Original subtitles

Narrator: Every teenage lion, is dependent on its pride.

But this brother and sister

Must grow up fast.

For young kimba, a childhood lost...

Is responsibility gained.

When his father goes missing,

He must rise to the challenge.

And learn to hunt africa's biggest game.

The siblings will come up against fierce rivals...

And stare death in the face.

Do these youngsters have what it takes...

To secure the future of their pride?

(♪♪♪)

(roaring)

In the pecking order of the african bush,

There are winners...

And losers.

The mwamba lion pride sits firmly

As leaders of the pack.

It's the largest pride here on the west bank

Of the luangwa river in zambia.

This morning's breakfast,

Was ambling around with its own family

Just an hour ago.

In this land, predators rule.

But the journey to become king, or queen, isn't an easy one.

This territory can be bountiful...

But brutal.

Zambia's luangwa valley.

A vast wilderness

Nurturing an extraordinary variety of life.

From majestic titans...

To the smallest creatures.

The solitary can only rely on themselves,

While the sociable seek safety in numbers.

Life here is a constant battle between predator and prey.

Every species has its own specialist weapons

For ensuring its survival.

Lions are born with an innate set of hunting skills.

But unless they perfect these in their youth,

They won't survive this fiercely competitive world.

(birds chirping)

Narrator: It's September,

Four months since the last rains.

The mwamba pride is enjoying

The relatively pleasant afternoon temperatures.

It's 93 degrees.

The nine lionesses who lead this pride

Are fierce and protective mothers.

They're kept busy bringing up their six boisterous teenagers.

There's always someone who wants to play.

The brawling is about more than just fun.

They're honing their hunting skills.

The youngsters play rough...

But this brother and sister are the best of friends.

And always have been.

Older brother kimba's reticent nature developed early.

He always hung back from the action.

Younger sister maya was much more adventurous.

Confidently going up against her father...

(maya growling)

...And scaling great heights.

Some things haven't changed.

Impulsive maya is the baby of the family.

Always curious...

But often reckless.

(maya cries)

Kimba still likes to keep at the periphery of the pride.

Although he's one of the older yearlings,

He's not as confident as the others.

A trait he needs to change if he's to survive in the bush.

He's often led into dangerous situations by his little sister.

This morning's playground is shared.

The river contains one of the densest populations

Of hippos in africa.

A bull is returning to the cool water

Of the luangwa river after a night of grazing.

Maya has yet to learn that you should never

Get between a hippo and its river.

Adult lions rarely try and hunt aggressive hippos.

But the inexperienced teenagers can't resist a chase.

Loyal kimba joins his sister in the line of fire.

It's stalemate.

Luckily for the yearlings,

The hippo heads into the safety of the water.

Life up to now has been relatively carefree

For the teenagers,

With food served up on demand by their dedicated mothers.

The dominant males that lead the family

Might be popular with the youngsters...

But like all male lions, they're hands off fathers.

Known as the punks,

Mohawk,

Spike,

And axel,

Are three battle scarred brothers

Who took over the pride two years ago.

Their parental duties stopped there.

Now they rarely help with hunting,

Preferring to take what the lionesses catch.

In the last week they've gone awol,

Roaming to neighboring territories,

With an eye to taking over other prides.

Every day the yearlings grow bigger,

And require more nutrition.

Which means daily hunting by the lionesses.

But, with more than half of attempted hunts

Ending in failure...

Food is scarce.

Like all lions, the mothers will put their own survival

Ahead of their offspring.

So the adults eat first.

If kimba and maya are to have enough food,

They must learn to hunt.

The youngsters are about to learn

How dangerous life can be for them.

(lions roaring)

Every species here fears lions.

Fully grown elephants

Aren't usually threatened by the carnivores.

But their young calves are vulnerable.

The secretions from the elephant's temples

Show she's stressed by the lions' presence.

She takes no chances.

(elephant trumpets)

It's unwise to tangle

With a protective three-tonne mother.

The bond she has with her calf

Is one of the strongest

And most enduring in the animal kingdom.

This calf is only a couple of months old.

Unlike young lions,

He can rely on his mother to provide everything he needs

For many years to come.

He's spent every minute of his short life

Just feet from her.

She provides up to 20 pints of milk a day.

And she shelters him from the sun.

But, beyond his physical needs,

One of the most important things she offers

Is abundant, long term emotional support.

From constant touching...

To fun on demand.

Elephants are thought to be among the few species

Capable of deep feeling and empathy.

Because of this emotional bond with his mother,

The calf might stay with her for up to 20 years,

Benefiting from her maternal care.

The yearlings have to grow up much more quickly.

Kimba will leave the pride in less than a year,

And, although maya will always stay with her family,

She must help provide food.

They need to develop their hunting skills now,

Or suffer the consequences.

Tonight their training will move up a step.

Parents in the bush take what precautions they can

To protect their young.

These baboons have poor night vision,

So they retreat with their babies

To the heights of the canopy for safety.

