1 00:00:18,100 --> 00:00:20,200 Oh, come on. 2 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:23,160 I'm in a remote corner of Venezuela. 3 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:26,200 I'm travelling the length of the Americas. 4 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:30,600 The two continents that together form more than a quarter of 5 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:32,880 Earth's land surface. 6 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:35,760 And this, right here, 7 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:40,000 is where I am starting my journey down through South America. 8 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:49,760 Completely epic South America! 9 00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:00,120 It's a journey of more than 4,000 miles through some of 10 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:01,920 the world's greatest landscapes. 11 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:09,080 Encountering spectacular wildlife. 12 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:10,680 The cat is on the move. 13 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:17,560 From its iconic cities to the Andes mountains, 14 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:20,640 it's a continent of dramatic extremes. 15 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:21,840 Down! 16 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:28,360 Along the way, I meet the inspiring... 17 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:29,600 Yolanda! 18 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:33,440 ..and the surprising people... 19 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:36,680 These guys are Mennonites. 20 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:39,440 ..who make South America so extraordinary. 21 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:43,120 There's Wi-Fi here. 22 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:46,560 Nowhere else for miles around, apparently. 23 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:48,440 We do our own thing. 24 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:50,080 We're happy here, man. 25 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:10,920 HE GROANS 26 00:02:12,640 --> 00:02:14,680 HE CHUCKLES 27 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:16,480 I am not a morning person. 28 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:20,640 But I can't wait to start today. 29 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:23,960 Er... 30 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:29,080 Where's my shoes? 31 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:36,200 I was beginning my journey down through South America, 32 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:39,040 in Venezuela, on Mount Roraima, 33 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:41,280 a place of myth and wonder. 34 00:02:42,920 --> 00:02:44,520 This is... 35 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:48,600 The only fair description is a lost world, it really is. 36 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:54,840 It is unlike anywhere I can remember being on planet Earth. 37 00:03:04,640 --> 00:03:09,320 I joined a small team of biologists and explorers who come here to study 38 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:12,520 this incredible ecosystem above the clouds. 39 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:16,840 So, this enormous landmass that we're on is called a tepui, 40 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:21,280 and it is one of the oldest land masses on this planet. 41 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:26,240 More than a billion years old. 42 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:28,600 Billon, with a B! 43 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:31,200 And to put that in context, 44 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:35,560 Mount Everest is only about 60 million years old. 45 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:38,440 That's a newcomer on the scene. 46 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:42,640 And these tepui are spectacular in so many different ways. 47 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:46,600 Mountains are generally formed by great tectonic plates crashing 48 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:48,920 together and then forcing upwards. 49 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:50,840 The tepui weren't formed like that. 50 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:54,760 They're formed by sediment gathering on ancient seabeds 51 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:57,120 and gradually rising up. 52 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:00,880 And then you end up, many, many years later - 53 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:02,520 oh, my goodness - 54 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:05,120 with these islands in the sky. 55 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:11,640 We are around two miles above sea level here. 56 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:14,120 And I'm a bit short of breath. 57 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:17,400 But that gifts you... Oh, my goodness. 58 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:23,400 ..the most incredible views! 59 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:29,600 Almost cut off from the outside world 60 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:32,240 by vertical cliffs on all sides, 61 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:35,920 Mount Roraima has long fed and fired the imagination. 62 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:39,920 Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a book in the early 1900s 63 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:41,720 called The Lost World, 64 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:46,800 with the idea that these tepui were still home to dinosaurs 65 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:48,440 and Pterodactyls. 66 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:53,760 And coming here, you can completely imagine that is the case. 67 00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:57,040 Life on Roraima is very different from the world below. 68 00:04:57,040 --> 00:04:59,600 Up to 50% of the plants and animals up here 69 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:01,880 are found nowhere else on Earth. 70 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:05,000 Life has been forced to evolve or adapt to survive 71 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:07,000 the challenging terrain and climate. 72 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:10,960 Biologist Michelle Castellanos 73 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:14,600 studies the unique species of Venezuela's tepuis. 74 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:17,680 What a place. Do you like it? 75 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:20,720 Yeah, I like it. More than like. 76 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:23,400 It really feels like somewhere where you need to be careful 77 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:27,640 with every step, just in case you wipe out a plant 78 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:30,080 previously unknown to science. 79 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:33,320 Oh, have you found something? It's very tiny. 80 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:35,640 Let me go here. What is? 81 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:39,120 Here, next to the rock. Oh, my goodness! 82 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:41,960 It is a tiny, tiny frog. 83 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:44,680 Yeah, it is, like, smaller than your thumb. 84 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:46,320 THEY LAUGH 85 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:48,560 A weird species. A weird species, yeah. 86 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:51,000 And only found here in the tepuis. 87 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:52,800 Is it going to jump if I... No, actually... 88 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:54,240 ..put my finger too close? 89 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:57,080 ..they don't jump, they walk very slow. 90 00:05:57,080 --> 00:05:59,720 They don't swim, and they don't have tadpoles. 91 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:01,360 Is it really a frog, then? 92 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:05,080 No, like, this is a toad, actually, it's not a frog. 93 00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:08,480 It's a toad the size of my thumbnail! 94 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:11,920 It's curious that each tepui has its own species. 95 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:15,800 So... So, now you're able to pick it up? Mm-hm. 96 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:20,200 And this one, from this tepui, has the belly. 97 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:23,120 Look at that little yellow belly. 98 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:25,680 So, this is almost - up here, it's a little bit like 99 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:27,400 the Galapagos islands... Yeah. 100 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:30,960 ..in that it's been cut off from the rest of the planet for ages, 101 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:33,840 and life has developed and evolved in different ways. 102 00:06:33,840 --> 00:06:35,280 Yeah, exactly. 103 00:06:35,280 --> 00:06:39,520 That's one of our concerns, that they are here before the dinosaurs. 104 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:41,800 But now, with people coming here, 105 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:45,160 it may bring a fungus that is spreading all around 106 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:48,520 the world, and is killing frogs. 107 00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:50,520 And that's why I'm using gloves. 108 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:54,160 Because of the frog-killing fungus, which also affects toads, as well? 109 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:55,400 Yeah. Right. 110 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:57,440 As this, this is only here, 111 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:01,120 if the fungus come here to the tepui, 112 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:03,800 maybe this species can disappear. 113 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:06,360 So, they evolved before us? Mm-hm. 114 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:09,200 They've survived much longer than us, 115 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:11,640 and they are now, in a very short space of time, 116 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:15,280 completely threatened by us? Yeah, exactly. 117 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:18,080 Around the world, amphibian populations are under attack 118 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:20,840 from a powerful fungus that's already caused the extinction 119 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:22,840 of scores of species. 