Africa 2013: Countdown to the Rains - Season 1

Kate Humble and Simon King report from Zambia, following the lives of the animals living along the Luangwa River at a critical time in the seasons.

There has been no rain for seven months and every animal, large and small, is locked in a struggle to survive - the elephant and her new born baby, the tiny lion cubs threatened by a power struggle in the pride and the hundreds of hippos and crocodiles squashed uncomfortably close as the river bed dries up.

75 cameras capture every moment as it happens through the last days of the longest dry season in memory to the arrival of the rains that will change everything.

Kate Humble and Simon King report from Zambia, following the lives of the animals living along the Luangwa River at a critical time in the seasons.

It hasn't rained for seven months but the clouds are building and the drought could break any day. The river is the only water around, and predator and prey are squashed uncomfortably close. Lions and wild dogs, the latter one of the most endangered species on Earth, compete for territory as elephants try to keep cool in the fierce heat and leopards enjoy days of plenty.

75 cameras capture every moment as it happens through the last days of the longest dry season in memory to the arrival of the rains that will change everything.

Kate Humble and Simon King report from Zambia, following the lives of the animals living along the Luangwa River at a critical time in the seasons.

It's been the longest dry season in living memory but the rains have finally come and now everything has changed.

Thirst has trapped the elephants, buffalo and antelope close to the river where they've been easy prey for the lions, leopards and wild dogs. But now the grazing animals can spread out across the valley and the predators are going to have to work a whole lot harder for their food.