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Private Notes
Echo lives in Southern Kenya alongside fifteen hundred other wild African elephants. Below Kilimanjaro, no rain has fallen. There’s no grass to eat, so Echo must find food for her hungry family. She must avoid predators, fierce Maasai warriors, and disasters.
Norah and Soila race to Amboseli’s outlands to help rescue Qualida, an elephant matriarch trapped in mud. In her secret spot, Echo wakes to face a rebellion: half her family leave to eat at the palms.
In Amboseli, Soila and Katito take to the air to find Qualida, the elephant rescued from the mudtrap. They spot her, but can’t make out her calf.
In Amboseli, the harsh drought is tightening its grip. Echo and all the elephant families go to sleep and wake up hungry. Rain is falling, but in dangerous areas, drawing elephants into increasing conflict with farmers.
On the plains of Amboseli, the rains are over two months late. Echo brings the family to the palms to eat the last leaves. The wise matriarch resists the temptation to take them to inhabited areas where fresh crops are springing up and conflict waits.
In the relentless drought, the youngest calves are starving. Hunger is driving elephants to forage on surrounding farms. The women of the Trust for Elephants help deter nighttime crop raiders. Echo’s wise head keeps her family to the swamp. She protects Edwina and Elettra – both pregnant.
Everyone is on the move in Amboseli. The rains bring new life. Lush new grass is saving the 58 elephant families from hunger. An extraordinary annual reunion brings hundreds of elephants together in scenes of celebration, play and romance. From a plane, Katito spots a dead elephant. Soila and Norah go into the swamp on foot and recognise matriarch Geraldine. They recover her bones to discover how she died. Big bull Vronsky is on the hunt for a mate and ready to fight. He begins an epic battle with a rival, Gomer – starting by fighting for nine hours without a break.
In Amboseli, nine months of unrelenting drought have given way to longed-for rains. The elephants now have enough to eat. Echo is taking the family on a day out to the Snipe River.
The new grass is reaching its peak. Soila, Norah and Katito follow the families from a balloon. After months of hunger, Echo’s family are enjoying good times. The matriarch and her family are dustbathing at the safe home where Echo shelters her young. Even when they run to defend themselves, they are only pretending to be attacked!
Echo's family have their first new baby of the year, Evaline. The baby looks unusually exhausted. Elettra, the first-time mother won’t let her sleep.
It’s the baby boom. In Echo's family, her niece Elettra is a mother for the first time. She has a lot to learn. Three-day-old baby Evaline finds the going tough, as her mother fails to watch over her, and the others send the adventurous youngster packing.
For Echo and her family in their secret home behind the old lodge fence, the weeks after the rains are good times. They have time to take a mudbath together.
Echo's life from baby to matriarch. The young Echo travels with her family, keeping close to her mother, from whom she absorbs lessons passed down through generations. In her teens she practises courtship and mating. Despite her best efforts, her first baby dies in a drought. In her mid-twenties, her life changes forever as she becomes the family’s leader. The same year, American scientist, Cynthia Moss arrives in Amboseli where she spends so much time, she becomes part of Echo’s family. For 400 years Maasai have lived here too. Echo's eldest daughter Erin is killed by a Maasai spear. What will happen to her orphaned son, young Email? Echo's battle to keep her family alive continues.
