All language subtitles for Incredible Journeys with Simon Reeve 4of4 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 BLARES

We're on the way.

CLAPPING
SINGING

The landscape is incredible,
the vegetation.

Everywhere you look, green.

All different shades of green.

If you're going to try and imagine
paradise,

that's it.

And this...

This is the real treasure of Haiti.

I've met hundreds of incredible
people.

Hello, my friend. Welcome to Libya.

SIRENS BLARE

Welcome to El Salvador.
Thank you, mate.

Welcome to Uzbekistan.
SHE LAUGHS

I'll be catching up with some
of them.

SIMON ON VIDEO: 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 plains.

And that's a bloody wonderful thing.

I'm on the island of Lundy,

exploring one of Britain's oldest
nature reserves.

At the same time,

I'll be showing you some of the
other wild places

I've visited on my travels.

I really want to show you some of
the great wilderness areas

on our green planet -

also our climate crisis,

what we can do about it,

and some of the extreme and
incredible landscapes

that I've been lucky enough to
explore around the world.

Wow!

Oh, my goodness.

There are still wilderness regions
of staggering beauty.

What a place!

Places that, at first glance, the
modern world

seems to have hardly touched.

The sun's just going down over
the mountains behind us.

Where on earth are we going?

We do face huge challenges in
preserving these precious gems.

Perhaps the best way to understand
these wild corners of our world...

Oh, look!

..is to spend time with the people
who live in them.

SINGING

PHONE RINGS

Hello?

SHE SPEAKS MAASAI

It was a phone call from one of your
neighbours saying,

"Who are those strange people
with you?"

In 2015,

on my travels around the
Caribbean Sea,

I journeyed to Colombia...

..and its wild and beautiful
Sierra Nevada mountains.

We're heading into the land
of the Kogi people.

The Kogi are the most intact
surviving civilisation

from the time before
Christopher Columbus

arrived in the Americas.

Unlike many remote indigenous
people,

they've managed to hold on to their
traditional way of life,

and they usually keep outsiders out.

Many had never seen a foreigner
before.

Hantsiga.

This is right up there with the most
incredible places I've ever been.

Hantsiga.
Hantsiga, hantsiga.

Hantsiga.

Siga.

THEY LAUGH

This is a job made for me.

OK.

Which one?

Ah!

Flippin' heck.

Wow, smells incredible!

Mm!

I don't think it's alcoholic.

Any alcohol?

No.

I know I mustn't drink it all,
but it is very good.

The Kogi understand this forest
better than anyone,

and they took me into their
back garden.

This was pristine forest.

It has to be one of the most
important concentrations

of endangered mammals, birds and
amphibians

anywhere on Earth.

The Kogi believe that the
Sierra Nevada

is the heart of the world.

Look at this!

Absolutely spectacular.

The Kogi think of themselves
as stewards of the planet.

They call themselves
older brother...

OK.

..and the rest of us
younger brother.

Wow.

They believe we're threatening
Mother Nature

and their very existence.

I talked with Mamo Luntana,
a Kogi elder.

This has been the biggest
shock to me

since I started travelling
extensively.

Right from the very beginning,
remote and indigenous people

started saying to me, unprompted,

they could see the climate changing
on their patch of the planet.

And these aren't people who'd
been reading

The Guardian newspaper online.

These aren't people who needed to be
told about climate change.

They were already experiencing it.

The indigenous people who live in
the Earth's great wild forests

are witnessing fundamental changes.

Forests are a critical element in
the ecosystem of our planet.

They're crucial to how it functions.

Eight out of ten of the world's land
species live in forests -

hundreds of thousands of species of
birds, reptiles,

mammals and plants -

many still unknown to science.

And so many millions of insects
we've hardly started to count.

Perhaps even more importantly,
forests are a colossal store

of carbon and help to regulate
our planetary climate.

They could hardly be more important.

Yet, everywhere, they're under
threat.

In 2008, in northern Argentina,

I stayed with the Wichi
indigenous people.

That's where the bees are?

