‘Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty’ Recap – ‘Episode 12: Hell and High Water’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Twelve of ‘Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty’.
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When we last settled in to discuss the extremely delightful and extremely cute series, Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty, we talked at length about how the meerkat, dealt with obstacles and troubles that we don’t think about all that often when it comes to tiny animals. Specifically, how the weather and the conditions that arise from that weather, can make life quite difficult for these tiny critters. For the rains in the Kalahari heartily nourished the grass in this region to the point where it grew sky high, to a meerkat, making it nearly impossible for all the families to see beyond the greenery and that in turn… forced some to panic while others made great efforts to find a place where they could easily observe their surroundings.
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If anything, revisiting that particular point is important to our discussion today, largely because the weather continued to make life tough for the meerkat in this week’s episode. For ‘Chapter 12: Hell and High Water’, informed us of the fact that that the rains kept coming in the Kalahari and the lush greenery that it continued to feed, actually managed to keep mating season going. To the point where the Whiskers family was now host to five pregnant meerkats, leaving Swift in a tough place, wherein she wondered exactly how she was going to handle a family that large in the burrow and she wasn’t the only one dealing with such concerns. For Flint saw her family expand as well when one of her daughter’s gave birth, and she of course, had new pups running around as well, which meant that her family had to engage in epic foraging runs.

The kind that pulled the food crew far away from the burrow, to ensure that all the females in the family had enough nourishment in their bodies to produce quality milk and that’s where the real trouble in this story began. Because sadly, while they were out and about, a big storm arrived, one that made travel unsafe and that forced Flint’s crew to hunker down for the night while the rains kept pouring. Which was in fact, quite problematic. Since that meant the pups were all back home with a single babysitter and were not receiving the nourishment they needed and that… led to sadness and disaster. For when the food crew did finally return home, they came back to a litter of pups that died of hunger, and another litter on the verge of dehydration. Which was quite the heartbreaking moment to say the least.

But it was proof positive that the weather and their size don’t always mix and what’s devastating, is that things got worse from there. Because the Ubuntu family was in essence, trapped within the confines of the grass near their burrow. For they couldn’t see a thing outside of the food supply near them and venturing out too far was a dangerous idea, and sadly… so was staying put. Because the same rains that kept Flint’s family from surviving the night as a collective whole, brought disaster forth for the Ubuntu family as well. Because the constant rains finally allowed for a flooding of the riverbed they called home, to take place. The kind that arrived in a swift and aggressive manner, to the point where they never saw it coming.

Which means there is a fair chance, that one of the family’s that we have been following, may no longer exist and that is a sobering and powerful thought. One that truly hammers home how hard it is to survive in the wild and how vulnerable these creatures truly are. For there aren’t that many species out there that are so easily brought down by rain and grass. In the end however, this still was a quality tale for certain. Largely because it held nothing back in its presentation of the dangers these animals face and that’s a good thing. Because the best documentaries show us what life is really like in the world, and this is indeed what life is like in the Kalahari and now that this dark chapter has come to a close, we are definitely left wondering which hand mother nature will deal these creatures next and that mystery will make the wait for next week’s episode, a difficult one. Until next time.

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