Original subtitles

Look at this place.

Simply breath taking.

Welcome to New Guinea

the world's largest jungle island.

One of the most remote and unexplored parts of our world.

It's very intimidating, potentially very dangerous

but also one of the most exciting places on the planet.

Running from it's mountainous heart,

over 500 kilometers

through pristine wilderness, wild gorges,

and tropical jungle out to the sea

is the mighty Baliem River.

I was expecting it to be big.

But I wasn't expecting that.

No one's ever traveled the full length

of this untamed river before.

We've managed to turn a simple side trip into

an absolute epic.

I'm Steve Backshall.

I'm a naturalist and adventurer.

It just looks like there should be dinosaurs everywhere.

I want to explore the river and discover more about

the remarkable variety of worlds through which it travels.

Ow, shoot.

It's home to ancient tribes.

I want to see how they're coping with

the modern world.

When they're in morning they will cut off their own fingers

as a sign of grief.

I'll be searching for some of the worlds scariest animals.

It was basically eating it's way through the village.

And exploring a vast, uncharted, underground world.

That is impressive.

But the Baliem is so inaccessible

that the only way to uncover it's secrets

is to travel it's length from source to sea.

We are committed now.

By any means possible.

It could give us a unique insight into one

of the last truly wild places on Earth.

Where the hell are you taking us, Aldo?

Or it could be a journey too far.

(shouting)

(ominous music)

Wow look at that.

That is just gorgeous.

It's the first day

of our five week expedition

in New Guinea to travel the length of the Baliem River.

It's located in the province of Papua.

The western half of the island of New Guinea.

It was once a Dutch colony but now

it's part of Indonesia.

Just knowing that there are huge areas here

that are still unexplored, undiscovered, even now

in the 21st century.

Just sets the hairs up on the back of my neck.

That kind of sense of expectation of what might be ahead.

Our journey begins three

and a half thousand meters above sea level

in the Central Highlands.

Running for over 1600 kilometers this mountain range

is longer than the Alps and is one of

the wettest places on the planet.

Ah, there it is!

That's my first sight of Lake Habbema.

This five kilometer long lake is where

the Baliem River begins it's life.

Our 500 kilometer journey will start

in the wild Central Highlands and end at the Pacific Ocean.

In this first part of the expedition we're aiming

to kayak through deep, dark gorges,

and explore giant caves before reaching

the Baliem Grand Valley.

A land inhabited by the ancient Dani people.

(whirring rotor blades)

That's it, thank you.

We've landed a few kilometers

from Lake Habbema.

Where the water's just deep enough to launch our kayaks.

I don't think any of us expected it to be this special.

It's beautiful, it's absolutely stunning.

It's beautiful, it's pristine, the river is clear.

But what lies ahead is unknown.

So there are no decent maps of where we are right now.

All of the, sort of, research we've done about

this area has been from satellite imagery.

All of a sudden it's real.

All we do know is that

for the next 15 kilometers

we'll be heading into a series

of uninhabited, steep sided gorges.

Ex-marine commando, Aldo Kane is our safety expert.

I think this gives a bit of a wrong impression

of what's probably going to be coming up as well

with the amount of drop and descent

that we've got between here and the bottom of that gorge.

To stand a chance of pulling off

this daring adventure I put together a team of some of

the world's top expedition kayakers and rafters.

Lead by New Zealander, Jordy Searle.

It is gonna be a challenge.

You know, anywhere that's never been charted before

and that we know nothing about there's always challenges.

The film crew

and support team are following

in an inflatable raft.

I do believe in my heart that this is one

of the greatest expeditions there

is left to do on the planet.

You know, it has everything.

(light music)

Finally, we're on the Baliem River.

Yeah boys.

Heading down stream

500 kilometers to the sea.

Around us the plants and trees

are adapted to living at altitude.

And for the moment it's just running nice

and easy, nice and gentle.

Just a lovely way to get started.

Oops.

(soft music)

(light splashing)

It's just silent.

But ahead of us we're just starting

to get the landscape steepening.

This could well be the beginning of that gorge.

This upper section of the river winds

it's way over glacial deposits.

But when it hits the limestone bedrock

it changes character abruptly.

Over millions of years water has percolated

through cracks in the limestone.

Forming caves and passages.

