Original subtitles

So, how you gonna try to kill me today, Bryan?

We're heading way upriver into the Ecuadorian rainforest,

where we'll find the largest of all snakes, the anaconda.

Maybe the anaconda will find us first.

Oh, man.

When they pull this camera out of an anaconda

100 years from now, I just want you to know

um, it's his fault.

The Amazon has long been the home

of the giant reptiles, and in fact, is rumored

to be home to the biggest of all the anacondas.

So, really, like, how big do they get?

A full-grown anaconda is about 15 to 18 feet.

So, you're not too big to be food.

Bro, all right.

This is gonna go all bad.

I've been inspired to explore the extremes of our planet,

because that's where we can find the answers

to some of life's biggest mysteries.

Now, I'm heading even deeper into the Amazon...

the world's largest rainforest...

to search for a snake the size of a school bus.

I've only ever seen an anaconda

in a Jennifer Lopez movie.

And, I mean, J.Lo survived, but it wasn't fun.

She didn't enjoy that.

But I'm still trying to get my head around the idea of

looking for an anaconda, and why we would do that.

No, it's really important work

because we're gonna use the anaconda to study the health of the ecosystem.

I've been fascinated by snakes since I was a little kid,

so the opportunity to go after the world's biggest snake

is frankly a dream come true.

The reason I'm doing it is that there are fears

that this part of the Amazon is becoming polluted.

And the best indicator of the health of an ecosystem

are its biggest predators.

So, how many people does it take to grab an anaconda?

The anaconda is a big animal, but we are lucky

because we are going to meet

-an indigenous group... -Mm-hmm?

...that lives in this deep jungle, the Waorani.

They know how to track the anaconda, how to handle it right.

-Mm-hmm. -So we really need these people.

They are the real experts of the jungle.

So, we got one of the world's best snake guys

and a world-class expedition leader,

and we still need help?

Yeah... no.

- Okay. - All right.

All right.

Wow.

- Hola. - Hey.

Waponi!

Oh, okay, I come with you.

Vamos, vamos, vamos.

They get up this hill a lot easier than me.

Hola, hola.

Wow.

What's the proper greeting?

- Waponi. - Waponi, waponi.

The Waorani call the jungle home.

And they have been living there for thousands of years.

I really hope that Will can learn from these people.

Because they have this deep connection with Mother Nature.

Fantastic.

Waponi, waponi, waponi.

That's a powerful welcome here.

Yes, goodness.

-Waponi. Waponi. -Waponi.

This is Penti, the leader of the community.

- Waponi. - Waponi.

Now come with me into my home.

- Okay. - Let's go.

Scientists rarely get to work

with remote indigenous communities in the Amazon.

Please sit down.

Their vast understanding of these snakes

is going to be vital for the success of the expedition.

First of all I want to thank you

for coming to my home

my territory, my land.

I'm very happy to be here.

I'm really looking forward to seeing an anaconda in person.

My son Tepeña is good at capturing them.

He's out looking for one now.

Yeah, my son cannot catch an anaconda.

How do you feel about working with people

from outside of your family and community?

This project is important.

All animals

and the anaconda

share a life with us in the jungle.

The land gives us life.

Living in harmony with the animals,

this seems like a difficult environment to do that in.

No.

Living here makes us proud.

I'm really humbled to be here to spend this time with you.

And you talked about living with the forest.

Can you show me around and give me a sense

of what you mean by that?

Of course.

Before we catch an anaconda

I'll show you how we live.

Absolutely, yes, please.

This is our community.

We live really close to the jungle

with animals everywhere.

Our land is life.

Wow.

We call her Tite.

Tite, Tite, Tite.

Tite.

This baby tapir is free.

She comes and goes as she pleases.

Look, there she goes into the jungle.

There are 28 families living here.

We have a little school.

A community house where we work.

Nice to meet you.

Waponi.

This is how they weave the fiber

taken from a palm tree.

Ah, and it turns into this?

