[♪ rhythmic drumming]
[fire crackling]
[slicing]
[shouting].
[Mariana Van Zeller] Tension's very high right now.
Everybody's yelling.
They're unhappy that we're here,
possibly filming some of this stuff.
[shouting].
[Mariana Van Zeller] The Democratic Republic of Congo
or DRC is one of the most breathtaking places on Earth.
But a brutal colonial history, political instability,
and dire poverty have also shaped it
as a nation of extreme violence.
[Police Officer] Okay. Go.
[Mariana Van Zeller] But now they're saying we can go.
Go on?
[loud chatter].
[Mariana Van Zeller] Okay. I'll go with you.
So this is the local uh, port and the local market.
And this is where we, we know that there is
bushmeat being sold.
Obviously, we stand out like sore thumbs here
with the cameras.
Everybody's like looking at us.
[chatter]
[Mariana Van Zeller] In the DRC, approximately two million
pounds of bushmeat, butchered forest animals,
are eaten every year.
Regulations on the trade are murky, with illegally-obtained
animals regularly offered up for sale beside legal ones.
[shouting]
[Mariana Van Zeller] Which explains why almost nobody
wants us filming here.
[shouting]
[Mariana Van Zeller] There's dried fish being sold.
These fried worms.
And, yeah, right behind me, there's a monkey being sold.
They're actually trying to cover it up right now.
I've been told that when you see bushmeat for sale in
markets like this,
live animals may also be hidden nearby.
And that's what I'm looking for,
endangered chimps, gorillas, and bonobos
that have been captured in the forest and
trafficked to the city,
part of a multibillion dollar black market that threatens
the very existence of the world's great apes.
[shouting]
[theme music plays]
[Mariana Van Zeller] A recent report by conservation
biologists predicts that chimps and gorillas will lose
about 85% of their homelands in the next 30 years.
Protecting these endangered animals is a race against time,
because in addition to habitat loss,
experts are reporting the existence of
transnational crime groups that are
snatching animals and selling them overseas
for astronomical sums.
This is what brings me to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
I want to understand the black market for these species,
known as great apes, and to track down some of the people
responsible for this gruesome trade.
[Adams Cassinga] Wildlife trafficking is the fourth most
lucrative crime in the world.
We are talking between $20 and $30 billion.
The DRC is the only country in the world which has got three
of the four great apes.
And here in the Congo Basin,
primates, in general, are paying the price.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Adams Cassinga is an activist
whose organization, Conserv Congo,
infiltrates trafficking networks
and tries to rescue at-risk apes.
[Adams Cassinga] A great ape is the closest cousin
to a human.
It is as smart as we are.
We are watching it but it's also watching us.
And when it sees you, it ducks...
then it peeps again.
Only a chimp can do that.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Scientists have determined
that we share an astonishing 98.8% of our DNA sequence
with chimpanzees.
They organize their social relationships in ways similar
to humans and are capable of complex communication.
They know intense friendships and rivalries, and also
experience many emotions that we as humans know well.
Among them, joy, empathy, anger, and fear.
They also excel at problem-solving.
[Adams Cassinga] It's very difficult to catch a great ape
into a snare.
I'm not saying it's impossible but it's very rare.
So the only way to catch a great ape is a gun.
That's what kills an ape.
[Mariana Van Zeller] By killing the family around it.
[Adams Cassinga] Yes.
[Mariana Van Zeller] And taking the baby chimps.
[Adams Cassinga] Great apes flock in families.
And before you can take a baby away from them, you've got to
kill ten of them to have just one.
[Mariana Van Zeller] That is such a crazy number.
Given how protective we humans are of our babies,
it makes sense.
And yet it's almost impossible to fathom that there are
people out there who are willing to slaughter entire families.
[Adams Cassinga] We have what we refer to as tiers.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Okay.
[Adams Cassinga] When it comes to wildlife trafficking.
Tier one being the hunter who kills the animal but leaves.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Who kills or catches,
if they want it alive.
[Adams Cassinga] Kills and catches.
-Yeah. -Both at the same time.
You cannot catch before killing.
Tier two is what we refer to as a transporter.
These are the people who transport the products or
the species to these areas, urban centers.
And when he reaches here,
there will be somebody waiting there.
We call him a marketer.
-Uh-hmm. -This is tier three.
So he connects with everyone.
[Mariana Van Zeller] So you, you've actually found, you've
caught some of these guys in your.
[Adams Cassinga] Of course. That's what we do every day.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Right. That's...
