BBC Africa - Everything you want to know about the series and its stars

For nearly four years, the BBC NHU team scoured the fascinating continent to film unfamiliar wildlife, surprising behaviour and new landscapes for the epic wildlife series, Africa.

If you love the new series, you'll love our new BBC Africa zone.

Discover more about the series, the species and the spectacles – view stunning photo galleries of the wildlife featured in each episode, go behind the scenes with the film crew, and enjoy BBC Wildlife's expert articles on the stars of the show. Plus top travel tips so you can start planning your own African adventure.

Each week we'll update this page so make sure you keep coming back for more!

First, read BBC series producer James Honeyborne's introduction to the stunning new natural-history series Africa.

Episode 1 Kalahari

In the parched Namibian desert, spiders cartwheel down sand dunes and giraffes do battle...

• Enjoy the best images from episode one: Kalahari
• Learn more about reticulated giraffes: The last of their kind by expert John Doherty.
• See leopards as you've never seen them before in our photo gallery by Greg du Toit.
• BBC Nature reveals more about giraffe fights and friendships.

Episode 2 Savannah

Vast assemblies of straw-coloured bats fill the evening skies over Zambia, birds pluck insects from the fire and shoebills prove to be the most heartless parents...

• Enjoy the best images from episode two: Savannah
• Jonathan Scott reveals the truth about lions in Pride and Joy.
• Suzi Eszterhas shares her heartwarning story of bringing up a serval kitten in Moto and Me. 
• View a spectacular Masai Mara wildlife gallery by Shem Compion.
• Photographer Will Burrard-Lucas takes you closer to the lions of the Masai Mara than you've ever been before.

Episode 3 Congo

An exploration of West Africa’s rainforest encounters chimpanzees. 

• Enjoy the best images from episode three: Congo
• Richard Wrangham and Sonya Kahlenberg explain why play is vital to chimpanzee development. 
• View Anup Shah's immersive photography in this Serengeti Spy gallery. 

Episode 4 Cape

Bronze whaler sharks charge into panicked sardines in the episode that visits Africa’s wild coast.

• Enjoy the best images from episode four: Cape
• Venture behind the scenes of BBC Africa – baby turtle hatchlings.
• Wildlife photographer Thomas Peschak becomes a great white shark detective. 
• View a spectacular sardine run photo gallery by Dmitry Miroshnikov. 
• Kurt Jay Bertels gets up close and under the feet of South Africa's iconic species. 

Episode 5 Sahara

In this programme, miniature cameras reveal the subterranean labyrinths of naked mole rats.

• Enjoy the best images from episode five: Sahara
• Patricia D Moehlman admires black-backed jackals. 
• View an amazing African wild dog photo gallery by Neil Aldridge. 
• Discover how the BBC filmed naked mole rats underground. 

Episode 6 The Future

The concluding film in the series examines the conservation challenges facing the continent.

• Enjoy the best images from episode six: The Future
• Stephen Mills explains why the caracal is a creature of contradictions. 
• View a wild caracal photo gallery by Federico Veronesi.
• View a gallery of the wildlife of Botswana's Okavango Delta by Marius Coetzee.

Now you do it

Inspired by the Africa TV series to see these amazing animal spectacles for yourself? Our experts share their greatest African adventures and top tips to help you plan your trip of a lifetime. 

• How to plan your lion encounter by Stephen Mills.
• How to choose your perfect safari.
• Elephant watching in Zimbabwe by Mark Stratton.
• A really wild walk in Zambia by James Fair.
• A week in the life of a big game vet in South Africa by Sophie Stafford.

How to avoid animal attacks (and what to do if you are attacked!):

• How to avoid a leopard attack. 
• How to avoid a hippo attack. 
• How to avoid a shark attack.
• How to avoid a lion attack.

Watch clips from BBC Africa and catch up on any episodes you have missed.