Flying to the Ends of the Earth (2005) s01e01 Episode Script
The Himalayas
- See the cattle at the end of the runway, are they going to be a problem for us? - No.
On our crowded planet, there are still beautiful and little-known wildernesses.
But for the determined adventurer, there is a way to reach them.
Oh, my God, I've just seen the airstrip! Ooh! 'I'm Arthur Williams.
'I used to be a Royal Marine, 'but seven years ago I was paralysed in an accident.
'Then I learnt to fly, and regained my spirit of adventure.
' Yee-hoo! 'Now I want to see how far the plane can take me' Not enough oxygen for me! - BEEP - Stall warner.
'.
.
tackling some of the globe's tiniest and most dangerous airstrips' Whoa -- whoa -- whoa! '.
.
meeting the people who've made their home at the ends of the earth' Good job! '.
.
and exploring the world that only flying can reach.
' I've walked on ground that nobody has ever walked before! 'This time, I'm in Nepal -- 'the spectacular Himalayan nation between India and China.
'I'm going to tackle some of the world's most dangerous flying conditions, 'as I travel further and further into Nepal's untamed interior.
'My journey begins in one of the country's remotest valleys, 'then moves on to a boom town in the shadow of Everest' This is absolutely stunning! '.
.
before I try landing in the country's Wild West, where 'one of nature's rarest treasures has sparked a deadly gold rush.
' Wow, wow.
This is Pokhara, a city in the west of Nepal.
Once a stop on the trade route between China and India, it's now the base for tourists on the Annapurna mountain trail.
But most tourists will never see the place I'm trying to get to.
The valleys near here are dotted with tiny villages, only just emerging into the modern world.
And I'm heading to one of them.
We've just arrived at the airport for my first flight over the Himalayas in a tiny little microlight.
I cannot wait.
You can see, down here, just all the little ultralight microlights lined up.
'I'm flying today with Alexander Maximov, 'a former engineer with the Russian airline Aeroflot.
'He now helps run a flying school here.
'He's agreed to take me 'to a remote valley that's on the brink of a huge change.
' - Everything OK? - Yeah.
We can go.
'Our ride may look like a lawnmower with wings 'but it does contain one very handy safety feature.
' There's a rescue system that if we were to get into trouble, there's a parachute that just gets fired out of the top of the aircraft and we float down, as a whole.
At 8,000 metres, the mountains are very big, and the plane is very small -- but at least it has a lot of instruments.
You can see outside temperature is 30 degree already.
But I am not I don't know.
It's maybe not correct because made in China.
THEY LAUGH This'll be good.
ENGINE STARTS WOMAN GIVES ORDERS ON RADIO SHE CONTINUES TO SPEAK - She is very funny.
- Yeah, why, why? Who calling? OK, stand by.
That's not reassuring, Max.
SHE CONTINUES TO SPEAK OK.
Let's go.
'As we took off, I couldn't wait to take the reins.
' OK, you can take control.
Yee-hoo! 'To get to the valley, 'we first had to fly over some of the world's tallest mountains.
' 'As we climbed higher and higher, the temperature plummeted 'and the conditions became more unpredictable.
' Your control.
You have control, Max.
Yeah, yeah, very dangerous.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's amazing.
Max, it's breathtaking.
Ah, yes.
'I was blown away by the beauty and the scale of the mountains 'and for once I wasn't thinking about the plane's controls, 'until Max grabbed my attention.
' Are you OK, Max? OK.
I have control.
'With Max in trouble and my adrenaline now pumping, 'I guided us down to the valley as quickly as possible.
' Are you OK? Do you have a headache? 10,000 -- we'll be OK soon.
Are we OK on this course? Or stay with the river? OK.
Max, aren't we getting a little low? Aren't we getting a little low? That's the strip there! 'What Max called a strip looked more like a field of cows to me.
' Are you going to land there? - Maybe.
- You sod.
Max, you're a swine.
Oh, whoa, my life -- that is awesome, absolutely amazing, some of the best flying I've ever done in my lifetime.
You go through the clouds, still in sight of the surface, but out on the other side emerges these beautifully white peaks.
You don't fly over them, we're flying in and around them and we're avoiding them and there are peaks below us and there are peaks above and it's just mountain flying at its absolute best.
But the landings here Hello.
- Hello.
- Hello.
Namaste.
Namaste.
'Time has stood still in this place.
Until now.
'There are plans to build a proper airfield here, 'bringing big numbers of tourists.
'At the end of the dirt strip lives the Parajuli family, 'who farm the land.
' - Namaste.
- Namaste.
Is this your house? My house, yes.
This is beautiful.
How did everybody react when an aeroplane landed for the first time? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The airfield at the moment is very small.
Do you want to build it and make it larger and buildings and big and big? And do you like aeroplanes? Yeah, sure, we like them.
You like the flying? You need to go you need to speak to Avia Club and they'll take you flying.
Yeah.
'I thought that people living somewhere as peaceful as this 'might resent the intrusion of an airfield.
'But here, planes mean money.
' I was just bowled over by the little guy that we spoke to.
How keen he was for a to become a pilot, and his ambitions.
I kind of see myself as him when I was younger.
Just this infectious drive and will and want to become a pilot or just something about the sky that captivates you.
Max, can you see the cattle at the end of the runway? Are they going to be a problem for us? - No.
- No? OK.
'Flying here isn't just changing the lives of remote villagers.
'Back in Pokhara, I'd been invited to dinner with Max's boss, 'the founder of the flying school, Russian-born Natasha Shrestha.
' - Hello there.
- Natasha, lovely to meet you.
