Big Game Diaries is an American documentary special which originally aired as an episode of National Geographic's Nature documentary series in 2007, which documents a harsh season in Mala Mala game reserve in South Africa.
It aired as a one-hour special on DStv's Nat Geo Wild channel on Sunday 1 June 2008, at 21h00.
Repeats
Tuesday 3 June: 03h00, 10h00, 16h00
Friday 6 June: 01h00
Saturday 7 June: 04h00, 14h00
Sunday 8 June: 12h00
Thursday 12 June: 11h00, 17h00
Synopsis
Set in the vast expanse of South Africa's Mala Mala game reserve, a host of Africa's biggest and fiercest wildlife species compete for food, mates and territory against the backdrop of a harsh dry season.
Based on true wildlife stories which have been monitored over the period of five years, this compelling one-hour production tracks the interconnecting lives of a wild community, locked in a never-ending battle to stay alive.
At the heart of it all is a pride of lions. Challenged from all sides by other big characters in the area, relationships constantly take unexpected turns.
Shera is the matriarch of the Mala Mala pride, who struggles to rear her cubs in the face of attack from rival males. She is also a successful hunter and leads her pride into the thick of the resident 500-strong buffalo herd.
The buffalo are weak and thin at this time of year, strained by the heat, the lack of lush grazing, and their daily pilgrimage to the ever-shrinking Sand River.
Chloe is Shera's younger sister and doesn't have young of her own. She is a valuable babysitter when the pride sets out to hunt. And the cubs need her – there are many enemies in this neighbourhood.
Lila, the leopard, has killed lion cubs in the past. She is not tolerated by the lions, nor can she keep her prey safe from the resident hyenas, led by a fearsome female named Shadow.
But Lila is popular with the male leopards of the area. Two of them have overlapping territories and she is caught right in the middle of their power struggle.
Amidst all of these daily trials and tribulations, the two reigning male lions, Scar and Tyson, have a duty to protect their pride from rival males.
Scar and Tyson have ruled here for five years, but can they hold onto their territory when two young males cross over from the Kruger National Park to chance their luck in the Mala Mala pride's territory?
With a varied supporting cast, life in Mala Mala is never dull. Elephants cause chaos with lions, leopards battle over territories and hyenas constantly undermine the other predators of the neighbourhood. And all the while, the precious land is sapped dry by the searing heat.
Follow the footsteps of these captivating characters as their drama unfolds against the stunning backdrop of the Mala Mala reserve.