Two American scientists,
Delia and Mark Owens, have lived dream
many people share but few ever realize,
the opportunity to explore wildest Africa.
Alone in the vast Kalahari Desert in Botswana,
they studied brown hyenas and lions.
They made unique discoveries about both species and their prey,
which helped them develop an overall plan
for the conservation needs of the Kalahari.
Unavoidably, they often lived with danger.
Get to the back. Get to the back.
After seven years in the Kalahari,
Delia and Mark returned home to continue their studies for
graduate degrees at the University of California at Davis,
where they organized their research for publication.
...keep a lot of different skulls.
Yeah.
They also wrote a best-selling book, CRY OF THE KALAHARI,
About their experiences, a book that brought them
into conflict with powerful political forces.
When the book was excerpted in LIFE magazine
and condensed in READER'S DIEST,
Delia and Mark became instant celebrities.
They were welcomed as returning heroes
in Delia's hometown of Thomasville, Georgia.
Thank you for coming by. Hello.
Thanks for coming by.
Good to see you.
Thank you.
Whas this one about?
Well, is about what it was like to live in isolation for seven years
and then come back to this.
Now their lives are tied to conservation
and the research it requires.
After four years in the United State, they returned to the Kalahari
and a National Geographic film crew went with them.
Their fortunes over the next year illuminate the painful choices
that face conservationists in Africa today.
When Delia and Mark Owens first entered the bush in 1974.
They began with only the packs on their backs.
Thall do it.
Later, as the scope of their research expanded,
the Frankfurt Zoological Society
provided them with full financial support
and an airplane for radio tracking.
We've got pins here. We can slip the door off easily.
Oh, really? No more nails?
No more nails. A brand new prop.
I mean is virtually a new airplane.
Now they pick up their vehicles in Johannesburg. South Africa.
Is 700miles to the Kalahari.
Delia has to drive it without Mark.
...you don't have any gauges until that switch is on. Okay?
All right.
Yep.
Drive safely. Have a good trip.
I'll see you up there. Bye, bye, love.
Remember, I'll be flying out the track if you're
not up there by Friday night.
Right. Okay. Friday night.
Is seen 11 years since the Owenses first made the trip to Botswana.
There, in a 33,000-squara-mile wilderness
the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in a place called Deception Valley,
Delia and Mark first began their seven years study.
Mark's flight will take four hours.
Delia's drive will take four days.
Leaving the last settlements behind,
Delia runs all day on a track she and Mark cleared
when they first entered the Kalahari.
It was almost exactly 11 years ago
that we came down this track for the first time ever.
And we wanted to find a wilderness
that had not been affected in any way by man
a free, open place that was like all of Africa used to be.
We wanted to identify the conservation problems that it had
and then be able to make recommendations
of how it should be saved.
During their last years in the game reserve, a severe drought began.
Mark knows that the animals in the Kalahari
have continued to suffer in their absence.
My mixed feelings are, I think, come from knowing the Kalahari,
loving the Kalahari as we love the Kalahari,
and knowing it as we know it,
and yet understanding that it has severs problem
in terms of threats to its survival.
And we're coming back to see what we can do to ensure
that future generations
come to love the area and its wildlife the way we love it.
The Owenses made their camp on an ancient, dry riverbed.
Slight depressions support islands of trees that offer protection
from the searing sun and wind.
Oh, great! Success.
There's Deception Valley.
Does it ever need rain.
First time we came here it
was covered with springbok and gemsbok
and beautiful green grass.
Many scientists yearn to do research in Africa.
But only a miniscule few ever succeed in raising the necessary funds.
To get started 11 years ago, Delia and Mark auctioned off
all their possessions and flew to Africa with just $6,000.
Their early research won the respect of their peers and a first grant
from the National Geographic Society.
Other grants then helped them conduct the most important studies of
hyenas and lions ever undertaken in the Kalahari.
At the same time, their role as conservationists led to
conflicts with the Botswana government
conflicts that would eventually threaten their scientific careers.
As Delia nears their former tree-island camp,
she wonders it has been destroyed by storm or fire.
