Simon Reeve's South America (2022-…): Season 1, Episode 2 - Brazil - full transcript

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I'm on a huge journey.

I'm travelling the length of
the Americas -

the two continents that,
together, form more than

a quarter of Earth land surface.

On this adventure, I'm travelling
down through South America.

We're in such a remote part
of planet Earth.

It's a journey of more than

4,000 miles, through some of

the world's greatest landscapes.

Encountering spectacular wildlife.

The cat is on the move.



From its iconic cities

to the Andes Mountains,

it's a continent of
dramatic extremes.

Down.

LOUD EXPLOSIONS

Along the way,
I meet the inspiring...

Yolanda!

..and the surprising people...

These guys are Mennonites.

..who make South America
so extraordinary.

CHEERING

There's Wi-Fi here.

Nowhere else
for miles around, apparently.

We do our own thing.



We're happy here, man.

The Amazon, the greatest rainforest
on planet Earth.

On this, the second part of my
journey down through South America,

I was travelling to visit
an isolated Amazonian tribe

in one of the most remote
and still relatively unspoilt

parts of the whole continent.

Oh, God, we seem to be
running out of runway.

HE EXHALES
I hate flying.

I was heading deep into
the Amazon, in Northern Brazil,

but first, I had to stop off at
a small frontier town

called Pedra Branca.

So, we're going into
a remote indigenous community,

and we're going to have another
health check before we do.

We had a health check, all of us,

before we came out
at the start of this journey,

but I think another one is in order,
given what's happening in the world,

and we're off to see the doctor.

Around the planet, alarm was
spreading about a new virus.

Clusters of cases and outbreaks
had been reported

in Asia, Europe and North America.

Simon. Yes, sir. What do we do now?

We have to... No, we have to do...

We have to do the foot bump,

don't we? Or the...on the elbow.

It's a whole new world.

The first few cases of
what we now call Covid

had just been reported in Brazil.

But thousands of miles away...

..Brazil's indigenous communities

have been particularly vulnerable
to new viruses and infections,

so it was crucial my team
and I got the all-clear.

Thank you, doctor.

I could get used to that.

I headed deep into the Amazon

to meet the Waiapi people.

This is a crucial time for
the rainforest.

Around 10,000 acres of the Amazon

are being deforested every day.

The Waiapi live inside a huge,
protected reserve of more than

one and a half million acres
but, in recent years,

the whole region has been targeted
by industry.

Although large areas of Brazil
are protected for conservation

and for indigenous groups,

the current government here
is trying to open many of them

for mining or dams
and for huge developments.

So, this road is being upgraded
by a mining company.

HONKING

This is the road to
the Waiapi people.

Clearly, industry
is coming this way.

The Waiapi are known as
the Guardians of the Forest.

Wow.

Village and football.

DRIVER: And football.

It is Brazil.

SIMON GREETS THEM

I love the mobile phone tucked in
the waistband there, you notice?

They want to do some protesting
for us, to show us what they're

concerned and worried about.

THEY PROTEST

300 indigenous tribes still live in
Brazil's forests,

totalling nearly one million people.

After centuries of oppression
and annihilation,

the Brazilian Constitution
recognises their rights

to live in their traditional
territories, according to

their culture. But in this vast
country of more than 200 million,

there's now also powerful support
for loggers

and farmers promising jobs and food.

Tribes like the Waiapi feel
they're facing a mortal threat.

Viseni is one of the leaders
of the tribe.

Destroy.

Destroy is a strong word.

Is that what it feels like?

Do you think it might come
to a situation where you do

feel the need to step up

and use your weapons, in anger?

Indigenous communities have
previously fought back

against attacks and incursions.

They've also killed road builders

and soldiers by using blow pipes
and poison arrows.

I got the anger,

and I got the sense of
community love as well.

I went to meet
the Chief Viseni's mother, Nazare.

Wari. Wari. Wari. Wari.

Thank you for letting us come
and visit the village.

Nazare, is it unusual for a woman
to be a chief,

or is it very normal
in your culture?

Well, that's very kind.

We're very honoured.
Thank you very much indeed.

This Waiapi community was isolated
from modern Brazil for decades.

