Original subtitles

[Forrest Galante] In human-wildlife conflict zones around the world,

animals are being wiped out.

But what if one species started fighting back?

[exclaims] So the crocodile took you all the way here, eh?

On the Zambezi River in Africa,

deadly, unexplained attacks are on the rise.

[Forrest] Very real. They're dying.

I'm here to solve the mystery

of why these croc attacks are increasing...

Here he comes.

...and safely end the conflict.

Watch out. Watch out, watch out, watch out.

Everybody, help! We are losing him! Quick, guys, please! Somebody!

I'm Forrest Galante.

As a wildlife biologist,

tracking and rediscovering animals on the verge of extinction...

Oh, my God!

...I've noticed a pattern of mysterious sights

and human-wildlife conflicts...

Look, there's an elephant. There's an elephant right there.

...which often turn deadly.

[people clamoring]

Now, my team and I are scouring the globe

to shed light on the myths and misconceptions

surrounding our planet's most

mysterious creatures.

I'm here in the Zambezi Delta in Cahora Bassa, Mozambique,

with Remi from Harare.

[Forrest] I grew up not far from here,

fishing in this very river, which is how I met Remi.

I was raised in Zimbabwe, where my family ran safaris.

The bush was my playground,

and catching animals was my sport.

Remi and I both shared a passion for it, even as small children.

So when he called me recently asking for help,

I knew it was gonna be challenging.

[Forrest] Ten people in a single month

is numbers that are astronomical.

That's a 400% increase in crocodile attacks

that have been taking place in the last few years.

So for once, I actually know what the animal I'm targeting is.

What I don't know is why these numbers are so overblown

and what's going on in this region.

In this part of Africa,

there is very little plumbing, and the river is the only source of water

for more than half the population.

As the population rises,

it's creating more and more human-wildlife conflict zones.

But I've never seen anything like this.

Remi, what happened to the village?

[Forrest speaking]

[Remi] Yes.

[Remi] Forrest, he was my best friend when we were little boys.

When we were young, we used to go to the dam, and, uh...

So I know he is the right person to help.

[Forrest] The embeva we would catch when we were kids?

-Ah, okay. Oh, yeah, look at those! -Let me show you.

[Remi] This man, he was a fisherman before.

Oh, I see. So instead of eating fish,

-now he's eating rats, right? -[Remi] Yes.

[Forrest] 'Cause there's no fish left at all.

[man in foreign language]

[Forrest] Uh-huh.

Remi's brought me here to meet with some of the men that survived

recent crocodile attacks.

[speaking foreign language]

[Forrest] This is not a human-wildlife conflict zone.

This is a human-wildlife war zone.

[Remi speaking]

So when did this happen, Remi?

-All of them, for the last two years... -Yeah.

[Forrest] "Crocodile" comes from the Greek word for "lizard of the Nile".

And these cold-blooded carnivores have a well-earned reputation

for attacking and eating humans.

It's estimated that as many as 1,000 people

are killed by crocodiles every year.

What happened to your arm?

[Forrest exclaims]

So the crocodile took you all the way here, eh?

[speaking foreign language]

[Forrest] Mm-hmm.

[Forrest] Yeah.

The crocodile's mouth has the strongest bite force of any animal.

Combine that with 80 sharp teeth evolved to tear away flesh,

and you've got the deadliest chomp on the planet.

How big was the crocodile?

[Forrest] Crocodiles are ambush predators.

And thanks to millions of years of evolution, one of the most effective.

They have exceptional night vision, hearing, and senses of smell.

Plus their eyes, ears and nostrils are all on the top of their head,

allowing them to stay almost completely submerged while hunting.

And you, madala, what happened to you?

[in foreign language]

[in foreign language]

[in foreign language]

Huge. Big, big crocodile.

Almost 14 feet. That croc is deadly.

Crocodiles that large view us little humans as any other prey,

and studies show they can pick up on people's repeated activities

like washing or fishing by the water.

One of them, they had suffered from the same crocodile.

-Mm-hmm. -Yeah, the big one.

