Simples! You film us; we jump all over you
Sarah Marshall crosses the salt pans of Botswana to meet the resident meerkats that star in a new ‘Dynasties’ documentary narrated by Sir David Attenborough
Rolling towards us at an accelerating pace, a soaring wall of fine grit whitewashed the land and sky, erasing the tips of tall date palms and leaving only the stripes of zebras behind. Plumes of debris stiffened into peaks along the horizon, while raging winds forced Makgadikgadi’s salt pans to boil and churn like the open sea. Dust storms sweep annually through this exposed, semi-arid section of eastern Botswana, sending creatures scurrying below surfaces which can often reach temperatures of 50C (122F).
Small specks on a vast landscape, meerkats are one of the area’s most enigmatic inhabitants, set to appear larger than life in a Dynasties one-hour special to be broadcast on Dec 28. Narrated by Sir David Attenborough, it follows the format of 2018’s hit series which studied the lives of various animal families, from chimpanzees in Senegal to painted wolves in Zimbabwe.
For this programme, a BBC film crew spent seven months following the triumphs and tragedies of alpha female Maghogho as she attempted to navigate life in a harsh and confusing environment. Her dynasty is one of three colonies habituated for research that can be visited by tourists in a private concession bordering the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park. Today, I was one of them.
Twelve members of the so- called MK4 group, the fourth to be habituated, furiously foraged around my ankles, sniffing out dormant prey from below a crusty saline surface and digging holes until their tiny bodies almost disappeared. Their choice of diet left a lot to be desired: crudités of crunchy dung beetles and yellow burrowing scorpions, served with slithers of lizard and fat-oozing bull frogs. Dessert was a sunset- pink solifuge – an arachnid nicknamed the Kalahari Ferrari for its impressive speed.
Despite the constant chatter, it took me a while to tune into the meerkat’s 30-plus communication channels, with some help from Moto, one of six guides recruited from the local community to monitor the colonies morning and night. Begging for food, young pups cried relentlessly – not even stopping to swallow – and when a bold female chose my head as a handy sentry post, her sniffs and squeaks sent ripples of reassurance throughout the group.
Becoming a meerkat climbing frame is, of course, a highlight of these encounters, but fearlessness of humans also posed problems for the BBC crew. “We were used by the meerkats as shade and substitute trees,” recalled series producer Emma Napper, when we later spoke on the phone. “In the middle of the day, they would run under our feet. It was like playing musical statues.”
So entertaining are they, it’s easy to forget that these creatures live serious lives. When the alpha female sounded an alarm call, sending troops shooting into borrowed mongoose burrows with the speed of pinballs in an arcade game, I realised how quickly moods can change. Sensing a potential threat from a goshawk soaring overhead, the family immediately obeyed their matriarch’s commands.
It is dramas of this kind that keep the BBC programme gripping. There are bitter territorial battles with rivals who hold pups hostage, fatal snake attacks, and rough punishments issued to a disobedient male. Even Attenborough, who has filmed with meerkats on several occasions in the past, was surprised by the unexpected brutality of the fight scenes.
For a creature so small, meerkats have big personalities. After several months of shooting their rollercoaster lives, Emma confessed she had developed a deep respect for Maghogho, whose name translates as “old lady”. “She’s incredibly tough, focused and serious,” said the seasoned wildlife filmmaker, who was forced to leave Botswana when the pandemic struck. “She had to make some big decisions. But when it was wet season, she could finally relax and there were some really tender moments.”
I witnessed similar displays of affection on an afternoon visit to the colony. As the sun set, siblings ceased squabbling and headed back to their burrow, where they nuzzled, cuddled and even wrapped tiny clawed arms around each other. Both safety and happiness depend upon strength in numbers, a case proven in the programme when female Dragonfly is shunned by Maghogho for daring to become pregnant (something only alphas can do).
She returns, pupless, to rejoin her clan. Researchers suspect depression may cause meerkats to abort their foetuses, and the camera crew’s observations have impressed the need for further studies.
As a group, meerkats are a formidable force, but their territory is under threat. I found Maghogho digging fruitlessly in the Ntwetwe Pan, on one of many islands formed by expanding termite mounds beneath the Kalahari sands. It is feared that these rising humps will eventually suffocate the salt pans.
“I’m glad I won’t be here long enough to see them disappear,” said Villa Moatshe, a gentle guide from Camp Kalahari. Filled with lanterns, silk fabrics and pewter trinkets, this kasbah of elevated stilted tents is one of three camps on the concession, providing an oasis from searing heat and wild winds.
Millions of years ago, the pans sat at the bottom of a 100ft- deep paleolake occupying 77,000 sq miles, but tectonic plate movements diverted the flow of rivers to the Okavango Delta, and a switch in fortunes took place. Now, a wetland and semi- desert lie only 125 miles apart.
One rough road dissects the pans, but with no phone signal and a high probability of getting lost, humans are wary of it. Only migrating zebra and wildebeest use the route these days. We watched their distant shadows quiver in the heat haze, while waiting for a brown hyena to emerge from his den. Set below a lonely acacia tree in a landscape strewn with stiffened zebra pelts and gnarled wildebeest skulls, the shy and solitary creature had found a home to match his temperament.
In a place where tormenting winds force lions to cower in thickets and blossoms are perfumed with the scent of rotten flesh, life is hard. But the place is still arrestingly beautiful. Even though food sources are scarce, vultures come here to nest in the fronds of date palms – testimony to the peace and sanctuary the pans provide.
Equally resourceful, San bushmen have found ways to survive – squeezing water from the flesh of sweet tubers and using elephant dung to heal wounds. Employed by Camp Kalahari, Xhao and Xoma demonstrate rituals practised for decades. Dressed in antelope pelts and a headdress of dried worm larvae cocoons, only their Covid face masks reflect modern times. For centuries, the spirits of their ancestors have thrived in the salt pans, a place that Villa poetically describes as “the great nothing”.
“On the surface, it is empty,” he told me, as we scanned the endless space, “but if you go deeper and understand the animals who survive here, you will realise how much there really is.”
Meerkat: A Dynasties Special will air tomorrow at 7.30pm on BBC One Overseas holidays are currently subject to restrictions. See Page 3.