Amazing Quest: Stories from Madagascar | Somewhere on Earth: Madagascar | Free Documentary

[Music] [Music] madagascar located in the indian ocean and one of the world's largest islands it is a land of stories and legends it's also known as the red island because of the color of the earth you'll be meeting elysee a botany student she has a fascination for her country's national tree the baobab the arid hard to get to territory in the south is where she carries out her research soloda is a vaso a group of nomadic coastal inhabitants his village on a sandy spit of land jutting into the mozambique channel is completely isolated he spent a few years away from his family but his love of the sea drew him back jill a frenchman has been here for more than 20 years an ardent nature lover he has made his home in the foothills of the island's most beautiful mountains and has decided to reforest the valley where he lives trees [Music] madagascar is a vast territory in the indian ocean off the southern coast of africa this land of beliefs and mystery the fifth largest island on earth offers a great diversity of landscapes and cultures a trip to madagascar is always spiced with adventure there are very few roads off the central highlands to the northern forests and into the arid plains of the south discovering madagascar means above all slowing down adapting to island time [Music] the national highway 7 is the only route into the south [Music] elysee and tantal are both botany students doing research they're off on a long trip to the land of thorns the vast region in the southernmost part of the island we cover hundreds even thousands of kilometers to get there at least we're doing it in a bush taxi this time sometimes we travel by ox cart or even by boat it's an adventure every time elysee is doing her doctoral thesis on a tree that is recognizable at a glance but which in fact is not very well known the baobab the malagasy here call it the renala meaning mother of the forest [Music] the baobab is the object of many traditional beliefs about mother and child its trunk is straight and massive its bark very smooth and it has a tender heart the bow bob is the symbol of fertility [Music] [Music] the baobab really has an odd look and in fact they often say that it was planted upside down as if its branches were trying to take root in the sky there's a legend that says in the final days of creation the gods realized that they had forgotten to plant the baobabs so they just tossed them down from the heavens the two young botanists still have hundreds of kilometers to cover they are looking for flowering baobabs for the research is focused on the reproductive cycle of a particular species found only in the southern part of the island toliara the major city of southern madagascar elysee and tantal still have a ways to go they left the capital two days ago and have crossed half the vast island with a single goal in mind to find a bow bob that is just about to flower we think there's a sort of hybridization going on in the baobab so i'm going to try and find out just how this hybridization works of the world's eight known species of baobabs this large island is home to seven and six of those are endemic to the island some of them are hybrids and elysee is seeking to solve this enigma [Music] after the bush taxi they continue their trip south with a zebu cart into the mahafali plateau a poor arid region here we go just what we need the mystery surrounding the baobab is the mystery of the reproduction of all living beings of the fragile balance of nature the life cycle of flowers pollen and insects [Music] the baobab flower an ephemeral bloom resembles a wild orchid it only blossoms once in the tree's lifetime for a few days and only during the hot summer nights [Music] chair and dilf two climbers specialized in trees will be helping elysee carry out her observations now it's elise's turn to tackle the bow bob she has spotted flower buds that might bloom at nightfall about 15 meters up in the tree i was at home in the trees i was destined to study them look the cord and the knots have to be taught all the time and as you go up this is how you feed yourself okay elise acrobat and botanist now has to get familiar with her treetop laboratory she's hoping to observe the flower blooming when evening comes and to spy on some insects she suspects of being the pollinators of these majestic trees this parched land covered by thorny savannah and shadeless forest is the land of the sacalavs an ethnic group whose character has been forged by their harsh environment twice a day dimbreeza and his family have to come into this forest home to many lemmers comes to collect nature's gift this is his only riches a baobab that he has transformed into a water reservoir a baobab cistern it's a mother to me dimbreeza has hollowed out the tree trunk down to a height of one meter fifty this doesn't harm the tree and allows it to continue growing after each rain dembriez's family collects the rain water from the ground and stores it in the baobab a necessary reservoir to make it through the severe shortages of the dry seasons [Music] here more than anywhere else water is scarce and so even more precious on the mahafali plateau finding water is a constant worry the water from the baobab system meets the normal needs of the whole family takes the place of the zebu it takes the place of a cart of the goats that i don't have it's my only treasure that's why i take such good care of it if the baobab dies well i disappear in my family along with me [Music] for three days now the little crew of scientists and climbers have been camping in the bush at the foot of the trees at first the villages were surprised by their setup but now they've become a regular local attraction