Africa: David Attenborough's new BBC1 series – in pictures

An aerial shot of the sand dunes of the Kalahari shows lingering fog which provides precious moisture in an arid landscape Photograph: Natural History Unit/BBC

A banana tree frog tadpole hangs in a drop of water in the jungle in the Congo Photograph: Natural History Unit/BBC

A black rhino in the Kalahari is filmed using specially built, highly sensitive cameras to show these solitary and highly endangered species in a new light Photograph: Justine Evans/BBC

An insect-eating adult male agama lizard prepares to eat flies hovering above the back of a sleeping lion Photograph: Felicity Egerton/BBC

An armoured ground cricket, native of the Kalahari, prepares to defend itself by squirting its own blood through joints in its armour Photograph: Nick Easton/BBC

BBC cameraman Alastair MacEwn focuses on an elephant emerging from the bush Photograph: Felicity Egerton/BBC

A male gelada, unique to the Ethiopian highlands and also known as a bleeding heart baboon. The bright red bleeding heart markings of the male indicates virility and attracts females whilst warning off rivals Photograph: Ian Llewellyn/BBC

A family of elephants cross the parched plains of Amboseli in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro, an area hit by three years of drought with tragic consequences for its famous elephants Photograph: Simon Blakeney/BBC

Thousands of flamingos flock at one of East Africa's soda lakes. One of the few creatures able to tolerate the caustic conditions, they mass here to create one of the world's greatest natural spectacles Photograph: Simon Blakeney/BBC

A family of meerkats bask in the early morning sun of the Kalahari before heading off for breakfast Photograph: Natural History Unit/BBC

Millions of straw coloured fruit bats fill the sky over a tiny patch of forest in Kansaka, Zambia. This annual aggregation is thought to be the highest density of mammals anywhere in Africa Photograph: Justine Evans/BBC

Three desert giraffes who live in the dry river valleys of the Kalahari, the so-called rivers of sand, in the Namib desert Photograph: Paul Brehem/BBC

Hanging tens of metres in the air, a young female chimp in the Congo pounds on the nest of stingless bees in her quest for honey, one of the most complicated forms of tool use ever filmed among the great apes of Africa Photograph: Natural History Unit/BBC

Lying deep within the tropics, snow-capped Mount Stanley lies between the open Savannah of East Africa and the jungle of the west and is Africa's largest glacier
Photograph: Ulf Rugumayo Amundsen/BBC