"Fleur de Lampaul Young sailor reporters" "Subtitles by Oliver Sanderson" "The dreams of childhood can lead to the ends of the earth." "For one school year, aboard the Fleur de Lampaul, nine children go to the school of nature and mankind." "They explore the Amazon rainforest and coral reefs, become friends of the whales and Indians." "A journey to the end of their dreams, to discover themselves." "To share their emotions, these young sailor reporters... produced certain sequences of the film themselves." "A logbook in pictures." "Their child's perspective on the world." "A TRIP BY DUGOUT CANOE" "Come on, everyone's watching." "Go on..." "Morning wash aboard the Fleur de Lampaul, anchored in the Mahury river, in French Guiana." "A wash livened up with a few dives." "400 km away, the day also begins with games in the river... for the young crew who are discovering Indian life in the village of Antecume-Pata, in the heart of the Amazon rainforest." "After a few days in the village, we decide to go into the forest, to better understand the traditional life of the Indians." "We'll go to the source of the river and the territory of the Elders." "What's happening Enéour?" "We're going to go for at least 5 days, along the Litany, it's a river... to do some hunting and fishing, and we'll make a small shelter and hunt around that area." "Three or four days in the forest, doesn't it scare you, Hélène?" "Oh no, it doesn't scare me, we're with Mimisiku and the Wayana Indians, so we'll be okay." "We're going with Mimisiku, accompanied by his brother, by Coumaya his wife, and by his daughter, and with the family of Boum Boum, the father of Hetipo, our Wayana friend." "Just upstream of Antecume-Pata, the Litany is barred by rapids, difficult to overcome." "A team of Wayanas have come to help us, because alone we wouldn't be able to hoist our two heavily laden canoes." "It takes all the agility of the Indians to cross the rapids." "One wrong move would cause the sinking of the canoe, and the loss of all our equipment." "That would be the end of the expedition." "You have to be strong for this." "Is it hard?" "Boum Boum, great." "Great for me too." "Passing the small rapids, shouldn't be a problem." "There are lots of piranhas." "It's not true, I don't believe you." "Above Antecume-Pata, are the last Indian villages before Brazil." "We stop at Balimino's village, Boum Boum's brother." "An oasis of peace in the heart of the forest." "Balimino offers us cachiri, this manioc drink so loved by the Wayanas." "It's a sign of friendship, of welcome, you have to drink it from large ladies." "And yes, learning about Indian life sometimes takes some effort." "They've come to learn about the life of the Wayanas, to learn to hunt, to learn to fish..." "Hetipo leads us to a tree with red fruit, the roucouyer (annatto)." "What shall I put?" "Hetipo." "No." "Yes." "How do you spell your name?" "Ni, C O, next." "In the past, the Wayanas covered their entire bodies with roucou." "It protected their skin and gave them beautiful colours." "Today this natural dye is no longer used except by the food industry." "We now plunge into the green wilderness of southern Guiana." "Before us, hundreds of kms of pristine forest, without any human being." "They've shot." "He's already fired." "Yes." "Wood pigs (Pecari)." "Boum Boum heard some wood pigs, and they took their guns, and they hunted them." "They shot one of them." "And now we're dealing with them, they're being gutted." "Hetipo leaves to fish for Pirai, the pyranhas." "You see, I trod on one, that's why." "With shoes?" "No, without shoes." "Boum Boum warns us against the dangers of the river, like the venomous stingrays whose sting is extremely painful." "He also teaches us to catch shellfish, easier prey than the fish." "We break a little bit there." "We haven't caught any fish today." "Fortunately the Indians are here, for them, the forest and the river are generous." "Our first night on the river, the first bivouac." "Enéour, what's happening here?" "They're making the hut, so that we can sleep protected from the rain, and perhaps the animals." "Are there many animals?" "Yes, earlier we saw a caiman, (related to alligators) an iguana that took a dive, some fish there." "It looks like there's quite a lot of animals." "We're in the middle of caimans and piranhas, and I see a hell." "I'm here for the preservation and the well-being of the crew, even if we are eaten by caimans, it's better to have a full stomach." "Look, my wife's a fisher of piranhas." "It's nice, eh?" "So, here we'll build some sort of small huts to hang our hammocks, to sleep tonight in the forest." "There are caimans quite near to where we sleep." "How do you like sleeping near caimans, iguanas and snakes?" "As long as I sleep, I'll be okay, but if I can't sleep, it'll be scary." "That's good, but you cut there." "Like this?" "Like her, there." "We've just spent a wonderful night in the rain, in the forest, it was amazing... and out there..." "it's still raining." "We're waiting for the rain to stop before going on." "The good news this morning is that the Indians want us to camp higher up, and they tell us that they must dismantle the camp and move higher up, but it seems that higher up, there are more Caimans, so... we must also go where the caiman are, that's life." "So here is the departure... and I also filmed..." "the rain and it's colder." "And the journey continues, higher and higher towards the land of the Wayana Elders." "THE AMAZON RAINFOREST" "At the top of the Litany River, in Guiana, 4 children from Fleur de Lampaul learn about Indian life in the forest." "Mimisiku and Boum Boum rarely miss their prey." "The young Wayanas learn to hunt and fish by imitating their parents, with varying degrees of success." "The ascent of the river is punctuated with stops... on the smooth rocks that stand in the Litany." "Kinala, Boum Boum's wife, prepares a naimara." "In this territory devoid of any human being, the fish are abundant." "I'm trying to fish... but have only seen very small fish, this big." "Beken, Mimisiku's brother, has gone into the forest." "He needs lianas to build the carbet, the shelter under which we'll sleep tonight." "The lianas make an excellent string." "Mimisiku has spotted a bunch of delicious fruit at the top of a palm tree, coumou." "Tonight we'll drink my hair." "The gathering of wild plants enriches the Wayanas diet." "The Wayana have a very ingenious system to make carbets in the forest, fairly quickly and with little effort." "And they have a principle:" "It's that... as we're going to hang a hammock on the frame, they make a very light frame that'll be reinforced by the tension of the hammock." "There's just a timber like this, that's placed in the fork, to which we'll tie the hammock, and it'll pull more, consolidating it, wedging it like this." "While the men build the shelter, the women prepare the coumou." "They're small berries, we're going to cook them, and we're going to obtain a sweet juice, fruity, superb." "Some Indian tribes harvest hundreds of edible wild plants." "The Wayana like coumou and us too, it's better than cachiri." "Mimisiku leads us into the forest." "Coumaya, his wife, has asked him for a new paddle." "Boum Boum teaches Hetipo to make a katouri." "Hetipo, what's a katouri used for?" "It used to carry jibilé." "What's a jibilé?" "It's a wood pig." "A wood pig, is it strong enough?" "The bark is to make straps for the katouri." "The Wayanas produce their everyday items themselves." "The forest gives them wood, reed, lianas, rubber, feathers and clay for pottery." "Their perfect knowledge of their natural environment, allows them to choose the most suitable material for each item." "The paddle requires a light but very strong wood." "The forest is a complex world, so it needs years of training for a young Indian to master all these techniques." "An adult hunter can cope with almost any situation." "But the school of the forest is never boring, and the Wayanas never miss an opportunity to have fun." "The Indians make the best use of the resources of the forest, for them, it is very productive and generous." "Pierre, Guenaëlle and the other children of Fleur de Lampaul, study the primary forest with the scientists." "First discovery:" "it's not easy for an Amazonian tree to get a place in the sun." "All plants are engaged in a fierce struggle for light." "The light rays are rare at ground level, and without sun a plant can't grow." "This young shoot won't become a tree, unless it can benefit from a gap in the upper vegetation." "Some plants use the trunks of trees to reach the upper levels." "These are the creepers and lianas." "When the tree is fully grown, it may fall under the blows of new predators, the loggers." "Too often, they exploit the forest without caring about it's future." "Snake!" "Watch out." "There." "A little karou, isn't it?" "This one's