one has to admit they are an intriguing site [Music] every evening the group from tena narivo attracts more locals curious to learn more about these strange experiments being carried out at nightfall [Music] for a long time now scientists thought that the only pollinators of the baobab were lemmers and bats only recently have botanists discovered the vital role played by a certain insect the sphinx moth [Music] the sphinx moth is probably one of the insects that pollinate the bowel about it can easily carry pollen from one flower to another are getting ready to spend the night suspended between sky and earth up in the baobab everything has been readied to observe the blossoming of the flowers now it's up to nature to play her role [Music] like it's really a whole expedition just getting to the tree at exactly the right time but maybe that's exactly why i like this work this phenomenon is very hard to observe you have to work at it and maybe that's what i find important in what i'm doing [Music] there's like a shudder of nature a stirring sign of its amazing vigor and in a few minutes the flower transforms and opens to the world this is a magical and fleeting moment [Music] madagascar is known for its very rich biodiversity so if the baobab were ever to disappear we'd lose a treasure we'd lose our culture as well and our identity [Music] elysee's research has just begun she wants to learn all she can about the baobobs in order to protect them no one knows how to tell the age of a baobab these imposing giants of nature must surely be over a thousand years old testimony to the island's rich biodiversity the baobabs have centuries of madagascar's ecological history engraved in their flesh [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] saurodrano the end of the world living here means adapting to extreme isolation in malagasy saradrano has two meanings difficult waters and land surrounded by water it is in fact both we're in the village of the vaso madagascar's great seafaring people the nomads of the sea the vaso live all along the southwest coast of madagascar a region parched by the heat and regularly lashed by cyclones [Music] right from its early settlement saurodrano has turned its back away from the land and towards the sea the village is located on a spit of sand that juts out into the mozambique channel so the best way to get there is on foot or by the sea which can sometimes be risky the fisherman's outriggers are practically the only craft that dare venture across the coral reefs that ring the lagoon coming into this village is like landing on an island soloda is a native son of saurodrano native son of the wind and sea the village has its daily routine every morning and evening during the cooler hours of the day they go to fetch water [Music] our village is called before there was no water they had to go buy it in the neighboring villages you [Music] the vaso live in a quiet backwater away from the bustling world nature is the only thing that shapes their existence in spite of the rudimentary conditions soledad is quite attached to his remote region a few years ago soledad decided to come back to live where he was born before that he had to leave his village in order to help out his family he joined the malagasy army but the strict military life is a far cry from how these free men live after years in uniform he became a merchant traveling the country to buy and sell rice again not the ideal situation for him so soledad came back to saurodrano to start a family [Music] this is soledad's family clan three generations living in peace and harmony even though they are gradually becoming more sedentary the vaso have remained nomads at heart as solidar's father the patriarch of the family has always been when there were no fish we'd travel a long ways to find them we'd settle in other fishing villages the sea always wins in the end she is she never dies [Music] in the vaso tradition there is a single god of the sea he is all powerful over the environment he protects all those who travel on the water [Music] the cliffs that dominate the village are a sacred site the final resting place of the souls of the ancestors [Music] for the vaso the spirits are everywhere they hover over the sea and ensure the happiness of the living but apart from their beliefs the only thing that the fishermen have to face the elements is their long experience of the sea [Music] the vaso outrigger canoes are surely identical to those used by their ancestors when they migrated here from asia the techniques used for constructing the lakas are a distillation of all these fishermen's sailing scents the end product of an intuitive knowledge of the sea the boat is the heart of the vasu people what the car is to foreign [Music] the elegant gesture of the vaso in malagasy vaso means simply one who paddles they claim they are not an ethnic group or tribe being vaso is a culture a state of mind it's a way of living from day to day to the rhythm of the tides and the passing seasons the sea is the only means of subsistence for these mariners of southern madagascar [Music] when children know what they're doing they're put out to sea alone in the boat i'll teach my children everything i know about the city because the sea is the vaso's soledad has been fishing since he was six to scare the fish and drive them into the nets it's always the same age-old technique when i come back to the village at noon i decide then whether i'll go out again in the afternoon it all depends on the morning and that's what goes on in a fisherman's head sailing fishing living on the water in the end soledad yielded to the call of his destiny [Music] the vaso don't do any farming they don't raise cattle they live from and for the sea it's their most precious