All language subtitles for Incredible Journeys with Simon Reeve 2of4 1080p BBC EN

Most of us love going on a journey.

I've been incredibly lucky,

exploring countries on six
different continents.

Now that travel has become
a bit tricky,

it's not a bad time
to have a look back.

In this series, I'm going
to be showing you some

of my most memorable adventures.

WHISTLE BLOWS, HORN TOOTS

We're on the way.

The landscape is incredible,
the vegetation, everywhere you look,

green, all different
shades of green.

If you can try and imagine
paradise, that's it.

This...this is a real treasure
of Haiti.

I've met hundreds of
incredible people.

Hello, welcome to Libya.

SIREN BLARES

Welcome to El Salvador.
Thank you, mate.

Welcome to Uzbekistan.
SHE LAUGHS

I'll be catching up
with some of them.

Because they're cheap,
they have nimble fingers...

Oh, mate!

This is a land of utter extremes.

This is where heaven and hell
are said to collide.

And I'll be sharing what
I've learned on my travels...

I have no words, just good luck, OK?
Thank you. Good luck.

Whatever you do. Good luck.

..about the challenges
and the solutions

for our incredible planet.

There are buffalo once more
on the American plain,

and that's a bloody wonderful thing.

I'm heading out to explore a bit
of beautiful Devon.

Along the way, I'll be showing you
some of the dodgiest, most bonkers

and dangerous situations
that I've ever found myself in.

Bloody hell.

I think the reason to travel to
dangerous and extreme

parts of the world
is because they're often the most

important and challenging.

Now we're heading into territory
that, until recently,

was controlled by Daesh.

And, in the darkest situations,
people inspire and surprise.

What did you do before
the fighting erupted?

You were a teacher,
now you're a soldier.

You've seen and you have
experienced a lot,

but still there is
the teacher inside?

Good luck, OK?

I'm sometimes asked what's
the trickiest or most dangerous

place I've visited.

There have been a few candidates.

There's a lot of armed cops around.
We can't film clearly, overtly.

I can't look at the camera,
because they'll guess.

And then we could be arrested
ourselves.

From the tension
of southern Turkey...

..to drug-gang neighbourhoods
of Central America.

DOG BARKS IN VICINITY

Bloody scary.

But one benighted corner of
the world definitely comes

right near the top
of my danger list.

I've travelled through East Africa
several times.

First in 2005, on a journey
which took me to Somalia

and the capital, Mogadishu.

The government of Somalia
had effectively collapsed,

warlords had taken over.

It was just about the most dangerous
place on the planet.

For security, we had to employ

12 heavily-armed local gunmen -
mercenaries.

I'm very well...

When was the last time you were
involved in any action, any trouble?

The threats to us included kidnap,
murder and chaos.

HE SHOUTS INDISTINCTLY

Stop, stop, stop, stop!

You're worried about me falling off?
Yeah.

We've come to the main market
in Mogadishu, it's actually the

biggest market in Somalia, so
a little bit crazy. As you can see,

we've got our guards with us.
They're going to be with us

the whole time we're here

and, hopefully, they're going to
look after us.

So these guys on my right now
have all got guns.

Apparently, they're bodyguards
for a rich businessman.

But they're not so keen
on being filmed and we don't

really want to annoy them.

I think he just hit his gun
on your leg.

Did he just hit his gun
on your leg?

Be careful where you point
the camera.

All right.

Put it down, down, down, down!

They were just filming outside
a money transfer agency

and, just as we were filming
the agency, a guard took offence

and started cocking his gun
right at us.

When there's no working government
in a country, people have to get by

any way they can.

The guards took me through
the back streets to meet

a famous local character.

Hello, Mr Big Beard.
Lovely to meet you.

Yeah. What is your name? Simon.

Simon! Simon.

Mr Big Beard had
a thriving business.

So these are the Somali passports.
Yeah.

And this is what people
in Somalia have to do.

They have to come and get one
of these passports and buy it,

basically. They're not able to apply
to a government for a passport,

because there isn't a government.

So they have to come to Mr Big Beard
and he will give them a passport.

