World's Most Dangerous Roads - Madagascar: Face To Death

[Music] [Music] baby [Music] [Music] [Music] the sun is pitiless in madagascar and to avoid the worst of the heat the day begins early in the town of marin chesh [Music] by 6 am stefan's local bush taxi is already fully booked the country's second city it's a primitive route that severely tests the vehicle's suspension and every kilo counts stefan charges extra for any excess luggage everyone on board fitting everyone into the bag is a real headache how many passengers we'll make room for everyone everyone will get on soon if we can organize ourselves because my license says for 15 passengers but there's more 19 or 20 maybe i need them because there's a lot of sliding about and each passenger has some rope which they pull that's why there'll be a need for some strong arms only four-wheel drive vehicles can tackle the n5 national route 5 one of the most challenging in madagascar the 20 passengers can look forward to a testing journey [Music] once on the open road what lies ahead becomes abundantly clear [Music] i love it when my suv slides about i love my wife and i love my work that's supportive damn i slid you feel that you thought yeah i'm to accelerate and then you'll feel the road yeah it's a bit shaky passengers on the padded seats have paid a little more but they suffer no less than those crammed in the back everyone gets carsick [Music] i'm sick my stomach hurts i need to go to the toilet one uncomfortable hour later and the road claims its first victims she can't take it she needs to throw up so that's why she's getting off the [Music] video ahead lies 250 kilometers of dirt track situated in the indian ocean madagascar is almost the size of texas and its road network has not been improved since independence more than 50 years ago the n5 for example that connects marin chesh to tamatave i think we'll have fun we're going to be dancing where's that rope [Music] i can't take it anymore the n5 or rather the dirt track winds its way through breathtaking countryside but the postcard images are under threat the forest has been pillaged for its valuable wood in particular rosewood we know it's illegal [Music] [Applause] but we have to live somehow it takes nine days to bring back one of the trunks some weigh as much as 500 kilos the trunk moves at a huge speed if it hits us we're dead for sure made it still alive after hurtling down the mountainside the wood is then transported on makeshift rafts the force of the current has killed more than one guy transporting wood on the other side of the country another treasure attracts the poor sapphires and only one pot we don't have a single penny thousands dig away all with the same dream find a sapphire and become a millionaire the promise of a better life might be lying just under their feet 50 meters down we run the risk of being killed just for some stones many will never find even the smallest sapphire it's collapsing you're gonna kill us all [Music] deep in the last primeval jungles of madagascar lies the small village of tenra [Music] the nearest shop is a day's canoe right away but the locals aren't too concerned they are self-sufficient living from hunting fishing and agriculture they use money to buy tools clothes or ammunition the problem is getting it without taking any risks it'll be a fantastic adventure very difficult but you just need to prepare for it it'll be exhausting we'll cross the river we'll climb rocks and walk through the forest mustn't forget the food we won't survive in the forest otherwise come guys get your bags ready robert aged 39 is one of the few villagers who ever had a proper job he used to be a forest ranger he protected the forest from those seeking to plunder its precious woods but four years ago he was fired the gamekeeper turned poacher is now a smuggler of rosewood it's a rare tree much valued by the chinese when we found out that rosewood was selling for a good price we started cutting some so we could start earning a living again lie is a nine-day journey during which they'll play hide and seek with the police the tree is so much in demand that it's close to extinction and has been officially protected for the past three years come on let's step on it [Music] the arms the legs we'll need a lot of energy come on push harder it's not only smugglers that are looking for rosewood thugs have also been attracted to the forest anything can happen but it's the only way to get through they wanted to stop the traffic of rosewood [Music] weighing 50 kilos and barefoot they now face a cliff [Music] [Applause] [Music] after a harrowing two-day march the group spots other traffickers robert is concerned they may have felled the last of the rosewood trees do you think there's still some wood left yes you'll find some i don't need to go too far from the river though right no i'm not far well let's see if we can find something good luck to you safe travels it's illegal but we really need to make a living everything is so expensive here school