I don't believe we're facing a crocodile revolt.

Just one giant maneater.

[speaking foreign language]

[Remi speaking]

-That the crocodile belongs to. -[Remi] Yes.

[Forrest] Witch doctors are the spiritual leaders of these people.

So if they're saying this animal's behavior is due to black magic,

they believe it.

And you, what happened with your leg?

[speaking foreign language]

Oh, to where it bit you. Yeah, let's go see. That's a good idea.

When you actually sit here and connect with the people

whose lives have been impacted,

actually, something I think that scientists often forget,

numbers on a paper, statistics,

is one thing,

but when you see it and you live it

and you experience it, it's another, so...

I feel really sorry for these villagers.

And I also actually feel sorry for this crocodile.

[Remi speaking foreign language]

[man speaking foreign language]

-[Forrest] Mm-hmm. -[continues in foreign language]

-So he was here fishing. There was one big crocodile. -[Remi] Yes.

You didn't hear it. Grabbed him by the leg, pulled him into the water,

and his friend saved him and pulled him out.

Nearly all crocodilian species have evolved a technique known as the death roll,

in which they violently spin around after biting into their prey.

It allows them to tear off large chunks, or even whole limbs to eat.

That crocodile is a crocodile that was cursed by a witch doctor...

-[Remi] Yeah. -...and it's still alive today...

-[Remi] Yes. -...killing more people.

They all mentioned that this crocodile

was being controlled by basically a witch.

This is rural, tribal Africa,

where lore in witchcraft is the reigning belief.

Respecting lore and customs, and combining that with science and understanding

is what will lead to a successful outcome, and so, that's what I have to do.

Sometimes, what seems like unusual beliefs

are responses to information science cannot yet answer.

But one thing I've learned about tribal lore since being raised here in Africa,

it doesn't matter if you believe,

what matters is the beliefs of the community.

[Remi speaking]

[Forrest] I see.

I might go to speak with her, Remi, but...

So why don't you stay here with your family?

I don't wanna make you go.

[Forrest] I understand.

I'm told she's alone,

three miles into the darkest part of the bush.

And my old friend just told me, "Hell, no."

This could get weird.

Oh, you hear that?

Oh, we're about to see something special, guys, come with me.

These are straw-colored fruit bats.

They're such amazing animals.

If you look around, all these treetops are filled with them.

This is a colony of tens of thousands of them.

Let's go up and try to get a closer look.

Okay, one, two, three.

[man speaking]

[Mitch speaking]

[bats screeching]

[Forrest] You know what's amazing is that sound you hear

is them communicating.

And out of hundreds of thousands in the colony,

each mother and baby will have their own little pitch and frequency.

And the mum can find her pup out of this whole mass.

But I don't think we're gonna find a man-eating croc in a tree,

so let's, uh, let's keep going on our journey.

But wow, what a stop.

-[Forrest speaking] -[music playing]

That's not something you hear every day.

There's a hut up here. Oh, this must be it, guys.

[music continues playing]

As much as I try to observe the world through the lens of a scientist,

the closer I get to this witch doctor,

the more I'm starting to feel like I've been expected.

[music stops]

[man speaking foreign language]

[woman and Forrest speaking foreign language]

-[woman speaking foreign language] -[Forrest] Oh.

[Forrest] While I'm extremely skeptical

this witch doctor has any control over a man-eating crocodile,

any connection is worth exploring.

And it might just lead me to the maneater itself.

[speaking foreign language]

Okay, so what she's saying is that she's been waiting for me for a long time.

I've heard from people in the community

that you are in control of the crocodiles. Is this true?

[speaking foreign language]

She says here in Cahora Bassa, the crocodiles are not bad.

They do as she asks them to when she asks them to.

And the fact that people in the community are scared of her is ridiculous,

because the problem is not her crocodiles, it's another crocodile.

[speaking foreign language]

But unless someone can put their hands on that crocodile,

she cannot remove the spirit.

After all the warnings about her,

turns out the witch doctor wants the killing to end, as well.

And like myself, she doesn't believe the crocodile is evil.

