In southern Africa, there are rumors of a deadly fish.
It lurks unseen in the eerie waters of the Okavango Delta.
There are large animals under the water
making these really shake.
A killer with shark like teeth.
There are stories of it hunting in packs...
They are killing machines.
Feeding in frenzies on schooling fish...
This is just incredible.
And even on drowning humans.
It's the most brutal thing you'll ever witness.
It sounds like the work of giant South American piranhas.
But there's nothing like that here in Africa.
Or is there?
My name is Jeremy Wade.
Fish on!
My mission is to enter this mysterious world to track down
and catch this murderous river monster.
I recently heard a story about a small ferry that overturned on a
river in southern Africa.
The boat was old and overloaded with cargo and passengers.
When it started taking in water, the children panicked...
and the boat flipped.
Apparently, there were no survivors...
and rumors circulated that the victims didn't just drown.
They were attacked.
When the bodies were recovered,
they were found to be partially eaten.
People at the time said that the victims had been eaten by fish.
Official accounts, however, said it couldn't have been fish.
Larger predators must have been responsible.
Crocodiles and other killers live here in abundance,
but the locals are convinced that the size and number of bite
marks couldn't have been the work of these usual suspects.
So could those original accounts have been correct?
Could there be a pack-hunting fish, similar to a piranha,
living in southern Africa?
It sounds hard to believe, but I've heard equally fantastical
stories in the past that have turned out to be true.
Like a man swallowed whole by a giant fish...
a bus crash where passengers were devoured by piranhas...
and fishermen having their genitals mutilated
by an underwater hunter.
Aah!
So even though I've caught my share of monsters in Africa,
I've never come across a piranha-style killer.
But I have learnt that fishermen's tales
shouldn't be ignored.
So I'm off to investigate a river system that's said to be
the home of this killer, to see if I can figure out what it is
and then catch it.
But I've never been in this region before,
so I'm not sure what to expect.
I'm at the Okavango Delta in southern Africa, where I'm
hoping to come face-to-face with the river monster that mutilated
the people on that ferry.
This place is known as the Jewel of the Kalahari.
It's a miraculous oasis of life in the midst
of one of the world's harshest deserts.
Each year, the rains in Angola flow down through Namibia,
eventually flooding nearly 6,000 square miles of land with
over 380 billion cubic feet of water,
creating the Okavango Delta.
Over a period of months, it slowly recedes.
But the water that remains attracts life for miles around.
It's also the focus of human activity.
And where humans and animals are forced together,
conflict is inevitable.
Out on the water for the first time,
it's unfamiliar territory to me.
A claustrophobic labyrinth of channels,
I could easily lose my way around here.
I begin my investigation by trying to connect
with the locals to find out what they know
about the river's dangerous occupants.
I stop to chat with a group of reed collectors, and they
mention a familiar selection of suspects.
So, it's the crocodiles and hippopotamuses in the water?
Yeah, they're here.
Yeah, yeah.
This is really... you know, it's the same story.
You go in lots of other parts of Africa, the water is dangerous.
And the thing you just hear over and over again,
it's crocodiles, hippopotamuses.
As these two killers are so brutal and visible,
people just assume they are the culprits
in every unexplained death on the water.
But I think it's possible there is a pack-hunting killer fish
down there, responsible for some of these brutal deaths,
including the ferry victims.
I hook up with some fishermen to see what they're catching.
It's very clear this is a very rich water.
Lots of these things in here... Tilapia.
This is the staple food source for sub-Saharan Africa in terms
of fish, and there are lots of them.
They're nice fish, but... Nice-looking fish
but also very tasty.
But I think I can bet that there's not any people that are
going to be enjoying these.
There's going to be other fish in here, as well, with teeth,
feeding on these.
This water is bound to have predators in.
I ask around if there's anything that fits the description
of the toothy pack hunter.
And one of the stories I hear is of a young man who was attacked
while wearing a crucifix around his neck.
A predator in the water spotted the moving, shining object...
and went for it.
Apparently, the man's chest was sliced open.
The locals believe it was the jaws of a predatory fish
that inflicted the damage.
