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DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: Of all the habitats the Planet Earth teams had to deal with,
undoubtedly, the one that was to provide the most unpleasant working conditions
was the underground world of caves.
Look at that!
Thousands of cockroaches!
There are a few juveniles in the moulting phase here...
Just everywhere you look is cockroaches.
Look at that.
Beautiful sight.
ATTENBOROUGH: Gomantong Cave is home to the world's largest concentrations of cockroaches.
And the team are going to have to spend a month
working in this massive pile of guano.
And we're back here with
the biggest mound of doo-doo
you've ever seen in the world.
And, uh... It's a bit grim.
We're going to get dressed up in all the stuff.
You get cockroaches in your neck and down your pants...
Oh, God!
Do we have to go back up?
ATTENBOROUGH: The crew's goal here
was to try and convey the sheer scale of this mound of droppings.
The aim was a continuous smooth shot from the base to the very summit.
Now, I'm actually taping up the gusset of my paper suit here,
because I've spent the last few days with it splitting.
I'd be sitting down waist-deep in faeces,
and then you can just feel the insects crawling in.
And it's just not an area where you want insects!
ATTENBOROUGH: Every inch of the ground was covered with cockroaches.
As soon as you put a lens or camera down, it was engulfed by bugs.
Death and decay was everywhere.
These guys are supposed to be up on the cave roof above us,
but I don't think this one has any idea where he is.
ATTENBOROUGH: This tracking system was a bit Heath Robinson,
and keeping it working in this filthy, damp environment was extremely difficult.
Oh, no!
We've just come off the wheel.
So many things go wrong in here with equipment.
It's so humid and so messy that everything gets gunk in it and fuses short-circuit.
Terrible.
Absolutely terrible.
Can't use it.
Oh, don't do this to me, please don't do this...
ATTENBOROUGH: The idea was to get the camera
to float smoothly over the surface of the mound,
using a counterweight system to pull it up the slope at a steady pace.
How steady was that?
Excellent.
Huw, please don't send me back again!
(LAUGHING)
If you're listening, please...
One month in this muck!
Nobody should have to live one month in poo.
ATTENBOROUGH: While Gomantong was the most unpleasant cave to work in,
the real test for the team's nerves
was the deepest and longest of their explorations, Lechuguilla.
Well, it seems that every cave trip
involves at least one thrilling
but buttock-clenching moment, and this is Lechuguilla's.
It's Boulder Falls, 150-foot drop into blackness.
ATTENBOROUGH: This terrifying descent into the black
was just the beginning of a journey to reach
Lechuguilla's most remarkable cavern, the Chandelier Ballroom.
It was going to take the team nine hours to reach their base camp.
And, as they descended, the passages got narrower and narrower.
The claustrophobia of squeezing through shoulder-width crevices
is everybody's ultimate caving nightmare.
If you got stuck in a hole like that,
they'd have to break your collarbone to pull you out.
It's the only way they can bend the human body. Argh!
ATTENBOROUGH: This precipitous drop into the abyss
is aptly named Freak-Out Traverse.
Negotiating collapsed roof falls
and climbing up almost as much as going down,
the team labouriously pick their way through a maze of passages.
It was crucial that nobody fell.
The last time somebody broke an ankle down here,
it took a team of over 100 expert cavers three days to get them out.
Finally, the team reach base camp, over a mile from the surface.
Local experts recommend a maximum of five days below ground.
It's only too easy to go stir crazy in this world without daylight or fresh air.
But since filming underground is so time-consuming,
the team had to spend 10 days to do justice to this beautiful cave system,
without ever coming to the surface.
Without the normal daylight cycle to influence them,
everyone worked round the clock,
lugging 500 kilos of filming equipment
through the network of narrow tunnels.
Eventually, the team reached the ultimate goal, the Chandelier Ballroom.
These six-metre-long crystals, suspended from the ballroom ceiling,
have taken millions of years to grow.
And working among such precious structures was extremely nerve-wracking.
This was the first time a crew had ever
been allowed to carry a crane into the cave,
an essential tool to keep the camera on the move,
to bring these inanimate crystals to life.
It took over three hours to set up the first shot,
as they had to plan every single movement in advance
to avoid damaging any of these delicate crystals.
CORDEY: This place has been millions of years in the making,
and yet virtually nobody's been down here.
This is one of the most restrictive caves in the world.
Just to get permission to film here has taken two years.
So it's been an amazing privilege and, frankly,
all that slogging through, up and down rocks and squeezing ourselves
through very tight gaps...
I mean, just to see these amazing cave decorations...
It's been an unbelievable highlight.
ATTENBOROUGH: This was to be the last time that
the authorities were going to allow Lechuguilla to be filmed,
so this footage is the only way
that most people can be transported into this magical place.
Lechuguilla would be allowed to return to its pristine status
as one of the most beautiful and unspoiled environments on the planet.