for the kids feeding them medicine [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the next morning they hope to find a huge rosewood tree the beaches on this part of the island are heavenly but there are no tourists no travel agency would risk having their clients travel along such an exhausting and dangerous road the bridge for example has never been properly repaired [Music] stefan would rather not tempt fate and so drives across the river so as not to sink too deep he asks his passengers to get out [Music] it's not safe [Music] i've had enough of this trip i'm exhausted according to the authorities the road is in deliberately poor condition to hinder the transport of precious woods if the road were flat the smugglers would use large trucks they say it's an effective weapon but it also slows down the entire region's economy every bridge is a test that bridge is rather worrying it's been repaired but not properly and when you're on it it dances around like crazy it's risky it's dangerous but some vehicles nevertheless do try to stephan's amusement i've got a feeling and we'll have some fun they'll be dancing stefan prefers to take the ferry it's less risky he claims i'm not going on that bridge during an earlier journey one of the planks in the bridge collapsed under his wheels causing one of stephen's passengers to be seriously injured when he fell out ever since stefan has preferred crossing on this makeshift ferry but the slightest mistake will cost him dearly oh you want me to fall in the water huh stefan was too slow getting on board the raft the luggage at the battle gets soaked i'm too far ahead already [Music] the whole engine is in the water the journey may end here stefan isn't sure how to get his vehicle out after six days in the depths of the forest robert and his men have found their treasure if they can get this rosewood tree out they should make enough money to see them through the next four to six months a trunk can fetch as much as five thousand dollars which way should we chop it down that way there's lots of trees here it'll be complicated but let's try that way the trees grow extremely slowly and take at least 100 years to fully develop looking at this tree i would say it was 50 or 60 years old i cut through the park like this and uh lift up the lighter part here and the heart of the tree if it's rose-colored it means it's a good tree [Music] just one more swing it takes one hour to chop down the giant worth its weight in gold [Applause] but this one will play a nasty trick the tree hasn't fallen completely over it's stuck in the branches of the other trees around it we've got to find a way to bring it down the only way to bring it down is to chop down the trees around it it's estimated that for every 100 000 precious trees that are chopped down another 500 000 are sacrificed in this way what we want is the rosewood tree but now we need to cut down a dozen maybe more other trees there's no choice when it's like this it's all stuck the task is enormous and robert changes tactics [Music] cut the trunk at this height and that way the other part where it's caught will also come straight down chopping the tree at that height is increasingly difficult the men will need to sweat to earn their [Music] money this will take a while yet for hours the men pass the axe around the heat is overbearing [Music] the homemade axe has broken apart what's there for marking them no the blades slid down the handle and hit my finger and it hurts but i'll be okay sometimes the blade hits your head or your legs if you get seriously hurt there's no medicine abandonment we treat it with the resin from the rosewood tree we use the bark to make a bandage thank you rosewood after four hours the first part of the trunk gives way but the branches are still trapping the top of the tree they try to pull it down by force but after another six hours robert decides to give up without the rest of the tree trunk it won't bring in much money okay it's over let's [Music] their dream of money has evaporated and they'll have to start looking all over again but it's like a needle in a haystack since the tree has become so rare [Applause] at the 110 kilometer stage stefan's taxi resembles a shipwreck this vehicle has been floundering for several hours there's no tow truck in this region and no other suv in sight the passengers are increasingly frustrated come on let's get the car out first and then we'll see about the rest of the trip there's only one solution to get them on the road again you all have to pause come on all of you we need as much help as possible [Music] without a word of complaint and as if this was completely normal a dozen or so passengers act as the tow truck but it's all in vain the vehicle filled with water weighs several tons i can never be sure of anything it all depends on the road you see what's happened to us what can we do just wait and trust in the driver after two hours of hard work a stroke of luck the bridge just has to survive the crossing of the suv [Applause] [Music] the driver of the suv understandably let stefan do the maneuvering how's that look i'm going [Applause] push push stop stop in this neck of the woods mechanics are rare and stefan has learned the basics by carrying out his own repairs after every breakdown we'll have to wait for all the water to drain out of the engine but i'm worried about the gearbox we'll need to unscrew everything and wait for it to dry the first try and water comes shooting out of the engine try the ignition [Music] yeah the fuel's leaking out i'll stop yep stephan will cross the bridge this time his faith convinces him that the hand of god won't strike him again you're not scared the bridge might collapse god will decide but since he's already made me go in here he's not going to make me fall off the bridge it's god's will whatever happens [Music] so [Music] the heavens are merciful this time and no one on the ground is upset at stefan faith helps the malagasis get through life usually with a smile you're gonna get your ass wet the accident has cost them five hours in lost time stefan hopes the water hasn't damaged the engine too much and that it will hold out for the rest of the trip otherwise he'll have to reimburse everyone [Applause] after 10 days robert and his men still haven't found a rosewood tree that's big enough running out of supplies they need to head home but not empty-handed a few months earlier the army had chased the smugglers and they had had to abandon a tree trunk we're looking for the trunk of a rosewood tree that we hid in the forest the wood's ready we cut it down some time ago they had hoped to take out several but this one trunk will enable them to survive for a few months for many of us it's quite large the trunk weighs about 400 kilos transporting wood principally depends on the length of the rope it takes two people one in the middle and one behind adjust the ropes you need to be parallel otherwise the trunk will slide all over the place i don't want the trunk to the trunk needs to be taken to the river 30 kilometers away moving downhill can be dangerous if the men's legs get snared in the rope careful you almost squashed me when you let go of the rope like that [Music] the trunk could hit you because it moves so quickly and that's certain death it happened to one of my friends he was hit in the back unfortunately he was killed and if someone dies we hold a wake in the camp and we arrange for them to be sent home we fold the body in two so it can fit into a rice sack no one knows for sure how many are killed in the process of smuggling precious wood robert estimates there are at least three fatalities a year on this stretch we need to move the wood along in the water it's not easy since the water is quite deep and if the wood falls into one of the holes it's hard work getting it out the guys would need to dive under get it unstuck [Applause] [Applause] foreign [Applause] [Laughter] i swear you need a magic formula here the waterfall marks the end of the mountain the men have now covered one third of the journey made it we're still alive exhausted they'll spend the night here in their wet clothes all of them are hurting after the day's exertions it's physically demanding but when i think of the money it makes me feel better the other jobs in my region don't pay nearly as well despite their soggy nights robert and his companions have lost none of their determination [Applause] it's taken nearly 30 hours to reach the river but the trip isn't over yet ahead there are still the rapids smuggling is not the only extreme way to make a living on the island others take even more risks to survive the island nation is blessed with natural resources such as spices vanilla precious woods and one other that is the dream of many locals they were discovered only ten years ago some people have found wealth others only misery or even death it's all a matter of luck when it comes to sapphires the mines are at ilakaka the area resembles a desert and the river that runs through it has become muddy from the millions of cubic meters of earth the miners have sifted in fording the river our vehicle has got stuck in a water hole we need to get it out of that if it continues to rain the waters will swallow up the car it will take considerable patience to see where the cable can be attached underneath the car in these muddy waters come on let's pull the mining town of ensure sprang up in just a few months attracted by the myth of easy money more than 10 000 people now live crammed together in extreme poverty most of the stones they dig up are worth just a few dollars however a very large pure sapphire can fetch anything up to five or six thousand dollars more than 40 times madagascar's average [Music] wage whatever money they make they rarely hang on to for long [Music] brothers bako and mazzy used to be farmers they left their miserable job hoping to strike it lucky and build themselves a big house but their entire fortune for now is this small cabin just five square meters which