New BBC Serengeti special hits SA

Serengeti follows the interconnected stories of a cast of savannah animals over one year, in a bold new dramatised natural history format for BBC Earth, Dstv channel 184 ,Sunday 4 August at 4pm.

Narrated by award-winning British actor John Boyega, the new BBC Earth series captures the drama of the area’s distinctive wildlife up close. There’s love and loss, jealousy and rivalry, and tragedy and triumph as their lives entwine and dramatically unfold in the heart of the wild plains.  

Lioness Kali – (C) John Downer Productions. Photographer: Philip Dalton

Here’s a quick synopsis of Episode 1, ‘Destiny’:

It’s the time of plenty in the Serengeti, with food in abundance, but a series of unexpected events turns families against each other and strains relationships. Kali, a lioness and devoted mother of four cubs, has broken a taboo by having cubs with an outsider. When she tries to bring the cubs home to her pride, her betrayal is exposed and she is forced into exile.

Bakari, a male baboon, starts a jealous rivalry after the female he was devoted to is stolen away by the new, aggressive leader of the troop. Zalika, a young hyena, loses her mother in an attack by rogue male lions and has to assume the leadership of her family. 

Finally, a teenage elephant named Tembo questions his place in the family when his mother Nalla, the matriarch of the family, gives birth to a new baby and he is sidelined.

Emotions run high as each of the characters struggles to cope with their worlds being turned upside down.

Images supplied