Eden: Untamed Planet

Borneo is the richest rainforest island of all; home to 60,000 species of plants and animals. 6,000 of them are unique – and more are discovered almost daily. But this ‘paradise’ is an illusion; the lush forest is effectively growing on a desert, the soil shallow and nutrient poor, leeched by eons of incessant rain. We’ll discover how the intense competition for nutrients here has led to it becoming one of the most biodiverse places on the planet.

The Namib Desert is one of the oldest of all, giving rise to more indigenous species than any other. With 50-degree Celsius temperatures and annual rainfall that is measured in millimeters, how is this possible? We’ll reveal its hidden water sources – such as the mysterious sea fog that sweeps across its Skeleton Coast.

At the very end of East Africa’s Great Rift Valley, there’s a ‘land that time forgot’ – the rolling grasslands of the Luangwa Valley. As we travel through the seasons, we find the secret to this Eden’s great riches – the annual flood of the mighty Luangwa River.