So how can I see the crocodile?

[speaking foreign language]

She says you must see like the one that sees the most.

[speaking foreign language]

You must see like the big bird.

[woman continues speaking foreign language]

I think she's referring to a vulture, I believe.

[speaking foreign language]

And she's saying I must take a feather from the one that sees the most,

and put it on my eyes if I want to see the one that is evil.

[speaking foreign language]

"Get it, or else more people will die."

[speaks foreign language]

[in English] Thank you. I will do my best, I promise.

These are her beliefs and her tradition.

Quite frankly, I feel somewhat inclined to believe some of it.

But as a scientist, while I don't actually believe in the voodoo of it all,

I do believe that these people

will continue to feel this way

unless I can catch this crocodile

and allow the witch doctor to do what the witch doctor needs to do

to remove this evil spirit.

And if I'm going to honor those beliefs,

my first step is to get myself a feather.

Just gonna keep walking, 'cause there are some vultures in the area.

Look at this. Here's the kill.

A lion has hit a reedbuck here.

This is perfect, guys. Let's see if we can find a vulture feather.

This kill is still pretty fresh.

There's not much left of it, but...

There is enough to have them come back.

See how they're hanging out right over there?

So here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna grab this.

Guys, come with me. We're gonna build a little hide,

and I'm gonna put on some camo.

I came here for a vulture feather.

And I am not leaving without one.

Vultures have some of the best eyesight in the entire world.

To put it into human perspective,

a vulture can read a newspaper from a mile away.

That's how good their eyesight is.

So I have to be extremely camouflaged.

All right, so, the kill's here.

And, uh, guys, you gotta cover me up.

Okay.

All right, am I totally covered, guys?

[Forrest] Okay, back way way out. Give me some space.

This is definitely the most unusual crocodile hunt I've ever attempted

as I find myself adapting to the crocodile style of ambushing prey

to land a feather.

I'm very hopeful that no hyenas or lions show up for this.

[whispering]

They're distracted. Time to ambush.

Got it.

Whoo! [laughs] I did not know if that was gonna work or not.

But sure, enough, I was able to pull a single feather

from a white-backed vulture.

I'm gonna follow what the mgangasaid, the witch.

Rub it across my eyes and see if I'm able to see the demon croc now.

Admittedly, I'm not feeling any magic vision.

But respecting her beliefs should earn me some trust.

I'm eager to let Remi know she's actually on our side.

Plus, he's arranged a meeting with some active fishermen.

I wanna get a look at their catch.

Hi, guys. How's the fishing?

Where are the big fish?

They are saying they've got one. Which one?

Let's see.

That's a big fish, one small Chessa.

Take a look at this.

The Zambezi Delta area is a nursery for fish.

This area should be rich. This is a tigerfish.

This fish should be 25 pounds.

These fish are all tiny.

And what that's telling me is that the overfishing in this area

is leading to a collapse in the ecosystem.

If you take all of the babies out of an environment, you can't have adults.

And if you don't have adults, you don't have reproduction.

It is not sustainable.

This is the biggest catch in the entire boat.

What I believe is that there is a very large crocodile...

-Yes. -...and that there's not enough fish for him to eat.

So he's eating people. What do you think, Remi?

Well, that's the problem, is they're so stealthy,

you know, they can live under these reed banks.

They can be this far below the water and you can't see it.

Right there. Could be right there right now and we wouldn't even see it.

Since every attack we heard of took place in the evening,

Remi and I are beginning our search now.

And since a boat motor could scare it off,

we're taking a canoe to examine some of the areas

where recent attacks took place.

Very quiet. I'm actually surprised by the lack of crocs out here.

Yeah, pretty weird.

[Forrest and Remi clamoring]

[Forrest] Remi, get out of the water! Get out of the water!

[Forrest and Remi clamoring]

[Forrest] Remi, get out of the water! Get out of the water.

Out, out, out, out. Out of the water. Get out of the water.

[Forrest] Yeah, we're fine.

Something just hit the canoe.

My camera crew was tailing us in a motorboat.