I'm a bit worried about being stung
by angry South American bees.

The Wichi have adopted Western
clothing and tools,

but they still get much of what they
need from their forest home,

harvesting the occasional tree for
wood and treasure within.

And here come the bees.

I don't think this smoke is working,
guys.

Bloody hell.

I've just being stung once.

Look at it glistening, there.

Looks incredible.

Proper wild honey, straight from the
forest.

OK, let's try some pure honey.

Oh, fantastic.

That's amazing.

And what...? This is honey, and what
else is that, there?

And you eat the larvae as well?

Choking on the smoke!

I think I prefer the honey
to the bee larvae.

Officially, the Wichi owned
this land,

but just a few hundred metres from
their village

their forest was being illegally
logged.

Look at this!

It's really shocking to suddenly
come across this.

This is just being torn out.

This is forest that the Wichi
depend on.

Obviously, the rest of the world
depends on.

These are lungs for our Earth.

Look at this, round here.

This is what they use.

This is what they use to destroy
the forest here.

They put these huge chains between
two bulldozers...

..stretch it out,

and then just run it across
the trees,

ripping the trees up.

I can't...

I can barely lift...just this.

SIMON SIGHS

Can you imagine the devastation
this causes?

At night in the village, we talked
about the future.

You think that Wichi culture can
survive the destruction

that you're seeing around you?

So quite a depressing day today,

seeing all the destruction of the
forest.

And it's the sort of thing you hear
about at a distance.

But then when you see it close up,
it really is...

It really is desperate.

You can only feel a great sense
of sadness for the Wichi.

I think. Because they're a very
gentle people.

And gentle people tend
to get walked over.

Deforestation is a truly
global crisis.

And I've witnessed it unfolding and
worsening during my travels.

SIMON GASPS
Bloody hell.

From Asia to the Americas,

Africa to Europe and Siberia,

forests and jungles are being
chopped and burned.

They have chopped and hacked
the rainforest down.

Oh, my God.

They have crossed the border into
the national park...

That's correct.
..and they have cut it down to farm?

Yes, exactly. That's right.

In Madagascar, it's thought up to
90% of the original forest

has now been cleared, mostly by poor
farmers desperate for land,

for crops to feed their families.

Where are the trees?

Well, they've been cleared.

This is land that's been deforested,

used for cultivation,
then been abandoned.

The vast boreal forests of Canada
and Russia,

as massive and crucial as the
Amazon,

are being devastated by fire and
illegal logging for timber.

Wow.

Look over this side.

It's been completely felled
and logged.

Goodness me.

All around the planet, I've seen
forests disappearing.

But I don't think it's a situation
where those of us

in wealthier nations can just wag
our fingers at poorer states

and complain that they're not
protecting their natural resources.

Because we did the same, in Britain
and much of Europe,

hundreds of years ago -

we chopped and we burnt our forests,

and we cleared the land to make way
for agriculture and for industry.

Many of the British landscapes that
we now love,

from Exmoor right up to the
Scottish Highlands,

are in some ways artificial

because they were land that was
cleared to make way

for sheep farming and even grouse
shooting.

In Britain, we only have about
13% forest cover.

Britain is actually one of the most
deforested nations on the planet.

Ah!

The Arctic north of our planet is
about the most remote

wilderness imaginable.

But there are people who live
even here,

and they're some of the toughest and
most hospitable I've ever met.

in 2017, I travelled across Siberia,
in eastern Russia.

Calling it vast is a bit of an
understatement.

Siberia, on its own, covers
almost 10%

of Earth's land surface.

Love to. OK, sir. All right.

I'd love some.

The Even people are nomadic reindeer
herders.

Tea with fish?

OK, are the reindeer far, Alexei?

In the summer, there's grass.

But in the winter, the reindeer have
to survive

by rummaging beneath the snow.

But the changing climate is
threatening this way of life.

So, Alexei, are they all yours?

I'd give myself three days,
actually.

So, look, this is what they're
after.

Are you saying that reindeer
are starving to death?

