You can see that's a zebra
that was taken down.
I don't know why the culprits aren't still here right now,
but they're not very far.
They wouldn't have left this like that.
They could be anywhere in there.
It'd be wise of me to get out of here
and stay away from those bushes.
Look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look.
There's something else looking for food.
Wow, I'd never think
I'd get this close but look at this.
Look at those hyenas right there.
They are feeding on a leg of something,
and they are ravenous.
They have to pound in
as much food as they possibly can.
They don't want anybody to steal their rotten leg meat.
They can carry off carcasses,
dragging it away from anything else
that's competing for food with them.
But these notorious scavengers
are also fierce hunters.
Big muscles, big bones, big teeth.
They're incredibly capable.
I need to be careful out here and keep moving.
If hyenas are there,
then there's probably more coming.
I'm Hazen Audel,
wilderness explorer.
I've been on an epic solo safari
through Africa's Great Rift Valley.
On a mission to see
this continent's magnificent wildlife first-hand.
My expedition south has taken me
through some of the most unique
and bio-diverse environments on earth.
Now, the place I've battled over 500 miles to see
lies just ahead of me,
the animal kingdom of the Serengeti.
What a journey in extreme
and challenging conditions.
It's taken everything I got to get me this far.
The Serengeti is home
to an unrivaled wildlife phenomenon
when an annual journey by millions of wildebeest
brings Africa's most iconic wildlife together
in the heart of the grasslands.
Known as "the Great Migration,"
it's the largest congregation of land animals
anywhere on earth.
And I'm determined to witness it
for myself.
I've waited my life to be here.
I'm on the edge of the Garden of Eden.
It's where the millions and millions
of migrating animals are going.
But the final leg of my journey
will push me to the extreme.
I will need to make it 80 miles
through the harsh scrubland and arid plains
of the Eyasi Valley
before battling past the untamed wilderness
and apex predators of the Serengeti.
And the rains that trigger the migration
are due any day now.
The sky is full of clouds.
The rains are coming.
I need to get there for when they break.
If I could make it, I timed it just right.
Or the spectacle I've come all this way to see
will have already moved on.
Time is short.
And getting through Eyasi to the Serengeti grasslands
won't be easy.
My first challenge is to get to the valley floor below.
All this volcanic igneous granite
means I'm getting into the valley.
And this little trickle of water here
is everything I need to know.
It all goes downhill.
Descending this rift line
requires complete concentration
and as much grip as I can muster.
When the water is really charging through here,
it just polishes this granite.
Whoo. Makes it very slick.
I've made it hundreds of miles to get here,
but one wrong step now could end my journey.
Whoo-hoo-hoo.
Okay, there we go.
Sometimes it just feels like
inch by inch, I'm making it to my final destination,
but it's been miles and miles.
Finally, I see the scrubland of the valley floor,
my pathway ahead.
Look at that. Way out there.
Leading me right to the Serengeti.
But here in the Eyasi Valley,
the landscape is a harsh and ruthless environment.
Look at all those bones.
It's a big pile of bones.
Look at this.
Look at all these bones.
At first glance, you'd think that this would all be
some sort of...
giant cave bear.
But the animal
that is responsible for all of this,
there's the evidence right there.
Look.
The quills, the spines of an African porcupine.
The biggest and most spectacular porcupine
in the world.
They can get real big and nasty,
big enough to ward off lions.
They have this very peculiar habit
of hoarding bones,
bones from animals that have been killed by predators.
So a porcupine can always have something to gnaw on.
Bones are a fantastic source of calcium,
extra minerals, salts.
So, nobody alive is home but probably lots of ghosts.
Out here,
only the most ingenious scavengers prevail.
Food is scarce.
The dry season has stripped the scrubland
of most of its life.
And the remaining animals will be desperate.
Because of the lack of rain, there's not a lot of game
but in places like this...
it can be full of predators,
and it stays very well hidden.
Wherever you're going,
you have to try to almost imagine
what might be behind every bush.
