- Hi, I'm Les Straud, host and creator of the series, "Beyond Survival."

Within the scope of filming this series, I had the good fortune to be able to travel the globe and connect with cultures that still live a very close to the earth lifestyle, or engage in practices meant to keep their connection to the earth strong.

I actually circled the globe eight times in 10 months.

So, I was never not jet lagged, but it was worth it to be able to bring you these experiences caught on film, in many cases for the very first time ever.

Ceremonies such as digging graves with the Haiwa, in a once forbidden ceremony called the (indistinct).

Travel with me to see the healing practices meant to keep the soul close to the energy of the earth itself.

Trance dances with the sand bushman in the Kalahari desert, devil dances with Veeda in Sri Lanka, or travel the mountain tops of Peru with the high Incan priests.

My series "Survivor Man" may have taught me how to survive physically in many ecosystems around the world.

But, through this series, I was able to get beyond the physical survival, and deal with the survival of the heart, mind, and soul through connecting to nature itself.

In nearly every situation I needed to meet the elders first, often bringing a gift, and always bringing my humility, before I could be accepted to live among them, to hunt with them, fish with them, sleep in their huts, and get to know them on the physical realm.

Enabling me to then take part in their earth ceremonies, to learn of the ways of connecting to nature.

In many cases you're about to see footage that has never been captured before this, and may never be captured again.

For in far too many examples, I've heard of places where I went where the people are no longer in the jungle, in the desert, out in the wilderness.

They're now in homes, towns, and existing within the modern world, assimilated into it all, often against their will.

There was not a moment through the filming of the series "Beyond Survival," that was not profound for me, and I'm hopeful that in witnessing these cultures firsthand, as I did within the scope of this series, you too will feel the profound nature of what it means to connect to the earth.

This is "Beyond Survival."

(gentle music) The thing that makes life so harsh up here, that's no surprise, it's the cold.

When they need food for the communities here, they go out to the land, and that's how the culture stays alive, that's how it keeps from vanishing.

Surviving and existing on the land is still a very big part of their culture.

Look at this, look at this.

This is just unbelievable.

I'm Les Stroud.

I'm in the Arctic on a mission to seek out the true masters of survival, with some of the last indigenous people from around the world before they're gone, before the past is lost, before their world vanishes.

I can learn their ways.

(dramatic upbeat music) Located at the top of Baffin Island in Canada's high Arctic, is a small Inuit community called Pond Inlet.

The tenacity and resilience of the Inuit culture is shaped by the unforgiving Arctic landscape.

That may sound like a cliche, but to the people here, there's nothing cliche about it.

Barren, cold, and isolated, each year, Pond Inlet plunges into near total darkness for months before slowly emerging into the blinding light of early spring.

Can the Inuit culture survive, or will assimilation into the new world wipe out the skills of the past that are still needed to sustain life in this majestic, beautiful, but foreboding landscape?

(dramatic music) Survival here requires a deep knowledge of the land.

The ability to read the snow for signs of life, and the skies for approaching storms.

I'm here to test my skills on the land.

So, before there's time to reconsider, I'll leave the tiny village of Pond Inlet and head out to the vast and powerful environment known simply as the Arctic.

I'm in the hamlet of Pond Inlet.

This is basically the Northern tip of Baffin Island.

We've got two Inuit guys that are gonna take myself, and my cameraman, we've got a couple of hundred miles to go by snow machine, pulling these qamutiik sleds to go on a caribou hunt.

To the Inuit here, it's like going to the grocery store, except it's 150 miles away, and you could get stuck in blizzard.

The first part of my journey may look like a joy ride on snowmobiles, but with incredibly low temperatures, and nowhere to stop to take refuge, traveling can be long and arduous.

Still, what once took many days by dog sled, pulling heavy sleds with food, fuel, and emergency gear should now only take us 24 hours of nonstop riding.

(snowmobiles revving) But the first stop in this vast Arctic grocery store is to get some of the purest, fresh water known to man.

This is a perfect blend of the old meeting the new.

Come over here, chip off a piece of ice that's thousands of years old.

That'll do.

The Inuit know that the ice from the icebergs just make the best tea.

