- 2 days ago
Documentary, River Monsters S04E02 Pack of Teeth
Category
🐳
AnimalsTranscript
00:00In Southern Africa, there are rumours of a deadly fish.
00:08It lurks unseen in the eerie waters of the Okobango Delta.
00:12There are large animals under the water making these really shake.
00:16A killer with shark-like teeth.
00:20There are stories of it hunting in packs.
00:23They are killing machines.
00:25Feeding in frenzies on schooling fish.
00:27This is just incredible.
00:29And even on drowning humans.
00:31It's the most brutal thing you'll ever witness.
00:33It sounds like the work of giant South American piranhas.
00:37But there's nothing like that here in Africa.
00:41Or is there?
00:45My name is Jeremy Wade.
00:47And my mission is to enter this mysterious world.
00:50To track down and catch this murderous river monster.
00:59I recently heard a story about a small ferry that overturned on a river in Southern Africa.
01:17The boat was old and overloaded with cargo and passengers.
01:35The boat was on a boat.
01:37When it started taking in water, the children panicked.
01:41And the boat flipped.
01:45Apparently there were no survivors.
01:47And rumours circulated that the victims didn't just drown.
01:51They were attacked.
01:53When the bodies were recovered, they were found to be partially eaten.
02:01People at the time said that the victims had been eaten by fish.
02:07Official accounts, however, said it couldn't have been fish.
02:11Larger predators must have been responsible.
02:16Crocodiles and other killers live here in abundance.
02:19But the locals are convinced that the size and number of bite marks
02:23couldn't have been the work of these usual suspects.
02:29So could those original accounts have been correct?
02:32Could there be a pack hunting fish similar to a piranha living in Southern Africa?
02:41It sounds hard to believe, but I've heard equally fantastical stories in the past
02:45that have turned out to be true.
02:48Like a man swallowed whole by a giant fish.
02:52A bus crash where passengers were devoured by piranhas.
02:56And fishermen having their genitals mutilated by an underwater hunter.
03:02So even though I've caught my share of monsters in Africa,
03:06I've never come across a piranha-style killer.
03:08But I have learnt that fishermen's tales shouldn't be ignored.
03:15So I'm off to investigate a river system that's said to be the home of this killer.
03:20To see if I can figure out what it is and then catch it.
03:27But I've never been in this region before, so I'm not sure what to expect.
03:31I'm in the Okobango Delta in Southern Africa, where I'm hoping to come face to face with the river monster that mutilated the people on that ferry.
03:41This place is known as the jewel of the Kalahari.
03:51It's a miraculous oasis of life in the midst of one of the world's harshest deserts.
03:56Each year, the rains in Angola flow down through Namibia, eventually flooding nearly 6,000 square miles of land with over 380 billion cubic feet of water, creating the Okobango Delta.
04:11Over a period of months, it slowly recedes.
04:18But the water that remains attracts life from miles around.
04:22It's also the focus of human activity.
04:26And where humans and animals are forced together, conflict is inevitable.
04:40Out on the water for the first time, it's unfamiliar territory to me.
04:45A claustrophobic labyrinth of channels.
04:48I could easily lose my way around here.
04:56I begin my investigation by trying to connect with the locals, to find out what they know about the river's dangerous occupants.
05:04I stop to chat with a group of reed collectors, and they mention a familiar selection of suspects.
05:10So it's the crocodiles and the hippopotamuses in the water.
05:13Yeah, they're dangerous.
05:15And this is really the same story you get in lots of other parts of Africa.
05:20The water is dangerous, and the thing you just hear over and over again, it's crocodiles and hippopotamuses.
05:26As these two killers are so brutal and visible, people just assume they are the culprits in every unexplained death on the water.
05:39But I think it's possible there is a pack-hunting killer fish down there, responsible for some of these brutal deaths, including the ferry victims.
05:49I hook up with some fishermen to see what they're catching.
05:52It's very clear. This is a very rich water. Lots of these things in here, tilapia.
05:58This is the staple food source for sub-Saharian Africa, in terms of fish.
06:03And there are lots of them. They're nice fish, but nice-looking fish, but also very tasty.
06:08But I think I can bet that it's not any people that are going to be enjoying these.
