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The Indian Ocean.

Home to the world's
most exotic islands

and beautiful and rare wildlife.

I'm travelling through 16 countries
around the edge of this vast ocean

that stretches 6,000 miles from
Africa to Australia.

Steeped in history, the Indian Ocean
is vital to world trade.

It's a journey of extremes,
from stunning islands,

across pirate-infested seas,

to remote villages.

GUNFIRE

And war-torn lands.

What was that?

This is a journey about much more
than just what's under the waves.

It's about the lives of the millions
of people who live around this,

one of our greatest oceans.

This part of my journey will take
me across the island of Sri Lanka

to India's east coast
and on to Bangladesh.

I'll be finding out what our love of
prawns is doing to our oceans.

I'm absolutely amazed by
how few fish there are.

I'll be helping Indian villagers who
are fighting to save our seas.

I don't think it's good to be
the tallest person!

And in Bangladesh, I'll see
the graveyard where ships go to die.

Giant ships,

with great huge chunks
ripped off them.

I've only got a few more countries
to visit on my journey,

but I've still got
huge distances to travel,

and I'm starting this bit of my trip
here on a beach on the island

they call
"the Pearl of the Indian Ocean".

Sri Lanka is just half the size
of England, but for centuries,

since before the time of Marco Polo,
it's attracted

Indian Ocean travellers.

With my guide, Delon Weerasinghe,
I've travelled to Galle,

formerly Sri Lanka's main port,
and historically

the first point of entry for
merchants who came here to trade.

There was one thing in particular
that attracted

a lot of the travellers
who came to Sri Lanka,

and Delon's taking me to see if
we can buy some.

Look at this!

So that's cinnamon.

So this,

this is what drew travellers here
from across the Indian Ocean?

And that's why it was,
Sri Lanka was so prized

for the colonial powers came and,
you know, took over Sri Lanka,

because this was the only place
you could get this particular spice.

Cos the spice trade was
so lucrative,

they could make
so much money from it?

Absolutely, absolutely.

Even now,
80% of the world's cinnamon

actually comes from Sri Lanka.

So this is the best stuff? This is.
From the place that it comes from?

Yeah.

'500 years ago, the spice trade
drove European exploration

'of the Indian Ocean.

'The Portuguese, the Dutch and
the British all colonised Sri Lanka

'and fought wars to control
the spice trade.'

The best sticks are the ones
that are most tightly packed,

so this is actually...
I knew you would know!

This is, this is kind of the bark but it's actually
packed with little shavings of bark strippings

that they take from the cinnamon
as they peel it. Right.

And that's what actually makes
Sri Lankan cinnamon quite unique,

when you look at it.

I'll just have just two sticks,
let's put that one back.

We take spices for granted now,
but just imagine

how it would have transformed
the bland European diet.

Mmm, I'm looking forward to this.

I'll grind it up,
and put it on my porridge.

Today, of course, you don't have to
travel to Sri Lanka to get cinnamon,

but the country's still attracting
the attention of foreign powers.

We're going to get a train
around the coast, and guess what?

We're late!

Here we go, is that a...?

This one looks all right, yeah.
Here we go.

Yeah, this one?
Let's get in this one, yeah.

This way? Through here.

'Sri Lanka's railways were
originally built by the British

'to transport tea.

'The country became independent
from Britain in 1948.'

TRAIN WHISTLE BLARES

He likes using the old whistle, eh?

People like to
walk along the train track,

so this is one way of letting them
know the train is coming.

WHISTLE BLARES

Today, there's a new superpower
showing an interest in Sri Lanka.

We headed along
the island's southern coast

to a new port called Hambantota.

Oh, I'm lacking a platform.

All right? Yeah.

So, just over the horizon there
is one of the most important

shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean,

one of the big east-west lanes that
takes tens of thousands of ships

across the sea every year, including
something like 4,500 oil tankers.

Much of the crucial oil is heading
for China,

along Indian Ocean shipping lanes

that carry vast quantities
of world trade.

Their proximity to Sri Lanka makes
the island strategically vital.

China is flexing its muscles
in the Indian Ocean,

and, controversially, it's financing
an enormous new port here

that may one day host
Chinese naval ships.

I think standing up here
you really do get a sense

of the scale of the project,
of the ambition of it,

because the ship over there,
a couple of miles away,

that's near the entrance to
the harbour, and the plan is for

the harbour to extend almost all the
way up to where we're standing now.

We're talking about something that's
the size of a town,

that is going to be carved out of
southern Sri Lanka.

And if all goes to plan, this will
become not just one of

the largest ports in South Asia,

but one of the largest in
the whole world.

This is just one of a series of
vast port projects around

the Indian Ocean that mark a major
Chinese expansion into the region.