Outsiders first made real contact
only in the early 1970s.

Nazare was a child and still
remembers the terrible impact.

What sickness came with
the first outsiders?

500 years ago, millions of people
lived in these continents,

with thriving civilisations
to rival those of Europe,

but when Europeans arrived
along the coast,

their foreign, alien diseases
swept inland

through the huge
indigenous populations.

In places, up to 90% of indigenous
people died of smallpox,

measles and flu, against which
they had no immunity.

It's one of the largest, fastest

population collapses
in human history.

This community has survived so much.

Just imagine how strong
their sense of identity,

their culture must be.

Incredibly impressive.

He's looking at it...
Oh, he's not impressed.

SIMON LAUGHS

It's all right.

It'll be all right.
I'm tall and it fits me.

Right, it's been a long day.

Despite 50 years of contact
with the outside world,

the Waiapi have defended their
forests and their way of life.

Partly thanks to careful leadership,
they've been able to pick,

choose and embrace some aspects of
the wider world.

Children, young adults

and even Chief Nazare
are learning Portuguese,

and they have tools,
medicines and smartphones.

So, I just came round the back of
the school to get an internet code.

There's Wi-Fi here.

Nowhere else for miles
around, apparently.

Satellite Wi-Fi. And I found the
lads here on their social media,

looking at the outside world.

It does make me wonder how
youngsters are going to cope with

the advertising

and endless social media pressure.

Their culture's strong,
but can it withstand Instagram?

I don't know.

The Brazilian government
says indigenous people

need to be integrated
into modern society

and the economy.

They want economic development
to raise millions out of poverty.

Here, that model of development
means cutting down ancient forests

and levelling rich eco-systems

for logging, farming and mining.

That's rarely sustainable and,
here, it often enriches just a few.

But the Waiapi subscribe to

a different economic model.
They believe humans can

use and exploit the forest,
without destroying it.

He's done that a few times,
hasn't he?

This is called acai,

and this is a sort of new superfood
that we are often seeing now

in fancy shops and supermarkets
in the UK,

and this is where it comes from.

Oh, he's got something?

He's just sliding down like
he's on a fireman's pole,

with a whole bunch of berries,
it looks like.

Look at that!

Harvested.

So, that's just using
what the forest offers.

Is it just? No, it's not just,

because what scientists
are realising now

is that over centuries,

indigenous people didn't just
take what the forest had to offer,

but they planted
and shaped the forest.

Scientists have only
realised recently

that large areas of the Amazon

were cultivated by generations

of indigenous people,
who carefully planted

and tended specific plants
and fruit trees.

This is like a vast ancient orchard,

and we're only scratching
the surface in understanding

the riches it contains.

Marcelino Guedes is
a specialist in Forest Economics.

Like the Waiapi,
he says we can benefit from

the rainforest without levelling it,

and that intact forests
can generate profit.

Marcelino points out
there are enormous riches

in the Amazon which are lost if
it's cleared, especially medicines.

Plants already provide
us with nearly half of

our pharmaceutical medicines.

Rainforests are
a potential treasure trove,

yet sciences have tested
just a fraction of

the species found in them.

We could be missing
a new chemotherapy drug,

a treatment to tackle a childhood
disease or the next pandemic.

By one estimate, there could be
scores of potentially

life-saving drugs awaiting
discovery in the Amazon,

worth tens of billions of pounds.

Rather than cutting it down,

this could be a forest pharmacy
for the planet.

This is a battleship of a tree.

What a beauty!

The rainforests,

they are just full of
wonder and treasures.

If only we could recognise
the value of our rainforests.

The incredible fundamental value
for our global climate,

for biodiversity,
but also for medicine,

for our health,

then perhaps we might have a
better chance of saving them.

Aw!

Wow.

Thank you, my friend.

I won't forget you guys.

The Waiapi were more aware
than anyone of the horrors

that can be inflicted by
a powerful new virus.

As I left the forest
to continue my journey,

it was clear Covid was on the march.

The Waiapi closed their border

and retreated into the jungle.

Within days, countries began

heading into lockdown.

It was obvious to me there'd be at
least a short delay to the journey.

I had no idea.

It's good to get this off.