Oh, oh, oh!

He's not happy with the photo.

It's a big head, huh. Big head?
Yeah.

Oh, I see.
CAMERA CLICKS

Oh, dear. Oh!

Is that OK? OK.

And can I be the ambassador,
the ambassador, Somali ambassador

to the United Kingdom?

No, no, no. Ambassador of Nairobi.
Ambassador in Kenya.

OK, just like that.
I'm now a Somali diplomat.

Filming a journey like that,
we try to reduce our baggage

and have a light footprint, but
there's still crucial kit to take.

I'm heading across Devon to
meet up with Jonathan Young,

one of the rather brilliant
cameramen

who filmed my programmes
and do the real heavy work.

Hey, Jonathan. Hey, Simon.
How are you doing?

Thank you.

Thank you. I got it.

Distanced. Yeah.

So these weigh an absolute ton,
you won't be surprised to know.

Actually, have you got the plate
for it?

So this...
CLINKING

..is the crucial bit.

This goes into the flak jacket there

and it's a sort of ceramic plate.

It's actually possible to crack
them by dropping them,

so you've got to be very careful,

but it will absorb the impact of
even quite a high-velocity round

and protect your internal organs.

It'll stop a bullet from a
Kalashnikov or something like that.

At least, that's the idea.

OK, so...

HE GRUNTS

So this is what we've worn in tricky
places around the world. Some people

just like it like this,
so it protects your upper half,

but, personally, I always

insist it has this bit as well.

I feel much safer that way.

I think it's time for me
to reveal all.

I'm going to show you the...

Well, what is possibly the single
most important piece of equipment

I've taken on any of these journeys.

My armoured underwear!

Seriously, these are called
blast boxers.

And this yellow fabric here
is designed

to protect your undercarriage
when things go badly wrong.

It's supposed to stop shrapnel

from penetrating
your femoral artery,

leading to rapid catastrophic
blood loss.

So I wore this exact pair
when I returned to Mogadishu

in Somalia, when travelling
around the Indian Ocean,

when chaos had given way
to full-scale war.

It was seven years since
my last visit and the situation

had deteriorated.

Much of poor, blighted Somalia
had fallen into the grip

of the heavily armed
and exceptionally violent al-Shabaab

militant group,
close associates of Al-Qaeda.

INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER

We're ready to go.
We're ready to go, over.

Mogadishu was being torn apart
by fighting.

All the buildings look as though
they've got bullet marks.

Well, that's the truth
of the matter.

Fighting has been in every corner
of this city.

We're talking about 20 years
of statelessness, no government,

people have guns shooting about,
so the result is what you see.

I was with Lieutenant Colonel
Paddy Ankunda,

and his mainly Ugandan troops.

Part of an African Union
peacekeeping force tasked

with seizing back control
of Mogadishu from al-Shabaab.

So this is now the frontline.

It was the frontline of a war
in which thousands had died.

We show you the positions... Yes.

..that belong to the al-Shabaab.

You see that building with a mast?

And that's, what, an al-Shabaab
stronghold? Yeah.

This road was actually constructed
by the al-Shabaab

in order to join Daynile with Bakara
market, they had to build this.

GUNHOTS
Jeez!

GUNSHOTS

They have seen a vehicle
of the al-Shabaab.

When they see a car, they shoot.

GUNSHOTS

But this is too open, guys.
This is too open? This is too open

for you, so take off your heads
from the firing line, huh?

There were front lines
throughout the city.

We were taken to another area
where soldiers were locked in urban

warfare and it was sometimes hard
to tell who was shooting at who.

GUNSHOTS

What was that? What's going on?

We need to find out what it was.
Yeah.

GUNSHOT

GUNSHOT

My goodness.

And we emerge and we're in
somebody's back garden.

In this close-quarters fighting,

gains and losses were being made
one street -

and, sometimes, one garden -
at a time.

GUNSHOTS

Here, Simon. Left, left!

GUNSHOT

On that side of the wall, you have
al-Shabaab. Are they're trying...

Preparing to launch an attack?

They are running. They're running?
Yeah, they are crossing the road.

