SOPHIE
wards was covered in hundreds of bites. He lay so quietly for two days, he almost didn’t move. You could see the pain.
“With that many hyenas he could easily have been killed.”
But when the cousins tackled a hippo BAFTA-winner Sophie nearly lost the shot as she was laughing so much.
Whatever the BBC crew witnessed they would not have intervened as it was their job to record natural behaviour.
Despite the upsetting nature of last night’s story, Sophie is glad it will highlight the threats faced by lions.
Since 1950 their global numbers have dwindled from more than 400,000 to 20,000. Sophie asked: “If they’re not safe there, where are they safe?
“I know there’s not enough space or SOPHIE DARLINGTON FEARS FOR LIONS’ FUTURE
wilderness in the world and that lions are in desperate trouble. Maybe we’ve had too pretty a picture and this is real.”
The camera crew faced plenty of challenges, not least actually finding the pride, which was silent as male lions had abandoned it.
Sophie said: “There’s no collars on them, they’re not giving you any data – you’ve got to use your skills to track them. If they’re lying low, or if they’re in a ditch or a bush, it’s amazing how easily a pride of lions can disappear.
“Brown grass, brown lion – it’s like looking for a needle in a really big haystack. In the years we followed them, this pride really covered some distance.
“I think the thing that really affected us was that they were so quiet.
“If there’s not males around they don’t want to advertise, especially if there are young ones. So sometimes it was completely silent. Not helpful for us.” Sophie’s love for the extremely capable lioness Charm knows no bounds.
She credits her with keeping the family group together in almost impossible circumstances. Charm survived for 18 months with no males to help protect the group, and was the sole adult once Sienna was killed.
While the pride started off with 10 members, the numbers declined dramatically during the filming. Alan and Sienna were killed by the poison; Red and Tatu left to go and fight for their own territory; and one of Charm’s daughters, Alan’s sister Alanis, was forced out by incoming males who would have killed her had she stayed.
The only lion to stay by Charm’s side was her eldest daughter, Yaya. All in all, Charm’s had a lot to deal with.
Sophie said: “My goodness, that lion. She is the most epic, incredible lioness I’ve ever worked with. She is strong and tough and brave and I know I’m being anthropomorphic but I don’t care.
“Watching how she minded the other members of the pride, the way she was a provider, a carer. I watched her kill things and let the rest of the pride eat, even when she was hungry. She’d get a bite in but not much more.”
Sophie conceded that Charm was not the prettiest looking lion – comparing her in athletic terms to a shot-putter – Sophie said the entire crew loved her attitude towards the cameras.
And despite everything she has seen, Sophie remains optimistic for the future of the species.
She said: “Given a chance lions are resilient and adaptable and brilliant and there is great work being done with communities. Given half a chance they will recover, they really will.”
space and lions are in desperate trouble