How you doing? You made it huh?
Yeah.
I did too. How you doing?
I got stuck in the mud.
Did you really?
It wasn't that bad a thing.
You would have gotten right out, but it took me three tries.
Guess what I have.
What?
A complete stereophonic sound system.
For calling the lions?
To call the lions.
Well, that will be fun.
We can play that tonight...
I also have a male and female mating.
Mating. Thas...
Well, well, well.
I wondered how I'd mind the dust and the grime and everything,
but it looks bloody beautiful, doesn't it?
Oh, it looks great. It looks great.
It really does.
I mean how could you have a better kitchen?
Oh, I tell you.
With great relief they find their camp still intact.
They can begin their work immediately.
The dry season is beginning,
and as grasses on the riverbed have started to wither,
antelope will disperse and lions will follow
making it much harder for Delia and Mark to find them.
I was saying that after the initial reaction,
it feels great to get back.
But then you look out.
It really looks so bleak. I was just...
We've got to start looking for lions right away and hyenas.
Yeah, because the lions are going to be here and gone.
I mean, very quickly.
Yeah.
A last storm sweeps the dry river and distant shrub-covered dunes.
Dawn brings the zoologists a welcome sound.
Mark will try to locate the lion from the air
as Delia pursues him on the ground.
Is amazing that even year after year
the same lions use the same trees to lie up in,
and even new lions that take over from old lions
use the same trees again.
Mark, do you see him?
Negative, love.
Mark searches a tree island where he knows from previous experience
Kalahari lions are likely to lie up in the shade for the day.
Did you see him?
It looks thick from the ground, but up there, I don't know.
I may be wrong
but I think that may be what the springbok were running from
when we were up there trying to find him.
I think he came out on the opposite side of the island... outfoxed us.
We'll have to take another drive up there.
Tracking the lion takes them far from camp,
so they spend the night near their last sighting.
I love this Swiss army knife.
You can't open it unless you split it.
Here, you want me to do it?
Yeah, you open it.
Which one? This one?
That one...
The woman's a genius.
Brute force.
Mark is up before dawn.
He and Delia reason that male lions in the vicinity
may feel challenged by the sound of another lion and come to investigate.
I don't believe this. There's a bloody lion out here.
Is actually worked.
We ought to sit down and make very little commotion
because he's looking at us.
Yeah, we know we don't want to frighten him away,
now that he's here.
Yeah, les just sit down and not move.
Male lions roar to establish claim to a pride
and sometimes fight to the death to defend territory.
This lion searches for the intruder.
Now Delia and Mark will try to get close enough to dart him
and collar him with a radio transmitter.
Then he can be tracked systematically to determine his range size,
social contacts, and prey selection.
The lion has left the river plain.
They follow his tracks called spoor.
We're coming to the point where he went in,
so we should see his spoor pretty quickly.
It was up here.
He may still be in there.
Mark has seen him, Mark has seen him.
I should have marked the spot
where we lost him. I didn't think of it.
We had him all that way.
For half the night
Delia and Mark try to get close enough to the lion to dart him.
For three days the lion eludes them.
The crust on the sand is bunched up ahead of the foot.
So the foot was falling quite quickly.
So you can see he was a little bit concerned about us still.
He's here somewhere. He's got to be here somewhere.
I wish I could find his spoor.
I just got to keep going. I think maybe...
If we can get to that clearing and get set up,
maybe we can attract him into it.
I don't know what good it will do though.
I mean, he has to come up... he has to be approachable.
Well, if we get a dart in him, at least we can track him.
Yeah.
Frustrated in their pursuit,
they try to attract him right up to the truck.
Ignoring Delia and Mark, the lion trots by,
looking for his supposed rival.
Finally he realizes that the roars are coming from the vehicle.
The lion focuses on Mark.
Head on, he presents an almost impossible target for a dart shot.
In the twenty minute before the drug takes effect,
the lion wanders off.
Mark follows his tracks to find him.
When lions are immobilized, the stop blinking.
Salve keeps their eyes from drying out
We'll have to use a bigger bolt.