- Oh, nice.
'Joining us is her son Denis and daughter-in-law Shraddha.
' - I'm Shraddha.
- Shraddha, Arthur.
Nice to meet you.
'Until recently, Natasha ran the business with her other son, 'Stephen, a passionate pilot.
' Less than a year ago, Stephen was involved in a fatal crash.
You got the sense that they were a real flying family -- aviation is something that clearly runs through their veins.
We've all lost loved ones.
We know how hard it is and how raw those emotions can be.
But at the same time, through my own experiences, I know that one of the best therapies in moving forward is talking about these things.
With ever more tourists arriving, remote Nepal is undergoing radical changes.
And nowhere more so than in the foothills of Mount Everest, where I'm heading to next.
I'm in Nepal, discovering its remotest communities.
I'm flying from the capital, Kathmandu, to Lukla.
Once a tiny, remote village, it's now the bustling gateway to Everest.
Unfortunately, it's also famous amongst pilots everywhere as the planet's most dangerous airport.
I've got my Lukla boarding pass.
I'll keep that when we get home.
So this is it.
Out of all the places that we're going to visit on this trip, this one's certainly got me the most anxious, I think, about flying there.
This is the moment in 2008 when a plane crashed at Lukla while trying to land in thick fog, killing 18 people.
In the last ten years, there have been four major crashes on this route.
Even in good weather, it's an extreme landing.
There are very few models of aircraft that can land there, and the de Havilland Twin Otter is one of them.
It's nice to see them giving it a last-minute clean! This beauty has really opened up Nepal.
It used to be a five-day hike from here to the foothills of Everest.
Now you can fly there in half an hour.
Despite being a pilot -- or perhaps because of it -- I am a bit of a nervous passenger.
I'm really, really excited.
I'm really buzzing, actually, now, but I think when we're onboard, we'll get the old sweaty palms again.
On the flight, I might go a bit quiet.
TALK THROUGH RADIO The flight is due to last only 35 minutes, but given the state of my nerves, the prospect of a safe landing feels a lifetime away.
PILOTS TALK / RADIO CHATTER All right, here we go, then.
PILOTS CONTINUE TO TALK That is awesome.
Right, so we're on our way to Lukla.
Despite the inevitable rumblings of fear, the flight to Lukla definitely has one major highlight.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
What a spectacular sight.
Fantastic.
Everest is the reason Lukla is here.
50 years ago, it was little more than a handful of houses.
Then Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay conquered the mountain.
In 1964, the same pair built the airstrip at Lukla.
That year, just 20 tourists came here.
Last year, 40,000 flew in.
PILOTS SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE Lukla's right in front of us.
As Lukla loomed, I could see why it's uniquely difficult.
It's short, narrow and steep.
With an 800-metre cliff face at one end and a towering mountain at the other, there is no room for error.
If the pilot misjudges, he can't just go around and try again.
You crash.
That's it.
Oh, wow.
Oh, wow.
As we come in to land, the hairs on my neck are standing on end.
It's not like any airport I've ever seen.
This is absolutely stunning.
You're never going to be able to do flying like this anywhere else in the world.
We're in the shadow of a mountain whilst still on final approach to an airport.
- BEEP - Stall warner.
Propellers in reverse.
APPLAUSE Good job.
The whole experience of that flight was just really enjoyable.
You see these ridges getting higher.
- Prabaka, really good job! - Will you guys be taking this out now? I can understand why you love it so much, cos out here, it's just absolutely fantastic.
You take us back? I trust you.
- Friday? - Yeah.
- Yeah, please enjoy.
- Amazing flight.
With up to 70 flights a day here, things can get pretty busy.
You see behind me all of the people and kit that gets shipped in and shipped out from first light till about two or three o'clock, and then it just stops dead.
Everybody that's up here is then stranded until the same process starts again the next morning.
It's like being on an island, really.
Once a dirt-poor mountain hamlet, Lukla is now one of the richest towns outside the capital.
Most homes in Nepal don't even have an indoor toilet, but Lukla is all satellite dishes and internet cafes.
Yet this new wealth is entirely dependent on this incredibly dangerous airport.
HE GASPS That was impressive.
They sit at the end, on the threshold, full power, brakes on, and then -- woomph -- they're off.
They start this run down the hill, they're committed, and they don't take off until they're over the numbers at the other end.
And remember, there's a 2,000-foot drop at that side.
Pe-yoom! Making sure planes take off and land safely here is the responsibility of Kiran and Mukesh, the air traffic controllers, but there's no fancy radar or navigation devices.
They have to do it the old-fashioned way.
I want to meet them to find out how they cope.
Can you guys remember the first time you approached Lukla? Do you worry about what the consequences could be if you get it wrong? You're the boss.
A number of years ago, there was an aircraft that had too much of a landing run and went into the end of the airfield here.
That's hilarious.
So, you guys watch YouTube videos of accidents at your own airfield? OK, yeah! [LAUGHTER.]
I'm very jealous, actually.
This has got to be one of the best offices in the world.
COWBELLS RINGING It was time to head into town.
Now, this is one thing that I was not expecting to see.
Everest Burger, a Scottish pub, and imitation Starbucks.
Before the airstrip was built, most people in Lukla were yak farmers.
Now the vast majority work in tourism.
INDISTINC LAUGHTER It's a revolution that's happened within living memory.
I've been invited to the birthday party of the oldest woman in Lukla.
Her family has lived through the changes, and made a fortune from the boom times.
I'm in Lukla, a Himalayan boom town.
So many people arrive here by plane that in high season the town's population increases by over 600%.
But it seems they still don't see many people like me.
