All language subtitles for Steve Backshalls Extreme River Challenge Series 1 2of2 BBC 1080p HDTV EN Sub x264 AAC MVGroup org

(intense music)

Look at this place.

Simply breathtaking.

Welcome to New Guinea.

The worlds largest jungle island.

One of the most remote and unexplored parts of our world.

It's very intimidating, potentially very dangerous

but also one of the most exciting places on the planet.

Running from it's mountainous heart,

over 500 kilometers, through pristine wilderness,

wild gorges and tropical jungle out to the sea.

Is the mighty Baliem River.

I was expecting it to be big,

but I wasn't expecting that.

No one's ever traveled the full length

of this untamed river before.

We've managed to turn a simple side trip

into an absolute epic.

I'm Steve Backshall.

I'm a naturalist and adventurer.

It just looks like there should be dinosaurs everywhere.

I want to explore the river

and discover more about the remarkable variety of worlds

through which it travels.

Ouch shoot!

It's home home to ancient tribes.

I want to see how they're coping with the modern world.

When they're in mourning,

they will cut off their own fingers as a sign of grief.

I'll be searching for

some of the worlds scariest animals.

It was basically eating its way through the village.

And exploring a vast,

uncharted underground world.

Now that is impressive.

But the Baliem is so inaccessible,

that the only way to uncover its secrets

is to travel it's length from source to sea.

We are committed now.

By any means possible.

It could give us a unique insight into the one of the last

truly wild places on Earth.

Where the hell are you taking us Aldo?

I don't know mate.

Or it could be a journey,

too far.

Oh no.

(intense music)

We're half way through

our five-week expedition into the heart of New Guinea.

This bit's really slippy.

Expedition safety expert Aldo Kane and I

are scouting out the next section of our journey.

The toughest and most dangerous part of our trip,

the dreaded Lower Gorge.

This is very much the crux Of the expedition.

If we're gonna be able to travel the Baliem

from source to sea, this is the breaking point.

Our expedition has brought us to Papua,

a province of Indonesia that makes up

the western half of New Guinea.

Our plan is to travel by boat from here to the sea.

The river drops down a vertical mile

in the space of less than 100 kilometers.

And oh crap.

That gives me the willies.

This was supposed to be the dry season,

but we've had unseasonal rains

and we're worried the river will be in full flood.

This part, the gorge, just fills me with terror.

Our aim is to kayak

the Baliem lower gorge,

80 kilometers of death defying white water.

Crashing down through impenetrable rain forest

before it reacher South Gap, the end of the gorge.

From here, the river winds 200 kilometers

through lowland jungle into the land of the Asmat.

A tribe famous for their recent history

of headhunting and cannibalism.

Finally our expedition will end at the Pacific Ocean.

(intense music)

We're hoping to meet remote and potentially hostile tribes

and to see some of the extraordinary wild life

that lives along the banks of the isolated Lower Gorge.

I was expecting it to be big, but I wasn't expecting that.

That's impossible.

Once you get further down into that gorge,

for the next however 80-odd kilometers it is,

there's no way of getting out.

You can see behind where the gorge actually starts

and the rock wall come in, they get tighter and tighter,

the river constricts and all of the volume of water

is intensified, and so it's flowing at a steeper gradient

with an increased volume, and it is gonna be even more

challenging than this.

If you paddled into that you would definitely die.

It's clear we can't begin here.

We'll have to hop over this section

and begin deep inside the gorge.

Which means resorting to a helicopter.

It's a compromise to the pure expedition I wanted,

but with hundreds of kilometers of river left,

there's still plenty of exploration ahead.

Coming down through here seeing somewhere so

extraordinary, so beautiful.

I think either we can be the first people ever

to come down here, it's mind blowing.

We're scanning the banks

for a place we can land and finally start kayaking.

This section of the gorge we'll be going into before

no one's ever attempted it, there is no decent map.

The river is one of the wildest,

most potentially lethal on Earth.

But we've got a world class kayaking team.

Lead by New Zealander, Jordy Searle.

Down here, Owen says,

by far the most isolated I've ever been.

10 kilometers down stream,

we finally find what we're looking for.

So from here on in the water is, well it's epic,

it's massive but it looks doable.

Our team is four kayakers

and a camera crew.

Plus 100's of kilos of camping and filming gear

packed into two inflatable rafts.

And now, we're on our own.