It's good to be back.

Now, just after we left the Waiapi,

Covid really began
to hit and to hurt.

Very few could have predicted

just how devastating
it would be globally.

It's been 20 months

but, finally, I'm able to restart my
journey down through South America.

Treble-vaccinated
and testing regularly,

I picked up my journey in Manaus,

the capital of the Amazonas region
of Brazil.

In the 19th century, there was
a booming rubber industry here,

and Manaus was known as
the Paris of the Tropics.

Well, this isn't what
you expect to find in

the middle of the Amazon rainforest,

an opera house.

Manaus has long been
a magnet for migrants

seeking work in logging,
mining and shipping.

Two million people now live here.

It's a long way from
the Brazilian capital

and isolated at the centre of
the world's greatest rainforest,

but when Covid struck Brazil,

this became ground zero
of the pandemic.

Manaus was hit hard.

Oh, my God.

I mean, that is a...

..horrific visual demonstration of
the impact of Covid on this city

and its people, isn't it?

Everybody on this row

died on the same day.

The 11th of April.

The 11th of April...

11th of April, 11th of April.

11th of April.

There were times in Manaus
during the pandemic

when more than 100 people
were being buried each day.

Nearly 700,000 people have died
from Covid in Brazil -

one of the worst death tolls
in the world.

SIRENS WAIL

The Waiapi people,
further to the east in Brazil,

largely survived at least
the first years of the virus

by using the isolation of
the forest,

combined with modern vaccinations.

But here in Manaus,

the disease swept through crowded,

impoverished neighbourhoods,

with poor sanitation
and dense populations.

Just like elsewhere, isolating at
home was a luxury for the wealthy.

For families living together
in cramped housing,

social-distancing was impossible.

I headed to Parque das Tribos,

an unofficial indigenous settlement

that's sprung up
over the last decade.

DOG BARKS

It's now home to around
600 families.

Vanda.

Vanda!

THEY CHUCKLE

Vanda Ortega is a nurse,

and now a community leader here.

Vanda, so this is Parque das Tribos.
Parque das Tribos.

Parque das Tribos,
which is "the park of the tribes".

What does that mean?

Is it true that in the first weeks
of the pandemic,

not a single government
health care worker came here?

There was no health centre here.

For most of the pandemic, the
community relied solely on Vanda,

who's the only person with
medical training.

Vanda, who is this?

Every community needs a Vanda.

THEY CHUCKLE

Vanda, I can see
there's power cables.

Does everybody here have electricity

and running water, and sewage?

So, are you saying

for the first year of the pandemic,

people here didn't have
running water?

In a crisis, so often, it's the
people who are living on the margins

of society who suffer the most.

So, Vanda, what is this place?

After more training,
Vanda now volunteers at

her new medical clinic. For the
first time, she's able to provide

much-needed local health care
to the whole community.

I find it really astonishing,
frankly, that at the start of

the pandemic, no government health
care worker came here to assist

this community.
They had to do it themselves.

Even now, they only were able
to build this little clinic here

with financial assistance
from the French Embassy.

The leader of this community
died from Covid.

The role passed to his son.

So, this is what you had to do,

you had to organise
and save yourselves?

Indigenous people in Brazil
are increasingly moving to

towns and cities. Some come

looking for a better life
and the lure of a job,

but others move because they've
been forced out of the forest,

as farmers, loggers, miners
encroach into their homelands.

Vanda wanted to show me
what she thinks is an urgent,

but overlooked threat to

the rainforest of the Amazon

and to indigenous territories.

Manaus is a busy port city.

It lies on the banks of the
Rio Negro, and quickly flows into

the world's mightiest river.

We're out on the Amazon!

It's enormous!

Less like a river, more like a sea!

We're really in the heart of
the Amazon basin here.

It's about 900 miles from here
to the Atlantic Ocean.

And although you can get ocean-going
ships like these coming upriver,

there's not really a road connection
from here to the rest of Brazil,

to the south, which has really
helped to protect the rainforest

in this part of the country.

At least, until now.

Downriver from Manaus
is a small port,

and the start of a road
called the BR-319.