It's been interesting.
I think they're definitely not used to seeing somebody in a wheelchair.
Hey! It's our favourite friends.
Namaste.
Namaste.
The adults have got as much curiosity as the kids but the kids are You're kind of, like, a little bit worried about getting them into trouble.
Like, a couple of twins there.
- Namaste.
- Namaste.
When I first had the accident, anybody that looked at me I would have been really frustrated about, but it's really quite nice for me to be able to come here and prove to myself that I can get by and not question, just accept, that people are going to have a curiosity.
One woman who remembers what life used to be like before the good times is Yangse Sherpa.
Today, her son Dawa is throwing a party for her 90th birthday.
It feels a million miles away from Lukla's main strip but even this do is financed by tourist dollars.
Dawa has grown rich guiding visitors flown into Lukla.
Back at his house, he shows me the highly unusual way the airport that started it all was built.
This is your iPhone.
'Unable to fly in heavy machinery, 'Hillary and Tenzing asked local Sherpas 'to flatten the runway by dancing on it.
' PEOPLE SING Wow! - So that's how you celebrate? That's how you party? - Yeah.
And Edmund Hillary saw this as an extended line of people - and thought, "I can use that to tramp down the runway"? - Yeah.
He's cunning.
- So building the runway is just a big party for you guys.
- Yes.
Dawa, do you think that all of the changes that have taken place since the airstrip was built have been a good thing? Could you ask your mum what you were like growing up, as a child? No way.
That's you as a kid? Do you know which one? Right.
OK.
Hang on.
You're the short one on the left.
- No.
- The middle one? You're not? THEY LAUGH You've got the cheekiest smile on your face.
Too short.
That's brilliant.
That is brilliant.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dawa has paid for all of his kids to leave Lukla and study abroad.
Hmm.
Lukla is a unique place, the product of the allure of Everest, the imagination of Hillary and Tenzing, and the power of aviation.
But I am a little disappointed in the way things have changed since Hillary's day.
Exploration doesn't quite feel the same when you can grab a latte on your way up the mountain.
Not all of Nepal is quite so well-trodden.
I'm heading now to the most remote part of the country.
In recent years, the western mountains have become the centre of a strange new industry.
I'm determined to see it for myself.
These are Nepal's badlands -- a region scarred by uprisings against the monarchy.
Only 300 foreigners were allowed in last year.
We're off to Juphal and, unlike Lukla, that had air-traffic control, this place has got a man with a broom and a bloody big drop at the end of it.
One thing you can really notice out here is, there's no roads, there's no railways, there's nothing.
Many people live more than a week's walk from the nearest road.
We're flying over these barren lands in another De Havilland Twin Otter but I have some serious reservations about this one.
Flying along quite happily, and Charlie the cameraman's chair has just dropped out the bottom.
HE LAUGHS Makes me think that it breaks quite regularly.
Oh, my dear mum.
I just told her that I was going away for a few weeks' filming, and she didn't ask too many questions.
The passenger experience may be in need of a bit of work but where I'm going, it's about cargo, not people.
The combination of aviation and an ancient herbal remedy is bringing loads and loads of money into a very poor region and causing a kind of Nepalese gold rush.
Every summer, thousands of villagers race up the mountains to harvest something called yarsagumba.
It's a tiny caterpillar that's been mummified by a fungus.
Prized by the Chinese as an aphrodisiac, it's known as Nepalese Viagra.
This Himalayan sex fungus is so valuable, that to avoid bandits, traders transport it by helicopters and planes, like this one.
To get there, though, you've got to brave one of the scariest-looking landings around.
Oh, my God! I've just seen the airstrip.
Oh, that's a mother.
Until recently, the airstrip here was the target of regular attacks by insurgents.
Now the biggest risk is going off the end into the deep valley below.
It is literally just cut out the side of the mountain and flattened off.
That's amazing.
That isn't an airstrip, that's barely a play park.
Within ten minutes, the plane is turning around and leaving me very much alone, and with an important reminder not to sit behind an aeroplane on a dirt strip.
Here, the mountains act as huge barriers, vast walls against trade.
Without the airstrip, there'd be no route out for the yarsagumba or the people that live here.
WIND WHISTLES Wow! With the plane gone, all you can hear is the wind and there's this very eerie feeling of remoteness.
I want to find out what yarsagumba actually is.
But it's so valuable that almost the entire crop is sold abroad.
Faisal Shahi is a traditional healer and still has some.
He's used yarsagumba to treat his patients since his grandfather taught him how to 40 years ago.
Tarak Shahi is his nephew and my guide.
And what do you use it for? What do we use yarsagumba for? 'Faisal soon warmed to the subject, and it's not a short list.
'It helps lungs, kidneys, increases energy and vitality, 'stops haemorrhaging, decreases phlegm, 'cures backache, helps chronic cough and asthma, anaemia' With fertility, with the opposite sex, it helps the man [HE WHISTLES.]
I've been looking forward to this for a long time.
Yeah, this is called yarsagumba.
Whoa, look.
Wow.
Wow Yeah.
Wow.
So, the caterpillar dies and then this grows through - Yeah.
- Wow.
How extraordinary.
Can we prepare some and try it, take it here? - Oh, why not two? - Two? - No, no, no.
What do you normally take? - Ah, one.
Let's do one, then.
Pieces here Yeah.
'Faisal takes it in milk, but many take it in whisky.
'Given the flies, I've gone for the latter.
' OK.
He is offering you.
Thank you, thank you very much.
Thank you.
Yarsagumba.
Thank you.
Obviously, it tastes like the whisky very much.
Very fine, quite gritty.