(light music)

Rides just a nice big positive strokes.

(light music)

Our first paddle strokes

on the Lower Gorge.

It's as exciting as it is daunting.

This river has so many different changing faces.

Even here in the gorge it's changed completely.

And now we're heading down into this fantastic gully.

There are creepers and vines covering all of the trees.

It just looks like there should be dinosaurs everywhere.

But instead of pterodactyls flying over your head,

we have Hornbills and Parakeets.

This is one of the most extraordinary places I've ever seen.

The rampaging river makes much

of the gorge completely inaccessible.

The surrounding forest are doubtless filled

with unknown animals and remote tribes.

It's incredible to think we're the first outsiders

ever to kayak here.

Maybe even to see this place.

But as we head around the next corner,

the river changes character.

Oh this looks massive.

Ahead, the biggest rapid

we've yet faced on the Baliem.

As the river carves its way down the canyon,

it hits a wall of limestone,

forcing it to turn right.

Getting trapped in that would be very bad indeed.

So this is it, this is bigger than anything

I thought I'd be taking on on this river.

And if I pick the right line, it'll be great.

And if I mess up, it's gonna be horrific.

I've got this zing of adrenaline I'm just shaking,

my hands are kind of going.

(water crashing)

Barney, Steve, me.

Kayaker Barney Young's going first

to pick the route.

Jordy and I will follow.

On his tail Steve.

Barney's paddling straight

into the middle of the river,

trying to keep the small gravel island on his left.

To give him a fighting chance of keeping clear

of smashing into that wall.

He makes it, but I've been caught out

and I'm heading completely off-course.

Damn it.

Jordy steps in.

Alright, big fury glide.

Watch your speed.

We power back into the main current,

paddling frantically,

trying to avoid the horror of the wall.

But the colossal volume of water hurtles me toward the rock

threatening to crush me,

then suck me down into the whirlpool.

Ahhh!

Paddle, paddle, paddle.

A wave hits me side-on.

I capsized.

Battling to roll back up.

Paddle, paddle, paddle, yes!

Paddle, right behind me.

There's no let up.

I still have to get across the river to Barney.

Paddle, lean forward and paddle.

If I don't make it, I could end up being

swept downstream into the next set of rapids.

Ahh, holy crap!

Oh my god, oh my god.

Bro, I'm not gonna lie,

I thought you were gonna swim in the end man.

I'm gonna remember that for the rest of my life.

I have just taken the biggest hit of adrenaline.

My entire body is shaking.

There was a moment there where I hit that wave

bouncing back off the wall and it flipped me instantly

and I was underwater thinking,

do not come out of your boat here.

To be pinned against that wall with all this water,

you wouldn't stand a chance.

It was a close call,

now it's the turn of the rafts carrying the camera team

and all our gear to brave the rapids.

They need to follow our route

and keep well away from the wall.

Flipping here would be disastrous.

(intense music)

The first raft just misses the wall.

But the second one hits it head on.

Before flushing them clear,

battered and shaking.

(heavy breathing)

The rapids are endless.

An island midstream is a chance to regroup.

Well this actually isn't supposed to be an island.

We're supposed to be joined up with the river bank here

but because the flow is so high,

there's a river flowing both sides of it.

There's a stump that should be on dry land.

And is completely overwhelmed.

Barney's pushing ahead

to scout the next bend.

And what lies beyond it.

Well so far, we've managed to handle everything

the rivers thrown at us.

But you just never know what's around the next corner.

And his radio report brings bad news.

[Barney on Walkie] It's all pumping into the same turn

And then it looks like it just

drops off the face of this Earth.

Up ahead is the wildest white water

any of us have ever seen.

That's horrific.

This river is just not gonna give it up easy.

Totally unpaddleable

Not a chance we're getting down that.

The river just drops into a huge maelstrom

of like big holes, big crashing waves,

like dwarfing anything we've seen so far.

And if one small mistake is made in here,

there's no way to recover,

like you're going straight into that next section.

(intense music)

Once again,

we've hit a section that we can't kayak.

We're trapped.

But flood levels like this do at least give an insight

into the rivers destructive power.

It could just take away these mountain sides.

And that, of course, is what's created the Baliem gorge.

The sheer force of the water

tumbles rocks downstream,

grinding away at the bedrock,

scouring out the river channel.

It's erosion at its most powerful.