It's an uphill battle.
Across Sub-Saharan Africa, the clips of ape rescues document
tedious and dangerous operations,
which sometimes free animals
but often end up simply recording tragedies.
[Adams Cassinga] If we had arrived here two days ago,
we're going to find it alive.
But she's been shot.
And, as you can see, she had a baby.
She has been breastfeeding.
They only have a baby once every five years.
It's a pity.
[Mariana Van Zeller] And what about the hunting?
Where is that happening right now?
[Adams Cassinga] Anywhere there's a forest, there's a,
there's a poacher.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm.
And all of them willing to kill great apes and hunt great apes?
[Adams Cassinga] They will kill anything that comes across.
This is a very harsh place.
[Mariana Van Zeller] To start our investigation, we head to
where Adams says there's a lot of poaching activity,
the Kahuzi-Biega National Park,
a protected region in the eastern DRC.
But getting to the park, like many things in the Congo,
requires time, money, and connections.
The Congo cannot be traversed by road.
In fact, only about 5% of roads in the DRC are paved.
So our trip begins with a two-hour flight east to the
city of Goma.
Then a four-hour ferry to Bukavu.
And, finally, a two hour drive in four-by-fours,
accompanied by a prayer.
[Horeb Bulambo] Father, we pray so that you would be at
our departure and at our arrival and our returning time.
Father...
[Mariana Van Zeller] We have been joined by Horeb Bulambo,
a renowned Congolese journalist, who, in the past,
has braved these treacherous roads and
made contact with poachers.
[Horeb Bulambo] In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
[All] Amen.
[Mariana Van Zeller] So do you guys do that
every time you go out?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Have you been, you've been up
several times before?
[Horeb Bulambo] Several times, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[Mariana Van Zeller] And which is why also we're all
wearing protective gear.
[Horeb Bulambo] Okay. Thank you.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Okay.
Horeb has learned that an active band of poachers
is operating 20 miles north of here.
But in this war-torn region of the DRC,
it's a very risky journey.
We're entering the park, but it also is ungoverned territory.
This is very concentrated area for military checkpoints.
There's another one right here.
We just passed by one.
And that's because we're entering, basically,
rebel territory.
[gunfire]
For over 25 years, this area has served as a staging ground
for armed rebel groups.
The stories of robberies, killings, and rapes here
are all too real.
Coming up on a very muddy,
I mean, it's a crater in the floor.
Holy moly.
He says to go here.
Oh, now, he's stuck.
[Horeb Bulambo] Let's push from the front.
[Man] That's it.
[Horeb Bulambo] No, it's blocked.
We can't go forward.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Not the best place to get stuck,
for sure.
In fact, it's one of the worst.
It's so dangerous that should our team fail in our attempt
to pull the car free, we've been told to abandon it
rather than wait for help.
[speaking native language].
[Man] Woo!
[♪ mysterious ambient music]
[Mariana Van Zeller] Thank you.
[Horeb Bulambo] Yeah.
-Okay. This is it? -Yeah. This is the way.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Go from here?
Four long hours later, we've arrived in an area where Horeb
has arranged a meeting with a group suspected of trafficking
and killing great apes.
[Horeb Bulambo] Down there.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Okay.
[Horeb Bulambo] He's hidden in a hidden place.
[speaking native language].
[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, this is it.
This is where they have their camp.
[♪ mysterious tense music]
[speaking native language].
[Mariana Van Zeller] Okay.
He's putting on his disguise right here.
We've made contact with a man we're calling Jean, the leader
of a clan of Batwa Pygmies
that is rumored to be poaching great apes.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, wow. Holy moly.
It's a, so it's a trap, basically.
They got, okay. Oh.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Very delicious?
[laughing]
The Batwa are an at-risk group in the DRC.
Compared to the majority Bantu people,
who represent 80% of the population,
they number less than 1%
and have experienced widespread discrimination.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Wow.
So he's saying, basically, that the government calls this
a park, a protected area, but they call it, this,
their home, their land.
They also say that you're poaching, illegally,
endangered species.
[Mariana Van Zeller] On a prior trip here, Horeb had been told
that this group was catching chimpanzees in the park.
But if that's not the case,
we've just taken a very treacherous journey
for nothing.
We're not here to judge.
[Jean] Yeah.
[Mariana Van Zeller] We're just here to understand and
ask questions.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Hmm.
[Mariana Van Zeller] While higher level traffickers might
ultimately earn life-changing sums,
Jean's take is only enough to feed his family
for about a week.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Like humans, chimps normally
give birth to just one baby at a time.