Delia and Mark whisper to avoid upsetting other lions in the area.
Keep your eyes peeled. We've got company here somewhere.
They're bound to come over here and have a look.
Yeah, but he's fine.
I'm going to go get the shotgun out here, Delia.
Okay.
Or you could get the dart gun.
Delia, look at the hyena.
Boy, feel the muscles in his neck.
Tooth eruption and wear help the Owenses determine a lion's age.
He doesn't look like an old lion.
It will be interesting to compare this measurement with the one
we took just a second ago.
Look at the size of that paw.
I can put both my hands together and you can't see them underneath.
Mark, there's a lion right here.
Get to the car.
I'm going to back off. If she comes in, I'll dart her.
She's probably going to find the male.
I think she has the male's scent.
Knowing that the pride will soon break up,
Mark darts other lions to keep track of as many as possible.
Collaring each lion takes several hours.
As the night wears on,
Delia and Mark become giddy with fatigue.
You've been wanting to hit me in the nose all day.
You finally got here.
Mark, try to act like a sophisticated scientist!
We have three lions darted.
Another pride.
One adult male and two young females, so it was worth it.
Nights like this bring Delia and Mark deep satisfaction.
Using radio collars to maintain contact,
they will spend many other long nights recording observations.
They plot lion movements from radio data.
Through such painstaking work, they have discovered that,
unlike lions observed elsewhere,
prides in the Kalahari disband in the dry season,
and individual lions range over as much as
1,500 square miles in search of food.
Their movements present a conservation problem:
Hunters and ranchers shoot many of the lions
in the Owenses study group when they wander outside the reserve.
The Kalahari is so dry that most of the time carnivores
must obtain all their moisture from prey.
The prey, in turn, get their moisture mainly from melons,
leaves, and grasses.
Mark, look at... lf we sit tight, maybe she'll come in.
They circle a carcass several times because they can't afford
to make a mistake that the lions are still close by,
because lions often kill brown hyenas in a situation like this.
This is such a rare opportunity.
I mean most people living in Botswana have never even seen a brown hyena.
They're so rare and they're also so secretive and shy
that usually they run off when they see a truck.
For the size that they are, their jaws are incredibly powerful.
Yeah. We've actually seen them pick up a 50 pound chunk of meat and bone
and walk three of four-miles with it before taking it back to
the communal den as they often do.
The Owenses were the first to discover that brown hyenas
have a very complex social structure.
At the communal den related hyenas share in the feeding of the young
and even adopt each other's orphans.
When we first began our study of brown hyenas in 1974,
the odd sighting suggested that they were solitary scavengers.
Yet they lived in a clan as a group and we couldn't understand
why they were social.
And then one night we followed a female moving one of her cubs
from her small den into a huge communal den.
It provides a haven for the cubs and releases the mothers
from the duty of protection.
They move from one of these large dens to the other,
and we don't know which one of these dens they are using at the moment.
There are no fresh bones in this.
So often a zoologiss hops are disappointed.
The den is empty.
To anybody else this just looks like three big holes in the ground.
But to us this is just so many... represents so many memories and discoveries
and hard nights of watching empty holes
and exciting nights of watching hyenas
This place means so much to us.
It may take weeks to discover the clan's new den,
but research continuity is crucial.
It took the Owenses four years to discover
that clan members share a communal den
That observation opened doors
of understanding to previously inexplicable hyena behavior.
From time to time Delia and Mark fly 100 miles to Maun,
a town of native huts and tourist lodges.
Here they can pick up research correspondence
and send off manuscripts for publication.
This is the Crocodile Farm.
Water is so precious in the Kalahari
that they always arrive weighed down by dirty laundry.
Maun Office Services is their contact with the outside world.
It receives and stores mail for people who live far out in the bush.
I found it. I've given it to him.
Whenever you get a minute, we've just come to pick up our mail.
Okay. Behind you is a box with the word "Owens" on it.
And a big box after it. And thas all yours.
What was the date on that?
Oh, her Look. These are all our telegrams.
Oh, golly. Okay, wait a minute.
