Wilderness with Simon Reeve (2024) s01e03 Episode Script

1
We live on a crowded planet
..but there are still vast areas
..where nature has the upper-hand.
It looks like another planet.
I'm heading to the last great
wildernesses.
I'll try to cross four of these rugged
landscapes
Oh, my God!
..on my toughest journeys yet.
I have to be honest.
Things are not going brilliantly.
A bit of a medical situation.
Help is a long way away.
- Well done.
- I want to meet the people for whom
the wilderness is home
Testicles for breakfast, lunch and
dinner.
..to see how they live alongside
nature.
Whoa!
I can stay down there for a minute or
so,
he's still down there now, walking
around!
And in this critical time for our
world
Huge carcasses of great trees.
..seek out the rare and majestic
creatures that still survive
My heart is racing.
..in some of the most hostile
environments.
Are you OK, Jonathan?
- Yeah, yeah.
- ..and the remotest regions
Bloody hell!
..of our wild planet.
Coo!
- Coo!
- Big cats roaming free.
This surely is the absolute definition
of a real wilderness.
HORN TOOTS
I'm on the coast of Indonesia,
onboard the Bernetta -
a converted fishing boat
that's going to be my home for the
next three weeks.
We're taking on board fuel
and supplies for the long journey.
All right. We're off!
We're heading out to sea.
We're travelling just a small area on
this map really
and that's going to take us days and
days,
and nights out on the ocean.
This is the remote south-west corner
of the Pacific Ocean.
A vast expanse of tropical sea
..dotted with thousands of jungle-clad
islands.
It's known as the Coral Triangle.
My guide here is Nesha Ichida.
- Oh, oh, dolphins, dolphins!
That's a dolphin.
- Just there?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw it.
- She's a marine conservationist,
who's spent her career
studying and protecting the wonders of
the Coral Triangle.
- So, the Coral Triangle is the centre
of all marine biodiversity.
It's just generally home to hundreds
and hundreds of inhabitants,
from coral reef, fishes,
large megafauna -
it's insane how many species are in
one little area.
- Just here, look.
What a reminder they are of how much
glorious life there is.
I think this is a very good omen
because we're going to travel
about 1,000 miles to the East
by boat, and if something goes wrong,
help is a long way away.
The "Coral Triangle" is a name for the
sea around mainly
the Philippines, Malaysia and
Indonesia.
It might just be the most important
patch of sea on the planet.
I'm going to be travelling almost
1,000 miles
through the very heart of this marine
wilderness,
starting in the remote Togean Islands
of Indonesia.
I'll sail east to a stunning tropical
archipelago
called Raja Ampat.
On from there,
I hope to reach a remote bay on the
coast of New Guinea
to search for one of the Coral
Triangle's
most spectacular creatures - whale
sharks.
These are the Togean Islands.
We're heading in sort of that way and
we're going to meet a community
of people who spend most of their
lives living in and on the water.
I'm visiting a people called the
Bajau.
They're known as sea nomads.
For centuries, they've roamed the
tropical waters of the region.
I'm hoping the Bajau can introduce me
to the underwater wilderness of the
Coral Triangle.
Here in the Togean Islands,
1,000 miles from Indonesia's capital
city,
perched on a coral reef in the middle
of the sea,
they've built a village on stilts.
- So, we're arriving at the Bajau
village called Cabanatuan.
- What an extraordinary place.
NESHA INSTRUCTS
We've got coral reef just on the edge
of the community.
We've got to find our way through.
Because it's so shallow,
we mightwe might hit something.
- That is a stunning reef.
- It's quite impressive that it's
here,
so close to the community, isn't it?
- Yeah.
- The kids being dragged out on the
boat there!
- Hello!
CHILDREN SHOU
- Little tots.
Hello!
Oh, little tots in the water here!
What a way of life, eh?
Perched right out over the sea.
Right, let's go and say hello.
Bari!
Bari Lahama is one of the elders of
the village.
Thank you very much indeed for having
us come to visit.
What work do most people do here?
Bari and his family rely on what he
can catch,
trap or spear sustainably in the sea.