a baby." "They have as teeth..." "They have fangs..." "It still has fangs." "People, are trees real problem." "The last Rainforests are in danger." "They're disappearing at an alarming rate of 400 hectares per hour, protecting them has became an urgency, but people need wood." "How can it be done?" "The forest warden tells us about the efforts of the ONF, which manages forests in French Guiana to achieve the right balance." "They take us onto the experimental site of Paracou." "Here, the ONF has divided the forest into plots." "Each operates differently." "The results are compared." "What's the solution, to clear and replant several kinds of trees?" "It's dependent on the differences in their exploitation as we've shown in Paracou..." "Reforestation after cutting is an essential step, alas rarely practiced." "But we can do better:" "Take only 3 or 4 interesting trees commercially, without destroying the others." "The rational exploitation of the forest benefits from efforts of the researchers." "In French Guiana, they've developed new methods... to better choose the trees to be felled." "I'm taking a core in an Angelique to see the quality of the wood." "The scientists make the new knowledge available to the foresters, hoping that they'll want to make good use of it." "I record the deformation." "The tour continues to the Cayenne xylothèque." "So, this is the xylothèque, (wood sample library)" "So in here, there are wood samples from 400 species of trees, so... the characteristics of these woods... are identified and it helps when you have an unknown sample, to look, compare and recognize it." "White men are newcomers to the rainforests." "To make proper use of them they need to learn about the trees, their resistance, their mechanical properties." "Scientific research gives us knowledge about nature, that's been handed down by the Indians, from father to son since the dawn of time." "What's your first impression about the forest?" "The mosquitoes." "The aboutis... they're these small creatures like little mosquitoes, which are annoying, that sting you and tunnel under the skin." "Spit the water out because it's not for drinking, it just comes from the creek." "Night is conducive to dreams." "Dreaming in this forest, so beautiful and so threatened, dreaming of becoming like a little Indian, a little modern-day Indian, familiar with nature, to use it without damaging it, she that gives life." "So Nicolas, did you sleep well?" "With all these mosquito bites... not so good, because sometimes I woke up, they itched, making me scratch, so I put on some cream." "And what's your name in Wayana Indian?" "Maitiku." "Maitiku... which means?" "Son of mosquitoes." "Here is our bathroom, the most beautiful in the world, we all meet up here, morning and evening." "Mimisiku finishes his paddle." "He'll give it to Koumaya, and Koumaya, the day of our departure, will present it to Tatiana." "THE ROCK OF JARI" "Mahury River, French Guiana" "For the pupils of the extraordinary school of nature, which is Fleur de Lampaul, the day begins at dawn." "Today we're going to visit a quarry and we'll try to take some samples, to get an idea of what can be found in a tropical environment." "This morning a geologist introduces us to the basics of pedology." "In fact, what is pedology?" "In fact, it's the study of the soil, so... from the rock, until the formation of the soil, all the steps." "Amazon soils are generally very poor, because the heavy rainfall has leached them for millions of years, carrying away the nutrient particles." "When the trees are cut down, the exposed soil disappears in a few years, and the land becomes barren, a desert." "We're sorting out the stones that we collected... in the quarry recently, and in fact we classify them, we write what it is, on the label, and send it to the 2nd grade (age 15-16) that follows us," "and so they can follow their geology syllabus with us." "After having studied the soil, we're now interested in the canopy, the upper level of the forest." "One of the richest environments and least known of the planet." "So what are you going to do?" "I'm going to climb up to the canopy." "I'm well harnessed, indeed." "How's it going Pierre, is it easy?" "Yes, okay, for now." "In recent years, a handful of researchers have been developing techniques for climbing trees, surely the best way to explore the canopy." "At 30 or 40m from the ground, the climate is drier and hotter than below." "It is here that most of the plant and animal life is concentrated." "Flowers and fruits are abundant." "The photosynthesis is intense, a multitude of plant species, birds and insects thrive." "Many are still unknown." "Epiphytic plants are numerous in the rainforest." "They're found mostly in the upper branches of the canopy." "They aren't parasites, they don't draw their nutrients from the trees which bear them." "The bromeliads retain rainwater in a wreath of leaves." "They're thus fighting against the dryness caused by the intense tropical sun." "The orchids are the most beautiful of the epiphytes, their bright colours and scents attract insects that pollinate them." "Oh, that was great." "I could've stayed there even longer." "Yes..." "No, no way." "Pierre..." "You see to catch them, you press there on the fabric like that." "Okay, go ahead, collect it now, Pierrot." "Careful, don't damage it's wings." "Here, I'll inject a few drops of ammonia... on a butterfly called Adeloenae Suvanotata, and at this time, it's not very active." "Pascal is studying the impact of insects on the plants of the forest." "So he uses light traps because the insects move relative to the moon, and so on a dark night if you shine a light, so for example, if one day we find there are lots of locusts on the white sheet," "one can imagine that in the long term some plants will be attacked... by locusts which are very destructive." "So here it is, the light trap." "There are plenty of bugs and we have to avoid breathing in too hard, otherwise you get a lot up your nose." "Oh, it's horrible." "I feel as if my legs are covered in pimples." "After a long day of study, what better than a bivouac in the forest to regain ones strength." "So it's good?" "Happy birthday to you." "Yeah...." "Oh, the beautiful cake that glows." "There's a certain emotion... that we recover..." "Splendid, delightful..." "Close your eyes and don't worry." "Oh, superb." "I think that this day will remain forever etched in her memory." "And the boys have given this, made with their machetes." "For several hours we go deeper into the forest." "The Wayanas hunt." "Here, all the animals are difficult to spot." "To attract them, the Indians imitate their cries to perfection." "Boum Boum and Mimisiku find their way in the forest with disconcerting ease." "A few machete blazes on the trees are enough for them to find the track back." "Did he get it?" "Yes, it fell over there." "Hunting is an essential activity for the economy and Wayana culture." "Without it, they couldn't survive in the forest." "After several days of going up the Litani River, we're not far from the Tumuc-Humac mountains." "Beyond lies the ancestral territory of the Wayanas." "In the past, the communities visited regularly, crossing the Humak-Humac mountains." "It was the path taken by Mimisiku when he finally came to Guiana." "It's now abandoned." "Look, a caiman." "Caiman!" "It fell into the water." "It isn't dead?" "No... because there's not a lot of lead shot." "I cut it across the head." "I cut the head." "The Wayana canoes often go up the Litani to get to the Jari and Parou, these Brazilian rivers inhabited by their ancestors." "The great voyages of the past are not forgotten." "The rock is inhabited by a "yolock" a spirit of which Mimisiku is wary." "Once, there was a shaman here." "He and a yolock killed a Wayana that came from Jari." "Many people died here." "The yolock killed many." "It's name is Amamutelli." "The Wayanas tell us a lot about spirits, the yolocks." "They speak of it as something quite natural for them." "They are as present as real nature." "This invisible world, it's also true, also present, as real as the visible world." "A tree is more than a tree, an animal is more than an animal, it's also the spirit that lives within them and so you shouldn't displease them, and I think that all this, combined with the feelings they have that if they destroy nature," "they destroy the very foundations of their lives, makes the Wayana have a great respect for nature." "This is something I never thought I would do in my life." "Eating a crocodile?" "To do the dishes in my underwear, next to a crocodile." "This is a ravet with a toucan." "They're protected species, and the wayanas kill them to make large headdresses... of feathers for major ceremonies." "So here, is what you need to make a caimé with fish and meat." "Some caiman..." "here's the caiman, and some wood pig." "That's