Chinese investment has
contributed to Sri Lanka

having one of the fastest growing
economies in Asia in recent years.

But the boom here comes at a price.

Sri Lanka is home to
a unique type of elephant.

There's only a few thousand left
and they're now endangered.

Across the island, the elephants'
habitat is being taken over

by people who want to use land
for industry or farming.

It's an issue affecting
wildlife around the Indian Ocean.

I went to visit the elephant
transit home, which looks after

elephants orphaned
or injured by humans.

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

That is a demanding toddler!

I arrive just in time for lunch.

Here comes another one
racing in for food!

There are several dozen elephants
here, and even a youngster

can drink more than
40 pints of milk a day.

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

'Deepani Jayantha, from the UK
charity the Born Free Foundation,

'took me to see a new arrival.'

Hello.

Oh, this is Namal.

Look at its back leg.

So, found trapped.

Trapped? Yeah.

He was caught in, literally in
a trap or a snare,

something like that?
A snare, yes, yeah.

Usually these snares are set for
the bush meat. Right.

And it's sad that little elephants
get trapped.

So, people will try and set little
traps to catch,

I don't know,
small deer or something... Yeah.

..to put food on the table.
Yeah, wild boar.

But in this case, look what's
happened to this little ellie.

That is the cost of the human-elephant
conflict here, unfortunately.

'As the human population around
the Indian Ocean rises dramatically,

'wildlife numbers are plummeting.

'200 elephants are killed in
Sri Lanka every year by humans,

'but this project treats elephants

'and returns them
to a protected area.'

ELEPHANT PURRS

Now, what was that noise?

I think he likes the company.

He knows that he's got attention,

so I think that's communication,
saying hello.

Yeah.

ELEPHANT PURRS

SHE PURRS

ELEPHANT PURRS

You're talking with him,
does that work?

Sometimes!

SHE PURRS

I'm not even sure where
that's coming from, rrrrr, rrrrr!

It doesn't sound quite the same.

I'm going to try my own version
in my own dialect, OK?

Rrrrrrrrrr.

Go more guttural.

Rrrrrrrrr, Namal!

I think a chocolate biscuit might
work rather better. Namal!

Despite Namal's injury,

the hope is that one day,
like all the elephants here,

he'll be well enough to be released
back into a national park.

ENGINE STARTS

Until recently, Sri Lanka
was gripped by a savage civil war.

The conflict was particularly severe
in the far north of the island,

which has been off limits to
foreign visitors for years,

and is still difficult to reach.

I headed to the city of Jaffna.

The civil war was fought between
the Sri Lankan government

and militant group known as
the Tamil Tigers,

who wanted the creation
of a separate state

in the north and east
of Sri Lanka.

We've arrived, it's late, it's dark,
so we're going to head to a hotel

and then, tomorrow,
we'll have a look around the north.

The weather is,
it's very disappointing.

Yeah, if only
we could have English weather!

Oi! Sorry about that!

Less of that, less of that!

If we had English weather, we'd
just have a nice, light drizzle.

We can't let a bit of rain stop us,
we need to see Jaffna.

Most people in Jaffna are Tamils,
who are mainly Hindus.

They form around
10% of the population of Sri Lanka

and have endured decades of
discrimination

at the hands of the majority
Buddhist Sinhalese population.

Increasing tensions between
the two groups led to riots

and the outbreak of civil war
in 1983.

During the conflict, both the Tamil
Tigers and the Sri Lankan government

committed appalling atrocities.

The war claimed up to 100,000 lives,

and ended with the violent defeat of
the Tamil Tigers in 2009.

Look at what has happened
to the buildings.

They're just covered in dozens
of bullet holes.

Pockmarked.

The roof on most of this
is completely gone.

'Even schools in villages around
Jaffna were bombed.

'Locals here are still living
amid ruins.

'Ameneka from Save The Children
took me to a makeshift school.'

Oh, look at where they're
studying at the moment!

Good morning!

Good morning, sir!

Good morning! Vanakkam!

A cuter sight it would be hard to
find on Planet Earth!

'But the curriculum here is
dominated by the legacy of

'the island's violent
recent history.'

I joined the children for
a lesson they have twice every day.

Can we ask all of you, have any of
you discovered any landmines

or anything that looks like a bomb

and you've had to alert
your teachers or the authorities?

He found one of these? Good God!

And do you know what it is?

Shell. Shell.

Shell? Artillery shell,

because it's got
the size next to it, 64 inches.

I mean, it's a whopper of a weapon.

So, did you, did you pick it up,
did you touch it at all?

No? Cos you knew not to, didn't you?

Thanks to the teachers
at the school.