He's renowned as one of the best
fishermen in the village.
Oh, we're going that way. That's good.
- Yeah.
- Bari has agreed to take us out
and show us the wonders of the
undersea world.
That looks verystable.
Right, and we're off!
Are you leaning back to try and make
it a bit more stable?
- Yes.
- I think we might be in a spot of
bother in terms of that.
- We're good!
- This is the real wilderness of the
Coral Triangle,
beneath the waves.
With one huge final breath filling his
lungs,
Bari begins his descent.
His only equipment is a home-made
speargun,
made with a piece of elastic on a
pole.
Within a minute, he's 15 metres down
and beginning the hunt.
Every second he's down is a
calculation.
If he pushes himself too far,
he could easily blackout and drown.
After just under two minutes,
he's down at 20 metres
..below the level even most scuba
divers should be going.
Oh, my goodness.
I mean, he is an astonishing human
being.
I can stay down there for a minute or
so, not much longer.
But he's still down there now,
just walking around on the seabed,
looking for more food.
I'll go back down and try and join
him.
Finally, Bari's having some success.
But all he's getting are smaller reef
fish,
which means he keeps diving for hour
after hour.
The bodies of the Bajau have evolved
over thousands of years.
Scientists have established their
blood can actually absorb
and hold more oxygen than the rest of
us,
keeping them alive under water for
longer.
They're like human seals,
able to free dive down as deep as 60
metres underwater.
It is an astonishing sight to see.
I mean, the Bajau can stay down for
not just
two, three, four minutes,
but 11, 12 even 13 minutes,
without coming up for a breath.
They've just adapted to their watery
world.
For generations, the Bajau have lived
like this
from the riches of the Coral Triangle.
Such a simple landscape here.
There's land, there's sky, there's
sea,
but under that surface there is a
whole other dimension of the planet.
Back in the Bajau village, Bari and
his wife,
Mamma Henni, offer to put us up for
the night in their house on stilts.
In here
So this is the wash area,
the shower and the toilet as well.
A hole down here, and beneath it,
well, that's the sea.
The Bajau have kept an intimate
connection with the ocean
for generations,
but now, of course, they're also
linked to the wider world,
and many teenagers here are scrolling
screens like everywhere else.
A critical job has been delegated.
- Shiraliah.
- Shiraliah?
- Yes.
- That is a beautiful name.
BABY GRIZZLES
I think it's a mission fail.
And then this is where I am tonight.
I'm going to sleep on the Premier
League.
Night, all!
COCKEREL CROWS
THUNDER RUMBLES
RAIN PATTERS
That was just about the worst night's
sleep ever.
Total truth.
COCKEREL CROWS
Wish it had rained last night, to be
honest.
It's noisy, but it would drown out the
bloody cockerels!
The chickens provide some meat and
eggs,
but most of life here revolves around
fishing.
The family eat what Bari catches
but, to buy clothes and other
essentials,
he also sells fish at a nearby market
to people from other islands.
I'm trying to help with breakfast.
OK.
Are you proud of Bari for what he
does?
Do you worry about him when he goes
fishing?
It's not surprising Mamma Henni
worries.
Bari usually goes out alone in his
small boat,
sometimes miles out to sea,
diving to crazy depths.
That's risky enough, without even
thinking about the powerful
tiger sharks that hunt in these
waters.
Bari, is what you do dangerous?
Bari, I'm really sorry to ask,
but what happened to your
brother-in-law?
Bari can't afford to stop fishing.
A paltry catch during the day
means he's heading out again.
He's going to face the demons, the
sharks,
and the depths, in the dark.
I do like the sea when I can actually
have some vision,
where there is a sun above.
Going into the sea at night Um
A little bit apprehensive about it.
At night, the beautiful reef I saw in
daytime
is transformed into an eerie world,
almost ghostly.
Many fish are asleep or hiding from
the sharks
that come out to hunt at night.
In the dark ocean, alone and miles
from any help,
it does feel dangerous,
as if anything could emerge from the
inky black gloom.