Across the Arctic, climate change
is one of the risks

to reindeer herds

and the traditional way of life
of many of the region's people.

Is this reindeer meat?

Thank you very much indeed.

Thank you, Galina. Spasibo bolshoe.

Mm.

That is really good.

Have you got children, and are any
of them working as herders?

What does it mean for the future
of the Even people if...

..if your...

..if your community aren't
herding reindeer?

Like so many indigenous communities
around the world,

the Even people are experiencing our
climate crisis at first hand.

Goodbye, my friends!

When I first started these journeys,

climate change was still seen by
some as a controversial issue.

But now the scientific evidence
is overwhelming and undeniable.

The Russian city of Yakutsk is a
harsh Siberian outpost.

It takes a certain type of character
to live here.

The city is built on top
of permafrost.

OK.

Russian climatologist
Sergey Fedoroff

was taking me underground to
actually see the permafrost.

Into the freezer!

Oh, wow!

Look at this!

The more we breathe, the more
crystals are created.

It's absolutely stunning.

OK, so, is this the actual
permafrost?

These tunnels were once used for
cold storage.

Now they've become the number one
tourist attraction in Yakutsk.

This place is bizarre!

What's this?
SERGEY LAUGHS

Oh, my goodness!

After you.

Into the bridal chamber.

It's a proper block of ice!

I don't imagine it's very
comfortable.

Well, if you can.

I'll cosy up with you, Sergey.

People from other countries live up
in the very far north,

but only Russia has built big cities

and really occupied the north.

They've even occupied the Arctic.

I think there is something...

There is something especially tough
about you.

How did you survive a winter
like that?

Flippin' heck! We'd declare
a national emergency

if anything got even remotely
like that in Blighty.

The country would come to a halt.

We're just not prepared for that.

You get a bit of snow or some leaves
on the line, we close down.

Here, minus 45?

Sergey's out playing ice hockey.

Unbelievable.

Sergey knows that the permafrost
is melting.

He wanted to show me proof.

We headed out of the city.

These, I think, are going to take us
to what locals call

the gateway to the underworld.

We headed into wilderness.

Flippin' heck.

So, this...

..is the Batagay Crater.

And it...

..is enormous.

Permafrost is now melting
so quickly,

so aggressively,

that vast craters like this,
called megaslumps,

are appearing right across
the Arctic.

Russia's not going to collapse
into a hole,

but these craters are a
dramatic sign

of what we are doing to our world.

It's a frightening size.

Thawing permafrost is dangerous
because it can release

vast amounts of methane gas.

That makes it a ticking time bomb.

Methane is, of course, a very
powerful greenhouse gas -

much more powerful than carbon
dioxide, for example.

And if, as scientists fear,
the permafrost melts,

it releases incredible quantities of
methane into the atmosphere,

it threatens to cook our world.

It's not the best morning,

but it's definitely time for a
brew up.

So this is my storm kettle.

The water is held in the skin
of the kettle,

and then you have the fire that
comes up through the middle,

and that heats the skin,
water boils.

It's worked pretty well in many
countries around the world.

I remember when we were in the
Sahara Desert

travelling around the Tropic of
Cancer

and we had to brew up there.

The Tuareg, who were with us,
who love their tea as well -

the Tuareg saw this and they were
completely blown away by it.

They offered me three camels
for my kettle!

I only turned them down
because I wasn't sure

how to get them back
through customs.

Water's boiled.

Let's get some tea.

I think I did give them the kettle
eventually.

Oh!
SIMON LAUGHS

I feel warmer already,
just looking at it.

Here we go.

Simple.

But effective.

Well, I grant you, it is a little
bit chilly.

But it's certainly not the coldest
we've been on the journeys.

My goodness!

When we were in the Arctic
in Russia,

it was minus 40 for day after day.

Oh-ho!

When we eventually got to a
relatively comfy hotel there,

I actually shot a time-lapse
video on my phone

to show you what I had to wear,
what I had to get dressed up in,

just to go out when it's minus 40.

I have woken up in some of the most
amazing places.

Occasionally, is it a bit rough.