So they were already on us as Remi and I come ashore.

Go get the boat, guys. We're okay. We're fine. The boat's sinking.

Oh, I'm, like, shaking from adrenaline.

[Forrest] I didn't see anything.

[Remi] I think it's a crocodile.

[Forrest] You guys see a croc there?

We're done with the little dugout canoe.

Yeah, no, that was way too close.

I think that maybe because my camera crew started up their boat engine

and came rushing in that that crocodile didn't grab us, or...

I don't really know.

I guess I understand what these fishermen are going through now, so,

we're gonna keep our feet on the ground tomorrow,

and just kind of reset, 'cause I'm... I'm very rattled from that, so...

Yeah, okay.

Remi and I are back at the scene of the crime.

This is the closest I've come to seeing any crocodile.

So we're gonna set up here and see if we can bait him in and get a good look.

So, Remi, we're gonna do this like this, okay?

We're gonna take some big sticks like this...

That's perfect. I can't get a single one in, he's already got two in.

[chuckles]

We're building a blind,

not unlike the one that allowed me to grab a vulture.

But in this case, we have our own bait.

Let's put it right here on this stick.

In the hole. Exactly.

So the village had killed a hippo.

We scavenged all these guts and stuck 'em in the water right here.

Now what we're gonna do is as you come up from here,

just about, I don't know, 12 feet away,

we're gonna build our first side of the blind.

And then behind that, where Remi and the guys are cutting,

they're gonna put a hide.

This is no different to all that survival stuff you see on TV,

where people are trying to craft places to sleep.

We're just doing it to sleep next to crocodiles.

Forrest, do you still remember we used to make these to watch animals?

-Yeah, of course, my friend. -[Remi] When we were young.

Yeah, I remember very well.

On the farm.

It was a good time on that time.

It was a good time, my friend.

-Yeah. -Yeah, but now we're doing it to catch big crocodiles.

-Exactly. -Then we were just doing it to be naughty.

[both laugh]

[Forrest] That took the better part of a day.

But we're good to go.

So, Remi, let's just move this meat around

so that if the crocodile comes,

he must come up to eat these pieces.

-[Remi] Okay. -[Forrest] Excellent. Oh, he's gonna be very close to us.

So, Remi, I've got this impala here.

Even with the fresh bait out,

I'm using every lure at my disposal

to get this crocodile to show itself.

So the impala's in place.

Now what I'm going to do is just put this little twirly visual decoy in.

You'll see every few minutes, it's just gonna spin a little bit.

And that's gonna simulate the tongue of an impala lapping up water

or something like that.

So we've got meat, we've got smell, we've got taste,

we've got visual, we've got movement.

Now, guys, we need to get in the blind

and buckle down and see, if we wait long enough, if we got a croc.

So, Remi, come, let's go.

We're gonna put on some camouflage.

Mitch, let's settle down. Let's get buckled in, guys.

We've still got some sunlight, so we could be in for a long wait.

[whispering]

An enormous croc has come in for a taste.

This could easily be our big, bad maneater.

From what I can see, he looks close to 15 feet.

He's at least 50 years old, and probably close to 1,500 pounds.

And look at how wide his mouth is.

But he seems to be looking right at us, just waiting.

[whispering]

After hours of staring me down,

he's finally starting to feed.

I'm hoping it distracts him enough to get a closer look.

It appears we've got more dinner guests.

[whispering]

There's that signature death roll as the big guy tears off chunks of hippo

while the others wait for their turn.

[whispering]

Look at the size of that crocodile.

That is an unbelievable animal.

I've never seen this before.

I'm gonna close in.

I wanna see how he reacts to a human approaching him.

[laughs and whoops]

What did you think of that, Remi?

-You were scared, eh? -No.

I was very scared.

[Forrest] That big one.

No. I mean, look, I was right here.

-Okay. -Crocodile, one, two, three meters.

It's not scared of people.

Now that we found him, we need to build something.

Something that can catch him.

-Let's do it, my friend. -[whoops]

The plan is today to just build a trap

that's strong enough to actually contain him.