That's a danger Bari is facing more
and more often.
He doesn't take much from the sea
but commercial fishing around the
Coral Triangle
by trawlers and foreign fishing fleets
has decimated the population of
larger, more valuable fish.
So, Bari has to target smaller reef
fish, like this goat fish.
It means he has to take chances
and dive more often to feed his
family.
Bari's aware of the risks, but feels
he has no choice.
Increasingly, it can be a tough life,
surviving on the edge of a wilderness.
I just want to say thank you so much
for your hospitality.
Man hug.
Sweaty man, that's me.
Thank you very much indeed. Thank you
so much.
- Thank you, thank you.
- Thank you. All right.
We will gather our stuff, and we will
head off.
Bye, guys!
Reluctantly, I'm leaving Bari and
Mamma Henni.
I've got hundreds of miles to travel
across the Coral Triangle.
The Bernetta is the cosy home for all
our kit and filming crew.
At the helm is Captain Lindra and a
small crew of Indonesian sailors.
We're travelling across the Malacca
Sea,
towards a small cluster of islands
off the Indonesian coast of New
Guinea,
an area called Raja Ampat.
It's just about the richest and most
spectacular undersea environment
on Earth.
The bull's-eye at the heart of the
Coral Triangle.
It's not the fastest boat on the sea,
but that does give me time to soak up
the surroundings.
There's a few birds out there fishing.
There's some flying fish as well.
Time passes slowly on the ocean.
He's playing a game.
What's it called?
Look. He's played it a lot!
Level 3,657, I just saw.
It's not long before we spot evidence
of one of the threats
to life in the Coral Triangle.
It's so strange to suddenly see a
fishing boat emerging.
It just appeared almost from nowhere.
The Coral Triangle has a fair claim
to be perhaps the richest eco-system
anywhere in our oceans.
But it's still fished by international
industrial trawlers
that take out millions of tons of
bigger fish, like tuna, every year,
and bottom trawlers that rip up the
seabed
for prawns and other shellfish.
But Nesha's taking me
to a place where marine life is
protected like nowhere else.
It's still a long way across open
ocean.
And, even with modern communications
on board the Bernetta,
there are real risks in being this
remote.
VOICE OVER RADIO
It's our third night at sea, and one
of the team is in trouble.
So, we've got a bit of a problem.
Eric, our director,
has come down ill.
He's not in a great way,
and we're just trying to work out how
far we are
from proper medical help,
and it would seem we are
We're quite a long way.
Eric has a serious fever.
He's had his vaccinations,
but nothing is 100% effective.
Travelling in remote tropical parts of
the planet,
you can pick up anything from Malaria
to Typhoid,
as I know myself.
Are you feeling comfortable, or do you
want another pillow or anything?
- My head feels like an iron.
- Oh, Eric.
I'm just going to put this on your
forehead, all right?
- Thanks.
- I'm so sorry, pal. Do you want a bit
more ice and another towel?
- This is fine.
- All right, let's We'll just go
outside and confer, OK?
- Yeah.
- So, his temperature is 39.5,
which isis not great.
So, now I've got to keep an eye on
him, of course,
and we've also got to see where the
hell are we,
and can we get him to a hospital?
A temperature of 40 degrees can be
life-threatening.
So, we need to come up with a plan in
case it continues to rise.
- So, we'll be right under here at 5am
tomorrow.
- Right.
- But the nearest airport is Seranti
right here.
- Oh,
- BLEEP.
- So, it's far.
- When I say it's far, it's far.
We need to work out what we're going
to do.
We think that five o'clock tomorrow
morning, we'll be
On our current course, we'll be
two hours from a community
on an island,
but whether they've got a clinic there
is unclear.
We need to dig out a satellite phone
and start calling to try and get
some
some more information and some help.
What did he What did the captain
say?
- Medivac is the next thing.
- Helicopter?
- Yeah.
- It'll take hours of sailing to reach
a place
where a chopper can land,
but we head in that direction.
We treat Eric, get him comfortable,
and hope his raging fever subsides.
So, a quick update on Eric.