Occasionally.

It got very, very, very cold.

The cold is a real killer
for camera batteries,

so we all had to have some of them
inside our sleeping bags.

I've got bags of these in here.

The place is quite extraordinary,
eh?

He just showed me...
I'm staying over there.

And, er, the toilet is just
over here.

Apparently you can get tigers
within 50 metres of here.

So a proper run for a wee.

Bloody hell.

We've got a few extra passengers
on board.

That's how you survive in the
tropics,

with a whopping big mozzie net.

COCKEREL CROWS

Cockerels started crowing next to
our heads

at about 3:15.

I hate cockerels.

These dogs make more noise
than cockerels.

Barking. Barking the entire night.

Not bad as a view
while using the facilities.

But rough or smooth,

it's glorious to wake up out there
in the wild,

perhaps nowhere more so than
in the Maldives.

The sort of sky that Turner painted.

To be greeted by a dawn
like this is...

..spectacular.

A tonic is what it is.
A tonic.

Scattered across the Indian Ocean,

the Maldives are a chain of
1,200 islands

built on ancient coral reefs.

Biologist and conservationist
Marie Saleem

was taking me under the water...

..to see reefs that are almost
indecently beautiful.

Around the planet, coral reefs
make up less than 1%

of the global marine environment,

but they provide food and shelter
for more than a quarter

of all marine species,

from the tiniest molluscs

to some of the biggest and most
spectacular creatures in the ocean.

Manta rays are one of the treasures
of the Maldives.

It's one of the best places
to see them.

Coral reefs are crucial to their
survival.

Mantas can grow to more than five
metres across.

The epitome of grace,
they were playful and inquisitive.

And despite their enormous size,

they felt totally unthreatening.

That was amazing.

Actually quite moving.

Those are huge creatures.

Marie took me on to a fabulous
coral atoll.

I had a poster on my wall
when I was a kid

growing up in London.

A poster of a tropical island,

and this looks like it.

It's just staggering.

Climate change is an existential
danger for the Maldives.

As the planet warms, sea levels
rise.

Come on, then.

That could put much of these
islands,

and the country, under water.

The temperature of the sea
is also rising.

That's a catastrophe for coral
because,

both here and around
the world,

coral reefs are incredibly
vulnerable to change.

Wow.
That's a nice piece of coral.

Why is this coral white?

When the temperature rises even one
centigrade above the usual average

and stays like that for a while,

the coral polyps get upset,
then it dies.

And this is what becomes of
the coral.

We're not talking about the
temperature plummeting

to freezing or rocketing to boiling,
are we?

No, not at all. Slight change.

In what ways is the coral reef so
important

to people here in the Maldives?

The coral reef keeps the rest of the
ecosystems in balance.

They're like the rainforest.

And like our great forests on land,

coral reefs around the world are now
being ravaged.

So there's reef just over here,

maybe only 20 metres away from us,

which Marie was saying was
vibrant and healthy

just 18 months ago.

Sea temperatures are now rising

and coral reefs are dying at an
unprecedented rate

as a result of coral bleaching.

Even in a place that looked like
paradise,

a great swathe of reef was
a barren wasteland.

Oh.

It's all dead.

It really is all dead.

It's a devastated...

..and a devastating sight as well.

Like a forest that's been logged.

The figures are really frightening.

Three-quarters of the world's
coral reefs

are now at risk of a severe
decline

because of climate change,

because of pollution and because of
overfishing.

And if we lose them,
which is possible -

some scientists think we could lose
coral reefs

within a single generation -

we're not just losing something
that's pretty for tourists

to come and look at.

We're losing an absolutely
fundamental part of our seas,

of our oceans, of the marine
environment.

I feel really conflicted about the
journeys I go on.

Obviously, me gadding about the
planet does burn

an obscene amount of carbon.

I like to think that the journeys
help to spread

a bit of information and knowledge
about what's going on

around the world.

But I still feel torn.

Travelling in the Maldives
had a huge effect on me.

