Based on the TV wildlife documentary Untamed Africa, Chronicles of African Wildlife is a stylish, smart, truly user-friendly CD-ROM which offers an extraordinarily interactive African wildlife experience. Purchase this and you can arguably cancel that winter safari. The centrepiece of the software is a gory but fascinating, two-hour-long video of Kenyan wildlife doing its thing. Start up the film, sit back, and watch buffalo being hunted, hyenas scrapping with lions, gazelles skipping through acacia groves, and so on. This video is narrated by John Hurt at his lugubrious best; the accompanying music is lush and atmospheric; the graphic quality is pretty good; a pleasing feature is that the viewer can enter or leave the film where and whenever they like. To flesh out this savannah-based soap opera, the French software makers have also included some intriguing ancillary aspects. Access the section "Characters", and you can follow the fates of individual animals such as Mary the Rhino or Simba the Lion (yes, the names are a bit Disney). Click on the "Discovery" section and learn about each species, their diets, physiology, life cycles, and so forth. Other features allow you to follow your own "footprints" around the two CDs, to study individual ecosystems and habitats, and even send an e-postcard with a picture of your favourite hippopotamus. And, let's face it, you can't do that watching the BBC. [+]