Barack Obama narrates Netflix series on national parks

Former President Barack Obama narrates the five-part documentary series "Our Great National Parks," premiering April 13 on Netflix, the streaming service announced Tuesday.

Filmed on five continents, the series includes California's Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, Kenya's Tsavo National Park, the rainforests of Indonesia's Gunung Leuser National Park, Chile's Patagonia region and many other public lands and waters. "When humanity started to protect these wild places, we did not realize how important they would become," Obama, 60, who occasionally appears on-screen, says in a trailer for the series. "They're a haven for endangered species, and a hotbed for scientific research," he adds, calling the documentary "a journey through the natural wonders of our shared birthright."

Through his company Higher Ground, Obama additionally is an executive producer on the documentary from the U.K.'s Wild Space Productions and fellow executive producer James Honeyborne's ("Blue Planet II") Freeborne Media.