Our crew of 24 people left from various places around the world and convened in a hotel in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, in the summer of 2006. Along with several of the finest natural history camera operators on the planet were Oxford professor of entomology Dr. George McGavin, University of California, Berkeley, professor of herpetology Tyrone Hayes, ecologist and adviser to international agencies Tara Shine and ... er ... me.

In order for us to best work at finding new species, we invested much of our expedition budget on a rustic jungle base camp in a remote area of a Bornean forest reserve known as Imbak Canyon. An unknown forested valley between Borneo's largest national parks of Danum, Maliau and Tabin, it could prove to be an invaluable wildlife corridor if it could be properly protected.

Producer Steve Greenwood and I had flown by helicopter into the valley several months before the project began and decided it was the best place to build our base camp. I'd been on my own when locals took me to a stunning waterfall at the junction of two rivers with flattish ground nearby.

It had seemed a perfect spot to erect our base camp and I'd sung the location's praises wildly, so I looked on in hopeless embarrassment as a helicopter and a small platoon of porters struggled desperately to get 2.5 tons of film equipment into the camp down a narrow muddy trail and across a fast-flowing river, almost killing themselves doing it. It's only Day 1 and none of them are talking to me.

Other teething troubles included our ex-special forces support team failing to set up any kind of communication systems at all because the bottom of the canyon sucked up radio and satellite signals, and the scientists and crew gradually came to the perplexing discovery that we had chosen a site where animals were apparently in very short supply.

It was, however, a dazzling jungle where some of the world's tallest trees (some as high as 250 feet) grow and a tumultuous waterfall next to camp roared like Niagara one minute, and then two days later, dribbled like a small child who wants an ice lolly.

We were to spend nearly a month here, setting up temporary laboratories, editing suites and kit stores, all under the rattan roofs of our rustic jungle home.