When it's in full flood, it has the power

to move along boulders that are the size of cars.

It's a mighty, yet sobering, spectacle.

Dusk is starting to fall.

We're exhausted, beaten and bruised.

Decisions on what to do next

will have to wait until tomorrow.

(light music)

(thundering)

It's been raining for six solid hours quite heavily.

River's come up, by now the meter, or maybe more.

Not only can't we continue downstream,

but we can't get out of here either.

What was solid about five hours ago

craziest white water in the world

just got bigger and crazier.

So we're stuck.

The bad weather means

we can't call for a helicopter.

So for the next day, at least, we're trapped here.

(light music)

But it does mean I get a chance

to have a proper look around.

(light music)

I have to say this is one of the

prettiest patches of forest

that I've ever spent any time in.

And all these splashes of color,

these blooms like this, seem even more fragile

when they're along side that massive, torrential river.

Orchids like these

thrive at the river-side.

You get these incredible displays of color.

And that, very much, is designed to attract the pollinators.

Just in here is a paper nest which has been made

from chewed-up tree bark and wasp spit essentially.

And gathered around it are a whole host of wasps.

So a fair few times working in forests like these,

I've brushed into nests like this

and got stung a couple of times and just kinda swatted

the wasps, and when you do that they release a pheromone

which smells like ripe bananas and it's an attack pheromone.

It convinces all of the others to start stinging too.

And you end up charging for the nearest body of water

with your arms flailing around all over the...

Ow shoot!

I just seriously went against

working with wasps and bees rule one.

I must spend so much of my life telling people,

if you're near wasps and bees don't swing your arms

around all over the place because it agitates them.

And that's really spicy.

Ow.

(laughing)

With no sign of the weather improving,

Aldo and I decide to make the most of it

and try and find one of the elusive tribes

that live out here.

And the signs are promising.

Look at this.

It's a hunters hut and I can still smell

that damp ember smell.

Which means that this fire is relatively recent.

The dominant tribe in this part of Papua

are the Yali.

There villages are found in the wild lands

that surround the Baliem gorge.

If we can find one of their villages,

it'd be a real key.

So if we look around here, there's bound to be a trail

that heads up there and I bet anything

that there's a village somewhere in the hillsides above us.

With their own distinct language

and culture, many of the Yali live their lives

shut away from the outside world.

Finding a trail to their village is easier said than done.

Is that yes?

Yeah.

Certainly not as well used

as the stuff that we've just come through.

Yeah, it's maybe not used that frequently

but it's definitely, definitely a walkway.

I'm not convinced if I'm honest mate.

Nope.

T-shirt or something there.

Or rag.

Well, this is the path.

I'd imagine we'd zig zag up onto this ridge line here.

This old hunters trail is over grown,

and little used.

It's a struggle to cover any distance, and painfully slow.

It's thick isn't it.

(light music)

The occasional chopped down tree

is another trail marker.

That's been cut with a tool.

Signs the Yali have been here.

The terrain gets steeper and steeper.

It's humid, sweaty and slippery.

Even the wildlife seems to be taunting us.

I just walked into the mother of all spiders webs.

And this is the culprit.

She is Nephila.

A Golden silk orb web-weaving spider.

She's a reasonable size.

But they can get to be enormous.

This incredible spider though I guess

it looks extremely creepy,

is harmless to use as human beings.

The webs are strung across

the open paths to target flying insects.

But have been known to catch small birds and even bats.

She'll inject them with enzymes that liquefy their insides

and suck out the meat soup.

Alright, I'm gonna her back on this leaf here.

See that long thread of golden silk.

For its size and for its diameter, it's stronger than steel.

As I'm out front,

I'm the one walking into all the webs.

And I am trussed up in it properly.

It's all in my hair.

Gross.

(somber music)

After hours of struggling up-hill,

we break out of the trees.

But it's not the Yali village we were hoping for.

Oh now that is a view.

Wow.

Pristine.

It's not often in the rain forest that you pop out

and get a view like that.

Usually you're just completely encased in this

dark green cavern.

And all of a sudden, seeing this...

It's amazing to think

that this was once a sea bed.

Marine fossils in the rock prove it.

Over the last five million years,

these layers of ocean floor

were lifted up to form mountains.

Then rivers like the Baliem got to work.

Carving out deep valleys.

Being here gives you a real sense of quite

what it is that we've taken on here, you know.