If I can trap it, I can let the witch doctor perform her ceremony.

If the villagers believe the evil spirit is gone,

they'll let me take the crocodile somewhere safe instead of killing it.

Mozambique is a country with very limited resources.

Here, it's find an old junkyard, borrow a welder.

That's the kind of magic you only get in this part of the world.

Perfect.

So now, we're just gonna get everybody involved, the whole crew,

guys from the community, and plant it in place.

Okay, guys, so what we have to do is drop it in.

We're laying our trap right near where we saw him attack our bait

since we've established this as a feeding ground.

[grunts]

There we go, guys. Very good. All right, Remi, open it up.

All right, ready?

Here we go.

Give me the bait? Okay, close it. Close the door.

All right, great. Ooh, it's heavy.

And since the rotting hippo parts did so well yesterday, I'm using the same bait.

Whoa, boy. This smells good. [grunts] Okay.

All right, so the bait's in place.

The hardest part about catching crocodiles

is they are instinctual animals,

and they're far more clever than people give them credit for.

It's not like you just put a piece of meat in the water and it's gonna come.

These animals know when they're being hunted.

You know what we need to do? We need to hide the cage.

Now, we wait.

Since we know that the other crocs let the alpha eat first,

I can be fairly certain he will be the one to go for the bait.

What we're witnessing is a ceremonial funeral.

The Shona people burn the home of their deceased.

They burn the hut to symbolize leaving this world.

Going into the next.

This is very real.

They're dying.

This is in honor of a fisherman that disappeared three days ago.

No one can be sure it was the crocodile.

But the village is convinced that black magic is at play.

As morning breaks, we're all feeling especially determined.

The trap's just up here, Remi, on the left hand side.

Ooh, the door's down, eh? Do you see that?

-Oh, look, look! Remi, Remi, look! -There's s crocodile there!

-Right there! -[Forrest laughs]

That's the one, Remi. That's the crocodile, huh?

-[Remi] Yeah. -Come in, come in, come in, guys.

We got him. We got him. We got him, we got him!

Look at the size of this crocodile.

[exclaims] Remi, that's a maneater, eh?

That head is as big as my torso.

We haven't caught him yet. Like, things can go very wrong from here.

This is... This is just step one, so, I gotta try and get it on his neck now.

I designed this breakaway snare for this type of work,

and it's my go-to tool for getting my hands on any type of crocodilian.

He's not gonna like this part, I promise you.

-[crocodile hisses] -[grunts]

The cord is nearly unbreakable.

And it's used around the neck, where the croc's skin is tougher and extra thick.

Just gotta get it all the way back in there.

There we go, okay.

All right, here we go.

-[Remi] Yes. -[Forrest] Okay, I want you to hold this cable, okay?

I'm gonna do this thing now.

This is a steel-fabricated cage.

And look at the strength of what he's able to do with one single lunge.

Now that he's snared, I'm actually gonna let him go for his own safety.

I need him out of the steel cage,

where he can't thrash and hurt himself, and into the open.

There he goes. Let him go. Let him go!

-[Remi] Let it go! -Madala,let him go! Hey, hey, let him go!

-Let him go. Let him go. -[Remi speaking foreign language]

[Forrest] Okay, guys, we're gonna need... Give me this one. This one here. This side.

Okay, here we go, guys. This is it.

Now we reel him back in by hand.

Oh, boy. This is a big crocodile.

Okay, you ready? Guys, this is gonna take all of us, seriously.

-As in I need hands. Careful, Remi. -Ooh!

-[Remi] Yeah, you. Come on. Yeah. -You ready?

I'd even got my camera team pulling.

Come on.

He's gonna start fighting now. Here he comes.

That's all right. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Let him roll. Let him roll.

Let him roll. That's perfect. We want him to roll like that.

Pull, Remi, pull, Remi, pull!

Watch out! Watch those jaws!

Yeah, that's a big crocodile!

Watch yourself! Back up, back up, back up.

Back up. Yeah, back up, back up, back up, Remi. Back up, back, back, back.

