BBC America’s ‘Chasing the Rains’ Explores Animals in Kenya’s Extreme Seasons

© 2023 BBCA/BBC STUDIOS/Maramedia Ltd

Water is life. In northern Kenya, where rainfall is scarce, life takes full advantage of every drop of moisture.

Bridgerton’s Adjoa Andoh narrates this four-part series taking viewers on a journey to one of Africa’s rarely filmed regions north of Mount Kenya, where plants and wildlife endure long periods of drought broken by dramatic rainfalls that reinvigorate the ecosystem.

BBC America’s Chasing the Rains (Saturdays at 8pm ET/PT beginning April 22, streaming on AMC+) begins at a time when river valleys flow with water and the land is lush with new life, bringing elephants, wildebeest, zebras, gazelles and other herbivores to eat, drink and bathe. Carnivores like lions, cheetahs, spotted hyenas and African wild dogs have prey aplenty.

But the feast is short-lived, as the sun bakes the parched earth and the animals must once again fight for survival in the harsh, dry climate. The series also looks at how climate change has prolonged these periods of drought, making an already challenging struggle all the more difficult.

Chasing the Rains Episode Guide

Episode 1: The Fickle River (April 22) In Samburu, an elephant herd named the Royals face a challenge when their river dries out early due to poor rains. In Laikipia, wild dog matriarch Phoenix battles time as she nurtures her five pups as the land quickly dries. And in Naboisho near the Masai Mara, first-time cheetah mother Kuleta and her four cubs battle a lone hyena.

Episode 2: Blood and Dust (April 29) In Samburu, elephants dig wells in the dry riverbed, but herders drive them from the reserve. New cheetah mother Kuleta moves into lion country in search of prey, but tragically loses a cub to the larger predator. It takes all her resilience to recover her confidence. In bone-dry Laikipia, wild dog matriarch Phoenix is challenged by a mob of hyenas. But the landscape is finally given a reprieve by an unseasonal downpour which refills the river.

Episode 3: Praying for Rain (May 6) Challenges for the animals reach a critical point as they await the seasonal rains. In Samburu, the elephant herd with two new-born infants splits to maximize resources in the bone-dry landscape. Wild dog matriarch Phoenix journeys to find a new alpha male when her mate dramatically disappears. Kuleta and her cubs are harassed by male cheetahs but dramatically retake their territory by forcing a hyena clan into retreat. Finally, the rains return, but in this world of unpredictable climate change, survival requires even more ingenuity, resilience, and strength.

Episode 4: Making Of Special (April 22, AMC+ exclusive) This episode offers an in-depth documentary revealing how the series was produced in collaboration with inspirational local conservationists.