Natural World

In the African kingdom of Swaziland, the black mamba is a snake both feared and revered. During summer, these elegant yet lethal snakes turn up everywhere. Enter Thea Litschka-Koen, a mum and hotel manager who has become known affectionately as the white witch. She and her husband are on call 24 hours a day to rescue and release black mambas when they get too close for comfort.

Botswana's elephants are doing very well. Too well perhaps. People are worried that too many elephants could cause damage and have suggested that up to 60,000 should be culled. Researcher Mike Chase studies ancient elephant migration routes. He has tracked them across vast deserts, desolate salt pans, and Angolan minefields. Now he thinks he has a plan that could safeguard their future.

Peanut, Hero and Tarzan are three cheeky monkeys. They live on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi with a gang of crested black macaques. These very special primates are found nowhere else in the world. 25 years ago, wildlife cameraman Colin Stafford-Johnson visited Sulawesi and now he has returned. What he discovers leads him on a much bigger journey than he was ever expecting.

In deepest Borneo, a remarkable young Frenchman called Chanee is combining his love of music and his passion for gibbons. These magical singing apes of the rainforest are in danger of extinction. To help save them, Chanee has set up a rescue center and become the world expert at matchmaking gibbons. To increase awareness of the gibbons' plight, Chanee has created his own radio station.

In this extraordinary and moving documentary, Canadian bear expert Charlie Russell rescues two orphaned bear cubs destined for death in a squalid Russian zoo and moves them to his home in the remote wilds of the South Kamchatka peninsula, in the former Soviet Union. But when it comes time to release the orphaned cubs back into the wild, both the bears, and Charlie, face a litany of dangers.