Hippos gather their young into a creche,

Guarded by mothers.

The mwamba youngsters though

Must put themselves on the front line.

Tonight the lionesses are leading the yearlings

To their favored hunting grounds...

The plains.

This is the lions' favorite time to hunt...

Thanks to an evolutionary advantage.

Their night vision is excellent.

Marginally better than most of their prey,

Giving them the benefit of stealth...

If the pride works as a team.

Maya locks on to the nearest male impala.

But she fails to wait for the rest of the pride

To maneuver into position.

Her enthusiasm and lack of experience show.

A poor attempt,

The impala easily outruns her.

The adults allow the youngsters to lead the next hunt.

They should be operating as a team,

Surrounding the herd surreptitiously

With a pincer movement,

Without the herd knowing they're there.

But the impetuous teenagers are completely disorganized...

Approaching the prey without coordinating their movements.

The antelope are slipping through the net.

The pride has been on the prowl for five hours,

Without success.

Their luck might be about to change.

A lone impala.

It's nursing an injury,

The swollen foot glowing white with heat.

It can't run.

The lionesses don't risk the yearlings ruining another hunt.

They're kept back,

So the experts can do their job.

Finally, a kill.

But it won't last long.

The adults have yet again provided food.

But it's an unproductive training night

For the teenagers.

Three weeks pass...

The temperature is now hitting more than 105 degrees each day.

The rising heat means that water elsewhere is becoming scarce.

It's a difficult time for many species

To provide for their young.

Foliage dries up,

And food grows sparse.

But there is one group for which the heat provides a boon.

The predators.

Lions are in their element.

As thirsty herbivores are forced to the river...

The lions can pick off

The weak and the desperate.

Despite this advantage,

The teenagers are still struggling

To master the basics of hunting.

Maya and her siblings keep vigil by the river.

Usually a good area to target antelope.

While the lionesses rest from the heat...

Maya spots an opportunity.

Impala, heading to drink.

She finds a hidden lookout.

So far so good.

Now she needs to show patience

And let the antelope come to her.

But she just can't resist.

The impala easily evade her.

As do the puku,

The waterbuck,

And all other prey in the vicinity.

Maya still hasn't learned that success

Requires teamwork.

Time for a rest.

While lions have mastery over most creatures here,

Flies get the upper hand

Every time.

(roars)

In contrast to his sister,

Kimba is showing signs that he's maturing

And his hunting skills are progressing.

He spots a family of warthogs.

He joins his mother in position...

As the pride single out an individual.

(grunts)

A lioness charges...

Herding it towards the rest of the pride.

But maya's more focused on the insects bothering her,

And completely misses her cue.

(grunting)

The warthog lives to see another day.

This should be the easiest time of year to hunt,

But the yearlings aren't up to scratch.

In just weeks

The rains will come and the prey will scatter.

Finding food will become much harder.

The teenagers must grow up fast.

Their fathers are of little help.

The punks have now been roaming away for weeks.

They're mating with a neighboring pride,

And show no sign of returning.

Many fathers here in luangwa are similarly hands off...

Mating indiscriminately,

Then having little to do with raising their young.

But not all.

(chirping)

This male pied wagtail is being very attentive to his partner.

Like 50% of birds here,

The pair is monogamous.

(chirping)

They'll spend the whole season together as committed partners.

The edges of the river are a prime spot

To find insects and worms...

Even with the searing temperatures.

The female keeps lookout,

While her mate disappears into a rotted log.

He's on an important mission.

Taking care of their new chicks.

At just a few days old, the chicks' eyes are barely open,

But they don't have trouble communicating their needs.

The hungry chicks will be fed up to eight times an hour

By their attentive parents.

(birds chirping)

They share foraging duty equally,

As well as protecting the nest from potential danger.

In around two weeks the chicks will fledge the nest,

And become fully self-sufficient shortly after.

Farther along the river,

Yearlings kimba and maya may not be facing independence just yet.

But they must start providing food for their family.

The pride will wait for darkness.

There's a full night's hunting ahead.

It's 2:00 am.

With no passing prey,

The extended family rests.

(hyenas laughing) (roaring)

Hyenas, on a kill.

An opportunity impossible to resist.

Hyenas may have the reputation of being scavengers,

But lions steal kills with much more frequency.

The hungry pride of ten lions

Easily pushes off the five hyenas.

They tuck into the waterbuck,

A welcome meal.

(growling)

As youngest, maya only gets the scraps.

(growling)

(hyenas laughing)

But the hyenas have no intention

Of letting their hard won dinner go so easily.

They're the fighters of the bush,

Unafraid of any confrontation.

The clan gathers reinforcements,

Their numbers swell to 10.

The distracted pride pays no attention...

Save for one female.

Kimba's mother senses the building tension.

(growling)

With the kill rapidly disappearing,

The ten-strong hyena clan makes its move.

It's time to reclaim their dinner.

