Waveguide
BBC Two's Safari School will see eight celebrities undertake a four-week ranger-training course at Shamwari Game Reserve in South Africa.
The four men and four women taking part are former EastEnders actress Brooke Kinsella, actors Jeremy Sheffield (Holby City, Wedding Date), Paul Usher (Brookside, The Bill) and Blair McDonough (Neighbours), Fame Academy vocal coach Carrie Grant, Claire King (Emmerdale and Bad Girls), Olympic athlete Jamie Baulch and broadcaster Jan Leeming.
The rookie rangers will live together in a rustic lodge in the heart of the African bush, and train from dawn to dusk under the guidance of a crack team of instructors.
In the wild African landscape, the novices will try and learn in four weeks skills that take professional rangers years to master.
TV animal expert Dr Charlotte Uhlenbroek (Talking With Animals) will present the celebrities' trials, tribulations and triumphs as they compete to keep their place at Safari School.
Every day, the instructors will the group a series of uncompromising tests to assess their ranger potential, and at the end of each week the two worst trainees face a head-to-head challenge to remain in Africa.
The winner will keep their place at Safari School, and the loser has to pack their bags and fly home.
The climax of the series will see the two best trainees compete in the Safari School Grand Final – each facing the solo challenge of taking a group of top conservationists on a game drive, with the conservationists judging who has learned most in four weeks of training and delivered the most convincing performance as a ranger.
For the winner, the title of Safari School's Top Trainee and a unique prize: to release, with their own hands, the first rescued big cats into a safe new home in the African bush - the brand new Born Free enclosure at Shamwari Game Reserve.
Safari School will transmit early in 2007.
