The TV presenter, 35, slipped 25 foot down a cliff face while climbing in the rain with his travel writer friend Tarquin Cooper in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire last Saturday.
The former Really Wild Show host was left with a fractured vertebrae, left leg, left foot and a dislocated ankle.
Flat out: Steve Backshall is in agony in hospital after falling 25ft down a cliff face in Gloucestershire
He said: 'I’ve broken two vertebrae but I could have been paralysed - or worse.
'The rock was wet so I stopped to rest but the next thing I was heading very quickly towards the ground.
'All I can remember is landing with a sickening thud. I can't begin to describe how painful it was, but I'm lucky.'
His friend Cooper, who witnessed the horrific accident, said: 'It was awful. I saw him cartwheel down before hitting the ground with a thump.
'I couldn't carry him so he put his arm round me and we walked to the car - 45 minutes away.'
Backshall is hoping to leave hospital next week.
His next TV show, Lost Land Of The Jaguar, will screen on BBC1 on July 30th.
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