Are they holding guns? Yes.

GUNSHOT

They are coming...

How does he know it's al-Shabaab?

That side, that side,
that's al-Shabaab now.

The whole of that side.
Everybody on that side?

Commander, let's go.

Paddy's men realize the fighters
on the other side

were setting up rocket-propelled
grenades to launch an attack

on our position.
Probably because we were there.

You see that guy? We had to flee,

with snipers giving us
covering fire.

Of course, war zones
are terrifying places,

but I'm only in them briefly.

For the people who can't escape
them, violence and terror can go

on years, decades.

That's something
I don't want to forget.

Around one in seven of
the population of the planet

live in countries that are fragile
or affected by conflict.

That's around one billion
human beings

and many of them can't simply
get up and leave,

they are stuck there.

I, by contrast, thanks to this,

my proper passport, have incredible

freedom to travel and go,
usually, wherever I want.

Whenever I'm about to board a plane
and I'm stuck in what I sometimes

call the tunnel of death,
the air bridge between the gate

and the actual aeroplane,
and there's a queue

and I'm feeling grumpy
about the whole experience,

I really try to remember
my good fortune.

And I think of a young woman
called Fatima.

I met Fatima in Kenya on my journey
around the equator in 2006.

In a remote desert area,
I went to a huge refugee camp.

WAILS

It was home to hundreds of thousands
of people who had escaped the war

in neighbouring Somalia.

Having been in Mogadishu,

I had some small idea of the fear
and violence they had run from.

People have forgotten about
the chaos, the crisis in Somalia.

You look into their faces
and you just realise

that they're hoping and waiting
for the rest of the world to come

and give them some assistance.

Fatima was then 23 and had been
living in the camp

since she was six.

When you think of the future,
do you feel positive or negative

about the future?

I am always positive about
my future, always positive.

Do you think you will go home
to Somalia?

Would you like to go home
to Somalia?

No, I will not. For that one,
I do not go to Somalia.

Why not? Will never.

Why not?
Because I know the problems I faced.

I know my people have been killed.

With no official papers
and no passport,

Fatima couldn't leave the camp.

She was stuck.

I can travel anywhere
in the world.

Now, I have this magical thing
called a British passport and it

means I can just travel around
and you're confined here in this,

it's almost like a prison,
it sounds like.

Does it feel like a prison?

We say the open prison.

That's what we normally
tell to people.

What would happen to you if
you just carried on walking?

What would happen if you wanted
or tried to go to Nairobi

or to a local town?
You can't go to Nairobi.

You can't go to even the nearest,
90 kilometre, town, which is called

Garissa, because, to go there,
you have to use a vehicle.

And, in between Garissa and here,
that's where police are patrolling.

If they stop the vehicle,

they will ask everybody, "ID card."
And we don't have that ID card here.

Fatima had been educated
in the camp.

She was smart and funny.

I knew she could have achieved
anything with the right opportunity.

I've met thousands like her around
the world who just have none

of the chances, the luck and that
accident of birth some of us

can take for granted in a country
like the UK.

I've thought of Fatima
so many times over the years.

She's been a constant reminder
to me of my good fortune, my luck,

to have been born in the UK

and to have had the chances
that I've had.

We don't know what happened to her.

We have tried to track her down,
but we've been unsuccessful.

I just hope she's found safety
outside the camp

and happiness as well.

There are thought to be 70 million
refugees like Fatima in the world,

fleeing conflict or persecution.

That's more than the population
of the UK.

They're often people with simply
nowhere to go.

They can stagnate and suffer
for years in vast refugee camps,

like the one holding
a million Rohingyas

who had fled persecution in Burma.

What's going on here?
INDISTINCT SPEECH OVER TANNOY

Can we stop? Can we stop?

Or in camps in the desert
of southern Algeria, where I met

the forgotten refugees from conflict
in Western Sahara.

My children, they are
very interested to one day

to see their grandfather
or their uncles.

They never have seen them.

I'm very aware that any risks
I take on my travels

pale into insignificance compared
to the dangers many refugees face

on their journeys.