Hold there.

-[Remi] Okay. -[Forrest] Whoo!

Yeah!

[Forrest] Here he comes.

Now that he's tired himself out a bit,

I need to get a second snare around the world's most powerful bite force

to keep everyone safe.

He's so big, I literally can't get the noose around his jaws.

This is the biggest catchpole

we've ever made and it barely fits.

Oh, he's strong! I can't even get his jaws closed.

One, two, three, up!

One, two, three, up!

We need him on dry land to wrap him for travel.

But every step is a struggle.

Almost. One, two, three, up!

Okay, a little bit more, one, two, three, up!

Yeah, go on, perfect.

Thank you, Remi.

-Okay, Remi, come sit, sit here, sit here. -Ooh!

-Sit here. -Yeah!

Okay. All right. We got it.

Whoa! Forrest!

Yeah, what do you think, Remi, are you happy?

You never sit on a big crocodile before, eh?

-It's my first time, you know. -[laughs]

We've got him now, safe and sound.

No more deaths from this guy and no one got hurt.

There we go. Very good. Okay, so he's still very much...

Alive and breathing nicely.

So we're gonna cover his eyes.

-John, can I borrow your scarf? -Sure.

[Forrest] Thank you.

The crocodiles, when they close their eyes,

it's like they get tired, you know? They go to sleep, so...

-[Remi] Okay. -We're just gonna close his eyes.

Now he's gonna go to sleep now when his eyes go closed.

Now we've gotta prep him for safe transport.

-That's it. We got him. -[laughs]

It's good, eh? What do you say? It's good, eh, baba?

Yeah, that's the one, eh?

He knows he's captured, so he's saving his energy.

But he could lash out if we're not careful.

Now I won't recommend anybody ever try this at home,

but look at the size of him. I'm six feet tall.

That means this is like a 16, 17-foot-long crocodile.

I mean, look at the size of him. He is just massive.

He's a lot bigger than the lizards we used to catch when we were kids, eh?

[both laugh]

[Forrest] We've stopped the killings by capturing the croc.

Now we need to heal the community

by letting them purge the evil spirit.

And for that, he's coming with us on a boat ride.

One, two, three.

Right. Probably weighs close to two tons, so...

It's gonna take everyone.

Yeah, he's getting ready to thrash again.

Now under here, guys. Oh, that's right.

Watch out, watch out. Watch out, watch out, watch out.

That's right. We're all right. We're all right.

Grab the rope. Grab the rope. Grab the rope.

I told you, he's gonna go now.

Grab the rope. Grab the rope.

Guys, get the noose, get the noose!

He's headed right for the water.

Help! Everybody, help! Everybody, help!

Ivan, everybody, help! We're losing him.

I don't know, we gotta get... Get one of the poles, quick.

Quick, quick, quick!

We're losing him, guys!

-[all clamoring] -[Forrest] Guys, we are losing him!

Quick, guys, please! Somebody!

[grunts] So see this vine right here?

This is cissus integrifolia, also known as water vine.

And when you're in the African bush, where things get very hot...

You don't have a lot of water here around.

So instead, you have to find alternative water sources like this

and you can see, it harbors a ton of water.

So these things can be absolutely life-saving.

[Forrest] We need another rope on his jaw immediately.

The 17-foot, two-ton dinosaur is far too powerful for Remi and I.

And I need every hand available to stop him from getting away.

We got it. That's right.

That's the thing with crocodiles. You can never get complacent.

I mean, I totally got complacent there,

stopped paying attention, and we nearly lost him.

Look at these, eh? Imagine this going through you, 60-something of them.

With such an insane bite force,

it just punctures your entire body.

Their method of killing is not by biting you, not at all.

They grab on and they twirl.

And what that does is it rips limb from body,

and you bleed out, and then they'll actually take the carcass

and store it under these reed banks, just like that one where we caught him,

and wait for it to decompose and rot so it's easy to eat.

Ready, one, two, three, up!

-[all grunt] -[Forrest] There we go. There we go.

Now come this way. Towards me, guys, towards me.