Yes, this turns into a hammock.

The jungle has everything we need.

That's fantastic.

I noticed there's some things that you let in from the outside world.

Yes.

For thousands of years

we have kept this work and culture,

but now, it's very different.

My first memories when I was a child.

I was so happy

living in this wonderful place.

We knew nothing of the outside world.

Then, when I was 4 or 5 years old

there was first contact.

They wanted to change us really fast.

We were caught in two worlds.

Their footprint of colonization went deep into our land.

So, I noticed some people have t-shirts and shorts,

then some people are, you know, more traditional.

Everyone decides their way of life.

Mm-hmm.

But for me it's normal to be like this

because we were born without clothes.

Mm-hmm. Does the-- 'cause, you know, that thing looks like it might hurt.

Like, does that hurt at all to have it on?

This is just like when you put on shorts.

I'm gonna want one of those when-- before I go.

I'll show you how to put one on tomorrow.

Waponi. Waponi.

I think I understand Penti a little better.

I started off-- I was gonna say nervous, but I was scared.

You know, really uncomfortable.

Uh-oh.

Oh, hey, all right. Okay. Hey!

You know, it's really beautiful to be out here.

But for me, it's like outside of my comfort zone.

It's such an extreme environment.

Bryan, what are you doin'?

I leave you alone for five minutes, and you find a snake?

See it right there, it's hidden.

- Mm-hmm. - It's called a vine snake.

And if you're walking on by and it doesn't move,

-you won't see that. -You will not see that.

Whoa. I'm looking at that,

and I see I'm really uncomfortable with snakes.

I just got really clear.

-Like, the snake thing. -Which is good.

You know, it's good to know your comfort zones

so we can shatter them.

Hey, hey, hey. Buddy, Bryan.

So, if you remain calm...

-Mm-hmm. -...they remain calm.

Whoa.

So, look at how attuned to motion he is.

-So he's a visual hunter. -Mm-hmm.

Mm, he's looking at me, Bryan.

-Hey, Bryan. -Like I said, remain calm.

Bryan just showed me the snake.

I didn't like it. I didn't want to touch it.

We're about to go on an anaconda hunt with a snake

that'll be like 10,000 times the size of that one.

Yeah, I feel thoroughly unprepared.

Ready?

Yes, that's where we are going.

All jungle.

This is the way to the anaconda.

It's hiding in a lagoon far away.

This is insane. You, you, you feel safe?

Yes, I feel safe.

But in order to survive

we're going to learn about the jungle.

I'll teach you.

-Okay. -Okay.

Let's go.

It is dense, dense jungle.

You can't see more than 30 feet in either direction.

I have no idea how Penti knows where he's going.

He's got no compass, no GPS, nothing.

I am Waorani.

When I walk in the jungle

is when I feel most free.

The spirits of our ancestors walk this land

helping me to live safely in the jungle.

Will, come here and look at this.

This part.

Oh.

Tastes like lemon.

It's ants.

These ants make this taste like lemon.

Mm.

It is. Like, lemon-lime.

Very good.

I like it.

I'm teaching Will

what we teach every Waorani child.

How to walk in the jungle.

The Waorani way of life

has been learned over thousands of years.

I'm too tall for this forest.

This leaf calls the toucan.

I can do that.

I'm chasing 'em away.

The Waorani beatbox.

♪ Ooh, I'm a rebel just for kicks now ♪

That's crazy.

Wow!

No more practicing.

Carla, you wanna try?

Yeah-- oh. Oh, you got it!

All right, that's it.

Maybe we work as a team.

Yeah.

-Lower, lower. -Lower?

Lower.

-Hey! -Ooh!

Okay, you went through my arrow.

Wow.

Let's go!

It is amazing to me that they're out here barefoot.

- And not only barefoot. - Yeah.

Bare-skinned.

I got boots on and long sleeves,

-and long pants. -Everything, right?

It's like they're as comfortable out here as I am in my living room.

Yeah, that's right.