In 2016, I travelled around Greece
and I visited the island of Lesbos,

just off the coast of Turkey.

Look at that view! Straight ahead,
look at that.

That is Turkey.

Greece has been receiving an influx
of refugees and migrants,

many of them coming from or fleeing
the conflict in Syria.

Oh, my God, they're coming now.

They're crossing now.

HAND BRAKE CLUNKS

I've got a slightly sick feeling
in my stomach,

because some of these boats
do not make it.

If they don't, there is absolutely
nothing we can do standing here.

Thousands of migrants and refugees
were drowning in the Mediterranean

each year as they fled wars, poverty
or sought a better life.

I would say there's 40 people on
that boat.

There's some women, there's children
as well on board.

My God, maybe...

Look at this.

You've come from Syria?

Where in Syria? Aleppo, or...?

HE SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY

He's got a child's toy around him.

How long has it taken you
to come across?

How long you want to come? One hour.
One hour across the water.

How much money did it cost?
$1,000.

To go from there to here?
Yes, from Turkey.

What do you think Europe
will give you?

I'm studying pharmacy.

You're studying to be a pharmacist.
So I am pharmacist.

What have you brought with you?

What do you have, your possessions?

You have this.

Everything else is gone.
In the sea. Yes, yes.

Good luck!

This crisis was part of the world's
biggest wave of mass migration

since the Second World War.

There's just more and more coming.

This is the edge of Europe and there
are hundreds of people coming.

SIMON GREETS CROWD

It was particularly upsetting
to see so many young children.

Their lives in complete upheaval.

He's very tired. I bet they are.

I am camera. You're a cameraman?

Cameraman.

Thanks.

Good luck to you. Thank you.

HE RESPONDS TO SIMON

Thank you.

SIMON SNIFFLES

I have no words, just good luck, OK?
Thank you. Good luck.

Good luck. Whatever you do.
Good luck.

In another life, in another country,

he could have been a colleague,
a friend.

When you watch the news,

it can be hard to understand
that refugees and the victims

of faraway wars are people
just like us, with jobs, families,

hopes and fears.

But, perhaps, sometimes,
in our urge to help them,

the individuals, we can sometimes
forget about the people,

the communities and the countries
who get left behind.

But if we absorb millions of people
from struggling countries,

we may never give those struggling
countries a chance to stabilise

and succeed, because, so often,
the people who make it here,

it's like an obstacle course.

It's the brightest and the best who
are often the ones who make it.

The ones who would be most likely
to help build a country

are the ones who quite naturally
need, want, to leave.

Around a billion people are
migrants, moving from their homes

for a multitude of reasons.

Not all migrants are refugees
fleeing conflict or persecution.

Some are in search of a better life.

But, of course, wealthy Europeans
do the same.

They move for work or sunshine
and they get called expats.

On my journey around the
Mediterranean, I travelled

through Morocco and went in search
of some of the thousands of Africans

trying to get into Europe.

The Moroccan government hadn't given
us permission to film, so the team

and I went in undercover,
posing as tourists.

We're hoping that if we use
a small touristy camera,

then we won't get stopped
or detained.

How close are we now, Terry?

Not a lot of military around.

So we stand a chance
of not getting caught.

Well, that's...that's good.

We need to go quickly.

We can see some movement
in the...in the bushes at the bottom

of the valley.

We found them.

I met a group of young men hiding
in the forest, who were waiting

to try and climb the huge fence
which separates Morocco

from the nearby Spanish territory
of Ceuta.

How long have you been
in the forest?

Nine months.

You made it over the fence.

Yes. The razor wire.

Yeah.

For these young guys, just getting
here took drive, guts, gumption

and persistence.

Talents that could be so helpful

for the communities and countries
they'd left, but they hope to find

work in Europe and bring
their families to join them.

It seemed an unlikely dream.

God, they're saying good luck to us.

On the same journey, I travelled
to Almeria in southern Spain...

..where so much of our fruit and veg
is grown in a sea of awful,

anonymous plastic greenhouses.

You can see in here...

..I think these are aubergines,

thousands and thousands of them.

