Episode 1 Expedition Borneo

Deep in the heart of the island of Borneo

is a lost world of mountains, jungles and ravines.

It hides an abundance of wildlife.

And it's disappearing. Fast.

Now the BBC has assembled a team of jungle specialists

to explore this great unknown wilderness...

..before it's too late.

Oh, look at them. Fantastic.

-Oh, my God.

-For forty days, they'll be living deep in this forest.

A young male, look.

We've made a real decision to go to places deliberately that people haven't been to before.

Their aim - to track down and catalogue the extraordinary animals that live here.

This one's at least two metres.

Avoiding the ones that are tracking THEM down.

I want my mum!

It's a tough walk in, as hot as a sauna, and just as humid.

Their destination, a base camp built specially for the team.

Just as they're nearing camp,

a helicopter brings in two tons of climbing gear,

food and emergency medical kit.

The helicopter drops the supplies in the only place it can.

A nearby river beach.

The team includes Gordon Buchanan and Justine Evans,

wildlife cameramen fresh from filming Planet Earth.

For the first phase of the expedition,

this will be laboratory and living quarters for the team of climbers, cameramen and scientists.

They've brought along state-of-the-art filming kit.

But the tropical heat and humidity will test the gear, and the people, to the very limit.

It's supposed to be the dry season.

-It's pouring rain.

-You have to shout, I'm afraid.

It's pouring rain, you can hardly hear yourself think,

and I hope I put all my stuff away properly.

I don't know how long this can last,

if it rained like this at home, it could only last for five minutes,

but here, it could go on for hours.

The rain's coming in on my hammock, and all my stuff's getting wet.

The first injuries are being treated by the ex-army medics.

Here, even the smallest wounds quickly turn septic.

By the next morning, the storm has passed.

Gordon served his apprenticeship in the Amazon.

He lived there for four years.

Rainforests definitely are one of the most uncomfortable environments,

it is just like a big compost heap, and things just...

If you don't move, you rot.

First light is the best time to work, before temperatures soar.

OK.

Justine is on her first recce of the forest.

Most of Tara's work is in deserts and mountains, not rainforests.

Well, at some point, I have to put these wet clothes back on,

and as you can see, they're still wringing wet,

they've been hanging up there all night.

They're no drier than they were last night,

and the theory is that we should take these dry clothes off,

and keep them dry for tonight and put these wet, cold, clammy clothes on,

and I mean, right from the knickers up.

Dr Tara Shine is an environmental scientist.

She's here to pull together all the discoveries on the expedition.

I advise primarily, governments,

on what they should be doing to take better account of the environment

in their policies and in their planning.

I'm fascinated with the world and how it works,

and how do we look after our beautiful, fabulous planet in the context of the changing world.

Half of all species in the world live in rainforests.

They teem with life.

But, now more than ever, they're threatened,

even in this far-flung region, where humans rarely venture.

When we're walking around here, looking for things,

we're stepping on trails that nobody has been on before.

At night, we're shining our torches on things that people have never seen before.

The base camp is deep in the lost valley of Imbak,

a canyon with massive walls of rock on either side,

protecting the untouched forest within.

For the first phase of the expedition,

the team will track down and film the animals that live here

in the hope they can raise the conservation status of this remote canyon.

Justine has heard a pair of gibbons singing to each other high above.

GIBBONS CHIRRUP OVERHEAD

We're going to find the gibbons, apparently they're just above the trail.

We've got to...in a real hurry.

Might not stay there very long.

Junior Laredo and a team of Malaysian naturalists are part of the expedition.

This morning, they're tracking a gibbon family,

as they swing through the canopy.

We just saw them moving through. They're probably not far.

Gibbons are easy to hear, but notoriously difficult to film.

It's a tough test, even for a seasoned camerawoman like Justine.

They spend most of their time nearer the tops of trees,

and they have the opposite of vertigo,

I think. If they come to the ground, they're terrified.

Yeah, we found the gibbons, I didn't manage to get a shot,

but we found where they are, and I'm gonna head back to base now. Over.

So, you heard them, and you thought you could see them jumping from tree to tree.

Yeah, but they were way up in the distance,

so we left Junior out to just keep tabs on them,

try and find out where they're going to sleep.

I think, at this stage, it's more important that we do that,

and I did hear a proper duet in that area, so there must be a pair.

-If you want shots, you have to get them from the platform.

-Yeah.

-Otherwise, it'll just be a glimpse of moving leaves, with a bit of fur.

-Exactly.

The gibbons have never seen people before.

Justine has no idea how they'll react.

And then, you follow Justine.

-Junior to Tara, come in, over.

-Junior, it's Tara.

Tara, we've just discovered a very fresh track of clouded leopard.

500 metres from the camp. Over.

That's brilliant, Junior.

I mean, fresh, as in 24 hours?

Probably just after the rain. Over.

Wow, and only 500 metres from here?

500 metres from the camp. Over.

-What is it?

-It's brilliant news. Clouded leopard tracks.

-You're joking.

-Fresh ones, like 24 hours.

He thinks sometime during the rains last night.

-Whereabouts?

-500 metres away.

Now, we have to figure out a way... How can we see them?

The clouded leopard.

The most elusive and secretive of Borneo's carnivores.

Finding and filming it would be a real coup for big cat expert Gordon.

Wow! There it is, that's the first one.

-That's incredibly fresh.

-That's the great thing about the rains.

It makes this a total mulch, and perfect for tracking stuff.

So, how do you know this is a leopard print?

Looking at the size, I reckon it's a huge, huge cat.

So, how long about, do you think?

So, body size will be like, that long, with an extended fluffy tail,

and with this claw mark, it's kind of heavy cat, for sure.

This is so encouraging,

but this is just an indication that they're here.

Trying to get images of them is going be the next big step.

Justine's already on her next step to tracking down the gibbons.

She's going to build a platform up one of the giant forest trees.

Her crossbow fires a line over a high branch.

Hey, perfect! Got it right through the right branch.

I was really relieved at that, actually,

I thought it was going to be a nightmare.

This is just beginning.

The hot and sweaty job of carrying the metal platform up the steep slopes

falls to biologist and mountaineer Steve Backshall.

It's about the weight of a small child.

And made of solid aluminium.

And I'm very glad that it's not me that's going to be living on it for three weeks.

Back on the trail of the clouded leopard,

Tara's making a plaster cast of the footprint.

Having physical proof it lives here is vital.

The clouded leopard is one of the rarest and most endangered animals in Borneo.

So, maybe, if we find animals like the clouded leopard,

we might be able to raise the status of this area, their unique habitat,

so that it can be protected for posterity.

The canyon may be remote today, but could be threatened tomorrow.

Once, this great southeast Asian island was all rainforest,

but every year, a million trees are felled.

Every year, the plantations creep closer.

Down in the lowlands, the rows of oil palm start,

and stretch as far as the eye can see.

20 years ago, this was all rainforest.

For the team to help conserve the canyon as a nature reserve,

they need evidence that it's home to a rich variety of wildlife.

From now on, Justine will spend each and every day perched on this square of aluminium.

It's always a bit nerve-wracking when you go up a tree,

having not climbed for a while.

It's a lot higher than it looked from the ground.

The tree is higher than the Statue Of Liberty.

If we see any gibbons, I think they're going to be nervous.

It's a remote spot, there hasn't been anyone here,

let alone people up trees.

With the help of the climbing team,

the platform is hauled up the forest giant.

Probably a little bit higher.

Rainforest trees can grow over 70 metres high,

but they are precarious,

with their shallow roots clinging to thin soils.

If a storm blows in, they can easily crash to the ground.

But if you're serious about finding gibbons, this is the only place to be.

Now, Justine must sit and wait.

At base camp, another expedition member is arriving.

All the way from the University of Oxford,

Dr George McGavin, one of the world's great specialists in insects.

How are you, George?

Some fantastic insects on the way up.

Beautiful, beautiful stuff.

Last night it rained, George.

All the insects came into where we were sitting,

and there was this huge spider, just chomping and chomping.

After the evening meal, George starts a hunt for a small but deadly predator.

The scorpion.

We'll take a few pots, and we need a rather special torch,

and we need a rather special pair of glasses as well.

How this works, it's an ultra-violet torch,

and it makes things fluoresce,

and if I shine it under here, you'll see loads of things shining.

Tags, and labels, and stuff,

which are reacting and fluorescing in the ultraviolet light,

and that's exactly what scorpions do.

Oh, look!

When you see them, it just stands out at you.

It just jumps out!

There's our first scorpion within ten feet of the camp. Oop!

-The camp's toilet is also occupied.

-Oh, there he is.

It's either a piece of toilet paper, or it's a very large scorpion.

In fact, I can actually see its claw from here.

There we go. Oh! Where'd he go?

There he is, there he is.

Easy, boy. Now, that one's gonna hurt. It's got quite thin claws.

As a general rule, if a scorpion has got thin claws and a fat tail, that's bad news,

because it uses its venom rather than its physical strength.

But you can see how it's quite aggressive.

I mean, it's rearing up in a threat display there,

with the claws open, and the sting held high there.

There! It had a go at my blade, there.

That's what we share the toilets with.

This is actually the most fun I've had on a toilet, I think, for a long time.

The rest of the team are heading out in search of a much larger predator.

The clouded leopard.

It is a really big deal that we've found those marks here,

and so close to camp,

because they are one of the rarest cats in the world,

and we've got one living very close to the camp.

Separate groups of us have gone out tonight, in different directions,

trying to see if we can find the clouded leopard.

Using spotlights is actually one of the best ways of finding things at night time,

because, more often than not, if you catch a cat,

particularly in these spotlights, they just stop.

You get this eye shine, the light bouncing back off their eyes.

As the search for the leopard takes them deeper into the jungle, Gordon comes under attack.

Oh, get off.

From bloodsucking leeches.

I really don't like them. They're quite abhorrent, really.

It's got its teeth into me.

I have to kind of pull it off with my nail.

As soon as they latch on, you can't even get them off your finger, look,

and he'll work his way to a nice warm area.

The leopard is so well-camouflaged,

the team could be walking right past one, and not notice.

To help track it down, Gordon has brought a piece of high technology to this ancient forest.

This is the first night I've used the thermal imaging camera.

Anything that's hotter than average is gonna show a bright orange,

so, warm-blooded mammals are gonna stick out like a sore thumb.

Shall I put this on again? Shall I have a quick look?

-Okey-dokey.

-Justine's team see some eye shine.

-I saw the red eyes.

-Yeah.

-Just, just see down...

It's not the leopard, but they've found its prey.

Two tiny mouse deer.

It's a lesser mouse deer.

Leopard dinner.

Well spotted!

I've got to be up at 4:30, so we're gonna cut it short.

-Because that gives me precisely six hours' sleep.

-All right.

Gordon presses deeper into the jungle,

and makes an extraordinary find.

There's a tarsier just about five metres in front of me.

It's a little, little red dot,

orange dot, right in the middle of the frame.

OK, I'm going to move a little bit closer,

try and get further down the bank.

The tarsier.

Secretive and silent, with huge eyes,

to make out predators hunting it in the darkness.

It's said that if humans had eyes the size of tarsiers',

they'd be as big as apples.

They can nearly rotate their head 360 degrees.

They can look all the way around, all the way around that way.

A cousin of the bush baby, the tarsier is an important find.

It's never been seen in this canyon before.

To sit this close to a wild tarsier is fantastic. Really good.

Almost midnight, and the team is still searching for the leopard,

when suddenly, everything changes.

LOUD THUNDER

-We have to move.

-This is starting to get a bit dangerous here?

-Yeah.

Rain, no problem. Rain with wind, big problem.

Base camp, base camp, this is Junior, come in, over.

A storm like this could bring a tree crashing down on them.

This is one of these situations when you can easily get caught out.

And then, just as they reach base camp, a terrible sound is heard.

LOUD CRASH

It's a forest tree, knocked over by the storm.

We just heard this huge crash, and there's a tree falling,

and a lot of rain tonight,

and what happens is you get these huge trees,

that are held up by nothing but vines,

they've died years ago, and what happens when it rains,

things just start falling,

so you've got a huge weight just falling,

and it fell very close,

so we're just doing a quick scan round that it didn't fall on the sleeping areas.

100 tons of tree fell to the ground just yards from the base camp.

No-one was hurt, but it's a sobering reminder of just how far they are from help.

Next morning, the result of the night storm is all too plain to see.

For the river fish, it's a chance to try and reach their spawning grounds.

For the camp cooks, it's a chance to catch some fresh food for dinner.

An ingenious device.

The fish get stuck in the inside bit,

and they can't get back out again,

so if I was to put my arm in here, which I won't,

but if I did, then I would be trapped inside.

It's absolutely fantastic.

The break in the weather allows the last of the supplies to be ferried in.

Well, the helicopter came in unexpectedly,

and we got covered in muck.

So, I'm just going for a little swim, now.

Go and get him, go and get him!

My hero! Rescued me.

Thank you.

Just a few yards away, in the camp,

there's an air of quiet concentration.

Steve Backshall and the rest of the mountaineering team

are making preparations for climbing a remote jungle peak.

There's a briefing on the use of the radios,

their only safety line in an emergency.

So, during the day, you're going to be on channel three,

and at night time, or late afternoon, we'll put you onto channel one.

Their destination - Mount Kuli.

Permanently shrouded in cloud.

The team will spend a week climbing through the thick mist

to discover what lies at the top of this mysterious mountain.

My mother would say to you, don't take any chances.

Don't do anything silly.

A spider? Is that a poisonous one?

It's very poisonous, yeah.

But just as they are leaving, there's a nasty intruder in camp.

That is a Scolopendra Centipede,

which is the nastiest biting creature around here of any kind,

but I'll let George explain that to you.

If that was to bite you,

your hand would expand like a blown up glove, very painful.

It's very small, actually.

The climbers start the long walk in to Mount Kuli,

carrying all their gear and food on their backs.

They have 25-kilo backpacks on, that's tough going.

It's going to be hard, really hard work.

As they trudge through the understorey,

high above, Justine sits, and waits for her gibbons.

This is my little platform.

It's not very big, as you can see.

It's a long way down.

I got leeched on the way up,

that's the problem with being on the ground.

up here, you don't get any leeches.

Getting up at 4am is pretty grim,

and trudging up these muddy slopes before light,

but it's worth it when you get up here.

Justine is spending every single daylight hour perched in her tree top.

It's pretty frustrating,

because I can actually hear the gibbons,

but I can't see them, and they're not very far,

but they're just behind some trees and endless vegetation.

It's just a bit... It's a bit frustrating, that's all.

It's even more frustrating for the team of climbers.

After the heavy rain, the mountain has turned to mud.

Hopefully, there should be some fabulous new species here.

Just gonna need some time to get out, and start looking,

cos at the moment, all you can really focus on

is putting one foot in front of the other...

..and just fighting to get some purchase on the steep ground.

Feeling for every handhold, they inch their way upwards.

And into the dense layer of cloud.

In the canyon, patience has paid off for Justine.

The gibbons have at last come close enough to be filmed.

GIBBONS CALL

Suddenly, they all started calling,

but they started calling right here, almost next to me.

Incredible that they've come so close.

I never expected that.

They can travel through the canopy as fast as birds can fly.

That would be a great thing to experience,

and also being able to hang on one arm for about 15 minutes, whilst eating.

That would be cool, wouldn't it?

Justine has discovered that there's a healthy population of gibbons in this remote canyon.

It's a major boost to ensuring its conservation.

That evening, the team look at Justine's pictures.

It's been a successful week, with over 20 species captured on camera,

including the tarsier and the gibbons, and many more recorded.

A round of applause coming up. Yay!

Only the clouded leopard has eluded them. So far.

Kuli team, this is BBC base, over.

But even as they celebrate, trouble is brewing.

The climbing team has lost communication with base camp.

Kuli team, this is BBC Base, over.

Ever since they disappeared into the clouds on Mount Kuli,

there's been nothing on the radio but static.

This is BBC Base. Nothing heard, move to channel two.

The experienced mountaineers know just how vital the daily radio check is.

Something must be wrong.

In the next programme,

rain keeps on pouring, and problems start mounting up in camp.

Things are going a bit downhill.

A few people have got diarrhoea.

We've run out of petrol,

which means no electricity,

and worst of all, river's in flood,

so getting anywhere is really difficult.

But despite everything,

the team makes an amazing discovery.