Tamal Kundu
As a documentarian and TV survivalist, Bear Grylls has set up new industry standards in many regards. In recent years, his work involving interactive entertainment has garnered much attention, as the medium can potentially change how people consume a TV show or a film. In Grylls’ adventure documentary film ‘Animals on the Loose,’ for instance, the audience guides Grylls like a video-game character through a hostile and dangerous environment, making choices for him, and then bearing the responsibilities of those choices. Each decision you make can get you closer to and further from your ultimate objective. The film is a part of Netflix’s ‘You Vs. Wild’ franchise. Here is the best route that you can take to complete all the tasks quickly and efficiently. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Animals on the Loose: The Mission
When the film opens, you learn that the electricity in the fences surrounding one of the wild sanctuaries in South Africa has somehow shut down. You find that the fences have been cut on the north side of the sanctuary, and there is some lion fur on the wire, implying that a lion has escaped. A ranger reports that Thimba the baboon has escaped from the south side.
You have 3 initial missions: secure the lion before it harms the animal researcher who has been camping in the north of the sanctuary, locate Thimba in the south before it gets killed by the cheetah that has been prowling there or fall off the jagged sea cliffs, and repair the out-of-commission hydro-electric relay station in the east before a storm hits. There is an additional 4th mission after it is discovered that the poachers are behind the power outage. You have to protect a herd of escaped elephants from the illegal hunters until the rangers arrive and take them back to the sanctuary.
Animals on the Loose: The Best Route
The first choice you make is the most important one in this adventure. Of the three options, choose to go to repair the power relay station first. The storm can hit any moment and make Bear’s journey more treacherous if you choose to do this later. First, tie the rope around the bottom of the trees and not around the jagged rocks before Bear rappels into the gorge.
The rope will snap if you tie it around the rock, and Bear will get injured. Later, choose to chew and not swallow the leech. As Bear warns, it will stick itself inside his mouth. When the boa attacks Bear, choose to go underwater rather than continuing to fight it. Although the boas can hold their breath for a long time, it will release Bear because of the suddenness of the action.
When Bear gets to the relay station, choose the NPN (Negative Positive Negative) sequence to turn on the electricity. Using Bear’s method to remember the sequence definitely helps. Keep reciting “No Panthers in Nigeria” in your mind.
Your second mission should be securing the lion. After all, the animal researcher is still in danger. When Bear reaches the researcher’s campsite, scare the lion away. Do not try to sneak the researcher out from the back of the camp. It will only complicate your journey. After Bear has found the lion again, use him as bait to lure the lion into the boma (enclosure made up of thorny branches) that Bear has built. If you use the meat from the dead springbok Bear found earlier, the lion won’t take the bait, and they’ll come after Bear anyway.
After the lion is secured, look for Thimba. The snack you choose for Bear to eat as a protein source doesn’t matter at this point of the journey. The choice between cutworms and num num berries would have been mildly important if you had chosen to go after the mischievous baboon first. As you didn’t, just let Bear eat the berry. Let that man have something comparatively nice to eat for once.
There are three ways to get to Thimba after Bear spots the baboon across the raging currents: swimming, rafting, or traversing. You can either choose rafting or traversing. Both will get Bear to the other side safely. But building a raft with trash found on the beach and traveling across the water body on it is safer than climbing your way through the jagged rocks.
The last and final mission is to protect the elephants. When the lion is chasing Bear, go under the car. If you choose to climb the tree, Bear will end up using one of the flairs. After the lion is secured inside the cage, choose to use the line to shin across to the other side of the cliff. If you pick to downclimb and then climb up the other side, Bear will not be able to reach the elephants before it gets dark.
Animals on the Loose Ending
Bear successfully gets to the other side by using the line. He then spots the elephant herd as well as the poachers’ truck. He guides the herd to the watering hole, which is hidden by the bushes and the terrain. As the poachers keep to the road, they fail to spot the herd. Now, all Bear has to do is wait for the rangers to arrive and take the herd back to the sanctuary. All four missions have been completed successfully. And you didn’t even have to use one of the flares.