It's a poor country that relies
on upmarket tourism,

and money from visitors helps pay
for protecting marine reserves

and the coral reef.

Much of the sea around the Maldives
is actually marine protected areas.

But the Maldives also showed me
starkly the impact of tourism

and our modern way of life.

I suppose it's easy to forget that
these are populated islands

with lots of tourists as well.

They produce a lot of muck.

This is really behind the scenes
in the Maldives, eh?

Oh, my God. What a sight!

There's this stinking smoke
hanging in the air.

It's actually cascading off the
edge, there, into the water.

Oh!

My God.

Oh, there's flies everywhere.

You OK?

I don't know if we can get through
here.

This was where the Maldives dumped
its rubbish.

Just a couple of decades earlier,

this was another unspoiled
coral island.

But then up to 300 tons of waste
a day was shipped in.

It's sort of apocalyptic here.

I don't mind the dust. I don't mind
natural dust at all.

But the smoke that's coming off
here,

and the dust that's being
blown up,

is really toxic.

Bloody hell.

The scenes here are gobsmacking.

Gobsmacking.

And really upsetting as well.

More flies than I've ever seen
anywhere in the world.

This is a poisoned environment...

..and it shouldn't be happening
anywhere, least of all here.

Our waste, our rubbish,
our plastic -

it's all part of a vast
global crisis

I first really encountered in 2010.

Following the Tropic of Cancer
around the world

took me to Hawaii,

slap bang in the middle of the
Pacific Ocean.

It's almost 2,000 miles from the
nearest continent.

I travelled on to one of the
smallest,

most remote Hawaiian islands.

Wow, just look at this.

What the hell is this?

This looks like it was a mould,
a plastic mould

something's been cut from.

This is some sort of plastic
container.

It's been drifting and sun bleached.

It's come from the sea?

What looks like pristine sea.

Look, it's a plastic helmet.

A slipper. An old shoe, slipper.

Plastic bottles.

I was with biologist Dr Sam Gon

from the Nature Conservancy of
Hawaii.

Look at this!

And this is after a clean-up.

The first time that I came
to this beach,

the debris problem was so bad you
couldn't even see the rocks

along most of this beach.

It was covered in just tons
of plastic.

Of course, plastic doesn't
biodegrade.

It just breaks down into smaller and
smaller pieces.

On the surface, over 50% of what
we're walking on

is actually little bits of
decomposing plastic.

I mean, these are tiny, Sam!

Pink, blue, green, orange.

But there's white bits here
that could be plastic,

they might be sand.

I mean, this plastic is becoming
the beach.

The beach is becoming plastic.

And look, it's not just on the
surface either.

It'd be one thing if it were.

But the deeper you go, the more
plastic you get.

It's the smallest issue,

the smallest problem I think
I've seen

on my journey around the Tropic.

And yet it's the biggest one
as well.

The fact we're soiling our nest.

As fast as the beach was cleaned,

it filled up again with a seemingly
endless quantity

of plastic rubbish.

It really is...devastating.

Not just because this crap is here
on these beaches,

but because of what this signifies -

and where this has come from.

It's coming from the great
Pacific Ocean.

There's now this garbage dump
floating around

in the middle of the sea, in the
largest ocean on Earth,

and sending this kind of trash to
every island in the Pacific.

The plastic crisis is truly global.

We've known this for a long time.

But even in recent years,
it just gets worse and worse.

Even in the Mediterranean,
up to 750 tons of plastic

enters the sea every day.

One estimate suggests the pollution
level is equivalent

to more than 500 plastic bottles

being dumped in the Med
every second.

Plastic, plastic...

Bloody hell, there's loads!

By 2050, plastic in the oceans
could outweigh the fish.

I know I'm not alone in thinking
this is madness.

A huge amount of this plastic
mountain

comes from the packaging and bottles
we as consumers throw away.

But that's just the start.

So what we're on now, what we're
climbing up in,

this is basically a river bed?

Exactly, a river bed that,
of course,

is dry right now because it haven't
rained in a while.

So, you can see, we're just a little
distance above the sea.