When these collapse they leave behind debris strewn gorges.

Like this one.

Wow.

We're kayaking through what could once

have been an underground cave system.

So we're in the gorge and it is utterly spectacular.

Very, very steep sided.

We are committed now.

(ominous music)

As the river enters the gorge

the narrowing of the cliff walls forces

the water to flow faster.

And we hit our first rapid.

(rushing water)

I started kayaking when I was 12

and I've paddled some big rivers

but this will push me to my limits.

Sharp rocks for the underside of the raft, you know.

Yeah.

The erosion is ongoing

so fresh rock falls keep filling the riverbed

with more jagged rocks.

Just stay here.

It's bad news for us.

This is our first big rapids.

Especially our boats.

Boys gonna go ahead and scout and then see

if we can bring the raft down.

Our plan for running rapids

is to send safety kayaker Barney Young ahead

so he can scout a line through the white water.

Then I'll follow with Jordy and David Bane.

Okay, Steve, go.

Hang on.

Paddles in.

(dramatic music)

I've got to try and follow

the fast flow line down the left hand side.

But it's taking me close to

the jagged limestone cliff, too close.

Nice rowing, up.

I've nearly torn the bottom out my boat already.

Switch sides.

(dramatic music)

Up, up, up here.

Good, up, up, up.

Nice one.

We're through our first rapid.

But there's a lot worse to come.

Yeah bro, that's good paddling.

Thank you.

And you know that compliment's real

cause I don't compliment pawns easily.

(laughing)

Now it's the turn

of the support crew in the raft.

Lads, one, two, three.

Our worry is that

the sharp rocks could damage the inflatable raft.

So the boat has to be guided down.

The rock is impossibly spiky.

It's like daggers and that could, well

it could pretty much rip the boat,

the bottom out of our high impact plastic boat.

The raft is, well, very, very vulnerable.

I mean this is the first set of rapids

and they're nothing really in comparison

to what we think is going to be further down

and it's already hard work.

With the raft over the worst

of the sharp limestone.

I'm ready.

Three, two, one, go.

We all head on.

(soft music)

Nice, Steve.

Gorgeous!

No kayaker has ever entered

this impenetrable highland gorge before.

It's even possible we could be

the first people ever to come here.

On your right!

So all we need now is for

the perfect campsite to open up for us.

Good luck, bro.

Finally we emerge from

the steep sided gorge.

[Steve] Oh chaps, I think we've got something.

Ahead, a small grassy island

in the middle of the Baliem.

You beauty!

Fair for side, mate.

It's a pleasure.

Well we cut it pretty thin

but we have found paradise.

We've go the most extraordinary campsite here.

It's a raised, sandy island in the middle of the river.

That's gonna be perfect to camp on.

(light music)

You know this is what I wanted

to do when I was knee high but I never thought

it would actually happen.

And you know, moments like this are unbelievably precious.

I've got some good tinder and kindling here.

The force of not knowing what's ahead

and being the first people to see something

is a really powerful one.

I don't take it for granted for a second.

It's day two, yesterday

was a terrific start but we didn't get very far.

Today we're hoping to make up for lost ground.

Kayak through the next gorge

and get within striking distance

of the Baliem Grand Valley.

I was just checking out my boat this morning

which is brand new, never been paddled before

and look at all these gouges in the bottom of it.

So these are all from those really sharp limestone rocks.

Now this isn't gonna make much difference to me.

I mean, you'd have to be really going some

to tear through the bottom of one of these boats.

But the problem is the raft.

It's just gonna tear it apart.

And if we couldn't fix it then

the expedition would effectively be over.

With the worry of

the jagged rocks fresh in our minds.

Steven behind me row.

We head off.

I can feel some good gouges

in the bottom of my boat.

Mate, there's some big ones in mine too.

Couldn't be much more calm, though, beautiful.

No, it's incredible it's just silent.

We paddle on hoping

to cover some good distance.

But then the river starts to narrow again.

Oh here we go, going back into it again.

(dramatic music)

You can hear the white water already.

As we're the first people

to kayak this river we just don't know what lies ahead.

It could be easy, it could be impossible.

[Steve] What do you think, should we get out to the left?

(dramatic music)

After only two kilometers we come across

a major obstacle.

