BEYOND SURVIVAL WITH LES STROUD
#101 - The Zulus of South Africa Part 1
Stroud travels to Zululand to explore indigenous cultural and survival practices.(under 90)
Stroud travels to South Africa to immerse himself in the indigenous culture of the Zulus to explore traditional hunting, deadly stick fighting, and tribal rituals. Stroud meets up with a deadly cobra, a common threat in the everyday life of the Zulu people. A cow is slaughtered in celebration of a marriage where the groom’s family offering falls short of the bride’s family expectation. (under 400)
#102 - The Zulus of South Africa Part 2
Stroud meets with an African Shaman to experience the rite of passage known as scarification.
A female African Shaman - the Sangoma - puts Stroud through a series of rituals to determine where his inner ailments lie. This is achieved through physical scarring and the ingestion of extremely bitter, nausea-inducing herbal medicines. Permanent body markings emphasize fixed social, political and religious roles.
#103- The Bushmen of the Kalahari Part 1
Les Stroud travels deep into the Kalahari Desert to live with the San people.
Les travels for two days to reach the San Kalahari tribe and is accepted into the tribe itself. Follow him as he learns the delicate and deadly art of making poison arrows for hunting, tracking porcupine, hiking the great sand dunes of the Kalahari and gathering honey from desert bees.
#104 - The Bushmen of the Kalahari Part 2
Les will be the first Westerner to participate in the San Kalahari ritual of the trance dance.
The Kalahari San practice the ritual of the trance dance as a direct communion to the spirit world, the souls of the Bushmen journeying through space and time to the world of the Ancients to gain insight and healing for their day-to-day survival, individually or for the community at large. Les is the first Westerner to participate in this physically and mentally exhausting three-day trance.
#105 - The Sea Gypsies of Malaysia Part 1
Les Stroud lives with the Sea Bajau people who call the waters of Borneo home.
Les explores the spiritual, cultural and physical survival of the Bajau. They belong to no country; their allegiance to the sea. They have called the waters of Borneo home for over 200 years and they live, eat, and socialize entirely in a small boat or small ocean stilted hut. Les fishes and makes shelter of braided palm leaves and machete shorn wood.
#106 - The Sea Gypsies of Malaysia Part 2
Les Stroud learns the dangerous art of compression diving with the Sea Bajau people.
Poverty-stricken, the Bajau have large families. The more workers the better when the game is daily survival. 12+ people share one room stick huts that poke from the ocean floor like spindly legs on rickety tip-toe. Les will learn how to catch sea cucumber learning the dangerous art of compression diving, and examine life in an area of the world where starfish aren’t your friends, sea urchins rule the ocean floor, and jellyfish leave more than a sting.
#107 - The Devil Dancers of Sri Lanka Part 1
Stroud journeys to survive alongside men once believed to be half-human and half-demon.
Les Stroud journeys to the coast of Sri Lanka to explore survival methods post–Tsunami including the famed ‘stick fishing’ where Stroud learns to build and stand and fish from a single pole over the ocean. Stroud also travels to the interior to hunt and survive alongside a group that has only been living outside of the caves since the mid-80s. The Vedas.
#108 -The Devil Dancers of Sri Lanka Part 2
Stroud embeds with the people he calls “the strongest case of a vanishing culture.”
No Westerner has ever been filmed participating in the ancient ritual known as the Devil Dance. Thought to both ward off evil spirits and create a link between worlds, the all-night healing ceremony involves masked dancers imitating demons. Traditional priests practice the ritual both to heal and gain insight from spirit guides, but globalization is encroaching on this cultural practice.
#109 - The Hewa and the Hidden Secret Ceremony Part 1
Stroud’s in Papua New Guinea meeting the Hewa- a name literally translated as the savages
The Hewa who adorn their huts with skulls, were thought to be headhunters; In actuality, it is a memorializing tradition that returns the skull to the home of the dead’s relatives. Hewa burial is upright, allowing the head to be more easily retrieved two years after death and then returned to the family home following a memorial ceremony including ingesting Beetlenut ,a mild mental stimulant.
#110 - The Hewa and the Hidden Secret Ceremony Part 2
Stroud ventures into territory so remote, the first airstip was not cleared until 1992
Never before photographed or filmed, Stroud returns to the wilds of Papua New Guinea with special permission to travel three days on foot through the jungle- no roads exist; paths must be cut by machete- to carry out the ‘Cumoutin’ ceremony himself with the guidance of the Hewa. Les will participate in the full honoring ceremony, including ingesting Beetlenut before a village of 800 locals.
#111- The Seed Ceremony Part 1
Stroud bears 20 foot swells in a handmade boat of the Antandroy fishermen of Madagascar.
