A little background info: Meerkats are highly organised creatures and they take turns to stand watch. At the sign of danger they will make screeching cat-like sounds and alert their family, who will then escape back underground into their nest. And they look way cute on alert.
As we embark on this journey with the birth of young Kolo, we learn how his family survives in the harsh Kalahari desert in Africa. The meerkats feed mostly on insects, and dig with their paws to find yummy grub like millipedes and scorpions. We also learn that the meerkat family unit is imperative in surviving in "a world of giants" - a grown meerkat is only at most a metre tall.
As the snakes begin to stir from hibernation, they are hungry, and meerkats are easy prey. It slithers stealthily towards Kolo's family and almost gets his way, until Kolo's brother sounds the alert and the family starts running in different directions. The snake follows the young ones into the nest, and slithers. This part is amazing, I tell you.
The camera followed the snake into the nest. Burrowed underground, the young meerkats dash into their homes - their once-safe abode, and took a left turn where there were two paths. The snake stopped. I think maybe they don't smell too well? Then the snake took a right turn, and saw no meerkats. It was a dead end. With deadly speed he turned around and went for the left turn, where the little meerkats had zero chance of survival if he found them.
As the snake made for his tasty snacks, someone else was heading its way - Kolo's older brother, the protector of the young ones. He pounced on the snake's body and started a menace of scratching, biting and screeching. The snake, provoked, followed Kolo's brother (in this story Kolo is the only one with a name. The rest are just Brother, Mother, Father and Siblings), towards the surface, sparing the fortunate young ones.
Heng.
But instead of escaping from the snake like I expected, the family started to surround the snake, screeching their high-pitched yelps around it and advancing to provoke him, and retreating in a quarter of a second to prevent getting bitten. Boy did they look menacing! The snake, admitting temporary defeat, slithers away atop a nearby tree to spy on Kolo's family and strategise for a next attack.
Life for a meerkat isn't easy. The rains were supposed to come, but the rainclouds left as swiftly as they came, parching the already dry Kalahari desert ground. Food was now scarce, and bigger predator, like lions, began targetting our little family of meerkats.
Food is scarce, and Brother begins teaching Kolo the way of a meerkat. He teaches him to dig for insects, and when he does successfully unfurl a scorpion, Brother teaches him to kill and eat it in little steps to avoid getting stung, by making use of the meerkats' sharp paws and teeth, and its lightning-quick reflexes to smack the scorpion while avoiding its tail until its eventually weakened and eaten.
Kolo is growing up to be a quick and resourceful meerkat, but what is to happen will change his life and his resposibilities.
On this day, one of its most dangerous predators, the eagle, is here hunting for food. This is a huge eagle with a 7-foot wingspan - as tall as 2 full-grown meerkats! The eagle flies high overhead on top of the trees and is hard to spot. When Brother finally spots it and sounds the alert, it is almost too late for the little ones, who scurry back into the nest for safety.
Kolo senses the eagle gone. It has flown off overhead, so he stops and stares (I start to wonder why you're here not there..), but unbeknownst to him, the eagle is swooping down for his kill - Kolo.
It is now slow-motion as Brother rushes toward Kolo and the eagle. As the eagle's claws reach out to grab Kolo, his Brother slides in the way, putting himself between the eagle and Kolo. The eagle now has a bigger kill in his claws - Kolo's brother.
You know, its really amazing. You can see the look on Brother's face and the focus and urgency in his eyes when he realises Kolo is in danger. And you can also see the look on Kolo's face as he watches his big brother taken away by the eagle to feed her eaglets. Its heartbreaking.
Kolo spends the next few days mourning for the loss of his beloved brother. He is not the only one. The family is now much weaker without his brother, and the family still faces threats from the lack of food, the predators and enemy meerkats.
Rain comes at last. It is sweet refuge for the meerkats, who finally have abundant food when the insects surface to get water and feed on the greens. Kolo's mother gives birth to another litter, and Kolo now has to play the role of the big brother - the one who will stand watch and guard his family, and protect them at any sign of danger, even though he is still much smaller than his brother was.
Kolo screeches. He has spotted the eagle! The same one who took his brother. He speeds back to his family, and everything is slow-motion again. The young ones scamper back to the nest and Kolo follows to make sure no one is left behind, just like his brother had done for him.
I believe this next part to be untrue, because of the lapse in video frames when it happens and for its sheer coincidence, but this makes for a great point in the story so..
At this exact moment the snake decides this is time for his surprise attack. He slithers with great power toward the entrance of the nest, as the eagle arrives, slow to catch his kill, when he changes his target and grabs the snake instead. The eagles flies off with a pale yellow cobra in its claws as Kolo watches and his family peeks from the nest.
Seems this eagle has the habit of getting prey larger than what he aimed for.
Just as one problem is solved, another crops up. The enemy has approached! Kolo's family is now bigger than before because of the new litter, but the young ones are weak and not strong enough yet to fight. The family commences their screeching and puffing up and standing upright to look intimidating, while the lion bares it teeth. The family huddles into the nest while Kolo distracts it. Realising the lion is squaring in on him, Kolo runs towards the tall grass - where he, nor his brother, have ever ventured.
Kolo stops running. The lion is no longer hot on his heels, but he has never seen this place and has no idea how to get back. Alone, Kolo will not be able to survive when a predator attacks. Kolo finds a small abandoned nest and seeks temporary refuge inside when it is nightfall, but shivers in the night chill without the warmth of his family stacked beside and on top of him.
In the morning Kolo realises it is pertinent he find his way back. He needs his family, and his family needs him now more than ever. He is going to need to use all the skills his brother had taught him and more.
Kolo runs and runs with his instincts of where home is. After a long time he smells something familiar. He realises with a triumph that this is where the showdown with the lion had taken place! The family can't be far from here! Having been taught well by his brother, Kolo climbs up the tallest tree he could find to get a vantage point. Kolo is now strong and agile - skillful enough to climb a tree just like Brother.
There! He spots his family. But one big problem lie between him and his family. A pride of lions. A lion and his 3 tigresses, feeding off the corpse of a zebra. Its a big kill and they might not notice, but Kolo was not taking chances. Afterall, alerting them to his presence could bring harm to his family as well!
Knowing his best option was to wait, Kolo waited in the shadows for a chance to dash across when all 4 lions were busy with their food and was finally reunited with his family.
This part is so, so nice! The meerkats actually hugged! Really! When his family saw him they jumped up and down and reached out their paws and hugged him! AWW! The documovie ends with Kolo atop another tree, looking out for danger, protecting his family just as his brother had taught him to.
NICE RIGHT!!!!!! :] So nice. Love you!
