Islands in the African plains.
The ancient Naabi hills brutal with the most savage landscape on the planet.
Born into this world, a new hyena princess
she's named after the hills
Naabi
In her time, she must become a powerful hunter, able to take on beasts far larger than her
Being a princess won't spare her from tragedy
There will be a time when these early days around her then will seem very precious indeed
Naabi is born at night.
She has a full set of teeth and already
she knows how to use them
Within minutes of birth, she savages her sister
Naabi is the more aggressive and quickly subdues her sibling,
so she gets what she wants,
the best nipple and the lion's share of her mother's precious milk
It will make her bigger and stronger than her sister
so even now, Naabi has a head start
She was born on the short grass plains of Tanzania's Serengeti
Her mother is a queen, ruler of the Ndutu clan
40 hyenas were living in the shadow of the Naabi hill
So by birth right, this tiny cub is a princess
Who could think that even now this little Naabi could be so important to her mother
The queen needs her rule.
Without support, the queen's rule is nothing in the clan,
so she needs all her sisters and daughters behind her
Naabi needs a lot of attention
she is the dominant daughter
so she is the first in line to the throne
She has the power to do almost anything
even annoy the queen
The queen does not mind though
[Just the two of us
we can make it if we try. Just the two of us
just the two of us
Just the two of us
building castles in the sky. Just the two of us
you and I]
Nothing is more precious to her than the little Naabi
and besides she has been bitten and attacked by animals far bigger
These games are fun for Naabi
but they are important lessons too
she must learn to be aggressive, learn to fight.
Who better to practice on than your own mother
The plains are a dangerous place to grow up
If Naabi can learn how to survive from the queen herself,
what a better start in life?
It is wildebeests that keep the plains of the southern Serengeti alive
but now, there are none
They are in the north, not due back for nearly a year
without them, there is little for the predators to eat,
so the lions are as hungry as the hyenas
The Acacia pride lives close to Naabi's Ndutu clan
These are hard times for the lions
Too many months without enough food has made them lean and irritable
The lionesses have cubs to protect and they are not interested in the advances of a foolish teenager
He is a threat and needs dealing with
silly boy
Nothing is more dangerous to a hyena than an angry lion
Lions hate hyenas and need no excuse to kill them
The old hyena queen lost a leg to lions
it strip her of her rank
but the hyena's strong family bonds protect them
The clan system only works if everyone knows their place
If you are a male, forget it, you are at the bottom
Higher ranking females force the underdogs to cock their legs so that they can sniff their genitals
This weird extended clitoris is a quirk of spotted hyenas and makes the girls look like boys
Naabi makes her first visit to the waterhole near her den
Maybe she does have elephant dung stuck to her whiskers and she's only 3 months old
but she is second in command so everyone shows her respect
Naabi's tail is up, so the lower ranking hyena has no choice but to cock a leg and being inspected
Such acceptance of dominance and hierarchy means that the hyena clan is surprisingly peaceful
Above all, rank is a ruthless way of deciding who feeds first
and the two princesses have already worked out rights to the one nipple
The other poor cubs that share the den with Naabi and her sister don't get the same attention
They are left underground while their mothers travel great distances to find food
Following the roads of humans, they trek north to find the wildebeest herds
days between feeds leaves the cubs hungry
but hyena milk is 7 times more nutritious than cow's milk,
so hyenas can leave their cubs without feeds longer than any other mammal
If you are a queen, you can stay put
You have the right to take whatever food can be found near the den
If she likes, Naabi's mom can knock a cheetah off its kill and it's all hers
it means she gets more time with Naabi and her sister
to care for them and protect them,
so their advantage just grows and grows
Naabi is better fed than all the other hyena cubs, so she is fitter and stronger
but she will have to fill her mother's shoes, so Naabi needs to develop skills to match her strength
Now that she is 4 months old, she can spend more time above ground
the journey from baby to predator can begin
Naabi's mother feeds her and her little sister in the evening
It is a relaxed affair, the time to feed and doze
This evening, the queen is not happy
lions
This is too close to the den, too close to her cubs.