They drink a lot of tea here.

Everywhere else on the planet right now, and most of the moderate temperature world, they'll have their shirts off and the grass is starting to grow.

And here, winter still has its icy grip on the land.

It's late April, and it can still be very bitterly cold up here.

My guides swear by eating raw meat, the only way to stay warm internally.

We've got another 12 hours of riding across the ocean, and then into these hills in search of caribou.

It's a long, long trek, but it's worth it if we come back with a few caribou, and a few seal.

Caribou, the image itself is utterly romantic, and for thousands of years, it meant survival to the Inuit.

By now the stories of caribou disappearing in the Arctic is old news.

Industry says there's plenty, so no need to worry.

Let them dig their mines.

But, the people of the land say there's much fewer, and traveling to get them is not only a longer process, it's becoming more difficult, and the buzzword of why this is happening is the ubiquitous global warming.

Half of this journey was on the ocean, and it was brutal.

The other half is here on the land, and it's only gonna get harder.

It's a long way to go just to get a bit of food.

(snowmobiles revving) The qamutiik sleds are loaded with our survival gear, and the snowmobiles struggle against the heavy load.

We couldn't make it up.

We tried, but the load's just too heavy.

So, we got stuck there, even with me on the back to give 'em extra weight, but this (indistinct) is holding the load.

So, the other rider will come back, we'll try getting up this hill with two machines.

It's a long journey in.

(snowmobiles revving) Gotta push the sled now, just like getting the car stuck.

Here we go.

(snowmobiles revving) We got it.

Hopefully they'll come back for me, otherwise, this is gonna be a whole new show.

The noise and smell of the snow machine stands in stark contrast to the majestic beauty that surrounds us.

But, this beautiful landscape offers up challenges, even when the sun is shining.

This is not good.

Middle of the Arctic, and we broke down.

(gentle suspenseful music) That's life in the north, fixing snowmobiles.

(snowmobile revving) People have been known to have had to walk for a week after their snow machine broke down, and some have perished in the process.

Don't let the sunshine fool you.

This is a deadly landscape.

Beautiful, but deadly.

(snowmobiles revving) (gentle music) We're seriously stuck now.

This just never used to happen when they used dogs.

At least we have all the food.

Look around, not much here.

In the turn of an hour, this intensely beautiful landscape in the late winter sun could switch to a brutal storm with gale force winds, where exposed skin can freeze in seconds.

(gentle music) It seems as though we're just inching along, getting stuck every half hour or so.

Let's hope this works, only 50 miles to go.

(snowmobiles revving) I'm in Canada's high Arctic on the north end of Baffin Island, traveling by snowmobile on a caribou hunt some 150 miles into the interior in search of game.

It's been many hours of frigid riding, and getting snowmobiles unstuck, but we finally pull into an abandoned diamond mine, slowly being destroyed by the harsh Arctic weather.

And, no one is claiming ownership on it enough to keep it in good shape.

But then, why bother?

The Inuit are only passing through here on route to hunting and fishing grounds.

To them, it's just an easy place to stop without setting up tents or building igloos.

Well, I'm all suited up, ready to head out into the cold.

This is so totally a moonscape here.

It's just an Arctic landscape that is totally indicative of what you would call a barren waste land, just barren tundra.

There's nothing out there, except hopefully some caribou.

It'll be another five hours of riding to get closer to where they believe the caribou to be, but we could be setting ourselves up for bitter disappointment.

All we're looking for as we ride are the faint and small imprints of tracks in the white snow, or the possible sighting off on some distant hill of the flash of white fur.

Yet, within five hours of riding, we're rewarded with some signs.

We can see that we're close.

Those tracks are all pointing this direction.

You can tell when you look at the track itself, the outline of the hoof, and then the (indistinct).

Shady and Brian have both grabbed their rifles because they figure that we're pretty close since the tracks are so fresh.

Shady has taken off, he wants to check out the tracks on his own.

He can be faster, probably much quieter.

He takes off like that, running along the tops of these hills and scanning.

They'll check it out for caribou.

All right, well, I'm just gonna wait here in the wind, and see what happens as (indistinct) goes off for a look.