[Steve] Holy shit.

This is gonna be difficult with the rafts.

Yeah, basically none of this is runnable.

It's a big drop

with churning white water.

Log jams and yet more jagged limestone boulders.

It could shred the raft and trap and drown anyone of us.

Our first instinct is to portage,

or carry the kit over the obstacle.

Maybe the raft could head to one portage

on this sorta stuff but if this

is gonna indicate what's downstream

that's something we need to consider very seriously.

We have two other options.

One is to carry on without the raft,

leaving the crew behind meeting up

with them further downstream.

The other is to pull out.

So we gotta think quite seriously about this.

Very seriously, this could be something else

if we get locked into a gorge, you know.

Jordy's concerned that

if we commit to the gorge we'll be trapped or locked in.

No joke, it is very dangerous.

I for one, definitely don't want

to call for helicopter help.

Obviously to be thinking about leaving

the river this soon would be fairly crushing.

You know, we wanted to be doing

a lot of white water before we had to take that option.

To add to our problems two

of the river crew, David Bane and Nate Klemmer

are both feeling ill.

Are you hanging?

My heart rate's not

so hot, just climbing down there

Is that fever?

I don't know

Nate's rough.

They're both suffering with severe

headaches, high temperatures, and racing pulses.

Last night got some pretty bad fever chills.

Definitely not 100% if it got much worse, think I'd

be struggling.

I've started coughing a little bit more

and I'm feeling a little bit hot.

So I'm just concerned that if dropping into the gorge

in this state, if it did get worse,

it might lead us into a little bit of trouble.

As lead kayaker

it's Jordy's decision whether or not to push on.

With a depleted and debilitated team.

Come out of options but just the exposure

of Steven here, you know?

If Steve loses a boat, if Steve gets injured.

When shit gets real, Steve may not be able

to contribute as much as someone like, Nate

or Adrian, or David.

And you know, we can't really kid down

the stream with just Steve, me, and Barney.

Jordy thinks its too risky.

So after only two days on

the river he's called in the helicopter.

I'm absolutely furious.

It feels like he's giving up way too easily.

So I was just taking myself away just

to have a little bit of a think.

It's a real shame.

I know that I'm kinda capable of taking

on the stuff that's downstream of here.

And that is really, really frustrating.

Not loving life right now.

(whirring rotor blades)

Once they've recovered,

the river crew will seek out the next place we can put

back onto the river to continue our journey.

But for me this expedition isn't just about the first

descent of the Baliem.

Its also about exploring the extraordinary worlds

the river has created.

I'm flying east over the Highlands to a tributary

of the Baliem called the Wollo

because the rivers here aren't just on the surface.

They also run underground.

I'm keen to get into that subterranean world

to see how it's been shaped by the waters

of the Baliem Valley.

The mountains that form the central spike

of New Guinea are composed of limestone

which originally was created on the bed of a shallow sea.

But as the Pacific and Australian plates

have come together they've squeezed the land up

into these huge towering mountains.

As the rock was pushed up over

the past five million years

so rivers carved out this stunning landscape.

But the water also started to seep through

the rock and create a whole new underground world.

Almost all of which is totally unexplored.

And this is exactly what we're looking for.

It's a gigantic sink hole or doline.

So originally that would have been a massive cave

and the roof's collapsed leaving this enormous, open hole.

Look at this cliff, that's insane.

It must be 250 meters high.

Completely vertical drop.

The caves we're hoping to explore

are owned by several local villages.

(foreign language)

Our plan is to abseil down this precipace

and to explore the caves that we hope lead off it.

Because of the contours of the rock.

For that I need a caving team.

We're gonna have to have a few belays

in different positions.

Cave leader Steve Jones

and his team of experts are rigging hundreds

of meters of rope for us to descend into the cavern.

Careful now edging to your left.

According to the locals

no one's ever been down this way before.

We're abseiling into a 200 meter sinkhole from

the jungle, rigged off trees, in the middle of Papua.

I don't think it gets anymore epic than this.

While the caving team carry on

I found something which is just as exciting

for me as a naturalist.

Somewhere in this small stand of trees

in front of me is a very special bird, indeed.

It's a bird with a very big voice

and every once in a while it's kind of letting rip,

the male, with a sound that kind of goes,

(imitating bird)

(bird calls)

That's the call, that's the call there.

