' Furry little dassie (rock hyrax) scurry along the forest floor - incongruously, the animal's closest relatives are elephants, though they look more like overgrown guinea pigs.

BBC: The perfect trip: South Africa

Whichever you choose, make sure to wear hiking boots and leech socks -- the forest floor is muddy and thick with small, innocuous leeches.

BBC: Malaysian Borneo on a single circuit

And although jumping is dangerous - falls and broken bones are common - crossing the forest floor is more dangerous still.

BBC: Gibbons' extraordinary jumps 'down to technique'

He lay flat on the brown, pine-needled floor of the forest, his chin on his folded arms, and high overhead the wind blew in the tops of the pine trees.

NPR: Robert Jordan, Hemingway's Bipartisan Hero

One of his greatest concerns is to preserve a surprising and recently discovered world beneath the Amazon - a series of caves lurking in the iron ore under the forest floor.

BBC: Forests and caves of iron: An Amazon dilemma