I'm feeling it on the back of my throat but there's a bit more in the bottom.
- Very tasty.
- So I'm going to finish it off.
OK.
Ah, there we go.
More whisky? I'll be drunk, Tarak! - OK.
- Thank you very much.
Thank you.
HE WHISTLES Perhaps the whisky counteracted its powers but, disappointingly, I noticed no effects.
Faisal and his neighbours have taken yarsagumba for generations but only recently has the demand from China exploded.
Now, whole towns empty as they go to harvest, and ever greater risks are being taken.
I'm heading to my final destination, the village of Dunai, where families are about to endanger their lives harvesting the drug everybody wants.
I'm driving further into the Himalayas with my guide Tarak, to Dunai, the village at the centre of the Yarsagumba trade.
Dunai is, you know, behind that hill.
- Yeah? - Yeah, behind that hill.
How far behind? Long, long way or just behind it? 'I want to understand how the business of Yarsagumba 'is affecting the people who live here.
' How much is Yarsagumba worth? For how much? One kilogram! '$27,000 a kilo! That's just less than the price of gold.
'And this in a region where the average annual income is 'under $300.
' In terms of harvesting here, is it then flown from Juphal to Kathmandu? Yeah, yeah.
Once it goes to Kathmandu, then who buys it, sort of internationally? Chinese.
'The Chinese traders tend to hop in by helicopter.
'I'm having to rely on a slightly more precarious route.
' As we approach Dunai, the crowds are growing.
At peak time, over 20,000 people leave their homes and head up the mountains.
From Juphal we could see loads and loads of people down here in the valley floor but I was not expecting the sheer number of them and the diversity as well.
There are kids as young as, I dunno, six, seven.
Donkeys and yaks and mules with chickens tied to the back.
A never-ending stream of people coming past us.
There's a lot of families, there's a lot of young children.
Is it a school holiday or do the schools close because of the harvest? - Tarak, is this Dunai? - Dunai.
'Despite the best efforts of the power cables, 'we make our way into Dunai.
'There's a strange atmosphere in town.
' What's with all of the police? What are the police here for? Are they for people's safety and as well as? Fights often break out and in 2009, seven pickers were murdered in a territorial dispute.
Now police are everywhere, keeping a watchful eye.
Tarak is taking me to meet the Khadka family who are camping here.
They've already walked five days from their village and it's another four days of steep climbing to get to the harvest site.
When do they go up into the mountains? When do they go? - Tomorrow.
- Tomorrow? - Yeah, they are going tomorrow.
- What's it like up in the mountains? How old are you, Tarak? How do you feel about going up into the mountains? What are you scared of? It's cold, getting cold and they cannot eat enough, you know.
Steep up hill, they have to walking uphill.
How much Yarsagumba do you bring down? Yeah, $1,000.
- $1,000.
In this four-week period, you double your money.
- Yeah.
Wow.
What do you spend it on? They have to buy their pens, their copies, and they also buy their food.
When you go up, good luck.
Rambrohose.
Rambrohose.
Rambrohose, and we wish you well and be safe and I hope you get lots.
Before I came here I was trying to think about the mind-set that I'd be in if I had to go up there and I thought I'd be a little bit excited.
You know, you've got the potential to make double your annual salary in a couple of weeks.
But the overriding feeling that you got from Muti and his family was that they just can't wait to get out of here.
The atmosphere was more apprehensive and desperate than excited.
The people that make the real money out of the trade are not the pickers, but the middlemen.
They buy the Yarsagumba in Dunai then fly it onwards to clients in China.
Traders don't like giving interviews much, but Nagendra has agreed to talk.
Is it dangerous up there harvesting Yarsagumba? - Yes.
- It is dangerous? - Yes, you're exposed to natural elements and it's not an easy area.
You're above 4,000 metres and a lot of people suffer from altitude sickness.
It's, you know, slippery, dangerous, you know, rocky.
Each year then, how many sort of accidents are there, - are there any fatalities ever? - Yeah, every year, every year.
In terms of the harvesters and people here, are they in good stead to make a lot of money? Nowadays you revolve around the Yarsagumba calendar.
Even the government, even the schools close down and kids have really good eyesight so they're the ones who can really pick the thing.
- Really? So kids are better, younger children are better? - Yeah.
So you guys employ more children to go and do the harvesting? No, we don't really employ but, you know, the kids go because that's the time to make money for them.
The whole family pulls in, and then, you know, and then they use it for the family, and that's one of the reasons why, you know, quite a lot of kids have been able to get a better education, higher education.
And what cash crops do we have here besides a little bit of apples? If the harvest goes well this year, how much do you aim to make? It totally depends on the Chinese markets.
You know, in previous years I've sent over 200 cases.
Total at one year.
.
I exported 1.
5.
.
4 million worth of Yarsagumba when it was a very good year.
Has it made you guys millionaires? Well, that is the trade, that is how much worth I have exported.
Has it has it made you millionaires? - Ah, not really.
- No? That bloke in there, I just want to punch him so hard in the face.
He sits there on his fortunes knowing full well the conditions that the people here risk going up there.
He named everything off.
And he knew full well and he sits there sly in the corner making however much money.
This trade is changing lives.
But it seems unfair that the people who are taking huge risks receive barely a fraction of the profits.
There can be no question that flying in Nepal can be a very, very dangerous activity but on the other hand, it can be a thing of pure beauty.
Planes are opening up the wilderness here.
That may bring real problems but also wealth and opportunities.
The Nepalese I've met seem determined to seize their chance.
Next time, I'm in Australia.
Oh, man, this is awesome.