The river is an absolute beast

but the second you come away from it

the forest is even harder.

We've taken three and a half hours to get here.

And we are about a kilometer away from where we started.

Only 200 meters in height.

Only 200 meters in height.

And massive mosquitoes.

Massive, massive mosquitoes.

It's 4:30 now so it's gonna be dark

in just over an hour or so.

I don't think we're gonna get to that village, do you?

No, there's no way.

We made have utterly failed

to find the elusive Yali village on the ridge line,

but it's given us a different perspective on the river.

And the landscape that it shaped.

There's no water up here.

We can't really camp up here comfortably

so we're gonna have to head down and fast

otherwise we're gonna be sliding down those slopes

in the dark and that would be very unwise.

I think we'll end up in the dark anyway.

Sure enough, as soon as we drop back

under the dense canopy, the light fades.

(intense music)

The jungles so difficult to navigate in,

in daylight, never mind night time.

Keep your wits about you.

The trail was tricky to find before,

now in the dark, we quickly lose our bearings.

First thing you learn about being in the jungle

is don't fight the forest.

Move as slowly, carefully and easily as you can

because otherwise you're gonna become a cropper.

The only way on is to head down

towards the roar of the river.

Alright, nice and gently guys, really gently.

If you fall, shout, keep your legs together.

Everyone just be super careful you don't lose sight,

that's a big drop so maybe push on to the left.

We're in the nightmare scenario now.

Can't see the track.

Nothing really to hold onto.

(yelling)

Careful mate, careful.

Where the hell are you taking us Aldo?

I don't know, mate.

We've managed to turn a simple side trip

into an absolute epic.

Everyone's exhausted and we're going for much too long.

Just be super careful,

I can't see how steep it is here.

The river's getting louder, we're getting closer.

But we've no idea if we're about

to walk into our camp, or the rapids.

I can see the water now.

Oh thank good for that.

Yeah, sorry.

It's always an epic moving at night in the jungle.

It's been a huge,

physically draining day.

(light music)

I am beat.

At first light, the cloud cover

is still hanging over the valley.

The chance of a helicopter rescue is looking unlikely.

The river doesn't look particularly good for it

but everything kinda hinges on us

getting out of here this morning.

Low cloud and rain is not on our side.

But then we get word, the chopper is on its way.

(intense music)

The daredevil pilot has ducked in beneath the clouds.

We have only minutes to tear down camp and load the gear

in case the clouds close in again.

Cannot believe I'm back in a helicopter again.

Our aim is to make a short hop

over this impassable section.

But below us, the river has risen again.

Every minute we're in the air,

we're flying over more of the river

we'd like to paddle and explore.

We scan the gorge,

desperate for water we can actually paddle.`

Nearly 15 kilometers pass below us before we find a place

the heli can set down.

The river's still a raging torrent,

but the hope is that we can paddle from here

to the end of the gorge at South Gap.

We're just very very lucky that the helicopter

could come to our aid and bring us down here

because where we are now, we can start again.

There is still a lot of river left.

A lot of river, like probably 300 kilometers of river left.

As we stop to make camp,

faces emerge from the forest.

They're a Yali hunting party

that has been following our progress from a distance.

I think it's the village that we tried to walk

to yesterday and failed dismally.

But they've come to us.

Their hunting trips can last weeks.

But it hasn't taken them that long to find us.

At last, we've come face to face with the elusive Yali.

They're are intrigued, I think is the word.

Intrigued and interested as to what we're up to

and what we're doing here.

But then, more Yali arrive.

This time with weapons drawn.

New Guinea has huge mineral reserves.

It's home to the world's largest gold mine.

And the third largest copper mine.

But the exploitation of these resources

has often been at the expense

of ingenious people and their lands.

First 20 seconds when he came striding over here

with his bow drawn and a look on his face like thunder

was genuinely scary.

Once they realize

we aren't here to steal from them or from their land,

the mood lifts.

It has an incredible spiral thread

running down the length of it.

Oh wow so that's beaten out of a kind of thing of fuel.

Basically a fuel can that's been beaten into an arrow head.

There's not supposed to be any crocodiles here.

So another 10 kilometers or so down stream

we're gonna hit crocodile country.

The hunters live

a hand to mouth existence.

Catching what they need from

the jungle and the river to survive.

(light music)

It's a tough life.