120 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:25,840 Insolation here should protect the Roraima Toad - 121 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:29,720 but it's feared backpackers could unwittingly bring the fugus up here, 122 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:31,800 along with other unwelcome deposits. 123 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:33,800 Look at this. 124 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:35,760 This is toilet paper. Mm-hm. 125 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:37,520 What the hell is that doing here? 126 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:39,120 Tourists. 127 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:42,920 It's not only disgusting - these are ways fungus and evasive seeds 128 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:45,040 could arrive in this fragile world, 129 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:46,800 on walking boots, in our poo. 130 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:50,240 What have you seen now? 131 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:51,680 It's an invasive plant. 132 00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:54,640 An invasive plant? Yeah. 133 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:56,920 It's very interesting, actually, cos if you look at it, 134 00:07:56,920 --> 00:07:59,000 it is slightly suffocating and smothering... 135 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:01,040 Around the other one. ..the other plants. 136 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:02,200 It doesn't belong to here. 137 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:04,240 Also, with the global warming, 138 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:05,880 it's made seeds and grain up here, 139 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:09,320 because they find they have a good temperature. 140 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:11,360 Because of the warming climate, 141 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:14,200 plants that could never have survived up here 142 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:16,040 just a few years ago are now thriving. 143 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:21,000 It was a stark reminder that we need to be responsible 144 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:23,680 and protect the environment. 145 00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:27,800 Up here, that can call for some unusual measures. 146 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:32,080 So, to try and keep this place pristine and free of any seeds 147 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:36,640 I might unwittingly introduce into the environment, 148 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:38,600 I've been given a sealable potty. 149 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:42,440 I'm off to do my business. 150 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:45,880 If only there was a rock I could hide behind. 151 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:56,800 Up here, among the clouds, Roraima felt a world away from 152 00:08:56,800 --> 00:08:59,120 the planet and problems below. 153 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:02,360 There should be few places on Earth more remote and isolated 154 00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:06,240 than a nearly two-billion-year-old rock two miles above sea level. 155 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:10,160 But I was discovering that our reach and impact is everywhere. 156 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:14,000 Even life on the tepuis is affected by the march of the humans. 157 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:19,000 The mountain is at the northern end of one of the most important 158 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:22,040 geological features on the whole continent. 159 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:23,880 It's called the Guiana Shield, 160 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:25,920 an ancient slab of the Earth's crust 161 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:28,280 with its own distinct geology and climate. 162 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:35,600 On my journey, I was travelling through the Guiana Shield. 163 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:39,120 From where I was in Venezuela, through Guiana... 164 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:40,760 ..Suriname... 165 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:43,360 ..French Guiana, and then ultimately into Brazil. 166 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:48,160 Coming down from the lost world brought me back to Earth 167 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:49,360 with a bit of a bump. 168 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:54,560 This is Venezuela, after all - perhaps the most troubled country 169 00:09:54,560 --> 00:09:56,600 in the whole of South America. 170 00:09:56,600 --> 00:10:00,000 It's said to have experienced the single largest economic collapse 171 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:02,240 outside of war in decades. 172 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:06,440 Venezuela has been in, is it fair to say, chaos? 173 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:08,440 Chaos, yeah. Chaos and turmoil? 174 00:10:08,440 --> 00:10:10,400 And anarchy, too. Anarchy? 175 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:16,720 And Venezuela, more than anywhere else in this hemisphere, 176 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:21,160 should have the wealth to be safe and stable and secure. 177 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:25,280 It is a country blessed - 178 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:29,680 or cursed - with immense oil wealth. 179 00:10:29,680 --> 00:10:33,160 And, of course, that oil wealth should have led to benefits 180 00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:36,080 in health and education for the population. 181 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:40,360 Venezuela has the biggest oil reserves of any country on Earth. 182 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:43,080 But years of incompetence, corruption, crime, and also 183 00:10:43,080 --> 00:10:45,960 American sanctions have helped push much of the country 184 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:48,000 to desperate poverty. 185 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:50,400 Ah, that's interesting, look at this. 186 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:54,280 It's abandoned - is it abandoned, this petrol station here? No, no. 187 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:57,720 It's a working petrol station without petrol. 188 00:10:57,720 --> 00:11:00,880 Without any fuel? Any fuel, yeah. 189 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:03,440 This is the border. 190 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:05,440 Just on the right here? This is the border. 191 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:07,040 That marks the border? Yeah. 192 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:11,000 But this is now very definitely crossing into Brazil. 193 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:14,120 I was beginning my South American journey just as Covid 194 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:16,280 was about to become a global threat, 195 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:18,440 but before a single case of the virus had been 196 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:20,200 detected on this continent. 197 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:23,600 However, for years, long before the Covid pandemic hit hard, 198 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:26,400 Venezuelans were fleeing their country from crisis, 199 00:11:26,400 --> 00:11:29,040 poverty, hunger, even starvation. 200 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:33,520 So, this is a reception centre run by UNHCR, 201 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:35,920 the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. 202 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:38,560 The UN's refugee agency. 203 00:11:38,560 --> 00:11:40,360 All right, Raphael. 204 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:42,800 Hi, Raphael, Simon Reeve. Nice to meet you. Nice to see you. 205 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:45,240 Will you show us around a bit? Of course. Please, let's go. 206 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:48,560 Raphael Levy was heading the UN's response to the migrant 207 00:11:48,560 --> 00:11:51,960 and refugee crisis at this border crossing. 208 00:11:51,960 --> 00:11:54,160 Raphael, how many people are here? 209 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:57,640 Now, we have approximately 500-600 people 210 00:11:57,640 --> 00:11:59,480 in the shelter at this moment. 211 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:03,440 And during the night, when people getting their documents 212 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:04,840 go down here to sleep, 213 00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:07,600 then we will reach 1,000. 214 00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:14,840 We have never witnessed anything in the scale of what we see now. 215 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:18,880 This is the largest refugee and migrant crisis 216 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:20,840 in the history of Latin America. 217 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:22,040 Wow! 218 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:26,280 It's one of the world's least-known tragedies. 219 00:12:26,280 --> 00:12:28,880 More than six million Venezuelans, 220 00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:31,560 over a fifth of its entire population, 221 00:12:31,560 --> 00:12:33,840 are thought to have fled the country. 222 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:37,400 Venezuela's indigenous people have been hit particularly hard. 223 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:40,080 Where have you come from, and why? 224 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:19,600 What's going on over here? This is the... 225 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:21,360 Can we have a look? Of course, of course. 226 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:24,160 The people are being checked here and screened, and then 227 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:27,240 they go in there for a jab or two? 228 00:13:27,240 --> 00:13:30,080 Or even five. Really? Sometimes, yes. 229 00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:33,240 For the children who have never been vaccinated, 230 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:36,360 it may get up to five shots in one day. 231 00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:38,600 I suppose it speaks not just of what you're doing here, 232 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:41,800 but it tells us a lot about the situation in Venezuela - 233 00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:44,880 if children are coming here across the border, who have 234 00:13:44,880 --> 00:13:46,520 never been vaccinated, 235 00:13:46,520 --> 00:13:50,400 that most fundamental of things that a state provides for its people... 