I Bought A Rainforest - Episode 1

I Bought a Rainforest is a new series following wildlife Cameraman Charlie Hamilton James who has spent $10,000 on 100 acres of Peruvian rainforest, without even looking at it first. Situated at the end of a road, he hopes it is a strategic purchase, which will stop loggers illegally entering the Manu National Park and cutting down trees. But when he gets there, he quickly realises things are not quite so simple.

Once he has established camp, and got his bearings, he discovers he has not bought the pristine virgin rainforest of his dreams, but instead 100 acres of secondary forest complete with a squatter, a cocaine field, and some dangerous neighbours. A sign recently painted on a rock on his river reads "Do not pass. Order to shoot!" alongside a crude picture of a gun.

Undaunted, Charlie sets about looking for what animals and insects there are still on his land, and before long has discovered a new species of scorpion, completely new to science. But it is only when he goes to visit a local NGO, called CREES, which 30 years ago replanted a large area of forest and is now full of large animals and plants, that he begins to believe that his mission is not entirely hopeless.

Clip: The arboreal tree viper