Chasing the Rains: the new series about animal matriarchs protecting their families

It’s raining in Kenya. At last. But 5.4 million people are still in extreme jeopardy of food poverty as for three years running the rains have failed.

For thousands of years this East African country relied on two regular rainy seasons – from March to May and then a shorter spell in October and November. But climate change has wreaked havoc with these seasons. The rains are no longer predictable, and humanity is now living with an intensified anxiety about life itself. But it’s not just people that are affected by a drought.

Kenya is famous for its wildlife and its animals all rely on these natural cycles too, so climate change is exerting terrible pressure on their populations, most markedly in northern Kenya in the arid zone that stretches north and east of Mount Kenya towards the Ethiopian and Somali Borders.

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In Chasing the Rains – a new four-part natural history series for Sky Nature, filmmakers track the lives of three formidable animal matriarchs as they navigate the challenges of this extreme dry season.

Elephants need to consume at least 80 litres of water a day, so the challenge for herd leaders is huge. In the Samburu National Reserve, leading charity Save the Elephants has monitored and studied individual named herds for 30 years. Here, matriarchs like Anastasia of the Royals carry sophisticated mental maps of water sources that enable them to lead their herds to river, spring and water hole at exactly the right time. But baby elephants are vulnerable in these extreme conditions and may perish in lengthy treks to water. The team witnessed Latipha and Malka, two young mothers split away from Anastasia to return to the dry riverbed in hope of the rains returning. Calves Sheba and Shaka were saved by a light fall of rain in early November, vindicating the young mother’s decision, but many other young elephants have perished in the extended drought.

On the slopes of Mount Kenya, the team filmed another remarkable matriarch – wild dog pack leader Phoenix. Wild dogs are extremely rare in Kenya, and Phoenix is a remarkable survivor who has not only navigated several extreme dry seasons but rebuilt an entire pack after an outbreak of canine distemper effectively destroyed her entire pack. Dry conditions exacerbate the competition between humans and animals for food and water, and during conditions like this the canine distemper virus can easily cross from domestic dog to wild animal. Scientists now routinely vaccinate herders’ dogs against distemper which is allowing the population to expand, helped by the resilience of alpha females like Phoenix.

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The drought also increases competition between the animals themselves. Phoenix’s pack are routinely trailed by clans of hyenas, who have the advantages of power and weight. The filming team filmed several pitched battles between the pack and large hyena clans which had pursued them across many miles of parched scrubland. Luckily, the dog pack is much quicker than the clan. On the downside, there are far more hyenas than dogs, so there is danger everywhere.

Hyenas also proved a dangerous foe to the third of Chasing the Rains‘ trio of tenacious female characters. In Naboisho Conservancy on the edge of the Masai Mara, first-time cheetah mother Kuleta struggled to protect her litter of four cubs as the plains turned from a verdant grassland to a dried-out dustbowl. Cheetahs are the lowest ranked of all Kenya’s large predators, and their cubs regularly fall victim to hyenas, lions, leopards and even baboons. As the landscape dried out, the crew witnessed Kuleta and her family driven to a part of the conservancy with the largest population of lions in the whole of Africa. Tragically, the young cheetah mother lost a cub to the larger, more powerful predator, resulting in an agonising search that lasted for the best part of two days. Fortunately, the rains fell just in time for Kuleta, drawing more prey animals back to her range and allowing her to nurture the three remaining cubs to adolescence.

There’s little humanity can do to reverse climate change, but the crew of Chasing the Rains were deeply impressed by the ability of their animal stars to adapt and survive in the face of such challenging conditions. With protection and space, Nature can do amazing things. We can gain inspiration from the phenomenal resilience and tenacity of Kuleta, Phoenix, Anastasia and their families.

Nigel Pope is co-producer of Chasing the Rains, which is available to stream on Sky Nature and Now TV. It premieres on BBC America on Earth Day (22 April) @nigpope