I think as much as anything that
really brings home to me just,

just what's happened in
this country,

just what's happened in this,
in this region.

Imagine if British children
had to be told every single day

about the dangers of landmines

and about the risks of them
having a leg or an arm blown off.

It's almost impossible to,
to contemplate.

Landmines and bombs
are slowly being cleared away,

but there's clearly an urgent need
to reconstruct homes and buildings.

It's now really bucketing down,

and this is why
they need a proper school.

You can't have lessons outside
in this sort of weather.

Save The Children is helping to
rebuild this area of Sri Lanka,

and new schools are a priority.

The war's ended and reconstruction
is under way, but there are

still many unanswered questions
about how the Sri Lankan government

crushed the Tamil Tigers in 2009.

Helped by Chinese military aid,

and shielded by Chinese support
at the United Nations,

it seems clear government troops
committed serious war crimes,

including targeting civilians.

It's something
the Sri Lankan government denies.

But this has become
a dangerous place to ask questions

or criticise
the country's leadership.

As I prepared to leave the island

and continue my Indian Ocean
journey,

I passed through the capital city,
Colombo,

and visited the offices
of a campaigning newspaper called

The Sunday Leader.

We've been attacked
nine to ten times.

We had a group of about 25,
30 armed people coming in vehicles,

forcing themselves in.

They got the security

and the staff who were printing
to kneel down at gunpoint.

They brought gasoline,
poured it around the machine

and set fire to it,
and asked them not to move.

So they burnt your printing presses?

They did.

'Lal Wickrematunge is the outspoken
managing editor of The Sunday Leader,

'which regularly criticises
government politicians.'

He and his staff have suffered
threats, attacks and beatings.

They blame the government
for their harassment.

In January 2009, in the final stages
of the civil war,

Lal's brother, Lasantha,
the founding editor of the paper,

paid the ultimate price for
speaking out.

He was killed not far from here
when motorcyclists,

in total black outfits
with black helmets,

waylaid him and shot him.

He was assassinated,
he was murdered?

He was, he was murdered.

'Just a few days before he was
killed, Lasantha wrote an article

'in which he predicted
his own death.'

It starts with the headline
"And Then They Came For Me",

and it says, "In the course of
the past few years

"the independent media have
increasingly come under attack.

"Countless journalists have been
harassed, threatened and killed.

"When finally I am killed, it will
be the government that kills me."

And that was the last article
he wrote?

Yeah.

It's an extraordinary
piece of writing.

Do you feel that your life is,
is threatened?

The death threats have kept coming,
despite Lasantha's death.

In fact, the last one was just
nearly two weeks ago.

Really?

When the current editor was
sent a death threat.

Why are you still going on, why
are you still publishing the paper,

let alone the articles,
what keeps you going?

Well, that was what
we set out to do,

and if we don't do that, Lasantha
laid down his life for no purpose.

At least 16 reporters have been
killed in Sri Lanka in recent years.

The government denies
any involvement,

but Sri Lanka remains one of
the world's most dangerous places

to be a journalist.

It was time for me to leave
the island and head on.

My next stop was the Indian state
of Orissa

on the east coast of the country.

WHISTLE BLARES

My guide to this chaotic part of
India was Abhra Bhattacharya,

an old friend from previous visits.

The State of Orissa is one of
the poorest in the country,

so there are millions,
tens of millions

of people here who make their living
from farming and from fishing.

'And most of them seem to be
on the same road as our car.'

Whoa, look, there's cars coming
the wrong way down the road!

Get off the road! It's
a dual carriageway going that way!

There are law-abiding citizens of
India driving in the correct manner

that way, on the other side of the
road, and there are numpty muppets

driving giant trucks directly at
our vehicle on our side of the road.

Whoa!

The truck coming at us,
and a van coming,

and then the blue truck coming
the wrong way down the road!

Abhra, what on earth is
going on here?

The road is new
in this part of India,

they don't know how to use it yet.

I think it might be because people here
believe in reincarnation, you know.

They're not that worried
about ending their lives

in a fiery mess on the motorway.

I'm bloody worried about it!

We were aiming for
a fishing port called Astaranga,

to head out into the Indian Ocean.

'It was a long journey, and once we
were off the motorway...'

Here? Here.

'It was time for a pit stop to soothe
nerves after a traumatic drive.'

Abhra, this isn't quite what

I had in mind
when I said about going for a drink.

I'm getting you fresh drink
right from the trees.

What's going on here?
What's he doing?

Well, he's sharpening his sickle.

Who is this gentleman,
what does he do?

He actually gets the drink
for everyone.

What is his
curious little get-up here?

I just grabbed it,
I'm very sorry, I'll put it back!

What's these pots there,
what has he got?