One thing about the Inuit, when they say they're not going far to have a look, it's all relative.

They could be gone for miles and hours.

(snowmobile revving) My guide has spotted three caribou.

There's no question the sound of the motors will scare them away, so we have to come up to them with the sun at our backs and down wind.

(snowmobiles revving) Only my guides are permitted by law to shoot the caribou.

So for now, I'm simply along for the ride.

If they're successful, I can help out with the cleaning of the game.

- Hey.

(gun banging) (gun banging) (dramatic music) - There's one.

(gun banging) That's another one down.

That's two.

(gun banging) Too far?

Okay, I gotta get going.

The Inuit are not detached from the animals that sustain them.

They never hunt for sport, only to feed their families, and it's a conscious choice over going to the village store and buying cow or pig.

(gun banging) (snowmobiles revving) Same as with most animals this size, knife into the back of the neck.

Miles and miles of this vast barren landscape, bitter cold, and three large game animals to take back to the village, take back home.

All three caribou need to be quartered right away to properly look after the meat.

The skill of cleaning large game is something learned by Inuit at a very young age.

It's simply a part of life.

That side?

Yeah.

(gentle music) It's one of those cases, when your hands get really cold, you can just put 'em right in the blood of the animal to warm them up.

Trick that hunters have used all the time in cold weather.

- (inaudible) - Okay, use the fist.

They'd rather not use the knives at all taking the hide off.

They told me, just use my hands, keeps the animal clean.

Keeps the hide clean, meat comes off better, it's also nice and warm.

A lot of this fur this time of year is not really ripe for clothing, so what will they use it for instead?

- For tarps.

- Blanket?

- Yeah, blankets or tarps over what we caught.

- You have to work kind of fast, because in these cold temperatures, animal can freeze really quickly.

Right now, it's easy to skin because it's warm.

It has always struck me as interesting when it comes to hunting, and at first, it's beautiful animal, it's a pretty animal.

To a lot of people it's a cute and cuddly animal, and that's what it seems like at first.

And then, it always seems like, oh, it's a shame to kill the animal.

For me, it's almost immediate, that when an animal is finally dead, and you've taken its life, the minute you start processing it, it's absolutely incredible how quickly it goes from being an animal to being food.

Really, just the switch for me is almost immediate.

Now, I'm looking at meat, tender meats, sections of meat, fat, the hide, and what it can do with it all.

(knife scraping)ú That's cold on the fingers.

- [Guide] Just follow the ribs.

- As far as I have ever experienced, it's an unspoken tradition amongst hunters everywhere that you give yourself energy after the hunt, by eating the still warm organs.

Caribou liver's still very good, nice and warm, good.

It's good (indistinct).

- [Guide] Yeah, good, yeah.

- Keep you warm.

- [Guide] Yeah.

- Look at that.

That was a very successful day.

It seems to me with cultures around the world, if this mark here with my hand represents the tipping point, this side is assimilation, and this side is living the old ways, then various cultures around the world are on either side, or sitting right on it.

The Sand Bushman and the Kalahari seem to be sitting right on the line of the tipping point, what's gonna happen next.

The Inuit are more over on this side into assimilation, yet they're able to maintain their culture through skills like this, hunting on the land.

Sure, they use snowmobiles, and they use rifles, and they use stoves with (indistinct) gas.

But, once they're out here, they still take a caribou, they eat every part of it, they utilize the hide, it all comes back to the family, it comes back to the friends in the village.

But, this kind of action, this kind of activity's what's keeping this culture alive.

In what seems like a counterintuitive move, (indistinct) tells me to wash my hands using the lanolin rich stomach contents of the caribou.

Oh, this is just washing, wash my hands with the contents of the stomach here.

Oh, it actually smells really clean.

I just washed my hands with caribou crap, and it smells better than ever before.

Feels good.

That's good.

Hands are warm now.

Soft and warm.

Thank you, caribou poop.

In the middle of the Northern end of Baffin Island, I've just finished a successful caribou hunt with two Inuit guides.

The meat has been stored, but there's one small treat that even my guides have not had before.

- [Brian] You gonna eat one?

