All language subtitles for Brazil Coastlines Series 1 2of5 The North East 720p

Our journey continues
in Brazil's Northeast,

along the shores of seven states,

with almost 1800 kilometres
of remarkable discoveries.

BEAT OF DRUMS

In the Parnaiba river delta,
Albert will take us crab fishing

in the mangroves.

In Fortaleza, Raimundo battles
to stay afloat as a fisherman.

Near Natal, camels have become
the kings of the Genipabu dunes.

In the estuary of the Mamanguape,

Thalma watches over
the last populations of manatees.

In Olinda, the wonder of Pernambuco,
Silvio makes Carnival Giants.

In neighbouring Recife,

there's a maracatu performance
in Marco Zero Square.

And on the coast of Alagoas,

we explore the culture
behind the iconic sugar cane.

Our first stop is on the border

between the states of
Maranhao and Piaui,

between the dunes of Lencois
and the delta of the Parnaiba.

EVOCATIVE STRINGS MUSIC

On the east coast of Maranhao,
about 100 kilometres from Sao Luis,

lies the amazing landscape of
Lencois-Maranhenses National Park.

Between January and July,

seasonal rains collect in
the valleys between the dunes,

forming beautiful lagoons.

The 90,000 hectares
of sand and lagoons

are home to several herds of goats.

They are owned
by the hundred or so people

who live in two oases
in the centre of the park.

Long ridges of dunes sprawl along
the northern coast of the Northeast,

protecting the hinterland

and sometimes forming
natural freshwater reservoirs.

Dune ridges can also be found
on the estuaries of major rivers,

such as the Parnaiba.

The Parnaiba delta, one of
the largest in Latin America,

stretches for almost
3000 square kilometres.

It is an archipelago
of a hundred or so islands,

set in a maze of rivers
and watercourses.

In the delta are many ecosystems
of great biological richness.

One of the most important
is the mangroves.

Typically seen by rivers
on tropical coasts,

the mangroves are a nursery
for many fish and crustaceans.

Fishing for crabs in the mangroves

is one of the delta's
main commercial activities.

It focuses on the island
of Santa Isabel.

BOAT ENGINE

An aquaculture engineer,

Albert is developing
a sustainable development scheme

for mangrove crab fishing.

He knows the delta well.

This morning,
Albert is meeting a catador,

a crab fisherman,
from the Ilha do Caju,

an island 40 kilometres north-west
of the port of Tatus.

To venture into
this extremely humid environment,

a good mosquito repellent is a must.

The smoke should keep
other insects at bay.

But insect bites are the least
of Julio's worries.

Catching mangrove crabs isn't easy.

The fishermen need to reach
70 centimetres,

and sometimes a metre,
into the mud,

and risk cuts to their fingers.

But for Julio, crab fishing
also has one important advantage.

Out of this miraculous mud,

the fishermen can collect
up to 80 crabs a day.

But for a long time, the profits
from this natural bounty

passed them by,
so they decided to organise.

The catadores are the first link
in a long crab-industry chain

a link the local government
is keen to support.

Every year, 20 million crabs
are shipped out of the Delta,

mainly to the State of Ceara,

but half of them
are spoilt en route.

Our next stop is Ceara
and its capital, Fortaleza.

And beyond that, the coastlines of
Rio Grande do Norte and Paraiba.

The State of Ceara, with its
600 kilometres of coastline,

is famous for its beautiful beaches,
still untouched by mass tourism.

In Fortaleza, the beach stretches
for over 30 kilometres.

The low-rise, poorer suburbs
are still right beside the sea...

with the city's industrial sites
right behind them.

But for decades, most of Fortaleza
has been reaching for the sky.

In this city of almost four million,

luxury high-rises
have replaced waterside villas.

Some of the coastal suburbs
are now coming under pressure

from real estate developers.

One of them is Mucuripe,
home of the jangadeiros,

who still use the traditional
fishing boats

known as jangadas.

Raimundo has sailed in one
since he was eight years old.

On the beach at Mucuripe,

the upturned hulls of the jangadas
are everywhere,

although some would love
to see them go.

Eustogio, a lecturer,

knows the history of
the fishing community very well.

WISTFUL SLOW GUITAR

Even though they were forced out
of their old homes,

the fishermen still keep
their jangadas

and their fishing gear
at the port.

Raimundo is very sad about this.

The jangadas, symbols of Ceara,
are very basic craft.

Their design has hardly changed
since colonial times.

The native Indians used to fish

on tree trunks
tied together with vines.