In Spain, I met up with
Daniel Rolleri,

an expert on marine pollution.

He's a dedicated environmental
campaigner

fighting to save the Mediterranean.

We can see what I call a good
example

of this new geological age...

Oh, my God.
..in which, you know, the plastic

is totally integrated
into the soil

in the different layers.

This is not just one.

This means one on top of the other.

Can you see? You know, and really
show the footprint

of humankind on Earth.
This is...

This is unbelievable.

This looks like plastic
used in agriculture.

This is a greenhouse plastic.

So this is one of the ways for trash
to reach the sea.

Here, it barely rains.

But when it does, it rains a lot.

It pours. So all this plastic, here,
gets flooded out into the sea?

Totally, yes. It's like a highway
nonstop into the sea.

This is...

This makes me feel sick.

I feel disgusted by our systems

that enable this to be even
possible.

Have a look at this just here.

And it just breaks down,
can you see,

into smaller and smaller parts?

And this will end up in the ocean,
in the sea,

sooner or later.

No doubt about it.

In tiny, tiny fragments.

And this is what the
marine wildlife eat.

And that's why, then,
plastic is in the food chain.

According to the United Nations,

about eight million tons of
plastic waste

is dumped in our seas
every year.

That's a rubbish truck load
every minute.

Plastic has been found in the
deepest oceans.

It's everywhere.

Clean-up campaigns are great,

but only scratch the surface.

The only solution to plastic
pollution

is not create the waste
in the first place.

Travelling around the Med, I found
it infuriating

even wealthy Europe can't or won't
stop polluting

its bit of the sea.

At the most southerly tip of the
Italian mainland,

I hopped off a train in the small
town of Brancaleone.

I wasn't going far.

So, what is just about the last
thing you would expect to find

in a train station?

A turtle rescue centre, perhaps?

Buongiorno!
Buongiorno!

Filippo?

Simon. Very nice to meet you.

Tania? Tania, hi.

Very nice to see you, too.
Buongiorno.

Filippo and Tania had refashioned
this old ticket office

to help save some of the Med's
most incredible sea life.

SIMON GASPS

Oh, my goodness, look at the size
of you!

How has he lost so much
of his flipper?

So how much of a problem is plastic
to the turtles, then?

All of this was in Raoul?

SIMON GASPS

Oh, my God.

I haven't seen such clear evidence
of the consequences

of the modern world for marine life.

Look! This is astonishing!

This is a packet of pasta,
for goodness' sake.

I feel your emotion.

I feel it, too. I really do.

It's needle-sharp.

Look, you big beastie!

Parrot beak of a mouth comes open,

snaffles it straight down.

Raoul had made it to 30 years old,
breeding age -

a milestone only one in 1,000
turtles ever reach.

We are here on such a special day,

because Raoul is about to be
released.

Hold down?

So 5065...

..is going to be you, Raoul!
Si.

How far did you have to look
to find turtle leggings?

Turtles are dying in their thousands
from eating plastic.

Sea birds, too, and whales.

Animals crucial to the marine
environment.

Oh, my goodness. Raoul's keen to go!

Raoul was getting another chance,

thanks to these amazing
conservationists.

Tania, are you going to miss him?

Look, his flippers are going
already!

He swims! He's going!

Oh-ho!

Thank you.

Thank you, on behalf of everyone.

SIMON LAUGHS

What an incredible moment that is!

I...

I've reached the most spectacular
bit of Lundy.

There are thousands of sea birds
nesting in the cliffs around here.

Some of the birds that come
here are endangered.

Climate change has made it harder
for them to find fish.

During the time I've been on my
incredible journeys,

I've seen the effects of climate
change become more obvious

and dramatic.

Yet we're still pumping millions of
tons of carbon

into the atmosphere every year,

a rate that means temperatures are
rising to a point

that could make climate change
irreversible.

Finally, and slowly, governments
around the world

are waking up to the problem.

They're starting to introduce
measures

to cut our emissions.

I think... I know...

I know we need to do so much more.

We need to go so much further
to save life on this planet.