He's doing a lot better.
He's just had some toast, which is a
very good sign,
and we are just going to leave him to
rest and recover.
- Yeah, let's see how you go.
Feel better, Eric.
- Thanks.
- It's a bloody relief, to be honest.
I mean, if you can imagine,
we're out here -
just have a look around.
There's nothing out here.
Not another boat, nor another ship.
It looks completely empty.
EXHALES
How far to go now?
- 111.
- 111 miles or kilometres?
- No, 110. Miles.
- With Eric well and truly on the
mend,
we'll press on for a couple more days
towards our next destination.
Land ahoy!
I've always wanted to say that!
We're arriving into Raja Ampat.
This would be a welcome sight any
time, wouldn't it?
Particularly after you've been on a
long journey across the sea.
Our planet can still be so sublimely
beautiful.
Raja Ampat has been described as
one of the last real paradises
left on Earth. Quite a claim,
but possibly justified.
Raja Ampat is home to more than 2,000
species of fish
and hundreds of corals.
It looks like a welcoming committee is
heading our way.
So, apparently, there's a patrol
coming.
Oh, bloody hell. He's got an assault
rifle.
Do you know what they're doing?
- So, they're checking on the onboard
paperwork.
- OK.
- That's part of the patrol around
here in Raja Ampat,
to make sure there's, you know, you're
following the rules,
there's no fishing, for example, in a
no-take zone.
- Is it a Government patrol? Is it a
police patrol, or what?
- There is one police, water police,
in there.
They're law enforcers.
- It's more like a conservation
patrol.
- Yes.
Conservation patrol, but it is an MPA.
So
- A Marine Protected Area?
- Yes.
- So, they're definitely good guys.
- Yeah, for sure. We need this.
It's very, very important.
- Marine Ranger Mohid Eniba combs
boats in this part of Raja Ampat,
checking for illegal catches.
I mean, a fishing boat, like any boat,
has got 1,000 different little places
you can hide something,
hasn't it?
And how did you feel when you
discovered that?
This patrol is part of a revolution
that's happened here in Raja Ampat.
A couple of decades ago, this area was
chockfull of fishing boats.
Fish life was steadily being wiped
out.
But Indonesia decided to protect Raja
Ampat as a treasure,
seizing and sinking hundreds of
illegal fishing boats.
Across thousands of square miles,
fishing is now heavily restricted, or
banned altogether.
The results have been spectacular.
A wilderness can be restored.
Just look at that colour.
Raja Ampat is Nesha's world.
This is where she's spent most of her
career
as a scientist, monitoring and
protecting.
Immediately, it's clear.
This is an undersea paradise.
Three-quarters of the world's coral
species
are found in the Coral Triangle.
Within moments, I'm surrounded by
shoals of damsel fish
..and great clouds of fusiliers.
That's a trigger fish.
Raja Ampat is at the heart of the
Coral Triangle,
which is like nowhere else on Earth.
You can see why it's been described as
the Amazon of the seas
..and it's a crucial part of the
global ocean system
on which all life depends.
After all, it's ocean eco-systems
that produce half the oxygen we
breath.
Of all the fish here, there's one in
particular
that's vital for a healthy sea.
The shark.
The smallest sharks are just six
inches long.
The biggest, the size of a truck.
They still evoke fear
..but now we know nearly all sharks,
including this beautiful white-tipped
reef shark,
are, of course, totally harmless to
humans.
However, as apex predators,
they maintain order and balance
in the entire underwater eco-system.
Oh, my.
That was
That was completely breathtaking.
Honestly, I mean, maybe this is just
normal for you being here,
but that was utterly spectacular.
But it's It's so deceptive.
Just look at thethe water.
You have no comprehension
of what is beneath the surface here.
- I'm still very happy to see so many
different fish.
Every food chain level is there, and
you got to see some sharks as well.
- But globally, sharks are in trouble.
Overfishing, legal and illegal,
is killing tens of millions each year.
They're eaten around the planet,
and shark fins are used
in a tasteless soup in China and
elsewhere.
