- Okay, we've got a monitor lizard.
Let's motor in really, really slow.
Got it.
Hold it still, hold it still.
Bring on the boat, bringing him up, bringing him up.
Hold on I don't have him under control yet.
Whoa, look out, look out, look out!
(dramatic orchestral music)
(lion roars)
- The rolling grasslands of South Africa
are home to a wide variety of animal species.
Many of which are considered to be cultural icons.
Including elephants,
giraffes,
and lions.
In addition to the land-dwelling giants,
you will also find species like the hippopotamus,
that inhabit the various water systems.
The hippo is considered to be one
of the most dangerous animals in the world.
And on this expedition, their possible presence,
would be an ever-pressing danger,
as we headed out onto the Bushman's River.
This winding waterway was the perfect place
for us to search for South Africa's largest lizard.
The Nile monitor.
As we drifted along, our sights were set
on the steep embankments,
which served as the perfect basking spot
for these semi-aquatic reptiles.
So all along this section of the river,
you have a lot of dense grass, which could
be an okay spot to find the lizards but they really like
to bask out on the rocks.
Now our guy, Joe, told us that just up around a couple
of these bends you do have some cliff faces.
Difficulty with cliff faces, is that the lizards
may be higher up and tougher to catch.
But if we can get them to jump down and into the water,
they'll submerge and then come up and start to swim.
That would give me the opportunity to actually snare
from the front of the boat.
Anything's possible today guys.
But trust me, you've got my word.
We are going to catch one of these monitors.
Catching one of these speedy and agile lizards
would be no easy feat.
To catch the Nile monitor, I would need
to build a snare.
A tactic that has worked successfully in the past
on reptiles such as the spiny-tailed iguana,
and spectacled caiman.
Just about four o'clock.
The sun's starting to get low in the sky,
but it's still warm enough for these lizards
to be out basking.
They're soaking up the last rays of the sun for today
before they hunker down in their burrows for the evening.
This is a diurnal species, which means
that they're hunting under the light of day.
For several miles we pressed up river.
Yet not a single monitor had been spotted.
Because this spot looks perfect
but so far we have not seen any signs of lizards.
You have burrows that are up along the edge
of this cliffside here.
We see birds flying around,
which means there are likely nests,
which we know these lizards would feed on.
Just a matter of actually locating one
of these giant reptiles.
The sun was beginning to get low in the sky.
Then just as we were about to turn the boat
back toward home, I spotted our reptilian target.
Get the cameras, get the cameras set up.
Okay, we've got a monitor lizard
that is just up on top of this rock.
It is basking, it may be asleep, um.
Man, it's a tough call, guys.
Do I go for the snare or do I go for the hand catch here?
Okay, let's motor in really, really slow.
- [Mark] He is definitely onto us,
I don't know if maybe you should go on land.
- Let's keep cruising in slow.
All right guys, we got the lizard
just up over my left shoulder here.
It has spotted us, but it has not moved yet.
The goal here is for me to just glide in
as close as we can and try to snare it.
If I have to jump out after it,
I'm just gonna drop the stick and go.
Okay.
Here we go, go ahead, cut the motor
and get us in right toward the edge.
(dramatic music)
Our rope is around the lizard.
I've got it.
Hold on, hold us still, hold us still!
- [Mark] Get him on board.
- Bringing him up, bringing him up,
hold on I don't have him under control yet.
Okay, up on top of the boat.
Hold on, nobody move.
All right I got him by his tail now.
(lizard hisses)
Whoa, look out, look out, look out!
He's ran around.
(lizard hissing) Hold on,
I'm gonna make for a grab, here we go, hold on one second.
Got a good shot?
(lizard hissing)
One, two, three.
Got him.
Yes!
There ya have it folks,
this is a powerful lizard.
All right guys, let's kinda just coast across the side there
and get this reptile up close for the cameras.
Look at that!
A modern-day dragon for ya, right there!
Wow!
One shot at it and we got our lizard.
Man that is epic!
Whoo!
Okay, I'm gonna be real careful getting off here.
All right.
Hi, buddy, I see ya.
Okay.
Wow.
You can hear that lizard hissing.
Okay what I need to do is get slightly better control
of the reptile.
I actually want to loosen the snare here, quickly.
Just kind of get it off of him, here we go.
There we go.
Wow.
Let me turn it profile for you.
Ooh, watch out for the tail guys, watch out for the tail.
He has still got some incredible fight in him,
what I don't want is to take a whip
in the face from that tail,
they will actually use that as a defense mechanism
against any potential predator.
Whoa, look at those claws!
Okay I'm gonna let him just latch onto my leg like that,
is that an okay shot for you, Mark?
- [Mark] That's all right I can make do.
- I mean he is grappled onto me
and I don't wanna let go
of his neck. - [Mark] Yeah, if you can just
stay there that's good.
- You can see the foam coming from the lizard's mouth.
A lot of bacteria in there.
I'm trying to get my hand from--
- [Mark] Do you want me to undo that from your hand?
- There we go, hold on,
I wanna get the, I wanna kinda get the rope off.
Actually, Mario if you could help me out
for a second here.
I wanna make sure that I don't find my fingers
in the mouth of a lizard.
What I'm gonna do, hold on,
just kinda keep him balanced out in front of me like this.