236 00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:53,720 Yeah, then Brazilian Government and the United Nations are trying 237 00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:55,280 to support in this way. 238 00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:58,080 Oh, look, there's a littler getting a jab right now. 239 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:02,160 Aww! 240 00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:04,800 Awww! THEY LAUGH 241 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:07,400 What happened, guys? 242 00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:12,520 You're smiling - it was a bit more painful for you. 243 00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:19,840 Have you ever had a jab like that before? 244 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:21,000 No. No. 245 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:23,440 I don't think he's going to want to have one again. 246 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:32,480 Is it something you had thought about for a long time? 247 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:34,120 Was it a difficult decision? 248 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:43,200 What have you left behind? 249 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:20,040 Thank you very much for talking with us. 250 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:21,240 We wish you... 251 00:15:21,240 --> 00:15:23,400 We wish you all the luck in the world. 252 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:31,960 Its very emotional to hear that, of course. 253 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:35,120 I mean, who hearing that cannot imagine themselves 254 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:37,600 in those people's shoes? 255 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:39,480 What would we do? What would you do? 256 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:42,120 What would I do? 257 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:43,760 HE SIGHS 258 00:15:43,760 --> 00:15:46,120 You'd do what's best for your kids. 259 00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:49,200 And sometimes that can involve leaving. 260 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:54,480 This was just before the start of the Covid pandemic. 261 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:57,840 Across South America, borders would soon close. 262 00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:01,400 But still, tens of thousands of Venezuelans kept leaving, 263 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:04,440 crossing frontiers in the dead of night and filtering out 264 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:07,640 across the continent in search of safety, a job 265 00:16:07,640 --> 00:16:11,840 and a life for their children - as I discover later in my journey. 266 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:20,360 There's no roads to where we're going next, 267 00:16:20,360 --> 00:16:21,760 so we're going to use wings. 268 00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:31,440 I was heading to a remote area of Guyana, 269 00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:33,880 the next country on this part of my travels. 270 00:16:33,880 --> 00:16:38,160 From up here, I could see just what makes the Guiana Shield 271 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:40,400 ecosystem so special. 272 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:44,040 Its home to what remains the most unspoilt area of tropical 273 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:46,160 rainforest in the world, 274 00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:48,960 and a stunning array of biodiversity. 275 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:53,600 That is the scene for surely the world's biggest shampoo advert. 276 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:56,640 Almost a fifth of the world's tropical rainforest is 277 00:16:56,640 --> 00:16:58,280 in the Guiana Shield, 278 00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:02,160 along with a staggering 20% of the world's fresh water. 279 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:05,800 This is some of the most pristine rainforest left on the planet. 280 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:08,840 And it's completely mesmerising. 281 00:17:08,840 --> 00:17:11,280 Like a tightly-woven green carpet. 282 00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:16,560 I was heading deep into the heart of the Guiana Shield. 283 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:29,920 Ooh...straight out into tropical heat. 284 00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:34,040 Well, look at this. 285 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:37,720 Guyana is the only English-speaking country in South America. 286 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:41,640 It was a British colony until independence in the 1970s. 287 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:43,760 Permission to come aboard, Captain? 288 00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:45,480 Permission granted? Yeah. 289 00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:58,400 Guyana has a population the size of Leeds living in a country 290 00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:00,440 the size of Great Britain, 291 00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:03,080 sharing just 500 miles of proper roads 292 00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:04,880 and almost endless waterways. 293 00:18:07,360 --> 00:18:12,480 So, we are now on the river that separates Venezuela on this side 294 00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:15,520 and Guyana on that side. 295 00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:18,720 We're in such a remote part of South America here - 296 00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:21,560 and in such a remote part of planet Earth. 297 00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:29,680 The border here is contested, 298 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:32,120 but there were no authorities around to enforce 299 00:18:32,120 --> 00:18:33,760 any kind of frontier controls. 300 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:40,280 The locals don't worry quite as much about the border. 301 00:18:40,280 --> 00:18:43,480 And the desperate situation in Venezuela means they are 302 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:49,000 coming to this river in quite large numbers to desperately 303 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,120 pan and mine for gold. 304 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:56,400 The Guiana Shield region holds enormous deposits of gold 305 00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:58,720 in its riverbeds and beneath its forests. 306 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:03,200 THEY CHEER 307 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:12,360 Here we are, this is the settlement that we're aiming for. 308 00:19:12,360 --> 00:19:15,600 Now, we're right out in the Wild West here. 309 00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:18,400 So, hopefully, our welcome will be warm. 310 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:26,960 Ooh... 311 00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:29,400 OK, sir, hurry up. Thank you, Captain. 312 00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:30,960 THEY LAUGH 313 00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:32,240 Oh... 314 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:34,960 So... 315 00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:38,800 Oh, my goodness. 316 00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:43,440 So, this is Eteringbang. 317 00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:52,360 Eteringbang doesn't really show up on maps. 318 00:19:52,360 --> 00:19:55,000 There's no mayor and no real signs of the state. 319 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:57,320 It sprung up to service local gold mining - 320 00:19:57,320 --> 00:19:58,800 some of it illegal - 321 00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:02,320 and trade and smuggling from across the river border with Venezuela - 322 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:03,680 also mostly illegal. 323 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:07,960 Hiya. 324 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:11,480 The local store sells everything from tinned tuna, satellite phones 325 00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:14,720 and welding equipment, through to generators and Marmite - 326 00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:18,320 in my view, perhaps one of the better legacies of colonial rule. 327 00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:20,880 God, you have got a bit of everything! 328 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:22,680 Yes, we also have a pharmacy. 329 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:26,480 This was the first time I'd been to a chemist that was 330 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:27,920 also doubling as a bar. 331 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:29,240 How is your day going? 332 00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:31,320 My day is fine. 333 00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:35,360 You know, I'm a cool dude. I'm always here... Right, OK. 334 00:20:35,360 --> 00:20:38,080 ..at the border, beautiful sunshine, nice weather. 335 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:40,240 Are you living on the edge here? 336 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:42,520 I'm living, I'm just tripping over. 337 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:46,200 Are you, tripping over the edge? Yeah. Will you have one? 338 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:48,640 Er, why not? Thank you very much. 339 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:51,680 Cheers. Cheers to Guyana and Venezuela. 340 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:53,200 The two? Yeah, we are brothers. 341 00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:55,960 All right, well, that's good to hear. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 342 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:01,560 To pay for these beers, I've got to sell a little piece of gold, 343 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:04,240 you know, that's how we buy here in the world. 344 00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:07,960 He's just pulled out a tiny plastic bag. Yeah. No way! 345 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:09,480 Yeah, this is gold, you know? 346 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:13,080 This is what we pay - in metal, man. 347 00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:19,320 There we go. This is 1.1g. 348 00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:22,920 You know when you get a sudden blinding flash of realisation - 349 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:26,000 is that why these are saying 0.3? 