Original subtitles

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.