A rhino ear notching goes terribly wrong when a large bull starts attacking the drugged female. Things get really dangerous when the team is forced to use their vehicle as a barrier between the two animals. Up at the Animal Hospital the world’s tallest patient checks in and the struggle begins to get the baby giraffe to drink. It’s just four hours old and hasn’t even stood up yet. It’s turning into a busy week for our vet Johan, he has to make an emergency dash help a young elephant that has become tangled in wire and can’t keep up with the herd. It’s only a matter of time before it’s attacked by predators. During this episode we also manage to capture some incredible footage – a cheetah killing an antelope – and a stand-off at the watering hole between a pride of lion and black rhino!

Our vet Johan ends up with a buffalo up his backside when one of the animals they are testing for tuberculosis wakes up. We have a difficult decision to make, rescue an orphaned baby elephant or leave it to die a slow, cruel death in the bush. One of the Shamwari rangers almost ends up a feline feast while walking with lions. The pride starts hunting and their prey is leading them straight toward our ranger. And a second chance at life for two leopards rescued from a zoo in Europe. We get to see them take their first steps back on African soil – they are so excited they almost break through the fence.

The wildlife team come under attack from an angry rhino after releasing it from its holding crate. It turns its full fury on the game capture truck and manages to lift the whole 14 ton off the ground – with everyone standing on the back! Our orphaned baby elephant is settling nicely into his new home. Things start to go crazy when we introduce him to his new playmate – a sheep called Albert. Things go terribly wrong as the game capture team bring in a herd of wildebeest – one of the workers in gored in the leg and has to be airlifted to hospital. We also manage to capture some incredibly rare footage of two leopards leaping – playing up a storm.

Our vet Johan has to run for his life when a darted lion wakes up unexpectedly. He tries to hold it down as long as possible to give the rest of the team time to get to safety. It means putting his own life at risk. The struggle continues to get our baby elephant Themba to drink milk. Time is running out. If we can’t get fluids into him then he will surely die. And the game capture team is tackling the world’s deadliest animal, the hippo. They get a little too close for comfort when it turns its jaws towards the loading vehicle. And a torrential downpour causes havoc at the animal hospital as Melvin our orphaned giraffe experiences rain for the first time and gets completely warter logged.

It’s a race against time to bring in the world’s biggest animal – the elephant. It’s gone down in a bad position and has stopped breathing – the team need to push it onto its side or it will die. There’s a baby boom out on the reserve – we are lucky enough to watch the birth of a giraffe. High flying action as the wildlife team tries to bring in a herd of antelope. The fight is on to save a severely dehydrated baby warthog. They might be the ugliest babies in the world but these pigs are seriously entertaining and that makes them incredibly cute. An uninvited and extremely deadly houseguest has to be removed from our home. And Themba our orphaned elephant takes his first steps back into the bush with his new herd – us!

We’re on our way to the world’s most dangerous rescue. An adult leopard has been caught in a trap on a nearby farm. If the leopard breaks out of the trap when the team is trying to dart it then chances are it will lunge forward and attack. It’s playtime at the Animal Hospital when Themba gets a new toy – a giant exercise ball to kick around and sit on. The work experience student almost ends up squashed by nearly a ton of antelope. Luckily she is pulled out of harms way in the nick of time. A large bull elephant causes havoc in one of the workers homes and has to be forced out with vehicles. We witness the world’s toughest jaws in action when a hyena almost locks its mouth around our assistant vets arm. And the game capture team brings in a herd of zebra – just one kick from these animals can kill instantly.

Our work experience student narrowly avoids being trampled by a herd of stampeding wildebeest while helping with sail capture. Our wildlife team is in the line of fire once again when they become trapped in the middle of a rhino sandwich. Johan the vet has a rather tricky operation to perform. He needs to give one our rescued lions a vasectomy. Needless to say the lion isn’t impressed and takes his fury out on the electric fence. The animal hospital fights to save a rare mountain zebra that has been kicked by a stallion. And we capture some incredible footage – a leopard tortoise laying eggs – now that is something you don’t see everyday!

Johan crash tackles an adult cheetah after it fails to succumb to the tranquilizer and almost ends up falling asleep on the electric fence. Melvin our baby giraffe is heading out into the bush to sample leaves for the first time. Our rangers head into the bush at night to track the predators. This is when the big cats come alive. Themba the baby elephant is taking a dust bath. And tragedy strikes, poachers leave their bloody mark at Shamwari as they go after rhino horn. It’s such a terrible waste - we find a large bull riddled with bullets.

We need to capture five lions to move to another game reserve. This is a major operation where one mistake could cost you your life as Johan finds out when one of the lions wakes unexpectedly. The lion’s jaws are just centimeters from his leg when he manages to scale a fence and get out of the way. Out on the reserve we manage to capture some incredible footage of a baby rhino feeding. It’s turning into a busy week for the wildlife department. They need to rescue 5 baby wildebeest that have been abandoned by their herd. That means crash tackling the little ones to bring them to safety. And walking with hippo, how to stay alive when you are facing Africa’s biggest killer on foot.

The Born Free lions are about to be taught a very important lesson that could save their lives. Johan is using an electrified snake to warn them off approaching real snakes. The only problem is Johan ends up bearing the full brunt of the electric shock! It’s all hands on deck as the team struggle to push a rhino into a traveling crate. If it turns around it could some serious damage with that horn. The world’s deadliest cargo takes to the skies as we translocate 5 lions to another game reserve. There is nothing separating the big cats from the pilot and if one of them starts waking up it will be a disaster. And love is in the air for Africa’s antelope as we witness the blesbuck mating ritual.

Capturing a large bull elephant almost ends in disaster when it falls in an awkward position and stops breathing. The team needs to reach it but it is difficult to find in thick vegetation. We welcome some very rare and special new arrivals. White lion cubs have just been born at Shamwari’s sister reserve Sanbona. Our work experience student makes a huge mistake and ends up trapped in the middle of a herd of gemsbok. The use their horns like lances and if Siohban isn’t quick enough she could end up stabbed. It’s a real struggle to hold back the tears as we say goodbye to Melvin the orphaned giraffe. After 6 months at the Animal Hospital he is going back to the game reserve he came from. And the race is on to bring in a leopard that has escaped onto neighboring farmland. We need to capture it before it is shot by farmers.

Johan has a rather sensitive procedure to perform. He needs to operate on a rhino’s penis. It appears to have gotten in a fight with another rhino and suffered a pretty serious injury. The wild dogs have escaped from Shamwari and the team must now battle to get them back before they start killing livestock on the neighboring farms. A tic infestation is causing major problems with the buffalo herd and the wildlife department need to become inventive if they are going to treat the animals. We witness a world first – an elephant and sheep playing together – Themba and Albert are building a strong friendship and have become inseparable. And our vet Johan ends up with egg on his face while trying to solve a mystery surrounding some ostrich eggs that haven’t hatched.

A lion cub with a broken leg checks in to the animal hospital for emergency treatment. We send it back to the pride with a full cast – but there are no guarantees the other lions will accept it back once they smell the human scent on it. A new bunch or ranger trainees arrives at Shamwari and we start putting them through their paces. They have to get down and dirty if they are to pass their first exam – the art of camouflage. A call for help from a neighboring game reserve has the team racing to save an elephant that has been hit by a train. And Albert the sheep is causing havoc at the hospital. He has become overly protective of his buddy Themba the elephant and seems intent on chasing all the other orphans away from him.