a caimé." "Emilie, that's Kaipo." "He talks nonsense." "The caimé is cooked by the smoke, because it keeps better, it lasts longer." "It's Kaipo." "It's not true," "Hetipo talks nonsense all the time, I don't believe him any more now." "Yesterday it was kaioumapa or I don't know what now, it changes all the time." "Have you eaten monkey yet?" "No, but I'll taste it at lunchtime." "Does it look appetizing?" "Of course." "You're happy to eat it?" "Yes." "It looks a bit like babies, right?" "Yeah." "Enéour?" "Yes." "Last night, you were in your hammock, at night, deep in the Amazon forest." "How did it feel?" "Yes, I'm Amazonian." "Well..." "My name is Nicolas." "It was..." "It was a very nice village." "No, it's okay Tatiana, we're already full." "I didn't sleep very well because I only slept about 4 hours, as I wasn't very reassured with all the howls, toads... the rain..." "my soaked sleeping bag." "And eating with the Wayanas..." "The Wayanas have an excellent diet." "Farmers, hunters, fishermen, and gatherers, their diet is varied and rich in protein." "Although it's impossible in this climate to store food more than a few days, they're unaware of hunger and don't worry about tomorrow." "A caiman..." "Yes, a caiman." "I saw a caiman." "Each day brings a new wealth of knowledge." "The good mood and humour of the Wayanas... make this trip in the forest a fabulous experience." "TOWARDS THE SOURCE OF THE LITANY" "You put your arrow like me, like this, and you aim well at the fish, and then you shoot." "At the top of the Litany River, not far from the border with Brazil," "Hetipo teaches Nicolas the secrets of Indian life." "In fact, Hetipo is a bit like my brother, my big brother, who's the same age as me but who's given me a lot." "who's taught me a lot about nature, and he knows a lot." "The Wayana know a lot, but don't show it." "And Hetipo hasn't made fun of me at all." "I feel that the Wayanas are free by comparison to us Westerners, because already in their way of life, the Wayana is his own boss, that's to say, he does a little of what he wants." "He's always very free in his actions." "He gives a lot." "They're really very endearing, and have great affection for us." "See this fish, here." "Oh yeah, great." "Okay." "The expedition up river is an opportunity for the Wayanas to hunt and fish... in the game-rich areas, far from villages." "Are you counting Nicolas's bites?" "Yes, I mark them with a blue pen so I don't forget any." "How many so far?" "Wait." "In fact, I counted more than 200 bites earlier." "I counted 200 bites, without counting my bottom." "I have around 17 on my bottom." "How many is that now, Helen?" "118." "118 bites?" "Yes, 118 bites." "Yes but including the very small ones." "Which means that I have more than 250 bites all over me." "Nice, huh." "Mosquitoes like me apparently." "The wild game is smoked on the boucan (wooden grill)." "It mustn't go out because the hot and very humid climate... would quickly rot the fish, monkeys, birds and caimans." "All the hunting of these last days." "It's the first time a Wayana has cut my hair." "Yes." "A trim." "No wataiki, when I'm with Boum Boum." "Yes." "No more hair." "You like short hair." "That's it." "The next night, the children of Fleur de Lampaul... that remained on the Guyanese coast... go to meet some nocturnal animals." "Close to residential areas, the animals have become rare and suspicious because of too much hunting." "Most of the animals are active at night." "Here therefore, we try to take a census by counting in the headlights, the populaton present on the release area." "We drive at an almost constant speed of 10 km/h." "A person placed on the side of the vehicle... illuminates the edge of the track and like that we locate... the various animals which are present on the roadside." "What's there, Guenaelle?" "It's a rodent, it's a pion, isn't it?" "It's an opossum, a marsupial." "It isn't a rodent." "It's so cute." "Put your finger in the place of mine." "You never know." "Look at it's feet, it grips really well with these feet." "That stickiness is horrrible." "It clings." "So cute, these little animals." "Yeah." "Of all the Guyanese animals, it's the insects which we encounter most often." "What is it?" "They're ants." "Where do they live, Hetipo?" "In the tree." "They're inside the tree?" "Yes." "In the Amazon, some trees accommodate and feed ants." "In exchange, the tenants must repel the undesirable insects." "The symbiosis between plants and animals are innumerable." "The plants which cannot move need animals to reproduce." "They pollinate their flowers and disperse their seeds." "They're attracted by the tasty and nutritious fruit, or fragrant flowers in bright colours." "But numerous insects are formidable herbivores, plant eaters." "Their devastation is considerable." "A quarter of the young leaves are eaten each year." "How to attract the insects necessary for their reproduction, and repel those who eat them?" "That's the big question for the plants." "Plants invent the most ingenious ways to ward off leaf eaters." "Some young leaves don't have the same colour as the adult leaves." "Perhaps to fool the opponent?" "Others contain sophisticated poisons." "Thorns ward off monkeys." "But herbivores generally find ways to circumvent these defenses." "Plants and insects live in a love hate relationship, and cannot do without each other." "What's the matter, Nicolas?" "I'm covered in bites." "Then you must have lots of them in your hammock?" "No, it's because he went into the forest." "That's from going in the forest?" "Yes." "Why don't I have them?" "Because we were in the same places?" "What are you doing, Hélène?" "Here, we're taking some meat from the camé." "and we've put it in the canoe." "It's a very good..." "Here's a katouri which is full of meat." "So here, there's a whole team of Wayanas who hunted for a week, and they'll take back about ten katouri of meat, that's maybe, I don't know, about 150 kg of meat." "So what they'll do, one part is smoked and salted to be preserved." "But it can't be kept long in the rainforest." "So they share it with the families of their friends... on returning to the village, and like that each family... goes hunting from time to time and as they regularly share, it gives them a steady supply of protein." "You just have to put it there." "We're loading the canoes, because... we're going back down the river to Antecume-Pata." "Bang!" "Boum Boum has improvised a little farewell ceremony for us." "Charlie next to me." "So here we are." "Okay, you speak just a little." "Go ahead, you speak now." "No, it's you." "Today we're going back down to Antecume-Pata... with our great Wayana friends." "That's it." "Okay?" "Yes." "You speak a little now." "Well, we went together with palaississi friends... and children." "And was it good?" "We'll get back about 5 o'clock tonight." "On the way back, the Wayanas supplement their provisions." "He's going to shoot, Nico, look." "He's going to shoot." "They've just shot a rasq, a blue parrot, and as it was just wounded in the wing, they'll treat it and keep it at home as a pet." "The Indians only hunt the animals needed to feed their families." "Taking them doesn't put these species in danger." "Is their hunting more cruel than our battery farms and slaughterhouses?" "Wow." "Bravo." "Yes, bravo." "I think that this stay with the Wayanas in the forest, it'll perhaps help me to live better in France, because the Wayanas have taught me... a much greater respect for nature and what surrounds me," "and I realised that everything we eat, which dresses us, everything comes from nature, and without it we're screwed." "It makes me want to respect it." "Also, there's an Indian philosophy... which will serve me in my way of thinking all my life, to live in a way that might make me happier." "The Wayanas are the best travel companions that you could ever dream." "Attentive, always cheerful." "They took care of young palaississi that we are, and we've learnt a thousand and one secrets of the forest." "Over the days, we've become true partners." "When we returned to the village," "Boum Boum and Mimisiku invited us to live with them." "We were given Indian names." "The people of the forest have opened the doors of their world to us, and offered their friendship." "ANTECUME PATA" "Antecume-Pata French Guiana" "After a week of travelling by canoe on the Litani River," "Mimisiku and his wife Coumaya have invited Emilie to live with them." "This young teenager moves into their carbet." "She's going to share for a month the life of an Indian family." "How do you feel, Emilie?" "It looks nice here." "I'll be fine." "It's funny because everyone sleeps in the same room." "So here I am in my carbet, I live here with my Wayana family." "Upstairs is the bedroom." "We sleep in hammocks." "Here's the place where you work." "For example Mimisiku makes his baskets