In the first programme Charlotte climbs high among the Borneo treetops in an attempt to reach the notoriously inaccessible rainforest canopy. Teeming with life at 200 feet up, this sanctuary is populated by species including orang-utans, flying lizards and giant hombills.

Charlotte Uhlenbroek's tropical trip brings her to the Congo, Africa's heart of darkness and home to some of the most deadly plants and animals, such as leeches and driver ants. Lowland gorillas, chimps and forest elephants forage here, but it's the lowlife on the forest floor that holds the secrets to life and death in the jungle.

The Amazon is the planet's biggest river and drains the largest of all rainforests. Charlotte Uhlenbroek journeys along it from its source in the high Andes. On the way she feeds piranhas, meets a family of giant river otters and learns how water can create and destroy life.