It was constructed in the 1970s,
in an early attempt to try and

open up the Amazon. Until recently,

it was an often impassable
dirt track.

But now, work is under way
to tarmac all 500 miles of it...

Look at this view.

..and create a super highway into

the world's
most important ecosystem.

Do you think we can...
can we stop here?

Wow.

Look at this.

This road, which runs from
the south to the north,

up to Manaus, is opening up
the Amazon rainforest.

Traffic and trade will be able
to penetrate deeper into

the rainforest than ever before.

And many fear that it will open
the Amazon to loggers,

to miners, to farmers, to trade
and industry which, potentially,

will deal - it's feared - a fatal
blow to the Amazon rainforest.

And that is why, arguably,

this is the most dangerous road
in the world.

In a poll, eight out of ten
Brazilians said the environment

should be prioritised
over economic growth,

but there's less agreement about
how to actually preserve nature.

And now, the Amazon is being
destroyed at the fastest rate

of the last 15 years.

all be concerned about increasing

human encroachment into the Amazon.

Back in Manaus, in an area where
the jungle meets the suburbs,

I met up with scientist
Professor Alessandra Nava,

who was out hunting bats.

So, Alessandra has

a really cool job.

She's a virus hunter.

Whether you think Covid-19
came from a lab or the wild,

it's likely the virus originated
in bats and jumped between

species to infect humans.

Alessandra fears something similar

could happen somewhere
in the Amazon.

She's trying to stop an outbreak.

So, now, we leave? Yes.

The bats aren't going to come
while we're here, are they? Mm-hm.

This is bonkers.

In just a few steps, you leave
the incredible biodiversity

of the rainforest and you're into
the mad world of humanity.

And there are millions of places
like this around the planet now,

where humans live in such close
proximity with really wild nature.

And of course, that's wonderful
in many ways, but it also creates

profound risks.

In a makeshift lab, in a house
on the edge of the jungle,

Alessandra's team check the bats
for any new or nasty disease

that could infect humans. They
need to avoid any cross-infection.

So, we're going to check the nets.

There are scores of so-called
zoonotic diseases

that jump and spread
from animals to humans,

including Ebola and Nipah,
as well as Covid-19.

Nothing in this one.

Oh, there's a bat here, look!

There's another one here as well.

Alessandra, what type of bat
is it, do you know?

What is it about bats?

Is there something special
about them that means they pose

a greater threat to humans?

I'm a bit of a distance away now.

Zoonotic diseases have been
with us almost forever, really.

Measles is thought to have jumped
into humans from cattle

thousands of years ago.

But as we encroach ever further
into the rainforest

in particular now, more
zoonotic diseases are emerging.

It's the sheer numbers of people
living, farming, working

near exotic and wonderful
wildlife in rainforests,

or on the edge of them, that creates
more risk of cross-infection,

perhaps from a bat pulling on food,
or even an animal bite.

It's feared our increasing
encroachment into the rainforest

could lead to a rise in these
zoonotic diseases and new pandemics.

It's almost like
the Covid test. Yeah.

What do we learn from understanding
what's in the bats?

So, are you almost
an early warning system, then?

We are going to fetch another one.

What sort of bat is this?

Have we suddenly woken up

to the threat from
zoonotic diseases?

So, even now, you think

we're worrying too exclusively
about whether people in China

are eating creatures
from the forest?

We're not thinking broadly enough

about the risks we are creating
by encroaching into

the rainforest and the wild space?

Where is the next pandemic
going to come from?

I really think
we've got to reconsider

our relationship with nature.

Three quarters of new and emerging

diseases that infect humans

originate in animals.

We need to give nature more space.

It's time to let them fly.

Ah!

Fly, little beauty!

ALESSANDRA CHUCKLES

And it's gone.

It was time to leave the Amazon.

I headed south, to Brazil's

spectacular Atlantic Coast.

Brazil is a vast country.

It occupies almost half of
South America.

All 27 nations of the European Union

would easily fit into Brazil.

Its coast is more than
5,000 miles long,

and along the coast is where
most Brazilians live.

Oh, wow!

Welcome to Rio!

Look at that!

Oh, my goodness!

What a sight! It really is one of

the most stunningly-positioned

cities anywhere in the world.

