biggest release of
big cats into the wild that they'd ever undertaken.
After months of planning, the 7 cheetahs could finally be darted and
captured for their release. A leopard that had caught
livestock was also captured and prepared to be released.
Now, the big day has arrived.
At the break of dawn, the convoy leaves Nangusse
and starts the long journey. 3 of the
cheetahs and the male leopard will be released in the far south of
Namibia. The other 4 cheetahs will be released near the
Num desert.
The drive to the first location for release will take them approximately
7 hours. With this precious cargo in the trailers,
they can't rush it.
Rudy, Marlise, Zakheel and Niklai will be flying down
as they will use the plane to track the animals after their release.
This will be the biggest release of animals back into the wild that they've ever
undertaken. The result of years of hard work and
negotiations and a dream.
This is their ultimate goal with wild animal orphans that arrive at
Nuncase to set them free in suitable areas
where they can hunt and survive.
As the convoy moves further and further south, the landscape starts to
change. Here it is more arid and also more mountainous.
Their destination, Sanfontein is a 76,000 hectare
private game and nature reserve bordering on South Africa and the Gari
River. Already home to more than 4000 head of big
game, this is the ideal place for the release.
Rudy does a low fly over the convoy as they arrive at
Sanfontein.
After meeting up with the owners of Sanfontein, they immediately set
out to the release point. It's been a long
journey. They want to get the cats back into the wild as quickly as possible.
I.
Yeah. Yeah it was fun.
The honor of opening the capture cages goes to Rodeka and Willy
Achenbach. They're not only the new keepers of the cats, but
also avid conservationists.
OK. Simon wastes
no time in getting out.
Theodore is a bit more cautious.
Boy. And then Elvin goes.
OK Oh,
For Marlise Rudy and their team, it is with mixed
emotions that they watch them go, proud of what they've achieved,
but also a bit sad after all the time they've spent with these
cats.
For the next 6 months, the 3 brothers will stay in a 500
hectare camp and be constantly monitored to see that they adapt to
life back in the wild. When they're ready, the
whole of Sanfontein will become their hunting ground. The
fact that they spent time in captivity with us and now spend
time in a soft release boma reduces their homing
instinct. The other interesting thing that
we found from the data that Flow has written up in the last 3 years
is that releasing animals in collisions is
also a better way of reintroducing cheetahs back into the wild.
So these animals will spend time in this boma. Before
they get released, um, it it increases their
chance of survival. It increases the chance that they will stay
on this beautiful reserve. Um, so all in all,
it's better for the animals and for, for the,
the owners of the, of the land. This
is always, you know, amazing to see when
we release animals back into the wild and like these 3
cats that struggled 4 days to get here from capturing
to release, um, so it's a, It's nice to
see them, you know, out, um, but also if it
wasn't for the collars, it would have been the most difficult thing
for me to do personally because if they didn't have collars
on, we never, we wouldn't have known where they're going after
this. Are they still safe, you know, have they been shot.
But with the collars, it makes it so much easier for me
personally to let the kids out and to know that, you know, we can
track them every day and we, we know that they're safe, that they've eaten, that they've drink
water. And, um, yeah, and with the soft release that
it will make their chances so much better. And I just hope that the three
boys stick together. The only survival is to stick together and to
help one another. So yeah. I hope that in a year's time
we come back from, come back and they're still here,
seriously.
The sun is setting and they still need to release the leopard.
They take him to a remote place on the reserve, close to mountains
and water, more typical leopard habitat.
This will be a hard release. From the word go, he'll have to look
after himself.
Great, I SA.
Well
OK.
Oh Yeah, go and super.
I, yeah. Yeah
Yeah Um
Oh. Oh
Right. When dealing with leopards,
it is a different story. They are unpredictable and
dangerous. Therefore, they decide to tie a rope to the gate of the
cage and once everybody is in the safety of the
vehicles, pull it open.
OK, Flo.
Finally, the big moment arrives.
And Rudy opens the gate.
And then Nothing happens.
So they wait. Something you have to
be an expert in when dealing with wildlife.
Suddenly he gets up. Looks like he may go out.
But he lies down again. He does not trust the situation.
I think what we're gonna do is we're gonna, we're gonna leave this leopard.
Let him go out on his own time. He is a nocturnal animal.
