Zoo Quest for a Dragon | 1: Borneo

David Attenborough and cameraman Charles Lagus begin their quest in Borneo, the first in the chain of islands they must cross in order to reach Komodo. There they trek through jungle to a village belonging to the Dayak tribe, where they are given a warm welcome. The 'Zoo Quest' team are hoping to find an orangutan and, with guidance from the Dayaks, they discover and film one in the wild. However, it is an orphaned orangutan held captive by a hunter that Attenborough falls for in the end.

Attenborough first developed the idea of filming animals in the wild when he met Jack Lester, a curator at London Zoo. Expeditions to collect creatures were a common way for zoos to acquire exhibits at that time, so they proposed an animal gathering excursion that Attenborough could record on film. For the first two series of 'Zoo Quest', the animals were collected by Jack Lester. When Lester fell ill, Attenborough found himself responsible for the job instead, something with which he was not entirely comfortable.