06:11There's going to be other fish in here as well, with teeth feeding on these. This water is bound to have predators in.
06:17I ask around if there's anything that fits the description of a toothy pack hunter.
06:28And one of the stories I hear is of a young man who was attacked, while wearing a crucifix around his neck.
06:39A predator in the water spotted the moving, shining object.
06:42And went for it.
06:46Apparently the man's chest was sliced open.
06:55The locals believe it was the jaws of a predatory fish that inflicted the damage.
07:00I'm told there's an English-speaking fisherman named Clifford, who may have more information, as he too was bitten by a fish in these waters.
07:09The fish wriggled.
07:11I tried to grab the fish, but I hit it in the teeth with my hand, and it closed up.
07:18And is this the mark here?
07:20Yes.
07:21Wow.
07:23I had 14 stitches.
07:25My thumb is no longer functioning.
07:28So what is the name of this fish that bit you?
07:31Nguesh.
07:33Nguesh.
07:35And this is the thing with fish names.
07:37And the reason we have scientific names is that everybody knows what everybody's talking about.
07:40This is not a name I've heard before.
07:43It's clearly a predator. It's toothy.
07:46I'm actually quite used to seeing piranha bites on fishermen in the Amazon.
07:51And you're normally talking there, something small, something maybe at the most an inch across.
07:55This is, we're talking two and a half, three inches across, and it's got a sort of, almost a sort of a triangular profile.
08:06But to inflict a wound like that, it's got to have very, very sharp teeth.
08:10And this was a couple of years ago, and it's just left a permanent scar.
08:15Can you describe the fish that did this? What does it look like? What's the mouth like? What is the body like?
08:19It's a long fish with sharp teeth and with stripes. The teeth, they are closed.
08:29They interlock.
08:31Oh, there are a lot of them in the water here. Is it something you see very much?
08:35During the month of January, February, the water is clear. You see schools of them. Lots of them.
08:45So the pictures that's emerging is not a solitary hunter. This is something that lives in packs.
08:50Cliff had described the way the teeth work, they interlock. That's quite piranha-like.
08:54The fact that they're in packs, that's also quite piranha-like. But this is the wrong continent.
09:00And to my knowledge, there's nothing piranha-like in Africa.
09:03But this actually sounds something very similar, but possibly something even more dramatic.
09:09Because the fish are bigger. The individuals can inflict more vicious wounds.
09:16If this Nguesh is a toothy piranha-style pack killer, then it could be the monster at the heart of that very incident.
09:24I need to figure out what it is. And to do that, I need to catch one.
09:36I'm after a predator, a meat-eater. So I've got a piece of steak here, quite bloody.
09:43The kind of thing that piranhas would tear to shreds.
09:45So quite a big hook. And because of what I'm after, it's probably got teeth.
09:52I'm not using just line next to the hook, because that would just be sliced through.
09:55This is wire. This is like 80, 90-pound breaking-strewn wire.
10:01Within seconds of my bait hitting the water, it's getting some interest.
10:09There's some interest.
10:10There's some interest.
10:11There's some mute.
10:11.
10:36Could I already have hooked the river monster of the Okobango?
10:39Fish on!
10:50I'm deep in the watery maze of Africa's Okobango Delta,
10:54trying to unmask the identity of an aggressive fish the locals call the ngwesh.
10:59A strong fish.
11:00A meat-eater has taken my bait and it's putting up a fight.
11:04Glimpse of that, glimpse of that. I think it's some kind of catfish.
11:07Wow.
11:14It's clamping down, it's clamping down.
11:16It's a sharp-toothed catfish and it's got some powerful jaws.
11:20That's the hook out, which is nice.
11:24So this is a very voracious meat-eating predator.
11:33There are teeth in there.
11:34They drew blood on my hands, but they are... they're small teeth.
11:39These could certainly make short work of a human corpse.
11:43But the look of that corpse, it would be very different from a body that's been bitten.
11:50So this is actually not what I'm after.
11:52And that's quite a thought.
11:53There's something else down here, which is even more fearsome than this.
12:01I head back to the village.
12:02I need some more local knowledge if I'm going to get to the bottom of this mystery.
12:06Can you just tell me how much?
12:08People tell me the Unguesh is difficult and dangerous to catch.
