Earth's Natural Wonders

Surviving Against The Odds (2x3)

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In Brazil, the Kamayurá People of the Xingu Indigenous Park believe they must appease the spirits if the tribe is to remain in good health. At one key festival an offering is made to a ‘bird spirit' in the form of a dance. The longer and harder the warriors dance the happier the spirit will be. The villagers must catch basket-loads of fish to sustain the warriors during their hours of dancing. But catching the fish means venturing into the nearby lake, and risk injury from electric eels, piranha fish and caimen.In Ethiopia, belief in a higher power leads villagers in the Tigray region to climb a huge, vertiginous mountainside to reach their church. Just 40 days after giving birth, Ngisti must climb 400 metres up the cliffs in order to have her new son Dawit baptised, if he is to have the best chance in life.