This man has a nasty machete wound to his hand,

you think you can do anything with it?

Absolutely yeah.

Expedition medic Aldo,

strips away the old rags and moss

they've used as a dressing.

You can see there it's...

It's actually just the skin, it doesn't look like

it's gone done into the tendon there.

The main thing is to clean it up and dress it.

The nearest medical help

is many days away.

It may sound like an exaggeration but a wound like this

out here would definitely get infected.

So Aldo with just a little bit of modern antiseptic

and cleaning and dressing

could actually have saved this guys hand.

These Yali hunters don't seem interested

in heading for a new life in the towns

or working in the mines.

These jungles are home.

The next morning is potentially our last in the Lower Gorge.

(light music)

This felt like the finest king-sized bed in history.

Oh look at that, breakfast in bed.

We're now on the final stretch

of the Lower Gorge.

(light music)

We start early.

The river gets wider and slows.

We're leaving the mountains behind.

And then ahead, we can just make out the smoke of a fire.

South Gap.

We've arranged for motorized longboats to meet us here

to take us on to the coast.

(light music)

When I think about what we've done

over the last three weeks,

the territory we've been through,

the amount of distance we covered,

it's epic, you know.

We've already done something massive.

Clouds are rolling in and the mountains

are gonna disappear pretty soon.

Just one last look.

The long stretch to the coast

would take weeks in kayaks and there's the small matter

of the monster crocs.

Only Aldo and I will continue south to the sea.

The river team will be heading back to civilization.

(singing) I go down to the river tonight.

We got through

the wild water in one piece.

As did a guitar, which they smuggled all this way.

(singing) On down, to the river we ride.

(plays guitar)

(cheering)

This is probably the last chance I have

to splash around in the river like this.

Much downstream of here and we're in croc country.

This is the last leg of our journey.

We've 200 kilometers ahead of us.

Through croc infested swamp, home to the Asmat people,

renowned warriors and once famous for being

headhunting cannibals.

Before our goal, the Pacific Ocean.

As we travel further downstream,

the landscape and the river change.

We're now meandering through lowland jungle.

(light music)

This is one of the last huge unspoiled rain forest

left on Earth.

It is one of the most bio diverse forests there is

on the entire planet.

The amount of species living here is extraordinary.

(birds chirping)

It's a massive colony of flying foxes, giant fruit bats.

And they are truly giant.

The wing-span is well over a meter.

These bats are the largest in the world.

There must be four or five thousand bats in this colony,

it's absolutely huge,

it goes all the way back into the forest.

And although they look like giant vampire bats,

actually they're feeding on fruit.

These are incredibly important animals.

They're one of the most vital disperses

of seed in the rain forest.

So much of the trees in the forest

that we're seeing around us is made possible

because of bats like this.

After two days traveling through jungle,

we get our first glimpses of people living by the river.

We're in the land of the Asmat.

Many of the Asmat remained uncontacted at the end

of the 20th century.

They're are probably wild corners that have yet to meet

the modern world.

They've lived here for a staggering 30 thousand years.

But how are they coping with the 21st century?

What impact is it having on their ancient traditions.

We're just pulling into a village called Yaosakor.

This is the first settlement that we've actually seen marked

on a map for about 10 days since we left the highlands.

This looks like the traditional longhouse up ahead.

There are Asmat villages

scattered all through the jungle.

But Yaosakor is one of the largest.

(speaks foreign language)

The prize is forgetting how the people of this village

make their living and what their main food source is here.

The village is built on two-meter

high stilts to protect the houses from river floods.

With raised walkways connecting private dwellings

and communal buildings.

The longhouse is the traditional center of the village.

Where the elders hold important meetings.

As we've seen throughout Papua, elders are the most

respected members of the community.

Guardians of their culture.

Ernes is one of the village elders.

The river is at the heart of everything they do.

They come from the river and when they die,

they go back to its source.

The river may be a vital part of

Asmat life and culture, but it's murky waters

hide real life monsters.

The saltwater crocodiles that live here

are the largest reptiles on Earth.

Quite often actually crocodiles are seen as a symbol

of great power and there's sorta respect for them.

Here in this village that's definitely not the case.

The crocodile is pure evil.

Just seven years ago,

the village was terrorized by a huge crocodile.

Oh my goodness.

That's the biggest croc skull I've ever seen in my life.

This is from a saltwater crocodile.