Releasing leopards is totally different from releasing cheetahs.
We've learned in the past that every leopard behaves differently
and um there's no reason for us to push him now.
So just let's just leave and leave him in peace. He'll go
out.
Working with animals, we always learn that we can't predict what
they're gonna do and that we have to have patience. And even if we have a
plan, like with the baby baboons, you know, plan A,
B, even C doesn't work. So it's the same with the
cats. We've got a plan which we need to have to make
stuff work, but um. Then it all comes, comes back
to what that animal wants to do is what it's
gonna, what's gonna happen for the day. So, yeah, and it learns
us to, it teaches us to, you know, sit and wait a bit.
Step back and don't interfere too much. But I mean, look at,
look at this place, look at this area. Um, that's
what I think makes Namibia so unique. You have
people who buy up land just
for conservation and we've we've got
80,000 hectares here of conservation land.
It gives you so much hope and so much um.
You know, drive to keep doing this because the land just keeps
opening up. People are just more and more conservation orientated. People
realize how we screwed up this planet and what we've done and
how we've almost raped the planet and
and look at this, I mean this is It's just
something special. That's why we live in Namibia. That's why we love the country.
You know, Namibia is well spices and not a lot of
people. I think that's why it's one of the African countries
that's still got carnivores left in the wild, not only
in parks. It's because we're not so many people. That's
the main reason, my, my opinion.
Under the cover of darkness, the leopard leaves during the night.
Early the next morning, the convoy leaves for solitaire, where the last
4 cheetahs will be released.
After a 6 hour drive, they reached their destination, located on the
edge of the Namib Desert, the oldest desert in the world.
It's been an exceptionally good rainy season during the summer months, and the
land is covered in knee-high golden grass.
Mali and Rudy arrive just before sunset and are greeted
by Simona, the owner. You
They're all tired and it's too late for a release now.
Yeah.
As the sun rises, so does Flo and his team.
The cats need to be watered and fed for the last time before they have to
fend for themselves.
not
Because we have jobs.
It's another long drive to the release point, a place in the reserve
where Springbok grazes, preferred prey of cheetahs in the
wild.
For the last time, Boris is in a transport cage.
Soon he will be free when the cage is opened.
I think I'm only 2 Go back to
Bye. I
don't. Guy here.
OK OK, it's not.
This time it's Volta, Simona's husband, who has the honor of
opening the cage.
Boris immediately makes a run for it.
the. Then,
time for the last 2 in the trailer.
And once again, they have to play the waiting game.
Oh, OK. go
Now
One by one, the cheetahs leave the trailer.
For Marlise and Rudy, an important milestone, perhaps the biggest
so far, but hopefully just the beginning of much
bigger things to come.
Nearing the end of this big release, the magnitude of what
they've achieved starts to dawn on Marlise and Rudy.
OK Yeah
That picture makes a lot of sense. That's um
That's how it should be and um It's not for
for conservation-minded people like Walter and
Simona. And uh our volunteers and our
staff, and people are helping us to do
this. That picture would become very, very
scarce. But that picture gives
you hope for the species and for
what's what's happening in this country. Like
Spartacus that can't go totally back. I mean this 500 hectares
is ideal. I think he's in heaven today. He must
have thought, what's, what's the catch here? He's a joke, so
it's, it's, yeah, it's wonderful to see cheetahs and
animals going back like this in the world. It's, it's amazing. And if it wasn't
for the team and for Walton and Simona, you know, this wouldn't
be possible. So yeah, it's amazing.
What we do. We're living our dream and I think there's millions of
people who realize that that we've committed so much
crime against this planet and against the environment, and we have to change
it. It's in our hands to change it. And
we are the, the board of directors
for Mother Earth. We need to change the destiny of
this planet. Back
at Nusa, those who will never be released are also
happy though. Spark has his eye on taking over leadership of the
troupe. Billy and Shakira are developing
distinctive personalities. And best of all
perhaps, the cheetah that had the tooth operation is eating well
and picking up weight. It was the right call to give her another
chance. Lucky now has 2 new cubs to
look after till their release. The wild
dogs are the next big project that Rudy and Marli will focus
on. The lions are doing well in their new enclosure,
safe from poachers. And the
meerkats, well, they still rule