Just a decade ago, many sharks here
were facing extinction.
One species was only spotted three
times in 20 years.
Today, this is a protected marine
reserve,
policed by patrols like the one that
stopped us earlier.
Overall, shark numbers are now an
incredible 25 times higher
than in unprotected areas
..and right now, Nesha and her
colleagues
are taking shark conservation
one big step further.
- Are you ready to see the pups?
- I'm ready, yes. I think.
"Pups"?
- So, we've got two here.
This is our first-born, Mali.
- That is a sight of epic cuteness,
quite frankly.
I know that's not a very scientific
thing to think or say, but
Oh! She's
He/she is moving.
- She.
- She.
Oh, my goodness.
Hello.
- Oh, she's saying hi to you!
- Hello to you, too!
- Hey, Mali.
- She doesn't look really like a shark
to me.
She looks At the front like a
cuddly toy,
and then
..strange wings.
The tail and the rest of her is a bit
sharky
..but she just looks so cute.
- Mali is a zebra shark,
or better known as Indo-Pacific zebra
shark.
- Right.
- In the last 15 years of monitoring,
we've only seen about less than 20
sights
and that's very little comparing to
how much the other sharks
like blacktip, grey reef,
whitetip, they've all rebounded and
have, like, insane numbers.
But these guys unfortunately haven't
done so well.
- So, where did she come from?
- So, Mali comes from Sea Life Sydney.
Over there, the second one, she
actually come from Las Vegas.
- No!
- Yes.
The zebra shark will actually lay
eggs, which are known to be hardy
and can survive trans-pacific
shipment,
and obviously it's much easier to ship
eggs than pups.
These two will be released in about
two and a half months.
She is part of this whole initiative
of re-sharking the world.
- "Re-sharking"?
That is not a phrase I've heard
before.
- ReShark is an initiative to
repopulate the oceans
with sharks,
and we're working with public
aquariums all over the world
who have built the experience of
animal care
and also breeding them,
especially those species that need a
little bit of help
and haven't done very well in the
wild.
- Wow.
I haven't heard that anywhere, ever.
I'm here at the start of something
huge.
This is a global first.
ReShark has massive ambitions.
It's a worldwide collaboration between
governments,
universities, aquariums and
conservation groups.
So, we're going to go and collect some
snails and clams
for the sharks.
- Right here, a snail.
One of their favourite, actually.
- Oh, they're tiny.
- They are tiny, but they're still
pups.
- The aim is to breed and reintroduce
hundreds of harmless,
helpful sharks, like little Mali here,
and possibly re-shark other world
sites,
perhaps even off the coast of Wales.
There it goes.
Tail's wagging, almost!
- Yeah, she's amazing.
She's the I would say, like, the
best species to work with.
It's hard not to fall in love.
- But to make a project like this
work,
the local community needs to be
involved as well.
The answer here is eco-tourism.
This marine reserve is partly set up
and funded
by a diving resort,
which also provides jobs and careers
for local people,
so they don't need to hunt for sharks
to put food on their table.
It's not the full answer, is it?
We can't just keep decimating shark
numbers around the planet,
and think that Nesha is going to be
able to put
all of that life back into the seas.
- We need to turn off the tap, first
and foremost.
But, of course, we can't just be
blanketing the oceans
with no-take zones, without
alternative livelihoods
for the people who actually depend on
the ocean.
So, the fact that zebra shark is a
highly sought after
species for snorkelers and divers,
really is a main driver
why this project is so loved and
embraced by the local community
and government, because it is part of
the
alternative livelihood, instead of
fishing them out.
- It's time to leave Raja Ampat
and set off on the last stage of my
journey across the Coral Triangle.
It's also time to say goodbye to
Nesha.
Nesha!
Farewell.
- Have a great trip.
- Travel safe.
- Thank you.
- Thank you so much for all you've
done,
and all you've shown us!
- It's been a pleasure.
- Good luck, OK?
- Good luck to you!
- So, we're heading out again, back to
sea,
into a slightly wilder, choppier bit
of the ocean.