It's a wild place.
This area's resilient plant life
is my best hope for refuge and nutrients.
Have you ever seen a tree
like that?
So this tree is called a baobab tree.
Among the oldest plants in the world,
baobab trees can live up to 2,000 years.
This baobab's fruits have dried up
and fallen to the ground.
But it does bear some encouraging evidence
that I'm not completely alone out here.
This is manmade.
It's very, very soft wood. So you can hollow it out.
You can use it like a, like a big storage chest.
So if you find a surplus of food,
you can block this up with wood, stacks of rocks.
Hyenas, other predators can't get to it.
You'll have a supply of food that you can depend on.
The baobab plays an important role
in the culture of the ancient tribe
that still wanders these lands.
The legendary Hadza
are one of the last hunter and gatherer tribes in Africa,
living deep in the Eyasi Valley.
They've been thriving in this beautiful
but brutal landscape for over 50,000 years.
The Hadza believe the spirits of their ancestors' rest
within the baobab trees.
For the Hadza, trees that are like this,
sometimes they're birthing trees.
So where women can go and actually have their own
private secluded spot to give birth.
And then the village and community will come in
and feed her, keep her protected
inside this tree for a few weeks,
and then she'll finally come out and reveal her newborn.
It's cool in there.
Okay.
Locating the elusive Hadza
will give me the best chance of finding
a way into the Serengeti
and witnessing the Great Migration.
Without their expert local knowledge,
tracking down moving herds of animals
in such a vast area
will be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
But sometimes,
wild animals find you.
Oh, look at that.
Look at the baby.
One thing to know about baby elephants
is they never stray far from their mothers.
Ooh, you can hear them, too.
I can't see them all
because it's so dense in here.
There's a whole family of them.
Elephants are fiercely protective of their young.
I need to be calm and stay out of sight.
It notices me.
It's got its ears right at me.
It knows I'm here, it's the only one that knows I'm here.
But if the others notice, it could be trouble.
They look like gentle giants, but that could easily change.
This is way too close to be safe.
Oh, they see me.
It's amazing how big they are,
but sometimes they can just come out of nowhere
if they are in this brush like this.
A whole family of elephants.
From what I can see, there are about 20 of them.
Okay, time to give them their space.
As I trek closer towards the Serengeti,
I expect to see more wild animals.
But I'm also finding more signs of people.
There are some houses over there.
This is good.
It's definitely a house...
but nobody's home.
Yeah...
these are Hadza-style houses.
They're always migrating.
They never stay in one place for very long
because they're always following the patterns of their prey.
So it looks like they were here for a while.
There wasn't enough game here, so they moved on.
This Hadza camp still looks pretty fresh.
They must have left it just recently.
I'll just keep heading west,
and then I might meet up with this family
or a whole another community or family group of Hadza.
That's what I'm hoping.
I need to keep pushing on.
Ooh.
You hear that?
And there's just a little bit of rain,
but this could all change real fast.
It's a sign that the rains are getting closer,
and I could be running behind schedule
for the Great Migration I'm desperate to see.
But my luck could be changing.
Look at this.
Good, clean freshwater.
Anywhere where there's water,
especially here in Africa, could be people.
And with these trails, you can just see
how much animal activity is around.
These are people trails too.
I need to follow them.
You hear that?
I think they're right down here.
Whoo!
It looks like the Hadza,
a hunting party.
Jambo!
Check it out.
Jambo!Hoo!
I'm just traveling through.
I'm walking.
Hello! I'm Hazen.
I was coming east.
Coming from way east.
Yeah.
And I was trying to get to the Serengeti.
So you speak a little bit of English?
Yeah, yeah, great.
Yeah, yeah. Wh-what's your name?
Julius is the head of this hunting party.
I got it.
He's brought his men out into the bush looking for game.
And you guys got the, the bird? Wow.
They've shot a guineafowl with a bow and arrow.
You got that?
And now, they're heading back to camp.
This is the real deal,
hunters and gatherers.
