The first programme looks at the Coast of Loneliness, a desert-bordered coastal area providing a home to a rich diversity of wildlife, including springbok, seals, rats and big cats.
The second programme in the five-part series is about the desert along West Africa's Skeleton Coast. The desert has its first rain for two years and within a few hours, it bursts into life with new vegetation, insects, birds and lizards taking advantage of the moisture.
Two researchers live with a tribe of baboons for four years on the parched bed of the Kuiseb River, where temperatures reach 45°C and there is no rainfall for 116 days.