I'm told there's an English-speaking fisherman named
Clifford who may have more information, as he, too,
was bitten by a fish in these waters.
The fish we got, I tried to grab the fish, but I hit it in
the tip with my hand, and it closed down.
And is this the mark here?
Yes.
Wow.
I had 14 stitches.
My thumb is no longer functioning.
So, what is the name of this fish that bit you?
Ungwesh.
Ungwesh? Um...
This is the thing with fish names.
The reason we have scientific names is that everybody knows
what everybody is talking about.
This is not a name I've heard before.
It's clearly a predator.
It's toothy.
I'm actually quite used to seeing piranha bites on
fishermen in the Amazon, and you're normally talking there
something small... something maybe, at the most,
an inch across.
This is, we're talking, 21/2, 3 inches across, and it's
got a sort of... almost a sort of a triangular profile.
But to inflict a wound like that, it's got to have very,
very sharp teeth.
This is a couple of years ago, and it's just left
a permanent scar.
Can you describe the fish that did this?
What does it look like?
What is the mouth like?
What is the body like?
It's a long fish with sharp teeth...
and it's got stripes.
The teeth, they are close.
They interlock?
Are there a lot of them in the water here?
Is it something you see very much?
During the month of January, February, the water is clear.
You see schools of them... Lots of them.
So, the picture that's emerging,
it's not a solitary hunter.
This is something that lives in packs.
Clifford described the way the teeth work.
They interlock, that's quite piranha like.
The fact that they're in packs, that's also quite piranha like.
But this is the wrong continent.
And to my knowledge, there's nothing piranha like in Africa.
But this actually sounds something very similar,
but possibly something even more dramatic,
because the fish are bigger.
The individuals can inflict more vicious wounds.
If this ungwesh is a toothy, piranha-style pack killer, then
it could be the monster at the heart of that ferry incident.
I need to figure out what it is,
and to do that, I need to catch one.
I'm after a predator... A meat-eater.
So I've got a piece of steak here, quite bloody...
The kind of thing that piranhas would tear to shreds.
So, quite a big hook.
And because what I'm after has probably got teeth, I'm not
using just line next to the hook,
'cause that would just be sliced through.
This is wire.
This is like 80-, 90-pound breaking-strain wire.
Within seconds of my bait hitting the water,
it's getting some interest.
Yeah!
Oh!
Could I already have hooked the river monster of the Okavango?
Fish on!
This is a strong fish.
A meat-eater has taken my bait, and it's putting up a fight.
Glimpse of that, glimpse of that.
I think it's a some kind of catfish.
Wow.
Aah!
It's clamping down, it's clamping down.
It's a sharp tooth catfish, and it's got some powerful jaws.
Ah.
That's the hook out, which is nice.
So, this is a very voracious, meat-eating predator.
There are teeth in there.
He drew blood on my hands.
But they are... They're small teeth.
These could certainly make short work of a human corpse.
But the... the look of that corpse, it would be very
different from a body that's been bitten.
So this is actually not what I'm after.
And that's quite a thought.
There's something else down here which is even more
fearsome than this.
I head back to the village.
I need some more local knowledge if I'm going to get
to the bottom of this mystery.
People tell me the ungwesh is difficult
and dangerous to catch.
But, once again, it's the large, visible predators
they talk about most.
And when you see injuries like these, you can understand why.
Can you tell me what it was that happened to you?
So, these are... injuries caused by crocodiles.
Both mother and daughter were in the water,
collecting water-lily bulbs.
A crocodile under the water, unseen,
grabbed the daughter's left hand.
Daughter obviously cries out.
Mother comes to help.
And as she attacked the crocodile with the sickle,
the crocodile let go of the daughter and then went
after the mother.
The crocodile actually had the mother's arm...
and was feeding on this.
Then, the mother was able to, with her remaining arm, gather
her daughter and take her where they were safe.
I have to say that hearing how dangerous crocodiles are is one
thing, but actually seeing the evidence really underlines,
for me, just how potentially dangerous these waters are.
But the villagers believe there is a man here who can help
protect them... The witch doctor.
He doesn't look as I expected, but I'm told he's a very
powerful healer with an extensive knowledge of the fish
in these waters, as some of them have dark powers
that affect his medicine.
