Mission Africa

Mission Africa is a 12-part prime time television series produced by Diverse Bristol for BBC One and BBC Worldwide which follows fifteen trainees from the building trade, selected from hundreds of applicants across the UK, as they undertake various building and conservation projects. Traveling deep into the hostile frontier lands of Northern Kenya, with their expedition leader Ken Hames and new foreman Nick Knowles the team find themselves in the primitive Sera Conservancy, marooned by a dry river bed with no water, and to make matters worse a bull elephant to keep them company. Working side by side with local people the trainees have just six weeks to build an eco lodge, dig boreholes for water and help local wildlife experts repopulate the area with animals. The team of rookie builders, electricians, plumbers and architects have no experience of working and surviving in the African bush. They have to get the build completed while satisfying the needs of the local Samburu tribal leaders who need water for their domestic stock, as well as the wildlife they have been pledged to protect. Nick Knowles and former Special Forces Major Ken Hames put together the team, and are in charge of turning the volunteers into a united workforce. Ken, an expert on the African Frontier, also trains the team as wildlife rangers.