By now Production was in full swing and rarely a month went by when we didn't have at least 3 crews somewhere out in Africa.

Cameraman Philip Sharpe and I set off for the Bangweulu Swamps of Zambia. I had never worked in a Game Management Area before. Most of my filming had been in National Parks. This was to be a whole new, and at times, very frustrating experience. Read an extract from my diary.

It really is worth getting up before the sun and tramping off in to the papyrus to hear the dawn chorus in Bangweulu. It's a riot of birds !!

We stayed right in the heart of the swamp on a little island camp called "Shoebill". The camp staff were fantastic and had beautiful singing voices and one night after dinner they treated us to one of their local Bemba songs

Whilst the "Lakes & Rivers" team were sloshing about in the swamps, cameraman Alastair MacEwen was on his hands and knees on the hot sand filming something very small for "Deserts". Watch the footage to find out what they were...

Amanda Barrett and Owen Newman were back out in the Serengeti for Savannahs in 2001. They'd shot some great footage so far and were trying to finish sequences before the long rains arrived and the tracks were no longer passable. It isn't often though that the animals come this close.....watch this video !