to the northeast of the South American continent lies a unique World Guyana [Music] Guyana is a small country with an unrivaled variety of Landscapes and [Music] Wildlife with less than 800,000 human inhabitants it has plenty of room for nature [Music] Guyana has three very different ecosystems each with its own flora and FAA to the Southwest lies the broad Savannah to the north the coast permanently threatened by the ocean between them seemingly endless r rainforest about 80% of the country is covered by pristine forests guyana's green [Music] heart crisscrossed by rivers and waterways here indigenous peoples
live between nature and the modern world many indigenous peoples work to protect their environment and secure the homes of the jaguar and the Hoy [Music] Eagle one single Road Links Guyana with the rest of the continent it extends almost 500 km from the capital Georgetown on the Atlantic coast to the border with [Music] Brazil halfway along it reaches the eso [Music] River the first ferry crosses at 6 a.m. [Music] more than 1,000 kilom long the esao is one of South America's greatest [Music] Rivers this is an untamed Waterway a frontier between civilization and wilderness its
many Rapids make it almost [Music] unnavigable in the dry season they're constantly dredging to clear it of [Music] so around 90% of guyan live on the coast only a few dare to to Brave the interior for guyan too this road is the last great adventure men from the local Villages keep the fairy running every driver carries spare wheels and extra fuel tanks on his roof they're about to enter pristine rainforest I'm Michael Davis the head Ranger at the UK River Lodge and I'm from one of the local communi called too Village Mica belongs to the
makushi tribe most of the police come from the capital but the Rangers are usually local indigenous people together they check out The Travelers Micah is especially on the lookout for poachers they shoot animals for food the police are looking for Smugglers Contraband this is a checkpoint 300 km into the country's interior on the far side is the Ewok protected area the name means refuge in the makushi language it's one of the Earth's last four completely pristine regions of rainforest and one of the oldest protected regions of Guyana its 4,000 square km are home to huge
numbers of plants and animals many are endemic found nowhere else but in iwokrama [Music] for humans the heart of the region is the echol lodge it combines ecotourism and research the goal is the sustainable use of the forest the project is managed by guyan mostly with indigenous Roots makushi Wana and arrow wh work together to preserve their Homeland training in management Hospitality or as Rangers gives local youngsters a start in the jobs Market the jungle around the echo Lodge is a Haven for South America's most famous Predator the Jaguar is king of the jungle but
it's not so easy to find prey on the forest floor because life thrives in the canopy where everything reaches up towards the light with wings or good climbing skills has an advantage like Poes or New World porcupines trees loaded with fruits and flowers may be few and far between a hummingbird needs to know exactly where the nectar can be found fruit bearing trees attract animals from far and wide red-faced spider monkeys swing through the canopy in search of sweet fruit their long arms and prehensile tails make them excellent climbers as they follow an older female
who knows just where to find the right trees no human could reach these tasty yellow [Applause] fruits some canopy animals never descend to Terra ferma down here a Jagua territory often extends to several hundred square kilm he's picked up a scent Jaguars don't chase their prey they slink up and strike from cover a Brocket deer can weigh up to 35 kilos this one would feed the Jaguar for several days if he can catch it the bite to the neck is typical a Jaguar's Jaws are so powerful they can crack open a toris shell but only
one in every three attacks succeeds pray this big is worth all the effort he'll take it to a safe Hiding [Music] Place Ranger micer is now on his way to ATA Lodge an offshoot of iokr this Tourism Center is where the canopy walkway starts [Music] 30 m up the suspended walkway passes through the forest canopy and this is one of our platform that we normally come in the morning or in the afternoon during the day so in terms of viewing board you can come and like spend hours here checking at the top of the trees
because what happen um as you walk along in the forest you don't get to see the top of these big trees so being on this platform you can have a a better view of the the canopies of the trees these fruits when they um when they're fruiting is the best season to look for monkeys because T to come like close around on these trees um you have got a view of the different species of monkeys passing kind of keep the the harpy Eagle's Nest is well hidden in a capo tree in the first months of