the two families share with their wives and children seven people all together each family has its its own area like this there's no bed it's just one cooking pot one bowl one terrine one basin the brothers work for a miner who owns this mine their pay is less than two dollars a day they do find a stone they get a percentage on the sale [Music] we start work at seven sometimes we work right up until seven in the evening and as soon as we get home we fall say hell is deep in the bowels of the earth to the miners begins less than 30 meters below ground [Music] so the two brothers and other workers move around in galleries often just 60 centimeters high [Music] big very hard [Music] well i'll carry on anyways the if we find nothing it's because god doesn't want us to we must beg him to help this rat's nest is like an oven with a constant temperature of 40 degrees the heat saps the strength of the miners who dream of a better future this is heavy keep your head down if you want to get through being a miner also means being a contortionist [Music] 30 meters below ground oxygen is scarce none of the mine owners can afford a proper ventilation system fresh air is provided by the men's ingenuity it's basic but it works and above all costs virtually nothing [Music] the problem is the tube is barely 25 meters long and doesn't reach where barco and massey are working yeah what's happening with the air pipe my family it's hot down here way too hot [Music] i got way far it's difficult to work like this i'm thirsty [Music] almost cost them their lives careful it's caving in take these bits of wood [Music] um [Music] a life fraught with danger and all for less than two dollars a day stefan and his passengers have reached the halfway stage and his suv seems to be holding up despite three hours underwater at the last river crossing the engine appears to be working well and it seems stefan knows how to care for his vehicle everybody off at the slightest risk he wants the car to be as light as possible to avoid straining the engine foreign [Music] i'm huh i hate this road we'll never get there i can't stand it anymore [Music] this time the ferry is more modern the state doesn't maintain the roads but it does subsidize the ferries which are free more or less to earn a little extra the ferryman sells off the fuel he's given for his boat when there's none left he taxes his [Music] clients [Music] [Applause] i'm collecting fuel we need to give some fuel in return for the ride all the suvs give a liter if you don't give them then you won't be able to leave before arriving at tamatar there are another seven ferry crossings like this one and most run the same scan the voyage is exhausting never ending we've got a problem my friends half a dozen cars have stopped a tree has fallen across the road and not by chance someone cut it down didn't just fall like that what's that mean well it means they did it deliberately maybe they want to make a canoe i don't care how they cut it down but now it's blocking the road someone was out to steal the tree to turn it into a canoe they must have been surprised so they abandoned it stefan is worried getting stuck here overnight means he'll have to pay for his passengers food and lodgings he takes charge [Music] we don't even have an axe to cut the tree to go given the height of some of the vehicles they'll need to dig deep i'm getting tired they've been digging for two hours and the task appears impossible providence arrives in the shape of these vehicles things will move along quickly now the wood is soft [Music] yes [Music] foreign [Music] stefan will arrive at his destination just 36 hours behind schedule due mainly to the accident in the river but none of his passengers will ask to be reimbursed this is the last leg of the journey for robert and his men and probably the most dangerous shooting the rapids with the trunk attached to some inner tubes two men are in charge of the makeshift raft if they fall overboard 400 kilos of rosewood will fall on top of them geneal i can master nature [Music] after the first rapids jeanneau dismisses his co-pilot who apparently isn't being much help if shooting the rapids on these tubes is my speciality i'm an expert in pneumatic transportation the raft is virtually uncontrollable a rock has shattered his paddle and he uses his hands to slow down the raft [Music] the water's abate and genoa can look for another paddle it's taken five hours to travel down river [Music] the others will now take the wood as far as the coast once the trunk is in the canoe it just needs to be hidden [Music] we mustn't get caught [Music] smuggling is endangering the forests of madagascar the authorities lack the means to stop the trade and in recent weeks three 000 rosewood logs have been seized in the region [Music] do [Music] you

Channel: Show Me the World

Views: 91,458

Keywords: documentary, roads, National Geographic, waterways, travel

Id: rTIvwa0eXpI

Length: 48min 59sec (2939 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 27 2020