Africa River Wild

On the Luangwa River, the law of the land is dictated by the ever-changing seasons and the constant cycle of life. In the wet season the Luangwa Valley is a green paradise, as the waters flow in abundance and lush green vegetation carpets the landscape. But in the dry season, when rains become but a distant memory, the greenery turns brown and the water levels drop by a foot per day.

For four months of the year, the powerful Limpopo river revitalises the landscape, nourishing the abundance of wildlife dependent on it. For the remaining seven months its waters are locked away in inaccessible underground aquifers, leaving behind a series of small and ever-shrinking muddy pools. Excruciating heat and drought ravage the area until the next rains.

The Hoanib River runs for 170 miles, rising in the Hoanib Valley in Namibia, and flowing through the parched Namib Desert all the way to the Skeleton Coast before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. The river only flows for two weeks a year, but it shapes and invigorates the landscape and all that it touches.

Once a year, a flood engulfs the the Okavango Delta, a wetland surrounded by arid plains, and creates a haven for wildlife.

The Sand River is home to one Africa's most diverse animal populations. There, animal mothers from leopards to lionesses struggle to raise their young in this harsh world.

Flowing through nine African countries, the Zambezi creates many different worlds. Each world presents challenges for life: on the vast Liuwa floodplains, a family of cheetah struggle to find a meal.