possession [Music] they never worked the land but why not farm the sea with funding from an ngo soledad and some other fishermen have set up a seaweed farm they're hoping to sell their crop abroad to the cosmetics and food industries when the plants are young you have to take very special care of them every day and then if you get bad weather [Music] this is the very beginning of an experiment that could mark a turning point in these people's lives the seaweed shoots aren't mature yet but if the project is a success it will ensure them a steady source of income there's nothing here [Music] it it's our heritage for future generations so that they too can benefit from this spot we feel good here it warms our hearts there are a lot of people in the village and we're happy [Music] the vaso are a free people a tightly knit group that help each other out if nature doesn't have any nasty tricks in store for them soledad the fishermen of cerrodrano may very well make a success of their project to farm the sea their source of life their soul riches [Applause] [Music] the highlands in the center of madagascar is a region where life follows the rhythm of the rice harvests this plant originally from asia is the staple food and part of the common heritage of all the malagasy it's the symbol of life rice and rice paddies also have a sacred significance for many malagasy at the frontier of the central highlands is another region a mountainous lands inhabited by spirits a land of peasants marked by the marriage of sky and granite the tsaranoro valley is not all that far from civilization yet it has long remained cut off as if the world had forgotten this land where the mountains reach up into the skies [Music] so [Music] left his home in marseille when he was 20 crossed africa on foot and lived in the comoros islands then in the late 1980s he discovered madagascar in that saranov this quiet valley isolated from the rest of the world when we first came we needed the four-wheel drive to get to the nearest large village which is 10 kilometers away from the paved road then we had to continue on foot there was no trail anymore it was abandoned about 50 years back there weren't even any ox carts in the valley people only got around on foot and the same went for us i spent a good part of my life in the mountains i grew up in brielle in the high alps in france and i love the mountains i've done a lot of cross-country skiing climbing kayaks some delta plane when i landed here it was completely virgin territory i think any climber would find us a paradise [Music] was a revelation he literally fell in love with this spot and ever since this nature lover has been covering the length and breadth of the valley to satisfy his yearning for nature [Music] the valley is home to many herds of zebu the peasants only riches but these animals are often the booty of human predators the da hals zebu thieves who strike at night eight hundred thousand head of cattle are stolen every year it's a serious problem for malagasy cattle herders originally it stems from a tradition if you were a man and you wanted a wife you had to steal a zebu at least once in your life now it's gotten out of hand i don't know if it's a mafia but there's a feeling of insecurity in the rural area it's emptying the countryside it's become depopulated because of this fear of rural banditry it has nothing to do with tradition they keep an eye on the herd following in jill's footsteps we discover the valley its history and its scars an open gash caused by erosion mountain runoff that has been channeled to irrigate the rice paddies in the valleys gouges deep ravines in the earth these gaping wounds scarring these bald hills are the grim consequence of deforestation nature is generous in madagascar but if we throw things too far out of balance there will be negative consequences nature has her own defense mechanisms but this is too much for her to handle there's digging erosion and it's hard to undo phenomena like this are hard to control [Music] today gill and his hiking buddy noah are getting ready to climb a cliff face overlooking the valley the highest cliff here is 800 meters and it's a notorious challenge to extreme rock climbers this imposing granite wall is still unconquered not even the world's best climbers have managed to climb it in one go [Music] oh noah don't take themselves for champion climbers they opened and equipped a much easier climbing route [Music] oh yeah there's the physical pleasure climbing can be very physical there's the pleasure of the gymnastics and the movements on the rocks then there's the idea of pushing yourself the little athletic challenge can i do it yes i can no i can't [Music] it's really really something it's such a privilege you look out on the valley and you're the only one out there it's so peaceful you're so far removed from civilization you won't see a single telephone pole a single road maybe two or three cattle herders but you're really alone in the mountains you can come and go as you please and there's absolutely no one you have to answer [Music] i could have settled down anywhere but this valley was love at first sight i found my paradise i'd wandered a lot and here i thought really this is perfect this is pure bliss when you look around 360 degrees it's really breathtaking you have all the mountains from the andrengitra an incredible sheer cliff 800 meters high it's really a spectacular landscape unique [Music] [Music] [Applause] the tsaranoro rodeo a rice paddy bullfight trampling the rice paddies it's a tradition and the teenagers just love it it takes courage and daring to play this risky game it's meant to prepare the rice fields for planting by churning them up into muddy wallows [Music] [Music] you can never tell when an