Lost Land of the Jaguar is an expedition to the jungles of Guyana. An international team of explorers, scientists and film makers discover the plants and animals that inhabit the spectacular landscape of Guyana. Places that only a handful of people have ever seen before.

The Guiana Shield of northern South America is a vast geological formation dating back to Precambrian times. It underlies Guyana, Surinam, French Guiana as well as parts of Brazil, Venezuela and Columbia. The vegetation that clothes this ancient landscape is the most intact rainforest in the world and it harbours a huge abundance and diversity of animals and plants. This area comprises the largest expanse of undisturbed tropical moist forest anywhere, and it's the least studied of the world's great rainforests. Many of the animal and plants groups have high levels of endemism (species that occur here and nowhere else). The proportion of endemic plant species and genera across the Guiana Shield is estimated to be in the region of 40%.

Guyana is a little smaller than the UK but only has a human population of 800,000, most of whom live in the capital, Georgetown, and along the coastal strip. Because of the very low population pressure, the country's natural vegetation remains largely intact with about 80% of the land area covered in dense forest. The biodiversity of Guyana is known to be very high with 8,000 species of plants (including 1,000 tree species) of which about half are endemic and more than 2,700 vertebrate species. What we hoped to achieve.

The BBC team's primary job was to film and carry out a rapid biological assessment, primarily at the Upper Essequibo Conservation Concession, which is managed by Conservation International Guyana. After a stay at base camp, deep in the rainforest, the team broke into smaller groups to investigate and film animals on the vast savannas of South Rupununi, the region around Kaieteur Falls and the upper reaches of the Rewa River to the west.

Guyana's natural attractions are spectacular, unspoiled and on a scale that dwarfs human endeavor. While lingering effects of Dutch and British colonization make for an unpredictable political and demographic climate, the Guyanese are doing what they can to make their country an ecotourism haven.

Guyana has immense waterfalls, vast tropical rainforests and grasslands teeming with wildlife. There's still a hint of frontier wildness about the country and a few rough edges in the capital Georgetown, but the treasures that await are more than adequate reward for the willing traveler.

Travel Warning: Areas to Avoid

Home invasions, carjackings, kidnappings and shootings are not uncommon in Guyana, particularly in Georgetown and New Amsterdam. Georgetown's Tiger Bay and Stabroek Market areas and all of the city's south should be avoided after dark. The east coast of the Demerara river is also a high-risk area, particularly the villages of Buxton, Friendship and Annadale, as is the highway from Timerhi to Linden.

From: BBC Science & Nature.)

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