If the lions find Naabi and the other cubs, they would kill them
they must go
The Acacia pride lionesses also have little ones to protect,
but they are only 4 of them
and when night falls, Naabi's mom can call upon an army of 40
Foolish lions, you shouldn't upset a queen
Naabi's mom makes a preemptive strike
caught out on the plains without a male to protect them,
the lions are in big trouble
To save their skins, the lion cubs try to get off the ground
Even the lionesses become desperate
This night belongs to the hyenas
long live the queen
The next day, the lions move their cubs to a safer part of their territory
The bitter rivalry between lions and hyenas however is far from over
The Ndutu clan can never let down its guard
At just 6 months old, Naabi is expected to be another pair of eyes,
another nose, another pair of ears for the Ndutu clan
Fortunately, she's a smart princess, so she's quick to copy her mother
She learns to watch the vultures
Hyenas need vultures
They are eyes in the sky
For where they fall, she would find food
This is the field craft that will save her from starvation
The one thing that can undo all these good work is a male lion
but clan can deal with females, but the large male is a different story
Her mother and other adult hyenas go in
but Naabi holds back
he will kill her if he wants to
so she is wise to keep her distance
She must learn by watching others
another male lion, the teenager
he can also see the vultures,
smell the flesh, heed the hyenas
Naabi has dropped her guard
Had he been an adult male with a bit more confidence
Naabi would be dead
The dry season presses on
scorching the earth, stilling the water
Many of the hyenas are suffering now
but not Naabi's mom, not Naabi
They found a dead topi
and they and the high ranking females are eating the best bits
With a full belly, the princess has time to relax and play
whereas the less privileged vie for scraps
She's breezed through hard times while others have struggled to survive
Towards December, rain showers sweep south from Kenya and finally quench the thirst of the land
Good news for the Ndutu clan, good news for everyone
In their wake, the rains live grass, lush green grass for as far as the eye can see
The great migration is near
170,000 tons of fresh meat is coming
they can smell it on the wind
Like a massing army, 1,500,000 wildebeest arrive,
one of the greatest movements of animals anywhere on earth
Naabi has never seen anything like it before
[Riders on the storm,
riders on the storm
Into this house were born
into this world were thrown
like a dog without a bone, an actor out on loan
riders on the storm]
This time of year is crucial for Naabi and her clan
It's the time to fatten up
When the wildebeest arrive, they carve
the babies are very exposed on the plains
but their predators are not blessed with any cover to stalk them from
which give the wildebeest advantage
It is the wildebeest that keep plains alive
they feed the predators, feed the grass, trim it and weed it
With a strange collective consciousness,
they seem to know where the best grasses to be found
together, they move through the vastness,
backwards and forwards,
following the rains, forming lines that can stretch for all the 30 miles long and herds 10 miles wide
If the Ndutu clan are lucky, they will stay in their area for a while
if not, the wildebeest could be gone in a few days
The huge buildup of food below Naabi hill has attracted the attentions of Acacia pride lioness
She slinks back into the Ndutu clan's area
She can afford to be picky
take her time
She singles out a wildebeest that is perfect for her needs
healthy, adult,
not too big to cause her problems
Before the last breaths have even left the wildebeest, Naabi's mother appears
She too has been watching,
waiting
Naabi follows her mother in
This is risky
but it's a crucial new experience for her
other hyenas appear as if from nowhere
Along with the kill, the lioness stands no chance against Naabi's mother and her clan
she's just another meal ticket
Battle cries echo across the plains
calls for reinforcements never go unheeded
Young and old, the troops come running
The Acacia pride can hear the commotion too
soon, there're lions everywhere
It is not until dark however that Naabi's mom gets the confidence to step up the pressure
They taunt the lions who are only just holding their nerve
Naabi heads back, perhaps too young to be taking such risks
Her mother is perhaps taking too many
There're two young male lions, but Naabi's mom runs rings around them
These lions don't have the bold to deal with the determined Ndutu clan
and despite their size, they know who has the upper hand
but the devil lurks in the darkness,
the pride males appear and the balance of power suddenly shifts
The queen grabbed by the neck
she's doomed
It is nothing more than an act of aggression and the lion seems to relish it
Her mother is dead
the relationship between lions and hyenas is a dark and brutal one
Naabi has learned that it is no respecter of rank
We can only guess what Naabi feels
but in a society where bonds are everything
she must feel the loss
She has not just lost her mother
she has lost everything
She doesn't yet have the age or experience to take over the reigns of power
Her destiny as queen has been denied
Now her position in the clan will be decided by who her allies are
If they are high-ranking and close she would be okay
if they are not, she could tumble
from top to bottom
The clan needs a leader or it would fall apart
The next day, high-ranking females begin to squabble for power
for the first time in her life, Naabi's future is uncertain
Now the other clan members eat first and there's nothing she can do about it
Naabi is only just weaned so she needs all the protein she can get
but she's denied
so she must scavenge with jackals and vultures but she gets nothing but offals and entrails and the ordinary bone
but only after the jackal has finished with it
Her fall from grace could not have come at a worse time
Four weeks after they arrive, the wildebeest leave the plains of the southern Serengeti
Now the lion and cheetah must go back to hunting whatever they can get
Naabi has the most important decision to make
to stay and struggle, feeding in scraps and bones or to follow the herds try her luck alone
If she makes the wrong decision, she would starve and die
but with an empty belly and none of the skills to feed it
Naabi decides to follow the herds
she heads north, it is a huge risk to take
The world beyond the den, beyond her Ndutu clan borders is a different universe
Here there are many other hyenas, commuters living without the back of a clan,
killing and scavenging what they can
Lost in the confusion of the herds, this young calf is in serious trouble
Naabi is no match for even a baby wildebeest though
She's not strong enough, not fast enough
It is the older hyenas who benefit
To survive on the plains, you must use your brains as well as your legs
Naabi can only watch,
but by watching, she would learn
Within three days of being born, the wildebeest calf can outrun a hyena
She must resort to scavenging
but that brings its own problems
none of these hyenas is resident, like her, they are just passing through
Naabi doesn't face much aggression when she joins the crowd, but she's not allowed to eat
Being a princess means nothing to these wild opponents
size and age dictate rank here
not silver spoons
The arrival of the residents however reminds the travelling hyenas who this meat belongs to
Naabi and the others seem to disagree
Finally, she snatches a meal,
may be not
These two residents can easily call for back up and the other hyenas know it
For the next few months, she continues following the herds,
driven by the need for food, scraping an existence
The wildebeest head far into the north and eventually Naabi stops following
perhaps she's held back not wanting to wander too far from home
food become scarce all of a sudden.