350 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:29,240 Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 0.15? 351 00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:32,720 This is half point, this is less than a point. 352 00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:35,560 Can I can I hold it? Sure. 353 00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:38,880 What you're looking at, this is called river gold. 354 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:42,400 Right. This is from the river, it's not from the land. 355 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:45,280 How much is that worth, in US dollars, do you think? 356 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:50,360 $75. $75. 357 00:21:50,360 --> 00:21:53,280 So, that's about £60 worth of gold. 358 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:58,520 What, so you pay in gold and you get it back in paper? Yeah. 359 00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:01,960 So, are you a miner yourself, or are you a trader, or what? 360 00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:05,600 I buy - sometimes I buy diamonds, I buy gold, 361 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:08,680 I go and I work in the mines also. 362 00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:11,440 We sell our gold and buy more food. 363 00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:14,280 We don't even... We're happy here, man. 364 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:16,800 We're in the bush, in the interior. 365 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:19,160 You know? And we love this life, man. 366 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:20,640 I'm pleased to hear it. 367 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:28,160 Clearly, this is what's meant by an informal economy. 368 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:31,600 Gold mining is the biggest game in town, but it's not the only one. 369 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:38,240 What's in the boats down here? Can we just have a look? 370 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:40,160 Fuel. From where? 371 00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:43,160 That's, er, Venezuela. This Venezuelan side. 372 00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:45,840 And are you able still to get fuel here, then? 373 00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:48,040 If people are willing to pay the price for it. 374 00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:50,280 Oh, I see, so... 375 00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:55,320 ..people need fuel here, no doubt, to work their generators, 376 00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:57,400 to use the machinery to hunt for gold? 377 00:22:57,400 --> 00:22:59,200 Yeah. This is what we do to survive. 378 00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:02,280 And they're prepared to pay more for it on this side of the river... 379 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:05,480 Yes. ..than they are over there? Yeah. 380 00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:08,600 Legal gold mining in Guyana has helped to offset the country's 381 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:10,800 declining income from sugar production. 382 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:12,440 But incomes here are still low. 383 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:15,280 Guyana is one of the poorer countries in South America - 384 00:23:15,280 --> 00:23:17,120 but that could be about to change. 385 00:23:17,120 --> 00:23:19,400 That could be about to change spectacularly. 386 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:25,160 Enormous reserves of oil, 5.5 billion barrels, 387 00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:27,560 have recently been discovered off Guyana's coast. 388 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:30,920 It could make Guyana, with a population of less than a million, 389 00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:33,440 one of the richest countries on Earth. 390 00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:36,800 But many think that's hopelessly optimistic. 391 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:38,240 Thank you, I won't have that. 392 00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:40,040 I'll have some mango chutney instead. 393 00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:42,120 Ohh! 394 00:23:42,120 --> 00:23:44,760 I sat down with shopkeeper Shavannah. 395 00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:47,440 Her husband, Garbin, had strong views I'd also heard 396 00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:49,840 from others far from the country's capital. 397 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:52,680 So, I was looking at the fuel down there, 398 00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:58,960 and I was just thinking how much change is coming to Guyana. 399 00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:00,800 Are you all going to get rich? 400 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:02,840 Yes, if we become politicians. 401 00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:05,240 SIMON LAUGHS 402 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:07,120 You're sceptical. 403 00:24:07,120 --> 00:24:09,720 No, I'm sure if I become a politician, I will get rich, 404 00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:10,960 I won't be sceptical there. 405 00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:13,200 That's a fact? That's a fact. 406 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:16,840 But you're sceptical that people in Guyana will benefit? 407 00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:19,560 Absolutely, there's nothing for the man in the street, 408 00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:21,000 absolutely no benefit. 409 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:25,960 So, the... Our politicians are completely corrupt, 410 00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:28,400 from top to bottom. 411 00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:31,360 You're convinced? Totally, completely. 412 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:37,960 The experience of other countries that have newly acquired oil wealth 413 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:40,280 do not entirely bode well. 414 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:43,200 And you only have to look across the bank to Venezuela to see 415 00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:45,480 what can go spectacularly wrong. 416 00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:49,560 They call it the "resource curse", 417 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:55,160 where a country is apparently blessed with an amazing gift, 418 00:24:55,160 --> 00:25:00,280 a treasure - oil wealth, incredible reserves of gold - 419 00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:04,400 but the money from that is just snaffled by a leadership, 420 00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:09,040 by corrupt politicians, kleptomaniac leaders. 421 00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:11,680 And the money doesn't flow down to the people. 422 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:15,520 Let's hope that that doesn't happen here in Guyana. 423 00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:23,880 All right, it's time to leave, time to head on. 424 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:33,880 I travelled on to the next country on my journey through 425 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:36,320 the Guiana Shield, Suriname. 426 00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:56,680 I've arrived into Suriname, which I think is generally seen 427 00:25:56,680 --> 00:25:58,800 as a fairly sleepy corner of South America. 428 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:03,400 This used to be a Dutch colony. 429 00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:06,320 They still speak Dutch here in Suriname. 430 00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:09,760 And they have some impossibly Dutch buildings. 431 00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:12,400 Look at that one over there. 432 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:14,960 Just like the Brits in neighbouring Guyana, 433 00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:18,720 the Dutch came to the Guiana Shield to grow sugar, coffee, and cotton 434 00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:20,960 using African slave labour. 435 00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:24,800 The abuse was industrial in scale and depraved. 436 00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:26,840 Vast numbers of slaves died, 437 00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:30,000 but thousands managed to escape deep into the forests and form 438 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:32,640 their own isolated communities. 439 00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:36,160 The country eventually became independent in 1975. 440 00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:38,360 Like so many ex-colonies, 441 00:26:38,360 --> 00:26:41,040 it was left with a legacy of conflict and civil war. 442 00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:48,800 I met up with Ronnie Brunswijk, 443 00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:52,640 a former leader of a group of rebel fighters who's now a politician, 444 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:55,280 and a huge figure in Suriname. 445 00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:59,120 He'd agreed to take me to his base deep in the jungle. 446 00:26:59,120 --> 00:27:00,760 We're going to Bravo Camp. 447 00:27:12,120 --> 00:27:14,360 Ronnie's been an elite paratrooper, 448 00:27:14,360 --> 00:27:17,040 a president's bodyguard, and a wanted bank robber. 449 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:18,640 He's now a popular politician 450 00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:20,840 and one of the country's wealthiest businessmen. 451 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:22,320 Oh, bloody hell! 452 00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:23,920 Ronnie's flying the plane. 453 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:30,040 He also owns and sometimes plays for the biggest football club. 454 00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:32,760 Playing against him is said to carry risks. 455 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:35,520 During one match, he was accused of threatening opposing players 456 00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:38,240 with a handgun - something he's denied. 457 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:41,280 Ronnie says his money comes from owning Suriname's biggest 458 00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:43,240 gold-mining concession. 459 00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:47,680 My concession starts here, it begins, just begins, and... 460 00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:53,680 ..70,000 hectares, goes like this, round here. 461 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:09,200 Welcome to Bravo Camp. 462 00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:12,160 Thank you, Ronnie. 