There's one nearby, let's go, let's go this way.

It's the sound of the superb,

Bird of Paradise and these Central Highlands

are the only place on Earth that you'll find them.

It's as unique to this part of the world as the Baliem is.

He's there, in the tree just ahead of us.

(bird chirping)

Absolutely magnificent.

It's the most incredible glossy black color except

for the that just ridiculous patch of blue over the breast.

(bird calls)

He really is screaming to all the females around here

to say I am the biggest most beautiful boy on the block.

He is gorgeous.

Our plan is to camp

the night at the bottom of the sinkhole.

But then we get word that there's more trouble.

Bro, we have very real problems up top.

What?

A person turned up and pretty much

just like said get outta here.

Jordy's been hauling kit

from the nearby road but this time instead

of rope he's brought bad news.

We don't have the permissions.

Basically, they're like, you cannot stay here.

It turns out that not all

the villages who claim ownership of the caves

are happy with our plans.

One of the real challenges of this part of the world

and one of the reasons why it's still so unexplored

is that the people they are distrustful

of outsiders, they have the deep pride in their land

and the belief that many parts of it are sacred.

And they have little or no value of money.

So you can't necessarily bargain for things.

This is very frustrating.

Let's get back up there now.

Our only option is to put

the caving on hold while we negotiate with

the other village chiefs.

(foreign language)

The cave sits on the border of several villages.

And while some of them are delighted

to welcome us, others aren't.

(foreign language)

I've been coming to this part of the world for 20 years

so at least I can try

and persuade them in their own language.

(foreign language)

But it's not looking good.

What was promise again?

(foreign language)

Yeah.

So we're done, we're finished.

I just don't every want to come to a place

and leave bad feeling behind.

(foreign language)

I'd be lying as well if I didn't say that I'm devastated

not to be dropping down into that cave.

I stood on the lip and looked down into

that cavern and I could taste it.

(dramatic music)

After several days of searching

we finally find another cave.

This time the permissions are all in place.

We have a hole.

And big spiderwebs.

Just as well you're going first then, Steve.

We're hoping to push beyond

the known portions of the cave

to find new passages and uncharted caverns.

Ah, feels good to be underground.

I'm keen to find out

how these caves have been formed

to understand just how vast and extensive they are.

The constant temperature and protection

from the elements mean that the early sections

of these caves are the perfect hideaway for wildlife.

These shapes are swifts or swiftlets.

They hunt outside during the daylight

and then come in here to roost here at night.

But the most incredible thing

is the sound they're making, like that,

that little burst of clicks there.

So the swifts can't see in total darkness

instead what they're doing is a kind of echo locating.

They're making these sounds (imitates clicking)

and it bounces back off the cave walls

and they hear it and they can perceive in three dimensions.

They're flying blind, but they can still find their way

into these caves where they're safe to roost.

As they're doing up above me.

Amazing.

Papua is one of

the wettest parts of the world.

With an average 12 meters of rainfall

a year up in the highlands.

Compared to just one meter in the UK.

Over the past five million years,

as these mountains have been lifted up outta the sea

so the endless rain has percolated

into the limestone bedrock.

That helps explain how these caves are forming.

Rain water, which is very slightly acidic,

seeps through thin cracks.

It slowly dissolves the rock, eventually creating passages

and caves like this one.

Wet mud underfoot suggests another process is also at work.

It shows that water often flows

through these passages, eroding them

like a river erodes it's channel.

[Steve] So careful of this edge here

cause that's a big drop off.

And it seems to carry on going.

Well, I'm gonna scramble down and see what I can see.

We're over three kilometers

into the cave system.

It's taken four hours to get this far.

Whoa!

What was that?

A bit of stalac, it's alright.

Are we all good?

Yup.

You have to be careful not to touch anything.

But it's been worth it.

Now that is impressive.

That is incredible.

In front of us is a vast cavern.

Measuring over 100 thousand cubic meters.

Rather bigger than the Albert Hall.

There must be very, very little air movement

in this cave to allow all of this to form.

And it's big as well, woo!

Echo goes on forever.

That is a spectacular chamber.

You can see where the bedding planes

and the cracks are, the water's seeped through,

and that's where all those straws

and stalactites form in lines.

