Natural World: Forest Elephants - Rumbles in the Jungle

SYNOPSIS

Former Bronx schoolteacher Andrea Turkalo has devoted the past 20 years to the study and protection of elephants in the Central African Republic's tropical rainforest. Turkalo's presence is viewed as a deterrent to poachers, who think nothing of turning machine guns on elephants to get their hands on tusks that can raise $90,000 a pair on the black market. This touching film - although some children may find some scenes upsetting - reveals that it's a constant and lonely struggle for Turkalo, who has only members of the local Pygmy tribe to help her. Her brief absences, which amount only to the occasional vital shopping trip, never go unnoticed by poachers waiting for a chance to kill the elephants in the Dzanga Bai clearing, where Turkalo keeps her vigil. These are cruel and murderous people; witness the pitiful sight of a badly injured elephant, its skin riddled with bloody bullet holes from a Kalashnikov rifle, as it washes its wounds in mud and water. Turkalo is a stout defender but, as she says, she cannot stay in Dzanga Bai forever. And no one knows what will happen when she leaves.