Sugarloaf Mountain over there.

And Christ the Redeemer, look,

towering above.

You can really see the geography of

the city from up here.

You see the favelas clinging to

the hillside. The favelas are

poorer, more informal settlements.

More than 6.5 million people

live in Rio, from the super wealthy

to some of the poorest

on the continent. Like most modern

megacities, its growth has been

rapid and largely unplanned.

Many areas of Rio have poor
infrastructure and facilities,

and you can see the results
when it rains.

It's just starting
to bucket with rain,

and many of the roads still seem
to be rather surprisingly flooded,

as if the drains
aren't fully up to the job.

Look at the flooding here.

Rio's been described as
one of the cities in South America

most vulnerable to climate change.

Rio has a carefully-cultivated
image as a sexy party city.

Think of Rio, and you think of
the beach and carnival.

But climate change is already
having an impact here.

Storm surges and flooding

are more regular events,

and soaring, sweltering

temperatures are making some areas

harder to live in.

Obviously, a city like Rio
hasn't been planned

with climate change in mind,
and as the city has expanded,

so its natural defences
have been eroded.

So, how do they protect
the people of this megacity?

To deal with threats to Rio,

the government has spent millions
on a shiny, high-tech crisis centre.

Felipe, where are we going?

Felipe Mandarino is a geographer

who helps to control
the brain of the city.

HE GASPS
Oh, my goodness!

It's like a sort of
Nasa control centre.

The centre was actually developed
with Nasa to monitor and predict

extreme weather events,
and to co-ordinate the city's

emergency response when they happen.

Does Rio have a particular problem
with landslides?

My goodness, so each of
the red marks represents

a potential disaster, actually? Si.

Those are thousands of people...
Yeah. ..living there.

What would you, as a geographer,
would say are the principal

climate change, global
heating threats to Rio?

I was really taken aback
by how quickly Felipe,

as a geographer, identified
inequality and a lack of greenery

and green spaces among
Rio's biggest problems.

About a quarter of
Rio's population live in

the city's sprawling favelas -

that's close to
one-and-a-half million people.

I'm going up into the oldest
of all the favelas in Rio -

it's called Providencia -
but to get there,

I need to go with Cristiano.

Only trusted and connected riders

could take me into the heart of

Providencia. Criminal groups and

powerful, violent drug gangs

control these streets

and many of the favelas.

Almost every inch of the
steep hillside was crammed with

tightly-packed, ramshackle housing.

So, inevitably, the favela
is a warren, like this.

Buildings springing up
over the years

on any available plot of land.

And some of it looks like
you're entering somebody's house,

and it's like a dark alleyway. Look.

God, I wouldn't want to
come down here at night.

My guide in Providencia was a
community leader called Ale Roque.

Is this agua, the fresh water?

The state is largely absent here.

The police are rarely seen,
except during raids,

that can often result
in a high body count.

DOG BARKS

There are regular
gun battles for control.

This guy on my right, he just
wanted to point out here, look,

you can see a pockmarked wall here,

bullet holes. But look at this -

that's a large-calibre
gun round there, look.

Along here, in this section,

that's, what, 100...

..100 bullet holes, maybe?

And they're not small rounds,
either, some of them.

They look more like

from an assault rifle.

Bloody hell.

Ah, stop, stop, stop.

Down, down, down.

They were just pointing in
the direction, I think,

of some drug dealers down the alley,
who've whistled an alert.

As if they don't have
enough to deal with,

favela-dwellers also have
to contend with the increasing

challenges of the climate.

Favelas can be shocking heat traps,

exposed on hillsides, with no shade.

Surface temperatures can be

an incredible 20 degrees higher

than the surrounding countryside.

Plus, there are heavy storms,

causing deadly landslides that can

sweep away whole neighbourhoods.

Thankfully, favelas also produce
inspiring leaders.

Wow, Ale, it's incredibly green!

Is this something
you've been involved in?

You've planted all of this?

Ale, you've planted a forest.

This amazing urban forest
helps knit together the soil

to prevent lethal landslides.

And the trees provide shade,

lowering hellish
summer temperatures.

But that's not all Ale has done.

She's transforming lives.