an eet's life one of the parents is always always close by to the Well's most powerful Raptor a careless capucin monkey is tempting prey every 3 days the eaglet needs several kilos of meat relying entirely on the hunting skills of its parents looking after themselves their partner and the chick doubles the workload of each of the adults the parents deliver their prey Birds sloths aosom or monkeys even in the canopy the supply is limited the adults will look after the eaglet for 2 years until it can fend for itself the eagles need big territories eok
Kama can accommodate just 50 breeding pairs there is a curse on this country huge amounts of gold and diamonds in the earth soon after Dawn at a trading post along the river Mike has a rendevu so here we are um chin Landing this is one of the main um entry points for a lot of um poers and illegal activities happening the o reserve so this is chin Landing so we're waiting on some um ggmc officer to join us I will be heading down the to check make a check on where these activities normally happen the
national mine inspectors travel with a police escort they're on a dangerous mission with them is Dr Raquel Thomas Caesar she's one of the directors of e Kama and a nationally known conservationist this is Chinese Landing we're waiting for ggm see at 7:00 so we got a little time okay Rael knows this team from earlier missions the Guyana government issues permits to Prospectors but only for short periods and strictly limited areas illegal gold miners are suspected in this area The Joint Mission begins they travel along the borders of okama to a small tributary the ceroni powerful
outboard motors are needed to progress against the current they've been on the move for more than half an hour with no real idea of what awaits them [Music] they' be met by gunfire in the past will there be resistance this time the atmosphere is tense nothing this place has only just been abandoned maybe the gold diggers were warned get Landing with this crossover the P oh they got p Ah now this makes sense so we walk and then we the camp on the other side of the river is outside eama but it has no permit
and so it's illegal they must confront the gold miners these men know perfectly well they shouldn't be here but the desire for easy money is too powerful what they can do they can bring in other officers break down the camps app uh confiscate equipment and so on and by using those might to take away the expensive equipment and so on hope to cut their limbs in terms of what they're doing here but as you can see here this is like a huge mess this is like in the buffer zone this is a huge Devastation here
we can't use an aggressive approach because we also don't want to put ourselves elves at risk we don't want to put our staff at risk speaking to them negotiating and so on there were many more miners here a lot of them have left so I think we've made progress so can we can start them out too helping to bring them in partners in crime you don't have a so we farther than this B I know I know I I know you I anyway I got to go okay see all have a good day nice talking
to you nice talking to you the mission has been only moderately successful once again the authorities break up the Gold Miner homemade rths by confiscating the barrels they sto them crossing the river at least for a while [Music] Rael Micah and their team will have to come back again and again gold prospecting destroys the humus layer for a long time nothing is left behind but Baron sand it'll be years before anything can grow rainforest is being destroyed here too but the traditional slash and burn technique of the indigenous tribes is very different Farmers fell the
trees and burned the undergrowth but only over a small area and for a short time so the humus layer is not removed the farmers can still use this land Ash fortifies the soil and works as a fertilizer today I start plant most Farmers live from what they can grow cassava sweet potatoes melons most we do it in the morning it so we come asleep here about 6:00 morning or 5:00 we wake up early before the sunrise this farmer belongs to the Wana minority he owns his land all over Guyana indigenous communities live in protected settlement
areas covering 15% of the country their ancient land rights are protected by modern laws this is unique and not only in South America I we plant they ho and things so when the Sun get hot we just go in and cool out until afternoon about 5:00 again when cool this kind of farming doesn't destroy broad areas of forest as in other countries when he gives up this field after a couple of years the jungle will soon fill the Gap secondary Forest will grow in its place first grasses and Pioneer plants that seek the light then
fast growing trees and shrubs will take over typically Palms bushes and short-lived softwoods like copia after 3 to 5 years there'll be no sign there was ever a farm here kapia and deer find delicate sweet grasses in these clearings valuable grazing land in the harsh undergrowth this is the abundance of the [Music] jungle snakewood trees and other Pioneer plants have tasty fruits copia leaves soft and sweet a mini Paradise for sloths [Music] but this profusion is brief pioner plants don't live long after just a few years they're ousted by Forest [Music] Giants the farm has
disappeared [Music] the canopy crowns [Music] everything especially here along the river it's hard to know how much forest was farmed [Music] but at the most isolated places you'll find ancient Rock carvings evidence of human presence is this [Music] news are these signposts or perhaps ritual [Music] incantations no one knows what these mysterious signs mean how old they are or who made them archaeologists have found traces of settlements [Music] nearby in Guyana Rivers always were and still are the only way into the interior the River cuts through the [Music] forest a means of [Music] transport and
a way of cooling off [Music] the village of apoi Lies here at the Confluence of the eso and the rupununi rivers aperi is a typical rainforest settlement with a prosperous past and an uncertain future until the 1980s aotter was a main center for the production of balata balata is the hardest less elastic cousin of rubber the collectors would roam the pristine Forest looking for trees to milk bat trees don't grow in plantations during both world wars Bata was an important alternative to rubber compressed into balls it was exported to Britain and used to make Drive
belts to sheath cables and in peace time to make golf balls well into the 1960s Bata flew out of Guyana but now it's been replaced by synthetic Rubber and is no longer used industrially [Music] years ago balat was a a money making thing and now balat they don't bleed balat anymore but now I still want to bleed balata because I I am making like little handicrafts like this for viven is one of the few people who still know the techniques of bat production Bata trees live very long their location is passed down from generation to
generation once a network of paths LED between the trees there's no real danger in the woods Jaguars are usually shy of people Vivan only finds occasional traces this is where the jagar scratch it's a very big cloud he must be around somewhere theat trees grow slowly they can reach up to 30 m high with a diameter of up to 1.3 M oh he got some nice trees like I have to bleed here I might have to strap up one time Vivian's equipment is old and primitive but it works he inherited it from his father and
his changed nothing the wood of the bat tree is so hard the guiones call it bullet wood termites don't like it and it's so heavy it sinks in water the milky white sap starts to flow as soon as the bark is pierced Bata hardens without heating above 50° C it becomes soft again and at 150° it melts indigenous guanin made drinking cups and jugs from the Sab and they still use it for local arts and crafts a natural local product sustainably produced industrialization has replaced Bata with cheaper and more versatile Plastics with the end of
the balata Boom aeri faded into insignificance most of the population left today this Village deep in the rainforest has scarcely 300 inhabitants Jerry Milton remembers the busy days of his childhood I want to tell you about the history of aperi Jerry knows where to find traces of the boom days [Applause] has left from the very long time you spin this to press the ball just put the ball on here and it spin to press to compact the ballot this was the um the old sa the bank where they used to store all the money that
they make from the balata so that's the bunk that's the sa okay this this was the um a was a swimming pool and it used to be big time in aper you know in those days people used to be here and there used to come a big you know with their girlfriends and things like that since those days it has become rather less convenient to visit aperi it takes several hours of travel up River to get [Music] here but Jerry wants to stay at least a little bit longer he earns a living as a tour
guide showing off his homeland [Music] Jerry loves this River and the diversity of its residents the giant otter are the most impressive mammals they hunt fish together the locals call them water dogs biologically they're related to weasels the esao is ideal hunting territory for [Music] them more than 420 species of fish have been identified here the highest density of species anywhere in the world the Arab Pima hold the local record at 2 m long weighing more than 100 kilos its favorite prey is piranas [Music] these are the kings of the river black cayman 6 M
and more long they've caught an Arab Pima and need each other to divide the prey they can't bite bits off on their own apart from that they don't cooperate giant arter are different the adults and the young stay together for several years as a family they're Strong by joining forces they can drive off any Cayman they work together like a pack of skilled hunting dogs especially when defending their territory and they Young they communicate with more than 20 different calls one family will excavate several lays surrounded by their Elders even the youngest come out into
the river the adults share their prey with the young the locals names for them sum up their hunting skills water dogs River wolves and water [Music] Jers the rivers and their tributaries shape the landscape the backwaters are especially rich in [Music] species this is where the black cayman have their nurseries [Music] Cayman build their nests on land the female watches over the unremarkable pile of leaves that hide the eggs [Music] close by boys are shooting fish with bows and arrows really it's a sport looks like fun but the strike rate is low sensibly the girls
use Nets Cayman don't like to be so close to people she leaves her nest momentarily when she hears them and the capuchin monkey sees its chance it's after the eggs the local people like Cayman eggs too there are plenty of Cayman nests along the river banks but this is the wrong one nothing here but empty leathery shell all the young have hatched every adult Cayman instinctively responds to the call of the young the threat worked the young are safe [Music] but there's more to the Jungle than life on the [Music] Riverbanks the village of surama
is in a clearing in the middle of the [Music] rainforest it lies Beyond stretches of dense forest and Savannah this settlement is known for its good schools and its strong sense of community the people see themselves as indigenous and modern they hold their Traditions close once a week all the villages come together to build everyone contributes what they can right now the biggest project is renovating The Village's echol Lodge No One questions the need to work together for the good of the community projects are discussed and agreed in the Village Council it's important that the
work is fairly distributed this isn't the only successful Community project I am Abola aliak age 39 person who born and grow here in this beautiful community of sama I work with the junior Wildlife Club for the past 21 years being a coordinator being a mentor to these students to the to the children of my community so working along with the club is more so a fion on environmental knowledge about what we have and how we can use it in in a wise way and we are able to be doing community based tourism selling what we
have in a way that we would have less damage to our environment and there we earn we can earn Finance set on the floor we have a plan and I'm happy that we have a plan and I'm happy that you're here to listen to the plan and we will come out and work and share and happy and merry and everything right this is one of the wildlife club's field trips to the Buu Buu River so in all I would like to move on and have the children learning the importance of the environment and how important
is the environment to them so that when they grow up or they become older they can respect the environment as I try to do learning from my parents grandparents and the fellow community members here in s [Music] the river is part of the Sur region and the villagers have taken the rainforest and the Animals here under their protection there are no more Villages Upstream the community will give no one permission to create a a new Farm or cut down [Music] trees the forest along the river must remain intact a sanctuary for nature and Wildlife [Music]
[Music] and the forest surround Sama are full of life just waiting to be discovered deep in the jungle there are still traces of abandoned Farms that offer luscious fruits all year round they attract plenty of hungry herbivores like these kinker and that means opportunities for a Jaguar too it's after capucin monkeys height May mean safety but that can be deceptive the important thing is to keep moving if you want to escape the Jaguar a predator's life is not easy the odds are always on the side of the prey especially when the prey is Young and
agile Jaguars are excellent climbers but the monkeys are usually faster settlements like surama deep in the forest give Predators another Choice old ill or inexperienced Jaguars try their luck closer to people chickens or dogs are easier prey but making that choice too often can end fatally for a Jaguar since many farmers are armed in surama though humans try to live beside the animals with mutual respect you can avoid a j were attacking you if you get in contact with a Jaguar like you know you're walking and your glance and you keep you get this you
just notice this eyes on you you just keep staring the Jaguar straight in its face don't move and let the Jagua do the first move because if you allow the Jaguar you to move and the Jaguar to keep staring at you you become the loser at the end of the day and then he can attack so once you shy the Jaguar keeping your eyes on him and he do the and away he would keep going his way Tai Ichi is the word for jaguar in the makushi [Music] language just as much as the rainforest itself
this big cat is part of the culture and life experience of every guyan here in the hinterland only time will tell when whether the indigenous peoples can succeed in maintaining their Heritage their culture and the forests and whether Guyana will remain a Homeland for the Jaguar [Music] [Music]
