Impossible Roads

In just a few years, Venezuela has gone from the richest country in South America to one of the poorest. In front of gas stations, Venezuelan drivers have to wait for hours, sometimes days, to hope to fill their tanks even though the country has the world's largest oil reserves. Brother Nelson braves the mountain trails to distribute essential foodstuffs to Indian communities. In the Andes, Chucho keeps his whole village alive thanks to barter and his 4X4. On Lake Maracaibo, fishermen helplessly witness the contamination of the water by abandoned oil wells when they no longer have enough to buy fuel for their boats.

On the mythical Congo River, Commander Aimé is at the helm of a gigantic wooden raft the size of a football field. With his men, he is trying to transport 220 tree trunks linked together by cables from Kisangani to Kinshasa. The raft is also the cheapest means of transport for the poorest who wish to reach the capital. On board, the danger is daily, injuries, sandbanks and storms do not spare the men. For those who take the tracks along the river, the conditions are no better. Without public transit, travelers have no choice but to board freight trucks for an epic journey.

With eleven years of existence, South Sudan is the youngest state on the planet. Who says young nation, says everything to build, everything to create. For this, the population does not lack courage. It's a setting worthy of the greatest disaster movies and yet the floods that have been hitting South Sudan for four years are very real. The level of the White Nile has never been so high, entire cities are submerged, the local populations are trying to preserve the few islands of land that serve as shelters. Boats have replaced trucks on the flooded roads, but the journey is no easier. To navigate on submerged lands is to face multiple dangers.

In Peru, the shadow of drug trafficking and the Shining Path guerrillas still hangs over the Vraem region and the trails that run through it. On board an outdated truck, Pastor Ignacio tries to convey a message of peace whenever he can, despite the fatigue accumulated on the road. He goes from galley to galley to harvest bananas in these valleys, supported by Eder, a young orphan whom he has taken under his wing. Others, like Marco and Angel, brave the infernal tracks of the Amazon to convey goods or help the Ashaninka Indians to develop cocoa in the face of coca crops.

In Guinea Conakry, driving their truck, Mamady and his sons face torrential downpours that make the track nightmarish. The abundant rains and the 1,300 streams and rivers that run through the country have given it its nickname: the water tower. However, running water is rare in the country and, to have access to it, it is sometimes necessary to install giant cisterns. Transporting these tanks in bush taxis over the rutted tracks is no small feat. After the palm oil harvest, which provides a minimum income for the inhabitants, only motorbikes can transport the precious liquid. Loaded with dozens of cans, they set off on chaotic tracks on which anything can happen.