Ale, what is this place?

Wow, look at this place!

How many students, how many children
kind of come through the school?

You're teaching 120 children?

That's astonishing.

So, Ale, why are you
running a school?

And you're trying to fill that gap,

to make sure no child
is left behind?

QUIETLY: It's OK.

I find it astonishing that Ale gets

no help from the government.
Astonishing and really shocking.

I think what she's doing here
is giving these kids something

utterly priceless - a childhood.

All right, boss.

The school is an integral part of
Ale's urban forest plans.

The children here now learn
about trees and plants, and more,

but they also grow fresh food -
so important for their diet.

Ah!

Yay!

Look, look, look!

How many trees do you think
you've planted here at the school?

100?!

Well done.

They really know what to do.

Even the tiny, tiny tots.

She's given them

something really precious -
a connection with

greenery and nature in a favela

and a city that really
lacks trees and plants,

and a sense of the natural world.

Ale's project is one tiny step

towards restoring something

that Rio has largely lost.

This was once the site of
a mighty forest,

stretching over 400,000 square miles

down the whole of
the eastern side of Brazil,

and all the way down to Argentina.

You think of a forest in Brazil
and you think of the Amazon,

of course, but there's another
great forest

in this country -
the Atlantic Forest.

The Atlantic forest is
a temperate rainforest -

cooler than the Amazon,
but also bursting with life.

Over hundreds of years,
it was gradually eaten away,

as huge cities like Rio and
Sao Paulo emerged and developed.

85% of the original primary

Atlantic Forest has now gone.

Look at this!

Although only a small part of
the Atlantic Forest remains,

it's still one of the most diverse
ecosystems on planet Earth,

which is why people come to stay
in amazing places like this -

to experience just a bit of it.

Cambuca. I think this is mine...

..at least, for a night.

Despite the loss of so much of

the Atlantic Forest,
one in 50 of all the plants

and animals on Earth are found here.

There's not quite so many big
old trees left here, though,

because after Europeans
started arriving 500 years ago,

they chopped them down.

There are a few giants left,

and it's lovely to be among them.

Deforestation is
such a huge issue in Brazil.

The battle is now on to preserve

and restore parts of
the great Atlantic Forest.

I'd arranged to meet
a conservationist, trying something

unique to protect one of the
country's most iconic inhabitants.

We're on the road,
and we're looking for a bloke

by the side of the
road called Carlos.

Oh, here they are.

Carlos! Shall we do elbows? Elbows.

And this is the forest that we're

heading into behind, is that right?
Yes, yes.

Dr Carlos Ruiz-Miranda and
colleagues Jadir and Ademilson

are trying to protect
these remaining

fragments of the Atlantic Forest.

This area is the world's
last-remaining wild habitat

for a small, rare, flighty
and beautiful primate.

Right ahead, right ahead.

Luckily, some tracking collars gave
us a good chance of spotting them.

WHISPERING: I've just seen
a flash of orange through

the leaves and branches.

One's just above us,
in the trees up here.

Ah! Another one.

Oh, this is very exciting.

Oh, my God, there's one
right here! Look!

Just here.

The golden lion tamarin.

What a creature!

It's only the size of
a well-fed squirrel,

but with this billowy, orange mane.

Just as the panda has
iconic status in China,

so the golden lion tamarin does
in Brazil.

I'll tell you what, though,
they move a little bit faster.

My God, they're incredible!

They are different from
most monkeys, you know,

they give birth to twins.

Bloody hell, it's a family.

There's a family of them, look.

Ah!

They live in family groups,

a mum and a dad, and their kids

from several generations.

Now they're grooming.

So cute.

So precious.

What was the situation with
the tamarins when you first

started studying them?

There were about only 200 in

the forest... 200?! 200.

..and almost none in captivity.

Because they were close to being
wiped out? They were close to being

wiped out. They were in an area that
was...that just got a major highway,

and there was a lot of pressure.
So, they were

really worried about them.

These creatures have really had

a roller-coaster ride
over recent decades.

And there was a point in the 1980s
when it looked as though they might

become extinct in the wild, due to
extremely high levels of poaching

and endless habitat loss.