12:12But once again, it's the large visible predators they talk about most.
12:17And when you see injuries like these, you can understand why.
12:21Can you tell me what it was that happened to you?
12:31So these are injuries caused by crocodiles.
12:36Both mother and daughter were in the water collecting water lily baths.
12:43A crocodile under the water, unseen, grabbed the daughter's left hand.
12:48The daughter obviously cries out.
13:03Mother comes to help and actually attacked the crocodile with the sickle.
13:08The crocodile let go of the daughter and then went after the mother.
13:13The crocodile actually had the mother's arm.
13:24It was feeding on this and then the mother was able to, with her remaining arm,
13:31gather her daughter and take her where they were safe.
13:35I have to say that hearing how dangerous crocodiles are is one thing, but actually seeing the evidence really underlines for me just how potentially dangerous these waters are.
13:52But the villagers believe there is a man here who can help protect them.
13:55The witch doctor.
13:57He doesn't look as I expected, but I'm told he's a very powerful healer with an extensive knowledge of the fish in these waters,
14:06as some of them have dark powers that affect his medicine.
14:09He's listed four fish.
14:10He's listed four fish, something called the Mpakipitu, Nyeru, Tuni, which I think is also known as the barbel or the catfish.
14:22And then here again is this fish called the Nguesh.
14:26So do different fish have different powers?
14:28So the Nguesh is the most powerful fish.
14:40If he has eaten the Nguesh, he says the illness will multiply, it will become much stronger than it was in the first place.
14:47And for this reason, he doesn't eat Nguesh, he doesn't even touch it, he doesn't even allow it inside his compound.
14:53I know you don't touch them, but is there any fishermen in the village, anybody here who could show me one?
15:05OK, so he says his daughter, not in here, but if I go outside, his daughter has got something that she can show me.
15:17His daughter brings me what she calls the Nguesh, but it's not quite what I was hoping for.
15:24So these are the teeth of Nguesh?
15:31Would you know Nguesh?
15:34I'll tell you what struck me first of all, it wasn't so much this, it was his reaction.
15:37He visibly backed away. I mean, it's not just talk.
15:42These are definitely, you know, powerful in his belief.
15:46Didn't want to be anywhere near them.
15:47They look almost shark-like, these teeth.
15:52They've sort of crumbled a little bit, but I can tell that they are very, very sharp.
15:56But I'm still no nearer visualising what the entire creature is like.
16:01It's a tangible clue though, and that evening as I watch the villagers prepare for a blessing ceremony, I feel I'm getting closer to revealing its identity.
16:14But when the witch doctor reappears, unrecognisable in his ceremonial attire, I realise I'm a long way from understanding this place.
16:25He seems to exist on the cusp of another world, and within minutes he's worked the women into a frenzy.
16:33Talk about a transformation, you know, a serious man I was talking to, and then just suddenly this dancing ball of energy, incredible.
16:49The witch doctor's transformation is not the only surprise of the evening.
16:54The ladies bring out their baskets, which they use for fishing in the shallows.
16:58But they also ask me to bring out my fishing rod.
17:01Do I sit here?
17:02OK.
17:04Suddenly, I'm at the centre of their ritual.
17:13The women are actually getting their fishing baskets blessed.
17:17And I've sort of been snuck into their number, maybe to give me a little bit of protection, good fortune,
17:25to be in my quest to find out about this fish in the Welsh.
17:27They seem to feel that if I'm going after the English, then I'm going to need all the help I can get.
17:45Then, as quickly as it started, the ceremony ends.
17:48The next morning, I go with the women basket fishing.
17:59I find it's often by integrating yourself within the community that the best information comes out.
18:04While I'm doing this, looking for fish, concentrating on what's in the basket.
18:11I'm very aware that around me you've got water lilies, and this is exactly what the mother and daughter were collecting when they were attacked by the crocodile.
18:17Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
18:21Yeah, yeah.
18:23I have two fish, two fish.
18:25Two fish?
18:26Yeah.
18:32That's a river monster.
18:34The ladies scare the fish out of the weeds, but instead of escaping into open water, there are baskets waiting for them.
18:45I have to say, it's very nice to get back to the basics of fishing.
18:49You're talking about just simple materials and a bit of human cooperation and ingenuity.