That's the drink, that's
the only source of alcoholic drink

the villagers have around here.

An alcoholic drink? Yeah.

That is, that is somehow
obtained from the trees here?

Yeah.

Oh, dear, I just saw up his shorts!

Don't look, dear viewer, don't look!

What exactly are you doing?

Do you see what happens is
they are chopping off

the upper layer of the bark

of the tree,
and they make small channels.

So they tap the tree? OK.

They tap the tree, and when it's
in the sun throughout the day

it gets fermented. It ferments!

'Once filtered of all the bugs that
have collected in it during the day

'I was assured coconut toddy
makes a delicious drink.'

Oh, my goodness!
Let's give it a go.

Mmm. That's not bad,
it's very good in fact.

Sweet, lightly alcoholic,
I can taste.

Go on, Abhra, try some.
That's good, cheers, mate.

It's really good. It's really fresh.

Oh, drink it all, yes!

What is it about blokes
and alcohol, eh? Argh, yeah!

Cheers there, Captain!
Drink your own drink, yeah!

Very memorable, Abhra, and it's
fantastic to see you again, mate.

After just a few more hours driving,
we finally arrived

at the fishing port.

Hit by the smell of fish.

Slapped round the face by it!

'India is the world's second largest
producer of seafood,

'but these fish are just

'a by-product
of the main business here.'

This is our boat. Which one?
This one.

'I was heading out with men
who catch

'one of the most lucrative seafoods
in the Indian Ocean.

'Prawns.'

Namaste, Captain.

They're trying to manoeuvre
the boat from this cramped bay!

Out to sea!

There are at least 30,000 trawlers
like this

up and down the Indian coastline.

India is actually one of
the biggest suppliers of prawns

to British supermarkets.

Prawns used to be something of
a luxury in Britain,

but a huge increase in prawn fishing
here is one reason

prawns are now just
a few pounds for a bag.

So how, Kilesh, how deep
has the net gone now?

TRANSLATION: It's hit the bottom now.
100 feet down.

So, the net's now 100 foot down,
30 metres below,

and it's basically being pulled
along the bottom of the seabed,

being dragged along by the sheer
power of this, of this boat.

Can we have a look around the boat?

Come on,
come and show us the boat.

TRANSLATION: This room is
for the crew.

So this is where the guys sleep?

It's a very tiny little space,

and actually is this
actually bunk beds, then?

So one person there
and another person there?

TRANSLATION: Five people sleep here.

Five guys can sleep in here?

Whoa! That's a bit...

That's a bit tight, like this!

It's a bit cosy in there!

When you go out,
what's your prize catch?

TRANSLATION: Prawns are
the most expensive.

We get the best price for them.

The others are cheap
and sell for a lower price.

So, you're mainly after the prawns but you'll
bring up a lot of other stuff as well?

Ah-ha.

Like other trawlers, they use
a fine mesh net on this boat

to catch prawns,
with devastating consequences.

The nets will just take everything.

Yeah, of course, it'll be shrimps,

but there'll be
an extraordinary amount of by-catch.

Now, the by-catch is
a crucial issue in the Indian Ocean,

and around our seas globally.

By-catch is the other sea life that
is brought up in the nets

along with the targeted catch.

Prawn fishing is responsible

for a third of the world's
discarded by-catch.

That's tens of millions of tonnes
of marine life

being caught unnecessarily
each year,

most of which is just thrown away,
dead.

After more than an hour of trawling,
it was time to haul in the catch.

You've got these giant barn doors
here which hold the net open

when it's underwater.

They're pulling those in
and the net can't be far behind.

Dragging huge, heavy fishing nets
for miles and miles along the seabed

also causes staggering damage to
the marine environment.

Flipping 'eck,
there's hardly anything in it!

But I found this the real shocker.

After years of being criss-crossed
by thousands of trawlers,

these waters were almost empty
of life.

For decades, bottom trawling nets

have scraped along the seabed
off India,

fishing the seas to death.

The fine nets catch even tiny,
juvenile fish which haven't had

a chance to breed, so fish stocks
never have a chance to recover.

Abhra, does the amount of fish
here surprise you?

Definitely surprises me, of course.

Why?

We were near the breeding area,

we should have got much more
than what we got.

You can see a few of
the prize shrimp in there,

this is what they've really
been after.

'There's such a demand for prawns
from the richer parts of the world,

'that poor fishermen in
this part of the Indian Ocean

'are emptying the sea
to get at them.'

Well, I'm absolutely amazed by
how few fish there are here,

and, and worried as well, frankly,

cos we've dragged a huge net
through the sea

for more than an hour and
this is all that it's brought up.

