narrator: coming up on "21st century," in chile, preserving a language and way of life. and in namibia, saving the black rhino. elisa: [singing in mapudugun] [speaking spanish] narrator: the mapuche, chile's largest indigenous group, determined to save their language and identity.

luis: [speaking spanish] [drums and cheering] narrator: the mapuche, not only chile's largest indigenous group, but also known for their courage and skills as warriors. they are one of the only indigenous peoples in latin america, which during centuries withstood total domination by the spanish conquistadors. their downfall came later. elisa: [chanting]

[singing in mapudugun] [speaking spanish]

narrator: elisa, on the footsteps of her ancestors, is fighting a present day battle to preserve for posterity the language and culture of her people, the mapuche, so that they and their heritage don't disappear forever. elisa: [speaking spanish]

luis: [speaking spanish] elisa: [singing in mapudugun]

narrator: elisa has traveled 700 kilometers south to her ancestral territory, where to this day the mapuchan are engaged in a bitter struggle to recover lands lost to both the spanish and then the chileans. her focus now, though, is to support her people in the rival of the language and culture both closely linked to their access to land. [both speaking spanish] elisa: [speaking spanish]

narrator: elisa takes us to their ceremonial site, until just a few years ago, a rubbish dump for local non-mapuche people. elisa: [speaking spanish] narrator: and the next day, she gathers local mapuche people at the site to learn how to perform

one of their traditional ceremonies. [all speaking spanish] [rhythmic drumming] elisa: [speaking spanish]

narrator: but for elisa, life and the struggle for the mapuche identity continues in santiago and even further away. elisa: [speaking spanish] alenkura. class: alenkura. elisa: antwitchway. class: antwitchway. elisa: [speaking spanish] kinturay.

class: kinturay. elisa: kvyenx. woman: [speaking spanish] elisa: [speaking mapudugun] narrator: but these are courses at a private university. says elisa, to really increase the numb of spears, all mapuche children should have the right to study in school in their language, which is not currently the case. elisa: [speaking spanish] narrator: in rural areas, this may be possible, but in the city, now home to some 70% of the inigenous population of chile, it's rare. elisa: [speaking spanish]

narrator: scattered across a sprawling city, the indigenous are also among the poorest and most marginalized in the country. and says elisa, frequently subject to discrimination. elisa: [speaking spanish] narrator: consequently, only some 4% of young mapuche speak their language, a problem recognized by the government. marcos: [speaking spanish]

luis: [speaking spanish] narrator: for decades, indigenous peoples have been organizing to make their voices heard globally. here, elisa speaks at the united nations in new york. elisa: [speaking spanish] man: dos votos. narrat: in 2007, the united nations declaration on indigenous rights was adopted.

[cheers and applause] which includes the right to language. luis: [speaking spanish] elisa: [speaking spanish] narrator: in the wild semi-desert of northern namibia, a rare and elusive species.

simson: we have to move backwards. we have to move backwards. narrator: solitary and sometimes aggressive, the black rhino is on the critically endangered list. simson: if they kill 1,000, 600 per year, that's the end of the rhinos in namibia, actually. narrator: the black rhino's twin threats, poaching and drought. narrator: namibia, southwest africa. its landscapes, mostly uninhabited, haven't changed in millions of years. hollywood movies have filmed these mountains to depict pre-historic life. talking of pre-historic, there's an animal that traces back to those times still living in this area, but it's

endangered. and in the semi-desert wilderness of northwest namibia's kunene region, it's not easy to track down. simson: that's where he was walking. that's the spore. see 3 toes. narrator: meet simson uri-khob. he's head of the save the rhino trust. simson: i love my work. that's why i am here all the time. narrator: simson is a legend in rhino conservation. he started repairing cars for the save the rhino trust before working his way up, becoming a tracker and studying conservation biology. simson: this one young calf, he will run. bloody run off. narrator: today, though, we missed what we're looking for, a black rhino, a species at serious risk of extinction. in this case, a young calf who ran off at the first inkling that humans were in his area. we'll keep trying. simson: well, there's quite a rhino activity here. you can see

the spore where they have been browsing on the trees and also on the shrubs. so, yeah, they are around. the wind is ok. we don't know what's going to happen on top there, but so far, as you can see, the wind is going this way and the animals are up here. so we have too this direction. narrator: black rhinos have poor eyesight, but if they get the faintest whiff of you, and they're also very sensitive to noise, this is all you're likely to see. after the first day, we literally had 10 seconds of useable footage. but then on the second day, finally. simson: yeah, gone. i haven't

seen the ears yet, but i think this is a young cow called tutah because this is her territory. she used to live here. wait. narror: but th 10-year-old tutaheemed to hear something. simpson: what happened was during the relocation... ops. ops. ops. we have to move backwards. we have to move backwards. narrator: tutah begins to charge. we retreat in disorder. and simson, knowing what to do, throws a stone into tutah's path. simson jokes with his fellow trackers. simson: [speaking native language] i aim for it. i know if it's coming there, it's really coming. it's coming like on 45 kilometers an hour. so it's fast. you'll never outrun it. narrator: you see, that's the thing about the black rhino.