(hyenas laughing)

(roaring)

Kimba's mother confronts them.

But she's quickly surrounded...

(hyenas laughing)

...And outnumbered.

Kimba and another lioness jump in to protect her.

It descends into a full-on scrap,

Ten hyenas vs ten lions.

But the yearlings' inexperience and size...

Mean they're losing the kill to the tenacious hyenas.

(hyenas laughing)

Kimba bravely guards the last piece of the carcass.

(hyenas laughing) (roaring)

But it's gone.

Defeated, the lions retreat,

Battered and bloodied.

Kimba's mother, who took the brunt of the hyena's wrath,

Collapses,

Exhausted.

The light of day reveals more than just a bruised pride.

Kimba's brave defense of his mother

Has left him badly wounded.

He's in obvious discomfort.

If it gets infected, he could die.

But things are just as bad, for his mother.

She's also sustained a painful injury,

And is barely able to walk.

Kimba gingerly tries to put weight on his back legs.

He's in a bad way.

His aunt comforts him.

As a herd of buffalo wanders close,

All the pride can do, is watch.

With kimba's mother in such a poor state,

There's no chance of a collective hunt today.

The pride, and its yearlings

Are in deep trouble.

Nature shows little mercy to the weak.

Most species in luangwa

Will work to protect their vulnerable youngsters.

This buffalo herd walks in a protective formation,

With strong members on the outside.

Young buffalo keep inside the herd.

But they're not as generous for the old or the sick.

Like this calf,

Alone and frail.

His mother is nowhere to be seen.

(buffalo grunts)

The herd moves on.

With life on a knife-edge here...

The group can't waste energy on the sick youngster.

He desperately tries to keep up in the searing heat.

But, to no avail.

(buffalo grunts)

For the mwamba pride, family is everything,

And they won't leave their own.

But there's absolutely nothing they can do

To help kimba or his mother.

A week passes.

It's now the very peak of the dry season.

The fight to survive at its most difficult.

The mwamba pride is struggling too.

They've barely moved position.

Kimba's wound is still oozing,

But he's slowly healing.

His mother isn't faring so well.

She's been getting progressively weaker.

And now, can no longer walk.

The pride will stay with her.

But she's not going to make it.

Kimba will lose his mother.

The rains are imminent.

Once they start,

The valley will flush green with new growth,

And the herbivores will scatter over a huge area.

The pride stations itself

Where buffalo usually cross to reach the river.

They wouldn't usually hunt in the daylight,

But they've lost kimba's mother, their best hunter.

They're desperate.

Kimba's wound is still painful,

But if the pride is to succeed,

He'll have to help with hunting.

There's no play today for maya.

For once, she seems focused on the job in hand.

Perhaps, the recent events have had an effect.

Time's run out on their childhood.

The teenagers must step up now.

They start their patrol.

In the distance, a lone buffalo.

It's likely this bull is either old or sick,

But he's still a ton of muscle and horn,

And will aggressively defend himself.

The only way the pride will bring him down

Without the three punk males, is working together.

One of kimba's aunts, starts the stalk.

But she won't attack.

She's acting as decoy,

Trying to lure the buffalo towards her.

(buffalo grunts)

The bull takes the bait...

And runs straight towards an ambush.

Even with his injury, kimba leads the assault,

Trying to slow the bull down.

(buffalo grunts)

His bravery enables the pride to grab on.

They must avoid the horns.

(buffalo grunting)

An incredibly lucky escape.

(buffalo grunts)

Desperately, they try to get the bull down on the ground.

(buffalo grunts)

Even their strongest lioness can't topple him.

Nothing they do, seems to work.

(buffalo grunts)

Maya moves in to distract the buffalo.

Her recklessness finally, an asset.

(buffalo snorts)

The bold move pays off.

The bull is starting to waver.

Maya is tenacious.

But the buffalo refuses to submit.

The lions can sense the tables are turning.

They use all their weight to force the bull down.

It's finally over for the buffalo.

Maya helps as a lioness,

Delivers the suffocating bite.

For kimba and his siblings to survive,

Others must perish.

Exhausted, the pride retreats to the shade.

Eating can wait.

(birds chirping)

The day cools.

It's time to eat.

Newly confident kimba

Has shown he's got what it takes

To go up against even the biggest quarry,

An encouraging sign for his future independence.

Maya's fearlessness has paid off,

Her impetuous nature,

Finally, an asset to the pride.

She's now allowed prime share of the spoils.

The mwamba lions have become winners, once more.

(thunder cracking)

As the rains roll in...

Luangwa's inhabitants enjoy its cool relief.

The mwamba pride's future is looking more positive.

Kimba is now front and center of his pride.

But not too grown up for a wrestle with maya.

While the dry season

Has tested the yearlings to their limits,

Kimba and maya have risen to the challenge.

And perhaps, these plucky youngsters

Just might rule this land

In years to come.

(♪♪♪)

(♪♪♪)