Okay, they're heading that way.
I found them. I got to go.
Around 20 or so Hadza live in this settlement.
But as nomadic people,
this clan will move on every few months.
Alright, a little barbecue happening right now.
I guess it might as well be lunchtime.
Yeah. To enjoy lunch time now,
because too much hungry.
When you guys went out this morning to go hunting,
what did you guys think you would find?
I wanted to find warthog.
-Oh, you wanted to find warthog? -But they were missing.
Catching anything from guineafowl to antelopes,
the Hadza's hunting is entirely opportunistic,
and they kill only what they eat.
It looks like some arrow making too in the free time.
So this is, this is the tendon, right?
Yeah. Tendon from animal.
We take feathers and then make like this.
Then to bend.
-Very, very cool. -Yeah.
So these bigger feathers,
the big tail feathers, the big wing feathers,
they are saved for the fletching for these arrows.
Makes the arrow fly straighter.
The perfect marksmanship needed for hunting
requires constant training.
This is where you do it?
Right here.
So with their down time,
they're going to show me one of the things
that they do the very best,
how good they are at hitting a target
with their bow and arrow.
This is something they do every day.
Oh, man, bullseye.
Oh, dead on.
Golly!
Oh! Another bullseye!
Geez! These guys are good.
Man!
Killer shots.
And then that's right into a log,
so you can imagine just the penetrating power
of each one of these.
Now, it's time for me to give it a shot.
Oh, boy, this is gonna be embarrassing.
Let's see if I still got this.
Oh, I way overshot it. Okay.
I'm a little rusty, but we'll get there.
-Okay. -Try again.
Oh!
Man, that was like this close!
Takes a while to get used to these.
Come on.
Ay! Yeah! There we go.
Yeah, I mean, I got it, but it was...
This is all very friendly competition,
but being the one that's the very best at a bow and arrow
is probably the one that's bringing the most meat home
to the community.
I'm hanging out with the best of the best.
Nice. Thank you.
With dusk approaching,
Julius has me spend the night in
with the community.
These are some of the last true hunters and gatherers
that still exist on this huge planet Earth.
I am so happy to be seeing this...
and experiencing this for myself.
I am very fortunate.
Morning has come.
Before I head off,
I need advice on a route into the Serengeti
that will give me the best chance of witnessing
the Great Migration.
And master hunter Julius knows this region
and its wildlife better than anyone.
If you follow down in sunset?
-Yes. Okay, so west... -Yeah.
...where the sunset is?
Then go, go, go, go.
There are big plains.
Big plains. Yeah.
A vast arid plain lies ahead of me.
Water will be scarce until I reach a river.
But here, I will face another problem.
If you are passing here, careful,
because there are many, many crocodile.
Big!
-Yeah, yeah. -Huge!
After these dangerous waters,
I'll face new terrain
marked by a distinctive formation.
Then there are big rocks
and very nice striped, like zebra.
The rocks have stripes on them?
-Like a zebra? -Stripes, stripes...
Beyond zebra rock
and the rocky ranges
lie the grasslands at the heart of the Serengeti.
And if I can make it in time,
the spectacle I've come so far to see.
And then you are near
to go the migration.
Uh-huh! Okay. Great.
With my route to the Great Migration set out,
it's time to leave the Hadza.
And I push west into the arid barren plains.
No grass, no herbivores.
No herbivores, no predators.
It's just me.
Truly in the middle of nowhere.
This kind of landscape, this is where
the majority of human evolution occurred.
Places that are wide open,
places where you could walk and walk and walk
for miles and miles and miles.
I need to keep pushing hard
to reach the Serengeti grasslands
in time for the rains.
There are just a few rain bursts
maybe way far off there in the horizon.
But nothing on me.
This place is still so dry.
On these exposed plains,
temperatures reach 90 degrees,
and there's zero shade,
meaning I'm facing a very real risk
of dehydration and heatstroke.
I got to find some water... bad.