Many of the workers here
are African migrants.

One showed me the conditions
he lived in.

The only accommodation available
to Suliman

was a decrepit four-bedroom house
he rented

with 15 other migrant workers.

So there's a shower room...

..with a very dodgy electrical
setup in here.

Goodness.

So how many people use this kitchen?

I just went to lean
on the sink here.

And, look, it's not actually, uh...

It's not solid in any way.

Do you actually have to pay rent
to live here?

That sounds shocking.

Suliman's dream of a good life and
job in Europe hadn't worked out.

The pay was low, the working
conditions often horrific

and all right in the middle
of a wealthy region of Spain.

Look at this. This is an enormous
resort and well-watered golf course.

I wondered what Suliman thought
about the consequences of migration

for Africans and Africa.

He had a controversial view.

Just a short while ago,

I was on the other side of the sea
in a forest in Morocco, talking

to a group of young lads

who are risking their lives
to get here.

What would you say to them?

I think we often talk about
migration based on relatively

selfish pros and cons.

"Are immigrants good or bad for us?"
is often the tone.

Very rarely do I hear people
on the left or the right of politics

talking about the consequences
for poorer countries of millions

of people upping and leaving.

But when I go to those places
and I talk to people there who often

feel they've been left behind,

they complain about
Western countries

pinching and poaching
their university educated

through complicated
immigration quotas.

They think of it as being
a brain drain, often.

I can understand
why individuals leave.

Of course I can.

But, collectively, I do fear
that the consequences of mass

migration can sometimes be countries

which struggle to stand
on their own two feet.

Dangerous situations come
in all shapes and sizes

when you're filming
around the world.

This road is clearly
a bit dangerous.

In 2017, I travelled across Russia,

a country that covers a sixth
of the world's land surface.

It's an incredible,
spectacular place.

Where on Earth are we going?
I love it.

And Russians are warm and welcoming.

Aww!

Thank you very much indeed.

But, as you may be aware,

the authoritarian government
of Vladimir Putin isn't always

too keen on the West.

BAND PLAYS

I started my journey in the far east
of the country.

And then headed towards the city
of Vladivostok.

This is enormous. This is like
Golden Gate Bridge or something.

And it's painted the red, blue
and white of the Russian flag.

Wow.

I travelled on to Russia's
remote border area with China.

It wasn't long before the Russian
authorities began to take

what you might call
a keen interest.

OK, we've been pulled over.

Now it's the police.

A few miles outside Vladivostok,
we were stopped by the police.

The officers demanded our drivers
get out of the vehicles.

Right, they're pulling away.

Look at that,
they're taking him away.

HE EXHALES

Our drivers were eventually
released, but that was just

the beginning of fairly
endless harassment.

We headed back into town
to catch a train.

Ah. Entrance.

Is it normal for you to just
push the cameras away?

So heavy handed, guys.
Why? What's the need for that?

This is incredible.

So we're rapidly running out of time
to make our train.

Welcome to Russia.

We did manage to catch a train

and headed across Siberia's
vast boreal forest.

It's an area suffering from illegal
logging and colossal deforestation.

There had been allegations
corrupt officials were involved.

Wow.

Look over this side.

It's been completely felled
and logged.

Goodness me.

In the local town, we were soon
the centre of attention once again.

OK, so that car is coming right
behind us.

Are you wearing seatbelts?

Police checkpoint.
We're being pulled over.

Hide the camera, hide the camera.

It's just unbelievable.

Police coming, camera down.

We were stopped again and again.

One time,
the police even apologised,

saying they were just nabbing us on
orders from the security services.

I still had my mobile.

So we've been...

So we had to follow the police back
to their police station,

where we were told that some experts
were going to check our passports.

We've been here for a couple
of hours so far, sort of grinding us

down with the monotony of this.

HE EXHALES

The next morning, we set out early.

So, we just tried to leave our hotel
this morning, the police

were waiting for us outside
the hotel, there's nothing

on the street,
they've stopped us immediately.

So now they're giving us

a blue-light escort
to the train station

to get us out of here.
They just want us...