18:52And there we are, there's the fish.
18:56Uh, where do I...
18:59Oh, it nearly got away, nearly got away.
19:04In the bucket?
19:07There's actually an impressive catch.
19:09They're not big, but there are lots of them, lots of fish.
19:12But the women are saying that sometimes around here it's possible to find large concentrations of big fish, very big fish.
19:18They say that doesn't happen very often, it's hard to find, but the way that I can find that is to look for the birds.
19:25The birds, the water birds, will tell me where they are.
19:28This is what I was hoping for.
19:31A little piece of inside information which could lead me to the killer fish that prowl these waters.
19:38So I head out, scanning the horizon for birds.
19:42And after a few hours, I find what I'm looking for.
19:45There seems to be some excitement.
19:49Some of the birds seem to be quite excited behind these reeds here.
19:54So we're just going to see if we can go round into this bit of a backwater and just see what's causing that.
20:01These must be the water birds that the ladies spoke of, but I can't quite get to where they are.
20:06Very frustrating, I can't see what's going on, but there's every now and again there's a loud sort of slapping, popping sound.
20:13And I think there's something very dramatic going on under the water, but I just can't get to it.
20:20I try to force my way into the reeds to see if I can glimpse what's causing this commotion.
20:28Bubbles in the water.
20:30These reeds are shaking, some quite large animals under the water making these reeds really shake.
20:35Could this be a pack of river monsters at work?
20:45What have been unearthed in this part of Botswana that are among the oldest of their kind ever found?
20:51Find out right after this.
20:53Fishing implements have been unearthed in Botswana that date back over 20,000 years, some of the oldest ever found.
21:11I fought my way into the reeds to try and see what's causing an underwater commotion.
21:15Some of these lilies shaking and there's a few leftover birds, but there's a sense that the action has just moved on.
21:24It's very frustrating, I got to the edge of it, I saw the shaking reeds, I couldn't really see what was responsible, but there's something under the water.
21:31It just appeared like a large collection of predatory creatures in the water, but they move, they're very elusive.
21:41Very mysterious, very frustrating. I really want to get to the bottom of this.
21:47Unfortunately, the reeds are too dense to follow the action.
21:52Then I realize I'm not alone.
21:55So there's people in here as well. They obviously know what's going on or certainly have a better idea than I do.
22:02But she's just disappeared in a very thin channel there between the weeds.
22:07I don't think there's any way in this I'm going to go after.
22:11But...
22:15Some sort of secret things going on here that I would really like to know more about.
22:20The next day I'm privileged to join a 71 year old village elder named Duba.
22:35He spent his life on these waters.
22:38I'm hoping he can help me unlock the secrets of this reed filled labyrinth and find the killer fish at his heart.
22:45Duba is one of the last San River Bushmen, some of the most ancient people on earth.
22:55They have fished these eerie backwaters for thousands if not tens of thousands of years and own the traditional fishing rights.
23:03So it's only with Duba's permission that I'm allowed to be here.
23:10And without his help, I would never find my way out.
23:14Duba, can you tell me what's different about this place? What happens here?
23:17So the significance of this place is that traditionally this is where the dead were taken and they were buried up to their necks.
23:32The rains would come, the rains would then go away and the body would be gone and the people would be transformed into papyrus plants.
23:45They believe these floating spirit papyrus protect the lagoons, moving independently against the current to close the channels and trap intruders inside the labyrinth.
23:57So if you come here without permission, what happens is that either you're going to find the way into the lagoon blocked by papyrus, you can't get in, you're physically kept out.
24:15But if you insist on pushing your way through, the papyrus will close behind you and you'll never find your way out.
24:22All that will be found eventually is just your empty canoe.
24:27Duba, I've been hearing about a fish called ngwesh. Is this a particularly dangerous fish?
24:32The ngwesh is a fish that is very toothy, it's got teeth a bit like a crocodile, very sharp.
24:48From my point of view, fishing for them, I'm trying to find them.
24:51I've established that this place is a sacred place, a haunted place if you like, but what that also means is it's got a degree of protection.
25:00People don't normally come here, so I think while I'm here and while I'm sort of authorised to be here, I could do a lot worse than just put a lure through the water and see if there is anything down there.
