David Attenborough's Africa

In the Kalahari scrublands, clever meerkats are outsmarted by a wily bird, solitary and belligerent black rhinos get together to party and giant insects stalk huge flocks of birds. Rain almost never falls in the Namib - instead it must make do with vaporous, vanishing fog. The creatures in this, the world's oldest desert, have gone to the extremes, as spiders wheel to escape and a desert giraffe fights to defend his scant resources in the greatest giraffe battle ever filmed.

David Attenborough continues his exploration of the continent in East Africa, which is a haven for life and supports a higher density of large mammals than anywhere else on Earth. From dense forests to snow-capped peaks, steamy swamps to endless savannah, it is also a land of unpredictable extremes, where creatures must adapt to survive. In Tanzania, a tiny lizard risks its life to eat flies from the face of a sleepy lion. The nesting habits of the 4ft shoebill are also captured on camera - the giant bird has two chicks, but due to sibling rivalry only one will survive. On the plains of Amboseli, a baby elephant is near to death in the drought, so its mother leaves the herd to stay with her offspring until the end.