Elsewhere, I did see
a different side of the country,

but the behaviour of
the secret police in that region

gave me an important insight
into Putin's Russia.

Just imagine what they do to people
who don't have a TV crew with them.

HORN BLARES

Despite the challenges
and occasional dangers,

I love travelling.

Every hour of every day on the road,
or the rails,

there are experiences to remember
forever.

Honestly, it's not just about me,
me, me.

We have to get our shots.

I'm just travelling,
filming in Burma, Myanmar.

And I'm on a train heading into
Yangon.

The train lacks glass windows,
which is wonderful,

but also lacks proper
closing doors, which means

people can do naughty things
like this.

And I find myself often
having to do this.

Not quite holding the underpants,
but...

..he's a big bloke.

Anyway, don't...

..just don't tell
BBC health and safety, OK?

Thank you.

We're not stupid.
All of us want to come home.

Everyone wears a seatbelt
and we're careful on the roads.

So, a quick behind-the-scenes moment
here in Myanmar, Burma,

we are by the side of a road.

And Jonathan is just setting up
the camera there on a tripod.

Jonathan!

Thank you. Not entirely sure we've
chosen quite the safest place to do

this, as coming at us
from both sides seem to be

all of the articulated lorries
in Asia.

I'm sure it'll be fine.

CHEERING

Sometimes, danger has come from
an unexpected direction.

CHEERING

My own team have manoeuvred me
into tricky situations.

Buenas, hola. Hola.

Buenos dias.

I like being out of my comfort zone.

Mucho gusto.

But, I mean, this was bonkers.

So no broken bones, no dislocations.
Is that a deal?

HE SHOUTS

Mexican female wrestlers.

Or super-fit Russian patriot,
mixed martial artists.

With our budgets,
I don't get a stunt double.

Bloody hurts.

What about our serious questions
that we've got to ask you...

..about female emancipation?

Agh, that hurt.

I think I'm going to puke.

And they were gentle with me.

I did have quite a few bruises
after that, to be honest,

but, of course, filming my journeys
is much harder on the team

than it is on me.

They have to do everything
I'm doing, but often going backwards

carrying heavy cameras.

And big cameras can become a bit
of a liability for us sometimes,

perhaps when people are angry
with us

or when we're trying to be discreet.

So then we can switch to smaller
cameras, of course, or, nowadays,

we can film on our phones.

Some situations are so dangerous,
even covert filming

is out of the question.

Having armed guards wouldn't keep us
safe, but there are still ways

of operating and filming
if you can find the right person.

In 2015, I was lucky enough to
travel around the Caribbean Sea,

through Central America,
to Honduras.

I headed to its biggest city,
San Pedro Sula.

It's actually much lighter outside
than it appears from in here.

For safety reasons,
for security reasons, the vehicle

we're in has got heavily tinted
windows and even windscreen as well.

It means people can't see there's
some foreigners in the vehicle.

Honduras is one of the most violent
and dangerous countries in the world

outside of an active war zone,
terrorised by drug gangs.

The gangs have thousands of members

and I wanted to meet
some of their leaders.

There was only one place to go.

We're now going to what's said to be
the headquarters

for many of the gangs.

We're going
into the city's prison.

It turned out the prison guards
only controlled certain areas.

Inside the main part of the jail,
the prisoners were in charge.

Buenos tardes.

At one point, I'd suggested
to our local fixer

a small squad of special forces guys
could protect us inside.

He just responded with
a hollow laugh and said none of us

would leave alive.

Flippin' heck.

There was only one man
who was trusted by all sides

and could hopefully keep us safe.

So the gentleman
in the white shirt there,

he's the bishop of San Pedro Sula,
we just had a quick chat

and a meeting with him.

He is helping us... Or he is
facilitating us being here.

He is effectively going to be our
security, we think, in some parts

of the prison. Being with him
will hopefully guarantee

that we are safe.

Bishop Emiliani had helped organise
negotiations between the gangs

and the government, earning respect

from the most dangerous gangs
in the world.

OK, we're about to enter the
18th Street area of the prison

and the monsignor is taking us
inside.