25:10In this lagoon, I'm trying a small fishing lure.
25:21If the ngwesh is a pack hunter, like the piranha, then a disturbance near the surface is what it might go for.
25:28That's a fish, fish, fish, fish, fish, whoa!
25:31This fish took almost under the, whoops, under the rod tip, an indication of how voracious the fish are in this water.
25:42I mean, I've got about four feet of line out there. I was just about to lift it out of the water and it grabbed it.
25:47And I'm just letting it tire out a bit. I mean, the chances are it's got teeth if it went for that spoon, so I've got bare feet in here.
25:56I want it a little bit tired before I try and swing it in the boat.
25:59Aye.
26:01Beautiful little fish, very toothy. This is actually an African pike, sort of mottled green.
26:13The colour's actually wrong, I think, for what I've been hearing about, but if I just compare the teeth with what I was given by the witch doctor,
26:21actually the teeth are very different, very different. So, I mean, quite a nice toothy fish to catch this, but I think we can rule this off the suspects list.
26:29So, the hunt for the mutilator of the ferry victims continues.
26:36Nice looking fish, but it's not the one I'm after.
26:40I'm working my way through the food chain, but nothing yet matches the description of the Ingwesh.
26:52As we near the lagoon's exit, I spot something unusual in the water.
26:59It's an old canoe here, just upturned by the side of the canal.
27:02I've been hearing all these stories about how this is not a good place to come to if you don't have permission, and I have to admit, it is quite a spooky place.
27:12It's quite easy to dismiss those stories, and then you come across a canoe with no occupant.
27:20It just adds to that general air of spookiness. You wonder what happened to the owner of this canoe.
27:26With my suspect list narrowing, I head out again into the main channel, keeping my eye out for flocks of birds.
27:37I decide to target a different part of the water column as I systematically zero in on the mystery fish locals call the Ingwesh.
27:45This is quite a weighted, heavy lure, heavy head to it there. The idea of this is it goes down to the bottom, which tends to be where the larger fish might be lying.
27:58It's got a very enticing sort of wiggly action, and it's just the kind of thing that's going to entice a predatory strike.
28:15Let it hit the water, let it sink down, maybe eight to ten feet, and then just twitch it.
28:25That was something. Twitch. Twitch.
28:29And it's got these trailing sort of tendrils, and it's got this rubbery body, and a little rattle as well.
28:36I think if you're a predator, you see a movement, you bite first and you ask questions later.
28:45Let it sink.
28:48Let it sink, let it sink, let it sink, let it sink.
28:52Twitch. Twitch. Twitch. Twitch.
28:57Oh, I thought I felt something like that. Twitch.
29:01And again.
29:05Oh. Twitch.
29:15Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
29:28Oh, yay!
29:30Wow.
29:32I think I've just seen what the anguish is.
29:33Oh, look at that. Look at that. It comes about four feet out of the water.
29:46I'm hooked into a predator in Africa's Okavango Delta.
29:50My mind's sounding like it's in pain slicing the water.
29:54Could it be the anguish?
29:56Long and silvery horizontal stripes.
29:58The pack-hunting killer fish I've been searching for.
30:01I think this might actually be the anguish. From everything I've heard, it definitely fits the description.
30:17Streamlined fish. Silvery color, horizontal black stripes, and unmistakable large, sharp, interlocking teeth.
30:26And, well, I actually recognize this as a tigerfish.
30:31This definitely looks like it's been doing a bit of hunting that body, although elongated is quite, you know, it's very full, it's been feeding.
30:38And then those teeth, I mean, that is, yeah, that is the tooth the witch doctor showed me.
30:45I think we've got a positive ID now on this fish, for sure.
30:47So I've matched the teeth from the witch doctor, and identified the anguish.
30:54But is it really a fish that attacks in frenzied packs, like the piranha?
30:58I've caught a tigerfish before, the goliath tigerfish of the Congo.
31:05There we go.
31:06That fish has the size to be a killer.
31:08What a fresh water monster this thing is.
31:11But it works alone. The one I'm after hunts in packs, and can potentially bring down several large targets at once.
31:22The type of tigerfish I just caught is a relative of the piranha, but it can grow to over three feet long.
31:30And its average weight is more than ten times that of a red-bellied piranha.