And for the first five years of its life, that baby
never strays far from its mother.
When you hear the baby crying and screaming and
the mother coming, do you feel bad?
Do you feel sad?
[chopping]
[Mariana Van Zeller] It's only after we finished talking and
a measure of trust has been established that they decide
to take me to one more location in the bush.
So the animals try to come through here,
they step on this, and they're trapped.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Jean's group is collecting $10 for a
baby chimp, a pittance even for first-tier traffickers.
But it's complicated to lay blame.
Although they have drawn first blood,
the men I've just met
feel that they have no other option.
[Adams Cassinga] Let's not think in a monolithic way.
Not every poacher do this because that's what they
wanted to do.
But there are those who are compelled to do it
because of life's hardships.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm.
[Adams Cassinga] If you go in the so-called "protected areas"
are, there are no schools.
There are no hospitals.
There is nothing.
So if the state is going to say,
"Don't touch. Get out of there,"
it has to come up with ways and means on how
these people can also live a decent lifestyle.
[Mariana Van Zeller] In the absence of legitimate
opportunities, the black market provides its own.
In this case, tier two smugglers who transport
captured animals and bring them to major cities in the DRC.
I'm wondering what sort of quick money they can make for
a baby ape they've just purchased for $10.
It's been incredibly difficult
to make contact with a transporter,
but, finally, one of Horeb's contacts comes through.
The guy we're meeting asked us to meet him here,
in a church on the outskirts of town, in a place where
he sort of felt safe.
We don't know much about him.
We know we can call him Jacques.
That's what he wants to be known as.
And that he was involved in the trade.
[door shuts]
[singing in foreign language]
[door opens]
[door shuts]
[Mariana Van Zeller] Thank you for coming.
[Mariana Van Zeller] At the edge of a protected forest
in the Democratic Republic of Congo,
I'm meeting a man who says he's wanted by the police.
Are you religious?
Is that why you wanted to meet here in the church?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm.
So can you tell me what you do?
[Mariana Van Zeller] How many chimps do you think you've sold?
[Mariana Van Zeller] And who were they? They were...
[Mariana Van Zeller] How much were you buying the
chimpanzees and how much were you selling them for?
[Mariana Van Zeller] But how do you carry the chimpanzees,
the baby chimpanzees?
Where? In a cage or, where?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Were you ever stopped by the authorities?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Oui?
[speaking English] How much money?
[Mariana Van Zeller] $50 goes a long way here.
It's about a month's wage for an average worker.
And when poverty meets weak institutions,
as it does throughout the DRC,
it sets the stage for a thriving black market.
Why did you stop?
[Mariana Van Zeller] For tier two middlemen like Jacques,
the next step is to ship apes up the Congo River to the capital,
Kinshasa, and hope they survive the journey.
[Adams Cassinga] So along the way, they will die of disease,
they will die of stress, they will die of hunger,
they will die of suffocation because they're being concealed,
and so on and so forth.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Adams Cassinga says the babies
that reach the capital alive will now be sold to traffickers
on the third tier.
[Adams Cassinga] These are the movers and the shakers
of the trade.
He's gonna charge you $5,000, and he had, for something
which he has bought for maybe $500.
[Mariana Van Zeller] To locate third-tier traffickers,
those who have contact with foreign buyers,
Adams has suggested I visit a live animal market in Kinshasa.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Yeah. Okay.
So we're gonna try and go film this live animal market that
he says is right on the side of the street.
It's about 10 minutes from here.
Oh, wow. You see that?
[clinking]
Basically, I can see there's like a monkey that's chained
and a bunch of other animals
right here on the side of the road.
Oh, wow.
[birds chirping]
[Mariana Van Zeller] Hello. Good. I'm Mariana.
Gadhafi?
- Oui. -Gadhafi.
[Mariana Van Zeller] So he's saying they're selling this,
this monkey for $250.
[Mariana Van Zeller] 130 for the grey parrots.
These are actually endangered species.
They're called grey parrots.
They're endangered.
There's five of them here.
And a bunch more over there, actually.
Despite the open trade in endangered animals,
like these grey parrots,
I've heard that animal sellers won't risk
selling chimps or other great apes out in the open.
So I'm talking to this man, Gadhafi, to see if he'll
open up about how they're trafficked.
What type of a monkey is this?
[Mariana Van Zeller] A baboon?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Six months?
Oh, so it's a baby baboon.
[Mariana Van Zeller] $650.