Hey, Tony. You want to come and join us?
Why don't you join us?
I've got something in the oven.
Now this is a birthday card from my mother.
I know it.
Yep, and is fat.
What? Is fat?
Is fat.
She usually sends vitamin pills. Why is she sending fat?
Oh, look. Pictures of home.
Thas fantastic.
Oh, thas great.
Cut off as they are for months at a time,
these bundles of mail are precious links with home.
Through letters they share in their families' triumphs and despairs.
Back at camp again, Delia and Mark are on the prowl,
still hoping to find some of the lions they studied four years earlier.
The cubs seem to sense that something is wrong.
Delia and Mark have darted an old lioness.
They can tell by the tag in her ear
that she is one of the lions they studied before.
The lion's whisker pattern will tell them more.
Here's one of our old friends.
There's just a shard of an ear tag left,
just a pin with a little bit of color on either side right here.
Mark, do you know who this is? This is Happy.
Happy?
This is Happy. Darted first April 9th, 1978.
I can't believe it.
What a story behind her.
One reason we called her Happy is because we recorded her with
more males than any other female.
She'd from one male to the other.
I can't believe it. She's a beauty.
Oh, you old bag, you.
Finding Happy is an important link to their early research.
She helps them learn how prides in the Kalahari form and break apart.
Her presence in the same area demonstrates just how crucial
the riverbed habitat is to the lions' survival.
Roger, ready to copy.
To Mark Owens, a telex from...
Back at camp, Mark gets a call from his radio contact in Maun.
Okay. Well, we've got a problem.
We received a telex message by radio yesterday that lmmigration
in the capital has rejected our request for a residence permit,
which, of course, we need to carry on our research here.
So we're going to fly off to Gaborone and try to see what the problem
is and try to sort it out.
Is obviously most disturbing.
Before returning to the Kalahari, Delia and Mark had talked to
government officials and had been assured all was in order.
Delia and Mark would not return to the Kalahari.
The Botswana government would expel them from the country.
The trees at their camp had sheltered them from desert winds
and shaded them from the lethal sun of summer.
While they lived here, they made important scientific discoveries
and developed plans that they hoped could save wildlife
in the Kalahari for future generations
As soon as we entered the office, he said,
You have until 5 o'clock to get out of the country.
And I said, Well, what about our camp?
And he said, If you're here after 5 o'clock,
the law will take its course.
We just feel like we've been thrown out of our home.
And it was like somebody had died. It was really, honestly,
like someone very close to us had died and we were mourning that death.
A few days later, friends of Delia and Mark fly into the camp
to pick up their research data and vehicles.
I believe this is a tragedy for Botswana.
I can't imagine that any good could come out of people like
Mark and Delia being restrained.
They're so dedicated and they have the interest of the country
and the people so much at heart.
The Botswana government refused to give the
Owenses any reason for their expulsion,
but almost certainly it concerned their protests over a massive
die-off of wildebeest in the Kalahari.
In 1979 at the beginning of a long drought in Botswana,
Mark had discovered thousands of wildebeest migrating northward.
In long drought periods these antelope must have access to water to survive.
Instinct, perhaps, tells them there are perennial sources
of water to the north.
But now herds of cattle are grazed in the same area.
Disregarding the impact on wildlife, the Botswana government
has built fences because some veterinarians believe
that wildebeest can infect cattle with foot-and-mouth disease.
The wildebeest were cut off.
As they traveled north, their natural route was blocked.
Thousands died on the fences.
Following the scent of water, those with enough strength
pushed on around the end of the fences into an area made desolate
from overgrazing by villagers cattle.
By the time the wildebeest did reach water,
many were too exhausted to continue.
Survivors had to trek 50 miles each day between the water
and woodlands where they could graze and escape harassment from poachers.
Day after day hundreds more died.
Although wildebeest have not been shown to transmit
foot-and-mouth disease to cattle,
villagers were told that they must not let the
wildebeest mix with their herds.
Since 1979 more than 200,000 wildebeest have died.
Only 30,000 remain.
Horrified by the disaster,
Delia and Mark alerted the Botswana government.