31:33So imagine hordes of these tearing at your flesh.
31:38A voracious pack of teeth that if my hunch is right, could easily have disposed of the ferry victims.
31:49To find out more about this type of tigerfish, I meet up with a man who has years of experience catching them.
31:56A fishing guide named Yuri Janssen.
31:59People talk a lot about tigerfish being very aggressive.
32:04How dangerous do you think they are to people in this river?
32:08The potential is there.
32:10We're dealing with a species that is, without a doubt, the most aggressive freshwater species in Africa, and possibly worldwide.
32:21It's just such an aggressive fish.
32:23Particularly during the feeding frenzies associated with the catfish run,
32:27when tigers get together and shoal and actually feed as a unit rather than individually.
32:35This sounds like the lead I'm after.
32:37A spectacular phenomenon that occurs at one specific time of the year here in the Delta,
32:42that Yuri believes incites the tigerfish to hunt in packs.
32:46It's called the catfish or barbell run, and it occurs when thousands of catfish prey on millions of baitfish.
32:54This hunt in turn attracts packs of tigerfish to feed in a predatory frenzy.
33:00Maybe this is what was happening in the reeds.
33:02As soon as that noise starts, the tigers are there in seconds.
33:07They go into a feeding frenzy with that mouth open, and they just chomp.
33:11You see bits of fish being thrown up in the air.
33:13It's the most brutal thing you'll ever witness from a freshwater species.
33:20Tigers naturally are attracted to any activity, whether it be a struggling animal or a struggling human being.
33:26And do you have any, have you heard any specific stories that illustrate that?
33:30There is one that stands out.
33:33At one particular incident in a river in South Africa.
33:37At the height of summer, an off-duty game ranger decided to take a quick dip in the river to cool off.
33:48A risky decision, even if he thought the area was croc-free.
33:52But crocodiles are not the only predators in this water.
34:04My search for proof of the tigerfish's deadly potential has led me to the story of a horrific attack.
34:16It was brutally molded all around the groin area.
34:17The nature of the wounds suggested it was a large tigerfish.
34:18He almost pledged dead.
34:19That just shows the ferocity of, of the tigerfish.
34:20Attracted it.
34:21The nature of the wounds suggested it was a large tigerfish.
34:22He almost pledged dead.
34:23That just shows the ferocity of, of the tigerfish.
34:24Attracted it to any kind of movement in, in, in, in water.
34:25And, um, attacking things that may, um.
34:26And, um.
34:27That just shows the ferocity of, of the tigerfish.
34:28That just shows the ferocity of, of the tigerfish.
34:29Attracted it to any kind of movement in, in, in water.
34:30And, um.
34:31Attacking things that may not resemble their prey.
34:34So another example of a tigerfish attacking a hirchid, he, he, he's a big one, he's a big one.
34:35It was the big one that was a big one.
34:36And, uh, he's a big one.
34:37And he's, he's a big one.
34:38And they're a big one.
34:39And they asked him to take a, you know, to see him.
34:40And he got to get his head.
34:41And he had to get a, you know, to see him.
34:42And he found him to see him.
34:43He always got to be a baby, mate.
34:44And something was really nice.
34:45With with the energy of a fish to take a knife.
34:46And he said, he was, oh, please.
34:47And, you know, he was this guy.
34:49Patrick, I think, you know.
34:50movement in water and attacking things that may not resemble their prey.
34:58So another example of a tigerfish attacking a human in open water, but it's still hunting
35:04alone.
35:06However, these accounts of them feeding in frenzies during the catfish run could be the
35:12proof I need that they do work in packs.
35:18The next morning I head deeper into the delta, scanning the water for the bird activity that
35:24could be the sign of tigerfish on the prowl.
35:28But finding a run is not proving to be that easy.
35:33It's a natural phenomenon that can appear and then disappear back into the reeds with
35:37no apparent warning.
35:42As I'm not finding anything at water level, I decide to search for the predatory fish from
35:46above.
35:58Looking down on the maze of the Okavango, I realize that I'm finally beginning to unlock
36:02its secrets.
36:09What I'm looking for is concentrations of birds because people have told me that is where
36:14the predators are going to be.
36:15I feed on the bait fish that trigger the run.