Here we go, now I tethered myself to the lizard
just in case it got away.
That way it wouldn't escape with a rope around its body.
Okay.
Man those claws are sharp.
- [Mario] It's like bear claws.
- Whoa, those are sharp.
Let me see you here buddy, there we go,
wow look at its mouth open there.
That is a beautiful reptile.
My goodness, okay.
There you go, go ahead and just cut it off.
Okay.
Just kinda feed that string out.
Ow, ow, ow, ow, claws, claws, claws.
Man!
What an incredible dragon.
Look at that, okay now I've got control.
Or at least I think, of the lizard.
Mario I'll give you a second to reposition yourself
in the scene, ladies and gentlemen,
let me introduce you to the Nile monitor.
My goodness what a gorgeous reptile.
And that's a pretty decent size,
now they do get bigger they can reach lengths
of six feet.
But, this is a formidable beast,
an opportunistic predator.
Primarily carnivorous and they'll also scavenge
on dead bodies of animal carcasses
that are floating down the river system.
Now what makes these monitors specifically unique
is that they're adapted for living
in an aquatic environment.
Look at the tail of this creature.
It's flat, almost like a propeller or a rudder.
And that helps them to propel their bodies
through the water.
Now let's take a look at the face of this reptile.
As we know, dinosaurs evolved, for the most part,
into birds, but when you zoom in and you look
at that face, you can see just how this resembles
the face of a velociraptor.
What's really unique about this monitor species
is that the nostrils are positioned high up on the skull.
That allows them to keep just their eyes
and their nose above the water when they're swimming.
Wow, it's looking right at me right now
with incredible intelligence.
Now the monitor lizard is one of the smartest
reptiles species in the world.
So smart, in fact, that they can be considered
problem-solving.
And right now this lizard's probably thinking to himself,
how did I manage to get myself caught
by Coyote Peterson and the Brave Wilderness team?
But trust me guys, this adventure was worth it.
Because this is the one reptile I had hoped
that we would get up close for the cameras
here in South Africa.
Look at all of the muscle in this lizard's hind quarters.
Let me hold it upright like that,
can you see that?
And the hands are like bear paws.
Look at how they're just grappled onto my arm right now,
you'll notice they have enormous claws.
They're excellent diggers and they will dig
through the substrate often times searching for eggs.
Now in an area where you have Nile crocodiles,
they will actually move in and wipe out
an entire clutch of eggs in a single sitting.
Let's look at the scale structure of this reptile.
As I run my hand down the length of its back,
and over its tail, it feels exactly like I would imagine
a dinosaur to feel.
Now of course, as we know, if some dinosaurs
had feathers they would be a lot fluffier.
But in this instance, trust me guys,
it feels as if I am holding onto something
that is 65 million years old.
Actually monitor lizards date back over
100 million years in the fossil record.
Imagine something that looks just like this,
only 10 times this size, roaming the countryside
here in South Africa during the days of the dinosaurs.
That would be intimidating.
- So Coyote, that was interesting,
you went for the snare. - Yes.
- You weren't really sure what you were gonna do.
- Well, considering the fact, I really wanted
to catch one of these bare-handed.
Knowing that it was positioned up on that embankment
and I had clear space to get the snare close to its head,
I figured that was the right play.
Often times lizards are really curious,
if you dangle a string out in front of them.
It doesn't look that threatening.
The lizard actually raised its head up in the air,
allowed me to get the snare right over the top of it.
I actually let the lizard move through the snare
a little bit before I cinched it down.
And then I had it right around its front legs
and its midsection.
The perfect spot to snare a reptile like this.
Ah, ah, ah, ah, oh, claws going into my fingers.
Man he's got a hold of me.
Hi buddy, look at you.
I am so excited right now.
And it's tough positioning here on the embankment
of this river, tough to hold onto the lizard
and keep myself in position, but,
let me get him back like this, there we go.
Well guys, it was a long, arduous search
up the river.
But we finally came across the elusive Nile monitor.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave!
Stay wild.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
Man, what a catch!
Over the past year, this has become the third species
of monitor lizard that we have featured
on the Brave Wilderness Channel.
And I think it's easy to see why.
I have become fascinated
with these predatory reptiles.
(slow piano music)
Their speedy, cunning agility,
make them incredibly difficult to catch.
Their razor-sharp teeth and dinosaur-like claws
make them dangerous to interact with.
And when you combine all of that
with their high level of intelligence,
you can begin to understand why these incredible lizards
pose quite the challenge to safely present
in front of the cameras.
All right guys, the most difficult part
about catching a monitor, is then, in turn,
releasing the monitor.
Okay I'm gonna gently lay down here,
and hopefully it's going to spring off into the water,
here we go, one, two, three.
(water splashes)
Whoo!
The good news is, I still have all of my fingers.
Yes!
So what's next?
Let's just say it's time we visit the Island of Dragons.
If you thought the Nile monitor was a challenging catch,
make sure to go back and watch the episode
where I climb a tree and go face-to-face
with the lace monitor.
And don't forget,
subscribe, then click the notification bell,
so you can join me and the crew on our next wild adventure.
Oh, boy!
That's really high up to have caught a monitor.
Ah, now the challenge is gonna be getting back down.
(birds chirping) (wolf howling)