accident might happen if something goes wrong we just have to tough it out accidents happen with the zebu mainly when you don't follow the advice of the adults they tell us to watch out and to always be alert this valley used to be nearly all covered with forest slash and burn farming has had devastating results throughout the vast island but out in the countryside there's no other solution but to burn off the brush to regenerate the soil [Music] today is madagascar's national school day a special day for school children the pupils of emil the valley school teacher are going to plant trees today it's not merely a symbolic act it's a concrete gesture in favor of the environment [Applause] to get the seedlings they head for gil's nursery this frenchman has been doggedly replanting the valley for him as a way to connect with the villagers and the mountains where he has chosen to live [Music] [Music] jill's nursery is open to all the local inhabitants every year jill plants over one hundred thousand seedlings [Music] [Music] so every year at the same time the children come and plant trees when they're grown up when the rains come they'll continue to plant on their plots of land and little by little get the forest back into shape throughout the island school children devote two days a year to their natural environment the school in the valley is a green school sensitive to questions of agriculture and ecology the school program is designed to stem the rural exodus the whole philosophy is directed at getting the school children to consider making a life for themselves right here in the valley [Music] and this is yields goal as well to that end he has founded an association to reforest and protect the saranov valley a forest doesn't sprout up overnight jill has set up a nursery of eucalyptus a rapid growth tree that will meet the villagers needs in wood year by year jill's work is bearing fruit [Music] [Music] on a few acres of land these saplings were planted 12 13 months ago and now in a few years the villagers will be able to use the wood like that older stand of trees we planted 12 years ago if we hope to reforest the mountains the people have to be able to meet their needs in wood we can't demand that they stop cutting wood just because cutting wood is bad we must replace the wood they're not allowed [Music] i think i was meant to live here on this land deep down i believe i was destined to live here not just here in madagascar but here in this valley [Music] [Music] these wide open spaces this virgin wilderness have a certain grandeur here you sometimes find yourself very very far from the modern world that's what wide open spaces mean to me not just some kind of a well-manicured park just the opposite a vast territory terribly empty when you come right down to it the population is very sparse on this land i mean on the island of madagascar you realize that you can live with very little here and you meet people who whatever may happen to them they're always ready to laugh from morning to night they have nothing a clump of straw a little machete but they're happy so [Music] operation tree planting at dawn jeal heads up the hill it's the rainy season time to plant over the years jill has formed a crew of planters a group of villagers won over to his cause they plant young seedlings and also use gel's own particular technique these balls are seeds coated in a mixture of dirt and zebu dung the results are kind of haphazard 15 to 20 of the seeds take root but that's not the most important thing these hills are extremely bare they've been ravaged even planting a tree a little seed is already something my little association can't reforest the whole valley all of madagascar the whole planet we're trying to set an example look we're planning just wait two or three years and you'll reap the benefits there are trees that are beginning to bear fruit so there are concrete results on the road we replanted when it's hot people walk under the new trees they stop and rest in the shade and what it can bring to their land it will convince them to reverse the tendency which is still to clear the trees to make pasture land this is a kind of special place candelosa it used to be a royal palace and there's a funny story about it the king was cruel with his subjects so the subjects reacted towards him like one does with an abusive king well they didn't decapitate him because it's taboo to draw royal blood here in madagascar they suffocated him they suffocated him with bananas every time i come up here i get a kind of weird feeling i'm starting to be influenced by the irrational local beliefs you can't live here without assimilating a bit of the mysticism the it's magic integral part of life in madagascar it's not easy it takes two hours to hike up so there's no way to bring water here we have to give the trees the best conditions to start with and then we wait and see [Music] in a few decades the children in saranov will be able to look out on their valley that's green year-round and as yield hopes covered with forest [Music] they will remember that their ancestors once crossed paths with an eccentric frenchman who loved trees [Music] the man who planted trees really impressed me the story of a shepherd who planted thousands of trees and reconstituted a whole forest even the authorities were surprised what's this a new forest that left its mark on me i'd like these people to remember me as the man who planted trees [Music] see [Music] so you

Channel: Free Documentary

Views: 2,077,793

Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), somewhere on earth, amazing stories, amazing stories from Madagascar, amazing quest, Madagascar

Id: QcbIzcSZa3g

Length: 52min 6sec (3126 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 07 2022