They are at home.

So, I guess this is our last supper before we go for an anaconda.

So, you all seem very, very comfortable out here.

What scares you?

I'm going to show you.

What the heck is that?

That's happening now.

These pictures show the jungle being destroyed.

Oh, God, yeah.

Seven oil companies are in the Yasuni National Park.

Wow.

If someone destroys the jungle

we won't have a place to live.

It gives us life.

Everyone wants to take away this culture.

This language

and this land.

I'm fighting because it's my home.

It's our family

and also

It's important for me to be out here,

and to feel it, and to understand

there's such a different way to relate to the forest.

And that's the first time that I've ever heard it that way.

It's almost like someone's trying to burn his house down.

And what would you do if you felt like someone

was trying to destroy your home?

It's not easy

but I love this land.

So I need to get this message out to let us live.

It's a hard fight

and I've had to take it to the outside world.

I had to travel very far from this community.

I engaged lawyers.

I went to the international court.

To make them understand what's happening here.

And that's why Bryan is seeing

if the anaconda has been harmed by oil.

I'm working to stop these oil companies.

This is our evidence.

It's interesting to me that you're reaching out

to the outside world, and the very thing that threatens you.

I need to tell the world

because if I don't

this jungle will disappear.

Mm-hmm.

We are in a critical moment

in the history of our country.

Ecuador has lost around one-third of the whole forest.

So, Penti is fighting for his family, for his community, of course,

but also, he is fighting for all of us.

I really admire the way

you're defending your family and your land.

I think that's very brave.

This is my first time sleeping outside in the jungle.

Oh, hey, hold up.

Something's on my neck. Something's on my neck.

Sorry.

Okay, I'm getting in.

Can't find the zipper.

This is me. I'm halfway in my tent. Jumping in. I hope it'll hold my weight.

I'm trying to get in my tent. All right.

Shoot, sorry. That's me.

All right. Okay.

All right, okay.

I'm thinking about this anaconda tomorrow, and I'm definitely nervous.

You find the truth about yourself in the jungle.

You can have illusions about yourself

in Manhattan.

The jungle's the great equalizer.

I know who I am today.

I'm a jungle punk.

Darn it.

All right, it's late, and I gotta pee.

I'm scared to take my thing out.

Even though the Waorani keep their things out all the time.

But I'ma give it a shot.

I'll pee in the morning.

Okay.

I just got dressed inside of a tent.

I think that makes me an explorer.

I was a little scared last night.

You do start to get more comfortable. I'm getting comfortable.

I would love a cinnamon bun, though.

Penti probably doesn't have those, though.

My friend.

Waponi.

I am very happy to be here with you.

Mm-hmm.

I love it.

This is my home.

You see this tattoo I have.

I carry the forest with me.

The tattoo represents the river.

These dots are the tress in the forest.

You are a part of this place.

Yes.

And that's why I have to protect

this beautiful forest.

It is important that

this message gets to the world.

Thank you for sharing.

Let's go. I'm ready.

You can go just like me

without any clothes.

No, man, I'm not that ready.

You have a sense of the kind of places

the anaconda would be in?

Hopefully, it'll be in the shallows.

And that's our only chance of finding an anaconda.

An anaconda is an ambush predator.

It'll take up station and just wait.

In deep water, they're a formidable predator.

They'll pull the prey into the water, wrap coils around them,

and then squeeze them so hard

that literally in some cases, the eyes will pop straight out.

And if you try to fight back,

they've got a pretty vicious bite, too.

It's all good. Bryan gave me some big gloves.

Uh, talk me through that thing.

It's a big radio receiver.

The Waorani have been tracking the anacondas.

We've got one that they've radio tagged.

But if he moves it this way and the signal drops,

or moves it this way and it goes stronger,

we can orient ourselves and navigate towards it.

The old ways and the new ways working together.

I like that.

All right. We've got something.

All right, so the beeping means we're getting closer

to the anaconda.

