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Kate Humble and Ben Fogle have raced back to Longleat safari park in time for a spectacular summer series, and it promises to be one of the busiest seasons ever. Every corner of the park is home to a wildly different exotic species, each with its own needs. With unique access, this series exclusively reveals the extraordinary lengths the devoted keepers are willing to go to for the creatures in their care to lead long and happy lives.

Kate and Ben are on hand to celebrate some of the extraordinary ‘firsts’ that the park has become famous for, including the arrival of a new species, the African painted dog. Persecuted in the wild, these stunning animals are classified as ‘endangered’, so collections around the world are doing all they can to protect them. The park has the huge responsibility of taking on six brothers to form a ‘bachelor group’, allowing other collections to focus on breeding. The keepers are on a steep learning curve to understand the nature of these ferocious predators, and the first task is to ensure they rekindle their brotherly bond, having been separated during the transportation. If they don’t regroup, there could be big problems, so as the first feed goes in, will the dogs work as a pack or go it alone?

Out on the Africa Reserve, Ben is on hand to help keeper Tom get a unique perspective on the giraffe as they eat. The plan is a high-tech one, rigging a special 360-degree camera at the top of a telegraph pole, allowing us to look down on the giraffe from above. But there’s a problem. To get the camera into its elevated position, they need to use a winch, but it’s stuck! Ben must turn giraffe wrangler as he attempts to herd the five-metre-tall giants away from the food. Can he get the collective 16 tonnes of giraffe under control, and will they get the shot?

Zoologist Megan McCubbin has things slightly easier as she attempts to feed the Asian short-clawed otters quail eggs. A high source of protein, eggs are something they might come across in the wild, but it’s a completely new experience for the pair at the park, and they are stumped. Moments later, Sumali doesn’t figure out how to get into the egg, but she has got the cutest trick up her sleeve – to juggle with them! Juggling is something otters do in the wild to build their foraging skills, but the big question at the park is whether this pair will figure out there is a delicious treat waiting for them inside?

Meanwhile, wildlife cameraman Hamza Yassin is back, attempting to give keepers vital insights into their animals that would be impossible with the naked eye. His first challenge of the series is to try and spot who is mating with whom in the lorikeet enclosure. It’s a big responsibility because these colourful Australian birds mate for life, and it won’t be easy. The only way to identify the birds is from a tiny, numbered ring on their feet, and Hamza needs to use all his skill to spot them. He finally manages to identify bird number ‘20’ as Alyssa, but with a species that is capable of flying at 50 kilometres an hour, will he manage to spot her mate?