Over the millennia,

as mineral laden water seeps through the limestone,

the steady drips create stalagmites, stalactites,

and curtains cascading down the walls.

It's incredible that there are hidden places.

Darkness that, you know, has never been illuminated before.

And then it can be so intensely beautiful.

Some of these formations

are thousands if not millions of years old.

This truly is a lost world.

The thing that totally blows my mind

is that all those miles and miles of mountains

that we've flown over have all got

this kind of thing below them, haven't they?

And there are so many infinite miles

of caverns like this that have definitely never been seen

and possibly never will be seen.

Possibly never, but I would put a big bet

on Papua having more unexplored cave

than anywhere else in the world.

Water has created a whole new landscape

inside these mountains.

And with the challenges we faced

it's likely these subterranean wonders

will remain hidden for generations.

(bird chirping)

(foreign language)

(rushing water)

The river team are recovered

and we're relaunching our Baliem descent at

the first available place downstream.

We're rejoining the river 10 kilometers

as the crow flies from where we left it.

To start off the next phase of our journey.

Heading down to the Baliem Grand Valley.

Our plan is to kayak over 80 kilometers downstream.

Through what we expect to be extreme white water

til we reach the end of the Grand Valley.

(shouting)

This is a land of small settlements and cultivation.

The main tribe are known as the Dani.

I'm hoping to find out more about them.

Their relationship with the river,

and to see what impact the modern world

is having on their ancient way of life.

The base of this gigantic cliff face we have here

there are two tributaries coming together in a fork.

So that means there's a lot more water here

and we're gonna have much less problems

with sharp rocks tearing the bottoms out of our boats.

So hopefully the paddling is about the begin, finally.

(rushing water)

The river's increased flow

means we're less likely to tear the raft

but makes it faster and more dangerous.

Final checks done, we're off.

[Steve] It looks epic from here, doesn't it?

It feels so good just to be on the water.

Although many

of the Dani now wear modern clothes,

(foreign language)

some of the older generation still use

the traditional penis gourd.

With maybe a woolen beanie as the only concession

to the 21st century.

People have been farming here in the Baliem Valley

for a very long time.

Some suggest 32 thousand years

which would make it the longest consistent

communities found anywhere on Earth.

(shouting)

Evidence shows the Dani,

and many of the other 311 Papuan tribes share genetic links

to the aboriginals of Australia.

(splashing)

[Steve] Come, come.

(shouting)

[Steve Voiceover] Until now the river

has been quite manageable.

But we know it's bound to speed up.

So Steve, it's starting to get a bit steeper now

and we wanna catch that inny where Barney is.

See where Barney is down the stream?

Yep.

Sweet.

Suddenly the river drops into

a kilometer long rapid that's bigger

than anything I've tackled before.

Aldo's scouting ahead.

His massive problem here is that

if he's not powerful enough coming

through here, he's gonna get sucked into that hole.

If he ends up in that hole he's pretty much on his own.

Scary stuff.

This may sound funny, but you can paddle this rapid.

Okay, you can paddle it.

(dramatic music)

I need to prove to the team

and to myself that I'm up to it.

(dramatic music)

(shouting)

I only just miss hitting the rocks.

But it's not over yet.

Good, good, follow Dave.

(splashing)

(ominous music)

I'm getting sucked into the whole Aldo was worried about.

If I can't paddle my way out I'm in trouble.

Paddle, paddle!

Yes, yes, yes!

(shouting)

Yes!

Yes!

Good boy.

Mate, that was amazing.

That was amazing.

Tenacity is the key, bro.

Tenacity.

Oh my god, I've just got the biggest adrenaline hit ever.

It's gonna be hard work making you swim

on this trip, mate.

Wow.

(uplifting music)

Feeling like I can conquer anything

we paddle on.

Oh look at this, sensational.

Yeah!

Beautiful.

But then the river starts

to build again as we hit yet another rapid.

I'm sticking close to Jordy with Barney

providing safety cover further downstream as usual.

(dramatic music)

But then out of no where my boat gets sucked

into yet another hole.

The waters being churned into a swirling back current

and it spins me around.

It's sucking me in rolling me over and over.

(ominous music)

And then

(ominous music)

(shouting)

I'm out of my boat, on my own.