The Southern tip of the island of Madagascar boasts more ecosystems than any other place on the planet. In the remote fishing village of Ejijiky, 33kms south of the nearest town, Les reaches the Antandroy tribe who practice traditional fishing techniques and net weaving. He joins a fishing excursion with tribesmen and witnesses how overfishing and plastic pollution are affecting their livelihood.
#112- The Seed Ceremony Part 2
Stroud participates in a sacred ritual led by Shamans of the Antanosy tribe of Madagascar
In the remote village of Tsihalagna Four Shamans of the Antanosy tribe initiate Stroud into a sacred ceremony. The Shamans, or ‘Ombiasas’, guide Les as he enters a trance-state induced by smoking a plant mixture made from ramy, the sap of a Canaria plant, mixed with ombi (cattle) fat. Here he seeks guidance from his ancestors and insight into the lives of Africa’s only island people.
#113- Survivors of the Future Part 1
Stroud lives among the Inuit of the Arctic where temperatures can drop to below -40c.
Starting out on Baffin Island in rural Nunavut, Canada, Stroud visits the small Inuit community called Pond Inlet. By integrating modern technologies with ancient practices, the Inuit have managed to maintain their culture in the punishing environment. Even with modern sleds replacing dogsleds, a search for Caribou requires a trip of 24 hours deep into the tundra.
#114- Survivors of the Future Part 2
Ice-fishing and seal meat help sustain the Inuit; Stroud joins in the icy search for food.
Pond Inlet faces its greatest challenge: climate change. As ice slowly recedes from the North, the Inuit diet of seal and arctic charr is being threatened. Stroud joins on a hunt but sudden trouble forces the team to build their own igloo for protection. Using techniques honed by their ancestors, the Inuit, who now opt for modern tents, construct a refuge for this unexpected overnight stay.
#115- The Amazon Shamans of Peru Part 1
In the Amazon forests of Peru, Stroud learns the plant medicine of the Huacharia Tribe
Traveling by plane, bus, boat and finally on foot, Stroud reaches the home of the deeply spiritual Huacharia Tribe, an indigenous culture still embracing ancient practices. Wearing bark clothing, subsisting on wild plants, fruits, and fish, the tribe views everything through the lens of a connection to the natural world. Stroud receives the Tobacco medicine through an ancient initiation ceremony.
#116- The Amazon Shamans of Peru Part 2
Les Stroud witnesses the practice of poison fishing and learns from a master bow maker
Stroud watches arrows being crafted by hand in preparation for a fishing excursion in the Peruvian jungle on a handbuilt raft. Using only resources from their environment, the Huacharia fish as their forefathers did; by using a blend of plant poison to stun and disorient the fish. .Even while accepting modern conveniences like the machete and the ax, other ancient survival practices live on.
#117- The Q'ero - Descendants of the Incan High Priests Part 1
“Pachamama”-“Mother Earth” is honored via a yearly pilgrimage with descendents of the Inca
Joining 80,000 indigenous Andeans making a pilgrimage to the holy site of Qollorit’i, 16,000 ft up Mt. Sinkara, Les has been granted a welcome by the Ukukus, the Spiritual Warriors of the Inca Tradition. Traveling to the summit at 17,000 ft, he’ll be the first Westerner and only person in history to film the ancient Inca rituals performed by over 200 Ukuku on the edge of the glacial sheet.
#118- The Q'ero - Descendants of the Incan High Priests Part 2
Stroud and Ukuku warriors survive a night on the glacial edge to appease the spirits.
Masked in costume, surviving the night on the glacial edge earns the Ukuku the right to break a piece of ice from the mountain’s edge and return to base camp carrying this frozen holy water back to their communities. Thus they pay homage to the Spirit of the Mountain of Sinkara and ask for protection and prosperity through the year. Catholic influences are also interwoven into indigeous rites.
#119- The Mentawai Shamans of Indonesia Part 1
Stroud learns of the connection the Mentawai have to their environment and to honoring it
Tribes living in the most remote regions are being threatened by oil exploration, mining and logging, disturbing the natural world. The Mentawai Islands lie to the West of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. Les journeys 9 hours from the island of Siberut, navigating log-jammed river systems and shallow waters, followed by a trek on foot into the heart of the island, arriving at the Mentawai tribe.
#120- The Mentawai Shamans of Indonesia Part 2
Les is soon considered a “traveling shaman” as he undergoes a ritualist tattoo ceremony
Living with Mentawai for eight days, Les prepares to hunt with a bow and poison arrow. Being tattooed by a Shaman using traditional techniques allows him to prove his intention and commune with animal spirits. Forced deeper into the jungle as hunting grounds diminish, the Mentawai call on the earth to provide, believing their singing of shamanic songs attunes their souls and connects them to nature.