or Coumaya makes cotton." "Here, is for making a cachiri." "They grate the manioc on top, there's a grid for grating the manioc." "You might be wondering, where is the bathroom and WC, well it's simple, it's in the river where we'll swim," "The river is for washing..." "The WC is also in the river." "Fetching water for cooking, it's the river." "Doing the dishes, it's also the river." "No problem." "Did you sleep well?" "What time is it?" "I don't know." "You shouldn't wake people up so early." "Come on." "The day always begins with a wash in the river." "The Wayanas rise around 6 a.m. before even the sun." "Nicolas has moved in with Yoyouweb and Poupoli." "Every young person from Fleur de Lampaul was invited by a family." "This is the best way to discover Indian life, and build strong relationships with the Wayanas." "The Indians welcome each young palassissi like an extra child, a new brother or sister." "Good morning" "Hello, did you sleep well?" "Yeah, and you?" "Yes, fine." "Did the sun wake you?" "Me... not really." "I also had a dream but I don't remember it." "And you?" "I had a dream but I don't remember it." "You don't remember it, like me, that's normal." "Sylvie?" "Did you sleep well?" "Yes, I slept well but..." "I look forward all the same," "I wish I had a nice bed sometimes, and then I had a little back ache and I woke up, otherwise, I slept well, yes." "And now, I'm grilling the cazar, nothing better after a cold water bath in the river, than a good breakfast with chocolate in hot water and grilled cazar." "At 7:30 am the children make their way to school." "The eldest go quietly about their business." "Mataliwa leads Enéour to the river." "You do it like this." "What are the both of you going to do?" "Here, we're going to make..." "Mataliwa is going to teach me to make a basket." "We're going to prepare some... some reeds so afterwards... we can take the parts to make the basket." "Is it recreation time now?" "No." "And you, Alinkala?" "Have you done well?" "Yes." "However, you don't look so good in division." "Is that true?" "What do you prefer, school or hunting?" "School." "School is better than hunting?" "Yes." "Later, do you know what you want to do for a living?" "I don't know." "I don't know many people but as time goes by," "I'm getting to know my family more and more." "I have a very large family, with... lots of cousins who come to eat here for lunch, and the longer it goes on, the better we know each other and get along." "Here's my little brother Laviniwé looking at me." "He's the youngest of the family." "He doesn't speak much Wayana, but he knows my name." "All day long he calls me, Hélène, Hélène..." "Old Couyamane carves a canoe." "He's one of the best craftsmen of the village." "Here, everyone must be capable of making his everyday objects." "Wayanas like decorating them tastefully." "Couyamane taught his son Mataliwa, the art of basketry." "Here is how you weave the basket." "And you put the black inside." "Try it." "Okay." "Like that?" "Yes." "Now I put..." "They must be the two above, you see the black..." "Yes." "And you put it... you see?" "Okay." "Among the Indians, knowledge is easily transferred." "The young imitate their elders." "Hey, Pita?" "Is he nice, your big brother?" "No." "Yes..." "You get along with him?" "Yes." "Do you eat lots of sweets together?" "Shh!" "No." "Aoipan, Payapanrique and Hetipo lead Nicolas into the forest, they have something to teach him." "To attract animals, you need to know how to imitate their cries to perfection." "That's the cry of the baboon." "This is how we hunt monkeys." "And that's how they come?" "They come when you call, if you do it like this." "After that, he'll respond." "What's that the cry of?" "A macaque. (monkey)" "If you see monkeys in a tree, you cry." "You try the cry." "After he comes, you shoot." "If you want, you shoot..." "I just put my hand on one of those caterpillars that sting." "I've got lots of spines all over my hand." "Tatiana has made a new friend." "Agamis are game birds relatively common in the forest, easy to tame." "My friend Agami, she's very nice." "There are two in the village." "The Wayana like having tame animals." "Lots of birds." "See how she loves it." "The Agami never refuse a game of football with the children." "The tame birds are plentiful in the village." "Palawa." "Who is Palawa?" "It's Elémé's parrot." "Palawa doesn't appreciate having to share Elémé's friendship." "Come on, Palawa, eat." "In our families, we participate in all daily tasks." "Here, I'm making cotton with Coumaya." "So, we look for the cotton in the abattis, and then we dry it in the sun." "You must remove the seeds that are inside." "That's what I'm doing now." "At least, trying to do, and... then Coumaya weaves all the cotton like this, and it's used to make hammocks and calimbés." "And so, a hammock with cotton like this... it takes 2 Km of yarn to make one, so it's a lot of work." "To share the free life of the last Indians is an extraordinary experience." "We discover from the inside a world so different from ours, a captivating world that we love more every day." "Antecume-Pata becomes little by little our village." "In the company of our Wayana brothers and sisters, they make us feel like we've always lived here, between the river and the forest." "FAMILY LIFE" "[Antecume-Pata, French Guiana] 7 o'clock in the morning, Nicolas and Yoyouweb, his Wayana father, take the path to the forest." "Where are you going, Nicolas?" "Now we're going to the abattis." "The abattis is the Indian's wild garden." "A plot of land cleared by setting fire to the forest." "Yoyouweb, Mimi and their children come to work on it once or twice a week." "The abattis is a method of cultivation practiced for thousands of years... by the Amazon Indians." "Nowadays, metal tools and chainsaws... have replaced the stone axes of the past, greatly facilitating the felling of trees." "The rest of the work hasn't changed at all." "The Wayanas practice slash and burn agriculture." "These are the abattis which take up half to one hectare of primary forest." "First they start by cutting down all the bushes, then the big trees." "They let everything dry out for a month, and then they burn everything, and the ash... enriches the soil because it's very poor here." "And so they can make one or two harvests... per year and then they're forced to abandon their abattis, to clear another." "So here I'm making manioc cuttings." "So that is..." "I cut them into small pieces, it's for putting in the holes that Titu has made." "And it's very nice to come here, to do this in the morning, because it's not too hot, and in the afternoon it starts to get hot." "Here, I'm planting what I cut just now, and like that, it will grow, and there'll be some manioc." "Nicolas!" "Come on." "Is it good?" "Not really." "The Indians grow many plants in their abattis, but manioc is by far the most important." "Emilie has gone with Mimisiku's family, harvesting the manioc tubers." "Do you know what I dream about?" "No." "I dream of a glass of water and also an ice cream." "The ice cream, mint or strawberry, I don't care, but ice cream." "It's so very hot, you can't imagine." "We get eaten by ants." "Three hours of work are enough to fill several catouri of manioc." "When the location of the abattis is well chosen, the first harvest is abundant, and Wayanas don't experience times of food shortage." "Have you carried anything so heavy before?" "I don't think so." "How many kilos do you think that is?" "I don't know how many kilos that is, at least 30." "Yeah, yeah..." "It's not you who carried it, it shows." "The distances to the abattis are sometimes quite long." "The best agricultural land has been exhausted near the village, a consequence of the recent settlement of Indians." "So Emilie, okay today?" "Ah yes." "Okay, it's a bit of an effort." "We rejoin the other children from Fleur de Lampaul, who are studying with a scientist, a Boni abattis." "The Boni are one of the ethnic groups of "noirs marrons" of French Guiana, descended from rebellious slaves... who fled the plantations of Dutch Guiana in the 18th century." "Alright, go." "So here we are in an abattis, there are two small huts..." "It's a large abattis with several crops." "Okay, shall we go there?" "Yes." "Come on." "In fact, the abattis is a traditional agriculture." "In fact in Guiana there are several ethnic groups." "There are several ethnic groups who work, that are now beginning to integrate into the social environment, but they've lived for a long time in harmony with the forest." "So it's essentially a subsistence agriculture." "They practice the slash and burn cultivation in order to eat." "This agriculture is well adapted to the poor soils of tropical forests." "Fertilized by the ashes, the land will be abandoned before it becomes completely infertile." "The forest quickly closes the scar opened