Kilo is a Dourou. He lives in Taboun, a small village of about a hundred inhabitants, lost in the middle of the huge savanna of northern Cameroon. This year, a bush fire destroyed a large part of Kilo's cotton crop. His eldest son, Gibi, who is eleven, has been promoted to a class in which the chalk and slate board he has used up to now have to be replaced by notebooks and textbooks. The only possibility for Kilo to meet this new expense is to capture a python and sell its skin. But the giant snake is a feared devil... One needs a lot of courage and magic to confront him!
In an isolated region in the west of Nepal, lies the land of the river people, the Rajis. They live on a day-to-day basis on the fish they catch and the gold dust they collect. One day, the goddess Kanyakumari threw a handful of gold dust into the river to thank the Rajis for helping her to cross to the other side of the river. The golden dust settled on the fish: and that is how was born the legend of the golden masheer. Fakir Bahadur, the chief of the Raji village of Ghatgaon, and his son go up the Karnali River in search for the golden masheer, the fish of gods.
The source of many legends and myths, the mysterious Punans travel through the Indonesian primeval forest. They number a few thousand and live in small groups scattered over an immense territory, and each encounter with them raises more questions than it provides answers. To survive in the jungle, the Punan had to invent hunting techniques suited to their environment. But when a wild game is killed, they always adopt the little orphans that they find - so monkeys or otters often become members of their families.
In Kyrgyzstan, in the Tian Shai mountains, lives Hassan Baï'ake, one of the last eaglers of Central Asia. At 62 years old, he is still hunting with his predator, as his ancestors did more than 3.000 years ago. We meet him as he finishes training the bird he has captured a year before. This is his opportunity to teach his grandson Azat the art of being an eagler. Together, high up in the mountains with Hassan's eagle, they venture on the trail of rabbits, foxes and even wolves.
Taking its sources from the most remote regions of Tibet and Nepal, the Ganges and the Brahmapoutre Rivers empty into the Gulf of Bengal, which separates India and Bangladesh. The last lands they cross form the largest delta in the world: the Sunderbans. Raton belongs to the Malos caste, the caste of the fishermen. They come from villages in the north, days away by boat. During the fishing season, they live on their boats for several months, far from their families. Raton is one of the last otter fishermen alive. In a region where ancestral methods of fishing are preserved, he helps perpetuate old and rare traditions.
It has been six days since Lucio, old Dimas and the other men from Cotabambas left their village and began camping at an altitude of 5,000 meters, in the Peruvian Puna. Once a year, the villagers assign them the mission of bringing back the legendary condor, the sacred messenger of the gods, in order to perpetuate the secular rite of celebrating Yawar. The condor is tied to a bull, to recall the powerful, mythological Incan animal whose appearance was that of a winged bull. The next day, the condor resumes his flight toward the high plateau, free once again to join the gods of the heavens.
Of all the peoples of southern Vietnam's high plateau, the Mnong are among the last to venture into the forest on a regular basis. They do so to capture varanuses, a sort of large lizard, as well as snakes, which they sell to the Vietnamese. I Kwan, a 10-year-old boy, is going hunting with his father and uncle. For a few days, they will return to their nomadic past, in the heart of the last area of freedom: the forest.
An old Mustang tradition says that a boy without a horse is not a man. Kami is a young Mustangi from the Jomsom region of Nepal, who is getting ready for the great race of Dzar. Kami and his entire family cross the Mustang mountains every year in the pleasant August weather. Their destination is Dzar, where the great horsemen's festival is held to pay the tribute to the defenders of Tibet, the proud Campas warriors. Mustang horses are thoroughbreds with tremendous breathing capacity and incredible endurance. They survive in altitudes of more than 4,000 meters, and are accustomed to the high mountains. For the big race, the riders consult the horse healers, a wise and highly respected caste.
On the seas once crossed by Sinbad the sailor, the Bajun people have practiced an extraordinary technique for centuries: remora fishing. The remora, a fish whose head contains a small suction cup, attaches itself to turtles, rays and sharks for nourishment. Legend has it that the remora sucks its victims' blood to tire them out, hence the nickname, "vampire fish." Alphan and Aruni are Bajun fishermen. They live north of the Kenyan coast, on one of the islands in the Lamu archipelago: Kiwayu. During the first days of Ramadan, they get ready to sail out to sea in their traditional boats. From sunrise to sunset, they can neither eat nor drink. The only way they can survive is to fish along the coast, using vampire fish, whose progress they follow underwater thanks to a nylon thread placed in the remora's tail. In the intense heat, the long chase begins, until the remora finds a victim. Thanks to their precious ally, Alphan and Aruni will soon be able to share their excellent catch with their families at the evening meals during Ramadan.
Titled the royal elephant, Dependra Gaja is the biggest and the most respected of all the elephants in Nepal, and is believed to be the embodiment of Ganesh, the Hindu god with the head of an elephant. Dhoraï, the elephant's Cornac servant, travels with Dependra Gaja through the jungle of the Chitwan reserve, helping to prevent wild animals from threatening the Tharus villages.
Sunderbans ("Beautiful Forest" in Bengali) is located a hundred kilometers south of Calcutta in western Bengal. It is a strange land of murky waters and forests teeming with wildlife. In order to gather the wild honey of the giant bees coming from the Himalayas, the men must first pay homage to the gods of the forest, and more importantly, they must avoid running into the master of the woods - the dreaded man-eating tiger!
In Dogon country, the dry season is rugged and water is very rare. The pond of Entongo is one of the few in the region not to run dry. It protects the sacred fish: the silurid. Once a year, for several centuries, all the men in the Bamba region gather together for an extraordinary fishing expedition. Each fisherman tries to trap one of these fish, which is reputed to bring happiness to anyone who catches it. For the first time, young Idrissa is going to participate to the event, and Amadoun, his father, will lead his son to the heart of Dogon culture.
In the south of Kenya every year, when everything is in blossom, the N'dorobos go through the bush in search of honey. Their strange ally in this search is the "euchoshoroi," a bird that has led them to the precious nectar since the beginning of time. For Kiloussou's people, honey plays a vital role. It provides food and the means to obtain cattle, but it is especially used to make a beer that is the focal point of all of the tribe's important rites. Kiloussou is an N'dorobo. He lives near the Masaï Mara animal reserve. Along with his father, M'Zegobe, and his young nephew Kisset, he leaves for the forest in search of honey. In the heart of the bush, Kiloussou and M'zegabe call upon their guide bird, which immediately responds and leads them. The bird's cooperation with the N'dorobo is not selfless. Once the honey has been removed, the bird can eat what it likes best without fear of being stung - the wax and the larvae, which the hunters let fall on the ground. And thanks to their faithful ally, Kiloussou and his people can soon return to the village to celebrate their abundant harvest.