The owner of the market sees him talking to us and decides
he wants to talk too, but he wants his identity protected.
So baboon, monkey, grey parrots,
rabbits, python, turtle.
[Mariana Van Zeller] He said it would be dangerous for him
to give us any names.
But Gadhafi here was also looking at me and trying to
say that it's something that we can talk when we leave this
place, that he can give us some more information.
Gadhafi has agreed to meet us out of earshot of his boss.
Do you know any chimps for sale here in Kinshasa, in the city?
[Mariana Van Zeller] How much do they pay, the people that
buy for you?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Have you ever been caught by
the authorities?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Do you know where the chimps go
when they leave the country?
[Mariana Van Zeller] You don't care where it goes?
[Mariana Van Zeller] You know, unfortunately, I kept pressing
and trying to get to possibly see a live chimp somewhere.
You know, they weren't really willing to reveal
much information about that.
They say that usually it's actually done
on command per order.
So once somebody comes here and orders a chimp,
he can get it.
It's rare that baby chimps are intercepted,
but when it happens, many are brought here,
to the Lwiro Rehabilitation Center.
Wow. There's chimps right here.
That's a really big one here.
Wow.
These are the so-called "lucky ones".
Many were rescued from poachers or outgrew
their utility as pets.
But in all cases, they were taken in after young lives
filled with trauma.
How old is this guy?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Luis Flores is head veterinarian here.
What's their state when they're first rescued,
when they first arrive?
Mentally, how do they arrive here?
[Mariana Van Zeller] A lot of these babies have actually
seen their mothers being killed in front of them.
[Mariana] To export, as part of a trafficking network?
[Mariana Van Zeller] So on the one hand, you have people who
kill them for meat.
[Luis Flores] Yeah.
[Mariana Van Zeller] And on the other, you have the people
that catch them and...
[Mariana Van Zeller] So where are they going?
[Mariana Van Zeller] So the UAE, Dubai, and...
[Luis Flores] Yeah.
[Daniel Stiles] The Arabian Gulf is the biggest market now
for the great apes as exotic pets,
and to go into these big safari park-type zoos, wildlife parks.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Back in LA, I meet up with Daniel Stiles,
one of the world's foremost experts on wildlife trafficking.
He confirms what I heard in the DRC, that one of the
biggest markets for baby apes is currently in the Middle East.
So this is how they sell them?
[Daniel Stiles] Yup.
So this is like an advertisement by a supplier in Kinshasa.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Yeah.
[Daniel Stiles] He says, "Does anybody want these chimps?"
And if anybody does, whoop, they're on a plane and they're
off to Dubai.
These are the ones that didn't survive the poor transport.
That one's been damaged in capture.
[Mariana Van Zeller] You can see his head.
[Daniel Stiles] Yeah.
[Mariana Van Zeller] He has injuries on his head.
[Daniel Stiles] That's a gorilla.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Ugh.
[Daniel Stiles] They're the most desired of the great apes.
I've got prices actually offered by a trafficker in Dubai.
The equivalent is over $500,000.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Half a million dollars?
[Daniel Stiles] Half a million dollars.
[Mariana Van Zeller] For a gorilla?
[Daniel Stiles] Of which there are many in the Gulf.
Many.
A lot of private wildlife parks are springing up,
belonging to private individuals, and they're
patterned after ones we have here in the US.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Hmm.
[Daniel Stiles] And I think you've heard of Doc Antle.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm. I have indeed.
Three years ago, I investigated Doc Antle
and his operation in South Carolina,
a so-called "animal sanctuary"
that was charging visitors $500 to take selfies
with baby animals.
[Doc Antle] I am the only one qualified in this activity
of raising cubs.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Antle was later arrested by the FBI and
has recently been convicted of four felony counts
related to wildlife trafficking.
[Daniel Stiles] He is one of the prime ones that have
sort of inspired these guys, I think.
They're linking the wildlife park with the
social media accounts.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm.
[Daniel Stiles] To drum up business.
That's the biggest new thing that's evolving now in,
in great ape trade.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Once upon a time in Hollywood,
great apes were routinely used to drum up attention and dollars
at the box office.
Today, the screens are smaller, but the same dynamic
is at play overseas,
where baby animals draw likes on social media
and attract paying customers to private zoos.
[cheering]
But now that I know how the market works, it's impossible
to see a baby chimp in captivity without wondering
just how it reached foreign soil.