He's listed four fish... Something called the buckibitu,
nairu, tuni, which I think is also known as the barbel
or the catfish, and then, here again,
is this fish called the ungwesh.
So, do different fish have different powers?
So, the ungwesh is the most powerful fish.
If he has eaten the ungwesh, he says, the illness will multiply.
It will become much stronger than it was in the first place.
And for this reason, he doesn't eat ungwesh.
He doesn't even touch it.
He doesn't even allow it inside his compound.
I know you don't touch them.
But is there any fisherman in the village... anybody here...
Who could show me one?
Okay.
So, he says his daughter... Not in here, but if I go outside
his daughter has got something that she can show me.
His daughter brings me what she calls the ungwesh,
but it's not quite what I was hoping for.
So, these are the teeth of the ungwesh?
I'll tell you what struck me, first of all.
It wasn't as much this.
It was his reaction.
He visibly backed away.
It's not just talk.
These are definitely powerful in his belief.
Didn't want to be anywhere near them.
They look almost shark like, these teeth.
They've sort of crumbled a little bit, but I can tell that
they are very, very sharp.
But I'm still no nearer visualizing what the entire
creature is like.
It's a tangible clue, though.
And that evening, as I watch the villagers prepare
for a blessing ceremony, I feel I'm getting closer
to revealing its identity.
When the witch doctor reappears, unrecognizable in his ceremonial
attire, I realize I'm a long way from understanding this place.
He seems to exist on the cusp of another world.
And within minutes, he's worked the women into a frenzy.
Talk about a transformation.
The serious man I was talking to and then, just suddenly,
this dancing ball of energy.
Incredible.
The witch doctor's transformation is not the only
surprise of the evening.
The ladies bring out their baskets, which they use for
fishing in the shallows.
But they also ask me to bring out my fishing rod.
Do I sit here?
Okay.
Suddenly, I'm at the center of their ritual.
The women are actually getting their fishing baskets blessed.
And I've sort of been snuck into their number, maybe to give me a
little bit of protection, good fortune in my quest to find out
about this fish, the ungwesh.
They seem to feel that if I'm going after the ungwesh,
that I'm going to need all the help I can get.
Then, as quickly as it started, the ceremony ends.
The next morning, I go with the women, basket fishing.
I find it's often by integrating yourself within the community
that the best information comes out.
While I'm doing this, looking for fish, concentrating on
what's in the basket, I'm very aware that around me,
you've got water lilies.
And this is exactly what the mother and daughter were
collecting when they were attacked by the crocodile.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Yeah, yeah.
I have two... I have two fish.
Two fish.
- Two fish? - Yeah.
That's a river monster.
The ladies scare the fish out of the weeds.
But instead of escaping into open water,
there are baskets waiting for them.
I have to say, it's very nice to get back to the basics of
fishing, and you're talking about just simple materials
and a bit of human cooperation and ingenuity.
And there we are.
There's the fish.
Uh, where do I... aah! Aah!
Oh, it nearly got away.
Nearly got away.
So, in the... in the buckets?
Yes.
That's actually an impressive catch.
They're not big, but there are lots of them.
Lots of fish.
But the women are saying that sometimes around here,
it's possible to find large concentrations of big fish...
Very big fish.
They say that doesn't happen very often.
It's hard to find, but the way that I can find that is to look
for the birds.
The birds... the water birds... Will tell me where they are.
This is what I was hoping for... A little piece of inside
information which could lead me to the killer fish
that prowl these waters.
So I head out, scanning the horizon for birds.
And after a few hours, I find what I'm looking for.
There seems to be some excitement.
Some of the birds seem to be quite excited
behind these reeds here.
So we're just gonna see if we can go around into this bit of a
backwater and just see what's causing that.
These must be the water birds that the ladies spoke of,
but I can't quite get to where they are.
Very frustrating.
You can't see what's going on, but every now and gain,
there's a loud, sort of slapping, hopping sound.
And, uh, I think there's something very dramatic going on
under the water, but I just can't get to it.
I try to force my way into the reeds to see if I can glimpse
what's causing this commotion.
Bubbles in the water.
These reeds are shaking.