When little was done,
they wrote articles and a book reporting this wildlife disaster.
For a year Delia and Mark tried to gain reentry.
Although the government would eventually offer to readmit them,
the Owenses would decide that, in the face of bureaucratic hostility,
they could no longer be effective conservationists in Botswana.
We came to Africa to find a chunk of what Africa always used to be
a wilderness that was untouched,
a wilderness that we could protect by conducting basic research
and devising a conservation program.
Besides losing the science, we've now lost what was our home
and what was our reason for working.
And we wanted so badly to conserve this area.
I just hope it won't now be lost.
I can't think of anything else that has affected me as much
personally as the loss of the Kalahari has,
and I just hope that...
I hope the world won't let it pass.
Delia and Mark are determined to continue their efforts to
conserve wildlife in Africa.
They ask themselves where they can be most effective.
Okay. Search for a new study site.
Is fairly depressing as to how many countries are off
limits to us for a variety of reasons.
Mozambique has a civil war going on, so we can't go to Mozambique.
And similarly South-West Africa/Namibia
in the north is torn with civil strife.
We've been warned not to go to Zaire because of some populations
over here that are still attacking people.
There are supposed to be still cannibals there.
So we basically are limited to south-central Africa,
and the country that seems to offer the most promise is Zambia.
Delia and Mark set out on a five-day journey to
Botswana's neighbor to the north.
Zambia's largest national park, Kafue, is 170 miles long.
They begin their quest at Ngoma, a tourist and game-scout camp.
There they will discover wildlife problems common across Africa.
Delia and mark learn about the park
from chief game warden, Ray Mwenifumbo.
They are looking for a research site that needs conservation
and where animals are undisturbed by human contact.
Whas the poaching pressure like?
Poaching and the human encroachment these are the two major problems
I'm having right now.
Of course, these are not very big problems as far as I'm concerned.
I think I'm handicapped more my being handicapped without enough transport,
enough funds to operate, you know.
I'm running... this park is 2,400 square kilometers,
almost the size of Scotland.
And I've got one vehicle myself
and my senior ranger there has got one vehicle. For me...
You've got two vehicles for the whole park?
For the whole park.
Now, for me to drive from here to come and see my other staff here,
it takes more than a month.
Right now I have only about 81 wildlife scouts to mind this area.
Thas just peanuts.
You' ve got how many?
Eighty-one. Eighty-one.
For the entire park.
Definitely the staff need not less than 300 scouts to manage,
strictly speaking, this vast area.
Zambia is committed to protecting its wildlife,
but faces severe economic problems.
The population is doubling every 20 years.
As land is cleared, wildlife habitats are wiped out.
Commercial poaching destroys animals
that could be a renewable resource on a continent starved for protein.
Many conservationists believe that African wildlife can be saved
only if people who live near the parks benefit from them in tangible ways.
Ray Mwenifumbo suggests that the Owenses visit a village nearby
to learn what the villagers think.
Boys watch from a respectful distance as Delia and Mark meet Chief Shezongo.
At this point we are very naive about your problems.
How do you think we could help?
We want to see practical things that people near a park
at least see the need for these animals
We would like to see that the local population is taken into account
Yes, we get benefits on national level
but the ordinary person like me doesn't see what shares we have.
In particular the people who are next to the wildlife,
the district should benefit much. Not as it is at the moment.
Have you spoken to the government about this?
Not at all. At present they are only
interested in looking after the tourists,
but not the local people. We are isolated.
We are nothing to them.
The Owenses know that the government of Zambia is beginning
to share tourist and hunting revenues with villagers.
But this important reform has yet to be initiated here.
This is this lion. He's the one whose leg was broken here.
Yes.
Pictures in their book help Mark
and the villagers establish common ground and understanding.
You see we could get very close to them
They would walk up to us.
Is this the same lion?
This is this cub, Bimbo. He is two years old now.
And he walked up and nearly smelled my face here.
Were they tame, the lions?
No, no. They were wild lions.
But these lions would come into camp and they'd sit at the campfire.
Wild lions. Hard to believe.