Which is the biggest species of reptile,

the biggest species of crocodilian.

Look at the size of those teeth there.

This was a nearly five meter long crocodile.

I kinda quite struggled to lift it with my hands.

But look how broad the skull is.

A crocodile like this could weigh three quarters of a ton.

It's often said that these rivers in New Guinea

have the largest crocodiles in the world.

And this proves that that is absolutely true.

17 people.

And then one of the people here killed it with a spear.

Just like that one.

It was basically eating its way through the village.

When it was alive, this would have been a true monster.

It really does bring it home how difficult life must be

in a village like this.

Knowing that every time you go out to the waters edge

there could be something like this waiting.

For though saltwater crocodiles

are legally protected here,

the Asmat are allowed to hunt

and trade them in small numbers.

Obviously it's sad that an animal of that size

has been killed, but at the same time if you live

in a place like this and an animal takes 17 of your

friends and family from the river,

then obviously you've gotta kill it.

(thundering)

As the heavens open,

the Asmat all come together.

Normally the longhouse is men only.

But today the whole village is here to sing, dance

and share their ancient tales.

To help celebrate the village gathering,

a feast is being prepared.

And this time it's not crocodile.

But one of the villagers own pigs

that's about to be slaughtered.

(beating drums)

The pig will provide enough food for all 12

of the village clans.

And Aldo and I are honored to be included.

Before the feast begins, some what incongruously,

the village head says prayers.

Missionaries have been converting the Asmat

and other Papuan tribes to Christianity since the 1950's.

The missionaries persuaded many tribes to leave behind

headhunting and cannibalism

Although much of Yaosakor is normally Christian,

traditional Animist beliefs are still the dominant force.

Their traditions run deep, often Christianity

has simply been incorporated into their older beliefs.

Beliefs that everything in nature

possesses a spiritual force.

(drumming)

The drumming continues late into the night.

The elders singing ancient Asmat poems

which can last for many days.

It's quite late now in the longhouse.

And the drumming finished a little while ago

but there's still lots of people milling around,

sitting, chatting, sitting around fires.

And this will go on all night long I guess.

I'm probably not gonna get an enormous amount of sleep here.

But it's one night in a lifetime

so I'm just gonna enjoy it.

(people chatting)

The Asmat's main contact

with the outside world has been through art.

Their carvings are treasured by

anthropologists and collectors.

Beyond Yaosakor, the Asmat region is a morass

of tangled forest.

Most settlements are just a few shacks.

If the modern world was going to change the Asmat anywhere,

it would be here.

But life in Yaosakor continues

as it has done for generations.

You have to travel 100 kilometers

to get any signal for that phone.

It seems to me, a few tin roof society,

the modernity hasn't got much appeal.

My new friends say they like things just the way

they've always been.

We're now just hours away from completing our month-long

500 kilometer expedition.

From the central highlands to the Pacific Ocean.

Four weeks ago we were studs

up at Habema, the source of the Baliem.

At it was a trek, a hop skip and a jump across it.

And now coming to the sea at the end of the journey

some four weeks later and it's four or five kilometers wide.

Look at the size of it.

There's no doubt our journey

has been a challenging one.

It's proved to be much tougher than I ever imagined.

And things have rarely gone according to plan.

The history of exploration of expeditions

is a history of cataclysmic failures.

Even the very greatest of explorers

had impossible challenges, you know,

Shackleton and Scott probably the two best known

British adventurers, are best known for their failures.

And in those terms, actually this has been a success.

We have traveled from the source to the sea

and been the first people ever to do it.

Admittedly, more of that has been done in motor boats

and helicopters than I would have chosen.

But I think it is the nature of expeditions

that there are going to be challenges.

And if there aren't, then it probably doesn't

qualify as a expedition.

Finally, our goal is in sight.

(dramatic music)

It's the sea.

After everything we've been through,

all the challenges we've had,

to come down here, all of a sudden it kinda feels like

every single bit of it has been worthwhile.

This was all about doing the first ever source to sea

of the Baliem river.

It was all about the challenge but it just become

so much more than that.

It's been truly remarkable

to get an understanding of just how this mighty river

has breathed life into this corner of the world.

To see how it's shaped the landscape,

created a habitat for unique wildlife.

And how it's made a home for the ancient tribes

who thrive along its banks.

This place is always gonna have a really special

part of my heart, and look at that.

(dramatic music)