Some quite large animals under the water making
these reeds really shake.
Some of these lilies shaking,
and there's a few leftover birds.
But there's a sense that the action has just moved on.
It's very frustrating.
I got to the edge of it.
I saw the shaking weeds.
I couldn't really see what was responsible,
but there's something under the water.
It just appeared like a large collection of predatory
creatures in the water.
But they moved.
They're very elusive, very mysterious, very frustrating.
I really want to get to the bottom of this.
Unfortunately, the reeds are too dense to follow the action.
Then, I realize I'm not alone.
So, there's people in here, as well.
They obviously know what's going on or certainly have
a better idea than I do.
She's just disappeared in a very thin channel there
between the weeds.
I don't think there's any way, in this, I'm gonna go after.
But...
some sort of secret things going on here that I would really like
to know more about.
The next day, I'm privileged to join a 71-year-old village
elder named Duba.
He's spent his life on these waters.
I'm hoping he can help me unlock the secrets of this reed-filled
labyrinth and find the killer fish at its heart.
Duba is one of the last Sand River bushmen...
Some of the most ancient people on earth.
They have fished these eerie backwaters for thousands,
if not tens of thousands, of years and own the traditional
fishing rights, so it's only with Duba's permission
that I'm allowed to be here.
And without his help, I would never find my way out.
Duba, can you tell me what's different about this place?
What happens here?
So, the significance of this place is that,
traditionally, this is where the dead were taken...
and they were buried up to their necks.
The rains would come.
The rains would then go away, and the body would be gone.
And the people would be transformed into papyrus plants.
They believe these floating spirit papyrus protect
the lagoons, moving independently
against the current to close the channels
and trap intruders inside the labyrinth.
So, if you come here without permission,
what happens is that either you're going to find
the way into the lagoon blocked by papyrus...
You can't get in, you're physically kept out.
If you insist on pushing your way through, the papyrus will
close behind you, and you'll never find your way out.
All that will be found eventually
is just your empty canoe.
Duba, I've been hearing about a fish called the ungwesh.
Is this a particularly dangerous fish?
The ungwesh is a fish that is... it's very toothy.
It's got teeth a bit like a crocodile... very sharp.
From my point of view, fishing for them, trying to find them,
I've established that this place is a sacred place,
a haunted place, if you like.
But what that also means is, it's got a degree of protection.
People don't normally come here.
So I think, while I'm here and while I'm sort of authorized to
be here, I could do a lot worse than just put a lure through
the water and see if there is anything down there.
In this lagoon, I'm trying a small fishing lure.
If the ungwesh is a pack hunter like the piranha, then a
disturbance near the surface is what it might go for.
There's a fish, fish, fish, fish, fish.
Whoa.
This fish took almost under the... oops...
Under the rod tip... an indication of how voracious
the fish are in this water.
I mean, I've got about 4 feet of line there.
I was just about to lift it out of the water, and it grabbed it.
And I'm just letting it tire out a bit.
I mean, the chances are it's got teeth if it went for that spoon.
So, I've got bare feet in here.
I want it a little bit tired before I try
and swing it in the boat.
Ay.
Beautiful little fish.
Very toothy.
This is actually an African pike.
Sort of mottled green.
The color is actually wrong, I think,
for what I've been hearing about.
But if I just compare the teeth with what I was given by the
witch doctor, actually the teeth are very different.
Very different.
So, I mean, they're quite a nice toothy fish to catch this, but I
think we can rule this off the suspects list.
So the hunt for the mutilator of the ferry victims continues.
Nice-looking fish, but it's not the one I'm after.
I'm working my way through the food chain, but nothing yet
matches the description of the ungwesh.
As we near the lagoon's exit, I spot something unusual
in the water.
There's an old canoe here, just upturned
by the side of the canal.
I've been hearing all these stories about how this is not a
good place to come to if you don't have permission.
I have to admit, it is quite a spooky place.
It's quite easy to dismiss those stories.
And then we come across a canoe with no occupant.
Just adds to that general air of spookiness.
You wonder what happened to the owner of this canoe.
With my suspect list narrowing, I head out again into the main
channel, keeping my eye out for flocks of birds.
