Edge of Existence

Season 1, Episode 4
For the outcast Bajau Laut--sea gypsies who rarely set foot on land--life is circumscribed by crude, roach-infested 10-by-16-foot boats. Two brothers, Pilar and Sabung, welcome MacIntyre for spearfishing, stingray hunting, and furtive trips ashore.

Season 1, Episode 3
Blinding sun, bitter cold, and thin air don't faze the Mamani family, Quechuan Indians who mine salt from the Altiplano high in the Andes. After witnessing a violent religious ritual, MacIntyre learns the rigors of salt harvesting and trading.

Season 1, Episode 2
Former cannibals unknown to Westerners until the 1950s, the Insect Tribe of the rainforest depends on the river for fish, transportation, and an abundanct supply of crocodiles. MacIntyre hunts for boar and crocs alongside the tribesmen.

How do humans thrive, day after day, in nature's most extreme environments? Award-winning journalist Donal MacIntyre experiences their harsh struggles firsthand in four engrossing excursions to the farthest reaches of the world. Join MacIntyre as he lives with the Bedouins on the edge of the bas Rub' al Khali Desert, where the temperatures regularly exceed 120F; the Insect Tribe in the rainforest of Papua New Guinea, where men spear crocodiles by torchlight; the Quechuan Indians in the Bolivian Andes, where salt flats stretch to the horizon in thin, barely breathable air; and the Bajau Laut, landless nomads who survive entirely on boats in the Celebes Sea. Each adventure serves as a study in humans' adaptability, imagination, and indomitable will to survive.