The 18th Street gang
has a brutal reputation.

It's an international gang and drug
trafficking organisation with roots

in Los Angeles.

Chief of the gangs? Yes, yes.

They want us to put the cameras
down. Cameras down?

After some negotiation, gang leaders
allowed us inside.

There were no guards in sight.

Families were visiting.

It was astonishing.

Here are people working.

Wow. This is incredible.

There's shoes, soles, here
being cut out.

There's some people up here
working away.

This was supposed to be
a maximum security jail,

but the inmates were in control.

Everybody is working.
Everybody is doing something.

They handed out the food, kept keys
to the cells and decided

who received a decent bed
or a punishment.

It felt like a combination
of sweat shop and market

with cafes and shops.

This is astonishing.

This is like...like a town.

Yes, like a town. Yes.

Apparently, there is 80% employment
inside the prison.

That's not only impressive in most
countries, it's a hell of a lot

higher than it is outside
in the rest of Honduras.

It was a crazy place,
as dodgy as life gets.

I was told the guys in charge
of one area took control

after beheading their predecessor
and feeding his heart to a dog.

I have never seen
anything like this.

We're inside a prison,
I have to keep telling myself that.

Many of the inmates were in
for serious crimes like murder.

Brutality enforced a bizarre sense
of order inside the prison,

which only highlighted the failure
of the Honduran state outside.

Across Central America, poverty,
violence and corruption have led

to hundreds of thousands of
young men joining brutal gangs.

Several of the prison inmates
told me they joined when they were

just young children.

Monsignor, how...how
can we understand this?

The gangs will take children
as young as eight years old.

Life is so often about luck.

Where you are born can gift
opportunity or scar you for life.

The guys in the prison
are responsible for their actions.

But many of those recruited young
would have had little chance

to escape the clutches of the gangs.

My God, that was, um...

That was a very intense and rather
overwhelming experience.

It's very hard to really convey
anything but a fraction

of the incredible sights and sounds
and senses that you experience

in a...in a situation like that.

I've seen the reach of the global
drug trade on my travels

around the world.

In Colombia, Central Asia, Africa

and in southern Italy,

when I travelled around
the Mediterranean in 2016.

We needed permission from
the highest levels of the Italian

government to film a dangerous
and sensitive mission.

What are we doing? What's your plan?

So we are on overwatch duties

for a convoy of narcotics

that's being taken for destruction.

The value of the drugs
in the convoy is anything

up to around £200 million.

It is a load that would inspire
almost any gang

to attack a truck at the back.

My God, look at them all.

The convoy is just below us.

There's an unmarked car at
the front

and then marked vehicles surrounding
an armoured van.

All the time, they're looking for
anything unusual on the roof

for spotters,
for people following them.

Here we are in Italy, at the heart
of the European Union,

and there is a...paramilitary convoy

escorting drugs for destruction.

This is the front line
in Europe's war on drugs.

They've put the perimeter around
the van.

They've taken up armed positions.

Bloody hell.

Look at this.

One is 200... 200,000 euro.

It's just unbelievable.

There is just masses more.

I have never seen it on this
sort of scale before.

It's astonishing to see this much.

The traffickers in this region

are an Italian mafia called
'Ndrangheta.

They're the most powerful
organised crime group in Europe.

But there's a paramilitary special
forces unit hunting down the

crime bosses, called the Cacciatori.

Are you military? Are you police?

We do both things.

So we get the information to know
where people is and then also

have the training and the tools to

go in their house
and arrest these people.

Heading out.

Lieutenant Dario and his armed team
took us along on an active operation

deep inside 'Ndrangheta territory.

It's not territory of Italy,
you know.

It's territory of 'Ndrangheta.

There is no state there.
That's an incredible thing to hear.

They don't want any form of state.

Using violence and intimidation,

the 'Ndrangheta control whole towns
and villages in this area.

They have an elaborate system
of hideouts and safe houses.

Simon. Oh, my God!

This was the entrance.

So this house was raided,

and there was a fugitive, who'd,
what, hidden under the floor here?

You can see the stairs.

