Deadliest Journeys

Bolivia is a country ravaged with torrential rain, flooding and landslides. It is no surprise that after all the money the country has spent on safe roads, it has turned out worthless. We trek into the depths of the Bolivian Amazon where a family of harvesters are collecting shells from giant almond trees. Their lives are constantly at risk from the threat of snakes, tarantulas and falling shells.

The bravest drivers in Cameroon are named the "Clandos". They drive illegal taxis and are the only ones who are brave enough to navigate the country's dangerous road networks, some of the worst on the African continent. Only 2% of the roads have been asphalted. All of the country's inhabitants rely on the Clandos' taxi services, they have no other choice.

In the south of China, in the Guizhou province, mountains cover 90% of the land. Within these mountains two of the regions most vital and abundant resources are found: bamboo and coal. Both are essential for industrial development, revenue, construction material and food. However, the only way to bring these materials to the masses is to transport them down the mountains' crumbling cliff sides.

In Katanga many people are waiting for a train named after a bird, the "Swallow". More than 2000 people, three times the train's capacity, are squeezing in the carriages. Conditions are precarious in the "Swallow", which crosses the whole country in more than a week. But the 1600km are difficult for this 50 year old bird. The rails aren't well maintained, and accidents are frequent.

When the Congo gained its independence it had the best road network in central Africa, but the situation has deteriorated and today only 2% of roads are paved; during the rainy season many parts of the country turn into a muddy bog. We follow the nightmare journey of the delivery drivers as they try to ship their produce around the country through the mud to feed the country that relies on them.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Caribbean. 5 years after the earthquake which hit Port-au-Prince and the surrounding areas, the effects of the catastrophe are still being felt. To cross the country, there are only dirt tracks. Travelling the 80km that separates Gonaïves and Môle Saint Nicolas in the North-east takes up to ten hours. There is one bus which makes the journey.

To reach the inhabitants of this isolated place, drivers go through great danger: they face the Pamir mountains with their huge glaciers and extreme temperatures. The altitude, more than 7000 meters, has defeated the armies of the most fierce conquerers. It's a no man's land where only the most daring will survive nature's wilderness.

In Mongolia former jade hunters have been reduced to a tough life since mines have been shot down. Their other source of income remains cattle farming. During the transhumance whole families have to travel in extreme conditions. A third of Mongolian population is nomad. But journeys are risky. Nomads have to cross iced rivers or narrow roads at 2000 meters high facing cold and blizzard.

Locals in the Amazon watch the forest disappear thereby forcing them to gather wood in dangerous conditions to make a living.

Suriname is found at the heart of the Amazon: a country of jungle. At 163,000km squared, it is a sixth of the size of France, covered in dense, green forest. There are few roads and some tracks and large rivers: floating motorways where canoes serve as cars and trucks. To travel from one village to another, you don't hit the road, you take the river... And its temperamental waters.

We are in the Quan Hoa mountains in the Northwest of Vietnam. It is one of the poorest and most isolated regions in the country. Here, most of the inhabitants live on less than a dollar a day. However, this province possesses an inexhaustible treasure: bamboo. Some of it is transported on makeshift rafts assembled in a few hours and sent down the twists and turns of the tumultuous river Luong.