I decide to target a different part of the water column as
I systematically zero in on the mystery fish
locals call the ungwesh.
This is quite a weighted, heavy lure... heavy head to it, there.
The idea of this is, it goes down to the bottom, which tends
to be where the larger fish might be lying.
It's got a very enticing, sort of wiggly action.
And it's just the kind of thing that's going to entice
a predatory strike.
Let it hit the water and let it sink down maybe 8 or 10 feet.
And then just twitch it.
Oh! That was something.
Twitch. Twitch.
It's got these trailing sort of tendrils, and it's got this
rubbery body and a little rattle, as well.
I think, if you're a predator, you see a movement,
you bite first and you ask questions later.
All right, let it sink.
Sink, sink, sink.
Twitch.
Oh, I thought I felt something there.
And twitch.
And again.
Oh!
Twitch.
Oh!
Oh! Yeah! Yeah, yeah!
Hey!
Wow.
Oh, look at that!
Look at that!
He got about 4 feet out of the water.
The line's sounding like it's in pain.
It's slicing the water.
Could it be the ungwesh...
Long, silvery, horizontal stripes.
The pack-hunting killer fish I've been searching for?
Ah.
I think this might actually be the ungwesh,
from everything I've heard.
Definitely fits the description.
Sort of streamlined fish.
Silvery color, horizontal black stripes, and unmistakable,
large, sharp, interlocking teeth.
And, well, I actually recognize this as a tigerfish.
This definitely looks like it's been doing a bit of hunting.
That body, although elongated, is quite... you know,
it's very full.
It's been feeding.
And then those teeth... I mean, that is... yeah, that is
the tooth the witch doctor showed me.
I think we've got a positive ID now on this fish now,
for sure.
So, I've matched the teeth from the witch doctor
and identified the ungwesh.
But is it really a fish that attacks in frenzied packs
like the piranha?
I've caught a tigerfish before...
The goliath tigerfish - at the Congo.
There we go.
That fish has the size to be a killer...
What a freshwater monster this thing is.
But it works alone.
The one I'm after hunts in packs and can potentially bring down
several large targets at once.
The type of tigerfish I just caught is a relative of the
piranha, but it can grow to over 3 feet long, and its average
weight is more than 10 times that of a red-bellied piranha.
So, imagine hordes of these tearing at your flesh.
A voracious pack of teeth that,
if my hunch is right, could easily have disposed
of the ferry victims.
To find out more about this type of tigerfish, I meet up with a
man who has years of experience catching them... a fishing guide
named Yuri Janssen.
People talk a lot about tigerfish being very aggressive.
How dangerous do you think they are to people in this river?
The potential is that we're dealing with a species that is,
without a doubt, the most aggressive freshwater species
in Africa and possibly worldwide.
It's just such an aggressive fish...
particularly during the feeding frenzies associated with the
catfish run, when tigers get together and shoal and actually
feed as a unit rather than individually.
This sounds like the lead I'm after... a spectacular
phenomenon that occurs at one specific time of the year here
in the delta that Yuri believes incites the tigerfish
to hunt in packs.
It's called the catfish or barbel run, and this occurs when
thousands of catfish prey on millions of baitfish.
This hunt, in turn, attracts packs of tigerfish to feed in a
predatory frenzy.
Maybe this is what was happening in the reeds.
As soon as that noise starts, the tigers are there in seconds.
They go into a feeding frenzy with that mouth open,
and they just chomp.
You see it's a fish being thrown up in the air.
It's the most brutal thing you'll ever witness
from a freshwater species.
Tigers naturally are attracted to any activity, whether it be a
struggling animal or a struggling human being.
Do you have any... have you heard any specific stories
that illustrate that?
There is one that stands out, at one particular incident,
in a river in South Africa.
At the height of summer, an off-duty game ranger decided to
take a quick dip in the river to cool off.
A risky decision, even if he thought the area was croc-free.
But crocodiles are not the only predators in this water.
He was brutally mauled all around the groin area.
The nature of the wound suggested it was
a large tigerfish.
Aah! Oh!
He almost bled to death.
Oh! Oh!
That just shows the ferocity of the tigerfish.