by man." "Since this is a traditional agriculture, it's also an agriculture where there's no input." "That means that there's no fertilizer and no pesticides, so everything must be done with the means at hand, with the resources they have." "Their only possible way to maintain fertility, is to leave it fallow." "Slash and burn agriculture requires a plot to be cleared each year, which poses a problem when the population increases." "Scientists are trying to find a way... of cultivating which could avoid farmers... changing all the time and doing shifting agriculture." "What they would like to find is a way of... of managing the richness of the soil, and so be able to use it longer." "When scientific research... is based on the knowledge of traditional people, it usually leads to methods of production both... effective and respectful of the environment." "You see, it may seem an innocent hole, a duck pond." "Stop, it's wrong." "So you might think that this is an innocent duck pond." "Not at all." "You can imagine, there are plenty of small larvae... of flies that give you dengue fever, and this is something that isn't nice at all, and I wouldn't like to catch that at all." "What is dengue fever?" "It's a disease that can be fatal." "Yes, and more." "Fever, hot, cold." "So innocent pond = dengue fever." "Are you happy to have Emilie staying with you?" "Yes, very happy." "Is she good?" "Because she's good, she works with my daughter." "A good worker." "Now, Mimisiku is my Wayana dad, and I also have a Wayana mom, and a Wayana sister called Elémé." "And so I moved in." "They showed me where to put my hammock, in a large room with everyone else." "I'm next to Elémé, and I'm glad because... already last night I went to her hammock and we talked, we talked about what was happening in the village, and what was happening in France." "I talked to her about how we lived in France." "And we had a good laugh actually." "In the village, the men are primarily concerned with their crafts." "The cooking is the women's responsibility." "We're peeling sweet potatoes that we'll eat tonight." "We've peeled other things, some manioc to make the cachiri." "The preparation of manioc is one of the main tasks of Wayana women." "Emilie?" "Yes." "What are you doing?" "I'm grating the manioc, because afterwards we're going to cook it in the pot, in the large pot." "I've grated the manioc and my nails too." "I didn't grate only the manioc." "Yesterday, when I grated the manioc, I cut myself three times." "When I go back I won't have any fingers." "Now I'm going to throw away the peelings, as I'm tired of grating my fingers," "I'm going to change jobs." "The sap of the manioc used by the Wayana... contains prussic acid." "It is toxic." "The Indians extract it from the grated manioc pulp, with the aid of this basketry called a snake." "The manioc sap is collected and boiled for several hours... will become a delicious sauce." "The manioc is now reduced to the state of flour." "All that remains is to cook it." "So here, I'm makng with Coumaya, some manioc cakes called cazave." "This replaces a bit, the bread we have in France." "The cazave cakes are eaten at every meal." "Very nutritious, they're the basis of the Wayanas diet." "For them, agriculture is more important even than hunting, fishing or gathering." "Manioc is also used in other culinary preparations." "Grilled on the plate, it forms a coarse flour called kwak." "Kwak is a complete food, easy to store, very practical for expeditions in the forest." "But of all the recipes based on manioc, it's the cachiri that Wayanas prefer." "So I'm making some cachiri." "We've... peeled the manioc, then we get some water, boil the water, put the manioc in, cook it and now we must stir the manioc." "It's very hot." "This will make cachiri." "At least normally, but with me, I don't know if this will make cachiri." "Do you like cachiri?" "Yes." "Cachiri is slightly alcoholic, like beer." "Consumed in large quantities, it can make one drunk." "Hey, girls." "Yes." "Have you had a lot of cachiri this morning?" "Yes." "How many saucepans?" "Well maybe, at least ten." "I've drunk 3 ladies." "In certain circumstances a Wayana can drink around ten litres of cachiri." "Their stomachs are adapted to this high consumption." "To vomit here, is a natural act that doesn't offend anyone." "Nekou, could you explain to me... how Wayanas use to live." "Formerly, all the Indians were free." "Free from what?" "Free to live." "Because... they didn't want French things." "They had things which are from the forest." "For example, the stone axe that we call potpu." "It's always called a potpu." "It's a rock that you call Menhir." "There weren't any planes, and we used the teeth of wood pigs... to make bows, paddles and all that." "Thus ends, untroubled, a day of the Indians of the upper Litani River." "INDIAN CHILDHOOD" "Antecume-Pata French Guiana" "7:30 am." "Time to begin school in Antecume-Pata with the Wayana Indians." "From all the villages come canoes loaded with children." "Wait." "Then we come to..." "And, yes, even the Indians go to school." "It's not mandatory here." "Each comes when he wants to discover... a bit of the strange world of the palassissi, the white man." "What's the difference between Wayana and French schools?" "Well, for a start, the different clothes, because here we come in Kamisa and kalimbé." "In addition, we're not in a concrete school between four walls." "It's a little carbet, very friendly, made of wood." "The classroom here is a lot more cheerful than in France." "10 am." "It's already time for recess." "The schoolchildren will return to their families." "Etube, are you in recess now?" "Yes." "And are you going to eat at home, in recess, you're not going to play with the other children?" "No." "And you Yastef, have you done well?" "Yes." "Was it hard?" "No." "How old are you?" "6 years." "6 years, and you go to school?" "Yes." "What grade are you?" "What?" "What grade are you?" "CP." "In CP. (Cours préparatoire - 6-7 yr)" "Is it nice in CP?" "So now it's recess." "When all the children leave and go home to eat, to come and eat." "And afterwards, they return to school and brush their teeth." "Come on, hurry up, we're wasting time." "The school is a large carbet built right next to the river, by André Cognat, the founder of the village." "Stay with us." "Have you some maths problems?" "Yes." "You take the first problem." "We take pupils from the age of 5, that's to say, the last year of kindergarten." "Then they do all the levels up to CM2 (10-11 yr)." "But the distinctive feature of this school... is that the children after kindergarten, begin to read and write in their mother tongue, that's to say Wayana, with a Wayana cultural instructor." "For the youngest children, teaching in Wayana... helps mitigate the culture shock... in the encounter with the Western world." "Most don't really know any French when they come, at age 5, to school." "They're totally non French-speaking." "They're wayanas, it's their mother tongue." "And so throughout their schooling, we'll spend a lot of time trying to teach them that language." "Here is probably the nicest school in the world." "Open to the river and the village." "The most free also." "The school will enable the young Wayanas to be better prepared... for their future contact with Westerners." "A still daunting confrontation for the Indians." "Who collects the exercise books?" "It's her." "The class comes to an end at 1 pm." "But some mornings end with a P.E. lesson, football for boys and rugby for the girls." "Sport is really hard here, because it's so sunny and very hot." "Especially to play a long time," "I can't, anyway." "I don't know how the others do it but..." "At rugby, girls aren't any less tenacious." "What's your favorite class at school?" "Sport." "Sport?" "Do you like school?" "Yes, we love school." "What do you learn in school?" "French, Maths, Geography," "Maths, History and Grammar." "Is it useful to go to school for a Wayana girl?" "What?" "Huh?" "No." "No." "What do you want to do later?" "Do you want to continue to go to school or will you... stay with your mom to tend the abattis and all that?" "I don't know." "I think anyway, with or without school... they've a great difficulty... to position themselves in relation to the world of the white man." "They've struggled to position themselves in relation to the Wayana world." "They're between the two cultures." "I think the school, if it's well done, well thought out," "I think that the school can help them have a slightly different look... at this culture which is fast approaching whether they like it or not." "And the teachers who are Amerindian generally are motivated enough, precisely in order to try to keep their own culture at the same time, knowing that they're approaching another culture." "But by trying to show it to them with a different view." "At