EDEN: UNTAMED PLANET

7.10PM, BBC2

The latest episode of this breathtaking nature series takes us through the ebb and flow of the seasons around the Luangwa river in Zambia as it transforms the region surrounding it from a ‘dusty inferno’ to an ‘emerald paradise’. There are stunning scenes of ‘hippo heaven’ as 25,000 of the bellowsome beasts jostle together in a crowded river. Buffaloes, storks, pelicans and hornbills all congregrate en masse, as do yellow baboons and the handsomely dressed carmine bee-eater bird. This is also a place where leopards (above) can be found in greater numbers than anywhere else in Africa and, during the dry season, as water becomes more scarce, it’s happy hunting for these majestic cats as impalas and other antelopes congregate around the last remaining tributaries.