Attracted to any kind of movement in water, and attacking
things that may not resemble their prey.
So, another example of a tigerfish attacking a human
in open water.
But it's still hunting alone.
However, these accounts of them feeding in frenzies during
the catfish run could be the proof I need
that they do work in packs.
The next morning, I head deeper into the delta,
scanning the water for the bird activity that could be the sign
of tigerfish on the prowl.
But finding a run is not proving to be that easy.
It's a natural phenomenon that can appear and then disappear
back into the reeds with no apparent warning.
As I'm not finding anything at water level, I decide to search
for the predatory fish from above.
Looking down on the maze of the Okavango, I realize that I'm
finally beginning to unlock its secrets.
What I'm looking for is concentrations of birds,
because people have told me that is where the predators
are going to be.
Flocks of birds typically feed on the baitfish
that trigger the run.
I'm counting on them to lead me to the action.
Yes, I can see them.
I can see the birds.
That is where I'm going to put my line.
My hope is that, like the birds, packs of tigerfish will be going
after the barbel-catfish run.
This will prove my theory that these toothy killers do hunt
together and could be capable of mutilating a boatload of people.
Well, here are the birds, but they're not actually doing
anything at the moment.
It's like they're waiting for something.
It's like they can sense something that I can't.
It's actually quite spooky.
Something is going to happen.
It's not happening yet.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the catfish start arriving.
An army of them schooling together to herd thousands of
baitfish out of the reeds, into open water, where the catfish
can feed on them.
This is the rare freshwater spectacle I've been hearing
about... what I've spent so long searching for.
But I'm not here as a spectator.
Yeah.
There are hundreds, if not thousands of these.
This is what the barbel run is all about.
Whoa.
Catfish... lots of them.
But the catfish aren't what I'm after.
I've been told that all this commotion will draw in
the second wave of predators... the tigerfish.
And before long, I'm witnessing a real feeding frenzy.
This is just... this is just incredible.
The amount of activity is just incredible.
This is a real phenomenon.
My gosh.
Ah.
There are fish there just holding their open mouths out of
the water, presuming just treading water with their tails,
and they're just waiting.
And the baitfish are flying in the air.
So, presumably, they're just waiting for the fish
to land in their mouths.
Absolutely incredible.
The water just so full of fish and just in your ears, as well.
The sound... it's like the water doesn't just look like it's
boiling, it sounds like it.
I've just never seen anything like this before.
To see such a sight in freshwater,
it's really incredible.
I need to get a bait back in the water, into the middle of this
carnage, to finally prove that tigerfish are here,
hunting in packs.
Fish on.
This is what I came here to see.
Looks like I'm finally in the eye of the storm.
This is not carnage going on behind the reeds or in some sort
of marsh where I can't see it.
This is at the river's edge, and the predators are just hammering
into the baitfish.
My lure, when it goes in there, as well,
is getting the same treatment.
I'm hooking one tigerfish after another.
This is the proof I'm after.
Well, this is the fish.
This is the fish, and the evidence is right behind me.
It's in my ears.
I mean, just the sound of the feeding frenzy is going on
as I hold this fish.
So this is not just a solitary hunter.
There is a pack of them down there, filling the air
with the sound of just frenzied predatory activity.
People think piranhas are scary.
Piranhas are just a few inches.
You know, maybe a pound, 2 pounds.
A fish this size, operating in a pack is a monstrous thought.
Ah, yeah, yeah. Ah!
The fact is, if you get a bait in the right place, just these
things, one after the other, will just pile into it.
And I think, without a doubt, this is a very likely candidate
for what put fate to those people in the ferry.
So, we're not just talking a solitary animal down there.
We are talking a pack.
We're almost talking a super organism.
So the biomass of these in a small volume of water
is quite frightening.
Piranhas, in comparison, look quite puny.
We've got a pack of these things down here.
I've heard firsthand accounts of their raw aggression.
I've seen their brutal hardware.
And by catching so many in quick succession, I've shown they most
definitely hunt in packs.
I'm left in no doubt that a frenzy of these mouths could
easily have disposed of the ferry victims.
So I think, by any definition at all,
this thing is a real river monster.