463 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:16,800 Ronnie has his own approach to political campaigning. 464 00:28:16,800 --> 00:28:20,080 He's once said to have flown a helicopter over a village 465 00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:23,160 and then showered the locals with cash. 466 00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:26,280 I suppose that's one way of getting votes! 467 00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:29,520 He's reputed to have more than 50 children. 468 00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:33,520 It's definitely an unusual way of building an electoral base. 469 00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:35,360 All right. Thank you, Ronnie. Yes. 470 00:28:35,360 --> 00:28:36,640 This is... Bravo Camp. 471 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:38,040 ..Bravo Camp? Yes. 472 00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:40,240 So, this is effectively your base... 473 00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:42,960 Yes. ..in the jungle? Yes. 474 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:45,200 When I come here, I come like this. Yeah. 475 00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:48,200 When I'm here, so I go in my... 476 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:50,880 ..garimpo. 477 00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:53,840 Garimpo? Garimpo. Is it going to change? Yes. 478 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:04,640 So, we're very definitely in Ronnie's hands here, and... 479 00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:06,680 ..very much under his control. 480 00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:09,440 This is his turf and territory. 481 00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:11,960 Since the 1980s, 482 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:14,840 Ronnie's been a leader of the long-suffering Maroon people, 483 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:17,040 the descendants of African slaves. 484 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:19,440 He led a rebel army called the Jungle Commandos 485 00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:21,920 during the civil war that followed independence. 486 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:24,160 You sit there. Can I come on there with you? 487 00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:26,200 Yes, you come with me. 488 00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:28,040 You sit there. OK. 489 00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:32,720 After the civil war ended, 490 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:36,200 Ronnie managed to obtain a huge land concession 491 00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:39,800 and went into gold mining on an industrial scale. 492 00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:49,760 So, where are we going? 493 00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:53,840 We're going in the concession, to the place where the gold is. 494 00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:57,880 Right. So, they mine in one area and then they move on? 495 00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:02,720 No, we have...about ten sets. 496 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:06,240 And so, one here, one there, and one north. Right. 497 00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:09,840 Over an enormous area of what was once untouched rainforest, 498 00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:13,720 more than 900 people now work at Ronnie's gold concession. 499 00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:15,360 So, Ronnie, what is this place? 500 00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:16,960 This is one set. 501 00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:19,960 So, this is one of the forward mining areas? Yes. 502 00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:25,320 This is a, sort of, post-apocalyptic 503 00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:28,120 little hellhole, frankly. 504 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:34,520 But it is also a fully-functioning little community, by the look of it. 505 00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:37,520 You've got places where people are living here. 506 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:40,040 You've got the washing over there. 507 00:30:40,040 --> 00:30:43,400 This is, I guess, a restaurant hut of some type. 508 00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:46,640 There's a big shed over there with chickens in. 509 00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:49,880 Just look around. 510 00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:51,720 A full 360, just to give you 511 00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:55,800 a sense of this gouge and scar 512 00:30:55,800 --> 00:30:58,400 in the jungle, in the Guiana Shield. 513 00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:05,280 The price of gold has increased by more than 500% since the year 2000. 514 00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:09,200 So, the financial incentives for any kind of gold mining are staggering. 515 00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:12,040 Illegal gold mining is now thought to be an even more lucrative 516 00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:15,280 business in South America than the cocaine trade, 517 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:18,720 so scenes like this are now replicated across the Guiana Shield 518 00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:21,200 and into the vast Amazon basin, 519 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:24,600 as men, women, and children tear into the earth in the hunt 520 00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:26,640 for the lustrous yellow metal. 521 00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:27,880 Bloody hell. 522 00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:33,400 It's an astonishing scene. 523 00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:37,800 And gold might be shiny - but here, it ain't bloody pretty. 524 00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:44,440 Do these guys work directly for you, or are they paying you money 525 00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:46,800 for the right to mine here? 526 00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:49,400 They pay me 10%. 527 00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:51,240 10%? A tenth of what they find. 528 00:31:51,240 --> 00:31:53,000 Of the find, right. Yes. 529 00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:56,120 If they find one kilo, I have 100 gram. 530 00:31:56,120 --> 00:31:58,400 You know? But if you find good gold, 531 00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:01,840 say, "Aye, this is good, the high grade is here" - 532 00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:04,040 so then I say, "OK, thank you". 533 00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:05,840 So, then you turn up and take it? 534 00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:09,120 Yes! It's my concession. SIMON GASPS 535 00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:13,920 And this necklace here - is this Suriname gold? 536 00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:15,800 Which one? This. 537 00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:18,360 Yes, that is gold from my new camp. 538 00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:21,480 Can we see? Yes, you can see this. 539 00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:25,840 Oh, that's a heavy necklace. 540 00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:29,400 Ronnie, can you tell us, how have you got rich? 541 00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:32,680 First time I go to do the gold, 542 00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:35,120 I buy one excavator. 543 00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:38,160 One excavator? Yes, one like this. 544 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:40,400 And the first place we go, 545 00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:44,240 we dig, we make 40 kilo. 546 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:45,800 40 kilos of gold? 547 00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:48,720 Like this, that's how we start. 548 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:51,720 After that, we make more kilo, make more kilo... 549 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:53,600 You smile at the memory. 550 00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:57,040 ..and that's it. Yeah. That's the beginning of, er, 551 00:32:57,040 --> 00:32:59,240 the money history of Mr Brunswijk. 552 00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:01,320 SIMON LAUGHS 553 00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:05,040 Now, I have to ask, so the Dutch Government, though, 554 00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:09,240 says you trafficked cocaine to Europe. 555 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:11,640 No, I never do that. 556 00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:15,040 Nobody in my... I have a clean hand. Nobody can tell me that. 557 00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:19,760 Every month, I can find 20 kilos. 558 00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:23,440 And 20 kilos in my forest, $800,000 US. 559 00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:26,920 Why am I going to do, doing drugs? 20 kilos? Yes! 560 00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:29,040 And I don't interest in that. 561 00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:31,800 I can make clean money. 562 00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:34,640 It's said both sides in the civil war financed 563 00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:36,640 the conflict with cocaine. 564 00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:38,720 Ronnie Brunswijk denies it all, 565 00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:42,600 but a Dutch court has convicted him in absentia of running 566 00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:44,360 a cocaine-smuggling ring. 567 00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:51,320 So, just to try and quickly explain what's going on - 568 00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:55,160 it begins with the guy in the excavator down there. 569 00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:58,600 He moves great chunks of the rock over to the guys with 570 00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:00,920 the high-pressure hoses down there, 571 00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:06,360 and they turn that into silty soil that can be sucked up by the guy 572 00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:09,360 here with the water pump. 573 00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:14,440 So, that - he's sucking it up that pipe to the top here, 574 00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:17,920 and then it runs down over this ledge. 