Antecume-Pata there's no playground, the Litani River is a good replacement." "The rest of the day," "Indian children are completely free." "They can do whatever they want." "A freedom that allows them to be at the school of the river and the forest." "Tell me a little about Wayanas children." "Do they look very happy?" "Yes, they seem to be very lively." "They seem to be very lively, what do you mean by that?" "They have fun all the time." "When they cross rapids, we went to do a nivraie... and crossing the rapids, they were laughing all the time." "The canoe was leaving, they were laughing." "You very rarely see a child cry." "The school stops here at CM2 (11yr), but some teenagers have decided to continue their education." "They go every afternoon to middle school, they work by correspondence... with lessons from the National Centre for Distance Education." "Hello." "So, this is middle school?" "Yes." "How many students are there at middle school?" "Three." "Three?" "Yes." "You're in a large class for 3 students." "What grade are you in, Pupoli?" "I'm in 4th (13-14 yr)." "Is it going well?" "Yes, it's going okay, well not really." "And what grade are you in Couloulou?" "6th (11-12 yr)." "How old are you?" "12 and a half." "And do you also work by yourself?" "Yes." "Do you find this difficult?" "Yes, a little." "A little?" "What would you like to do as a career later?" "Can you tell me?" "Okay." "Go ahead." "Me, later..." "I'd like to be a pilot and doctor, if I do well, if I work hard at school and if I keep going." "Pilot and doctor?" ""What you say is true."" "What you say is true." ""I don't know what you mean."" "I don't know what you mean." "Is this your English lesson?" "Yes." "I think you're also studying Portuguese." "Yes." "Is that because we're not far from Brazil here?" "Oh, no." "Following the learning process of whites is a difficult task, which sometimes distances one from the school of the forest." "Who wants to be Indians?" "Me!" "How many with the Indians?" "Who wants to be the leader of the monkeys?" "Me!" "Monkey or hunter." "Through play, children learn their Indian life." "Living in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, requires a lot of agility and strength, and also a wealth of knowledge about the animals and plants." "For Wayana children, nothing can replace the school of the forest." "But yet they must learn to live in the world of palassissi." "Come on." "Charlie, I have something." "What have you got?" "It was in the tree." "Are you hurt?" "I was hanging from a branch and then it broke." "Yes, that's not it." "The hunting was good, Biomane brings back a monkey." "In the morning at the school of whites, and in the afternoon at the school of the forest." "Biomane is a happy child." "But one day, will he have to choose between these two worlds?" "INDIAN MEMORY" "Bring your arrows, Mimisiku told us this morning, there's a big nivraie on the river." "Hello, Zalimi." "How are you, Zalimi?" "The whole village heads for the canoes." "The nivraie is an opportunity to catch a lot of fish, and meet friends and families from neighbouring villages." "Dozens of canoes gather on the fishing grounds, and more than a hundred Wayana, men and women, young and old are already in action." "The nivraie consists of spreading in the water, the toxic sap of a liana to stun the fish." "The lianas are crushed by heavy blows of a club." "The fish come to the surface." "But don't go thinking that it's easy to harpoon them." "Is that what you're going to eat for lunch?" "Yes." "We'll try." "It's big yours." "It's nice." "Well, I say, you've got some fish there." "We're starting to become experienced, eh?" "Mimisiku surprises us with his incredible skill." "He spots the fish below the surface, even several meters away." "No, that's a coumaro." "It's beautiful." "It's lovely, eh?" "What is it, Emilie?" "These are piranhas, I think." "Aren't you scared?" "I'm risking my life fishing for lunch today." "You may not realize it, but I'm risking my life." "Some Wayanas have set up a net that blocks the river." "They want to catch a lot to sell their fish in Maripasula." "This new deadly form of fishing risks depleting the river." "It's also contrary to the spirit of the community nivraie." "Some are going to earn money with the work of others." "Watch out, it's like razor blades." "You see?" "I'll show you a another one." "You see this one here, this is a piranha," "Okay, and it's very sharp." "How beautiful is this one." "Look at the teeth, you see... and above, it has two..." "there are double teeth." "You see, and the size of the teeth." "The Wayanas take part in only a few nivraies a year to preserve fish stocks." "Without fish, Indians could no longer live on the river, neither could the osprey." "This afternoon, our friends lead us into the forest." "We're going to play Wayanas and oyaripoulet." "We'll hide first, okay?" "Okay." "After that, if they're found..." "And who are you?" "Oyaripoulet." "What is the oyaripoulet?" "That's us." "What?" "Can you explain what it is?" "Indians wild." "Wild Indians." "So you're going to hide?" "Yes." "Quick, over there." "Here, we don't play cowboys and Indians." "The oyaripoulets also called acoulio, represent the wolves, the threat." "The wild Indians, hidden in the depths of the forest." "I've got her, I've got her." "Who's won?" "It's us, the oyaripoulets." "The oyaripoulets actually exist." "André Cougnat met them in Suriname in 1968." "From this meeting, he brought back objects from another age." "This is the throat of a howler monkey." "A throat of a howler monkey, which is dried." "And in this throat, they put seeds." "And it was therefore a package of pearls." "It was supposed to hide the genitals." "Or at least a part of the genitals." "It entered from one side and it came out behind." "And you know, if you could give me a demonstration?" "No, but Mimisiku who was with me, eh?" "He told me, something like that, doesn't hide anything from me, of course." "So, here, there are still some fabulous things." "It's quite extraordinary." "It's a bracelet." "A bracelet which is made with nails... the claws of sloths." "It's recessed one inside the other, this allows it to open like this, by pulling in front, we open it, it allows the hand to pass through, then we tightenen it and it regains it's shape." "And do they always use the same objects as before?" "Well, as long they live in the forest and without contact, they inevitably live this way." "And these are museum pieces." "All these are truly museum pieces." "But I think they still use them, not much, but in some groups like this." "It's really beautiful..." "The Amerindians have lived in the Amazon rainforest for tens of thousands of years." "Among the Wayanas some elders have kept the memory of the traditions... handed down from generation to generation since time immemorial." "Couliamane is making a holock, it's an ornament of feathers... that Wayanas put on their heads for the Marake." "It's very nice and all the gestures that he makes, these are movements made by generations of Wayanas, and... this may be the last time he makes one... and the last holock too." "The Marake is a celebration." "A great celebration." "It lasts about a month." "But... the Marake... the real Marake, it only lasts one night." "The Marake is the rite of initiation." "This great night of celebration and suffering during which... the young Indian's are bitten all over their body, by ants and wasps." "Through their courage, the children then become adults." "And Couliamane... sang for them the kalaho song, the sacred song of the Wayanas." "Do the young people still want to go through the Maraké?" "Oh, No." "And do you know why they no longer want to go through it?" "Because they've changed their lives." "To change the life means, they no longer want the Indian customs." "Did you go through the Marake?" "No, I should have." "You should have?" "Yes." "And do you want to do it?" "Today, I no longer want to do it." "Why?" "Because I'm afraid, and because we don't have the right to eat things." "You think it's too difficult?" "Yes." "At Antecume-pata, will there be any more Marakés?" "No." "No?" "No." "It's finished?" "It's over." "And is the Kalaho song finished?" "The Indians no longer dance." "It's finished?" "Hi Babo." "And is the Kalaho song finished?" "Yes." "Finished?" "Yes." "The adolescent Wayanas no longer want to go through the Maraké." "No children learn the kalaho song any more, and Couliamane... when he dies, he'll take with him a part of the Indian memory." "And no Wayana would question the existence of Yolocks." "Spirits of animals, plants or water, they occupy the dreams of the Indians." "The yolocks can cause illness and bring death." "Only shamans can contemplate them... during their journeys to the land of the spirits." "Aikou is interested in the traditions of the elders." "He collects their