The next morning, I headed
a few miles along the coast to meet

Tuku Behera, a local conservationist
concerned about

the impact of prawn trawlers on
wildlife around the Indian Ocean.

Oh, God, now that's desperate.

The head of a turtle?

Yeah.

TRANSLATION: I noticed a rotting
smell when we were passing by,

so I thought there might be
a carcass here.

How many dead turtles do you
find along the beach here?

TRANSLATION: Every year,
on the Orissa coast,

about 10,000 to 15,000 dead turtles
get washed up due to illegal fishing.

To make the mortality figures
look lower,

Forest Department bury the turtles.

If we didn't report it to the media,

no-one would know
the turtles are dying like this.

Shall we cover it back up, Tuku?
Yeah.

'Tuku's village sits next to one of
the world's largest nesting sites

'for the Olive Ridley turtle.

'To protect the turtles, trawling is
supposed to be illegal here.'

So what's this,
what are these boats out here,

are these trawlers?

Yeah, some trawler here.

TRANSLATION: They're all trawlers,
and this is a marine reserve.

Turtles have to come up to breathe
every 45 minutes,

but they stay in the trawlers' nets
for four or five hours.

They won't be able to breathe
and they'll die.

'There's no real enforcement of
the law here,

'so Tuku's taking direct action
to protect the turtles.'

What the hell is this?

Ah wait here, wait.

What are these structures, Tuku?

TRANSLATION: We've made
this artificial reef.

We're hoping that fish will come
and make it their breeding ground.

And if people drop their nets on it,
the nets will get damaged,

so they can't do any bottom
trawling.

My God, you know, I can,
there's more of them all around us.

TRANSLATION: We've put about
80 of them in the sea already,

and there are still about 65
left to go.

We're slowly putting them in.

How much do they...

Argh!

How the hell do you get them
in the water?!

TRANSLATION: You can't do it by
yourself. We need lots of people.

Abhra, you get on the front,

I'll get on the back,
we'll do it together, mate!

Come on, everybody!

Argh!

Flipping 'eck!

Argh!

Whoar!

Oh, flipping 'eck!

I don't think it's good to be
the tallest person.

I'm loving this.

These are people actually doing
something to protect the ocean.

SHOUTS AND CONVERSATION

MEN SHOUT

Well, the plan is to tie
both boats together

and then we're going to motor
to the drop area.

'Tuku places the concrete blocks
in a formation designed

'to make trawling in the area
impossible.'

I think he's checking where to
put it on his GPS.

This spot?

Whoa!

Congratulations, Tuku.
Well done mate, very impressive.

'With another concrete block
laid in the water,

'it was time
for a celebratory swim.'

Into the Indian Ocean! Come on!
Arrgh!

Come on, then!

Well done, mate, congratulations,
another net ripper in the water.

Thank you!

It's beautiful here.

I just found out, though, that
despite all Tuku's great work to try

and save the sea off the coast here,

there are plans to build a whopping
great port not that far that way,

with potentially disastrous
consequences for this area.

Along the 300-mile coast of Orissa,
there are plans to

build up to 15 new ports,
one every 20 miles.

I travelled on from India
towards Bangladesh.

I drove north up the
coast to the border.

You see the trucks on the left here
queuing up to get into Bangladesh.

Come here, mate.

Thank you.

Cheers, mate. I hope to see you
again. Safe journey.

Thank you. And have a nice trip, OK?

Thank you. We've still got a long way to go,
our bags are going. I have to follow them.

Bye-bye Abhra!

Bye, Abhra.

Morshed? Yes. Hello, mate.
Hi, how are you? Very well.

How lovely, what a greeting!
Welcome to Bangladesh!

Thank you very much indeed. Yes.

Thanks for coming all this way.
Nice to meet you. Yes.

From the border, I headed
south-east, back towards the coast.

Much of Bangladesh
is a giant tidal delta,

where the Himalayan meltwater
meets the Indian Ocean.

If you want to get around,
you need to find a boat.

Morshed, after you sir.
OK, thank you very much Simon,

let's go together. Let's go. Yeah.
Let's get on board.

My new guide, Morshed Ali Khan,
a Bangladeshi journalist,

was taking me down river
towards the sea.

Here we go, this
will be our home for a few says.

They're taking off the anchor.

Anchor's coming up, engines
have started, we're heading off.

As we headed south, we left
Bangladesh's packed towns behind.

But as night fell,
there was a major disadvantage

in having the only light
for miles around.

Bloody hell,

we've got a few extra
passengers on board.

Oi, quick, quick, quick!

Too many insects!

Oh God, I've got to keep
the door closed.

I've got my pyjamas on,

I've got to get into bed,

too many insects,

so I'm going into the little,

little cabin here.

More like a coffin!