These are not uncharted waters, of
course not,
but they are for this team.
This boat has never been there,
and we're going to look for the great
giant of our oceans,
the largest fish in the sea.
We're on a hunt, searching for whale
sharks.
My voyage in search of these giant
fish
will take me around the Indonesian
coast of the island of New Guinea.
Three days of sailing should hopefully
get me
to my final destination -
a remote area of New Guinea called
Cenderawasih Bay.
I am ludicrously excited at the
thought
we mightwe might see whale sharks.
Despite their size, whale sharks have
always been elusive.
The legendary Jacques Cousteau only
saw two
in decades of exploring the sea,
and, now, they're even rarer.
The global population of whale sharks
has halved in recent
decades mainly because, obscenely,
they're fished for their fins.
To up our chances of spotting them,
one of the world's top whale shark
experts has agreed to come aboard.
Abam Sianipar is one of the few
scientists
who have conducted research in
Cenderawasih Bay.
We're heading towards the bay.
We're heading towards this hot spot,
really, isn't it?
- Yep.
- It's a bio-diversity hot spot
- Yup.
- ..of planetary significance.
- So, some fish scientists might also
consider this place
as a cauldron of evolution for marine
biodiversity
because, you know, these areas are so
remote
there's very little research happening
around here.
And this area seems to produce more
and more new species of fish
in the year that we studied them.
So, again, yes, it is a special place
for whale sharks,
but for marine biodiversity, it's also
a very exciting place.
- But first we have to get there
..and that means back into the daily
rhythm of life on the boat.
It wouldn't really be an expedition if
anything went entirely to plan.
THUNDER CRASHES AND RUMBLES
It's going to be pretty tricky
spotting whale sharks in this weather.
We're making pretty slow progress now
as well, there's a bit of wind.
I'm just not sure we'll make it to the
area we wanted to get to.
But eventually, the weather picks up.
A few days more pottering along
and we finally make it to the edge of
Cenderawasih Bay.
Within the vastness of the Coral
Triangle,
this is another huge protected
Indonesian national park.
The bay is 200 miles across
..and here is our best chance of
seeing whale sharks.
- No fins, no fins.
- Oh.
- When they travel, they don't always
stay on the surface.
From our last study,
one of the whale sharks dived up to
1,000 metres
inside of the bay,
and from the
- A kilometre down?
- Yeah.
- In the bay?
- In the bay.
- Wow!
- And then that's kind of like also
one of the biggest why,
in kind of, like, the whale shark
communities,
why this, you know, animal does this
dive,
what's down there.
To certain depths people might argue
there might be food there.
But when you go close to 1,000, and
even beyond
..there's basically nothing there.
- Is there any creature on this planet
of such comparable size
about which we know so little as the
whale shark?
- It's still one of the biggest
mysteries.
- Whale sharks can be 18 metres long,
and weigh up to 30 tonnes.
They migrate thousands of miles across
the seas,
but we don't really know why.
Nobody really knows where they breed
or where their babies are born.
We do know they can live to 100 or 150
years old.
That means there could be whale sharks
swimming
Earth's oceans right now
that were born before the invention of
light bulbs!
To try and solve some of the many
mysteries about them,
Abam and his colleagues have set up a
monitoring programme
to photograph and track the whale
sharks of Cenderawasih Bay.
Thank goodness Abam knows one place
where we have a really good chance of
finding them.
What on earth is that structure?
- That is what we call a "bagan".
- A bagan?
- A bagan.
So, a bagan is a lift-net fishing
platform
that the people in the village have
developed to
specifically fish for bait fish, and
also small
Other small fish during the night with
the help of lights.
- So, how come they're here, inside
such a protected area?
- These fishermen have got a special
permit,
both from the national park but also
from the
..the local people, which is the
custodian of theof the areas.
- They're allowed to fish here because
this is a more traditional
form of fishing -
it's not dragging an industrial size
net
- No.
- ..through the entire bay.
- Exactly.
There's some fins just popping up to
the surface there.
- You saw something?
- Just here.
- Oh, my goodness.
It can't possibly be!
