Zuba berates his son for shaming him. Alex walks off in a huff. In the wreckage of the plane, Alex, Marty and Melman sit, mopily. Alex is sad about being banished, Melman is distressed that he has only 2 days to live and Marty is upset he's exactly like all the other zebras. Gloria comes along happily and gloats about the great time she's having. When she mentions Moto Moto and his interest in her, Melman gets jealous and they quarrel and stalk off in separate directions. Alex and "Marty" are left behind, until the real Marty comes along, and is offended that Alex could not tell the two zebras apart. Accusing Alex of only thinking of himself, he walks away. As Melman sits inside a giraffe death hole, Julien and Maurice come to him. Julien advises Melman to tell Gloria how he feels. Gloria is at the hippo's watering hole, being charmed by Moto Moto. She asks why he likes her. Besides her plumpness, he can't answer anything else. Melman comes over and sees them together. He tells Moto Moto to take care of Gloria and rattles off a bunch of her favorite things, as Gloria watches surprised. Inexplicably, the watering hole dries up, leaving only a tiny amount. Makunga comes along and suggests that the animals fight each other for the remaining water. Alex shows up and says that he will go and look for the reason for the water stoppage, which is off the reserve. If any animal goes off the reserve, it is fair game for hunters. Makunga, hearing the dissent among the other animals, says that he will confer with Zuba. Before leaving the reserve, Alex goes to the zebra herd and looks for Marty. Unable to find him, he shouts out that he's sorry. However, he recognizes Marty and asks him to accept his apology. Having made up, Marty accompanies Alex into the woods outside the reserve. Meanwhile, Makunga tells Zuba and Mom that Alex has gone out of the reserve. Zuba runs off immediately in search of his son, while Makunga laughs evilly. At the watering hole, Julien and Maurice show up and declare that an animal sacrifice to the volcano will please the water gods. They need a volunteer. Melman, thinking that he has less than a day to live, volunteers. Cheering, the animals lift him up and take him to the volcano. Gloria protests, trying to talk Melman out of it, but he has made up his mind. Alex and Marty go through the eerie woods and come up to the source of the water blockage - a dam erected by the NY tourists, led by Nana. They are suddenly attacked by spear-wielding tourists. Alex is caught in a rope trap. He tells Marty to go get help. Marty runs off. At the volcano, Melman stands shakily at the edge of the precipice, overlooking the red-hot magma. Suddenly, Witchdoctor Joe shows up. He says that all giraffes have brown spots, so there's no such thing as Witchdoctor's Disease. Gloria runs up to Melman and tells him not to jump. However, as she runs up to the precipice, she stumbles and cracks it. Melman starts running towards her, past the crumbling precipice. She grabs him by his horns. They profess their love for each other. Just then, Marty runs in and tells them that Alex is in trouble and they need the plane. At the crash site, the monkeys and penguins are quarreling over maternity leave (for the male monkeys). Gloria, Marty and Melman run up and tell them to get the plane ready immediately. Alex is taken to the tourists' colony, where they plan to roast him for dinner. Just then, Zuba shows up and frees Alex. Seeing that the tourists are New Yorkers, Alex starts doing his famous dance. The tourists recognize Alex, who they thought was dead. At first bewildered, Zuba also joins in the fun. However, Nana still wants to eat them and aims the shotgun at them. Suddenly, the plane flies overhead and drops a capsule down, with a monkey-chain (several monkeys holding hands). The lions get on it and, thanks to some miscommunication up the monkey-chain, the penguins are ordered to take out the dam. As Nana tries to shoot the plane, standing on the dam, the capsule slams into the dam, destroying it and letting the water flow towards the watering hole. Meanwhile, at the volcano, Julien and Maurice stand alone at the precipice, wondering about the sacrifice. Suddenly, along comes Mort, who survived the fall and the ocean, and is currently trying to survive the huge, scary shark that's followed him inland. As the shark lunges at the lemurs, they hang off the edge of the precipice, while "Jaws" plummets to a fiery death below. At that moment, they see water flowing towards the watering hole, leading them to believe that the sacrifice worked. The parched animals are overjoyed to see the water back. They are happier when they see Alex and Zuba standing proudly on the capsule, floating on the water towards them. Makunga comes along and haughtily tells them that, though they brought the water back, Alex is still banished. Alex tells him that he has a gift for him and gives him Nana's handbag. Makunga takes it happily, but the gift has an accompaniment inside the capsule - Nana! Seeing her handbag around Makunga's shoulder, she screams "Bad kitty!" and attacks him, leading him away by the ear. Makunga picks up the fallen scepter and tells Alex that they're both Alpha Lions, as the animals rejoice. We then see the animals at a wedding... of Skipper the Penguin and his beloved wooden Hulu dancer doll. The penguins and monkeys fly off in the plane, while Alex, Marty, Melman, Gloria and the lemurs stay back in Africa. Alex tells Zuba that they'll be staying with them. Zuba has an angry look on his face, but does the "happy face/angry face" gag, with his paw. They all laugh. Melman and Gloria look lovingly at each other. Marty ribs Alex, saying he's not Marty. Alex laughs, but just for confirmation, looks at Marty's behind, where a big scar (Alex's dental impression - from the previous movie) is. They walk towards the watering hole.