Gorgeous aerial footage of lions swimming through the Okavango in flood and unique underwater shots are compelling viewing, but what catapults Okavango, River of Dreams into a realm of its own is this: viewers go behind the scenes with filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert, who have lived in the delta for 35 years.

Unlike the narcissists in the Tiger King series who use captive predators as props, the Jouberts, who founded the Big Cat Initiative with National Geographic — which has more than 140 conservation projects in 28 countries — focus on the lions, leopards and other wildlife which freely roam the Okavango Delta in Botswana, a Unesco World Heritage Site.

The South African filmmakers, both National Geographic explorers-in-residence, show how the changing life of this great river system, which starts and ends inland, is intertwined with the fauna and flora which depend on it, in the ultimate series thereon...