This series captures the four months David Attenborough, cameraman Geoffrey Mulligan and Malagasy ornithologist Georges Randrianasolo spent travelling several thousand miles throughout the island of Madagascar. They set out to meet the people of Madagascar and study their local customs as well as film some of the remarkable animals which occur nowhere else in the world. Starting in the south of Madagascar, David Attenborough hopes to find an Aepyornis egg. The Aepyornis, or elephant bird, may have given rise to the legend of the gigantic bird known as the rukh or roc. Attenborough reconstructs an Aepyornis egg from fragments, and also sees tortoises and sifakas.

David Attenborough encounters fish that walk on land, giant chameleons nearly three feet in length and the coelacanth fish that scientists thought had been extinct for over 50 million years. The discoveries are part of a four month journey through Madagascar in search of some of the remarkable animals which occur nowhere else in the world. Attenborough brings some chameleons and tenrecs back to London Zoo.

David Attenborough looks at how the people of Madagascar worship their ancestors. Some open their tombs each year and entertain the dead with feasting and dancing; some worship on the shores of a sacred lake where they believe their forebears live on in the shape of crocodiles. David also catches a boa constrictor and brings it back to London Zoo.

David Attenborough continues his search for the rare animals of Madagascar and finds ant lions, giant moths, mud wasps and several kinds of lemur, some of which he brings to the studio. He watches flamingos and helps remove poachers' traps, which have been set to catch brown lemurs.

David Attenborough comes to the end of his expedition having travelled thousands of miles throughout the island of Madagascar. The principle objective of the expedition is to film and observe the rarest animals of the island and the search continues in the depths of the Madagascan forest. Geckoes, millipedes and paradise flycatchers are among the animals encountered as Attenborough searches for one of the most legendary animals of Madagascar, the indri. Indris are the largest of all the lemurs and are the creature some believe to be the origin of the "dog-headed man" legend, as recounted by Marco Polo. Extremely shy animals, only Attenborough's recordings of their weird, deafening wails can entice a family out of hiding, so providing a unique glimpse of these previously unseen primates.