-There we go. -[Remi] Okay. Oh.

Whoo! Good job, everybody, eh?

Got him roped and he's in the boat,

ready for the witch doctor to do her thing.

That's it.

After that, I'm hoping to release him far from here, where he can't be harmed.

And it sounds like word of our success may have already reached the village.

Remi and I are getting a hero's welcome.

[all chanting and applauding]

Look at them, Mitch, they're so happy.

[all cheering]

-Are you happy? -[all cheer]

Good day, good day.

[all applauding and cheering]

This is just an incredible celebration.

Both the fishermen and the crocodile are safe,

but as for any evil spirits...

The witch doctor has sent one of her disciples

to perform the ceremony.

[people chanting]

While this might not be my personal belief,

it is incredibly important to all the people here.

-[singing in foreign language] -[trumpet blowing]

This is the trumpet which they will blow when they are calling for the spirit medium.

[speaking in foreign language]

[Remi speaking]

[speaking in foreign language]

And we want to know if this creature can, uh...

[Forrest] Right, watch the leg.

[people clamoring]

[Forrest] All right. We're okay. We're all right. It's all right.

It's all right.

Who tied this knot? This know is...

Maybe there is something to this evil spirit.

-It's all right. It's all right. -[people clamoring]

We have him bound, so he can't bite anyone.

But it's important to show calm with such a large group.

If the crowd panics, that could get dangerous,

and really stress the crocodile.

So, uh, quite interesting, really.

The croc hasn't budged in maybe 30 minutes.

All of a sudden, the witch doctor starts talking about the croc,

and he's not happy about it, so,

while it might not be my immediate belief,

it's pretty interesting that the timing worked out like that.

Now that he's calm, the ceremony can continue.

[speaking in foreign language]

[Remi] This is the end of it. It won't kill another person.

They are now powerless.

Excellent.

[crowd cheers and applauds]

-[music playing] -[cheering continues]

[Forrest] Time to find a new home for the big guy.

Bye, guys! Bye-bye!

Okay, madala.Watch out, he's waking up, eh?

Oh! [grunts]

I'm taking him many miles upriver,

a half-day's journey from the fishing village.

Up here, this environment is just absolutely stunning.

You can see there's big, sandy riverbeds,

there's crocodiles all over, look, there's one right there.

This is not an area where people come very often.

So we might have a really nice home for our big, grumpy guy.

One, two, three.

My plan is actually to put a GPS tracker on him

and that way, we can monitor exactly where he's going and when he's going there.

So this very menacing-looking GPS tracker here,

but the truth is, crocodiles have extremely soft skin

underneath extremely tough scales,

and piercing this would basically be the same as giving us an ear piercing.

The difference is, this ear piercing

is gonna tell us a lot about this animal's behavior.

And now, the most stressful step in any crocodile capture.

The release.

Okay, guys, this is it, eh? Everybody needs to be focused up and ready.

Back up.

Okay, back off. Back off. Everybody, back off. Back off, back off.

No, no, he's not for long.

I know his tricks now.

He's just waiting to make a run for it.

-[Remi laughs] -There he goes!

-Look at this. Go on, off you go! Go home! -[all cheering]

-Have a nice life! -[Remi] And a nice journey!

-Whoo! -[both laugh]

That's the end.

Hey, that's great.

-Thank you. -That's it, guys, we did it!

I came home to the Zambezi River

with every intention of studying these overly aggressive crocodiles.

And at first, I would never have guessed it was a single, gigantic alpha male

that was causing all the pain and suffering.

And while this problem was an isolated incident,

this monster crocodile could be the first of many.

There are more human beings on the planet now than ever before,

so basic needs like food, running water and land are getting scarce.

Human beings are fighting wildlife for those resources.

When humans and wildlife come into conflict, the wildlife always loses.

We have to come up with sustainable methods of harvest.

We have to eat just the right amount of fish.

Not catch as many as we can and ship them off all over the world.

And if we can do that, we can have a balanced ecosystem.

And if the ecosystem is in balance,

then both humans and animals can live happily side by side.