Over half of China's plant and animal species live in Yunnan Province in the far southwest of the country. Marven goes there to explore the ancient city of Dali and the surrounding mountains and forests. He meets some bizarre and deadly reptiles and amphibians; goes on a very unusual fishing trip; enjoys the fairy-tale lifecycle of butterflies; and gets up close to highly-endangered Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys.

The Xishuangbanna Reserve in southern Yunnan is a land of giants. In the steamy jungles, Marven comes face-to-face with China's largest lizard, the world's biggest species of moth, a super-sized serpent, and a massive bamboo rat. But will he manage to track down the biggest giant of all, one of China's last remaining Asian elephants?