An African Journey with Jonathan Dimbleby

Season 1

On the final leg of his 7,000 mile odyssey, Jonathan Dimbleby travels from Congo to Durban in search of the stories revealing contemporary Africa. In the edgy sprawl of Kinshasa he rides pillion with unlikely rock and roll icons Staff Benda Bilili and discovers a unique Mozart performing symphony orchestra. At a party celebrating the Year of the Tiger, he learns how China's billion dollar deals have rebooted African economies, once dependent on Western aid and investment. Passing through Zambia, Jonathan survives a training session with boxing world champion Esther Phiri and competes in a tractor race on virgin land with one of the continent's most successful farmers. And amid South Africa's new landscape of biker gangs and black surfers, Dimbleby meets Hugh Masekela, who shares with him his view of Africa's emerging revival.

On the second leg of his illuminating journey across Africa, Jonathan Dimbleby travels 2000 miles through East Africa's Rift Valley. Starting in Ethiopia, where he was the first journalist to report the 1973 famine, Dimbleby discovers the great strides being made to safeguard the country from future catastrophes. In Kenya he finds out how mobile phones are revolutionising small businesses and even the lives of Masai tribes. In Tanzania he joins in a football match with the judges and guards of Africa's own Human Rights Commission and meets the street kids in Dar-es-Salaam who are building an international profile for their music.

After four decades of reporting from the continent, Jonathan Dimbleby returns to Africa on a 7,000-mile journey to discover how it is changing. He starts his African journey in the capital of Mali, Bamako, the fastest-growing African city. Following the course of the Niger river, Dimbleby finds not a continent of beggars but of industrious people, some of whom go to extraordinary lengths to make a living, free-diving 20 feet to excavate building sand. Travelling north-east, he sees how tradition is preserved in an area where a sophisticated urban society has thrived for 1,600 years. Jonathan gets his hands dirty as the apprentice of a 74-year-old mud mason in Djenne, a town built entirely of mud. In Ghana, one of Africa's freest and most stable countries, Jonathan sees a spectacular festival before playing a game of golf with the King of the Ashanti, who recalls his time working for Brent council. Dimbleby attends the King's court to see what lessons the UK can draw from traditional African structures that promote harmony and reconciliation. Jonathan discovers that the African brain drain is turning into a brain gain as economic opportunity and patriotism draw people home. Football unites Ghana like nothing else, superseding political and tribal divisions. There is a rich seam of young football talent on the continent in the year that the World Cup is hosted by an African nation for the first time. In Lagos, Nigeria's business capital, Jonathan Dimbleby sees a different take on a city that is often depicted as a hotbed of violence, crime and corruption. He is taken on a private jet by Africa's richest man, then savours the creative talents of two of African music's rising stars who are helping to cement Lagos's place as the continent's cultural hub.