Alan Silverman | Hollywood February 22, 2011 A new documentary from National Geographic traces the dramatic story of a lioness and her cubs struggling to survive in the Okavango Delta of Botswana. Here's a look at The Last Lions. ![]() Scene from "The Last Lions""Two mothers now battle for the survival of their young: buffalo desperate to deflect an attack, lioness eager to double back and strike quick, fatal blows to earn a meal for her cubs. It is the eternal dance of Africa."Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons narrates the remarkable story of the big cat that earns the nickname "Ma di Tau" or "Mother of Lions." Her mate is killed by a rival pride looking to expand its territory, leaving Ma di Tau to protect her three cubs and find a new home. "Till today she had only time to focus on escape and survival, but now she must find a way to get her cubs safely through their first critical year until they can fend for themselves. As a single mother, this will take every ounce of her energy and intelligence." ![]() Defying long-held beliefs about lions, Ma di Tau takes her brood across the water to an island in the Okavango Delta as she searches for safety and food. The married filmmaking team of Beverly and Dereck Joubert follows the lioness to chronicle her struggle. ![]() Film maker Dereck JoubertDirector, writer and cinematographer Dereck Joubert says they spent more than four years and used skills honed over three decades of wildlife filmmaking in Africa to capture these breathtaking close-up scenes of life and death in the delta. ![]() Filmmakers Dereck and Beverly JoubertShe says the 18- hour daily filming schedule was determined by the lions, which were not the only challenges to recording the story. ![]() Scene from "The Last Lions""The problem that lions have is that they are these great, iconic animals and everybody thinks somebody is taking care of them," notes Dereck. "In our lifetime, having seen them go from 450,000 down to 20,000, we know that these things will be extinct within 10 or 15 years. So this is not just a local problem, not just a South African or Botswana problem. This is a global issue. I also think that as filmmakers the time has come and gone where we can just document these things and say our job is done. What we are doing is using whatever skills we have to become a voice and we are hoping that people see our film and celebrate these lions and then get involved with lion conservation."
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