BRAZIL, NAMIBIA, INDIA: NATURE DOES NOT FORGIVE | France 5 | Les Routes de l'Impossible

For 13 years our reporters have been roaming the world to take the most dangerous of roads. 13 years following bold drivers prepared to brave every danger to carry their passengers to the most remote villages on the planet. There is one clear conclusion. Over the years the conditions for their journeys have become harsher. The reason: climate change. In all four corners of the globe, the conclusion is the same, but the incidences are different. We have brought together the most spectacular battles that drivers are waging against the assaults of nature. From the diluvian rains in the steamy Amazonian jungle that sweep all before them, to the landslides triggered by the accelerated melting of the snow caps on the dizzy heights of the Himalayas, by way of the crevasses of the arid plains of Namibia… Namibia, Brazil, India… Will these courageous adventurers find, yet again, the strength not to give up? During the rainy season in Brazil, the 319 national highway taken by Luis and Leandro turns to soap. They are the only ones who still risk setting out on this track that links Humaita to Manaus. An abandoned road that drives into the heart of the Amazonian forest. During this season, more than two metres of rain might fall. Rivers overflow and whole sections of road disappear beneath the waters… Their city bus ploughs an unlikely furrow through miles of mud. Cloudbursts… the people of Namibia no longer even dream of them. Water is cruelly lacking over this gigantic, almost entirely desert, territory. This year, again, the country is facing a drought the like of which has not been seen for 30 years. On the chaotic roads of the north-east of the country, beneath a beating sun, women from the Himba and Herero tribes go to funerals packed into the back of an old pick-up. The Himbas go practically naked, their traditional garb. This is not to the taste of the Herero, who dress like the Germans at the beginning of the 19^th century… Nevertheless, they all brave the sun in an impressive joy of living. Keep smiling whatever challenges the road may bring… That’s also the rule followed by Gyatso and his little family. Every spring, in the Indian Himalayas, they embark on an endless adventure to reach their village perched high in the mountains… The snows melt earlier and earlier, weakening roads that are already barely wider than the vehicles. The bus drivers brush between the rock walls and the precipice with their foot to the floor. They walk a tightrope on peaks 4,000 metres high for a mere pittance. Once again, Impossible Roads invites you to discover fascinating human stories. A journey across three continents such as you have never seen, especially through some breath-taking drone footage.