Maybe the lions of Botswana are different from ours here?
No, these lions have never been hunted you see.
Thas the difference.
Those lions in Botswana can be very mean if they're hunted.
Oh, yes. Yeah.
Delia and Mark are perhaps the first Americans
ever to visit Shezongo village,
reason enough for a celebration.
The dancing goes on for hours.
For seven years in the Kalahari Delia and Mark lived isolated lives,
at home with animals but far from people.
This moving evening is an exciting first for them.
Deep within the wilderness on the Kafue River
there is an especially lush area,
unvisited in recent years because bridges and roads are out.
They make this area their goal.
Along the way they find seas of grass,
but curiously the vegetation seems untouched by grazing animals.
The few antelope they do see run as the Land Cruiser approaches.
This is like and Eden with nothing here. With everything gone.
And You know, I just more or less have come to the conclusion as
we were driving down this last stretch here that is got to be poaching.
Everything we've seen has been wild.
I know. We've only seen a few animals and they have run away from us.
And there's grass to be eaten and there are no animals to eat it.
Then, a chance encounter with a volunteer game scout, Tony Middleton.
But still I kept thinking, we both kept thinking,
there must be more; there should be more animals.
There should be more. Even now there should be more.
And on the elephant I promise you,
here you would drive and you'd see two or three hundred
in an afternoon elephant. Three years ago.
Is that right? Yeah.
Three years ago?
Three years ago. Three years ago the northern half
of the park was really heavily poached
for ivory and the elephant actually moved down into this particular area.
Now they're going for the lesser animals because is now meat.
We've got the commercial meat,
but poaching's hand in hand with the ivory poaching.
Are the poachers coming in with trucks
No, is all by foot. But you see,
you get two or three guys come into an area like this
and they'll set up a camp, hide somewhere.
And then they will just shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot.
And they will cut up the meat or cut out the ivory.
And then once a week, once every fortnight,
you will get 10, 12, 15 chaps coming from the villages on the other side
with bicycles. Quick movement, load it up, and off they go.
Unless something drastic is done on a national scale,
we are not going to have any wildlife left in this country in ten years.
Still hoping to find an area free of poaching,
Delia and Mark plunge ever deeper into the wilderness toward the river.
Oh, oh.
Their route is often blocked by streams.
We shouldn't have to go far west
before we cut north.
But you know I think
what we're going to have to do decide
go maybe a few kilometers
because pretty soon this is not going to be worth it.
We have to decide...
if we gonna go west
Well, we have to get away from these rocks and and these kopjes our here
before we can do anything in a straight line, so.
But we can't go back now. We've got to go on.
Okay.
Mark, I don't think you can get through that way.
Trust me.
Mark!
Forging on toward their river goal,
Delia and Mark face one difficulty after the other.
Do you see anything, Mark?
What?
Do you see anything?
No.
So what do you think we did wrong?
Well, the only thing I can think of is that we stayed left and we should have
I mean we branched right when we should have stayed left.
Because this track hasn't matched the one thas on the chart at all.
It can take all day to drive around some small streams.
In four days they travel just 50 miles
See that little cut in the bank there? I wonder if there's any hope there.
A tourist camp burned out by poachers,
abandoned now because it cannot be protected.
It doesn't look like the camp was even that old.
I mean the mud daub and so forth doesn't look like it
had been done very long ago.
This is heavy duty stuff, you know. This could be us.
Yeah. If we have a camp here, we have to have an armed guard at our camp.
And at the airplane and at the boats and at the vehicles.
The sight of the burned-out camp is sobering.
A poacher's tracks add a sense of present danger.
Mark, just don't follow those spoor, okay?
Just come on back because I'm worried that they probably have guns
and you're in there alone. Over.
Yeah, I'm following them right down the damn stream bed,
right up the stream bed.
Deeply discouraged, but too far into the wilderness to turn back,
Delia and Mark push on to the river.
They had hoped this might be their next home.
Oh, wow! Is beautiful.
Oh, man.
Look at it.
Oh, God.
Wow, what a spot.
What the hell is that thing?