Wow! And Papua.
It's a big, big rainforest in front.
We are going to land this airplane.
On our crowded planet, there are still beautiful and little-known wildernesses.
But for the determined adventurer, there is a way to reach them.
Oh, my God, I've just seen the airstrip! Ooh! 'I'm Arthur Williams.
'I used to be a Royal Marine, 'but seven years ago I was paralysed in an accident.
'Then I learnt to fly, and regained my spirit of adventure.
' Yee-hoo! 'Now I want to see how far the plane can take me' Not enough oxygen for me! - BEEP - Stall warner.
'.
.
tackling some of the globe's tiniest and most dangerous airstrips' Whoa -- whoa -- whoa! '.
.
meeting the people who've made their home at the ends of the earth' Good job! '.
.
and exploring the world that only flying can reach.
' I've walked on ground that nobody has ever walked before! 'This time, I'm in Nepal -- 'the spectacular Himalayan nation between India and China.
'I'm going to tackle some of the world's most dangerous flying conditions, 'as I travel further and further into Nepal's untamed interior.
'My journey begins in one of the country's remotest valleys, 'then moves on to a boom town in the shadow of Everest' This is absolutely stunning! '.
.
before I try landing in the country's Wild West, where 'one of nature's rarest treasures has sparked a deadly gold rush.
' Wow, wow.
This is Pokhara, a city in the west of Nepal.
Once a stop on the trade route between China and India, it's now the base for tourists on the Annapurna mountain trail.
But most tourists will never see the place I'm trying to get to.
The valleys near here are dotted with tiny villages, only just emerging into the modern world.
And I'm heading to one of them.
We've just arrived at the airport for my first flight over the Himalayas in a tiny little microlight.
I cannot wait.
You can see, down here, just all the little ultralight microlights lined up.
'I'm flying today with Alexander Maximov, 'a former engineer with the Russian airline Aeroflot.
'He now helps run a flying school here.
'He's agreed to take me 'to a remote valley that's on the brink of a huge change.
' - Everything OK? - Yeah.
We can go.
'Our ride may look like a lawnmower with wings 'but it does contain one very handy safety feature.
' There's a rescue system that if we were to get into trouble, there's a parachute that just gets fired out of the top of the aircraft and we float down, as a whole.
At 8,000 metres, the mountains are very big, and the plane is very small -- but at least it has a lot of instruments.
You can see outside temperature is 30 degree already.
But I am not I don't know.
It's maybe not correct because made in China.
THEY LAUGH This'll be good.
ENGINE STARTS WOMAN GIVES ORDERS ON RADIO SHE CONTINUES TO SPEAK - She is very funny.
- Yeah, why, why? Who calling? OK, stand by.
That's not reassuring, Max.
SHE CONTINUES TO SPEAK OK.
Let's go.
'As we took off, I couldn't wait to take the reins.
' OK, you can take control.
Yee-hoo! 'To get to the valley, 'we first had to fly over some of the world's tallest mountains.
' 'As we climbed higher and higher, the temperature plummeted 'and the conditions became more unpredictable.
' Your control.
You have control, Max.
Yeah, yeah, very dangerous.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's amazing.
Max, it's breathtaking.
Ah, yes.
'I was blown away by the beauty and the scale of the mountains 'and for once I wasn't thinking about the plane's controls, 'until Max grabbed my attention.
' Are you OK, Max? OK.
I have control.
'With Max in trouble and my adrenaline now pumping, 'I guided us down to the valley as quickly as possible.
' Are you OK? Do you have a headache? 10,000 -- we'll be OK soon.
Are we OK on this course? Or stay with the river? OK.
Max, aren't we getting a little low? Aren't we getting a little low? That's the strip there! 'What Max called a strip looked more like a field of cows to me.
' Are you going to land there? - Maybe.
- You sod.
Max, you're a swine.
Oh, whoa, my life -- that is awesome, absolutely amazing, some of the best flying I've ever done in my lifetime.
You go through the clouds, still in sight of the surface, but out on the other side emerges these beautifully white peaks.
You don't fly over them, we're flying in and around them and we're avoiding them and there are peaks below us and there are peaks above and it's just mountain flying at its absolute best.
But the landings here Hello.
- Hello.
- Hello.
Namaste.
Namaste.
'Time has stood still in this place.
Until now.
'There are plans to build a proper airfield here, 'bringing big numbers of tourists.
'At the end of the dirt strip lives the Parajuli family, 'who farm the land.
' - Namaste.
- Namaste.
Is this your house? My house, yes.
This is beautiful.
How did everybody react when an aeroplane landed for the first time? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The airfield at the moment is very small.
Do you want to build it and make it larger and buildings and big and big? And do you like aeroplanes? Yeah, sure, we like them.
You like the flying? You need to go you need to speak to Avia Club and they'll take you flying.
Yeah.
'I thought that people living somewhere as peaceful as this 'might resent the intrusion of an airfield.
'But here, planes mean money.
' I was just bowled over by the little guy that we spoke to.
How keen he was for a to become a pilot, and his ambitions.
I kind of see myself as him when I was younger.
Just this infectious drive and will and want to become a pilot or just something about the sky that captivates you.
Max, can you see the cattle at the end of the runway? Are they going to be a problem for us? - No.
- No? OK.
'Flying here isn't just changing the lives of remote villagers.
'Back in Pokhara, I'd been invited to dinner with Max's boss, 'the founder of the flying school, Russian-born Natasha Shrestha.
' - Hello there.
- Natasha, lovely to meet you.
- Oh, nice.
'Joining us is her son Denis and daughter-in-law Shraddha.
