National Geographic to launch ambitious Africa wildlife series

National Geographic is preparing to launch a seven-part documentary series chronicling Africa’s wildlife and ecosystems, as the broadcaster expands a new multiyear natural-history franchise focused on the world’s continents.

Africa: Earth’s Wild Home, produced by BBC Studios Natural History Unit, will premiere on National Geographic on October 2 and become available on Disney+ and Hulu the following day. The series was filmed over almost four years in nearly 30 countries and combines conventional natural-history filmmaking with new imaging technology and computer-generated imagery.

The production aims to document animal behaviour and species rarely captured on film. Among the sequences highlighted by National Geographic are footage of the black rain frog, nocturnal hyenas hunting elephants in the Congo, a rare African black panther and chimpanzees using specialised tools to fish for algae.

The series ranges across Africa’s deserts, forests, jungles, mountains and islands, presenting the continent less as a single ecosystem than as a collection of environments that have shaped markedly different forms of animal adaptation and survival.

The project is also intended to serve a broader purpose for National Geographic. The broadcaster describes the series as the first instalment of a multiyear franchise that will examine the natural world continent by continent at a time of accelerating environmental change.

The initiative brings together National Geographic, the National Geographic Society and Rolex, extending a relationship between the organisations that dates back more than seven decades. Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Initiative has increasingly focused on environmental research and conservation, while its partnership with National Geographic has supported expeditions led by scientists and explorers since 2019.

Each episode will conclude with an “Explorer Spotlight”, featuring scientists, photographers and National Geographic Explorers involved in research and conservation projects across the continent. The featured explorers include Steve Boyes, Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Matt Shirley and Ingi Agnarsson.

The final episode shifts the focus from wildlife to conservation, examining African researchers, community initiatives and conservation leaders working to protect ecosystems and species. National Geographic said the episode would offer a more optimistic view of the continent’s environmental future by highlighting locally led conservation efforts.

Wunmi Mosaku, the Academy Award-nominated actor known for Sinners, Loki and Lovecraft Country, serves as narrator and executive producer.

Courteney Monroe, president of National Geographic, said the series was intended to combine landmark natural-history filmmaking with a closer examination of the scientists and conservationists working to understand and protect Africa’s ecosystems.

For Rolex, the programme extends its environmental strategy beyond traditional sponsorship of exploration. Arnaud Boetsch, the company’s director of communication and image, said the series would highlight the relationship between understanding fragile ecosystems and protecting them.

The programme comes as major streaming and television groups continue to invest in high-end factual programming that can function both as television events and as long-lived streaming catalogues. Natural-history series in particular have become a vehicle for broadcasters and platforms to combine global audiences with increasingly sophisticated filming technology.

Africa: Earth’s Wild Home is produced by BBC Studios Natural History Unit for National Geographic. Simon Blakeney is executive producer for the BBC Studios NHU, while Pam Caragol is executive producer for National Geographic.

The series will premiere at 8pm EDT on October 2 on National Geographic, with streaming availability on Disney+ and Hulu from October 3.