We've made it to the river, but look at this.
Is either for drying fish or for drying meat.
I don't see any fish bones.
Is a meat-drying rack. Is poaching.
I can smell the meat on it.
I mean this is just about the most discouraging place
I've seen in a long time.
The whole bloody park is being sterilized by it.
Really.
At least they can't use it again anyway.
We should burn this.
They need to know that somebody was here. We need to put a warning.
At least they'll have to go to more trouble the next time
they want to dry the meat.
Their frustration and anger mount
as they discover more and more evidence of slaughter.
In some areas elephant skulls litter the ground.
You can stand in this spot and you can see four to five dead elephants.
I think is despicable; I think is appalling;
I think is a tragic commentary on the state
of world conservation that his sort of thing can go on.
And I just keep wondering
when the world is going to wake up and really take some action.
Mark's frustration is fueled by the knowledge that in just 12 years
one hundred thousand elephants in the Luangwa Valley have been killed.
They are being destroyed for their ivory, which is carved into trinkets,
coffee table decorations, and works of art.
The fashion that leads people to buy ivory, collect it,
and wear it contributes to the destruction
of these magnificent creatures.
Distressed by what they have seen, Delia and Mark search further.
They have been told that North Luangwa National Park
is still an untouched wilderness.
They make a flying reconnaissance.
Thas beautiful river!
Yeah, a beautiful river.
We can work this habitat, too.
Especially along the river channels it looks quite open.
It looks very possible in terms of moving around with the truck,
and I think I'll be able to spot from the airplane quite well, too.
Is fantastic country.
Yeah. This place is full of animals.
Full of what?
Full of animals.
Yeah. Look for lions.
People have said this is the Cinderella park of Zambia.
I believe it.
It needs work. They don't know how many animals there are.
It needs quantitative work.
Did you tell them we saw lions?
We saw lions three females with three little cubs and wild dogs.
What have I got? Soot on my nose?
Only one track leads down the escarpment into the Rift Valley
Delia will drive it alone. Mark flies down with the airplane,
and when he lands, is greeted by a forlorn sight.
My forlorn little Boo. Oh, I'm so glad you're not hurt.
I don't know what happened, Mark.
Listen, I couldn't have done it better myself.
I think is beautiful.
See, the trailer's in line.
It was perfect. And then it just took off on its own.
So I climbed out of there in a hurry.
I believe. You came out lie a jack-in-the-box.
You can check the gear oil...
Yeah, I can grease the drive train,
check the springs.
I'm sorry.
I think I'll have a Perrier water with lime and ice,
and shrimp cocktail served on half a avocado.
And then what shall we have? Cheesecake with cherries on top?
There she goes!
What a difference as they travel this track.
These animals have not yet learned to fear man.
But North Luangwa Park,
for lack of manpower and resources, is virtually defenseless.
It could go the way of Kafue in just a few years unless Zambia,
together with the international community,
commits greater resources to its protection.
Paradise for Delia and Mark is a place
where the lions are unconcerned by their presence.
Never see a desert lion up this time of day moving around.
She's really used to us now, Mark. She's just ignoring us.
Look at the puku across the river.
This place excites me. Yeah.
It really does.
Is good to be watching lions again.
I think maybe we've found a home. Yeah.
Here is a place where two research scientists could dedicated ten years
of their lives and hope to make a difference.
I want to get in the water.
All right, come on.
Watch and all.
There's more water here than we saw in seven years in the Kalahari.
I think we should get some soap...
If we can't be happy here, I don't think there's a place left in Africa.
Well, this is great. You could at least take your boots off.
Can you imagine living next to water?
And without people?
And a lot of game.
Oh, man! You know the thing is about this place is that
there's a lot here to work with, You Know.
Is a place where you can sort of put your heart and be happy for years.
Delia and Mark Owens started out 13 years
with a passion for wildlife,
with extraordinary pluck,
and with the hope that they could make
contribution to the preservation of a precious heritage.
They stood up for conservation and heavy personal and professional price.
The was been hard, the future is uncertain,
but still they hold steadfast to their dream.