' - I'm Shraddha.
- Shraddha, Arthur.
Nice to meet you.
'Until recently, Natasha ran the business with her other son, 'Stephen, a passionate pilot.
' Less than a year ago, Stephen was involved in a fatal crash.
You got the sense that they were a real flying family -- aviation is something that clearly runs through their veins.
We've all lost loved ones.
We know how hard it is and how raw those emotions can be.
But at the same time, through my own experiences, I know that one of the best therapies in moving forward is talking about these things.
With ever more tourists arriving, remote Nepal is undergoing radical changes.
And nowhere more so than in the foothills of Mount Everest, where I'm heading to next.
I'm in Nepal, discovering its remotest communities.
I'm flying from the capital, Kathmandu, to Lukla.
Once a tiny, remote village, it's now the bustling gateway to Everest.
Unfortunately, it's also famous amongst pilots everywhere as the planet's most dangerous airport.
I've got my Lukla boarding pass.
I'll keep that when we get home.
So this is it.
Out of all the places that we're going to visit on this trip, this one's certainly got me the most anxious, I think, about flying there.
This is the moment in 2008 when a plane crashed at Lukla while trying to land in thick fog, killing 18 people.
In the last ten years, there have been four major crashes on this route.
Even in good weather, it's an extreme landing.
There are very few models of aircraft that can land there, and the de Havilland Twin Otter is one of them.
It's nice to see them giving it a last-minute clean! This beauty has really opened up Nepal.
It used to be a five-day hike from here to the foothills of Everest.
Now you can fly there in half an hour.
Despite being a pilot -- or perhaps because of it -- I am a bit of a nervous passenger.
I'm really, really excited.
I'm really buzzing, actually, now, but I think when we're onboard, we'll get the old sweaty palms again.
On the flight, I might go a bit quiet.
TALK THROUGH RADIO The flight is due to last only 35 minutes, but given the state of my nerves, the prospect of a safe landing feels a lifetime away.
PILOTS TALK / RADIO CHATTER All right, here we go, then.
PILOTS CONTINUE TO TALK That is awesome.
Right, so we're on our way to Lukla.
Despite the inevitable rumblings of fear, the flight to Lukla definitely has one major highlight.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
What a spectacular sight.
Fantastic.
Everest is the reason Lukla is here.
50 years ago, it was little more than a handful of houses.
Then Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay conquered the mountain.
In 1964, the same pair built the airstrip at Lukla.
That year, just 20 tourists came here.
Last year, 40,000 flew in.
PILOTS SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE Lukla's right in front of us.
As Lukla loomed, I could see why it's uniquely difficult.
It's short, narrow and steep.
With an 800-metre cliff face at one end and a towering mountain at the other, there is no room for error.
If the pilot misjudges, he can't just go around and try again.
You crash.
That's it.
Oh, wow.
Oh, wow.
As we come in to land, the hairs on my neck are standing on end.
It's not like any airport I've ever seen.
This is absolutely stunning.
You're never going to be able to do flying like this anywhere else in the world.
We're in the shadow of a mountain whilst still on final approach to an airport.
- BEEP - Stall warner.
Propellers in reverse.
APPLAUSE Good job.
The whole experience of that flight was just really enjoyable.
You see these ridges getting higher.
- Prabaka, really good job! - Will you guys be taking this out now? I can understand why you love it so much, cos out here, it's just absolutely fantastic.
You take us back? I trust you.
- Friday? - Yeah.
- Yeah, please enjoy.
- Amazing flight.
With up to 70 flights a day here, things can get pretty busy.
You see behind me all of the people and kit that gets shipped in and shipped out from first light till about two or three o'clock, and then it just stops dead.
Everybody that's up here is then stranded until the same process starts again the next morning.
It's like being on an island, really.
Once a dirt-poor mountain hamlet, Lukla is now one of the richest towns outside the capital.
Most homes in Nepal don't even have an indoor toilet, but Lukla is all satellite dishes and internet cafes.
Yet this new wealth is entirely dependent on this incredibly dangerous airport.
HE GASPS That was impressive.
They sit at the end, on the threshold, full power, brakes on, and then -- woomph -- they're off.
They start this run down the hill, they're committed, and they don't take off until they're over the numbers at the other end.
And remember, there's a 2,000-foot drop at that side.
Pe-yoom! Making sure planes take off and land safely here is the responsibility of Kiran and Mukesh, the air traffic controllers, but there's no fancy radar or navigation devices.
They have to do it the old-fashioned way.
I want to meet them to find out how they cope.
Can you guys remember the first time you approached Lukla? Do you worry about what the consequences could be if you get it wrong? You're the boss.
A number of years ago, there was an aircraft that had too much of a landing run and went into the end of the airfield here.
That's hilarious.
So, you guys watch YouTube videos of accidents at your own airfield? OK, yeah! [LAUGHTER.]
I'm very jealous, actually.
This has got to be one of the best offices in the world.
COWBELLS RINGING It was time to head into town.
Now, this is one thing that I was not expecting to see.
Everest Burger, a Scottish pub, and imitation Starbucks.
Before the airstrip was built, most people in Lukla were yak farmers.
Now the vast majority work in tourism.
INDISTINC LAUGHTER It's a revolution that's happened within living memory.
I've been invited to the birthday party of the oldest woman in Lukla.
Her family has lived through the changes, and made a fortune from the boom times.
I'm in Lukla, a Himalayan boom town.
So many people arrive here by plane that in high season the town's population increases by over 600%.
But it seems they still don't see many people like me.
It's been interesting.
I think they're definitely not used to seeing somebody in a wheelchair.