36:17I'm counting on them to lead me to the action.
36:22I guess I can see them.
36:23I can see the birds.
36:25That is where I've got to put my line.
36:39My hope is that like the birds, packs of tigerfish will be going after the barbell catfish run.
36:45This will prove my theory that these toothy killers do hunt together and could be capable
36:50of mutilating a boatload of people.
36:53Here are the birds, but they're not actually doing anything at the moment.
36:57It's like they're waiting for something.
36:58It's like they can sense something that I can't.
37:02It's actually quite spooky.
37:03Something's going to happen.
37:04It's not happening yet.
37:05Then seemingly out of nowhere, the catfish start arriving.
37:24An army of them schooling together.
37:35To herd thousands of bait fish out of the reeds into open water.
37:39Where the catfish can feed on them.
37:44This is the rare freshwater spectacle I've been hearing about.
37:48What I've spent so long searching for.
37:54But I'm not here as a spectator.
38:04There are hundreds if not thousands of these.
38:10This is what the barbell run is all about.
38:14Catfish, lots of them.
38:17But the catfish aren't what I'm after.
38:19I've been told that all this commotion will draw in the second wave of predators.
38:23The tiger fish.
38:25And before long I'm witnessing a real feeding frenzy.
38:29This is just, this is just incredible.
38:35The amount of activity is just incredible.
38:37This is a real phenomenon.
38:39Right.
38:40Gosh.
38:41Ah.
38:42There are fish there.
38:51Just holding their open mouths out of the water.
38:53Presumably just treading water with their tails.
38:54And they're just waiting.
38:55And the bait fish are flying in the air.
38:57So presumably they're just waiting for the fish to land in their mouths.
39:00The water is just so full of fish.
39:14And just in your ears as well, the other sound, it's great.
39:17The water doesn't just look like it's boiling, it sounds like it.
39:22I've just never seen anything like this before.
39:24To see such a sight in fresh water, it's really incredible.
39:31I need to get a bait back in the water.
39:34Into the middle of this carnage.
39:36To finally prove that tiger fish are here hunting in packs.
39:43Fish on.
39:45This is what I came here to see.
39:54Look at this.
39:59Eye-marked with tiger fish in the Okavango Delta.
40:02Trying to prove that these fish are Africa's oversized version of the pack hunting piranha.
40:08Looks like I'm finally in the eye of the storm.
40:11This is not carnage going on behind the reeds or in some sort of marsh where I can't see it.
40:16This is right at the river's edge.
40:18And the predator's just hammering into the bait fish.
40:20And my lure, when it goes in there as well, is getting the same treatment.
40:24I'm hooking one tiger fish after another.
40:31This is the proof I'm after.
40:34Well, this is the fish.
40:35This is the fish.
40:36And the evidence is right behind me.
40:38It's in my ears.
40:39I mean, just the sound of the feeding frenzy is going on as I hold this fish.
40:43So this is not just a solitary hunter.
40:45There is a pack of them down there.
40:47Filling the air with the sound of just frenzied predatory activity.
40:52People think piranhas are scary.
41:00Piranhas are just a few inches.
41:02You know, maybe a pound, two pounds.
41:05But fish this size operating in a pack.
41:08Pretty monstrous thought.
41:12The fact is, if you get a bait in the right place, just these things one after the other will just pile into it.
41:21And I think without doubt this is a very likely candidate for what put paid to those people in the ferry.
41:27So we're not just talking a solitary animal down there.
41:31We are talking a pack.
41:32We're almost talking a super organism.
41:34You know, the biomass of these in a small volume of water is quite frightening.
41:38I mean, piranhas in comparison look quite puny.
41:41We've got a pack of these things down here.
41:43I've heard first-hand accounts of their raw aggression.
41:47I've seen their brutal hardware.
41:49And by catching so many in quick succession, I've shown they most definitely hunt in packs.
41:54I've left in no doubt that a frenzy of these mouths could easily have disposed of the ferry victims.
42:00So I think by any definition at all, this thing is a real river monster.
Recommended
43:27
|
Up next
42:26
42:26
43:17
43:26
43:27
1:27:04
42:28
41:40
41:47
43:17
0:42
48:39
29:03
49:48
43:35
43:42
50:05
1:27:31
43:32