Miles of trekking across the arid plains
take their toll...
and ahead, I finally see a river.
But I don't think this is the one that Julius mentioned.
There are no crocodiles.
And look, it's dry.
I desperately need to find water.
Look at all these little depressions here.
Here they go all along the sand.
Those are dug out by animals.
Yeah, it's wet.
This is going to be good.
Yeah. I've already hit water.
You can see how wet this sand is.
I'm reaching water right here.
I'll just dig it deep enough
so I can collect it.
I've had a lifetime of drinking questionable water
and at this point, I pretty much have
the constitution of a warthog.
Okay.
Well, it's not the best-looking water.
It's not the best-tasting water.
But this is the only stuff that's out here.
It's a last resort.
I'm thankful for what I found.
Okay, I'll top up and be on my way.
I consider that a success.
But just as I'm about to move on,
I spot some concerning tracks.
Look at this. Look at this, though.
Right here. See that?
This is so fresh.
It's a leopard. See that?
Yeah. Passing right through here.
You've got to keep in mind that they're somewhere,
and you hope that you see them before they see you.
Might be better to kind of get up into the open plains...
so I can keep a lookout...
for exactly what we just saw.
Moving past the dry river,
the harsh arid plains seem to finally be behind me.
The vegetation starts to green up.
But with those fresh prints nearby,
the tree line ahead is potentially more dangerous.
As I'm walking through here,
you've got to look at every single one
of these little hiding spots.
There might be something ready to pounce.
Whoa!
Oh, my God, are you seeing this?
Are you seeing this?
Up in the tree.
They're so incredibly well camouflaged,
they stay up in the branches.
Even from here, it's hard to see.
It is a real live leopard,
a juvenile one.
I am so close to it
that I can hear its jaws crunching
the bones of its prey.
It's a very hungry cat.
I think it just got a monkey.
They're such incredible hunters.
They can easily carry their own body weight in food.
They have big powerful claws, powerful jaws.
That camouflage paint job, they can sneak up on prey.
More than likely,
its mother is around in another hiding spot.
An adult would be twice that big.
Adult leopards are known to defend themselves
and can attack and kill humans,
especially if they feel exposed or threatened.
They pounce when your back is turned
or when you're least suspecting.
There is a lot more eyes on me
than what my eyes can see out there.
I'll have to keep a lookout.
I have to be especially wary of where I'm going now.
This feasting leopard is the first clear sign
that I'm closing in on the animal kingdom
of the Serengeti
and an early reminder
I'm heading into a totally untamed wilderness.
I'm not always going to be the one
that's at the top of the food chain.
So you always have to be on the lookout.
Ahead of me, I finally see flowing waters.
This must be the river Julius told me about.
But it's not crocodiles
I should have been watching out for.
Instead, it's one of the most temperamental animals out here.
Wow, there are a lot of eyes looking in my direction,
a lot of ears pointed in my direction.
They know I'm here.
Hippos kill more people than any other large animal
in the entire world.
Being so packed together in such limited water,
they're stressed and ready to defend their territory.
Ooh, ooh, ooh. Look at that one.
It's starting to come up, it's starting to come up.
Oh, oh, oh.
Just showing me their jaws, showing me their tusks
that could literally cut a man in half.
They're telling me to back off.
Hippos are dangerous in and out of the water.
They can run up to 22 miles an hour.
And in this area,
I need to keep a lookout everywhere around me.
Oh, oh, oh, oh. Here's what I'm talking about.
The ones that are up on land,
those are just on the land feeding,
which means there could be more out here.
That's when they get really dangerous.
Okay, time to go.
I'll need make sure to give this river a wide berth...
and push on in search of the Great Migration.
Julius told me that once I pass the river,
I need to find a zebra-striped rock.
It marks the start of a rocky range
that leads up to my ultimate destination,
the lush grasslands of the Serengeti.
You see those clouds
where I'm heading towards?
Those are cumulus clouds,
and they're getting bigger and bigger
as I'm getting closer and closer.