Hey! It's our favourite friends.
Namaste.
Namaste.
The adults have got as much curiosity as the kids but the kids are You're kind of, like, a little bit worried about getting them into trouble.
Like, a couple of twins there.
- Namaste.
- Namaste.
When I first had the accident, anybody that looked at me I would have been really frustrated about, but it's really quite nice for me to be able to come here and prove to myself that I can get by and not question, just accept, that people are going to have a curiosity.
One woman who remembers what life used to be like before the good times is Yangse Sherpa.
Today, her son Dawa is throwing a party for her 90th birthday.
It feels a million miles away from Lukla's main strip but even this do is financed by tourist dollars.
Dawa has grown rich guiding visitors flown into Lukla.
Back at his house, he shows me the highly unusual way the airport that started it all was built.
This is your iPhone.
'Unable to fly in heavy machinery, 'Hillary and Tenzing asked local Sherpas 'to flatten the runway by dancing on it.
' PEOPLE SING Wow! - So that's how you celebrate? That's how you party? - Yeah.
And Edmund Hillary saw this as an extended line of people - and thought, "I can use that to tramp down the runway"? - Yeah.
He's cunning.
- So building the runway is just a big party for you guys.
- Yes.
Dawa, do you think that all of the changes that have taken place since the airstrip was built have been a good thing? Could you ask your mum what you were like growing up, as a child? No way.
That's you as a kid? Do you know which one? Right.
OK.
Hang on.
You're the short one on the left.
- No.
- The middle one? You're not? THEY LAUGH You've got the cheekiest smile on your face.
Too short.
That's brilliant.
That is brilliant.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dawa has paid for all of his kids to leave Lukla and study abroad.
Hmm.
Lukla is a unique place, the product of the allure of Everest, the imagination of Hillary and Tenzing, and the power of aviation.
But I am a little disappointed in the way things have changed since Hillary's day.
Exploration doesn't quite feel the same when you can grab a latte on your way up the mountain.
Not all of Nepal is quite so well-trodden.
I'm heading now to the most remote part of the country.
In recent years, the western mountains have become the centre of a strange new industry.
I'm determined to see it for myself.
These are Nepal's badlands -- a region scarred by uprisings against the monarchy.
Only 300 foreigners were allowed in last year.
We're off to Juphal and, unlike Lukla, that had air-traffic control, this place has got a man with a broom and a bloody big drop at the end of it.
One thing you can really notice out here is, there's no roads, there's no railways, there's nothing.
Many people live more than a week's walk from the nearest road.
We're flying over these barren lands in another De Havilland Twin Otter but I have some serious reservations about this one.
Flying along quite happily, and Charlie the cameraman's chair has just dropped out the bottom.
HE LAUGHS Makes me think that it breaks quite regularly.
Oh, my dear mum.
I just told her that I was going away for a few weeks' filming, and she didn't ask too many questions.
The passenger experience may be in need of a bit of work but where I'm going, it's about cargo, not people.
The combination of aviation and an ancient herbal remedy is bringing loads and loads of money into a very poor region and causing a kind of Nepalese gold rush.
Every summer, thousands of villagers race up the mountains to harvest something called yarsagumba.
It's a tiny caterpillar that's been mummified by a fungus.
Prized by the Chinese as an aphrodisiac, it's known as Nepalese Viagra.
This Himalayan sex fungus is so valuable, that to avoid bandits, traders transport it by helicopters and planes, like this one.
To get there, though, you've got to brave one of the scariest-looking landings around.
Oh, my God! I've just seen the airstrip.
Oh, that's a mother.
Until recently, the airstrip here was the target of regular attacks by insurgents.
Now the biggest risk is going off the end into the deep valley below.
It is literally just cut out the side of the mountain and flattened off.
That's amazing.
That isn't an airstrip, that's barely a play park.
Within ten minutes, the plane is turning around and leaving me very much alone, and with an important reminder not to sit behind an aeroplane on a dirt strip.
Here, the mountains act as huge barriers, vast walls against trade.
Without the airstrip, there'd be no route out for the yarsagumba or the people that live here.
WIND WHISTLES Wow! With the plane gone, all you can hear is the wind and there's this very eerie feeling of remoteness.
I want to find out what yarsagumba actually is.
But it's so valuable that almost the entire crop is sold abroad.
Faisal Shahi is a traditional healer and still has some.
He's used yarsagumba to treat his patients since his grandfather taught him how to 40 years ago.
Tarak Shahi is his nephew and my guide.
And what do you use it for? What do we use yarsagumba for? 'Faisal soon warmed to the subject, and it's not a short list.
'It helps lungs, kidneys, increases energy and vitality, 'stops haemorrhaging, decreases phlegm, 'cures backache, helps chronic cough and asthma, anaemia' With fertility, with the opposite sex, it helps the man [HE WHISTLES.]
I've been looking forward to this for a long time.
Yeah, this is called yarsagumba.
Whoa, look.
Wow.
Wow Yeah.
Wow.
So, the caterpillar dies and then this grows through - Yeah.
- Wow.
How extraordinary.
Can we prepare some and try it, take it here? - Oh, why not two? - Two? - No, no, no.
What do you normally take? - Ah, one.
Let's do one, then.
Pieces here Yeah.
'Faisal takes it in milk, but many take it in whisky.
'Given the flies, I've gone for the latter.
' OK.
He is offering you.
Thank you, thank you very much.
Thank you.
Yarsagumba.
Thank you.
Obviously, it tastes like the whisky very much.
Very fine, quite gritty.
I'm feeling it on the back of my throat but there's a bit more in the bottom.
