Exploring Crocodile Territory in Guyana with Steve Backshall

The heart and soul of the base camp is the beach. It's where the fish are gutted, the boats are stored, and where everyone comes to wash and cool off. It's a welcome respite from the stifling jungle heat. All the sweat, the dirt, the grime, the it's But the one good thing is that we have the beautiful river out there to bathe in because it's fresh water. Fresh, absolutely beautiful. Justine was coming down for her morning wash, but something has changed her mind. Oh, dear.

It came in on the beach. Exactly where I wash. This is the actually the first proper one I've seen. The black caiman. It's the largest predator in South America. And like so many animals around camp, it's growing bolder by the day. He's one that could quite happily cause damage to fully grown adults. And you can see the you know, the guys down here cleaning fish. That croc is 11, 12 ft long. And this is exactly the way that caiman start becoming a problem in villages around here is that people are cleaning their fish, the caiman gets bolder and bolder, and then eventually it takes some of the dogs, and then it kind of moves up to taking someone's child.

Woah! Caiman are just one of hundreds of intriguing creatures that thrive in these waters. All right. Steve joins Dr. Phil Willink on his survey of fish. WE FOUND SOMETHING GOOD OUT OF THIS FISH. IT'S A freshwater anchovy. WOW, I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M RISKING MY LIFE FOR ANCHOVIES. They'll be the first scientists to search beneath the surface in this region. We know very few people have been up here and who knows what's living in these areas.

There's probably a lot of new species hiding in these rocks and these rapids. The combination of nobody ever being here before and a difficult habitat to collect in is where you're going to find a lot of new species.