And I'm putting this in
really tight!

There you go, that's how
you survive in the tropics,

with a whopping big mozzie net.

Oh, that's better.

I think maybe I've got to turn
the light out now,

and get you out as well!

LAUGHTER

Goodnight, mate. Night, mate!

'I'd seen in India how prawn fishing
is damaging life in our oceans.'

'Farming prawns, or shrimp, on land
is an alternative to fishing them

'out of the sea, and Bangladesh is
a major producer of farmed prawns.'

See, this is a shrimp processing
plant, this. Just here?

From here it goes to Europe
and America.

It's huge.
There's another over there.

This one there, and others coming up
over there under construction.

So there's four... Four. There's
three here and one just being built?

Yes, yes. And these are all prawn,
shrimp processing plants? Yes, yes.

My goodness.
That gives you a sense,

a real sense of the scale
of the industry here.

I hadn't realised prawns were
so important to Bangladesh.

Yeah, it is very important nowadays
because, you know,

it brings in a lot of hard cash
from Europe and America.

In exports? In exports, yes.

There is another one here behind you
on this side.

My God, they're everywhere!

Bangladesh is perfect for
prawn farming, with vast areas

of low-level land easily flooded
with salt water at high tide.

'Morshed was taking me to one of
the hundreds of farms

'in this part of the country.'

All right, mate?

'But first we headed for one of
the few tall buildings in the area,

'so I could get a better idea

of how widespread prawn farming
has become.'

DOOR CREAKS

This is all for... all prawn farms?

As far as you can see,
all prawn farm, all salt water.

It's like an inland sea.

It's all prawn.

Now they're drying up to treat it
with some chemicals.

To kill off parasites in the mud
or something? Yes.

Around 40% of the prawns eaten
around the world today are farmed.

Demand is so high,
particularly from Europe and the US,

that more than 35,000 prawn farms
now operate in Bangladesh.

The scale of it
is pretty breathtaking.

The prawns are sold internationally

by large firms
and wealthy middlemen,

but they're often farmed and
produced by networks of villagers.

Many were persuaded
to get into the business

by the promise of short-term gain,

or because other farmers
flooded their fields.

Here we go, lots
and lots of giant prawns.

Here is some... black tiger.

This is the black tiger prawn?
Yes, this is what you like most.

SIMON LAUGHS

So here we are,
this is what everybody's after,

black tiger prawn.
It's what the farmers want here

because they get the best price
for this when it goes for export,

because this is what people want
to eat in Europe, America, Asia.

How many prawns can you take out

from your patch of farm area
on a good day?

TRANSLATION: Every year we can get

about 400 kilograms of prawns
from one acre of land.

Are you making a good living
from the prawns then?

No. I have to buy everything,
even water.

What I earn from the prawns, I spend
on the things I need to live.

Have you always farmed prawns
or did you use to farm crops

before you switched to prawns?

I used to grow rice, which was good,

but when everyone around me
leased their land to prawn farmers,

I had to start farming prawns too.

Oh really? Presumably then your land
had been inundated with salt water?

Exactly.

Awash with salt,
almost all the land around here

is now unsuitable for growing crops.

Apart from prawns
there's very little else,

except salty and fertile mud.

Flipping heck,
I'm going to get stuck here!

Let's go that way. That side, OK.

'Prawn farming is an important
industry around the Indian Ocean,

'but it's a risky business

'and once farmers switch to prawns,
it's hard to switch back.'

ENGINE SPLUTTERS

Wow! Wow! Hey!

ALL CHEER
Ha ha!

'Morshed took me off on a local taxi

'to show me what can happen
when prawn farming fails.'

THEY SHOUT IN BENGALI

And tell him not to go round
the South Circular!

Prawn farming puts villagers
at the mercy of powerful middlemen

and fluctuating global prices.

Western supermarkets are always
driving prices lower

so the average village prawn farmer
here earns very little.

But perhaps the biggest problem
for villages is that

after land is flooded with salty
water, farmers are unable to grow

the crops they need
to eat and survive.

This area was being used
to cultivate prawns

and then just a few years ago
the people here decided they wanted

to start growing crops instead,
and they planted rice,

but the rice died.

The reason is,
once you've let salty,

saline seawater on to farmland,
it basically ruins it.

'And that's why some people
in Bangladesh

'wish they'd never switched
to farming our prawns.'

Morshed took me to see one village
that had resisted

the lure of prawns, and the salt
water that comes with them.

Is this it here, Morshed? Not really
a landing point, is there? No.

Oh, flipping heck! You go first
then. OK, I'll go first.

I've got you just in case you sink.
OK.

Oh, my goodness.
Oh, my... Right, shoes off.

