Impossible Roads

National Route 5a is only national in name. This is how we can qualify the section of road that connects Ambilobe, in the North-West of the Big Island, to Vohémar, in the North-East. It is a 160 km track, nicknamed "the track from hell". During the months of January and February, in the rainy season, it is difficult to pass. The track then becomes a real obstacle course which is normally done in two or three days, but which often can take more than 15 days. Ruts. Mud pools. At times, the track is too narrow to allow two trucks to pass. This is one of the reasons that prevents buses from using this route.

Borneo is home to one of the last remaining primary forests in South East Asia. For timber harvesters, this is a goldmine. Lumberjacks and drivers come from all over Indonesia in search of the best salaries in the country. This is a dangerous job that is done in extreme conditions. The extensive deforestation has deformed the region to the extent that certain species of wildlife and the indigenous people that live there are under threat.

In Senegal, every year during the rainy season, entire regions are covered in water- cities included, provoking an exodus towards Casamance. The journey passes through Gambia, a small isolated country, through which a river under the same name flows. This river serves as a barrier in the middle of Senegal, where the exploitation of travellers is the locals’ main source of income. In this new Dicing with Death, we follow the struggle of seasoned exiles along roads that have now become sludge tracks as a result of the rain.

The only road that cuts through the Wakhan Corridor is almost inaccessible, crossing the mountainside, often buried by metres of snow. A handful of adventurers, travelling in rickety lorries, have dared to brave the isolated corridor, battling against the extreme elements. And, of course, the odd sheep and yak…

For months, the cotton trucks move to the rhythm of the inhabitants of North Benin. Dramane and Zachari maintain the traffic from the North to the South of the country, on track or pavement, in spite of the danger. On board trucks that they have named “Titans,” or aboard battered vans, they sidle along uneven roads, at the risk of toppling over at any moment due to the several tons of cargo that weigh down their vehicles. Dramane has 24 hours to cross the country with his foot firmly on the gas, trying to reach the Cotonou harbor. Cotonou, rather than being a reference to cotton, signifies ‘The River of Death,” which is an apt term for the route that he is traveling…

It’s a no-man’s land of 2200km in height in the middle of the jungle, dominated by the Andes Mountains. The ever-uncontrollable border between Columbia and Venezuela. It’s a paradise for cartels, except here, it’s not the traffic of cocaine, but of petrol. Venezuela is the country of black gold, home to one quarter of the world’s petrol reserves. With the fall in the price of petrol, the economy has collapsed, and Venezuelans are now spread as thinly as ever. Many have been retrained in the traffic of petrol. After buying the fuel in Venezuela, they then re-sell it at thirty times the price in Columbia.

From the borders of the Andes Mountains to the jungle in south Buenos Aires, “It’s make… or break” in this new Impossible Roads, where we train on the roads of extreme Argentina. From lorry drivers in high altitude, approaching summits and braving precipices, to countryside doctors forced to walk for hours, covering more than 5000 metres, to visit patients, to death-deceiving Gauchos competing in corral arena rodeos, they all show a quiet courage and an impenetrable resourcefulness. We will never forget Pablo the farmer, who crosses the rainy-season lagoons on his Mad Max lorry, half bus half tractor, just to deliver milk to his farm.

Ethiopia is among the hardest-hit countries in terms of deadly traffic accidents. Trains and trucks circulate along infrastructure from another age. For trucks in the south of the country, the transport of goods and people take place in the rain and on slippery roads… There is, however, no alternative, as flying is too expensive and the trains are no longer in working condition, except one. This one train travels through half of the country, from the city of Dire Dawa to the border at Djibouti. It travels 310 kilometres over the course of more than 10 hours – on a good day. This last known working train is no stranger to derailments and breaks down on a regular basis. It is the oldest but also the most dangerous train in the world! From the Danakil desert to the rainy summits of the Kaffa region, welcome to Ethiopia!