It might mean rain,
turning this into green, lush grass.
As soon as the rains have fallen,
new grasses will sprout,
bringing the wildebeest.
I need to make it to the Serengeti
before the herds have eaten
and moved on deeper into the vast wilderness.
I think that's the big rock
that the Hadza were telling me about,
the one that looks like a zebra.
I'll find out when I get closer.
So these big rocky outcroppings are called kopjes.
This formed deep underground,
crystallized, made these big stripes,
and then millions of years of uplifting,
it brought those rocks up above.
And it is definitely the biggest,
tallest rock around by far.
This is a very important marker for me.
It gives me a good idea that I'm still on track.
Ahead of me is the rocky terrain
Julius told me about.
The final passageway separating me
from the lush central grasslands.
This landscape makes for ideal ambush territory
for large predators like lions.
And with dusk approaching,
I need to find somewhere safe to sleep.
Huh?
Have a look at that lizard.
Isn't that a beautiful one?
It's called an agama lizard, in breeding colors.
Bright orange and blue.
It went in there.
Okay.
Lizard went in there but disappeared.
It's revealed a potential place to spend the night.
It's very simple,
tight with only one access hole.
If I had a big poky branch, like an acacia branch,
put it right in there.
I'd be tucked in but nice and safe.
Considering what's out here in this kind of an environment.
They've been incredibly long days
the last couple days.
So sometimes, you just make do.
Tomorrow is going to be a big push.
And if I can keep up with the herd and actually find them,
tomorrow's going to be the big day.
So I've slept in better places.
But if I make it through the night
and, uh...
that's really all that matters.
Okay.
But after dark
is when the Serengeti truly comes alive.
The lions...
you can hear different prides of lions.
Some of them are really close.
The next morning...
I am awoken by the sound of heavy rainfall.
It's raining.
Wow!
It's really coming down! This is just the beginning!
Look at it!
The seasonal downpours that trigger
the Great Migration have broken.
I've made it here just in time.
I am not the only one happy
about this rain, I'm sure of it.
Incredibly, wildebeest can smell rain
in the air from 40 miles away
and then follow it to find the freshest pastures.
They'll be on the Serengeti grasslands very soon.
I need to get moving.
Okay, let's find this migration.
If Julius is right,
this rocky range is my last hurdle
before I reach the Serengeti.
With the rains easing off,
I head higher up for a better vantage point.
Last little bit here.
Okay.
And there you go.
All that there.
That's what I came to see.
Amazing how you can just see for miles and miles...
of untouched wilderness.
At last.
The grasslands of the Serengeti.
Five hundred miles after starting my epic journey,
I've set eyes on this garden of Eden.
I still have miles ahead of me,
but this is the Serengeti.
If the migration is nearby,
this would be the place to spot it.
The big contenders
are the wildebeest and the zebra.
It's hard to imagine that you couldn't see them from up here
because some of the herds are so big.
And then,
I see something in the distance.
There is, though,
a bunch of dust coming up over the horizon.
If there was a herd in the millions,
it'd be awfully dusty.
A dust cloud that big
could only be from the animals of the Great Migration.
It finally looks within reach.
Heading down into the grassland,
I see the impact of the recent downpours.
Look at what the rains have done.
They've turned this place into this...
bountiful land...
and it's brought all this green.
And the Serengeti's reputation
as being one of the planet's wildlife paradises
becomes immediately clear.
Oh wow, look at the giraffes.
They're pretty close.
You're looking at the tallest animal
in the entire world.
The giraffes, they're pretty much residents.
They don't have huge migrations
because they have the advantage over the other animals.
When all the grass is dried up and there's no more food,
they're the ones that can reach up at the tops of these branches
and always have something to eat.
Giraffes are one of the most iconic species
found in Serengeti.
But I'll have to push deeper still
into this wild kingdom to reach the Great Migration.
And to get to it, first I've got to pass
right through the territory of apex predators.