And I'm assuming when they see it, those guys are going to go toward it.

And I'm gonna go the other direction when I see the anaconda.

You know, you gotta stay out of professionals' way.

It's starting to go a little faster.

We're definitely in the right area.

It just gets really tricky, because if it's under the water,

the intensity is gonna be a little bit dampened.

Oh, hey, over on the right.

There it is.

Come on, quickly.

I've got it.

Hold it tight.

Geez.

And that's just pure muscle.

Move her from your side.

Let them try to control this.

That's gigantic.

I'm guessing 16, 17 feet.

Wow.

Okay, ooh.

That was scary. Even from the boat.

Is it safe?

Of course.

The anaconda can get angry and bite.

So you always need to know how to treat

the animals so they stay calm.

- One sample from her. - Got it.

So, we're just gonna take a piece

of one of the scales so we can measure

the accumulation of pollutants in the water.

All right.

So, we're after the big belly scales.

You can help us do this.

Yeah, no. I'm a little nervous.

You can do it.

All right.

From here, you can lift it up.

- Lift it up? - Yeah, that'll work.

Here, go this way.

This is a big girl.

I got it. I got it. There you go.

Let's keep going. Keep going.

All right, perfect.

All right, so, if you could please wipe away

any little mud and debris. We'll still clean this...

- Wipe away? - Yeah.

Let's go for these ones here

where the skin's already been shed off, and just let it hold.

- Yeah, hold it at that position. - Hold it right there?

Hold her carefully, she could escape.

Whoa. Hold on, wait, hold on.

Nice and clean? Geez.

All right. Now, I'm just gonna cut along.

- Where you are? Hold on. - Yep.

Yep.

There you go. There's our sample.

-There's our sample. -With that, we can do

all the research on this animal with just that one tiny little piece.

That's fantastic.

It's ok, just stay calm.

We are almost done.

It's important to me that Will understands

the anaconda and humans share a life in this jungle

and that's why we protect it.

Will, feel her.

Phew.

I've heard about anacondas, and I've always been shook.

But putting my hands on an actual anaconda?

It was such a beautiful moment.

Let's set her free.

Ohh.

That is a magnificent, gorgeous creature.

A once-in-a-lifetime experience.

'Cause I'm never doing that again.

Hey!

Hey! Waponi, waponi.

Where's the anaconda?

Why didn't you bring it back?

Yeah. No, no way.

Oh, that's for me? Gracias, gracias.

All right.

After spending time with us

how do you feel about the jungle?

I feel like one of the family.

Will came to the deep jungle as a tourist.

I love your life.

But after just a short time

he can feel what the jungle really is.

This is as good as it gets.

I wanted to follow scientists to the extremes

to see what we could discover.

But staying in the village was wild.

I mean, Penti is one of the most extraordinary humans

I've ever met.

Just how he feels the jungle, you know, it really opened my eyes

to a different way of understanding and seeing the world.

Oh, look, look.

I would have loved to do a flip in the mud...

- Yeah, yeah. - ...when I was six years old.

Just to be totally naked outside and do a flip in the mud.

I certainly would have been that kid.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's funny to think about 50 years ago

-when Penti was their age. -Oh yeah, imagine.

There was no contact

-with the outside world. -Yeah, that's true.

And he lived like this.

And we just have to-- we have to make sure it exists 50 years from now.

Yeah.

I never want to lose this.

Looking at the results,

we did detect heavy metals in the scales of the anaconda

consistent with oil spills.

These are forever chemicals. They don't break down.

And anything that could threaten the health

of the anaconda

could also threaten the entire ecosystem.

So, the stakes are very, very high.

I hope I finish my historic fight.

Because the Amazon is for all people.

So we must protect it.

That way my children will have a future.

I've come to the Himalayas,

the highest mountain range on earth,

in search of the thing we're all looking for,

the secret to happiness.

I tasted the top of fame, money, success,

and then watch it fall apart.

In order to find ultimate happiness,

we must experience death.