Clips
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LAOS - NO LONGER 'THE LAND OF A MILLION ELEPHANTS'
Laos used to be known as 'the land of a million elephants', but due to deforestation there are now just a few hundred left in the wild, and a few hundred left working in the logging industry, hauling logs out of the forest. Simon met Sebastien Duffillot, founder of ElefantAsia, a charity established to care for elephants in Laos. Simon visited the village home of a dozen working elephants and their owners, and saw Sebastien's mobile medical unit treating the injuries and infections sustained by working elephants.
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LAOS'S LETHAL LEGACY
Simon near the limestone hills in western Laos where thousands of Lao civilians sheltered in caves from bombs dropped by the American military during the Vietnam War. During the conflict Laos became one of the most heavily-bombed countries in human history, and unexploded ordnance is still a major problem in the country.
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GOLF - VIETNAM STYLE
In Vietnam, Simon played golf with his guide Thu. Although officially still a communist country, a new entrepreneurial class has emerged in Vietnam. Dozens of golf courses have opened, catering to the new elite.
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BEAR RESCUE, VIETNAM
In 2008 there were approximately 4,000 farmed bears in Vietnam. Crammed into tiny cages, the bears are repeatedly cut open so that bile for traditional medicines can be extracted from their gall bladders, often leaving agonising and infected wounds.
Bears for Bile clip
Simon met Misa, a Moon Bear recently rescued from a dark cage where he had been kept for 13 years and 'milked' for his bile. Misa was receiving emergency treatment after his rescue at the Moon Bear Rescue Centre run by the Animals Asia Foundation in northern Vietnam. -
TROPIC OF CANCER SCHOOL, CHIAYI, TAIWAN
While most other countries in the Tropics are desperately poor and riddled with corruption, Taiwan is a stable democracy with a powerful economy and one of the highest standards of living on the planet. Children at the Tropic of Cancer school, who wear slippers in class, eat at their desks during lunch and clean their own plates afterwards, benefit from one of the most advanced education systems in the world.
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HAWAII'S PLASTIC PROBLEM
Simon with conservationist Sam Gon in Hawaii, on a beach covered in small plastic debris. Simon was shocked to learn that Hawaii is the extinction capital of the world, with more species dying-out on the islands than anywhere else on the planet, and that many of Hawaii's beaches are covered in plastic rubbish washed-up from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (a vast accumulation of the world's plastic debris floating in the Pacific Ocean).
Great Pacific Garbage Patch clip
Credits
- Presenter
- Simon Reeve
- Director
- Jeremy Jeffs
- Producer
- Jeremy Jeffs
- Executive Producer
- Sam Bagnall
- Writer
- Simon Reeve