575 00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:22,000 The filthy, dirty water runs down over here, 576 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:24,800 and the gold that is hopefully down there, 577 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:27,840 hopefully for them, gets trapped on these beds. 578 00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:41,640 And then, all over this place. 579 00:34:41,640 --> 00:34:45,080 It's so tiny, it's like stardust or something. Fairy dust. 580 00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:47,040 There's another one here, you see here. 581 00:34:47,040 --> 00:34:49,840 There you are, look, there it is. Yes. 582 00:34:49,840 --> 00:34:52,000 Gathered and smelted into a kilo, 583 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:55,560 that fairy dust can be worth £50,000. 584 00:34:55,560 --> 00:34:58,360 But mercury is often used in the process. 585 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:00,840 It can cause huge damage to workers' health, 586 00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:03,360 pollutes the environment and kills wildlife. 587 00:35:03,360 --> 00:35:06,520 From there to here, we make five kilos. 588 00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:09,080 The other one there was two-and-a-half kilo, 589 00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:13,360 another part. And I think this part, we're going to make three. 590 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:16,400 Do you feel that the destruction 591 00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:19,080 of the forest, has it been...? 592 00:35:19,080 --> 00:35:21,880 Can you justify it to yourself? 593 00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:27,120 Every piece of land you destroy is, 594 00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:31,160 you know, it's very painful. Mm. 595 00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:34,000 But you have to have a job. 596 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:37,400 And we know, er, what we do. 597 00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:41,520 Mm. And we have...to survive. 598 00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:52,000 We're leaving an environment here that has been completely devastated. 599 00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:54,440 And yet it's not the case that you can just fill these holes in 600 00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:56,000 and everything will be fine, 601 00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:59,280 because the topsoil often has been ripped and torn away 602 00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:04,320 and then fundamentally polluted with toxic chemicals. 603 00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:07,800 So, it's a total disaster... it's a total disaster zone. 604 00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:12,680 But it's the only work in the area. 605 00:36:12,680 --> 00:36:16,160 So, people do whatever they can, whatever they have to. 606 00:36:20,600 --> 00:36:23,880 The Dutch might have wanted Ronnie Brunswijk in jail, 607 00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:27,120 but to many in Suriname, he's a Robin Hood-type hero. 608 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:30,520 After I left, they elected him Vice President of the Country. 609 00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:36,240 Despite the worst efforts of miners, 610 00:36:36,240 --> 00:36:38,960 loggers, gold-diggers and developers, 611 00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:42,720 Suriname is still more than 90% forested - 612 00:36:42,720 --> 00:36:45,560 that's the highest rate in the world - 613 00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:47,400 a stunning achievement. 614 00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:50,760 But annual deforestation has increased three-fold this century. 615 00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:54,920 Excellent, here we are. 616 00:36:54,920 --> 00:36:56,480 I think that might be Monique. 617 00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:03,920 Monique? 618 00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:07,120 I'd come to meet Monique Pool, who runs a sanctuary for animals 619 00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:10,080 that have lost their forest to chainsaws and excavators. 620 00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:11,960 Monique. Simon Reeve, nice to see you. 621 00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:14,200 Hi, nice to meet you, Simon. 622 00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:16,840 Look at the scale of what you've got here. 623 00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:19,680 This whole centre is something you've had to fund 624 00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:21,920 and build in recent years. 625 00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:25,560 Yes, but I had a lot of help. 626 00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:28,840 This is the animal kitchen, Monique is pointing out, 627 00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:31,240 in this converted shipping container. 628 00:37:31,240 --> 00:37:34,280 Shall I take one or leave it? Yeah, you can take one. 629 00:37:34,280 --> 00:37:37,160 From small, almost accidental beginnings, 630 00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:40,920 Monique has become of the leading conservationists in the country, 631 00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:44,480 raising thousands of pounds in donations to protect wildlife, 632 00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:48,160 particularly for one iconic animal - the sloth. 633 00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:49,960 Who's in here? 634 00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:52,600 This is Renatus. It's an orphan. 635 00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:55,040 Renatus, look at you there. 636 00:37:55,040 --> 00:37:57,280 And this is Stevie. Stevie? 637 00:37:57,280 --> 00:38:00,120 Stevie's a bit bigger, but also an orphan. 638 00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:03,480 Over the last decade, Monique has rescued, rehabilitated 639 00:38:03,480 --> 00:38:06,200 and released more than 1,000 sloths. 640 00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:08,840 And this is little Ball. 641 00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:11,480 Is it safe to look up, or am I going to get wee'd on? 642 00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:13,320 No. SHE CHUCKLES 643 00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:17,160 They don't like to sit in the tree from above, when they poop. 644 00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:20,960 They don't poop from on high? That, I've never seen it. 645 00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:25,920 They come down once every week to poop and pee. 646 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:27,760 And they lose, like, a third 647 00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:29,560 of their weight when they do that. 648 00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:32,280 That's a massive poop! Yes. 649 00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:35,280 That'd be like me doing 30kg. 650 00:38:35,280 --> 00:38:37,080 Yes. What a horrific thought! 651 00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:38,400 SHE LAUGHS 652 00:38:39,880 --> 00:38:43,000 It seems to have tickled Monique. LAUGHTER CONTINUES 653 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:45,600 The reputation is they're a bit dim. 654 00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:47,080 They're not dim. 655 00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:49,080 They're not dim, but they're just slow. 656 00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:53,760 And that's because they're so smart that they conserve their energy, 657 00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:57,720 because the food they eat is low in nutrition. 658 00:38:57,720 --> 00:39:03,360 And they are, you know, like, one of the oldest mammals on Earth. 659 00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:06,360 And they're very South American, I'm very proud of them. 660 00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:11,920 So, what is your plan for Stevie and the other orphan? 661 00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:17,040 Yeah, the plan for these animals are they're going to be released, 662 00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:20,480 because they don't belong in these enclosures. 663 00:39:20,480 --> 00:39:23,000 Our goal is really to let them go. 664 00:39:26,080 --> 00:39:29,120 Living in a country with the world's highest forest cover 665 00:39:29,120 --> 00:39:32,000 doesn't mean that sloths are safe here. 666 00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:34,760 So, Monique's had a phone call - a sloth has been rescued, 667 00:39:34,760 --> 00:39:38,200 it's in bad shape, and she's heading back into town to have a look at it. 668 00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:45,320 Sloths live in the coastal part of the Guiana Shield. 669 00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:51,040 Perhaps inevitably, that's also where the vast majority 670 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:54,120 of the human population live. 671 00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:55,960 You see that forest fragment there? 672 00:39:55,960 --> 00:39:59,400 Yeah. That would be the perfect sloth habitat. 673 00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:01,160 If you look at the vines and everything, 674 00:40:01,160 --> 00:40:03,800 they love to hide under it. 675 00:40:03,800 --> 00:40:05,480 This is good for them. 676 00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:09,120 But now we're out into shrubby farmland. 677 00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:13,360 Yeah, there will be maybe small pockets where they can survive 678 00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:15,600 until that last tree gets cut, 679 00:40:15,600 --> 00:40:19,040 and then they don't have anything left. Right. 680 00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:24,160 Suriname's economy relies heavily on mining and logging. 681 00:40:24,160 --> 00:40:28,400 Most of its exported timber ends up in India and China. 682 00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:32,320 So, these are exactly the machines that do this type of deforestation. 683 00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:33,880 They push the trees. 684 00:40:33,880 --> 00:40:36,800 Oh, I see, so they use the bucket on the front, 685 00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:38,560 just to knock the trees down? 686 00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:41,000 Yes. This machine is so powerful. 687 00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:45,240 It will clear six-seven hectares of forest in one day. 688 00:40:45,240 --> 00:40:47,120 In one day?! Yeah. 689 00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:51,040 And with all the animals that are in it, and the sloths are slowest, 690 00:40:51,040 --> 00:40:53,200 so they're staying behind. 