Tribe

Bruce spends four weeks with the Adi people, who live in Arunachal Pradesh in the Himalayas, a remote corner of India. As well as participating in sacrificial ceremonies with the tribe of former warriors who were cut off from civilization for centuries, Parry tries the local delicacies: the flesh of the prized "toilet pigs" and "rat cake."

Bruce Parry goes to live with the Suri tribe of southwest Ethiopia and takes part in the fierce stick fights that are at the heart of Suri culture. These fights, called donga, have traditionally been used to settle scores between villages, and to keep order. But the system is increasingly threatened by the invasion of guns. No longer are the elders looked to for permission that a donga can take place -- with a bullet, retribution can be swift, and fatal.

Bruce is deep in unexplored jungle as he travels to West Papua to meet a tribe rumored to be cannibals. The Kombai people are hunter-gatherers, with no history of living in villages, and still use stone tools. They're not bad with bow and arrow either, as Bruce discovers when he is suddenly surrounded by locals, all with arrow tips pointing at him.

Bruce faces one of his toughest tests as he is inducted into Bwiti, a rainforest religion practiced by the Babongo people of Gabon. He's right to be worried -- on occasion the ritual, which involves consuming an overdose of a powerful hallucinogenic, iboga, has proved fatal. This dramatic episode follows Bruce's build-up to the ceremony, as he goes hunting, collecting forest honey and spends time getting to know his new friends, before they judge the time is right for his "rebirthing" ritual.

Bruce travels to Mongolia to meet the nomadic Darhad people. The family he stays with follows a tradition of herding through steep valleys to find grazing for their cattle, sheep and horses, which has continued for centuries. And they also have satellite TV. But with no roads, horseback is the best way to travel, and though Bruce has never ridden, he is soon coming to grips with a new mount -- at least until he loses it.

Bruce learns the secrets of the spirits when he joins the Sanema, a group of indigenous people who live in the Upper Caura region of Venezuela, to discover the strange dual-reality world in which they live. The Sanema believe spirits dwell in everything -- the river, the rocks and the animals around them -- in a world as real to them as the jungle they live in. And their shamans can commune with such spirits through the use of hallucinogenic snuff. Now Bruce faces the task of training as a shaman to get an insight into their experiences.