The animals that stay, topi, hartebeest and zebra are too large and fast for Naabi to deal with
She remembers her mother, as she always watched the cheetahs
The hyena is no fool
why hunt when others can do it for you
Though cheetahs gamble their precious remaining energy on the largest antelope of all
the eland
If the cheetahs see her, they'll stop hunting immediately
so she waits, watches and listens
Perhaps the cheetah has made many sacrifices for its speed
It has a very small head
it is not the smartest cat
Eventually Naabi's patience pays off
the cheetahs have made a kill
Naabi isn't sure, they do seem big
A wise cheetah would not waste its energy, but the young male can not help himself
One bite from Naabi's powerful jaws could finish him
hunger drives her
She needs a meal and she would risk a bit of beating to get one
You see the cheetah is a weak animal
Naabi has just discovered this for herself
She has done well
To take on four cheetahs before she is even two
She has a meal
all to herself
but there're spies in the grass
other hyenas appear as if from nowhere
Within minutes, Naabi has lost it all
Her hard earned meal is stolen
These are bitter lessons to learn
Naabi spends her days sleeping
It is too hot to do anything else
One day weak and empty-bellied, the vultures talk to her and she smells fresh meat
She knows to head to where they land
If it is bravado then Naabi is stupid
maybe it is just desperation which forces her to take an impossible risk
Without her clan behind her, she's just an upstart to a lioness
She's finding it hard to scavenge and she has no success hunting
For her to continue alone would be very dangerous
she realizes this now
Naabi belongs nowhere and has no right to food
Alone, it is as though she's only half alive
she has almost become how the African people describe the hyena
*, spirit of the dead
She must make a decision
to stay alone in the empty plains of the north
or return to her clan in the empty plains of the south
Even though she faces a journey of nearly 100 miles
she decides to head back
She has learned the lessons her mother might have taught her
but she has had to learn them from her own bitter experience
perhaps she wears a tougher skin now
perhaps she's a little wiser
When she reaches the Naabi hills
she knows she's home
but she has no idea how she would fit back in
The others recognize her instantly even though she's been away for months
and they waste no time in putting her in her place
She's rank and file now and must grovel to the new queen
but she's not rock bottom
The new queen is a cousin of her mother's
so Naabi gets a little extra status
not a lot, but enough to raise her above the rib bones
What's important is that her chances of survival are now much greater
Naabi is an adult now
to stay part of this team and benefit it brings, she must pull her weight
One day when wildebeest arrive, our little princess gets the chance to prove her worth
It has been a long journey from the carefree games of her cub route
but the hours of fighting, playing and running about after sisters and cousins have made her ready for this moment
for now, she runs like the wind
Once upon a time, Naabi had merely inherited the right to eat,
the right to protection and support within the Ndutu clan
Now, she has earned it
song: Well, it's all right
riding around in the breeze
Well, it's alright
if you live the life you please)
Thanks to the great migration, the Ndutu clan have full bellies for the next few weeks
There wasn't an uneasy truth with the Acacia pride
a short lived one of course
[sit around and wonder what tomorrow'll bring]
The new queen seems to like the old queen
[everyday is just one day
maybe somewhere down the road when...]
and eventually Naabi had a girl of her own
who knows maybe Naabi will even work a way back up to the top of the pack one day
and life on the plains beneath Naabi hill continues the same as it has done for thousands of years
In two weeks time, Natural World is on a trail of a spectacle bear high in the Andes
once thought to be a classic vegetarian, the secretive creature is now the heart of a scientific controversy
Subtitles by Andrew and Hattie www.mvgroup.org