I don't want to sugar-coat the
reality of what I've seen.

I think we've really screwed
things up.

But it's not too late.

Many scientists still think we can
save ourselves and our planet

if we change.

Change the way we generate energy,
the way we travel, agriculture,

and if we plant billions and
billions of new trees

to help take carbon out of the
atmosphere.

Is that too deep?

No, that's a good level.
Is that acceptable?

Yes.

From Burma to Costa Rica,

I've seen inspiring projects
replanting

large numbers of trees.

Get some back in the ground.
That's fine, actually.

But many scientists think
we need to go further.

They want us to rewild parts
of our planet

to rebuild wilderness areas we're in
danger of losing,

which could help to stabilise our
climate

and save species large and small.

In 2019, I travelled through Montana
in the United States

and visited one of the world's
largest rewilding projects.

We're here!

Sean?

You made it!
We made it! As did you.

Simon. Simon Reeve.
Good to see you, Sean Gerrity.

Sean Gerrity is buying up land
once used for ranching

to create a vast rewilded area
called

the American Prairie Reserve.

Are we inside the APR now?

We are in it.
We are absolutely in it.

This is what it looks like.

And this is native prairie.

As you can see, as you look out
over this landscape,

there is not much to tell you what
era you're in.

Is this the era of the Vikings?

Yes, this is what it looked like
during the Viking times.

How about the Egyptians?

Yep, during that time,

when they were just discovering
metal alloys and things,

this is what this looks like.

What you've identified here
is a bit of a jewel...

Yeah.
..that is ripe for protection.

All the pieces are still intact.

And that's extremely rare.

If this landscape is destroyed
through ploughing out

to grow a monoculture crop,
that sort of thing -

putting this back together...

That sagebrush right there is
70-80 years old,

and they're very difficult
to get going again.

It's really complex, not unlike
a rainforest.

And, so, to have this is the jewel,

is to have the habitat to deal with.

And there's not much left
in the world.

I don't want us to stop.
Let's carry on.

I want to see more!

It's just brilliant. Look at it!

They left them for us.

This is too good to be true.

It's just wonderful.

It's the Missouri River!

Come on! Let's get out on it!
All right.

As so often on the journeys
I've been on,

I've found examples...

..where people are doing something
wonderful and worthy

to try and restore or save
a landscape or an ecosystem,

but usually they're really
small scale.

This is not.

This is a country-sized attempt
to rewild

a huge area of land.

Those are mule deer.

The scale of the project is immense.

The goal is to create a wildlife
reserve

of more than three million acres.

That's bigger than all of
southwest England.

There's a golden eagle!

A golden eagle!

Buffalo!

They are completely magnificent.

They are enormous and powerful
and majestic.

Rewilding is about reintroducing
species like the buffalo,

which was nearly pushed
into extinction in the US,

and so much more.

Natural prairie like this absorbs
huge amounts of carbon dioxide

to help slow global warming.

This is an amazing, resilient
landscape.

You could have 1,000 bison come
thundering through here

and all of these plants can take it.

The buffalo are key to creating a
rich and sustainable ecosystem.

If we come back here in 10 years,
20 years,

what's your vision of what
we might see?

I think you'll see bison along
the river, bighorn sheep.

Maybe a grizzly bear walking along
with three cubs.

Maybe a pack of wolves moving along,
seeing if they might be able

to chase some elk for dinner
themselves.

The habitat's here.

It's just a matter of time and
coaxing that wildlife back,

I am sold. It sounds...

It sounds wonderful.

As I've travelled the planet,

what's become crystal clear is that
our climate crisis

is not something that will just
happen in the future.

It's happening now, on our watch,
in front of our eyes.

At the moment, it's the people who
live closest to the land

who are the most affected.

The Kogi people in Colombia were
very aware of the danger.

Their message to all of us,

who they call their younger brother,

could hardly be clearer.

When you see this power station...

..what do you think, as a people?

You live in the mountains,
but I sense the sea

is very important to you.

Do you think younger brother
will ever listen?