There are a lot of lions around here,
but that's a special pride right up there
with all those females and the little cubs up, up high,
where they can just have such a good view.
Yeah. The kid in me
wants to get closer and closer
just to get a little bit of a better look,
but the adult in me
knows enough about animal behavior
to give these wild animals the space that they need.
Up to 30 lions can belong to one pride.
And it's not long before I'm face to face
with the defender of this one.
Look at that big male.
Big lion.
Oh, it's got its eyes right on me.
When you get a stare-down by a giant predator like that,
it's a little unnerving.
It's marking its territory right now.
If that lion wanted to eat me,
I really wouldn't stand a chance out here.
And these lions are hungry.
You can see the females,
almost their hip bones sticking out,
It's been a hard lean year,
not very much food.
Fortunately, for me,
these lions are waiting
for the migration to pass through.
Tasty morsels of big wildebeest, big zebras,
that's what they're all waiting for.
Not a funky-looking human with a backpack on.
This pride is the clearest sign yet
that I'm in striking range
of the vast herds I'm looking for,
but staying this close to hungry lions
is never a good idea.
I think I'll just, I'll just move on.
Stay out of their hair.
You've got to keep your guard up around here.
The Great Migration
stages the largest interaction
of predator and prey on the planet,
with lion, leopards, and hyenas taking advantage
of the millions of animals crossing the Serengeti.
Right now though, my trail has run cold.
I've lost track of the dust cloud I've been chasing.
Ooh.
Oh!
Then...
Look, look, look, look!
-...I see them. -Wow.
Can you make out? Can you see?
It's just a continuous line of wildebeest,
one after the next.
And it just keeps going
out of sight from as far as I can see.
They're not just running. They're galloping.
Look at them. Look at them go.
They're all going in unison.
These rampaging wildebeest
are running towards the epicenter
of the Great Migration,
the mega herds.
Where they're going, it should be amazing.
I'm just going to follow them.
Over a million wildebeest
move together through the Serengeti
searching for the lushest of grasses...
the largest herd of animals on earth.
Oh wow!
This is all magic right here.
It's nature. Look at this.
What a spectacle.
And I've managed to place myself
right in the heart of it.
Look at what I am experiencing,
what I am... what I am breathing in.
I am surrounded
by millions of animals.
Wow. Wow.
The biggest land migration in the entire world.
And I timed it just right to be able to see it right now.
The great migration covers up to 600 miles every year.
But it comes at a heavy price.
For the wildebeest,
about 250,000 of them die
trying to complete this annual migration.
And the luckiest and the strongest
are the ones that are able to carry on their genetics
to the next generation.
Every single one of these animals
is a product of survival of the fittest.
Africa's most iconic animals follow
in the wildebeest's wake,
bringing an extraordinary collection
of wildlife together all in one place.
You've got wildebeest, zebra,
gazelle, eland.
Over there, there's hyenas.
Wow!
All of these animals, all living together,
all dependent on one another.
The complexity of the natural world.
The Serengeti is the world's last
true animal kingdom,
and I've managed to see it in its most incredible moment.
It's the perfect finale
to my once-in-a-lifetime adventure
through Africa's legendary Great Rift Valley.
This is one of the most amazing spectacles
anyone could ever be able to experience.
This is one of the top wonders of the world right here.
This is the most amazing thing
I have ever seen in my entire life.
This is a dream come true
that I never thought I'd ever be able to see.
Having trekked over 500 miles
to reach the Serengeti,
tackling immense challenges and unforgiving landscapes.
Okay, it's starting to get scary now.
Meeting amazing people along the way.
Ay! Yeah! There we go.
And seeing this continent's legendary wildlife first-hand.
Whoa. Whoa! That one just hit me.
What I'm seeing right now is so incredibly rare!
I feel like I've been on a "great migration" of own.
It's given me a true understanding
of the journey of survival
these animals go through every year.
I now have even more respect
for Africa's magnificent creatures.
They are this planet's true primal survivors.
Captioned by Point.360