691 00:40:54,880 --> 00:40:57,880 Sloths are also endangered for another reason - 692 00:40:57,880 --> 00:41:01,880 they're worth a fortune when sold as exotic pets. 693 00:41:01,880 --> 00:41:05,720 Monique called in local vet Audrey to look at the injured sloth. 694 00:41:07,320 --> 00:41:11,360 It's a male and he is... He was very weak then. 695 00:41:11,360 --> 00:41:13,920 So, he was hydrated. 696 00:41:15,400 --> 00:41:20,520 Oh, my goodness. Er, but it was clear that his eyes are... 697 00:41:21,840 --> 00:41:23,240 ..that he may be blind. 698 00:41:23,240 --> 00:41:25,560 So, I'm just going to take him out here. 699 00:41:27,320 --> 00:41:31,160 Simon, could you hold the pole for me here? Of course. 700 00:41:31,160 --> 00:41:34,560 I don't think that he's seeing a whole lot. No. 701 00:41:34,560 --> 00:41:37,720 It looks like he's at least got an infection. 702 00:41:37,720 --> 00:41:42,240 And his eyes are going suddenly like that. 703 00:41:42,240 --> 00:41:45,760 Yeah. He sees everything spinning around. Ah. 704 00:41:45,760 --> 00:41:48,880 It's sort of a fundamental disorientation? 705 00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:52,200 Yes. Yeah. Shall we check his nails? 706 00:41:52,200 --> 00:41:54,760 Somebody tried to cut it. 707 00:41:54,760 --> 00:41:57,640 So, he may have been, for a long time, with people. 708 00:41:57,640 --> 00:42:01,440 So, somebody was keeping him as a pet? Yeah. 709 00:42:01,440 --> 00:42:06,120 Oh, poor thing, he's just... Head right ducked down. Yeah. 710 00:42:06,120 --> 00:42:09,200 He looks desperate. Yeah. 711 00:42:09,200 --> 00:42:13,280 This is horrible. I mean, humans did it. 712 00:42:13,280 --> 00:42:16,040 Humans caused him to be in this state. Mm. 713 00:42:17,480 --> 00:42:19,880 OK. Audrey, do you think he has a chance? 714 00:42:19,880 --> 00:42:25,160 If we don't get his eyes to heal, erm... 715 00:42:25,160 --> 00:42:29,480 ..no, to return to the wild is not a good decision for us to take. 716 00:42:31,320 --> 00:42:34,960 So, we have to decide whether we're going to 717 00:42:34,960 --> 00:42:37,880 keep on treating him for a while, 718 00:42:37,880 --> 00:42:40,360 to see whether there is an improvement. 719 00:42:40,360 --> 00:42:42,040 So, what are you putting into him? 720 00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:45,240 Antibiotics. Right, Monique? Yeah. 721 00:42:45,240 --> 00:42:46,720 Yeah. 722 00:42:46,720 --> 00:42:49,840 Oh, he is, he's off the ground. 723 00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:52,960 Sloth internet videos drive demand for them as pets... 724 00:42:52,960 --> 00:42:54,120 Come on, then. 725 00:42:54,120 --> 00:42:56,280 ..but they have an appalling survival rate. 726 00:42:56,280 --> 00:43:00,240 It's thought 80-90% of trafficked sloths die in captivity. 727 00:43:00,240 --> 00:43:03,400 Still trappers hunt them, because the international exotic 728 00:43:03,400 --> 00:43:05,600 animal trade is obscenely lucrative. 729 00:43:05,600 --> 00:43:08,080 Worth around £15 billion a year, 730 00:43:08,080 --> 00:43:10,480 it's contributing to mass extinction. 731 00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:14,360 Well, we wish Sergio all the very best. 732 00:43:17,880 --> 00:43:20,440 Sergio's injuries were overwhelming. 733 00:43:20,440 --> 00:43:23,640 Sadly, despite the best efforts of Monique and her vet, 734 00:43:23,640 --> 00:43:26,480 a few days later, Sergio had to be put to sleep. 735 00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:31,520 I headed on towards what I think is 736 00:43:31,520 --> 00:43:34,280 the weirdest country in South America. 737 00:43:34,280 --> 00:43:37,720 It's got nuclear weapons, a rather good line in fine wines, 738 00:43:37,720 --> 00:43:40,520 and the world's sixth-largest economy. 739 00:43:40,520 --> 00:43:41,960 So, here we are. 740 00:43:41,960 --> 00:43:44,560 We've arrived at the border with French Guiana. 741 00:43:48,080 --> 00:43:50,320 I was heading to France. 742 00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:53,680 22 Euros? 743 00:43:53,680 --> 00:43:56,800 Euros. Bit weird, we're paying in euros here. 744 00:43:56,800 --> 00:44:00,760 French Guiana is on the euro. 745 00:44:00,760 --> 00:44:02,880 Look, bottom-left there. 746 00:44:02,880 --> 00:44:07,360 In fact, I'll tell you what - it's more part of the European Union now 747 00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:09,080 than this island here. 748 00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:12,320 Merci, merci, monsieur! 749 00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:16,120 I crossed the Maroni River that forms the border between Suriname 750 00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:17,520 and French Guiana. 751 00:44:20,360 --> 00:44:22,200 I've arrived in France. 752 00:44:25,440 --> 00:44:27,600 Unlike the British and the Dutch, 753 00:44:27,600 --> 00:44:30,920 the French never gave up their South American colony. 754 00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:32,960 This is not an independent nation. 755 00:44:32,960 --> 00:44:35,680 It's literally part of France. 756 00:44:35,680 --> 00:44:37,640 It IS France. 757 00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:40,240 Kourou is its second-biggest town. 758 00:44:40,240 --> 00:44:43,520 Don't judge me, OK? I was really terrible at school. 759 00:44:43,520 --> 00:44:45,480 Bonjour. Er... 760 00:44:45,480 --> 00:44:49,200 ..un croissant et un pain au chocolat, s'il vous plait. 761 00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:51,240 Ensemble? Ensemble. Voila, voila. 762 00:44:51,240 --> 00:44:53,920 Apart from a rather wonderful boulangerie, 763 00:44:53,920 --> 00:44:56,960 this town hasn't got a whole lot going for it. 764 00:44:56,960 --> 00:44:59,360 It's not the most attractive place, in truth, 765 00:44:59,360 --> 00:45:02,040 it's not the most beautiful French town. 766 00:45:02,040 --> 00:45:06,280 But the town has grown and blossomed for one main reason. 767 00:45:08,920 --> 00:45:12,160 This is Europe's spaceport. 768 00:45:13,840 --> 00:45:17,840 Out here in the middle of one of the world's greatest rainforests 769 00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:20,720 is the launch platform for rockets sent into space 770 00:45:20,720 --> 00:45:22,720 by the European Space Agency. 771 00:45:24,560 --> 00:45:26,400 Where are we going? 772 00:45:26,400 --> 00:45:29,640 We're going to the Jupiter Control Room. 773 00:45:29,640 --> 00:45:31,120 Here we go. 774 00:45:31,120 --> 00:45:33,000 So, I'm just going to phone the... 775 00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:35,320 This might be the passenger we're waiting for. 776 00:45:35,320 --> 00:45:36,720 Yeah, he's getting a call. 777 00:45:36,720 --> 00:45:38,840 PHONE RINGS Is that Hugh? This is Hugh. 778 00:45:38,840 --> 00:45:40,600 The Director of Operations. Oui, bonjour. 779 00:45:40,600 --> 00:45:43,360 From here, they launch rockets and satellites for Europe 780 00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:44,880 and a host of other countries. 781 00:45:44,880 --> 00:45:46,720 Is that Hugh over there? Was he on the phone? 782 00:45:46,720 --> 00:45:48,720 Yeah, he was on the phone. That's him, yeah. 783 00:45:48,720 --> 00:45:50,840 He is the Mission Controller? 784 00:45:50,840 --> 00:45:52,800 Is that what you said, Mission Controller? 785 00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:56,360 Erm, I think his official title is Launch Range Manager. 786 00:45:56,360 --> 00:46:00,120 J'sais que tu dois partir un bientot. Salut. Salut. 787 00:46:00,120 --> 00:46:03,440 Hugh, do you speak better English than I do? Almost certainly. 788 00:46:03,440 --> 00:46:05,760 Good morning. Good morning, sir, enchante. 789 00:46:05,760 --> 00:46:08,440 You've got the mock-ups of the rockets here. 790 00:46:08,440 --> 00:46:10,000 Ariane 6 is going to be good, 791 00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:14,880 because we can initiate the last stage many times. 792 00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:19,000 That means that we can put two or three satellites at different 793 00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:22,720 positions, so this one is going to be the best one to do that. 794 00:46:22,720 --> 00:46:25,040 Ariane 6 is the future? 795 00:46:25,040 --> 00:46:28,560 It is our future. Your future, OK. Our future. 796 00:46:28,560 --> 00:46:34,560 Your ambition, then, is to be the best launchpad 797 00:46:34,560 --> 00:46:37,400 for sending satellites into space, presumably? 798 00:46:37,400 --> 00:46:40,520 We are, er, we are always the best. 799 00:46:40,520 --> 00:46:41,760 THEY CHUCKLE 800 00:46:45,040 --> 00:46:47,040 Where are we going? 801 00:46:47,040 --> 00:46:49,240 They're letting us into the control centre. 802 00:46:51,720 --> 00:46:57,200 In this hall, our mission is to put satellite into orbit 803 00:46:57,200 --> 00:47:00,720 while answering our sovereign mission. 804 00:47:00,720 --> 00:47:06,640 Right. That means that we will never take off if there is any risk. 805 00:47:06,640 --> 00:47:10,200 You're the guy who does the countdown? Exactly. 806 00:47:10,200 --> 00:47:13,120 As Launch Range Operations Manager, 807 00:47:13,120 --> 00:47:17,400 Hugh oversees an average of one rocket launch every month. 808 00:47:17,400 --> 00:47:20,120 It's a personal question, but where are you from? 809 00:47:20,120 --> 00:47:24,200 Are you from here, or are you from France-France, 810 00:47:24,200 --> 00:47:25,680 or somewhere else? 811 00:47:25,680 --> 00:47:28,720 I would say that I am French. HE LAUGHS 812 00:47:28,720 --> 00:47:35,160 I am French, but I came here to do an internship for my school. 813 00:47:35,160 --> 00:47:38,200 You came here? Yeah, to do my internship. 814 00:47:38,200 --> 00:47:40,360 To be - you were an intern? Yeah, exactly. 815 00:47:40,360 --> 00:47:45,600 in charge of air-conditioning system for here. 816 00:47:45,600 --> 00:47:47,560 So... No, come on. 817 00:47:47,560 --> 00:47:50,800 You were an intern in charge of air conditioning, 818 00:47:50,800 --> 00:47:54,080 and now, you sit in the big seat? 819 00:47:54,080 --> 00:47:56,720 What is the problem? It is feasible. 820 00:47:56,720 --> 00:47:58,320 It's brilliant! 821 00:47:58,320 --> 00:48:00,360 That's wonderful! Yes, it is. 822 00:48:00,360 --> 00:48:02,160 That gives us all... 823 00:48:02,160 --> 00:48:04,640 A lot of young people out there hope for the future. 824 00:48:07,480 --> 00:48:11,120 Having a piece of the European Union sitting so near to the Equator 825 00:48:11,120 --> 00:48:14,440 helps make this the world's premier launch site for satellites. 826 00:48:17,160 --> 00:48:21,760 My favourite factoid about this whole base is the fact that, 827 00:48:21,760 --> 00:48:25,840 at launch time, they have to clear a safety corridor at sea 828 00:48:25,840 --> 00:48:29,400 and in the air, extending out in an arc almost to the coast 829 00:48:29,400 --> 00:48:34,480 of West Africa, just in case something goes spectacularly wrong, 830 00:48:34,480 --> 00:48:37,960 and no plane or ship should be underneath. 831 00:48:40,040 --> 00:48:41,800 Like those of its neighbours, 832 00:48:41,800 --> 00:48:44,960 the jungle in French Guiana is targeted by drug smugglers, 833 00:48:44,960 --> 00:48:47,000 miners, and poachers. 834 00:48:47,000 --> 00:48:48,400 But here, it's defended by 835 00:48:48,400 --> 00:48:51,120 one of the world's most famous armed units. 836 00:48:51,120 --> 00:48:55,800 French Guiana is a base for the French Foreign Legion, 837 00:48:55,800 --> 00:48:57,440 and we're heading out with them. 838 00:49:01,520 --> 00:49:04,960 The Legion was allowing us along on a heavily-armed operation. 