These designs, combined with
some of the tools and techniques

of the Portuguese settlers,

evolved into today's jangada.

Jangadeiros have always stood out
from other fishing communities.

With no bays to shelter in,

they confront the open sea and its
many dangers, without instruments,

relying on their own knowledge
of local conditions.

Many jangadeiros earn less than
the Brazilian minimum wage.

UP-TEMPO GUITAR

GUITAR CONTINUES

GUITAR FADES OUT

Having turned aside
from traditional fishing,

Fortaleza and the State of Ceara
now rely largely on tourism,

with the coast
as a principal drawcard.

LYRICAL FEMALE CHANT

Ceara is popular
with lovers of wind sports.

Kite surfers come from
all over the world

to enjoy the African trade winds

that blow over
the state's idyllic beaches.

CHANT CONTINUES WITH RHYTHMIC DRUM

Driving sand buggies in the dunes
has also become very popular,

together with horse riding.

Further south, the beaches of
Rio Grande do Norte

are every bit as beautiful.

Rio Grande do Norte, a small state

occupying Brazil's most
north-easterly point,

is often called
the 'esquina do continente',

the corner of the South American
continent.

But... in the famous dunes
of Genipabu,

Rio Grande do Norte
looks more Middle Eastern.

ARABIAN MUSIC

And the occupants of Cleide's
stables have a lot to do with it.

It was in the late 90s that
Cleide and her husband Philippe

decided to rear camels,

animals that are far from
native to Brazil.

The highly successful
Dromedunas Project

is known throughout Brazil.

There are more and more camels

and these days
you can't imagine the dunes

without a camel train.

LIVELY BRAZILIAN MUSIC

MUSIC CONTINUES TO SOUND OF WAVES

From the top of the dunes,

you can see the towers of Natal,
the capital of Rio Grande do Norte.

Natal was founded on Christmas Day,
1599, by the Portuguese,

who named it in honour
of the birth of Christ.

Today it is a metropolis
of 900,000 people

and straddles the estuary
of the River Potenji.

At the foot of the mighty
Newton Navarro Bridge

lies the Fortaleza dos Reis Magos,

the Fortress of the Three Wise Men,

a city landmark begun
on the day of Epiphany in 1598.

Natal owes its wealth
to three valuable commodities:

the 'blue gold' of seaside tourism,

the 'white gold' of salt
the city is Brazil's main producer

and the 'black gold' of oil.

In all of Brazil,

only the State of Rio de Janeiro
has greater oil reserves.

100 kilometres south of Natal
lies the State of Paraiba.

Close to the border are the salt
marshes of the Baia da Traicao,

the 'Bay of Betrayal'.

A 15-kilometre stretch
of rocky reefs

protects the mouth
of the Mamanguape River.

This natural sheltered bay
became a hub of commerce

that was keenly disputed
in the 16th century

by the French, the Portuguese
and the Dutch.

The Mamanguape estuary
and its surroundings

now make up a vast environmental
protection area

covering 16,000 hectares.

Its shallow coastal waters,
a mix of freshwater and salt,

are home to a colony of manatees,

the large herbivorous marine mammals
sometimes known as sea cows.

The Mamanguape estuary owes
its large manatee population

to the Manatee Project.

Founded in 1980,
the project has only one goal:

to protect the manatee.

Thalma heads its operations.

A number of animals, like Zelinha,

have been fitted with GPS tags
on a kind of belt.

This one can be spotted
from a long distance!

Manatees can be up to
five metres long

and weigh one-and-a-half tonnes.

But despite their size,
they are also docile and friendly.

This made them easy prey
for hunters,

but it also makes them
easy to monitor.

To find this third manatee,

Thalma and her team
need to leave the estuary

and travel upstream into
the vast stretch of mangroves.

Altogether,
it covers 6000 hectares,

the highest concentration of
mangroves

in the whole of Paraiba.

Thalma may be proud:

it is estimated that
several hundred manatees

now live unmolested in the estuary,

the highest concentration
of manatees

on the entire coast of Brazil.

Our journey south takes us next
to the capital of Paraiba,

Joao Pessoa.

Joao Pessoa is one of Brazil's
most vertical cities,

a construction industry paradise.

Fortunately, the law now prevents

the construction of high-rise
buildings right on the sea-front...

but not audacious projects
like the Tropical Tambau hotel.

At the other end of
the immense curve of Tambau Beach

is another landmark...

the Estacao Cabo Branco
cultural centre,

a design by the legendary Brazilian
architect Oscar Niemeyer,

who also designed the main buildings
of the federal capital, Brasilia.