teachings, and records the legends of his people in a notebook." "To be invulnerable and all that, it was better in the past." "Now all the young people don't know how to find it any more, what these magical plants look like." "They've forgotten everything." "How do you become a shaman?" "It was very very hard." "You have to cut yourself." "The blood bled, we put the product into the skin." "The shamans protect the Indians from the attacks of yolocks, but they're often powerless against new diseases brought by the French." "To halt the population decline of his adopted people," "André Cognat created a clinic around thirty years ago." "We came to do a screening campaign for tuberculosis." "A session of I.D.R. (intra dermo reaction)" "And a session of vaccination for those who are negative." "And so, overall, what's the state of health of the Wayanas, currently?" "It's good, with a rapidly expanding population." "Helped when necessary by the doctor from Maripasoula," "André has associated his action to that of the shamans." "The advantage of a clinic here, firstly is when you are sick, of course." "They begin to have some confidence in me obviously, as they also have in this Western medicine, but shamans have retained their influence, all their importance, and it may seem paradoxical." "Western medicine is fully accepted among Wayanas, but very curiously, traditional medicine is still also strong and at least as strong." "Our friend Palapassi is one of the last Wayana shamans." "When night comes, he likes to give a flute lesson to Charlie." "Palapassi, you're the shaman..." "here in Antecume-pata?" "It's you?" "Yes." "And do shamans have a lot of work?" "A lot of work." "A lot of work." "Afterwards... difficult to sleep." "You don't sleep?" "Is it the end of the shamans?" "Yes." "After?" "After four." "4 shamans." "There are no more than 4 shamans who remain?" "The end." "It's the end" "When I die." "When you're dead, there'll be no more shaman?" "All dead." "When you're dead there'll be no more shaman?" "Yes." "The last shamans are becoming old and are leaving." "With the elders, will disappear also the music and Wayana songs, their clothes and ornaments, the initiation rites, folklore and a wealth of knowledge about nature." "This Indian world that we've learnt to love disappears before our eyes, like a song that is going to end." "THE APALAI INDIANS" "The crew of Fleur de Lampaul's stay... among the Wayana Indians is coming to an end." "Mimisiku has offered us one last adventure:" "to go and meet the Apalai Indians, the cousins of the Wayanas." "They have recently arrived from Brazil... and have kept intact their traditional way of life." "Emilie and Eneour therefore leave towards the south of French Guiana." "The trip by canoe is particularly difficult... because of the numerous rapids." "They protect the Apalai from contacts with the outside world." "We arrive at the village." "The Apalai have prepared a clearing beside the river, and built some carbets." "It seems like we've taken a leap back in time." "We make ourselves as small as possible for fear of disturbing the Indians." "One of the village elders offers us cachiri." "His name is Takura." "He doesn't speak French, neither does Anakalema, the village leader." "For that matter, nobody here speaks French." "Some adults know a few words of Portuguese." "Anakalema and Takura build a carbet." "The two village elders tell us about their journey." "How long did it take you to come here from Brazil?" "How long?" "We came all the way by canoe." "There were lots of rapids." "It took us two months." "The Apalai are related to the Wayanas." "Almost every year, some Indians still make the long journey... from one community to the other, to visit their cousins." "The canoe was made entirely by hand." "So from the beginning with the axe, and then they finish the work with tools they've made themselves, for example, with machete blades... which they twist and that makes a kind of plane." "We've made a family tree of the village." "The village consists of 26 people including 11 children under 8 years." "So that means that the village is very young." "The entire village is built around the descendants of Anakalema, he's the headman of the village, the Kamuchi, who has two wives Sopo and Alikeou." "So Sopo, one of Anakalema's wives always wears the wayou." "It's a... a sort of Kamissa but which only hides the front." "The entire village really revolves around the descendants of Anakalema." "The girls stay in the village and their husbands come to live in the village also." "There's no school here." "The numerous children grow up completely free." "Spinning cotton is the main activity of Alikeou and Sopo, the two wives of Anakalema." "Each year they weave a big Indian hammock, soft and comfortable." "A strange scene attracts our attention." "Anakalema sings in Apalai." "The power of his words penetrates into the potion contained in a small gourd." "This magical drink has to cure a feverish child." "It's a bit like a village from Asterix, because here everyone knows each other, and everyone gets along well." "There are dogs, a goat, songs of cockerels." "The magic potion is the cachiri." "That's right." "The Romans are the people who are all around with their civilization." "It lacks the fighting." "Yes." "There aren't any fights here." "Now, it's getting dark." "All the insects start making strange little noises." "The Wayanas light their fires." "They meet all around to talk." "There's a really serene atmosphere." "Everyone is happy... relaxed." "Piranhas ate my willy." "All around the carbets the apalai have planted useful plants." "Banana and pineapple, papaya," "peppers, a mango and some cashews." "Tawalai leads us to the abattis, the garden conquered by the axe and fire on the forest." "Many other plants grow there." "The main one is manioc (cassava)." "Tawalai is fond of malacias..." "watermelons." "Each day, the men go hunting or fishing." "Yes, yes, palassissi." "Mimisiku?" "Yes." "What are you going to do with the toucan feathers?" "I'm going to make..." "And traps." "In fact, I didn't know that toucans were edible, and soon I'm going to be more innovative in my choices." "That's it." "Okay?" "Mémé." "Is it good?" "Ok." "And removing the beak, how's it done?" "The Apalai lead the Indian life of their ancestors, almost unchanged." "Tawalai knows no other school than that of nature." "He doesn't know that around the forest, the world is changing fast, and that as an adult, he'll have to live in a world... very different from the happy village of his childhood." "When the rain comes, Sopo protects the fire." "A few logs are enough for the energy needs of her family." "How surprised she would be if she could see... the gigantic project of white men 300 km away." "At Petit Saut, EDF have undertaken the construction of a dam." "Its four turbines should produce 540 gigawatts per year, and supply electricity to French Guiana and notably the Kourou space center." "It's strange nevertheless a dam" "The demand for electricity from the population... following the European lifestyle grows rapidly." "So here we have the intake penstocks." "At the bottom, at more than thirty meters deep, this is the entry for the penstock that brings water to the turbine, with a protective grill in front." "This very controversial dam was expensive to mainland France, but it's given a boost to the Guyanaise economy which really needs it." "We have the dam here, look." "Yes, this is really the heart of the monster." "I still don't know how it's going to take place, but one senses a descent." "Petit Saut, like Kourou, is a high-technology enclave in the heart of the forest." "A chance for the future according to some, an ecological disaster for others." "It seems that in a few years," "Petit Saut will be overwhelmed by the growing demand for electricity, that it'll be necessary to construct a second dam." "Okay, we're going to take a little trip in the flooded forest." "It looks very good." "The construction of the dam was made to the detriment of the virgin forest, 30,000 hecteres have been drowned... under 1600 Million cubic meters of water by the reservoir lake." "Despite the efforts deployed by EDF, the wardens of the national office for hunting to save the animals," "Petit Saut is the biggest infringement on the forest ever made in Guiana." "So here we're trying to track down a sloth, but there's no trace." "It's a bit difficult because normally the sloths... are found on trees where there are leaves." "But as you can see, there aren't any leaves on the trees." "So we're already off to a bad start." "Here we are in the middle of these dead trees." "We think that there wasn't any water here before the dam." "We think that..." "How to meet the growing needs of the world's population... and at the same time protect the planet that bears us." "This is one of the main challenges