839 00:49:08,000 --> 00:49:10,400 The French Foreign Legion has an enormous amount 840 00:49:10,400 --> 00:49:12,600 of mystique about it. 841 00:49:12,600 --> 00:49:15,680 The image, I suppose, is of troubled, 842 00:49:15,680 --> 00:49:20,000 and often haunted men from everywhere fighting on behalf 843 00:49:20,000 --> 00:49:21,760 of France anywhere. 844 00:49:26,160 --> 00:49:28,800 Well, its 6.30 on a Friday evening, 845 00:49:28,800 --> 00:49:30,880 and we're arriving at their forward base. 846 00:49:33,400 --> 00:49:35,520 Bonsoir. Bonsoir. 847 00:49:35,520 --> 00:49:39,520 Soldiers from 138 countries serve in the Legion. 848 00:49:39,520 --> 00:49:41,720 They can apply for French citizenship after 849 00:49:41,720 --> 00:49:44,880 serving for three years. 850 00:49:44,880 --> 00:49:49,640 Corporal, sir, I was going to ask, where is everybody from? 851 00:49:49,640 --> 00:49:51,480 He's from Belarus. 852 00:49:51,480 --> 00:49:55,320 Belarus, OK. He's from Nepal, I'm from Nepal, 853 00:49:55,320 --> 00:49:57,160 and he's from France. 854 00:49:58,480 --> 00:50:01,760 La Reunion. Reunion? Yes. 855 00:50:05,280 --> 00:50:10,200 The jungles of the Guiana Shield region have been known in the past 856 00:50:10,200 --> 00:50:13,600 by soldiers and prisoners here as the Green Hell. 857 00:50:15,320 --> 00:50:18,280 Because you've got all this kit and equipment, an old attachment 858 00:50:18,280 --> 00:50:21,280 of the French Foreign Legion to look after you, it can be. 859 00:50:23,760 --> 00:50:26,720 Sleeping bag, sleeping bag liner, 860 00:50:26,720 --> 00:50:28,200 inflatable pillow. 861 00:50:29,840 --> 00:50:31,280 Total luxury. 862 00:50:37,800 --> 00:50:41,040 The Legion has been tasked with tackling an increasing threat 863 00:50:41,040 --> 00:50:43,480 to the whole Guiana Shield. 864 00:50:43,480 --> 00:50:45,520 The scourge of illegal gold mining. 865 00:50:48,760 --> 00:50:50,160 We're up at dawn, 866 00:50:50,160 --> 00:50:53,120 and our journey took us through an extraordinary landscape. 867 00:50:55,240 --> 00:51:00,120 We're on a lake that was created by a hydroelectric dam. 868 00:51:00,120 --> 00:51:02,200 So, the dam was built, 869 00:51:02,200 --> 00:51:06,920 and the water levels started to rise and submerge the trees that... 870 00:51:06,920 --> 00:51:09,000 The dead trees you can see around us. 871 00:51:12,520 --> 00:51:14,760 It's quite eerily, spookily beautiful. 872 00:51:17,200 --> 00:51:18,560 Here in French Guiana, 873 00:51:18,560 --> 00:51:22,360 there are thought to be up to 10,000 illegal goldminers. 874 00:51:22,360 --> 00:51:26,120 Mining gold has become a vast industry across South America, 875 00:51:26,120 --> 00:51:29,160 from the forest of the Guiana Shield, in the Amazon, 876 00:51:29,160 --> 00:51:32,360 to the Andes Mountains of Peru and Bolivia. 877 00:51:32,360 --> 00:51:34,440 It can provide jobs and income, 878 00:51:34,440 --> 00:51:37,120 but often at a terrible price for the environment - 879 00:51:37,120 --> 00:51:39,520 as I've already seen on my journey. 880 00:51:39,520 --> 00:51:42,360 There's also a huge illegal trade thought to be worth 881 00:51:42,360 --> 00:51:44,720 £7 billion a year globally, 882 00:51:44,720 --> 00:51:47,880 which can involve organised crime, and even forced labour. 883 00:51:47,880 --> 00:51:51,360 Yet it can still be hard to confirm where our gold jewellery comes from. 884 00:51:55,240 --> 00:51:58,440 We're trying to find, you know, a good... 885 00:51:58,440 --> 00:52:01,680 A way through? Yeah, a way through, yeah. 886 00:52:01,680 --> 00:52:05,320 The areas here are just slightly ridiculous, in truth, 887 00:52:05,320 --> 00:52:07,440 because the Legion and the Gendarmes, 888 00:52:07,440 --> 00:52:12,640 they're operating in a region the size of Ireland 889 00:52:12,640 --> 00:52:14,440 with very few roads. 890 00:52:14,440 --> 00:52:19,440 Very difficult to get into these heavily-forested areas. 891 00:52:19,440 --> 00:52:23,000 It's really hard, you know, the water has really gone down, so. 892 00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:28,840 And the goldminers, they have people, guards, watching. 893 00:52:28,840 --> 00:52:31,360 There are a lot of people watching, you know, 894 00:52:31,360 --> 00:52:34,000 right through here, and they can hear the sound, you know? 895 00:52:34,000 --> 00:52:36,320 Yeah. The motor, yeah. So, it's quite obvious. 896 00:52:36,320 --> 00:52:38,440 So, it's possible they are watching us now? 897 00:52:38,440 --> 00:52:41,560 Er, if they are, you know, working, then yes. 898 00:52:41,560 --> 00:52:43,680 So, if there's mining going on... Yeah, going on. 899 00:52:43,680 --> 00:52:45,800 ..they'll be looking out? Definitely, yes. 900 00:52:55,040 --> 00:52:57,720 You can see there's something now. OK. 901 00:53:01,200 --> 00:53:03,880 There could be some activity ahead, but the miners are very careful 902 00:53:03,880 --> 00:53:06,960 to hide any trace of their presence. 903 00:53:11,920 --> 00:53:14,080 I mean, you could hide an army in the forest here, 904 00:53:14,080 --> 00:53:15,800 and you'd never know. Yeah. 905 00:53:26,800 --> 00:53:30,440 Did you see that there is a...? Yeah, yeah, yeah, look. 906 00:53:30,440 --> 00:53:32,480 Where canoes have come in. 907 00:53:32,480 --> 00:53:34,720 Do you see that? That's a trace. 908 00:53:34,720 --> 00:53:36,720 That's a trace, that's not ours. 909 00:53:36,720 --> 00:53:38,960 That's a trace there - that means something is there, 910 00:53:38,960 --> 00:53:41,640 you know, maybe the boat, they landed here maybe, you know? 911 00:53:41,640 --> 00:53:45,080 And that looks quite fresh, doesn't it? Yes. That's not ours. 912 00:53:45,080 --> 00:53:46,960 Footsteps over here. Yeah, that's not ours. 913 00:53:46,960 --> 00:53:49,320 We're going to check out a little bit further. We're going to go 914 00:53:49,320 --> 00:53:50,960 inside a bit further, you know? All right. 915 00:53:50,960 --> 00:53:53,400 If there's something going on. So, what's quite possible is that 916 00:53:53,400 --> 00:53:56,360 the miners have come in on boats, 917 00:53:56,360 --> 00:53:58,120 and been dropped off, 918 00:53:58,120 --> 00:54:00,080 and moved inside the forest here, 919 00:54:00,080 --> 00:54:01,800 and then, the boats have left. 920 00:54:05,160 --> 00:54:08,440 Look at the footsteps - that's fresh, you know? 921 00:54:08,440 --> 00:54:10,040 That's a fresh footstep. 922 00:54:17,600 --> 00:54:19,480 There's a bag of rubble with stones on, 923 00:54:19,480 --> 00:54:21,000 potentially gold-bearing. 924 00:54:23,520 --> 00:54:27,040 Hidden here in the hope they can then come and pick it up. 925 00:54:30,960 --> 00:54:34,920 So, this is a very fresh dig here. 926 00:54:34,920 --> 00:54:37,880 And look, they've built their own little railway here, 927 00:54:37,880 --> 00:54:39,120 Look! 928 00:54:40,120 --> 00:54:42,560 Look at this one. 929 00:54:42,560 --> 00:54:44,640 Its all from the basic tools. 930 00:54:44,640 --> 00:54:46,520 It's not like they are professional. 931 00:54:47,560 --> 00:54:53,120 It's a mineshaft that goes down, I would guess, 20-25 metres, 932 00:54:53,120 --> 00:54:55,400 20 metres maybe? 933 00:54:55,400 --> 00:54:59,400 I mean, it's astonishing they've managed to do this. 934 00:55:01,640 --> 00:55:03,960 The miners had disappeared. 935 00:55:03,960 --> 00:55:06,120 They often work under the cover of darkness. 936 00:55:08,240 --> 00:55:12,400 So, some precise GPS coordinates are taken. 937 00:55:17,080 --> 00:55:20,640 We can't go in, because that's against our law, you know? 938 00:55:20,640 --> 00:55:23,400 We can't go in. We do not have the rights to go in, the military. 939 00:55:23,400 --> 00:55:25,560 Because mines collapse. 940 00:55:25,560 --> 00:55:27,920 Last year, there had been an exchange in order, 941 00:55:27,920 --> 00:55:29,760 I don't know if three people died, you know? 942 00:55:29,760 --> 00:55:31,520 Three military died, you know? 943 00:55:31,520 --> 00:55:35,600 So, that's the simple reason that we don't go inside, you know? 944 00:55:35,600 --> 00:55:38,600 The Legionnaires are accompanying Gendarmes who are authorised 945 00:55:38,600 --> 00:55:41,280 to break-up some of the props above ground. 946 00:55:41,280 --> 00:55:43,800 But they aren't allowed to simply lob a grenade down 947 00:55:43,800 --> 00:55:45,320 the shaft to destroy the mine. 948 00:55:46,880 --> 00:55:49,800 This is...this is France, there are rules, 949 00:55:49,800 --> 00:55:54,040 there are regulations, there's human rights laws. 950 00:55:54,040 --> 00:55:57,520 We've been told that the miners take their nuggets, 951 00:55:57,520 --> 00:56:00,360 and its very quickly turned into jewellery. 952 00:56:00,360 --> 00:56:02,640 Not just because that's easy to transport, 953 00:56:02,640 --> 00:56:04,600 but because, under French law, 954 00:56:04,600 --> 00:56:08,440 if the Gendarmes find somebody with raw gold, 955 00:56:08,440 --> 00:56:10,080 an illegal miner with raw gold, 956 00:56:10,080 --> 00:56:11,720 they can confiscate that gold. 957 00:56:11,720 --> 00:56:14,000 But if the miner, even if it's an illegal miner, 958 00:56:14,000 --> 00:56:16,040 has jewellery with them, 959 00:56:16,040 --> 00:56:19,440 that's counted as personal items, and that can't be confiscated. 960 00:56:19,440 --> 00:56:24,000 So, the miners are able to take their gold and leave French Guiana. 961 00:56:26,440 --> 00:56:30,800 It's thought more than £400 million worth of illegally-mined gold 962 00:56:30,800 --> 00:56:33,680 is extracted from French Guiana each year. 963 00:56:35,400 --> 00:56:38,160 It seems France, with all its vast resources 964 00:56:38,160 --> 00:56:40,760 and the presence of the Legion, is doing little better than 965 00:56:40,760 --> 00:56:42,800 its neighbours in countering the trade. 966 00:56:44,240 --> 00:56:47,480 There are now so many illegal gold-mining operations across 967 00:56:47,480 --> 00:56:51,760 South America that in some areas of the highest biodiversity, 968 00:56:51,760 --> 00:56:54,000 they've been a greater cause of deforestation 969 00:56:54,000 --> 00:56:55,400 than logging and farming. 970 00:56:59,240 --> 00:57:01,480 I do think, when you're up here, 971 00:57:01,480 --> 00:57:04,400 you start to realise the scale 972 00:57:04,400 --> 00:57:09,240 of these supposedly little mines. 973 00:57:09,240 --> 00:57:11,680 Even though this is just one small operation, 974 00:57:11,680 --> 00:57:17,240 they have ultimately carved and gouged out a huge area 975 00:57:17,240 --> 00:57:18,560 of the forest here. 976 00:57:20,360 --> 00:57:22,920 And this is replicated hundreds, 977 00:57:22,920 --> 00:57:27,400 perhaps thousands of times across the south of French Guiana, 978 00:57:27,400 --> 00:57:30,320 and throughout the Guiana Shield. 979 00:57:30,320 --> 00:57:34,080 And the cumulative damage is astonishing. 980 00:57:36,840 --> 00:57:39,880 All in the hunt for gold. 981 00:57:46,320 --> 00:57:49,040 I'd come to the end of this first leg of my journey 982 00:57:49,040 --> 00:57:53,280 through South America, through the Guiana Shield. 983 00:57:53,280 --> 00:57:56,160 This little-known still relatively unspoilt 984 00:57:56,160 --> 00:57:57,560 part of our planet. 985 00:57:59,800 --> 00:58:02,800 It certainly faces many threats, 986 00:58:02,800 --> 00:58:04,880 but there is still time to protect it from 987 00:58:04,880 --> 00:58:07,200 the ravages of deforestation. 988 00:58:08,320 --> 00:58:12,080 It is still a vast, glorious, green wilderness. 989 00:58:15,920 --> 00:58:17,480 Next time... 990 00:58:19,880 --> 00:58:23,160 ..in Brazil, I meet the guardians of the forest... 991 00:58:27,640 --> 00:58:31,400 ..and travel on to one of the greatest cities on Earth. 992 00:58:31,400 --> 00:58:32,680 Welcome to Rio!