That's why I set my sights on investigating
this social media post
about a baby chimp named Koba by Jasem Ali,
a man who calls himself the UAE lion king.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Given the complexities of
captive breeding programs,
Daniel Stiles told me that it was very unlikely that
there are any located in the UAE.
So how would this baby chimp, named Koba,
leave his home country,
possibly the DRC, where I had just been,
and suddenly arrive in a zoo 3,000 miles away?
I wanted to go to the UAE to investigate, but our request
to film in the country was denied.
So I sought help from an insider.
[Zara Hovelsas] The people you are up against are
extremely powerful.
They have a lot of money and they can just, you know,
do whatever they want.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Zara Hovelsas is a Swedish national
who lived as an expat in the UAE, and spent years
volunteering and caring for animals at the RAK Zoo,
owned by Jasem Ali.
So we've got a big tiger and somebody on top of the tiger.
Is that him?
[Zara Hovelsas] That would be him, yeah.
[Mariana] Lionking_UAE? Is that, that's his...
[Zara Hovelsas] Uh-huh.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Jasem Ali opened RAK Zoo with government
support in 2009.
He claims his mission is to rescue animals neglected or
mistreated by their previous owner.
And this is the zoo that we've actually been investigating as
you know, because they have a new baby chimp
that has just arrived.
-Koba. -Koba. Yeah.
[Zara Hovelsas] The comments are just, people are loving it.
"I want one. I want to see it."
[Mariana Van Zeller] "Oh, my God. He looks so cute." Yeah.
This one says, "I could watch this on repeat.
The love and tenderness he gives and receives from the
animals, so attractive."
This baby couldn't have been born there.
[Zara Hovelsas] No.
[Mariana Van Zeller] They have to have come from somewhere in
Africa probably, right?
[Zara Hovelsas] Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.
For that baby to be there in his arms now, her whole family
would have had to be shot.
She would have been pried from her dead mother's arms,
shipped over in the most horrific way,
or on someone's private jet.
[Mariana Van Zeller] So you still have people that
you work with?
[Zara Hovelsas] Yeah. Yeah.
[Mariana Van Zeller] And do you think that they are people
who can help us try to figure out where this animal came from?
[Zara Hovelsas] Definitely. Yeah. Yeah. For sure.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Less than a week later, Zara asked two
friends to visit the RAK Zoo, where a handler woke Koba up
so they could purchase time with her.
[Zoo Worker] Koba. Koba.
[Zoo Worker] No. No. She's here.
But before, we put, you know.
[Mariana Van Zeller] While we can't come out and say that
these claims are untrue, we can say that at one year old,
a chimp is normally inseparable from its mother.
And when Zara followed up with the same trainer,
he contradicted what he told the visitors and said that
he didn't actually know if the baby's family was at the zoo.
We reached out to Jasem Ali to ask if he wanted to respond
to our story.
Through an assistant, he repeated the claim that
Koba was born at his zoo.
Although, when asked to provide any evidence,
they refused.
Zara says that illegal wildlife trafficking in the UAE
is widespread, evidenced by sellers openly advertising
animals on social media.
So I can reach out to any of them and say,
"Hey, do you guys happen to have a chimp for sale?"
[Zara Hovelsas] Yeah, and I see in the comments all the time,
"How much do you sell them for?"
And then they probably DM them.
[Mariana Van Zeller] And, in fact, that's what Zara did
right after our conversation
and found a trafficker on Instagram.
[text tones]
An animal that may have been bought for $10 to $50 in the
very forest I just left is now on sale in the UAE
for $350,000,
and, most likely, it got there illegally.
For great apes to cross most international borders,
they must carry paperwork authorized by CITES,
a global treaty between 184 parties that issues permits to
regulate the trade of captive wild animals and maintains a
database to track their movements.
[Ivonne Higuero] The world is looking to us and has
confidence in us to play our part
in addressing these challenges.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Ivonne Higuero is the
secretary general of CITES.
So any great ape, any chimpanzee, any bonobo,
any gorilla that is leaving, for example, the DRC,
that trade is not legal, correct?
[Ivonne Higuero] Normally. Normally, yes.
[Mariana Van Zeller] We spent some time in the DRC, in the
Congo, investigating the wildlife trafficking,
particularly of great apes.
And if you go on social media, for example, you'll find a lot
of chimpanzees and sometimes even gorillas and bonobos in
places like Dubai, in zoos,
in safaris, and private homes.
We were told by experts too that these great apes,
that it's not possible for these chimpanzees, for example,
to be bred in captivity.
That they, if they have baby chimpanzees,
they must be coming from the wild.