it's mostly a solitary beast. it's nervous and aggressive. look at these incidents from national parks in southern africa. note the bloody wound on the backside of the rhino on the right. [rhinos grunting] the 140 black rhino living in the kunene region, an area larger than portugal, are unique. simson: this is actually the last vast area, open area, free, where you find free moving black rhinos on earth. narrator:nlike in the national parks with their numerous tourists, black rhos in kunene are not fenced in. they're truly wild and very wary of human contact, although many of have been dehorned to protect them against poaching. on the right is a bull called don't worry with a cow, mara. it's day 3.

simson tells me he once had to stay up a tree for two and a half hours after don't worry chased him there. here, he rays to mark out his territory. sounds effects courtesy of simpson. simpson: [making spraying sods] narrator: overall, thereare fewer than 5,000 wild black rhinos in existee, all in africa. they're officially classified as a critically endangered species. black rhinos re are specially adapted for the semi-desert conditions. they can go for 3 or more days without water and they eat plants ere they can draw some moisture, such as the euphorbia damarana, that are poisonous to most other animals. simson: he's a cow. and you can see the scratch mark on the back. see that scratch mark? why this--they are mating. 's the bull's hooves, when he climbed up. see, that scratch up there like that? narrator: mating is obviously vital if the species ito

survive. black rhinos couple up for just a few days at a time. simson: then, like, 17, 18 months later, then the cow will have a calf. narrator: but even if the calf is born, that's not the end of the story. there are still plenty of challenges. simson: we've been facing drought in this area for the past 4 years, i would say. this is the worst i have ever seen in my 25 years of working in this ea. yeah. there should be water here. not even single sign of water here. human threat is there, but now the drought is also another threat. so we facing two threats at once. and they both hammering us, actually. yeah. narrator: in a severe drought like this, a cow may well not be able to produce enough milk and the calf will starve to death.

the second threat, the human threat, is poaching. so far namibia has not been as badly affected as neighboring south africa. illegal hunting is driven by the huge demand for rhino horn in parts of asia where it's sold quite falsely as a cure for diseases like cancer. [indistinct chatter] rhino horn is literally worth more than gold in this market. simson: it started off in south africa, and the numbers just rose there until 1,000, 600, i think, a year.

[gunshot] if that happened in namibi if they killed 1,000, 600 per year, then that's the end of the rhinos in namibia, actually. narrator: recently, poachers havmoved across namibia and eventually found their way t kunene. pilot: we are approaching... narrator: as well as surveillance from the air, save the rhino trust trkers arout every week monitoring and photographinglack rhino and entering them into a database. they also look out for suspicious vehicles and activities. 30 years ago, there were only 60 black rhinos in kunene. with successful conservation efforts, that tripled. but now, in the last few years, that number has been dropping again because of drought and poaching. so what is the way forward? simson: i guarantee you if you don't have the support of the community on community land in conservation, then you might as well forget. it's not

working. nartor: the most effective way to protect the black rhino is to bring in the local community. bonds roman habeen local recruiteds a guide for tourists who come to desert rhino camp at the heart of kunene. the camp is run by wilderness safaris, who in turn collaborate with the save the rhino trust. it's a win-win-win. a limited number of tourists bring in money, which finances the monitoring and protection of the black rhino and also creates jobs for local people. bonds: this community system or conservation system where by you, the local, make a decision. you are involved with the things you love together. and that makes it actually a successfu thing, you know. the ownership that you feel. narrator: and so simson and his team can keep on tracking. simson: as you can see here, black rhinos tend to use

the same dung pile as they go into the wateor coming from the water. this is very fresh. it's still wet wet. there's quite a lot of fiber in it here. and then you found sticks 'cause they browse and they browse quite a lot on trees and shrubs. narrator: it's day 4 and we're on the right path. simson has found fresh rhino dung. and now a surprise, tutah, the cow seen on the right who chased us off just two days ago, has been joined by 33-year-old ben for mating. with ben's protection, she's wary, but not so nervous. simson: our goal, actually, is to have as many as possible black rhinos roaming in northwest kunene region in the future. that's what we want.

narrator: as ben and tutah walk off into not the sunset, but a valley in the soft midday light, the future of the black rno living ee in the ue wild gs witthem. otx1y1y1dd

>> i wonder if you'd believe this, as a solution to the aboriginal problem? herd e worst of the aborigines into one area, and put a chemical in their water that senthem sterile. in time, there'd be none ofhem left. well, that solution has been put forward by none other than one of the premier's closest friends, west australianining magnate, lang hancock. >> those that have been assimilated into, you know, earning a good living or earning wages amongst the civilized areas that have been accepted into society, and they have accepted society, and can handle society, i'd leave them well alone. the ones that are no good to themselves, and can't accept things, the half-caste,