Think you were wearing shoes...
Shoes off!

It's fine man. Hang on.

Hang on, I'm coming.

Oh, wow, I'm going down!

This is the stickiest,
gloopiest mud... I know.

..I have ever been in. Yeah.

I can't get my left foot out.

Save me!

Help me out of this.

Morshed, you've a right
approach to life, haven't you?

Do this, do this,
let's have a dance here!

These are happy people here,
you know?

Please rescue us from the mud.

Oh, oo-er!

Thank you, sir.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Ah, look at over the other side.
Yeah, you can see the difference.

So this is rice in the field,
isn't it?

Yes, this is rice,
this is paddy. Food!

Food, you can see all these
fruit trees around.

Coconut trees...
Birds, I can hear birds as well.

It obviously is
a very poor village,

but it has got a real feeling
that there is life here.

It's not dead and sterile in the way
the prawn farming villages are.

This is Rekharani, Simon.

Rekharani? Yes. Hello, Rekharani.

What are you growing here,
Rekharani?

TRANSLATION: We've got mangoes,

we've got cherries,

we've got lots of different
kinds of fruits.

We grow vegetables,
pumpkins and lentils.

We grow crops all year round.

Why do you not
want to farm prawns here?

Why have you, why are you
farming like this, instead?

People who have turned
to prawn farming

now have to come to us
to buy vegetables.

Even to buy water.

That's why we don't want
to farm prawns.

If we didn't let them
use the water from our ponds,

they wouldn't have any water
to drink or to cook with.

When people start prawn farming
in this low-lying country

the salt water can get everywhere,

polluting any sources
of fresh water.

So this is one of the crucial
differences, of course,

with the prawn farming villages,
because they can use the water here,

not just for cooking, but also
to put on their crops, to grow food.

You can't do that
if you've converted to prawns.

If you convert to prawns,
you've got salt water,

it's no good for anything, really.

Except, for growing prawns.

Trawling for cheap prawns
is harming the ocean.

Farming cheap prawns often damages
the environment on land

and can blight the lives
of villagers.

Supermarket prawns in the west are
much cheaper than they used to be,

but some people here in Bangladesh
are paying a heavy price.

It was time to explore
the rest of Bangladesh

and we headed east.

Bangladesh is a beautiful country
and one of my favourites,

yet it doesn't attract
many tourists.

But further round the coast,
we stopped off at Cox's Bazar,

Bangladesh's great hope
for an Indian Ocean resort.

There's an amazing amount
of development underway here.

Big hotel going up there,
hotel going up here,

at least one hotel over there.

The place is basically
a building site.

Oh, my God!

Look at this.

Now that is definitely what
you want to see

when you're coming in
to a beach resort.

It may not have the finishing
touches in place, just yet,

but Cox's Bazar has one very
big advantage

when compared to
other seaside resorts.

Wow!

It's the starting point for a beach

that stretches for 70 miles
down the coast,

making it one of the longest
in the world.

I'm very impressed, Morshed.
Very impressed. Yeah.

I've been on a good few beaches while we've
been travelling around the Indian Ocean

and this is spectacular.

What's going on here?

Ah, this is one of the
watersports we have.

Cox's Bazar is home to Bangladesh's
first surf school,

run by Zafar Alam.

Hi, Zafar.

How are you? Ah, this is Simon.

All right, Simon...
Lovely to meet you.

You've got warm water,
easy, easy waves to learn on.

A good place to start surfing? Yes.

I have no idea, man,
what you are talking about.

I have never surfed in my life!

I give you 100% guarantee,
one minute surfing

you can stand up.
I give you 100% guarantee.

100% guarantee? Yes!
That's a pretty good deal! Yeah!

What about for Morshed?
What about for me?

Yeah, same thing, same thing.
Same? 100% guarantee?

Yeah, same thing. All right,
we'll take you up on that, mate.

Whoa!

Much to my surprise,
I managed to stand up,

albeit on some pretty
tiny waves.

Morshed gamely
had a good go at it.

But, clearly, he had
a dodgy surfboard...

..and was up for a refund.

This is really not
my cup of tea man!

I'd better do it in the bath tub!

It's a lot of fun

and a lovely little treat,

as we near the end
of this part of the journey.

I'd like to catch a few more waves
but I think we should get in

and get on the road.

We headed a short way
along the coast to Chittagong,

Bangladesh's second city.

It's a massive port
and connects the Bangladeshi economy

with the rest of the world,
via the Indian Ocean.

What on earth?!

Can we stop, can we stop?
Look at this!

Come on, let's go
and have a look. Yeah.

This is bizarre.
Come on, Morshed. Yeah.

Lifeboats!

They've got hundreds of them, but
they stretch down the river here.