Nearby is the Cabo Branco
lighthouse,

built on the Ponta do Seixas, the
most easterly point of the Americas.

Next is the State of Pernambuco,

with its twin cities
of Olinda and Recife,

followed by our last stop,
Alagoas.

The State of Pernambuco

is named after a tree
that yielded brazilwood.

In the 16th century,

this wood became one the Portuguese
colony's earliest exports.

Fort Orange, on the southern tip
of Itamaraca Island,

was built by the Dutch, who invaded
Brazil for the second time in 1630,

specifically,
the coast of Pernambuco

and its then capital, Olinda.

Olinda was one of the very first
Portuguese settlements

in South America.

The Dutch conquerors plundered
the colony and burnt it down.

But, just like
the Santo Antonio church,

erected in 1581 and rebuilt in 1720,

Olinda was rebuilt by the Portuguese
in the 18th century,

and most of its buildings
date from that time.

UNESCO listed Olinda's
historic centre

as a World Heritage Site in 1982.

Olinda is also famous for its
Bonecos, or giant carnival dolls.

First made in the 1930s,
they are the highlight

of one of the Northeast's
largest carnivals.

And since the 1970s,
their father has been...

Silvio.

In the course of 40 years,
Silvio has made 900 dolls

in his workshop
in the historic centre of Olinda.

The origin of the dolls

can be traced back
to 13th-century Portugal,

where the giant figures
are said to have first appeared.

Silvio has made some improvements
to the traditional design,

for example, he replaced clay
with polystyrene,

which is lighter
and easier to handle.

That reduced the weight
of the three-metre dolls

from 50 kilos to just 15.

His work testifies to his passion
for Carnival.

BOISTEROUS CARNIVAL MUSIC

BOISTEROUS CARNIVAL MUSIC

During the festivities, the dolls
'dance' to the frevo, a brass band

that is usually accompanied
by acrobatic dance moves.

WHIMSICAL BRAZILIAN MUSIC

Olinda's sister city, Recife,
took over as state capital in 1837.

What was originally
a modest fishing village

in the shadow of
neighbouring Olinda

has become the country's
fifth-largest metropolitan area.

Recife is Brazil's second most
important centre of medicine,

a major industrial port, and home
to a small Silicon Valley.

It is a rich city, albeit with
a great deal of inequality.

The city wants to project
an image of modernity,

as epitomised by the twin towers

built on the waterfront
of the historic centre.

The original Portuguese settlement,
known as Old Recife,

was a village on an island
a stone's throw away.

Neglected until the early 80s,
it has been rehabilitated

and is now one of Recife's main
leisure and cultural centres.

It hosts the famous
Coluna de Cristal

by the artist
Francisco Brennand,

and his Sculptures Park.

The history of Recife began
in Marco Zero,

as Rio Branco Square
is often called.

It's where Shacon likes
to celebrate the legacy

of an African-inspired style
of Carnival music and dance:

the maracatu.

Candomble, one of the main
Afro-Brazilian religions,

underpins maracatu and gives it
a spiritual dimension that Shacon,

a master in maracatu,
considers essential.

But you don't need to be
a follower of Candomble

to enjoy maracatu.

LIVELY BRAZILIAN MUSIC

There are now at least
60 maracatu groups in Pernambuco,

proof that behind
the glass and concrete,

the soul of Recife
is still vibrant.

MUSIC GIVES WAY TO FAINT SURF

We end our journey
in the State of Alagoas,

near Japaratinga.

The idyllic beaches belie one of
the highest poverty rates in Brazil.

Since the early days of the colony,

sugar cane has dominated
the local economy,

and it still generates
a large part of the state's income.

Sugar cane pervades the landscape,

growing right to the edge
of the coastal cliffs.

Deep in the countryside,
a long way from urban centres,

the cane is harvested
in the traditional way.

The preparations begin at night.

CRACKLE OF CANE LEAVES
CATCHING FIRE

Veteran cane grower Geraldo is
used to the sight of fields of fire.

Because of the rugged terrain
and also for economic reasons,

harvesting machines are not used
on the Wanderley plantation.

In this very poor State,

the sugar cane harvest
is an important source of jobs

for a vast unskilled workforce.

Without it, they would probably join
the ranks of the shantytown dwellers

in coastal cities.

So, with a look back at the faces of
those we've met in the Northeast,

we close the second chapter of our
journey along the coast of Brazil.