- You gonna eat one?

- [Brian] I can try.

- You can try.

Have you had one before?

- [Brian] Nope.

- You've not had one before?

Wow, come on, Brian.

Have you ever eaten one?

No?

I just washed my hands with caribou crap, so you can try a warble fly.

These fly lava drive the caribou crazy, and were a normal part of the Inuit diet years ago.

It would seem now though, that the practice is one piece of the culture that has gone by the wayside.

(indistinct) you ready?

We try, warble fly.

First time you guys eaten it.

- Mama.

- It tastes like milk.

That's disgusting.

This was considered a lucky day for my guides.

You can go weeks out here even with a snow machine and still not spot a caribou.

And, as it is, in 150 miles of snowmobiling, we've only seen three.

But, we're lucky to enjoy another easy night in the abandoned camp, amongst the left behind computers and office supplies.

Caribou stew will warm us tonight.

After our successful caribou hunt, our journey will now take us back to the village of Pond Inlet, so long as our machines can tough out the frozen, hard Arctic landscape.

(snowmobiles revving) (upbeat music) We're barely into our journey back.

We got 24 hours of solid sled riding, all the way back to the village, and two hours into it we've got a busted muffler.

Ooh, that looks nasty.

- That's brand new, $900.

- $900 muffler.

$900 muffler?

- Yep.

- Oh, shit.

(dramatic music) If you can't do in the field repairs like this out here, you're dead.

'Cause there's no way of getting help, there's no service center around the corner.

These guys gotta be able to fix everything they bring out here, or they're not coming back.

(gentle dramatic music) We on our way?

Looks like we're going.

Unable to make it all the way back in one shot, we've decided to stop at a fish camp that was a few miles up a river.

It's here where we can hope to add to the caribou success by bringing home some Arctic char.

(upbeat music) Once again, we can take advantage of a small hut, out in the middle of nowhere.

Arctic char, this time of year, are way up the fresh water rivers, up in the lakes.

It's just a matter of constantly getting food as they can, when they travel to sea ice.

Fishermen come up here and they leave the holes ready to go.

Someone does the initial chopping, and then they'll leave them set up, so other guys can come here with their nets, drop their nets quickly and efficiently, and hopefully get some char.

Surrounding us are thousands of square miles of frozen, empty land.

Polar bears roam the hillsides, and the creatures of the ocean will soon be making their way here once the ocean melts.

Fishing through the ice is the Inuit way of adapting to this harsh environment.

It's a physical example of the tenacity needed to survive here.

Well, we found the spot where they already have the hole, so we just gotta chop down.

There should only be about two feet of new ice covering the previous deep hole.

That's a deep hole.

Look at that.

Six feet down, solid ice.

The trick now is finding the second old hole left behind by another Inuit hunter a week or two earlier.

Wrong spot?

Oh, you kidding?

Oh no.

All right, well, all that digging and we were in the wrong spot.

Start again.

The ice in this lake here is six feet thick.

So, where the hole is, it's about two feet thick.

We can get back through because someone would've been using this maybe a week ago.

- (inaudible) - It's kinda like a city work crew.

Two of us are watching while one guy works.

Come on, Brian, get your back into it.

(dramatic music) So, Shady's decided that he's pulling the net out because he actually phoned back to Pond Inlet.

That's right, he used the phone.

So, we've got satellite phone out here, and talk about the modern blending with the traditional.

He used the satellite phone to call his bud in Pond, find out, okay, how big of a net did you use?

So, the guy said, "Well, I used a 50 yard net."

So then, Shady went and grabbed his net, 50 yard net, stretched it out, lets see where it lands, and then we can figure out where this hole is.

So, we don't have to keep digging all night.

Satellite phone saves the day.

The Inuit are seemingly alone in their world.

Not many people wanna live in a place described as harsh, and barren.

Yet, in truth, it's neither harsh nor barren, not when it's a land rich with culture.

And, this culture has had to endure the assimilation into modern civilization over the last 100 years.

Somehow, they've done it, and maintained their love for the land, and their connection to it, and the animals that live there.

(gentle music) (water splashing) (upbeat music)