facing people today." "There is no miracle solution." "Technological progress allows us to produce more with fewer raw materials, but each of us must also limit his waste." "Here, there's 25m of water below us and we're at the level of the canopy, and so in fact the orchids which really grow in places... where you can hardly ever see them, and now they're right here at our fingertips." "FAREWELL TO THE WAYANAS" "For several weeks Couliamane has worked on his last holock." "This large feather headdress is perhaps the most beautiful Wayana object." "The holock is worn by young people during initiation rites... that makes them full Indians." "Couliamane is one of the last Wayanas to know the sacred songs, the legends, the secrets of the Indians of the forest, all those fragile and important things... that form the memory of a people and its pride also." "These traditions that aren't taught in the French school, of the palassissi." "This is the last adventure in the Amazon for the children of Fleur de Lampaul, who are studying the forest with scientists." "Led by wardens of the ONC, they will try to meet the gold miners." "There are many in Guiana, but few are willing to be filmed." "The miners are working just above." "They pump water from the river." "They reduce the level." "We see that there's hardly any water, and also the water which is returned to the river is very polluted, highly loaded with suspended solids, and it clogs the entire bottom of the water and there's no more plant life," "there's no more algae, there's nothing left, and fish also have their gills which are clogged... and so there's no longer any fish left in the water either way." "At the sight of the armed wardens, most miners disappear into the forest." "Who do you work for?" "Huh?" "Who do you work for?" "Your boss, who is he?" "Thomas." "Thomas Yourgas?" "This Brazilian prospector fled the misery of his country... to come to work illegally on the gold deposits in Guiana." "Thousands of Brazilians live like this in the depths of the forest, in conditions sometimes close to slavery." "The search for gold is an economic activity which Guiana needs to develop." "But it all too often takes the appearance of a human tragedy... matched by an ecological disaster." "The authorities seem powerless to protect forests, rivers and population." "The Wayana Indians are increasingly threatened... by the gold mining which expands on their territory." "The mud comes through this hose here and it goes through this table." "And this table is used to settle out the heavier parts, so you can see at the bottom here." "on the mat here, and all the gold dust gets caught in this mat here." "Once a week, or every 10 days or 15 days, they wash the mat and extract the gold dust from the mat." "To extract the gold, miners use mercury, which is used to amalgamate the precious metal." "But often, they then release it into waterways." "The mercury accumulates throughout the food chain." "It's a potent poison to both nature and people." "The problem can also be seen here on areas where the soil accumulates, they end up leaving a soil which is sterile." "So in fact... here we are, a section which is sterile." "So that next to the dredge, you have an area without trees or vegetation." "It's been 100's of years like this, and there's nothing more that grows on it." "The deforestation is a more serious threat." "While French Guiana is relatively preserved, it's not the same for other tropical forests around the globe." "They're disappearing at an alarming rate of 35,000 square km per year." "Most often burned, these forests contribute to global warming." "The deforested land quickly becomes sterile." "By the fault of man, an arid desert replaces the most beautiful forests in the world." "Back on board Fleur de Lampaul, we watch the footage shot during our investigation." "The expedition in French Guiana ends." "By leaving we shall take the nostalgia for the Amazon." "Many researchers have declared... that all the world's tropical forests will be gone within 50 years," "If the current deforestation doesn't slow down." "Will our children be able to admire in their turn what we saw?" "A big party is being prepared in Antecume-pata." "Pots of cachiri are being brewed." "Couliamane finishes his holock." "But who will wear it?" "Neither his son nor the other children of the village." "The world of the palassissi is much more attractive to them than Indian customs." "Before, everything that Wayanas used came from nature and returned to it." "Now they have new items in plastic and in cans, they have the same behaviour, that's to say, they throw everything on the ground and in the river, and soon it will become a problem." "The encounter with the West has upset the small world of the Wayanas." "It's obvious that from the moment where there are two ways of life, and the two forms of civilizations meet, there is always a shock, and the shock... is mainly at the expense of smaller civilizations," "of the smallest group and such is the case with the Wayanas." "Even here, at the top of the Litani river," "The objects of the white people speak about this new world beyond the forest." "This year a Wayana returned with a generator and a video recorder." "Every evening young people gather to watch images of the palassissi." "Indians will be ashamed." "Will be ashamed of what?" "Of how we lived before." "Indians in the future, will they be ashamed to be Indians?" "Yes." "And why, do you think?" "Because they don't know how to make any more the things of the Indians." "And then who's going to still want to be Indian?" "How will they live?" "That, I don't know." "Was there a girl who hanged herself?" "Yes." "Why did she hang herself?" "Because her parents scolded her." "Her parents scolded her?" "Yes." "Was she depressed?" "Yes." "And are there often young people who hang themselves?" "Many suicides of young people have bereaved Wayana communities." "Alcoholism and drugs have also made their appearance." "They also poison themselves." "They poison themselves?" "Yes." "It's very hard, because there are many young people at this time... who lose their bearings because the world is changing at a phenomenal rate." "It's true that it is hard not to feel lost in this." "Couliamane has finished his holock." "The big party begins." "Are all those who come here, Wayanas?" "Yes, they're the Indians from the villages of..." "Touasque, Anabaike or those of Aianamo." "Okay, Yoyouweb?" "We're a bit drunk, we're throwing up, our heads are spinning." "Emilie is entitled to three pans." "We're going to dance." "Hurry up, Emilie." "I see you." "Yes." "Thank you very much." "I'm going to give to Elema too." "The cachiri is consumed in large quantities." "To drink, and to vomit in order to drink even more, is one of the pleasures of the Wayanas." "But some young people consume during the party, substances significantly more dangerous than manioc beer." "This is our last day at Antecume-pata." "We have learned to love passionately this Indian world... which disappears before our eyes." "Is it doomed?" "Will the Indians know how to adapt themselves to our society?" "André Cognat and Aikou fight in their way to make it so." "It may very well be possible to remain a..." "Wayana in the 20th century with an outboard motor, with a gun or with a few pots." "But still retaining what makes their richness, by preserving an entire culture." "What I want to do, is to do both, like Indians and like you." "Like that it's good, right?" "You'll take the best of both worlds?" "The time has come to say goodbye to our Indian families, and to rejoin our companions aboard Fleur de Lampaul." "Youkoiuré and Yoyouwé, were you happy to have the palassissi children who came to live with you?" "Yes, we're very happy." "Can you tell me why?" "Because we've never seen nice palassissi." "They've become like our family." "Tomorrow we leave." "What do you feel towards Hetipo and others?" "Well, it's going..." "It's going to be a big wrench for us to leave Antecume-pata, and we've become very fond of each other, and so..." "Will you think of him?" "Yes." "Do you think you'll see him again, would you like to return?" "Yes." "It will be very sad..." "to leave." "And for Hetipo who's young, he finds it hard too." "It's similar as for a French child, it's not easy to find ones place in a changing world." "What would you like to say to him?" "To Hetipo?" "Yes." "In leaving, what would you like to say to him?" "I'd like to tell him that he should be proud to be Wayana, and he must remain as he is," "and to try to keep everything he has in his heart." "All that he has in him, and that if I return..." "I'll give him everything that I have." "Hetipo, Pupoli, Mawaimé and all the Wayana children, it's to you that we dedicate these films." "We want to show the beauty of your culture." "Witeïmëyai ehewaï." "[We're leaving, we love you]"