Oh. So the whole step that was here
is mounted on rails,

to pull it backwards and forwards.

I mean, that is ingenious.

And this leads to the room
where actually they hide themselves.

OK, it's a little bit tricky.

Can you believe what they've done?

Four. Four beds.

This was their life.

What's this?

Oh, my God!
There's a whole other tunnel here?

Let's go.

Totally bizarre.

Is this in the same house
we were in?

It's another house.

A network of tunnels and bunkers

extends beneath much of
this village.

I've never seen anything like this.

The tunnels were so tight,

I had to film myself and cameraman
Craig behind me on my phone.

It's like Alice in Wonderland
meets Narcos.

SIMON LAUGHS

Look at you! All right, mate?!

What the hell are we doing?!

CRAIG: Come to the Mediterranean,
go to the beach!

SIMON LAUGHS

What? What is that?

Drainage.

What, you mean the sewer?

Of course, so, as soon as they can
get into here,

they can move around the whole town.

Less than an hour later,

I was back inside
a relatively comfy hotel room.

It was completely surreal,

but that is so often life
on this planet,

madness and normality.

It's easy to think that the world
is a violent and dangerous place,

and parts of it are,

but, in my experience,
the overwhelming majority of people

are friendly, honest,
and often keen to help.

And, even in the most unlikely
situations,

people can surprise and inspire.

My recent travels down through
the Americas took me to El Salvador.

Like Honduras, and so many countries
in Central America,

El Salvador is another
dangerous place.

Every year, hundreds of people there
are murdered by drug gangs.

It's astonishing how,

openly, the police,
wearing balaclavas,

are holding a man on the ground,
and people just walk around,

as if it's the most normal thing

because it is here.

But people here don't just submit
to the violence.

I found an organisation
that inspired and offered hope.

In the gang-torn capital,
San Salvador,

18-year-old student Sandra
works 24-hour shifts

for the Commandos De Salvamento,

a group of volunteer
emergency paramedics.

On a 24-hour shift,

Sandra and her team will respond
to dozens of calls,

from traffic accidents
to gang shootings.

They allow me to tag along.

They've just said that we're going
to a dangerous area.

They weren't sure about taking us,

but we said we're just going to
stay in the ambulance,

we're not going to get out.

MAN GRUNTS AND GROANS

He's been beaten up
by a lot of people? Yeah.

Who speaks English?

Somebody right there?
Somebody right here.

Hey, hey, hey, I can hear you.

How are you doing?

Great. I'm BLEEP up, hey?!

Oh, my God. I'm just going
to the hospital,

but I got, I got stabbed in my head,

and they're taking me to... BLEEP
..to the hospital.

To the national hospital.

That's right. National hospital.
How you been?

I'm not a volunteer. I'm from,
I'm from British television.

Oh, you're British?
Yeah, you look...

Oh... BLEEP!

Give me... Come on.
I thought you were British!

Give me the BLEEP!

Hey. All right.
How you been doing?

Welcome to El Salvador!

Thank you, mate. Yeah.

Oh, God, yeah. All right,
I've got to come out of your way.

OK. Good luck. Hey.

So he's being taken
into hospital there.

Helping people injured
in the violence here

is the work of brave angels,

but the Commandos do even more
than that.

They recruit youngsters,
like Sandra,

who are risk of either joining
drug gangs or being targeted by them

and teach them to work
as paramedics.

Well, Sandra, sorry for just
busting in here like this.

Is this where you stay,
as a volunteer,

or are you actually living here?

You're 18. What do you,

what do you want to do
with your life, Sandra?

So I think we're going to see
Dr Sandra in the future.

This group gives youngsters
family and identity.

They teach the value
of each human existence.

Perhaps most importantly, they show
that, even in a country ravaged

by the violence of the drug trade,
amid immense danger,

there is hope.

Personally, I find everything here,
and everything they're doing,

completely inspiring.

In a very dark place,

in a very dark situation,

they are a candle burning bright.

Good luck, guys.

Next time, I'm on sea and land,

sharing my journey
through our wild world...

Here they come. Oh, my God!

That's not supposed to be like that.
Come, come, come.