Are you serious?
- I think
- There's one waiting for you here?
- Yeah.
- No way!
There's a whale shark here already!
Oh!
- Hello, hello!
- It's the size of a bus!
- Yup.
- This is like a time traveller,
or something from another planet.
I've never been so close to anything
remotely of this size in the ocean.
It's utterly It's just
breathtaking.
- They are quite amazing.
One thing that always captivates me is
also how
how gently they move,
how graceful they manoeuvre their
bodies,
like doing a ballet under water.
- I can't quite believe this.
I didn't think we would actually see
them
..let alone right underneath us.
What a staggering creature.
- Even the biggest one that we've
seen,
I think 7-7.5 metres in length
- Mm-hm.
- ..and we still consider them as a
non-adult individual.
So, probably juveniles,
and they use some areas like
Cenderawasih Bay
as a nursery for them to eat as much
as they can
- Right.
- ..to grow as fast as they can,
and then potentially leaving the bay
when they get bigger.
- Whale sharks come to this platform
because local fishermen here share
their catch.
Because of that, this is one of the
only places on the planet
where scientists can monitor large
numbers of whale sharks.
Abam and his colleagues have put
satellite tags
on dozens of these giants.
They're running the largest whale
shark tagging project in the world.
They also take photos to identify and
record sharks.
They each have a unique pattern of
spots.
This is astonishing.
I know you need to do some science,
rather than me just getting a lump in
my throat looking at them.
What do you want to do?
- I want to get in the water with
them.
- Oh, my God!
HE LAUGHS
Oh, my God!
And by any chance, do you need
somebody to, you know,
hold your camera?
- Sure, of course!
- Well, I'm game.
Let's get in the water.
- Let's do it.
I think we try to avoid them as much
as we can.
I try to maintain a distance, like,
three metres
- OK.
- But of course, they are swimming
around.
Sometimes they creep up on your back,
we can't do anything about it.
But we'll just try our best.
Three, two, one
- Whale sharks aren't hunters like
some of their shark cousins.
They're not interested in me.
They're more like vacuum cleaners,
filter feeding and sieving plankton
and small fish
through their huge mouths.
Their teeth are tiny,
and their throats can be just the
width of a 10p piece.
The visibility around the platform
isn't amazing,
so you don't see them coming from far
off -
they just emerge almost out of the
gloom,
and then suddenly this enormous,
ancient, prehistoric,
present-day, other worldly alien
creature
is coming right at you
..and I absolutely bloody love it.
Abam's work is shedding new light on
the life of the whale shark.
Here in Cenderawasih Bay,
there's thought to be a population of
around 130 of them,
mostly juveniles.
Some live in the bay, while others
come and go.
For some unknown reason, all the
sharks here are males.
Where the females go is another
mystery.
It's early days, but the project here
is one of our best chances
of finding out more about these
magnificent creatures
and protecting them.
And it's all made possible
because of the local Indonesian
fishermen
who have, for years, fed the sharks.
Nerdin has fished on this bagan since
he was a boy.
What do the whale sharks mean to you?
You do feed them quite a lot of fish,
don't you?
Why do you give them so much?
I've reached the end of my voyage
across the Coral Triangle.
This miraculous corner of our world.
I've learnt how this little-known
wilderness
is vital to life in the wider ocean
..and I've seen on this journey
how its crucial local people are
involved in preserving it.
Nerdin and the fishermen here are an
inspiring example
of how people can live alongside
nature,
cherishing it without over-exploiting
it.
How do you feel?
I saw you smiling as you were feeding
them.
As you're putting food almost into the
mouths
of these enormous creatures.
What an amazing place to end this part
of the journey,
with Nurdin on his fishing platform
giving away great big boxes of his
fish to the whale sharks!
I absolutely love it.
HE LAUGHS
Bloody brilliant.
You really are.
Next time
LOW GROWLING
There are lions going past my tent!
..I'm crossing one of the world's
great deserts
..on an epic hunt with the legendary
trackers of the Kalahari.
Man, this is intense.
Coo!
- Coo!