It's like a car park for lifeboats.

So where are these from?

Ah, some of these
are from the ships

which are being broken here,
ocean-going ships.

Look, there's one here, Portsmouth!

It's a big industry in this
part of the world, Simon. Yeah?

But here the end of life ships
from around the world are recycled.

When they're about 35 years old,

they're sent here to be dismantled,
piece by piece.

You can see one of the pieces here,
there are a million others.

I'd heard that every year hundreds
of enormous ocean-going ships

from around the world are brought
here to Chittagong to be scrapped,

but the Bangladeshi government doesn't want
outsiders to see what's happening here,

and we were warned we might be
arrested if caught with cameras.

We're entering
the ship breaking area now

so we're going to have to turn
off our cameras and hide them away

until we get onto our boat.

I was keen to see
the ship breaking yards

so we came up with an unusual way
of getting closer.

We're on a boat,
but we're actually on land.

We're being pushed on our boat
across super-slimy mud

out to another boat that we're going
to take up and down the coast.

We're reliably informed
it is actually in the water.

The owners of
the ship breaking yards

won't allow TV cameras
onto their beaches.

But getting our own boat meant
we could see the wrecked ships

from the sea.

We're having to be a bit careful,
another boat has come up to ours.

I think, just to take
some clothing off,

but we're just trying to make sure
they don't see our large cameras.

CONVERSATION IN BACKGROUND

MORSHED: OK, we're coming.

The guys were getting
a bit jumpy and concerned.

When we got out onto the water,

it soon became clear
what the fuss is about.

Bloody hell!

This is a really awesome sight,
isn't it?

Giant ships with great huge
chunks ripped off them.

My God, look over there, they've
peeled away the side of the ship.

The scale of this
is just incredible.

But the... the whole of the back
is off this one and this one,

and then there's more stretching
out into the distance,

we can see dozens of them.

Look at all the oil
in the water down here.

Black gunk floating
on the surface.

There's no question,
it's coming from these ships.

Every year, scores of
tankers and container ships

are deliberately rammed
onto this ten-mile stretch of beach.

It's a filthy
and highly dangerous business.

The workers descend on the ship
and start to tear it apart.

What do they use? They use
blowtorches, hammers, axes,

anything they have.

Hundreds of them, even children
are employed here, you know.

And is that one of the reasons
why people aren't happy for us

to film it from shore, because
we'll see the children working?

That's right, that's right.

Children working and workers
dying, every now and then.

Sometimes they fall off from a height
of a six-storey tall building.

Sometimes they're crushed under
heavy metal falling on to them.

Sometimes they are suffocated
inside a gas chamber.

So people are... there are accidents here
fairly regularly then by the sounds of it?

Very regular accidents, very regular.

About eight people die a month.

Each month? Each month.

But that's hundreds
over the recent years, then?

Yes. Good God.

Yet in a poor country
like Bangladesh,

thousands of people are willing
to take the risk

in return for wages
of just a few pounds a day.

There are about 40 ship breaking
yards here,

each run by a different businessman.

Though they may not be seaworthy
anymore,

the ships are still worth
a fortune as scrap metal

and yard owners will pay
a few million dollars for each one.

The main road from Chittagong
is lined with scrap dealers.

Almost every last fragment
of the dismantled ships

is salvaged and recycled.

And they'll sell these on?

They'll sell the engines on?

Yes, they will sell the engines.
See...

A huge proportion of the value
of the dead ships

is simply the metal.

The ship breaking yards claim
they supply more than half of

Bangladesh's steel and
there's a great deal more on offer.

Look at this! Toilets!

Are you selling these toilets?

Toilet? Is this from you?

A ship. Who buys these?

Perfectly functional, all right...

Granted it's a little bit mucky
at the moment.

I've stayed in hotels
that are worse than this!

See this isn't a chuck-away country,

this is a country
where stuff is reused.

South of Chittagong
lies the River Naf,

which marks Bangladesh's border
with Burma.

So I've reached the very edge
of Bangladesh.

That's Burma over there,
on the other side of the river.

It's opening up a little bit but
it's still a very repressive country

and this part of my journey
ends here.

I'll be sorry to leave Bangladesh,

it's a country I've got
a real soft spot for.

On the next bit of my travels,
I'll be heading to Australia

where I'll be finishing my entire
journey around the Indian Ocean.

'Next time, on the final
leg of my journey,

'I visit Indonesia and help
harvest a future wonder crop.'

Ah!

'In Western Australia,

'I have a close encounter
with a mighty predator.'

It's biting. Oo-er!
God, look at those teeth!

'Before I reach the end
of my Indian Ocean journey

'at spectacular Cape Leeuwin.'

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd