Jungle

Jungles have both frightened and intrigued us. The rainforests of South America, South East Asia and West Africa contain over half the species of animals and plants found on Earth - one small patch of forest can contain up to 50,000 species of insect. This landmark series exposes the many secrets of the jungle. Using specially developed platforms, walkways and rope systems, Charlotte is able to penetrate the heart of the forest. Balloons and a helium bubble make it possible to land on and fly over the jungle canopy. Infra-red and low-light cameras unmask the jungle at night. Time lapse and computer animation allow the viewer to enter 'plant-time' and witness an entire jungle grow not just over months, but years, even generations. The jungles of the world are all very different. Charlotte takes a close look at the animals inhabiting the jungles, highlighting how they have adapted to survive the challenging conditions. In the first episode of Jungle, get up close and explore the forest canopy. The high frontier of the forest canopy is one of the least known and least seen habitats on Earth, but it has the greatest concentration of life on the planet. In the jungles of Borneo where the trees are the tallest, Charlotte discovers what it's like to live 200 feet above the ground in a complex three-dimensional world - where one slip could be fatal!

Charlotte Uhlenbroek explores the mysteries of the forest floor. The forest floor is perhaps the worst and most inhospitable place of all - dark, damp and full of potentially dangerous wildlife, nowhere more forbidding than the original heart of darkness, the Congo. Confronted with walls of impenetrable poisonous plants, toxic snakes, spiders, killer ants, diseases and large predatory cats, you can't even sit down without being bitten. Charlotte overcomes the hazards, and with state-of-the-art technology and inventive field craft, she reveals the hidden world of the forest floor. To survive here, almost everything has to struggle for light. And while chimps and gorillas live here, Charlotte highlights the difficulties and problems they face surviving in this formidable place. Through the dense vegetation, she also glimpses the largest of all jungle dwellers - the forest elephant.

In tonight's final episode of Jungle, Charlotte Uhlenbroek explores the watery world of jungle life, Sunday 28 November at 7.30pm. Rainforests are some of the wettest places on the planet and none more so than the Amazon. Standing at the top of Angel Falls, the highest waterfall in the world, Charlotte explains how the biggest river system in the world operates. Millions of tonnes of water pours into 11,000 tributaries of the Amazon Basin each year. Charlotte takes us on a journey through the streams, rivers, swamps and lakes of the Amazon in search of the crocodiles, giant river otters, pink dolphins and other wildlife that make this place unique. As Charlotte wades across streams and swamps there are perils in, as well as on, the water including crocodiles, stingrays, piranhas and giant anacondas. The dangerous candiru fish, if given the chance, will happily find a home in your bladder! The waterways are the main arteries for the animals too, and along the rivers and lakes are some of the best jungle spectacles in the world.