Is that correct?
[Ivonne Higuero] They're very difficult to breed in captivity.
If there are baby chimpanzees, this is a concern because
obviously, yes, there must be something that is going on.
[Mariana Van Zeller] So this is the one particular case
that I do want to bring to your attention and I'd love if
you can investigate further.
It's a baby chimp call, that goes by the name of
Kobo or Koba.
And he's at RAK Zoo.
He's about one year old, more or less.
[Ivonne Higuero] We will check.
That I can definitely look into.
I will try to find out about this particular chimpanzee.
[Mariana Van Zeller] But the secretary general's office
later told us that they would not investigate Koba unless
we could provide evidence that the chimp was illegally taken
from the wild.
They suggested we reach out to a local CITES delegate
in the UAE.
And we did. Several times.
But they never provided answers.
If it all feels like a bureaucratic runaround,
it's because CITES has no actual enforcement arm.
Even if it was determined that Koba was trafficked,
CITES can't send a team in to rescue him.
[speaking native language].
[Mariana Van Zeller] And so the grim reality is that
protecting apes requires an approach
that goes beyond treaties.
And in the DRC, that approach includes putting AK-47s
in the hands of rangers.
[Mariana Van Zeller] In the DRC, the race is on to protect
great apes before they're killed for meat
or trafficked abroad.
Towards the end of my journey, I joined a patrol with a group
of rangers led by a man named Juvenal Muganka.
[Juvenal Muganka] Be careful here.
[Mariana Van Zeller] The greatest danger to gorillas is
habitat loss, but there are others.
We're actually in rebel territory, which is why a lot
of these guys are also carrying guns,
in case there's poachers.
And there's a lot of landmines in this area.
[Juvenal Muganka] Careful. There is gorilla poop here.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Whoa.
So this is gorilla poop right here?
[Juvenal Muganka] Yeah.
[Mariana Van Zeller] So we're going in the right direction?
[Juvenal Muganka] Yeah.
[Mariana Van Zeller] So, by nest, you mean this is
where they slept, this was their bed last night.
[Juvenal Muganka] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
The gorillas were here last night.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Trekking through the forest, you can
see what an incredibly difficult place this is
to navigate, let alone patrol.
Juvenal?
[Juvenal Muganka] Yes?
[Mariana Van Zeller] There you are.
It's really slippery here now.
[Juvenal Muganka] Yeah. Be careful.
[Mariana Van Zeller] In two hours, we've traveled barely
more than a mile.
And then as we enter a particularly dense section of
the forest, the patrol stops.
[Juvenal Muganka] Yeah. He's here.
[speaking native language].
[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, my God. It's right here.
Look, it's right here.
Oh my god. It's right in there.
[speaking native language].
[mimicking growling]
[Mariana Van Zeller] He's starting to make the noises.
Juvenal is starting to make the growling noises.
[mimicking growling]
Oh, my God.
Come on. Let's go.
Right there.
[chewing]
This is crazy.
Nothing can prepare you for this, the majesty of a
full-grown silverback,
not in a cage or behind steel bars,
but as free as you or me, in its own habitat,
caring for its family, living without fear.
[Mariana gasping]
[♪ peaceful music]
[Mariana Van Zeller] The mother is actually holding a
baby gorilla that was born just last week.
Yeah, I mean, to know that they're basically
killing the families, killing the silverbacks
so they could take and sell the baby gorillas,
so there's a lot of incentive to kill these animals.
But still, you know, when you're in the presence of
these animals here, it's really hard to understand
how somebody could do that.
Yeah, so if we keep on this way, you know, by the time
my son is my age, there might be no gorillas left.
Like that's a really emotional and sad, sad thought,
as beautiful as this moment is.
It really is special and you feel so privileged to,
to be here and, and see this.
Juvenal, what does it feel to you
every time you see a gorilla?
For, for me, it was incredibly emotional, but for you?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Juvenal, you're making me cry.
Do you think that in 30 years, we'll still be able to see
gorillas in the wild like this?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Compared to all the other black markets
I've covered, this was one of the most emotional for me.
I've got goosebumps everywhere.
To know how much suffering, how much death humans caused
to these great apes is beyond imagination.
But there are ways we can help.
We can take a stand against the exploitation of apes for
entertainment and reduce demand.
We can work to alleviate poverty and help people
find alternatives to poaching.
And we can put more resources into protecting great apes
in the wild and preserving their habitats.
There is still time, but barely.
Captioned by Cotter Media Group.