Being swept downstream by the river in full flood.

(shouting)

Swim, bro, swim!

Barney throws me a safety line.

Which I just manage to grab.

And I haul myself back into the bank.

Steve, you alright?

I'm good.

Wait there, Steve.

I'll come to you, wait there.

Luckily, Jordy saved my boat.

Did someone grab that?

And Barney saved me.

Thank you, mate.

Well it had to happen, sooner or later.

I got sucked into a hole and flipped.

I don't know, maybe, five or six times.

It was scary, I mean I knew the second I went

into that hole I knew that I was history really.

I kinda hit it wrong and it sucked me back in.

And yeah, it was time to pull the rip cord.

We paddle on.

Playing it safe, taking it steady.

As the river slows down and the valley broadens out.

(shouting)

(thundering)

We're coming towards the end of a long day.

At least 40 kilometers, possibly even 50

and we're losing light and it's starting to rain.

So it's time for us to try and find camp.

(foreign language)

There's a small settlement here.

Just a few huts up beyond the river bank.

And the youngsters certainly seem friendly.

(foreign language)

We've lucked out.

These Dani villagers seem more than happy

to let us stay the night.

(laughing)

It's also a wonderful opportunity

to find out more about these remarkable people.

This is great.

So we have, there's one more modern building

to the side here, which has an aluminum roof,

but the rest of them are all

old-fashioned beehive style huts.

They're called Honai

and are the traditional Dani homes.

With thatched roofs and wooden walls.

(foreign language)

All the generations live in this compound together.

Including the village elder, 70 year old Oo-ma-rekma-ma-bil

(foreign language)

40 year old chief, Eli Ma-bil and his brother Martin

are the 11th generation to live

in this small settlement of Poo-moe.

(foreign language)

Outside the extend family are cooking dinner.

It's traditional for group meals or special occasions

to be cooked in a big fire pit with hot stones

to slow bake the food.

Eli's mother is in charge.

(foreign language)

But it's a different tradition that's grabbed my attention.

This is something that's practiced by the Dani women.

When they lose someone, when they're in mourning,

they will cut off their own fingers as a sign of grief.

(foreign language)

Sometimes the only kind of anesthetic they'll have before

these digits are removed, is that someone

will punch them really hard in the arm

and give them a dead arm and then, bam, off it comes

with an ax believe it or not.

(foreign language)

It sits quite uncomfortably, I guess,

with our whole western idea of equality between sexes

but you see so much of that here in Papuan culture.

You know, the women really do all the work,

all the hard work and a lot of time guys

just kind of sit around smoking and laughing.

Come have a look.

In the men's Honai,

village chief Eli shows me a family heirloom.

Oh, that is extraordinary.

It was common place for the Dani

to keep a respected ancestor as a mummy.

But as a practice, it's now in decline.

The mummy's kept in the men's hut

and it's considered an honor to sleep

in the same space as him.

(foreign language)

He was killed in a battle with a nearby village

and having him made into a mummy

is a kind of way of honoring him.

After he died his body

was cleaned and prepared and he was then smoked over

the fire in the men's hut for six months.

(foreign language)

He provides a powerful physical connection to their past.

(foreign language)

It is now two o'clock in the morning

and the guys have finally stopped talking.

It's kinda weird looking around and seeing behind me

the one guy who kind of seems

to be sat up in a weird position.

I know it's a great honor and a privilege to sleep here

in the men's house alongside this ancient mummy.

They've told me that this will bring me prosperity

and a blessing for the rest of my life.

And I'll be able to have lots and lots of wives.

Not sure what Helen will think of that.

(soft music)

(rushing water)

(foreign language)

It gives me great joy

to find communities like this.

Where the Dani's vibrant culture is still treasured.

This is one of the world's most ancient cultures.

It's a rare case of tradition surviving

in a fast changing world.

Young and old still value their heritage.

What it means to be Dani.

We were welcomed here like long lost friends

and returned to the river full of optimism

and hope for the rest of our journey.

(dramatic music)

Next time.

This is the first settlement we've actually seen marked

on a map for about 10 days.

When it's in full flood it has the power

to move along boulders that are the size of cars.

Paddle, paddle, paddle.

(shouting)

(light music)