Tales From Zambia

Follow a family of elephants from sunrise to sunset as they are joined by a cast of characters in a valley that is bursting with life. But in the dry season temperatures soar and drought grips the land.

In Zambia’s Luangwa Valley some of the largest animals on earth live side by side. Discover how each of these giants uses ingenious strategies and amazing adaptations, honed over millions of years, to survive-and thrive.

Liuwa Plains is a remote grassland and one of Africa’s last wild places. Only the toughest of Africa’s wildlife can survive here.

The Luangwa River is a lifeline for animals-and home to the world’s largest concentration of hippos. See how these hippos spend their days dealing with heat, insects, and threats from their fellow river-dwellers.

Along the bank of the Luangwa River in Zambia lives a large troop of baboons. Despite the difficulties of the dry season, baby baboons are born.

Spend one day and one night in Zambia’s Luangwa Valley with Africa’s most fearsome hunters-a pride of lions. The lions are hungry because they haven’t managed to make a large kill in days and tempers are starting to flare.

In Zambia, no single creature survives in isolation. From lions and leopards to jumping spiders and bee-eating mantises, study the diverse network of animals and plants that makes the Luangwa Valley one of the most magical wildernesses in Africa.

Spend a season with a group of thirty vervets, Africa’s smallest monkeys. At the centre of the troop are two juveniles who must learn to feed themselves, distinguish friend from foe, and make their place in the world.

Some animals survive with a little help from their friends. Witness the ways buffalo, lions, hyenas, wild dogs, and even some birds work together to help each other protect their offspring, overcome predators, hunt, and defend their territory.

Safety is scarce in the Zambian wilderness, where predators hide in the shadows. With a bull hippo struck down in his prime, a young lion discovered in the bush, and a massive buffalo snuffed out in the mud, the chase is on to identify the culprit.

Visit animals in three extraordinary habitats: a baby giraffe takes its first steps in the sweltering Luangwa Valley, two thousand baboons have found a paradise in a Kasanka forest, and a cheetah family prowls for meat on the desolate Liuwa Plain.

Tiny kingfishers, flocks of great white pelicans, endangered vultures, and countless other species of birds have all found a use for every inch of the Luangwa Valley. Watch these winged wonders search for food, shelter, and mates.

Africa is home to some of the largest, strangest, and most fearsome creatures on Earth. Our ancestors tried to understand their adaptations through stories, but modern science shows us that the truth is stranger than fiction.

In Zambia’s Luangwa Valley live two special elephants. One lost half her trunk to a poacher’s snare, and she must now learn how to live without her most important appendage.

Each of the Luangwa Valley’s trees is a habitat in its own right. Discover the ways they provide food and shelter, enriching their massive ecosystem and making it a haven for sixty species of large mammals and hundreds of types of birds.