- Very tasty.
- So I'm going to finish it off.
OK.
Ah, there we go.
More whisky? I'll be drunk, Tarak! - OK.
- Thank you very much.
Thank you.
HE WHISTLES Perhaps the whisky counteracted its powers but, disappointingly, I noticed no effects.
Faisal and his neighbours have taken yarsagumba for generations but only recently has the demand from China exploded.
Now, whole towns empty as they go to harvest, and ever greater risks are being taken.
I'm heading to my final destination, the village of Dunai, where families are about to endanger their lives harvesting the drug everybody wants.
I'm driving further into the Himalayas with my guide Tarak, to Dunai, the village at the centre of the Yarsagumba trade.
Dunai is, you know, behind that hill.
- Yeah? - Yeah, behind that hill.
How far behind? Long, long way or just behind it? 'I want to understand how the business of Yarsagumba 'is affecting the people who live here.
' How much is Yarsagumba worth? For how much? One kilogram! '$27,000 a kilo! That's just less than the price of gold.
'And this in a region where the average annual income is 'under $300.
' In terms of harvesting here, is it then flown from Juphal to Kathmandu? Yeah, yeah.
Once it goes to Kathmandu, then who buys it, sort of internationally? Chinese.
'The Chinese traders tend to hop in by helicopter.
'I'm having to rely on a slightly more precarious route.
' As we approach Dunai, the crowds are growing.
At peak time, over 20,000 people leave their homes and head up the mountains.
From Juphal we could see loads and loads of people down here in the valley floor but I was not expecting the sheer number of them and the diversity as well.
There are kids as young as, I dunno, six, seven.
Donkeys and yaks and mules with chickens tied to the back.
A never-ending stream of people coming past us.
There's a lot of families, there's a lot of young children.
Is it a school holiday or do the schools close because of the harvest? - Tarak, is this Dunai? - Dunai.
'Despite the best efforts of the power cables, 'we make our way into Dunai.
'There's a strange atmosphere in town.
' What's with all of the police? What are the police here for? Are they for people's safety and as well as? Fights often break out and in 2009, seven pickers were murdered in a territorial dispute.
Now police are everywhere, keeping a watchful eye.
Tarak is taking me to meet the Khadka family who are camping here.
They've already walked five days from their village and it's another four days of steep climbing to get to the harvest site.
When do they go up into the mountains? When do they go? - Tomorrow.
- Tomorrow? - Yeah, they are going tomorrow.
- What's it like up in the mountains? How old are you, Tarak? How do you feel about going up into the mountains? What are you scared of? It's cold, getting cold and they cannot eat enough, you know.
Steep up hill, they have to walking uphill.
How much Yarsagumba do you bring down? Yeah, $1,000.
- $1,000.
In this four-week period, you double your money.
- Yeah.
Wow.
What do you spend it on? They have to buy their pens, their copies, and they also buy their food.
When you go up, good luck.
Rambrohose.
Rambrohose.
Rambrohose, and we wish you well and be safe and I hope you get lots.
Before I came here I was trying to think about the mind-set that I'd be in if I had to go up there and I thought I'd be a little bit excited.
You know, you've got the potential to make double your annual salary in a couple of weeks.
But the overriding feeling that you got from Muti and his family was that they just can't wait to get out of here.
The atmosphere was more apprehensive and desperate than excited.
The people that make the real money out of the trade are not the pickers, but the middlemen.
They buy the Yarsagumba in Dunai then fly it onwards to clients in China.
Traders don't like giving interviews much, but Nagendra has agreed to talk.
Is it dangerous up there harvesting Yarsagumba? - Yes.
- It is dangerous? - Yes, you're exposed to natural elements and it's not an easy area.
You're above 4,000 metres and a lot of people suffer from altitude sickness.
It's, you know, slippery, dangerous, you know, rocky.
Each year then, how many sort of accidents are there, - are there any fatalities ever? - Yeah, every year, every year.
In terms of the harvesters and people here, are they in good stead to make a lot of money? Nowadays you revolve around the Yarsagumba calendar.
Even the government, even the schools close down and kids have really good eyesight so they're the ones who can really pick the thing.
- Really? So kids are better, younger children are better? - Yeah.
So you guys employ more children to go and do the harvesting? No, we don't really employ but, you know, the kids go because that's the time to make money for them.
The whole family pulls in, and then, you know, and then they use it for the family, and that's one of the reasons why, you know, quite a lot of kids have been able to get a better education, higher education.
And what cash crops do we have here besides a little bit of apples? If the harvest goes well this year, how much do you aim to make? It totally depends on the Chinese markets.
You know, in previous years I've sent over 200 cases.
Total at one year.
.
I exported 1.
5.
.
4 million worth of Yarsagumba when it was a very good year.
Has it made you guys millionaires? Well, that is the trade, that is how much worth I have exported.
Has it has it made you millionaires? - Ah, not really.
- No? That bloke in there, I just want to punch him so hard in the face.
He sits there on his fortunes knowing full well the conditions that the people here risk going up there.
He named everything off.
And he knew full well and he sits there sly in the corner making however much money.
This trade is changing lives.
But it seems unfair that the people who are taking huge risks receive barely a fraction of the profits.
There can be no question that flying in Nepal can be a very, very dangerous activity but on the other hand, it can be a thing of pure beauty.
Planes are opening up the wilderness here.
That may bring real problems but also wealth and opportunities.
The Nepalese I've met seem determined to seize their chance.
Next time, I'm in Australia.
Oh, man, this is awesome.
Wow! And Papua.
It's a big, big rainforest in front.
We are going to land this airplane.