First transmitted in 1963, this is the first in a series of six programmes by David Attenborough on the Northern Territory of Australia. David Attenborough, cameraman Eugene Carr and sound recordist Bob Saunders spent four months in the Northern Territory of Australia. Hoping to capture the essence of this vast territory they meet its people and explore its unique landscape and animals. Their journey starts in the south among the Aborigines of the desert, many of whom have abandoned their nomadic way of live, now living in mission stations and government settlements. But the desert holds an irresistible pull, and groups suddenly vanish to visit sacred water holes and mountains that have been the gods of the aborigines since time immemorial.

David Attenborough reaches the middle of the Northern Territory of Australia and visits three people in the otherwise deserted area of Borroloola who have chosen to cut themselves off from the civilised world.

David Attenborough continues his journey through Australia's Northern Territory. He looks at the hunting of local wildlife such as magpie geese and water buffalo. David Attenborough interviews Yorky Billy, an Australian whose family were originally from Yorkshire. Having lived all his life in the bush, Yorky Billy is an expert on the wild buffalo of the Northern Territory and imparts some useful advice on how to avoid annoying them. Back amongst an Aboriginal community David Attenborough explores burial traditions and witnesses a traditional dance that re-enacts a kangaroo hunt.

David Attenborough looks at the aboriginal artists of Arnhem Land in Australia's Northern Territory. He discovers why they paint and in doing so, gets some insight into the very origins of art.

David Attenborough ventures into the bush to discover the unique wild animals that inhabit the Northern Territory of Australia. The bush walk reveals a wealth of wildlife including bee eaters, radjah shelduck, rose crested cockatoos, termites, kangaroos, wallabies, possums, an Australian crane and several lizards including the goanna, the thorny devil and the frilled lizard. Attenborough also closely observes the extraordinary behaviour of a bowerbird, which collects a treasury of white objects to display to its mate during courtship.

David Attenborough joins the Gunavidji people on the coast of the Northern Territory to obtain a better understanding of their traditional way of life. He examines the efforts of the Australian government to move Aboriginal communities away from their nomadic tradition by building welfare settlements and training schools. This programme offers a unique insight into a difficult and complex period in Aboriginal history.

At the start of his journey, Attenborough meets some of the people and animals that have made their home along the river in Zambia. He is invited to witness the Kuomboka festival, featuring the Litunga, chief of the Lozi people of western Zambia, and his people. In the festival they migrate from Lealui to Limalunga, before Lealui is flooded by the Zambezi. The spectacular ceremony consists of a fleet of barges, many containing the Lotunga’s possessions, making the journey up the river accompanied by heavy drumming of the royal Maoma drums. Other highlights include David Attenborough joining the Litunga as he opens the court and presides over the inauguration ceremony.

David Attenborough continues his journey along the Zambezi River. This episode begins at Victoria Falls, the largest waterfall in the world. At the foot of the falls, with its moist climate, a wealth of plants and animals can be found, such as hyraxes. To coax the hyraxes out of hiding, David Attenborough illustrates why taking a dog whistle with you while on an African adventure is a very good idea indeed. Other highlights encountered on the way include an estivating lungfish and a herd of elephants washing and dust bathing at a water hole.Further along his journey David Attenborough explores a Portuguese fortress at Tete, believed to have been built over 400 years ago, and assesses the impact of the then newly constructed Kariba Dam, one of the largest dams in the world, on the displaced Tonga people and surrounding countryside.

David Attenborough retraces the steps of the famous Scottish explorer Dr David Livingstone in the final part of his African adventure.David Attenborough starts his journey in Sesheke, on the northern bank of the Zambezi river in the Western Province of Zambia. Retracing Livingstone’s Zambezi expedition takes him from Sesheke to Victoria Falls, named by Livingstone in honour of Queen Victoria, through to Zumbo and Tete in Mozambique.Using extracts from Dr Livingstone’s journal David Attenborough revisits African traditions and ceremonies that shocked Livingstone at the time, such as a masked dance featuring the Makishi devil.