And then there was this
very successful international

conservation campaign which got
their numbers up to several thousand

before, recently,
they were hit by another disaster.

A few years ago, Carlos and his
team began to find the bodies of

dead tamarins.
They were falling out of the trees.

Before long, hundreds were dead,

wiped out by a mystery illness.

I mean, we were shocked
and overwhelmed.

We had lost about 33% of the
population, in a matter of months.

We were facing losing
40 years of conservation.

An investigation revealed
the tamarins were dying

from yellow fever -
a disease that also infects humans,

transferred by mosquitos.

Oh, my goodness, look at you!

The crisis called for
a dramatic response.

In a world-first,

Carlos and his team are vaccinating

the entire population of
golden lion tamarins.

Can I ask you to do me,
while you're being done?

This is what you get
abducted by aliens,

exactly what happens.
THEY LAUGH

Look at you, little thing.

You are astonishing.

And you're one of a tiny tribe left.

So, this is called a squeeze cage,
which isn't great,

but this is so the vet
can apply an anaesthetic.

Oh!

It's a traumatic experience
for this little tamarin,

but it's one that should
save its life

and, ultimately, its entire species.

I've had the yellow fever vaccine.

You've doubtless had
the yellow fever vaccine.

I'm slightly larger than the
tamarin. Is it just a case of

reducing the dose and diluting it
down? Is it as straightforward

as that? As straightforward as that.

It worked really well.
Had it ever been done before? No.

Here we go. So, this is
the yellow fever vaccine. Yes.

This is really
muscular conservation.

This is not standing back
and saying,

"Oh, there's nothing we can do.

"Let's just watch as these creatures
go to the edge and fall off."

No, this is saying,
"We're going to step in here

"and we're going to fight for them,

"and try something, and work
and battle to save them."

One done. Another one

potentially saved.
Another one potentially saved.

It's wise for us to prevent

any creature from becoming

a reservoir for yellow fever.

If it can be infected,
it can pass it on.

Exactly. And right now, they won.

So, it's just a win, win, win, win.
Yeah.

For the animals, for us, for
our species, and our planet.

For everybody. Brilliant.

On this part of my
South American journey,

I'd already been warned
there's an increasing risk to us

from diseases spreading to
and from animals, and also,

because we're spreading into

and destroying our forests.

Our increasing encroachment into

wild spaces is clearly disrupting

the balance of life on our planet.

But here, the tamarins, at least,

have been brought back from

the brink of extinction.

Now, Carlos says they need
new habitat.

Space to survive, but also thrive.

Much of the Atlantic Forest
has been broken up

and fragmented into smaller areas,
often split by big roads,

and that creates very broken habitat
for the tamarins.

But Carlos and his team have
come up with a big idea to connect

two separate tamarin homes together.

Look at this!

Bloody hell, Carlos!

You've built a living bridge

over the motorway!

It's amazing!

So, we have areas where we have soil

that can go down to three or
four metres. So, we will be able

to get here trees
as tall as ten metres,

from the centre lines. Wow!

And we'll join it with a corridor,

and the Poco das Antas
Biological Reserve.

6,000 hectares.
So, you've got this...

6,000 hectares?!

Of forest, yeah. Oh!

And it will connect with
40,000 hectares of forest

over on this side.

So, the tamarins on this side

can get to that side and vice versa.

That's not just for food, I imagine,

that's for frolicking and
fornication, and... Yes,

finding a mate.
..expanding the gene pool.

But not only for the tamarins,

for all of the wildlife
that lives here.

I feel quite emotional,

hearing this.

I've seen so many problems

and, here, you've really
looked after, shepherded, saved

and created a future

for a creature that was right
on the edge of dying out. Yes.

And hopefully, this will be a model.

And it's becoming a model,
you know, you have highways,

you can do wildlife bridges
or wildlife passages,

and you'll reconnect the habitat.

It's just a matter of doing it.
I mean, all wildlife

needs is a little bit of help,
and give them the opportunity

and it will bounce back.

Next time, I'll be travelling
down the Andes,

the great spine of the continent...

Look above us, the glacier.

..to one of the highest
human settlements in the world,

and through an area blighted by

an endless and deadly drug war.

Down.